thebattalion
Practice to draw students Head Football Coach Mike Sherman invited the student body to attend a football practice as part of “Pigskin Palooza, an Aggie Student Party at Kyle Field.” Practice will be 4 to 5:30 p.m. at Kyle Field. The gates at the four corners of the stadium will open at 3:30 p.m. Sherman said the public is welcome to watch from the track around the field or from the stands. Students can participate in team drills at the conclusion of the formal practice. “The support we receive from our students is unbelievable,” Sherman said. “The students can do various drills with our position groups, maybe catch passes from Jerrod Johnson, throw TD passes to E.Z. [Uzoma Nwachukwu] or Jeff Fuller or do some drills with Von Miller coming off the edge as a blitzing linebacker.” The first 250 students to present an A&M student ID will receive a coupon for a free hamburger. Ticket stubs will be drawn for a chance to win bench passes for home games, a white throwback helmet and a Twelfth Man jersey with the student’s name on the back. Robert Carpenter, staff writer
inside stompfest | 10
Hot heels Aggies stomped the night away at Stompfest Wednesday in Rudder Auditorium.
lifestyles | 4
b!
Comical date
Tina Fey and Steve Carrell’s take as run-down parents on a special date offers crazy antics and lots of laughs.
sports | 7
Seniors reflect Aggie softball seniors take a look back at their past four years and look forward to the rest of the 2010 season.
voices | 11
Second opinion
Camaryn Bolton and Cole Allen debate the merits of the new national health care plan.
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● thursday,
april 15, 2010
● serving
texas a&m since 1893
● first paper free – additional copies $1 ● © 2010 student media
Unlocked Story by Brandi Tevebaugh Photo illustration by Megan Ryan and Jeremy Northum
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The Battalion
ost students feel safe in College Station. Maybe not safe enough to leave the house unlocked during a trip to the grocery store but safe enough to walk across campus alone after the library closes. Still, College Station is not Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood. “We live in this little bubble,” said Teri Wenzel, an assistant instructional professor in the department of health and kinesiology who teaches self-defense. “We feel safe here, and that’s not the case. Especially if they’re coming from Houston or Dallas or San Antonio, they think they’re coming to little College Station, Texas. They think they don’t have to worry about crime, but it happens all the time.”
See Assault on page 3
Senate appoints student leaders Officers promote student voice for 2010-2011 Melissa Appel
The Battalion The Texas A&M Student Senate selected student leaders for the 2010-2011 academic year Wednesday. Off-Campus Senator Chris Esparza was elected as the academic affairs chairman, beating his opponent Mark Womack with a 34-20 vote. During his campaign, Esparza highlighted his continued efforts to engage student opinion and involvement in Student Senate legislation. “Every bill, every issue that I’ve worked on, I start out with the students,” Esparza said. “That’s where the
process starts. We start from there; we start from what the students want.” Senators said academics affect every Aggie, and communication with students was critical to ensure legislation represents the student body. “He stays in constant communication with student organizations,” said Mike Simmons, rules and regulations chairman of the 62nd Session. “He reached out to the community, and he worked with his constituents. He got student opinion back in it.” The theme of communication was also central to the election of an external affairs chairperson. The external
affairs committee works extensively with the cities of College Station and Bryan, the Texas Legislature and national collegiate legislation. Clark Caperton, senator from the College of Liberal Arts, was elected chairman, defeating Steven Crumpley with a 31-25 vote. As the Texas Legislature looks to open another session during the next academic year, Caperton said cooperation on the state level will be a highlight for the work of External Affairs. See Senate on page 6
Aggies remember Holocaust victims
Defensive lineman arrested at Rec
Robert Carpenter
Beau Holder
The Battalion Holocaust survivor Al Marks relived his experiences in Nazi death camps for students, faculty and community members at the Texas A&M Hillel center Wednesday. Marks made the trip to A&M from his home in Houston as part of Holocaust Remembrance Week. Marks said he speaks to groups out of a sense of duty. “We are only here responding to an interest. This is something we feel, if we don’t do it now, it won’t be too long that nobody will talk about it,” Marks said. At 13 years old, Marks was taken from his home in Hungary and sent by freight train to Auschwitz. There, Marks emerged from the train car to see Josef Mengele, more commonly known as the “Angel of Death,” determining Hungarian Jews’ fate. “After three days [in the train car], they opened the doors. They lined you up and there in front of you was the famous Dr. Mengele. He was standing there in his S.S. uniform, and he was motioning ‘to the right,’ ‘to the left,’” Marks said. “It happened so fast that I did not have time to say goodbye to my parents. That was the last time I saw them.” Unlike his parents, Marks was directed by Mengele to be a laborer. He spent the next two years traveling between several camps including Mauthausen and Melk. While recounting his experiences during this time, Marks told several stories that caused audience members to shift uncomfortably in their seats. One such story involved the punishment of prisoners who attempted escape. “There was no way to escape from the camp. If somebody tried and they were captured, [the S.S.]
Nicholas Badger — THE BATTALION
Melanie Weiser, program director for Texas A&M Hillel, reads the names of people killed in the Holocaust Wednesday in front of Sul Ross. brought the prisoner in by the barbed wire until, a few hours later, came the execution,” Marks said. “And the rest of the prisoners had to not only watch, but in some cases, do the execution. Imagine beating one of your friends, one of those there with you, just because he tried to escape. Beating him to death.” As his story drew to a close, Marks paused periodically to fight back tears while recounting his liberation See Holocaust on page 6
The Battalion Texas A&M defensive lineman Adren Dorsey was arrested Tuesday after a fight with his ex-girlfriend outside the Student Recreation Center, according to a Brazos County police report. Dorsey, a redshirt sophomore who was competing in spring practice for a starting position, was jailed at 1 a.m. Tuesday and released Wednesday. He was charged with assault in addition to having two outstanding warrants for failure to provide a driver’s license or liability insurance. “I am very disappointed that one of our players would even be involved in something of this nature,” said Head Coach Mike Sherman in a statement. “Adren is suspended indefinitely pending further investigation into this matter.” Dorsey declined to comment. According to the police report, the 6-footDorsey 2-inch, 305-pound Dorsey came to the Rec Center to talk to his ex-girlfriend despite being asked by her not to. The two argued before the woman “muffed” Dorsey by placing her palm to his face and pushing his head to the side. The report stated that in retaliation, he put his hand around her neck and “picked her up off the ground.” She said he then slammed her on the trunk of his vehicle and threw her to the ground. Officers called Dorsey after the incident and he agreed to meet them at the Rec. Dorsey said he pushed her into the car and threw her, but that he had his hands around her throat for “maybe five seconds.” The woman had no visible injuries and, despite complaints, was not transported to a hospital. Dorsey posted $5,495 bail Wednesday. He played in three games past season, making one tackle. Amanda Casanova contributed to this report.
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