thebattalion ● wednesday,
march 26, 2014
● serving
texas a&m since 1893
● first paper free – additional copies $1 ● © 2014 student media
TEXAS A&M 85 JAMES MADISON 69
Aimee Breaux — THE BATTALION
Junior political science major Levi Bohanan will share his experiences with “pray the gay away” therapy on Thursday at the weekly LGBT Aggies meeting.
lgbt
Gay student turns painful past into progress Tyler Stafford — THE BATTALION
(From left) Junior forward Tavarsha Scott-Williams, sophomore forward Courtney Williams and sophomore guard Jordan Jones celebrate Tuesday following the win over James Madison.
HOW SWEET IT IS
Women’s basketball brushes aside James Madison, jets into NCAA Sweet 16 Tyler Stafford The Battalion
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ed by its trio of star sophomores, the 3-seed Texas A&M basketball team defeated the 11-seed James Madison Dukes 85-69 before a rowdy Tuesday night crowd of 7,095 at Reed Arena. The second-round victory grants the Aggies a pass to the Sweet 16, where they will face 7-seed Depaul in Lincoln, Neb., on Saturday. This is the sixth time an A&M team has advanced to the NCAA Division I Tournament third round. Sophomore Jordan Jones, who
broke the school’s single season assists record Sunday, dished out 16 assists and added nine points. Jones now has 253 assists for the 2013-14 season. “This team really thrives on transition,” Jones said. “Once we get to pushing transition it really gives us the look that we want out of secondary — and then eventually setting up our offense.” Courtney Williams led all players with 23 points. The sophomore has now scored double-digit points in 11 straight games and 29 overall this year. “I just tried to take what the defense gave me and find the open layups,” Williams said. “When I did get
the ball in transition, I just tried to find my teammates also because I’m not a selfish player.” Sophomore guard Courtney Walker added 18 points of her own as well as seven rebounds and two steals. Playing in her final home game, senior center Karla Gilbert — a graduate of A&M Consolidated High School — scored 20 points and pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds. Gilbert also added two blocks Sunday, adding to her school single season record and giving her 64 on the year. “She’s got the heart of gold,” head See Tournament on page 3
Conflict, conservation mesh in photographer’s work Howard Buffett uses photos for education Bradley D’Souza The Battalion
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rom a blood diamond conflict in Sierra Leone to the Mount Hagen Festival in Papua New Guinea, Howard G. Buffett has captured stories from across the globe. Already given the opportunity to interact with his photography, students were able to hear these accounts when Buffett spoke on campus Tuesday. Buffett discussed the inspiration and motivation behind his photos, which are on display on the fourth floor of the Agriculture and Life Sciences Building. Students enrolled in a Methods of Environmental Interpretation course will use the stories behind Buffett’s photos to create interpretive webpages for each photo. Buffett said he got his start in photojournalism after borrowing his daughter’s camera, and his newfound hobby soon developed into a love of photography. “I used to borrow her camera all the time,” Buffett said. “My wife finally bought me a camera. I just started taking pictures on the farm. Then I got interested in wildlife and that’s when I started to buy better cameras. I worked into it.” Depicting scenes of conflict and wildlife, Buffett said his photography reflects
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his interests in conflict and conservation. Describing his interest in the connection between poverty, wildlife and conflict as one of necessity, Buffett said people rarely try to solve problems by addressing all aspects of the issue. “You find out that people won’t try
certain things in conflict areas,” Buffett said. “For us, it became an area where there was a lack of resources and a lack of interest. Someone said to me, ‘You have to separate hunger from conflict,’ and it just blew me away. You can’t, See Buffett on page 2
Tanner Garza — THE BATTALION
Howard Buffett speaks on campus Tuesday regarding his exhibit in the Agriculture and Life Sciences Building and says his work reflects his interests.
Club president shares ‘pray away the gay’ story Aimee Breaux The Battalion
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hen Levi Bohanan, junior political science major, came out to his parents in eighth grade, his parents began sending him to retreats and local Christian therapy sessions designed to encourage young individuals to reject a homosexual orientation. The sessions continued through high school until Bohanan’s parents, unable to come to terms with his sexuality, kicked him out of their house. Bohanan said describing the experience is difficult to this day, but Thursday in Koldus 111 he will do just that as he attempts to explain the situation that was, at times, too
complex to accurately express with words. Bohanan said group members at the sessions were told every week that they should hate their gay identities, and he and his fellow attendees often took the message to heart. Due to the depression many of his peers suffered from, Bohanan said one of his friends committed suicide and another was hospitalized after an attempted suicide. “It’s like if you tell someone they are stupid for long enough, they will believe it,” Bohanan said. “People began to believe it.” Despite this, Bohanan said his presentation in Koldus is not meant to be a sob story. Bohanan said that in a twisted way, he wants to turn the experience into something he can use to his advantage one day. “I don’t want this to be a See Bohanan on page 4
environment
A&M professors respond in wake of Texas oil spill Buoys used to prevent spread near the Port of Houston Alexander Nelowet The Battalion
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exas A&M system professors have answered the call to action following Saturday’s oil spill in Galveston Bay, helping locate spilled oil and gauge environmental effects. A collision between a barge and tanker in the Houston Ship Channel Saturday led up to 170,000 gallons of oil being spilled into the water, effectively shutting down the channel until Tuesday. Steve DiMarco, oceanography professor and lead for the Ocean Observing Systems, said the spill has had many negative effects in the area, blocking traffic in the ship channel and resulting in multiple environmental impacts. DiMarco said the Texas General Land Office has been in contact with A&M professors about their Texas Automated Buoy System, which
assists in monitoring currents and can be used to predict where the oil might end up. “We have been very busy providing information to the state of Texas, to local and state responders that are going out and needing information on where to put booms [floating barriers] and where the impact is going to be on the ocean side,” DiMarco said. The state of Texas has provided funding for A&M to gather information in the event of an oil spill for almost 20 years, DiMarco said, though most oil spills have not been this large. “Oil spills happen fairly often, maybe not this big, but they actually happen often,” DiMarco said. “Usually the spills are just a barrel or two. It has to be over a certain threshold for it to be considered an actual spill. This size of an oil spill doesn’t happen very often.” Mary Wicksten, biology professor, said the primary goal of the cleanup should be to protect the salt marshes from being infiltrated by the oil. Wicksten said the booms See Oil spill on page 4
3/26/14 12:06 AM