thebattalion
campus news
Book unveiled
● monday,
Rudder: From Leader to Legend, the first comprehensive biography of one of World War II’s foremost heroes who later put Texas A&M University on its path to prominence — Gen. James Earl Rudder — was unveiled during campus ceremonies Thursday with the book’s author, Thomas M. Hatfield, recalling his long association with Gen. Rudder. The unveiling ceremonies were in front of the campus statue of the general. This first public celebration of the Rudder book comes almost a month ahead of the date of its actual release, April 21. Subsequent book-signing opportunities with Hatfield will be on campus.
Faculty members receive awards Texas A&M University and The Association of Former Students have selected 24 outstanding members of the school’s faculty and staff to be honored with 2011 Distinguished Achievement Awards. The awards have been awarded to 906 professionals, including this year’s recipients, who have exhibited the highest standards of excellence at Texas A&M. The 2011 Distinguished Achievement Awards will be presented at 1:30 p.m. April 27 during ceremonies in Rudder Theatre. Staff and wire reports
inside
b!
scene | 3 AggieCon
march 28, 2011
● serving
texas a&m since 1893
● first paper free – additional copies $1 ● © 2011 student media
Photo illustration by Josh McKenna — THE BATTALION
Aggie ring survives Texas Panhandle wildfire Katie Marie Pogue
The Battalion Wildfires recently plagued the Texas panhandle, leaving devastation in their path. The wildfires hit the Aggie community closer to home when fires in Lake Tanglewood outside of Amarillo left seven houses burned to the ground. One of the houses was the home of Arthur Garner, class of 1955. Among the ashes Garner’s grandsons unearthed something timeless and meaningful to any Aggie — his Aggie ring. The Lake Tanglewood volunteer fire department ascertained the wildfire was due to wind gusts up to 70 mph that knocked a sheet of metal off a roof, which then severed a power line and caught the surrounding grass on fire. Lake Tanglewood was one of many North Texas communities that suffered from the wildfires. Drought and
high winds spread fires responsible for destroying at least 68 homes, according to the Disaster News Network. On Feb. 27, Garner, along with the rest of the Lake Tanglewood volunteer fire department were fighting to extinguish wildfires in a neighboring community when they received the call that the flames were threatening their own community. The winds whipped up the fire and dispersed it throughout the canyon in unpredictable ways. “We had to hustle back to get the community evacuated,” Garner said. No one knew if they would be coming back to a house or to burning embers. Natalie Merki, a freshman allied health major and Garner’s neighbor, received a phone call from her mom as her family was pulling away from their house. Hundreds of miles away, only a phone connection joined her to her
family in that moment of horror. Her mom asked her if there was anything she would like her to try to run back in and save. “It was terrifying when my mom told me they were evacuating. Everyone wonders how they would react or what they would try to grab in the face of a fire; few people ever have to face the reality,” Merki said. In returning to their home in the next day the Merki family saw that their house only suffered smoke damage. Unfortunately, not everyone’s home was still standing. Throughout Lake Tanglewood, one side of a street was left untouched while the opposite side houses were burned to the foundation. Garner and his wife were one of the families who lost their home in the
Melting points ◗ 24 karat yellow gold melts at 1947 degrees Fahrenheit ◗ Higher karat gold has higher melting points ◗ The average house fire burns between 1200 and 1700 degrees Fahrenheit ◗ Natural gas burns at 1200 degrees Fahrenheit in a room
See Ring on page 4
politics
Students lobby Congress against cuts Rebecca Hutchinson
The Battalion Lobbying groups are used to influence the decision-making process on Capitol Hill, and during spring break a group of six A&M students added their voices. These six students participated in the Big 12 on the Hill conference. Representatives from each school in the Big 12 traveled to Washington D.C., to advocate for higher education reform on behalf of college students.
The six Aggies said the experience gave them hope for the future of higher education and conviction about the dedication of Congress. “One of the congressmen that we talked to told us that our voices stay with him when he goes to vote and that we play a big role in his passion for why he does what he does, and that was really cool to hear,” said Marshall Bowen, a member of the Student Government Association and the leader of the group. The first day of the three-day con-
ference began March 9 when students from each school broke off into groups of four and met with members of Congress. The second day, the individual school group met with Texas representatives. Though school representatives did not officially come advocating a specific piece of legislation except for continual funding of higher education, A&M’s six representatives focused on Pell Grants, scholarships funded by the federal government. “It was easy to be non-biased about
Pell Grants, because there are two plans and each would cut funding for students. In the president’s plan, 800,000 students would no longer receive Pell Grants. The Republican plan would cut 1.7 million so it was very easy for us to go up there and talk to members on both sides of the aisle about the importance of this,” said Sarah Andrews, a master’s student in public service and administration at the Bush School of Government and Public Service. See Capitol on page 7
student activities
community service
AggieCon 42, the College Station version of Comiccon, welcomed students and community members this weekend for sci-fifilled festivities.
Self defense club teaches practical skills
Big Event participants work hard, reach goals
sports | 5 On to the Elite Eight
Special to The Battalion “Self defense training is strange in that it’s something that you will spend a large amount of time doing, but you hope you are never forced into a situation in which you must use it,” said Bradley Zemanek, a junior construction science major and founder of the Texas A&M Self Defense Club. The Texas A&M Self Defense Club helps train those at Texas A&M in Krav Maga and the Keysi Fighting Method in order to defend themselves. Zemanek began the process of making the Texas A&M Self Defense Club a recognized organization in the summer of 2010. They were able to start training this spring semester. Zemanek found inspiration to start the club after taking a self-defense kinesiology class. Teri Wenzel, Zemanek’s kinesiology
The No. 2 A&M women’s basketball team cruised into the regional finals with a 79-38 pasting of Georgia Sunday in Dallas.
Pg. 1-03.28.11.indd 1
Naila Dhanani
Josh Harms
Stephanie Leichtle — THE BATTALION
Junior Ethan Cartwright, environmental studies major and sophomore John Tee, anthropology major, practice Krav Maga, the Israeli form of self-defense. instructor and faculty adviser of the club, told Zemanek The University of Sidekicks Gym was looking for a student leader to start a Krav Maga club at A&M, and Zemanek jumped at the opportunity. See Defense on page 7
The Battalion As The Big Event participants geared up for a day overflowing with selfless service, a core value of Texas A&M University, President R. Bowen Loftin said: “It’s another great day in Aggieland.” About 15,000 Aggies gathered in front of Reed Arena Saturday morning for food to fuel themselves up for the big day, some motivational words and a yell practice. Then participants scattered out across the community to rake leaves, paint houses and perform other tasks. Johnson Elementary School put on a carnival and wanted The Big Event to help out. “It was perfect. We planned
our biggest event of the year around The Big Event. It allows the parents to enjoy the auction with their children and the students were just fantastic. We appreciate A&M doing The Big Event and getting students to volunteer. It really helps the community,” said Mary Beth Badgett, vice president of the school’s ParentTeacher Organization. A record-breaking number of students came out to participate in this year’s event. “It was really cool. I always love seeing the big force of students at Reed Arena. We all worked together and knocked it out. And we made a difference in the community,” said See Service on page 2
3/27/11 7:10 PM