The Battalion- September 19, 2018 by The Battalion

FACE-TO-FACE Annie Lui — THE BATTALION

Texas A&M University President Michael K. Young and Provost Carol Fierke answered students’ questions at a town hall hosted by the Student Government Association on Sept. 18.

Young and Fierke field questions from students at SGA town hall By Anthony Pangonas @apangonas Looking to connect students and administration across campus, the Texas A&M Student Government Association hosted a town hall where University President Michael Young and Provost Carol Fierke answered questions from the student body. The event was the first time the provost and university president were brought together to address student questions in person.

Young and Fierke preselected questions about academics, traditions and other subjects from those that were submitted to SGA via email and text. Graduation and Retention SGA vice president of programming Maddi Telshow moderated the event and asked the administration what steps the university has taken to increase four-year graduation rates and first-generation college student retention rates. “This year, we set up a student success task force whose goal is to increase first-gen retention, four-year graduation rates, six-year graduation rates and help us become a Hispanic-serving institution,” Fierke said. “That task

force is going to have its recommendations in the next month, and we are going to implement them in 2019. Certainly our first generation students are a group of students that we see succeed less well than other groups, so that will be a concern — what we can do to have them be more successful.” Moving Aggies Young said the campus transportation system is an ongoing challenge the university is looking to address. “One of the things that we are looking at is how do we create more green space on campus and push parking to the peripheral of campus,” Young said. “I know that sounds like a terrible thing, but to be successful doing

that and creating a seamless, interconnected network of roads and shuttle service — if we can create a shuttle system that would allow us to move people more frequently, much more quickly and reach more places — that would be very helpful.” Sexual Assault Young and Fierke said the university cares deeply about continuing efforts to improve how A&M handles sexual assault cases and assists survivors. “We are passionately committed to make things better, and we are grateful for the people who came forward,” Young said. “Aggies TOWN HALL ON PG. 2

Cassie Stricker — THE BATTALION

The Brazos Valley Beekeepers Association is hosting an event on Sept. 22 to educate the community on bees. Graphic by Nic Tan — THE BATTALION

According to data from the Pew Research Center, two-thirds of DACA recipients are ages 25 or younger, and a majority of DACA recipients are female.

DACA recipients still face uncertain future Students left with questions as legal battles continue across U.S. By Savannah Mehrtens @SJMehrtens One year after President Donald Trump moved to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, students across the nation are continuing to feel the effects of the change. The Obama-era immigration policy offered undocumented residents who came to the country as children a chance to continue living, working and pursuing education in the U.S. When DACA was rescinded in September of 2017, the program stopped accepting new applications and residents whose existing DACA protections were set to expire within six months were told they had until Oct. 5 of that year to apply for a renewal. However, many DACA recipients still have a chance to renew, due to a series of legal battles surrounding the Trump adminis-

tration’s attempt to end the program. It’s unclear how long this chance will last though and many are scrambling to send in renewal applications while they’re still being accepted. Carlo Pizarro, urban and regional planning senior and president of the Council for Minority Student Affairs (CMSA), is a DACA recipient. He said many other recipients he knew were not able to reapply, and some had no choice but to quit their jobs. “It’s been a whirlwind of chaos because none of us know what’s going to happen next,” Pizarro said. “Sometimes we hear news that it might be tomorrow, two weeks, three weeks and to renew as soon as possible. What most of us can do is hope for the best thing.” Pizarro said some recipients are getting close to their expiration dates and should renew soon. However, renewing typically costs $495 and some may even require a person to hire lawyers because having one wrong item on the renewal paperwork can result in it being declined, according to Pizarro.

The buzz on bees

Local beekeeping group to host educational event on campus with 50 classes discussing vital insects By Nicole Shair @NicoleEShair

“Especially for some of us who are in college, parents are paying for their tuition, they can’t just come out with $495 out of nowhere and pay for it,” Pizarro said. “A lot of us have to go into severe debt. Luckily there’s a few grants available, for example the Mexican Consulate offers a grant to help DACA recipients from Mexico pay for their DACA renewal.” Maria Gallo Blanco, business management senior, CMSA member and DACA recipient, said the past year has been confusing since so much is still undecided or ambiguous. During her junior year, she was looking to find workplaces who would accept her as an intern, but had difficulties because of her confusing status under DACA. “I struggled a lot to find companies who were willing to take the risk of employing someone under DACA because they weren’t sure what was going to happen as well,” Gallo Blanco said. “I was unable to get an internship over this past summer due to that.”

Many people’s first reaction when encountering a bee may be to kill it or to run at first sight. The Brazos Valley Beekeepers Association is working to change that response and educate people on why bees should be protected instead of feared with the Fall Beekeeping School. Held on Sept. 22 at the Agrilife Center and Agriculture and Life Sciences building from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., the event will include a variety of bee classes to choose from. Registration is $60 per person, $100 for couples and $15 for children 12-17, with lunch included. According to Chris Barnes, chairman of the Brazos Beekeeping School committee, there will be multiple classes about every aspect of beekeeping that people would want to know. “There are 50 classes that people can pick and choose from,” Barnes said. “There are classes that cover questions about how to get started, where to get beekeeping supplies, the biology of bees as well as the business aspects of beekeeping.” Honey bees are arguably the most important beneficial insect to agriculture because they pollinate approximately onethird of all the food consumed in the world, according to associate professor of apiculture and Texas A&M Honey Bee Lab member Juliana Rangel. “They provide delicious honey and other products from

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