thebattalion ● wednesday,
january 15, 2014
● serving
texas a&m since 1893
● first paper free – additional copies $1 ● © 2013 student media
crime
Police probe reported post office theft Wellborn and Harvey offices report 18 affected boxes Lindsey Gawlik The Battalion
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ollege Station police received calls Monday from two local U.S. post offices reporting cases of theft and mischief, which included stolen parcels and damages to Postal Service property. Lt. Chuck Fleeger of CSPD said officers were dispatched around 7 a.m. to the post office on Wellborn Road and at 3 p.m. to the post office on Harvey Mitchell Parkway. Fleeger said officers discovered that between Saturday and Monday individuals entered the postal facilities and used force to pry open the larger parcel drop boxes. “They made entry into five boxes in the Wellborn Road location and then another 13 at the Harvey Mitchell Parkway location,” Fleeger said. “Our officers are still working with the postal inspectors to determine exactly what was stolen from each of the boxes.” The victims remain unknown at this time and it is unclear if any Texas A&M students were the potential recipients of the stolen packages. Junior biology major, Michelle Jalfon, has been a victim of post office theft before and said she felt overwhelmed when she discovered her mail was stolen. “I felt upset,” Jalfon said. “You wouldn’t expect someone to steal out of the letters. I would assume the victims feel invaded. I mean to have anything stolen sucks, but you would think the post office would have better control over it since it’s part of the government.” Elizabeth Baker, senior international studies major, said the incident caused her to reflect on when her triathlon bicycle was stolen off of the A&M campus and the thief then posted an ad for the bike on Craigslist. Baker said she felt scared and upset when she realized her bike was missing, and offered her empathy to the victims of the postal service theft. “I freaked out,” Baker said. “I thought the thief was really stupid. The police were super helpful though. They took me on the sting with them to get it back.” Fleeger said the postal service and the CSPD are doing everything they can and once the missing packages have been identified by the postal inspector, the recipients will receive notification and be asked what large mail items they were expecting. Postmaster of the Wellborn Road postal service, Maddie Carter, said not much is known at this time. “They broke into the large parcel boxes and stole all the parcels in it,” Carter said. “In the process they broke the locks on those boxes.” Investigation of this incident is ongoing. CSPD requests that any information be reported to 979-764-3600.
Bible study’s return attracts thousands
WELCOME BACK,
BREAKAWAY
Jenna Rabel — THE BATTALION
Tuesday marked the first Breakaway of the Spring semester, held at Reed Arena. (Above) Jeff Johnson leads the crowd in music. (Left) Ben Stuart, executive director of Breakaway Ministries, speaks to gathered students. (Right) Bible study-goers navigate the crowd to find their seats.
inside
higher education
William Guerra — THE BATTALION
A&M considers free web classes for future Massive Open Online Courses already available elsewhere Bradley D’Souza The Battalion
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housands of students woke up, got dressed and attended class on campus for the first day of school Monday. These students participate in a longstanding process — paying for classes at the university they attend, working on assignments, studying for tests and eventually earning credit that they can use toward a degree. Some of these courses may even be online. However, A&M is looking into a rising form of online education that offers college courses to anyone with Internet access — free of charge. Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCs, are college courses developed by the faculty of a university that are offered free of charge to people around the globe, allowing access to parts of a college education without offering course credit. Karan Watson, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs, said while credit may not be offered for MOOCs alone, the educational material may be a valuable resource for students. “It helps our student directly, maybe sometimes indirectly,” Watson said. “It helps us when we can say to students that they don’t need to use books the faculty has written, that they can go online and see materials that another faculty has de-
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If you have experts in one subject, you don’t make everyone pay for everything. For a good world you share it. A MOOC is like that.” — Karan Watson, Texas A&M provost veloped somewhere else.” Watson said one issue with MOOCs is a low retention rate. She said most people who sign up for MOOCs don’t finish the course, so they don’t cover all the material to earn the certificate of completion that can be used on a resume, for example. “They don’t get credit for it, but it’s no loss because they didn’t pay anything for it,” Watson said. “Offering a bunch of courses like that isn’t going to help students get through college … It’s like a library. Most of us have access to the information in a library, but most of us won’t go and read all the books in the library.” While faculty members at many universities across the nation have already developed MOOCs, Texas A&M is still looking into the possibility of devoting See MOOC on page 2
opinion | 4 A delicate situation
Tanner Garza — THE BATTALION
Senior guard Fabyon Harris directs the offense during a win over Mississippi Valley State.
m. basketball
A&M returns to Reed after road thriller South Carolina visits Wednesday in SEC matchup Conner Darland The Battalion
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fter a 57-56 victory over the University of Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville, Tenn., Saturday, the Texas A&M men’s basketball team (11-4, 2-0 SEC) is looking to build on its undefeated conference
record Wednesday night in Reed Arena. The Aggies will be matching up against a struggling South Carolina (7-8, 0-2 SEC) squad. Wednesday’s meeting will be just the second time the two schools have faced each other on the hardwood. Last season, A&M won against South Carolina in a 74-56 victory at Reed Arena. Guard Elston Turner, who has since graduated, See Basketball on page 5
In a world where nothing is safe, Jessica Smarr decries the terrible music choices that have robbed bathrooms everywhere of order and peace.
diversity | 3 MLK breakfast Thursday
The Woodson Black Awareness Committee will hold its annual Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast on Thursday.
clubs | 3 Fish Aides Members of Fish Aides forewent their annual skiing trip and chose to spend a week on a service project in Louisiana.
thebattalion asks
Q:
Page 2: What are you most looking forward to this semester?
1/14/14 9:58 PM