WEDNESDAY, APRILS, 2015 I SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 I © 2015 STUDENT MEDIA I ©THEBATTONLINE
Two late home runs spark A&M comeback over No. 15 Rice
By Andre Perrard
Time and time again, Texas
A&M has had its back against the
wall late in games. Tuesday night, the
No. 1 Aggies again came through late
to earn a hard-fought 4-3 win over
the No. 13 Rice Owls.
Two home runs in the seventh in
ning from Logan Nottebrok and JB
Moss led the A&M comeback, and
Ronnie Gideon garnered the game
winning RBI in the eighth.
The Aggies (31-2) were the first
to score off a Mitchell Nau RBI
double to right center field, which
gave A&M the early 1-0 lead. Rice
responded with a run of its own in
the next frame to tie the game at 1-1,
then a two-run fifth inning helped
Rice gain a 3-1 advantage over the
Aggies.
A&M tried to gain momentum
in the sixth. Nau ripped a ball down
the right field line, but was called
out trying to leg out a double, a call
with which the Olsen Field crowd
strongly disagreed. After that play,
A&M ended with no runs or hits in
the sixth.
The seventh inning was massive
for A&M. Trailing 3-1, the Aggies
hit back-to-back home runs to tie the
game 3-3. Moss hit the first one over
the scoreboard in left field to make
it a 3-2 game, and then Nottebrok
smashed a ball to straightaway center
field to tie the game. The Aggies have
now hit 12 home runs in the last Tour
games combined.
The eighth inning resembled what
has come to be known as Olsen Mag
ic. A&M managed to put runners on
the corners, and Ronnie Gideon
smacked a ball to shortstop and Nau
crossed the plate to give A&M the
game-winning run.
Sophomore infielder Ryne Birk gets a hit at Tuesday's game
against Rice.
Lena© Allen —THE BATTALION
Campus houses international collection of ocean samples
By Lenae Allen
■■■■ he need to collect ocean soil samples
is sending A&M researchers across
the globe. The latest expedition sent
researchers to Sri Lanka, where soil
samples joined the largest collection of soil
deposits from the earth’s mantle, located just
off Discovery Drive.
The collection’s size is the result of the
National Science Foundation’s decision to
fund the International Ocean Discovery
Program, IODP, in 1984. Through the
international program, various science or
ganizations have the opportunity to send
researchers aboard the JOIDES Resolution,
a scientific drilling ship manned by 100 peo
ple that collects data world-wide.
The end location for most samples col
lected in these voyages is the Gulf Coast
Repository at A&M.
Phil Rumford, superintendent of the
Gulf Coast repository, said the Earth’s
ocean sediments contain a unique record of
the planet’s history and structure. Through
examining the sediments collected by the
JOIDES Resolution, researchers work to
answer questions such as what the global
climate looked like 55 million years ago and
how plate tectonics move.
Mitch Malone, assistant director of sci
ence services and manager of science opera
tions, said 25 countries are participating.
“They send money to the U.S. so they
can put their scientists on board,” Malone
said.
Malone said expeditions go out every
two months with a rotation of researchers
and technicians. On the latest expedition,
many of the staff in the IODP left for Sri
Lanka to switch with their homebound
counterparts to begin a new wave of drill
ing collections.
Serving as one of only three programs
of its kind in the world, the IODP drills
and maintains the largest collection of soil
deposits from the Earth’s mantle extracted
from the sub-ocean floor.
Drill bits cost between $12,000 and
$17,000 per unit. Often, in harder sediment,
the ship is only able to use a drill bit once
before they have to attach another.
Collections are refrigerated on ship after
a drilling to prevent molding. They’re sent
back to the IODP library in College Station,
where scientists who studied aboard the ship
have a year’s unlimited access to the collec
tions. After the year, tubes are free game
to curious geologists, microbiologists and
other scientists.
Comprised of more than 12,000 kilome
ters of clay, hard rock and softer sediments,
OCEAN DRILLING ON PG. 2
Q&A
From campus to coral reef
Shelby Knowles — THE BATTALION
Jim Woosley, shown above, is speaker of Faculty Senate
and a scuba diving instructor.
The Battalion news reporter
Heaven Martinez sat down
with Jim Woosley, speaker
of the Faculty Senate and
scuba diving instructor.
THE BATTALION: As
speaker of the Faculty
Senate, what are some
responsibilities you hold?
WOOSLEY: Well as speaker
of the Faculty Senate I lead
the executive committee
of the senate and then 120
faculty total that represent
all of our colleges, including
the new Health Science
Center and Law School that
we recently joined up with.
The speaker is the leader
who is representative of
their colleges and faculty
within each person's
responsibilities. As a group,
we make decisions and try
to comment and help the
administration work through
situations and concerns
related to various things, but
mostly academic initiatives.
THE BATTALION: How long
have you worked with the
Faculty Senate? How long
have you held the position
as speaker?
WOOSLEY: Let me give
you a little background of
the Faculty Senate. When
you're elected as a senator
from your college, you
serve a three-year term and
then you can be reelected
multiple times. I have been
elected probably six terms
as a representative and I
have been at the university
for 32 years. The speaker
is just a one-year position,
but... you serve one year
as speaker elect, then you
serve a year as speaker and
then you serve a year as
former speaker, so it is kind
of a three-year position. I've
served on the executive
committee of our Faculty
Senate about six years at
various times throughout my
IVOOSLEY ON PG. 4
Group hopes
to shed light
on modern
slavery
By Olivia Knight
A little girl in Africa. A small family in India.
A teenage girl in College Station.
These seemingly unconnected people could all
be victims of the same crime — modern slavery. .
Modern slavery is a global problem to which
the International Justice Mission, IJM, wants to
bring awareness. Along with other chapters across
the United States, the Texas A&M IJM chapter is
hosting its Stand For Freedom event in Rudder
Plaza Wednesday as students stand for 24 hours in
solidarity with slavery victims.
“Modern day slavery is completely different
than historic slavery,” said Lauren Sanders, com
munication sophomore and chapter president-to-
be. “It happens around the world, and it happens
in so many more areas than just agriculture. They
can be enslaved through prostitution. They can
be enslaved by working in factories, for example,
a common occurrence essentially in India is peo
ple can be trapped working in brick factories.”
Lindsey Landers, business management senior
and chapter treasurer, said it is important to edu
cate and raise awareness that slavery still exists.
Christian Lowe, international studies junior,
said between 200,000 and 300,000 people are
trafficked annually in the United States alone.
To respond to the problem, Congress is at
tempting to pass a human trafficking bill, S. 553,
also called the End Modern Slavery Initiative
Act. Unlike others in the past, Lowe said this one
IJM ON PG. 2
REMEMBRANCE
Quidditch
team retires
jersey of
fallen player
PROVIDED
Karen Barnett, shown above, had her
jersey retired by the Quidditch team.
By Evan Flores
The Texas A&M Quidditch team retired jer-
sey number 55 on March 31 in honor of its
teammate Karen Barnett, a Chaser on the Silver
Phoenix team, who died earlier in March and
who had played since her freshman year.
Barnett will be honored at Muster, but in the
meantime her Quidditch teammates wanted to
remember Barnett in their own way.
Rosemary Ross, president of the Quidditch
team, said the Quidditch officers decided to retire
Barnett’s jersey number to honor her life and her
position on the team.
“Karen had been playing as a Chaser for years,
starting as a freshman and played even past her
graduation,” Ross said. “We’ve never retired a
jersey in the program before, but it was suggested
to us by her boyfriend and at the officer meeting
we unanimously voted to retire jersey number
55 in remembrance of her impact on the team.”
On the field, Barnett proved to be a formidable
player, said Alyssa York, Chaser on the starting
A&M Quidditch team.
“The defining characteristic of Karen as a play
er was that she was ferocious,” York said. “She
was the sweetest girl you’d ever meet, but on the
Quidditch pitch she would go and tackle guys
QUIDDITCH ON PG. 2