WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14 | SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 | © 2018 STUDENT MEDIA
Graphic by Jacob Martindale
Meredith Seaver — THE BATTALION
Parents of sons who died due to hazing spoke at “Love, Mom & Dad,” a traveling panel that discusses the consequences of the behavior.
‘Love, Mom & Dad’ Parents who have lost children due to hazing share their personal stories By Megan Sheffield @mshef350 Rudder Auditorium was silent Tuesday night as parents of students who died due to hazing shared their stories and spread awareness about warning signs. “Love, Mom and Dad” is a presentation that has traveled to several universities across the country to discourage the practice of
hazing by sharing stories about the serious consequences of the behavior. During presentations at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., about 2,800 attendees had the chance to anonymously ask questions and write personal notes to the parents. Jim and Evelyn Piazza, Rich Braham, Steven Gruver and Debbie Debrick each described their personal experiences and shared pictures of their children. The Piazzas lost their son Tim when he fell down the stairs after being forced to drink alcohol at a Beta Theta Pi pledge event at Penn State University in February of 2017. Evelyn Piazza asked the audience to imagine if their
sibling had faced the same situation. “You get a call from your brother’s roommate saying that he didn’t come home last night, and that’s not like him,” Piazza said. “You decide that something’s wrong and call the hospital to see if he’s there. You rush to the hospital to see your brother on life support, bruises and blood on his body and head. The doctor tells you, ‘It’s bad.’” The group created the Anti-Hazing Coalition to form alliances with national fraternity, sorority and associated organizations in order to change legislation and develop ANTI-HAZING ON PG. 2
Meredith Seaver — THE BATTALION
Texas A&M is preparing for Saturday’s matchup against the University of Alabama at Birmingham, which currently has a 9-1 record.
Aggies picking up the pace
A&M looks to maintain momentum as it heads into matchup with UAB By Hannah Underwood @hannahunderwood
After a big 38-24 win over Southeastern Conference opponent Ole Miss, Texas A&M is turning its attention to the University of Alabama-Birmingham. The Blazers — ranked No. 1 in Conference USA — pose a surprising non-conference challenge for the Aggies as they bring a dominant defense into Kyle Field on Satur-
day. The UAB defense is ranked first in sacks per game, first in third down conversion defense, third in total defense, fourth in scoring defense and fifth in tackles for loss. A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher compared UAB to playing “another SEC team,” and said that the momentum from last weekend’s win will be important for the Aggies’ success this weekend. “UAB is a great football team,” Fisher said. “We need to build off this last game, get the momentum offensively and defensively and get ready to go play a great game.” UAB is not only dominant on defense, but its offense and special teams units pack a
punch as well, senior running back Kwame Etwi said. “Defensively, they’re great and offensively really good as well,” Etwi said. “They’re on point on special teams as well, their record says it. You can’t take them lightly because they’ve proved that they can play.” The A&M run defense is ranked second in the nation, after holding Ole Miss to just 67 rushing yards on 30 attempts. A&M’s defense is focused on creating more turnovers as senior defensive lineman Kingsley Keke created and recovered the Aggies’ FOOTBALL ON PG. 4
Stan Lee, creator of Spider-Man, died at 95.
Marvelous legacy Reflecting on the incredible career of Marvel comics legend Stan Lee By Ronnie Mata @ronniemata12 On Monday, we lost a mind and a soul that captivated millions if not billions of people. Stan Lee had been at the forefront of the comic book world for over 70 years and was responsible for bringing us classic super heroes such as The Hulk, Iron Man, Doctor Strange and my personal favorite, Spider-Man. Through his gift of storytelling, art direction and sheer sense for the spectacular, Stan Lee created a world where we can escape and flip through fantastic stories that have made so many of us feel truly super. Stan Lee was only a teenager when he was serving as an assistant for Timely Comics in 1933. Filling ink containers, fetching lunch and running other sorts of errands eventually landed him an interim editor gig at 19 years old. Lee served in the Army during World War II as a part of the Signal Corps, repairing telephone poles and other communication equipment. Eventually, he moved into the Training Film division, writing field manuals, cartooning, making training films and creating slogans until the end of the war. Upon his return from the war, Lee would create some of the most iconic characters we know and love, changing comic books forever. He decided that gone were the days of moral, just and perfect superheroes. He saw a demand for reality and humanity in his heroes were gone. The art of characterizing comic book characters is a mainstay for comic books. Since then, we no longer see shining examples of society wearing capes and masks; we have heroes who are flawed, who have homework due the next day, who have their fair share of personal demons — just like us. On top of captivating characters, we were given magnetic storylines that were not your run-of-the-mill, cat-stuck-in-a-tree stories. “Bedlam at the Baxter Building,” “The Night Gwen Stacy Died,” “The Sinister Six” and “Parable” were groundbreaking stories that revitalized the industry and redefined what comic books could be. Stan Lee cared deeply for his audiences. He would often write open correspondences in his comics to his readers about the state of his comics, even asking readers to send their opinions on his works before signing off with his signature phrase, “Excelsior!”; a word that his biggest supporters hold near and dear to their hearts. Stan Lee’s work is also responsible for STAN LEE ON PG. 2
Troops on the southern border Professors weigh in on Trump’s newest border security tactic By Henry Mureithi @HenryMureithi5 Over 5,000 American troops have been deployed to southern Texas, Arizona and California in response to the thousands of Central American migrants and asylum seekers heading for the U.S.-Mexico border. This is in addition to President Donald Trump’s earlier deployment of about 4,000 National Guardsmen to the border in response to another caravan in April. Violence in places such as Honduras and economic hardship like the kind seen in Nicaragua are the main factors motivating
these people to leave their countries, according to political science professor Maria Escobar-Lemmon. “Many migrants coming from Central America are fleeing both a lack of economic opportunity in their homeland … and increasing problems in their countries with violence from Central American gangs,” Escobar-Lemmon said. Law Professor Huyen Pham said previous U.S. presidents have rarely ordered troops to the border to assist in immigration enforcement and counternarcotics operations. According to Department of Homeland Security, troops have been deployed two times since 2001 — under former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. “It’s fairly unusual,” Pham said. “There have been instances when state guards have been sent to the border, but it is not a com-
mon occurrence.” On Nov. 9, Trump signed an order that requires the denial of all asylum claims from people who cross the border illegally. According to Human Rights First, the DHS forcibly prohibits asylum seekers from stepping on U.S. soil, permitting no more than one to three families to cross per day. Pham said this is because once migrants are present in the U.S., they are allowed by statute to file asylum applications whether they entered legally or illegally, and these policies only serve to make an already challenging asylum process even harder. “The presence of the troops is intended to intimidate people from making a claim,” Pham said. “But it could also be that the government could find that these people BORDER ON PG. 2
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Trump’s deployment of troops to the U.S.-Mexico border is the third of its kind since 2001.