thebattalion l wednesday,
april 24, 2013
l serving
texas a&m since 1893
l first paper free – additional copies $1 l © 2013 student media
Crowdsource initiative launches Student web venture tackles hazy campus questions Chris Scoggins
The Battalion hough a university is an institution of knowledge, it can sometimes provide more questions than answers. A project out of student business accelerator Startup Aggieland seeks to provide answers for curious freshmen. A new website, AskAgs.com, launched Wednesday with intentions of functioning much like a forum that allows users to ask and answer questions about campus life. Those involved with the project said its success could hinge on its beta testing program and the extent to which news of the site spreads. “We’re very early in this,” said Zach Cummings, junior information and operations management major. “Right now it’s just at the point where we are waiting and asking people to contribute. We need to get the idea out there that it is independent from campus, that you can ask a ton of questions and you can get answers.” The site, while in beta, has 200 users. The planned membership base will consist of former, current and future students and serves to cater to those who are new to A&M as they adapt to college life. Users will ask and provide answers to questions that may be common knowledge to current students can be unknown to new college freshmen. The site’s founder, Tyler Mandry, senior computer science major, said he first got the idea for the site when he was a freshman and had trouble finding out the ins and outs
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Chase Krumholz — THE BATTALION
Tyler Mandry, senior computer science major and founder of AskAgs.com, began the initiative to allow former, current and future students to ask and answer questions pertaining to campus life in order to assuage uncertainty. of being an Aggie. “It’s information about A&M that is hard to get right now,” Mandry said. “What we’re doing is creating something that is community-based so that anyone that knows the answer can give the answer.” Members can gain points and badges as they participate, and users can gain a reputation for answering questions within a given topic. In the future, organizations will also be given the ability
to have an official presence on the site. Project creators have relied on traditional means of spreading the word. “A lot of it has been through word-of-mouth and parties we knew would be interested in this sort of a project,” said Brandon Bunt, junior marketing major and the head of the site’s marketSee AskAgs on page 2
student government
Leadership transition prompts senator reflection Aimee Breaux
The Battalion n what has been described as a year of ups and downs, senators from the 65th Session of Student Senate reflected on the past session and offered advice for those preparing to serve in the 66th. In a session that featured controversy regarding bills related to gun control, the University Advancement Fund and the ability to opt out of fees on religious grounds, Scott Bowen, outgoing Senate speaker and senior chemical engineer major, said his biggest struggle this year has been trying to depersonalize issues. “Our goal has always been to approach each bill with open minds and with our eyes looking towards facts and rational policy,” Bowen said. “Unfortunately, we have often fallen short of that standard, allowing petty politics, personal feelings about others in SGA and emotional grandstanding to get in the way of good legislation.” However, Bowen said Senate best demonstrated its potential and purpose by opening a productive campus-wide discussion on controversial issues. He cited as a prime example the passage of the personal protection bill that went through Senate. “We passed the bill, even overriding a veto, on the basis of facts and logic,” Bowen said. “In so doing, we prompted a statewide discussion about campus safety and several other schools have weighed in on this issue. If a bill passes in the [Texas] Legislature, we as a student body will have played a large role in seeing that through.” Bowen said students all over campus benefited from Senate’s actions in various ways.
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Aimee Breaux — THE BATTALION
Scott Bowen, Senate speaker for the 65th Session and senior chemical engineering major, said the past and present goal of Senate is to “approach each bill with open minds.”
water daze
“Many of [the more than 70 bills considered] were non-controversial and passed unanimously, recommending small improvements to student services, academic issues and internal governance,” Bowen said. Fernando Sosa, finance chair and sophomore political science major, said Senate’s impact included working with University dining to improve the quality of service, supporting state legislation aimed at making campus safer and funding committees such as Big Event and Muster. Sosa said the session was overall a success. Mariana Fernandez, outgoing speaker pro tempore and senior political science major, said her time in Senate has shaped the person she is today. “Senate gave me the opportunity to serve my University, build relationships and grow as an individual,” Fernandez said. “It taught me that it is important to respect the opinions of others, that great solutions come from disagreement, and that it is crucial to stand up for what you believe.” Senator Gus Blessing, a junior international studies major, said while he was proud of the increased constituency reaction in the last session, Senate still has room for more constituent outreach. “As an organization we did good things, but we can always do more,” Blessing said. Blessing said the only way to make sure this trend of increased involvement continues is for new senators to go beyond mandatory meeting attendance and urges newcomers to be “self-starting” senators that actively talk to administrators
state
boston bombing
Conservation event to Whataburger highlight water research condiments to hit H-E-B shelves
Mark Doré
The Battalion
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ollege Station residents turn on faucets daily and water appears, but students may not often consider the global issues surrounding the resource. Water Daze, to be hosted Thursday by the Water Management and Hydrological Science program at Texas A&M, seeks to shed light on A&M research bound by the common theme of water. Event organizer Prakash Khedun, a recreation, parks and tourism science graduate student, said A&M students attend a University uniquely positioned as a hub of water-related research and it is time to take notice, of this. “The goal of the event is to have people come and learn about the water that we take for granted,” Khedun said. Khedun said A&M’s status as a land grant school — which contributes to an emphasis in agriculture and, in turn, water-related initiatives — and recent
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Texas drought conditions make the event important for students. “The population of Texas is increasing at an amazing rate,” Khedun said. “We’re vulnerable, and we’re growing fast. If we don’t have water to provide for industries, we’re not going to grow at the rate we’re going to.” Khedun said, however, that water concerns spread well beyond the borders of Texas. “From a global perspective, there is an amazing number of people who don’t have access to water,” Khedun said. “Every 15 seconds, a child dies because of lack of access to clean water. It’s amazing the amount of people in this century that doesn’t have clean water.” The event will last from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Rudder Theater and will feature research presentations, a panel discussion of experts, a screening of the documentary “Last Call at the Oasis” and booths for relevant initiatives and companies.
Jennifer Keith
The Battalion hataburger CEO Preston Atkinson announced Tuesday that the restaurant will bottle its Fancy Ketchup, Spicy Ketchup and Original Mustard. A Whataburger press release announced that the condiments will be available at all Texas and Mexico H-E-B stores this summer. “With so much customer demand to get their hands on our special ketchup and mustard in larger quantities, it was only logical to bottle them up and make them available first through such a well-respected retailer like HE-B,” Atkinson said. Zack Koenig, senior telecommunication media studies major, said he would buy the
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See Senate on page 4
products as soon as they are available. “I’m a fan of their spicy ketchup,” Koenig said. “I try to get extra every time I go, more than I need for that meal – basically collecting them until they go out of season.” Koenig said, however, Whataburger condiments’ presence in stores would not necessarily move him to exclusively buy the chain’s ketchup. “It depends on whether or not it’s the exact same product we get in the single serving cups from Whataburger,” Koenig said. “If it’s the same exact taste, I’m sure I’d buy it consistently. But I’d also probably get regular Heinz ketchup.”
Elder brother ‘dominant force’ behind bombing BOSTON — Nineteen-yearold Dzhokhar Tsarnaey was charged Monday with joining his older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaey in setting off the shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs. He could face the death penalty. Senate Intelligence Committee member Richard Burr, R-N.C., said there is “no question” that Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was “the dominant force” behind the attacks, and that the brothers had apparently been radicalized by material on the Internet rather than by contact with militant or terror groups overseas. Associated Press
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