inside science | 3 Aggies in space A&M students participated in a NASA challenge to create hardware that may be used for future spaceflight endeavors.
thebattalion l thursday,
july 25, 2013
l serving
texas a&m since 1893
l first paper free – additional copies $1 l © 2013 student media
‘Holler House on the Brazos’
COURTESY PHOTOS
Coaches, former students remember forgotten icon Sean Lester
The Battalion een by some as an office or classroom, by others a sports arena and still others as a bookstore, for 59 years G. Rollie White Coliseum has served in many roles on campus. It was erected in 1954 as a symbol of peace, hope and change. As written in “A Centennial History of Texas A&M University,” the decade of its inception “marked a time of relative tranquility” at A&M — compared to the Depression decade, war years and war reconstruction years — but also a concern
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for “things that were clearly coming, but were not yet quite here,” such as coeducation, elective military training and a regular student body. Then-University President David H. Morgan, under recommendation from a faculty committee, decided at that time that instituting noncompulsory military training was the best solution to combat the declining enrollment at A&M. He also wanted to move Corps freshman into Corps dorms and civilian freshman into civilian dorms. The Board of Directors agreed.
“For the first time in its peacetime history, there is established a division in the organization of the student body,” said Tyree L. Bell, chairman of the G. Rollie building committee and Board of Directors member, at the coliseum’s dedication ceremony. “Can they be kept together in one united spirit, with a partisan loyalty to each other and the college itself, and to the ideals for which it was created? I believe this building can be made to serve that purpose.” And with his next closing words, Bell set the standard for this structure at the heart of
campus as a place where relationships were started and memories were made. “Let us today dedicate this coliseum, The G. Rollie White Coliseum, as a citadel to Aggie Spirit, a shrine where all Aggies — students, alumni, college staff and faculty, friends — all may come and find inspiration to perpetuate the Spirit of Aggieland.” Wednesday marked the first time that the facility would no longer be open to the public, and it is scheduled for demolition Aug. 19 to See G. Rollie White on page 2
12th man foundation
campus
Attorney speaks out on reseating lawsuit
Grad students help Alamo preservation
Sean Lester The Battalion
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t a press conference Tuesday in downtown Houston, Claude McQuarrie, the attorney representing upset endowed seat holders in their lawsuit against Texas A&M’s 12th Man Foundation, shed new light on the Kyle Field re-seating debate. McQuarrie gave an overview of the case and presented some of the evidence that will be presented at the hearing, scheduled for Aug. 2, on the motion for temporary injunction against the Foundation. “The Foundation thinks that this matter is contained,” McQuarrie said. “They believe that there are only one or two … owners that are so upset and in the position to do something about it, and that they can weather that storm. Nothing could be further from the truth.” President of the Foundation, Skip Wagner, said Tuesday to The
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Battalion that there is no language in the endowment agreement that guarantees exact seats in an exact section, but rather guarantees seats in an “endowed seating area.” “We think that the one case, they don’t have a legal case,” Wagner said. “Our lawyers have looked at that [lawsuit] and will deliver everything that the endowment agreement calls for.” McQuarrie said the group of upset endowed seat holders is growing daily. “We have the evidence and we are fully prepared to go to trial if we have to,” McQuarrie said. “I surely hope for the Foundation and the sake of Texas A&M University and for the sake of the students that for all the embarrassment that is going to result, it can be avoided.”
Sarah Hoffschwelle
The Battalion s time takes its toll on the Texan landmark that symbolizes the fight for independence that occurred more than 175 years ago, a conservation team led by Robert Warden, professor of architecture and director of Texas A&M’s Center for Heritage Conservation, strives to ensure the Alamo does not become merely a memory. The team consists of seven A&M graduate students as well as professors and students from Texas A&M Kingsville, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas at San Antonio. “This kind of groundbreaking preservation
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See Alamo on page 4
Professor Robert Warden records data for future preservation of The Alamo.
COURTESY
veterinary medicine
Vet Med partners with animal shelter Jessica Smarr
The Battalion he Houston Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences have formed what Kenita Rogers, the college’s associate dean for the professional programs, said is the largest partner-
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ship between an animal shelter and a veterinary program in the country. A&M veterinary students are required to participate in a two-week rotation at the Houston SPCA as part of the core curriculum for fourth-year veterinary students. In the first three years of study, students focus on course work. In the fourth year, they complete various core and
elective rotations. Rogers said the college believed the rotation program was an important opportunity that all students should experience. “We believe in it so much that we made that two-week rotation required,” Rogers said. “We believe it’s a really great experience See SPCA on page 4
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