thebattalion l wednesday,
november 13, 2013
l serving
texas a&m since 1893
l first paper free – additional copies $1 l © 2013 student media
50 years of inclusion
Speakers to share integration stories One of first four black students admitted to A&M to speak Ashe Matocha The Battalion
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tudents can get a glimpse Wednesday of what Texas A&M was like when women and African-Americans were first allowed to enroll. MSC LEAD is hosting “Former Students’ Stories” at noon at Rudder Plaza, which will feature Rozanna Mendoza, Class of 1986, and Leroy Sterling, one of the first four African Americans admitted to the University in 1963. The former students will share their experiences from their days on campus during the University’s history of integration and discrimination issues. Justin Richardson, executive director of the MSC LEAD sub-community hosting the event and biomedical engineering major, said the event will give current students a unique perspective on the past by providing them with first-hand accounts. “The event will engage current students to recognize issues they may not have perceived as still relevant,” Richardson said. “With that knowledge they can be better prepared to face the future.” Current students will be able to ask the speakers questions about their life on campus during their times as students. “Oftentimes our past can inform our future, and if we can learn from our past we can better our future,” said Alec Krance, MSC LEAD chairperson and junior political science and psychology major. “It is my hope that students will learn of A&M’s past in regards to inclusion so they can see how important it is to take steps to be inclusive on today’s campus.” Linley Martin, sophomore health major, said See Inclusion on page 4
Yomi Adenuga — THE BATTALION
Junior offensive tackle Cedric Ogbuehi speaks to the media Tuesday at the Bright Complex.
THE HUNT FOR PERFECTION James Sullivan
The Battalion exas A&M’s air raid system, led by sophomore Johnny Manziel, has failed to have a “perfect game” this season, but junior offensive tackle Cedric Ogbuehi said the Aggies are just a few mistakes short of perfection. “If we stop hurting ourselves, we’ll score 70,” Ogbuehi said. In A&M’s 51-41 home finale win over Mississippi State on Saturday, the offense’s point production off 537 total yards with three turnovers was enough to down the Bulldogs. But 91 rushing yards — roughly 17 percent of the total production — forced the Aggies into the air. A factor for the disparity between A&M’s air and ground attacks was the offensive line’s rust, head coach Kevin Sumlin said. Ogbuehi returned to the
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unit after sitting out two games with an undisclosed injury. “[The offensive line] was a little rusty,” Sumlin said. “People think if you’re a lineman, you’re a lineman. You move from guard to tackle, back to guard, and haven’t played in a couple weeks and you’re playing big, strong SEC linemen.” As the Aggies inch closer to the season’s end, the offense has become more focused on its elusive “perfect game.” Offensive coordinator Clarence McKinney said the task remains a stimulus for continued production and even though it is “unrealistic,” he believes the unit needs only to perform a “complete” game to reach its potential.
Offensive personnel chase elusive ‘perfect’ game
See Presser on page 2
research
Lab takes bilingual approach to language Researchers examine multilingual tendencies Homer Segovia The Battalion
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s wires and connections knit the world’s cultures closer and closer together, researchers in the Texas A&M language and cognition lab work to understand the growing population of multilingual speakers. Jyotsna Vaid, professor of psychology, arrived at Texas A&M in 1986 and established what is now the language and cognition lab to further linguistic research within the psychology department. As the number of multilinguals increases globally, Vaid said the nature of language research must change
along with it. “The idea is to go beyond at looking at just English single-language users, which has tended to be the way in which psychology of language had been studied for a long time, until the last 15 years or so,” Vaid said. “There has become more of a global interest in looking at the variety of languages that are out there and the variety of language experiences that people have.” Belem Lopez, a psychology graduate student working in the language and cognition lab, said while bilingualism research has often focused on comparing bilinguals and monolinguals, she is more interested in the differences between bilinguals themselves. “Not all bilinguals are the same,” Lopez said. “A way to look at that would be through experience, and an experience I’m interested in is
language brokering.” Language brokering is the informal translation process that children of immigrants often engage in, translating English to their parents’ native language in parent-teacher conferences, trips to the doctor or other day-to-day activities. Lopez is researching college students who were language brokers as children by testing them with bilingual word tasks and observing the variation in their answers. “Research has shown that sometimes children feel like they’re a third parent or they can feel a little stressed out, but then there has been positive research psychologically where it says that children have higher confidence or they do better on standardized tests,” Lopez said. “A question that my advisor and I have is, ‘Well, See Language on page 4
William Guerra — THE BATTALION
BACH MEETS BRUNO MARS Century Singers balance genre choices Shelbi Polk The Battalion
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Tanner Garza — THE BATTALION
Ashley Morehead (from left), Zach O’Neal, Haley Demos and Sarah Pederson practice Monday in the MSC choral office.
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he audience sat in the dark, waiting expectantly for the singers to appear on the stage. But music instead erupted from among the audience, as the performers jumped from concealment and headed to the stage surrounded by song. So began Century
Singers’ Showcase, where members of the 80-voice Century Singer choir performed anything they desired. The showcase represents only one of many events the organization has performed throughout the 20132014 season. Though the choir concentrates on classical music, events such as
the showcase give members the opportunity to perform a diverse range of tunes. The various performance options offered by Century Singers helps unify the members, said Zach O’Neal, junior business administration major. “There’s a piece for See Century on page 4
inside news | 3 Started from the bottom WBAC will host a discussion on rap music and the black community Thursday.
soccer | 2 A&M to host NCAA 1st round A&M will play Utah in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday at Ellis Field.
11/12/13 9:11 PM