WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16 | SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 | © 2019 STUDENT MEDIA
Preparing for success
Cassie Stricker — THE BATTALION
Signs in front of the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum direct visitors to the Bush family gravesite behind the pond and explain why most of the museum is currently closed.
Shutdown enters 25th day Cassie Stricker — THE BATTALION
Last week against Alabama, sophomore guard and forward Savion Flagg had a total of 16 points, seven rebounds and two assists.
Aggies look to earn additional SEC victory in Auburn matchup By Dylan Poitevint @Poitite The Texas A&M men’s basketball team will host the No. 14 Auburn Tigers on Wednesday in Reed Arena with hopes of pulling away with a victory over a divisional foe. A&M is coming off of an electrifying win over Alabama, which boosted the team to a 7-7 overall record and their first conference win. However, the Aggies are now preparing for a different challenge, as Auburn’s potent defense and shooting has earned the team a 12-3 (1-1 SEC) season record.
The Tigers are ranked fifth nationally in steals per game, forcing opponents to turn the ball over 10 times per game on average. A&M will need to have better ball security against Auburn’s defense, as the Aggies rank 213th nationally in turnovers with almost 14 a game. A&M head coach Billy Kennedy noted that the turnover battle could be a defining factor in the game. “Defensively, they turn you over, but if we can take care of the ball like we did against Alabama, then we put ourselves in a great chance to get a win,” Kennedy said. Junior forward Josh Nebo stressed that the Aggies will have to display a M. BB ON PG. 2
Texas A&M professors discuss national and local impacts of federal closures By Savannah Mehrtens @SJMehrtens As the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history continues, local federal workers and the community are feeling the effects. The government shutdown began Dec. 22, 2018 and became the nation’s longest on Jan. 12. The shutdown was sparked by a budget dispute between President Donald Trump and Congress, as the president stated he would not approve critical funding legislation unless it included $5.7 billion for a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border. There are 800,000 federal employees who are directly affected by the shutdown which will likely lead to major economic consequences. Associate professor of political science Joseph Ura said the opportunity for a quick end to the shutdown has passed as the new Congress is now sworn in, with Democrats taking control of the House of Representatives. When the shutdown started, Republicans controlled both the House
and Senate. “Now the new Congress is coming in, it may even be more difficult to resolve the shutdown because the Democratic majority is going to answer to a constituency that has a pretty low tolerance for making a political deal — especially on border security if it involves a wall or some other kind of physical boundary because the issue has become so deeply symbolic of overall disagreement with the administration on lots of issues,” Ura said. Larry Napper, professor of the practice of international affairs at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at A&M, worked as a foreign service officer for 31 years. Throughout those three decades, he worked at the State Department, which is currently shut down among many other federal offices. “This shutdown is a little different than other ones,” Napper said. “In most previous cases, the entire federal government was shut down when we had these kinds of events. In this case, the shutdown is a little more selective because there were several departments, including the Department of Defense, which were already fully funded for the SHUTDOWN ON PG. 2
PROVIDED
Five cadets spent their winter break marching to raise money for the Special Operations Warrior foundation. Cassie Stricker — THE BATTALION
Priceless journey
A truck hauling dozens of VeoRide’s turquoise bikes drives between the Memorial Student Center and Cain Garage on Tuesday.
Cadets raise money and awareness through winter ruck march from California to Oregon
Out with the old, in with the blue
By Giselle Warren @GiselleWarren6
Rise and fall of ofo offers lessons for VeoRide bike-share program
Braving strong winds and heavy snowstorms, five members of the Corps of Cadets walked over 1,000 miles, for a good cause. The second-ever Project Atlas Ruck was planned and executed by members of Company H-1 — industrial distribution senior Sebastian Brown, mechanical engineering junior Hunter Birt, international studies sophomore Ethan Lochner, construction science sophomore Taylor Elliott and English junior Nathanael Duty. Their trek began in Death Valley, California on Dec. 28 and ended on Jan. 7 in Portland, Oregon. Through their efforts, the group raised over $9,000 for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, which provides support to the families of Special Operations personnel who are killed or wounded in the line of duty. Brown said the cadets’ experiences in the Corps gave them the mindset they needed to carry out Project Atlas. “We all just figured that we had been given so much MARCH ON PG. 2
By Allison Beatty Guest contributer Over winter break, the yellow bikes that became notorious for showing up on sidewalks and in trees around Bryan-College Station were replaced with teal bikes from another source. Late last semester, Texas A&M terminated its contract with bike-share vendor ofo and turned to VeoRide as a replacement. The university cited ofo’s poor handling of customers and customer-support issues as reasons for the switch. The logistics of bike-sharing on campus and in the surrounding city of College Station have proven to be complex to meet campus, user, city and vendor goals. A&M’s Transportation Services and city officials have acknowledged the different standpoints of each party, but both said
there is common ground to make a bikeshare program productive. The unsuccessful ofo experience also offers lessons to the new vendor. Veoride’s service will function in much the same way ofo’s did — the rider will download an app, scan a QR code on the bike and lock it in a designated area after the trip. Even with problems, ofo bikes filled a need. Since being introduced midway through the spring 2018 semester, ofo has racked up more than 39,500 registered users in B-CS who have collectively taken more than 500,000 rides, according to a university press release. The bike-share program was implemented to reduce the number of bikes left behind on campus, said Transportation Services alternative transportation manager Ron Steedly. Standard university procedure is to collect the bikes, hold them for 90 days and notify their owners if possible. If a bike remains unclaimed, it is then sold, but the high costs of constantly impounding and storing bikes de-
manded a new approach. “We had an abandoned bike problem,” Steedly said. “With campus growing like it is, I can’t expand bike parking; I’m kind of landlocked.” The main solution was to introduce a bike-sharing system so more people could use a bike maintained by someone else, Steedly said. While ofo bikes served their intended purpose, both the city of College Station and frequent ofo customers have voiced their complaints about poor ofo customer support. “They don’t respond to anything,” said university studies sophomore Jose Rueda, who tried to get in contact with ofo last semester when he noticed higher prices. “From the moment they first raised the rates, I’ve sent them probably 10 emails. They have not responded.” Rueda said his prices went up from 50 cents an hour to $1.50 an hour, while his friends’ rates remained the same. BIKE-SHARE ON PG. 4