^ WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015 I SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 I © 2014 STUDENT MEDIA
THE
BATT
THE BATTALION I THEBATT.COM
Battle of the
BANDS
MSC Town Hall's annual
Battle of the Bands competi
tion will feature the four groups
seen below. The finalists will
perform at 6 p.m. Feb. 12 in
Rudder Plaza.
two
College Station, TX
Genre: Indie Rock
LUCA takes it back to the 90s,
providing a sound similar to that
of Death Cab for Cutie or Ben
Folds. The indie band builds its
own instruments and records ev
erything itself, trying to be what
guitarist and lead vocalist Josh
Willis describes as “self-reliant as
possible.”
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^TEollegeStation, TX
Genre: Singer Songwriter
Communication junior Graham
Thompson and business sophomore
Tara Schickedanz sat next to each
other in class one day and later be
came an acoustic duo. The couple
already has a song called “kinda
love you” on iTunes. Thompson
said what sets the duo apart from
other bands is the story, and how
they communicate with each other
on stage with their music. Using
only one acoustic guitar and vocals,
“two” will provide a mellow sound
with a sentimental feel.
.
gir|.
King and Nation
College Station, TX
Genre: Indie Rock
Self described as “indie groove
rock” King and Nation likes to
push the limits when writing new
songs and have distinctive energy when
performing. The band relies heavily on
electric guitar and experimentation with new
songs to try something new every time. King
and Nation just released a song on Spotify earlier
this month titled “Leave You Behind,” which accom
panies a five-song album released last year.
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PHOTOS PROVIDED
Ottoman Turks
The Ottoman Turks are a band
with members of all musical
backgrounds from indie-pop to clas- Dallas TX
sic country to form a sound that is de- Gpnrpe Non-mithw
scribed by bassist Will Latham as, “Waylon ^ ^ Vl+ Bl
Jennings with Jack White as his guitarist.” The COlUltty, BlilGS,
Ottoman Turks will probably be the most south- GaragC Rock
ern sounding of all the bands in the competition and
have claimed to be the noisiest.
Georgia first up on three-game men's basketball homestand
By Lawrence Smelser
I n their last home game, the Aggies played in front
I of the most crowded Reed Arena since 2011.
I Against Georgia on Wednesday, they’re ready for
I an encore.
Just more than halfway through the SEC schedule,
the Aggies sit tied for second place. They’ll have a
three-game homestand to secure their standing.
Georgia (15-7, 6-4 SEC) is tied for third in the SEC,
one game back of Texas A&M. The team comes into
College Station after a win at home against Tennessee.
On Jan. 31, Georgia had a five game winning streak
snapped by South Carolina, while A&M has won seven
of its last eight.
A&M head coach Billy Kennedy said being physical
is an important factor against Georgia.
“They’re a balanced scoring team, they’ve got five
guys averaging double figures, they’re a veteran team,
they have two senior post guys that present a lot of
problems, they can shoot the ball and they can score
around the basket, so it will be a really physical game
and we’ll have to set the tone with how physical we
want to play,” Kennedy said.
Georgia is led in scoring and rebounding by senior
GEORGIA ON PG. 2
Outcome of Obama tuition
proposal on Blinn uncertain
By Jack Riewe
By Gracie Mock
When President Barack Obama
^ proposed offering two-year
community college free of tuition
to responsible students, Blinn stu
dents were left wondering how this
could affect Blinn college and Texas
A&M in the future.
The proposal pertains to students
who maintain at least a 2.5 GPA,
are enrolled at least half-time and
are steadily working towards their
degrees.
“Put simply, what I’d like to see
is the first two years of community
college free for everybody who is
willing to work for it,” Obama said
in the State of the Union address
earlier this year. “That’s right, free
for anyone willing to work for it.
That’s something we can accom
plish and it’s something that will
train our workforce so we can com
pete with anybody in the world.”
Richard Bray, Blinn College mar
keting and communications associ
ate director, said it will be interesting
to see how far the proposal goes.
“Obviously when you’re dealing
with both federal and state funding,
that means there’s going to be a lot
of hoops to jump through,” Bray
said. “But, from Blinn College’s
perspective, we’re just excited. We
COLLEGE ON PG. 2
Open forum recalibrates Vision 2020 strategy
Plan aims to make Texas A&M
students more marketable
By Wade Feielin
The Office of the Provost held the
^ first of four open forums Tuesday
aimed at developing a strategic plan for
Texas A&M’s next five years as part of
Vision 2020.
The forum, which took place in
Rudder Tower, was open to all faculty
and staff. Provost Karan Watson said
this open nature is essential to develop
ing an all-inclusive strategy.
“One of the most important things
about a strategic plan is the planning,”
Watson said. “When you get everybody
involved you usually come out with
better ideas of what you should do, and
more people are ready to push on the
plan when you do that. It is important
to get their inputs and generate involve
ment so we can really surge forward.”
Nine strategic objectives were laid
out for discussion at the forum, focused
namely on improving student outcomes
during their time at A&M and beyond
as well as building a diverse student
body.
Watson said Texas A&M graduates
are highly sought after, and a large part
of that is dependent on the experiences
they have.
“ [Students] already have a lot of ser
vice learning but we need to make sure
they have the research learning,” Wat
son said. “We need to keep and grow
the service learning, and we need to
have international learning. The reason
our students will be highly sought after
and placed well is because we do highly
impactful things, and not all of those are
in the classroom.”
Watson said activities such as The
Big Event and other A&M traditions
aren’t benchmarked against other uni
versities, but help to give Aggie gradu
ates a strong, well-rounded education.
VISION 2020 ON PG. 2
Sarah Lane —THE BATTALION
University Provost Karan Watson leads the Vision
2020 forum Tuesday. The discussion centered on nine
objectives that would improve student outcomes.
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FEBRUARY 11,2015
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