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THURSDAY, APRIL 25

FEATURES Incoming Blinn transfer shares Title IX experience and plans to channel it for change. A2

@THEBATTONLINE

BASEBALL No. 1 Aggies prepare to host No. 20 Georgia in another ranked SEC matchup. B3

EVENTS IN AGGIELAND Wellfest 2024 April 27 Indie Artist Showcase April 27 Mike Evans Foundation Bash April 27

For the love of birds

A&M program studies migratory avian fatalities on campus, solutions By J.M. Wise @j_m_wise25

Graphic by Chris Swann — THE BATTALION

Scenes from ‘74

Follow Aggies down memory lane, guided by old Battalion headlines By Amy Leigh Steward @amyleighsteward

“Do you remember when … ?” “I haven’t seen him since …” “Who was it that … ?” “Oh, did you hear what happened to … ?” The Class of 1974 spent last week rewinding through their years at Texas A&M — recounting stories they’ve told a thousand times like reruns of their favorite TV episodes. Episode 1: “Right On, Bevo Snatchers” (originally aired Fall 1972) “Somebody’s yelling, ‘Bevo’s in the quad!’” Karen McNeely said. McNeely and the rest of the sleeping campus woke up to yelling, chaos and a familiar face — University of Texas mascot Bevo, kidnapped in the middle of the night by anonymous A&M students. Even now, alumni compare rumors, featuring details that grow more outlandish with each passing year.

“Part of the story goes that the Aggies got stopped by a Texas highway patrolman,” Chuck Friesenhahn said. “He was going to arrest them, but then he saw what was going on and he happened to be an Aggie. So he just said, ‘Y’all be careful,’ and sent them on their way.” Those in the know always call over Griff Lasley, former-Head Yell Leader, to the conversation. Lasley said he remembers the kidnapping fondly — as a spectator, of course, since the university never pinpointed who did it. “I was never formally accused,” Lasley said. He did, however, want to set the story straight on what the night looked like. Theoretically. “Let’s say it was a U-Haul trailer — a U-Haul truck,” Lasley said. “That might have had a flat on that road where you get off to Giddings and La Grange. And the tire was actually fixed — could have been actually fixed — by the U-Haul people because they don’t put tire tools in U-Haul trucks. That could have happened.” Lasley claimed to not know for sure. But what seems to be the case is that Bevo, despite being from t.u., was a good sport throughout his adventure. “I’ve heard from people that have

had hands-on experience with Bevo it’s a very good animal,” Lasley said. “Just has bad ownership.” Episode 2: “The Devil’s Disciple” (originally aired November 1973)

“We were cast as husband and wife,” Allelia Scott said. In November 1973, Allelia Scott, then Allelia Worrall, acted opposite Mark Scott in the Aggie Players’ production of “The Devil’s Disciple.” Their offstage story mirrored thousands of onstage romances — with a heroine just out of reach in Act I. “I was engaged to somebody else at the time,” Allelia said. “But that fell apart because he really got pretty weird on me. He wanted us to change our religion so we could be better atheists. And I said, ‘Oh. A little bit of your head is on quite backwards, sideways, maybe it’s upside down.’ So that, you know, was just never going to work.” By Act II, hijinks of the supporting cast intervened. The Scotts found themselves pushed together by The Aggie Players whether they planned it or not. “The director’s wife had decided Mark and I would be a good couple, so she had kind of influenced things

in this cast decision,” Allelia said. “And then during the cast party, the wrap party, they kept trying to get us isolated in the kitchen together so that he would ask me out to a football game.” It wasn’t long before Mark and Allelia caught on. He, on the encouragement of cast and crew, asked her to go to the Rice game — just in time for Act III. A&M’s football game against Rice that year went down as one of the most violent in A&M history. “Their band did a parody of A&M,” Buster Williford said. He played saxophone in the Aggie Band at the time. “We had just marched. We were in the stands. They wore these funky hats, did this military mis-step, and then they had these leashes and played, ‘Where, Oh Where, Has My Little Dog Gone?’ Making fun of Reveille. Then they made this bad T and started playing the war hymn. And hell broke loose.” A&M fans, specifically alumni, left the stands to storm the field. A brawl broke out between the schools, and the Rice band was escorted from the stadium by police to break up the chaos — a truly theatrical setting for the Scotts’ first date. 1974 ON PG. A3

BUILD breaks ground on new home When volunteers work during the

shovels to symbolize the start of the

operations of five teams to manage

planning for a permanent structure. Construction is expected to begin May 1. Civil engineering senior Lauryn Kastenschmidt organizes and manages an executive team of members for BUILD as the chief executive officer. “This permanent structure is something that BUILD students have been talking about … one of the first things you realize when you come to volunteer for us is that it’s really hot, especially during the day with the sun beating down on you,” Kastenschmidt said. The groundbreaking ceremony, which will take place on Saturday, April 27, will feature speeches from members and donors highlighting the organization’s history. There will also be a ceremonial dig with

out there, and we get to see what the finished product will look like,” Kastenschmidt said. “I love it a lot because I am a civil engineering major, so looking over the plans … is really great first-hand experience on project management, how to read plans and how they design the foundation.” The organization keeps in touch with its clinics to celebrate the project’s wide-scale impact. It has completed over 47 clinics shipped to over 22 countries. “We just celebrated our 10th anniversary last year, and it’s mind-boggling what we have been able to do within the past 10 years … the sheer amount we have produced is just amazing,” Kastenschmidt said. Biomedical sciences junior Ian Wiechers has been overseeing the

ics going overseas to Africa, Europe, Asia and South America, and some are staying here in Texas, making an impact on the ground for places that don’t have the infrastructure but also by unitng the student body.” The permanent structure will be the organization’s official presence on campus. “We’re going to have a covered work area with some fans that provide shade and cooling, and then we’ll have a small building under that structure that will have two handicap-accessible bathrooms as well as a check-in room to make the experience for volunteers that come a little bit faster and smoother,” Kastenschmidt said. “Now we can work year-round instead of just 10 weeks in the fall.”

New indoor facility will night, they put up temporary lights permanent location’s construction. the project as the chief operating construction. These is“Another exciting thing is that officer. allow student volunteers tosues,continue including the lack of a place we got our final plans in renderings “I think BUILD has different levfor volunteers to cool off, were from our architects, so this will be els of impact,” Wiechers said. “You to work year-round considered as the organization was kind of the first time that it will be have the global impact of these clinBy Mikayla Martinez @mikayla25news

Students have come together to build clinics out of shipping containers to provide increased healthcare worldwide — a reflection of the Aggie spirit. The student organization BUILD’s mission is to unite the student body through a large-scale service project in the fall semester. BUILD mobilized five clinics this spring to countries like Nigeria and Ukraine. BUILD has over 5,000 volunteers, but its outdated work site is becoming increasingly difficult to manage. Volunteers have to walk to the General Services Complex to wash paint brushes and use the bathroom, cutting work days short.

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The deadliest building on campus for birds is one dedicated to studying them. At least 23 birds this year have been killed from window collisions at the AgriLife complex alone. Ecology and conservation biology junior Skyler Nix leads local bird enthusiasts around a four-mile loop around campus to count bird strikes and send the deceased birds to a teaching collection. As the program coordinator for ‘Lights Out College Station,’ a program that campaigns for lights to be turned off from 11pm to 6am along migration routes, Nix has witnessed many bird strikes personally. More bird fatalities are recorded on Texas A&M’s campus than the entire city of Dallas, Nix said. On April 22nd, an estimated 2,463,500 birds crossed the Brazos Valley in one night, according to Birdcast. With the slow-flowing waters of the Brazos River, birds can find food, water and a quick break before continuing their journey southwards. One-third of these birds will die during their migration, due in no small part to window strikes. As birds navigate using the moon at night, lighted windows attract and confuse them, leading to collisions. These numbers are unacceptable to bird lovers and campus researchers, who have banded together to reduce bird fatalities with the “Lights Out College Station” campaign. Through education and outreach, the program helps raise awareness about the dangers of light pollution. Nix is using collision data and student reports of bird strikes to continue his work. “We really are trying to establish a data baseline, to convince university decision makers that this is something worth taking action on — not just in downtown centers, but here on our own campus,” Nix said. Zoology senior Maddie Pearson is an avid birdwatcher. On a clear day on campus, she can be found peering through a monocular, searching for elusive migratory birds that have recently returned. “I think a lot of people are not aware that there even are [migratory] birds on campus,” Pearson said. “Like the western kingbird and scissor-tailed flycatchers just migrated back … I see them every day.” Pearson and other birdwatchers have witnessed the rapid decline of migrating birds over a few years. “I’ve talked to older birdwatchers, and they’ll talk about spots that they used to really love, and there’s just not the amount of birds there that there is supposed to be …” Pearson said. Pearson said the massive glass windows of modern architecture are killing birds. “I’ve seen firsthand at Evans Library, I’ve watched a yellow-breasted chat dive headfirst into the window,” Pearson said. Pearson said human-made issues make migration dangerous for birds. On-campus researchers visit hot spots for bird strikes, searching for deceased or stunned birds. The remains are brought into the Biodiversity Research and Teaching BIRDS ON PG. A3