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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 27, 2015)
FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2015 I SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 I © 2015 STUDENT MEDIA I ©THEBATTONLINE Shelby Knowles — THE BATTALION DISASTER BROUGHT TO LIFE A&M hosts largest Disaster Day to date By Sam Scott ■ n the largest Disaster Day yet, I students throughout A&M’s I Nursing School and related col- I leges lived through a desperate medical narrative yesterday. In two training exercises, trainees were pre sented with a scenero that simulated a wildfire and a fuel tanker explosion near a high school left over a hundred casualties with burns, blood loss and trauma. The scenario was devised by the Texas A&M Health Science Center for their annual Disaster Day, a stu- dent-mn mass casualty disaster train ing exercise. The Central Baptist Church saw more than 700 volunteers play the roles of victims and bystanders. To care for these volunteers, more than 350 students from the Health Science Center’s College of Nursing, College of Medicine, Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy and School of Public Health as well as students from Blinn College also came to the scene. Alexis Cooper, College of Nurs ing student and one of this year’s Di saster Day incident commanders, said the goal of the event is to provide students with the preparation to per form health care skills successfully in the real world. DISASTER DAY ON PG. 4 EDITOR'S NOTE SERVICE POLITICS The Batt has a new website Mark Dore @Mark_Dore M ML M ith the same commitments to ■ strong news and an informed ■■ student body it has held to ■■ since 1893, The Battalion is proud to introduce its new online plat form. Much of it will feel familiar, but the overhaul to thebatt.com represents a major upgrade to the readability and ease of access for the same student-driven stories and coverage consistent through The Bait’s long history. The new site emphasizes simplicity and reader experience. We left out many of the bells and whistles; Aggies seem to have little patience for them, anyway. We prefer to let the hard work of our student reporters, photographers, graphic artists and editors shine through. Students get their news online, which is of surprise to no one. The Battalion has worked to develop a strong online pres ence for years, and this is simply the next step in that progression. Our print editions aren’t going anywhere, and Twitter and Facebook remain some of the quick est avenues for interaction with our staff and our work, but now thebatt.com — a fixture of the outlet for years — has been given a polish and luster it has never before known. We’re excited to share it with you. Mark Dore is an English senior and editor- in-chief for The Battalion. siyisxY Alli Bradshaw — THE BATTALION Big Event to call Research Park home By Bradley D’Souza This year’s Big Event opening ceremo- ^ ny has a new home in Research Park to compensate for the growing number of participants in the largest student-run service project nationwide. Big Event Outreach Director Robert Kil- lion said the switch from Reed Arena’s Lot 100 is expected to be the new norm for years to come. “Moving the Kickoff Ceremony to Re search Park will allow us to really fit the huge number of students that we need to for this year, as well as for the future and the lon gevity of The Big Event,” Killion said. “We maybe could have made Lot 100 work this year, but we wanted something that would be sustainable for the future as well.” BIG EVENT ON PG. 3 A&M to host 2016 presidential debate Administration looks to showcase university, get students involved By Spencer Davis 1^, The long road to the White House in ” 2016 will make a stop on campus next year if an application by Texas A&M Uni versity to host one of the four presidential debates is successful. The university is in the process of final izing a bid for one of the presidential or vice presidential debates to be held on campus during the general election. The debate, organized by the Commission on Presiden tial Debates, a private firm organized by the Republican and Democratic parties, would include the two candidates from both parties. University advocates say the debate would be an opportunity to showcase the university to a television audience of millions of viewers across the nation. Associate Provost for Strategic Planning Jose Luis Bermudez said the university hopes that the debate will breathe life into a young, apathetic voting bloc as a part of the Texas A&M’s “Strengthening Democracy Initia tive.” “Voter turnout in Texas is among the lowest in the United States, with particu larly poor levels of participation from young people aged 18 to 24,” Bermudez said. “We hope to get many more people directly in volved in the political process.” DEBATE ON PG. 2 GAMING A&M gamers look to bring home $150,000 By Josh Hopkins ^ Five Texas A&M students could find their ^ pockets $30,000 heavier after this weekend, simply through playing a video game. The Texas A&M League of Legends collegiate team will square off in the next stage of a tourna ment this weekend in hopes of winning $150,000. League of Legends is a Multiplayer Online Bat tle Arena, or MOBA, that launched in 2009 and currently nets over 27 million players daily. This year Riot Games, the developers of League of Legends, sponsored the collegiate league span ning across the U.S. and Canada that the Aggies will participate in this weekend. Trent Jones, economics senior and A&M team captain, said the tournament began last semester and consists of several different championships necessary to reach the finals, which are held in Los Angeles. LEAGUE OF LEGENDS ON PG. 2 v . • 1 ssilSSt' w 'arnmlB Tim Lai —THE BATTALION The Texas A&M League of Legends collegiate team — including Reid Towart, Grant Hewitt and Trent Jones — trains before competing in a Riot Games collegiate tournament this weekend. V ) EQUESTRIAN Aggies saddle up for SEC tourney Junior Hannah Jechow competes in reining against Auburn. A&M heads into postseason play with a 7-5 record By Seth Stroupe ^ The Texas A&M equestrian team ^ enters postseason play this weekend ranked No. 4 in the country despite being only two games over .500. In the competitive SEC conference, i the Aggies are 7-5 on the season. Of the five losses, three were at the hands of the top teams in the country — No. 1 South Carolina, No, 2 Georgia and No. 3 Bay lor. The other two losses were against No. 6 Auburn and SMU. There are 14 Division I equestrian pro grams in the country. Four of those teams are in the SEC, and every team in the con ference is ranked in the top six. Head equestrian coach Tana McKay said the SEC is by far the toughest com petition in the nation when it comes to equestrian. “The four.SEC equestrian teams are the only teams who have ever won an over all national championship,” McKay said. “That speaks volumes for the conference. Every meet is like playing for a national championship and that will only make you better.” Either Georgia, South Carolina, Au burn or A&M has won every overall na tional championship in equestrian since it was named an emerging sport by the NCAA in 2002. The good news for A&M is that this EQUESTRIAN ON PG. 4