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 . •
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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