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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 2, 2015)
MONDAY, MARCH 2, 2015 I SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 ©THEBATTONLINE Shelby Knowles — THE BATTALION What's up with Hazlewood? Possible exemption expansion has Aggie eyes on Hazlewood By Jennifer Reiley federal judge’s rul- ing could cost Texas universities millions of dollars in out-of- mM Vt state veterans tuition exemptions, leaving Texas A&M to wonder where the funding will come from. Students attending A&M un der the Hazlewood Act — in cluding those who stand to ben efit from its possible expansion — expressed mixed feelings about the situation. About 1,100 veterans attend Texas A&M, said Col. jerry Smith, director of the Veterans Resource and Support Center. Delisa Falks, executive director of scholarships and financial aid, said 1,808 students, veterans and dependents included, are exempt under Hazlewood. The Hazlewood Act, created in 1929, today allows veterans and their dependents to receive up to 150 semester credit hours free. The wording of the act requires that veterans have enlisted in the military while living in Texas. A ruling by U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein Jr. at the end of HAZLEWOOD ON PC. 3 Veterans deserve support, regardless of boundaries Katy Stapp @KatyxStapp ■ ’m what people would call a I “military brat.” I was bom in I a little town called Bedford in England, within driving distance of the nearby United States Air Force base where my dad was stationed in 1993. On Sept. 11, 2001, I watched my dad pack a bag and place it by the door, just in case “duty called.” Luckily for my little sister and me, it never did. But I developed a whole new respect for him after seeing him pack that bag — the looming orange duffel bag by the door meant he didn’t need to be asked twice to be ready to go if needed. After my sophomore year of college, my dad had three daughters in college, two sons in private school and taxes to pay, so he asked me to make a trip to the Financial Aid Office to inquire about a Texas legisla tive act with a weird name —— the Hazlewood Act. OPINION ON PG. 3 TRADITIONS Wednesday revote to decide Yell positions SGA election results scrapped, revote to take place Wednesday By Trey Reeves w In light of the Senior Yell Leaders’ de- cision to scrap the SGA election results, a revote is planned for Wednesday starting at 6 a.m. and ending at 11:59 p.m. Students will vote online at voteyell. tamu.edu, and results will be announced as early as Thursday evening, said MSC Presi dent Ryan Trantham, who was appointed the special election commissioner for the revote process by Student Affairs director Rusty Thompson. Drew McMillen, associate director of Recreational Sports, will serve as advisor. Trantham said he has worked with univer sity staff members to establish revote regu lations and was selected in part because of his lack of affiliation with any of the parties involved. With such a short turnaround, candidates will have a special set of rules, including campaign restrictions and penalties assessed to vote totals for violations. “There will be a modified campaign period beginning [Sunday night] after the candidates’ meeting until the end of elec tion day on Wednesday,” Trantham said. “Essentially, candidates are confined to an electronic/social media campaign only. No sign holding, speaking engagements, distribution of physical campaign materials such as flyers or active solicitation of votes through any non-electronic media will be permitted.” The decision to hold a revote follows an SGA Judicial Court appeal alleging the in stant runoff voting system used during the original Feb. 19-20 election failed to ac count for all student votes. Only first-place ballots were counted in the original elec tion, the appeal argued. A J-Court ruling on the appeal was delayed until Monday, though any possible recount was nullified by the Yell Leaders’ decision. According to the Yell Leader Constitu tion, each student is entitled to three equal ly weighted votes for Senior Yell Leader and two for Junior Yell Leader, but Head Yell Leader Patrick McGinty said the SGA ballot was not clear about the number of votes that would be counted and asked stu dents to rank up to 10 candidates in order of preference. He, along with the other Senior Yell Leaders, decided another vote was the only way to ensure the proper methodology was used. “I hoped there would be an easy fix, but because the ballots weren’t worded in line with our constitution, doing a recount would have required making assumptions about all 11,369 students that voted,” Mc- YELL LEADER ON PG. 2 CUSHING BASEBALL Martin presents ‘The Hobbit’ 'Game of Thrones' author talks about his ties to Sci-Fi By Sam King ^ Clad in his signature hat and ^ armed with his sense of humor, George R.R. Martin, author of the popular book series that inspired the HBO hit “Game of Thrones,” presented University Libraries with its five-millionth volume on Friday. Martin presented Texas A&M, which houses his personal reposi tory in Cushing Library, with a first edition copy of “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien. Martin, author of the “Song of Ice and Fire” series, has had a long standing relationship with A&M, founded after a visit to AggieCon in the early 1970s. “I have a lot of friends among the Texas science fiction and fantasy writers, have since the 1970s, and sometime in the 1970s or 1980s, I don’t quite recall now what year it was, they invited me to come down and attend an AggieCon,” Martin said. “I enjoyed it, I came back for a number of years in a row, I was a guest a couple of times at AggieCon and during one of those visits, I don’t recall which one, I was given a tour of the special collections.” AggieCon is the oldest student- run multi-genre convention in the United States, begun in 1969 by Cepheid Variable, an A&M orga nization dedicated to supporting science fiction, fantasy, horror and other similar genres. Vanessa Pefia —THE BATTALION George R.R. Martin discusses how his ties to A&M began and provides advice for aspiring young writers at a presentation Friday. During one of Martin’s visits to A&M, he was given a tour of the library, where he was impressed by its volumes and prestige. In 1992 a van was sent to collect several box es of manuscripts, drafts, letters and more. “This collection, particularly of science-fiction and fantasy, you know I noticed a lot of other items, but for me, where I come from, the science-fiction fantasy [collection] is really outstanding, it’s probably one of the three best in the country and one of the 10 best in the world,” Martin said. “It’s pretty amazing and I’m glad to be a part of it.” Martin began writing at a young age and wasn’t an overnight success, even going so far as to take real es tate courses after realizing the chal lenges. His advice to young writers echoes the struggle of making a ca reer of writing. “Well I have a lot of advice for MARTIN ON PG. 2 Dartmouth sweep bumps undefeated A&M to 12-0 Aggies off to best season start since 1993 By Andre Perrard The weather in College Sta- r’ tion might be cold, but Texas A&M baseball stayed hot over the weekend. The Aggies completed their sweep of Dartmouth (0-3) on Sunday to move their record to 12-0 on the season. It is their best start since 1993, when the Aggies started 14-0. The 12-0 start feels good, said Blake Allemand, but the Aggies are not looking ahead. “It’s nice,” said a smiling Alle mand. “We take it one day at a time. Every day we are trying to go 1-0. Take it one at a time and play our best baseball. 12-0 feels pretty good.” The series started with a bang on Friday night, as A&M won a 4-3 BASEBALL ON PG. 4 Second baseman Ryne Birk hits during A&M's home lU! Win against Dartmouth Sunday. Cody Franklin— THE BATTALION