The batt 08 08 13

thebattalion l thursday,

august 8, 2013

l serving

texas a&m since 1893

l first paper free – additional copies $1 l © 2013 student media

Behind center, under fire

inside opinion | 2 Heroes and Heismans Fans and media frequently mesh story and narrative with the sports world as a way of making sense of situations. The problem with the Johnny Manziel autograph allegations is the story has no hero and more than a few villains.

Mark Doré — THE BATTALION

J

ohnny Manziel and the A&M football team pulled on shoulder pads Wednesday and took part in 11-on-11 drills. Manziel took snaps with the first-team offense amid an NCAA investigation into allegations that he accepted money in exchange for signed memorabilia.

campus

Regents to honor former senator Sean Lester

The Battalion exas A&M System Chancellor John Sharp on Thursday is expected to present to the Board of Regents a proposal to honor former student and Texas Senator William Tyler “Bill” Moore.

Sharp will propose the renaming of the John B. Connally Building to the Moore-Connally Building in honor of Moore.

“There is no other public servant that has had as much an impact on the success of the A&M System as Bill Moore,” Sharp said in a statement. “He is largely responsible for the A&M System’s status as a world-class system of higher education. We will continue to build upon his legacy.”

Moore graduated from Texas A&M in 1940 and taught at the University until joining the U.S. Army Air Corps during in WWII. In 1946 he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives until being elected to the Senate in 1949 where he served the Brazos Valley until 1981.

As a lawmaker, he authored or sponsored more than 50 pieces of legislation directly benefiting the A&M System by increasing appropriations and growth opportunities for member institutions.

Moore worked to expand the physical presence of the A&M System and fought to obtain additional funding and resources. No other legislator has procured more funding for the A&M System, earning him the name, “father of the modern Texas A&M University” and the “Bull of the Brazos.”

“Senator Bill Moore is a giant among Texas A&M former students,” said Phil Adams, chairman of the Texas A&M System Board of Regents. “No legislator, past or present, has accomplished more for our great University system.”

In addition to honoring Moore, the regents will also consider approval of the fiscal year 2014 operating budgets and the A&M System Capital Plan for fiscal year 2014.

The regents will also authorize Sharp to negotiate and execute the transition agreement with University President R. Bowen Loftin, who announced his resignation in July.

The naming of the Bright Football Complex expansion of athletic facilities and related structures is also on the list, with donor’s names being attached to the new entrance and student nutrition center.

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engineering

Regents consider $137 million proposal Sean Lester

The Battalion he Texas A&M Board of Regents are scheduled Thursday to consider a plan that includes a $137 million Engineering Education Complex that will include a renovation and addition to the current Zachary Engineering Building, according to a Wednesday press release sent by the University.

The proposed 600,000 square foot complex is considered an important piece to the Dwight Look College of Engineering’s 25 by 25 Initiative that emphasizes transforming the College of Engineering.

“This building will be a centerpiece of our 25 by 25 Initiative and embodies a progressive approach toward maximizing our facilities and resources to deliver the highest quality education possible,” said Texas A&M System Chancellor John Sharp in a statement.

The center is expected to feature technology-driven facilities as a departure from the outdated Zachary building. The building will be funded by both current and former students, including members of the Student Engineers’ Council (SEC) who committed $1 million to the complex in April.

“As the cornerstone of the college’s initiative to become a leader in engineering education, the Engineering Education

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As part of the “25 by 25” initiative, the $137 million Engineering Education Complex will provide an update to the outdated Zachary building.

Complex will be an integral part of future engineering students’ experience in the college,” said former SEC president Ryan Haughey. “The Student Engineers’ Council exists to serve the students of the college, and supporting this building is an excellent means for us to enhance the education of undergraduate engineering students.”

The council’s commitment will span 10 years, using funds raised from its semiannual career fairs. The fall fair is one of the largest student-run career fairs in the U.S. “In order to meet the nation’s growing need for top engineers, the Engineering See Engineering on page 3

academics

Movies serve as focus of geoscience courses Sarah Hoffschwelle The Battalion

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s part of its retention program, the College of Geosciences will begin to implement freshman seminars with nontraditional topics, using movies such as “The Day After Tomorrow” and even “Finding Nemo” to enhance freshman students’ first year of college and introduce them to different aspects of geosciences.

“These courses give our first-year students the opportunity to explore the many ways that geosciences affect our lives ev-

ery day,” said Sarah Bednarz, associate dean for academic affairs and coordinator of the college’s First-Year Seminars, in a statement. “Such interdisciplinary seminars will also give students the opportunity to engage with their peers and the college community while learning in small classroom settings from highly engaged faculty. Our goal is to excite students about the geosciences and to help them make a successful transition from high school to college through this highimpact educational program.”

Roxanna Russell, senior academic advisor in the college of geosciences and

Class of 1989, explained that the main point of the freshman seminars was to ease the first-year students’ transition to life at A&M. “A&M is a large university and many students come from small communities, small high schools,” Russell said. “Therefore, A&M can be overwhelming. [Freshman seminars] create one-on-one relationships with faculty members and the opportunity to make new friends among their peers since the classes are small, usually 16 people. They also show different See Seminar on page 4

campus

Students seek classroom support at Academic Success Center Yue Zhang

Special to The Battalion

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COURTESY

Scholastic performance specialist, Becky Adair, conducts a coaching session with a Texas A&M student at the Academic Success Center in the YMCA Building.

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ince the spring semester, the Academic Success Center has helped Texas A&M students improve their academic performance and is now prepared to support even more students in the coming months.

James Kracht, assistant provost for undergraduate studies and executive director of the center, said the center was designed to help undergraduate students achieve their highest academic potential and graduate from A&M in a reasonable amount of time without incurring a huge debt.

“The more we can do to help students gain academic tools and help them be successful, the faster

they can get to graduation and the debt problem would be less,” Kracht said.

The Academic Success Center is a collaboration of work by staff members previously from the student counseling center, peer academic services center and other various academic-related programs on campus.

One of the newly introduced features of the center is that students can schedule appointments with scholastic performance specialists or coaches. There are six coaches who see students individually. They offer help in a variety of areas including time-management, note-taking and other learning and study skills.

“There are plenty of success stories of students that See Success on page 4

8/7/13 10:42 PM

opinion

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FILE PHOTO

Johnny Manziel celebrates with the team after the Cotton Bowl victory over Oklahoma back in January.

Heroes and Heismans Mark Doré: Sports and narratives go hand in hand, but good luck making sense of this one

S

ports talk benefits from depth, and everyone can appreciate a good story. Narratives help make sense of a game to which meaning doesn’t always come easily. Players have little use for them, but since when have sports been about the players?

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We’ve bought and sold our own narratives on Johnny Manziel many times over. “Johnny is a disgrace to the school,” or “Johnny is a repeat offender, or “Johnny is the finest liveaction Scooby Doo on record.” (Tangent: Remember those Scooby-andscore days? They weren’t long ago, but they seem as much.)

Now we have a new narrative that nobody knows what to do with it: a sinister heap of allegations that Manziel received compensation for signed memorabilia.

Only where’s the villain?

If we can’t find one, we have no benchmark with which to approach this goopy mess of pay-for-pen allegations, of “Autographgate,” of memorabilia dealers and a young Drake fan with a Heisman on his resume.

The idea that a market exists for a college kid and yet can’t be tapped by said player (but can be stripmined by the NCAA, Texas A&M, ESPN and countless others) is a travesty. Manziel should be able to open a “Johnny Football Signature Emporium” and hock signed candy wrappers for one grand each. He should sign his toenail clippings for a nice dinner.

Whether or not a 20 year old can handle being the single most famous college athlete in the history of the world (and no, Tebow doesn’t count — he didn’t have to wade through the swamps of the Twitterverse) is a question I have no business dealing in. And if Kyle Field 2.0 isn’t “The House That Johnny Built,” he had something to do with laying

the foundation.

However, as silly as the rule against NCAA athletes profiting from their likeness is, it’s not some bylaw tucked in the back of the manual. This is a rule everyone knows.

Which brings us back to narrative. The villain candidate pool is a deep one.

When ESPN’s Joe Schad and Darren Rovell broke the story of an NCAA probe into Manziel’s handwriting habits, the Aggie community went at their throats.

The shoddily manufactured report leaned on anonymous sources with little tangible proof. They tossed a half-baked story to the Twitter wolves. But ESPN doesn’t give us a good villain because, frankly, they may be right about this whole thing.

The NCAA makes a great villain, most of the time. The institution is past its expiration date. But, again: just because Manziel doesn’t like the rule, it’s still in place.

Manziel’s “manager,” Nate Fitch, is an easy target because the “friends make bad business partners” narrative appeals to plenty and it shifts the blame from Manziel.

In College Station, at least, Manziel is still too “Heisman-y” to tear down.

The student body seems split on the matter. Many, myself included, think he’s a little misunderstood and has been chafing for some time under the load with which we’ve saddled him.

On SportsCenter, on the ticker at the bottom, yesterday’s topic headings read like this: “NFL, MLB, NBA, Manziel.” Have we

forgotten where we were one year ago?

If Johnny is eligible for Rice he’ll be on the field with the first team. What about the contingency plans?

At practice Wednesday, redshirt freshman Matt Davis looked good taking second-team snaps. Junior Matt Joeckel (who doesn’t even have a Twitter account, if you can imagine how boring that would be) and freshman Kenny Hill (the dark horse, maybe the sharpest talent of the bunch) will grapple for the passenger seat.

If they have to take the wheel, the football team might not get as many speeding tickets as it did a year ago, but it won’t run off the road.

You’ll notice I can’t help myself. I use car metaphors to make sense of things. I’m neck-deep in this world of sports, so I’m aware I can’t separate the game from the narrative.

But if you sit back and try, you’ll notice there’s no villain here and there’s no hero. If Manziel goes down, no one wins. This is a spider web of money, careers, wins and egos.

But if what we’ve seen in Year One of the Manziel Era is any indication, don’t bet against Johnny Football tearing through this mess.

We’ve underestimated him at least 100 times by now. Are you willing to do so again?

MAILCALL From David Sanguesa, Class of 1985 Johnny Manziel is playing and partying and not acting like a professional. Fake ID, drunkenness and fighting is causing a lot of problems for Manziel and his future in the pros. Ags, you need to quit defending him. Johnny Manziel is guilty so quit defending him. He needs to be an Aggie and grow up and play the part of a true Heisman winner. By the way, ESPN predicts #1 Alabama to beat Texas A&M 37-10. We are not ready and Alabama will blow us out.

EDITOR’SNOTE The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the various authors and forum participants in this paper do not necessarily reflect those of Texas A&M University, The Battalion or its staff.

MAILCALL GUESTCOLUMNS Make your opinion known by submitting Mail Call or guest columns to The Battalion.

Mail call must be fewer than 200 words and include the author’s name, classification, major and phone number. Staff and faculty must include title.

Guest columns must be fewer than 700 words. All submissions should focus on issues not personalities, become property of The Battalion and are subject to editing for style, clarity and space concerns. Anonymous letters will be read, but not printed. The Battalion will print only one letter per author per month. No mail call will appear in The Battalion’s print or online editions before it is verified.

Direct all correspondence to: Editor in chief of The Battalion (979) 845-3315 | mailcall@ thebatt.com

Let’s be friends

Mark Doré is a senior English major and staff writer for The Battalion Keep up with campus news at thebatt.com.

8/7/13 9:08 PM

news

page 3

IN PRINT • ONLINE

Engineering

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tive facility use, this building dramatically increases our economical use of space on campus, which ultimately supports our efforts to keep tuition affordable for our students and their parents,” said Phil Adams, chair of the Texas A&M Board of Regents in a statement.

In the press release, University President R. Bowen Loftin said funding for the building will come from the $1 million given by current students, $30 million from former students as well as the state government, and from within the engineering industry.

Construction for the Engineering Education Complex is expected to begin in 2014 with 2016 as an approximate opening date.

When

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“First, we are not simply doubling our footprint; we will maximize space through flexible design, remote learning and 24/7 accessibility,” said M. Katherine Banks, vice chancellor and dean of engineering in a statement. “Second, this will be the most connected and technology-adaptable facility of its kind. Lastly, and most importantly, this state-ofthe-art complex will provide our students with the educational home needed to reach their potential as engineers and computer scientists.”

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The $137 million Engineering Education Complex, to begin construction in 2014, will feature state-of-the-art classrooms and laboratories.

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Place

News Sports Opinion Mailcall

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Education Complex at Texas A&M will innovate the way engineers are taught,” said Alex Herring, graduate student and former SEC vice president. “Student Engineers’ Council supports the Dwight Look College of Engineering’s students and our commitment to this endeavor will enhance engineering education for years to come.”

The building is expected to feature updated and flexible classrooms, design and fabrication shared-use laboratories, collaborative space and tutoring space. The complex will serve as “the hub of undergraduate engineering education at Texas A&M University,” according to the press release.

The College of Engineering announced in January that an initiative was started to increase enrollment to 25,000 engineering students by 2025, more than doubling the enrollment of the program. The college is already home to the third-largest engineering program in the nation.

The initiative focuses on improved education and cost efficiency through technology integration, something this building hopes to provide.

“Through the blending of remote learning and innova-

thebattalion

thursday 8.8.2013

thebattalion

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COURTESY

Oceanography professor Debbie Thomas teaches students in the “Geosciences in the Movies” freshman seminar course, discussing geoscience issues and performing experiments with her students.

Seminar Continued from page 1

aspects of geosciences and help them utilize what they learn in real world situations. We also of course want to retain the students if at all possible.”

The topics in the 10 courses range from culture and diversity to movies and art. “Geosciences in the Movies,” taught by Debbie Thomas, analyzes the movies “The Day After Tomorrow” and “The Core.” “Geosciences in the Arts,” taught by Vatche Tchakerian, analyzes the representation of geography, geology and the environmental sciences in the visual arts and music. “Finding Nemo,” taught by David Brooks, analyzes the ocean environment topics in the popular Pixar movie by that name.

“Triple Digits and Two-a-Days: Exploring the Influence of Weather and Climate on Sports,” analyzes weather’s impact on human athletic performance.

“Moby Duck” focuses on the true story of 28,800 rubber ducks, which

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thebattalion The IndependenT STudenT VoIce of TexaS a&M SInce 1893

Jake Walker, Editor in Chief The BaTTalion is published daily, Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and Tuesday and Thursday during the summer session (except University holidays and exam periods) at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843. Offices are in Suite L400 of the Memorial Student Center.

News: The Battalion news department is managed by students at Texas A&M University in Student Media, a unit of the Division of Student Affairs. Newsroom phone: 979-845-3315; E-mail: editor@thebatt.com; website: http://www.thebatt.com.

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Subscriptions: A part of the Student Services Fee entitles each Texas A&M student to pick up a single copy of The Battalion. First copy free, additional copies $1.

BAT_08-08-13_A4.indd 1

we encountered,” said Joel Guy, a coach at the Academic Success Center. “It is just getting the student to understand there is another way to learn information, to process it, to study and to try it.

They will find it will work and they will be successful.”

Lyle Slack, co-director of the Academic Success Center, said students can choose from a variety of programs that work best for them.

“There is not a set program that a certain student has to do,” Slack said.

“We try to target it to what’s going to help the student most.”

The center is also working closely with other resources on campus. Students can get direct help from the Academic Success Center and also be referred to other programs such as the Student Counseling Center, Student Financial Aid Services and the Student Disability Services in cases that the coaches identify their academic problems are related to other issues.

“Really, any resource on campus

were released into the Pacific Ocean to study currents. The class will discuss “core topics of oceanography, arctic research, exploration and the geosciences are explored. “Culture, Diversity and the Geosciences,” taught by Sonia Garcia, analyzes diversity and culture in the fields of Geosciences.

Garcia, also the director of recruitment and retention, talked about the faculty’s motivation for providing these nontraditional, topic-based seminars.

“We want [students] to see their majors from a different point of view,” Garcia said. “We want students to be involved early on with faculty, which will lead to research opportunities and encourage higher education. [Faculty] enjoy being with freshmen and like to see their excitement. We want to increase their interest and passion in the different areas of geosciences. It allows each faculty member to bring his or her background, expertise — quirk for lack of a better word — to how they see geoscience.”

Garcia talked about the future of the

seminars, explaining that it would depend on the success of this coming year.

“It’s a pilot program and we will see how it works,” Garcia said. “A number of colleges across the country have found [freshman seminars] leave a great impact on freshman classes and more universities have started offering them.

It’s great that we get to be a college at the forefront of something like this that will hopefully have an impact on future freshman classes.”

Russell also talked about the future of the seminars and mentioned the significance of the topics studied.

“At the end of the year, we will determine the success of the seminars,” Russell said. “They will most likely continue for a couple of years so that we can gather statistics and feedback.

We still currently have seats open and they are not restricted to geoscience majors. We want to share fields because many of these topics impact the entire world and not just those studying geosciences.”

the students might need, we want our coaches to know enough about it so that they could refer students,” said Joel McGee, co-director of the center.

Although the Academic Success Center has only been in operation for one semester, it has been successful in achieving its goal, proven by statistics generated by the database managed

by McGee. “The students who came to us, who completed the success plan, which means coming and working with us several sessions across the semester, managed to increase their GPR significantly,” Kracht said.

According to McGee’s data, there are 1,157 total students who participated in at least one program offered by the center during the spring semester. Students who have visited the center have seen an increase in their GPR. In particular, the average GPR increase for students who completed the success plan is 30 percent.

When asked about future direction, Kracht said the center’s main task is to expand services to students around the campus while maintaining a fairly small staff.

To reach this goal, directors and coaches plan to use more technology, for example, placing more online materials through eCampus. They will also add more workshop sessions and explore new ways of counseling, such as group counseling in order to increase capacity, Slack said.

“I think we are an organization that adapts to change,” Slack said. “We are willing to look at things differently if we see the need, or a better way that we can facilitate services for students. I think this organization is geared at how we best serve the students. We are open to a lot of changes.”

Currently, employees at the Academic Success Center are working on getting new students connected to the center. Kracht said the center has two employees at every New Student Conference.

“Going from high school to college is really a big transition,” McGee said.

“That’s where we can come in and help [new students] figure out ways to study, ways to approach class, ways to read the textbook, that make their learning more effective.”

applytothebatt If you are interested in writing or contributing content in The Battalion, print an application from thebatt.com and bring it to the newsroom in the MSC, Suite L400. The newsroom phone number is 845-3315.

The Battalion welcomes any Texas A&M student interested in photography, graphics, multimedia or writing news, sports and features to apply. We particularly encourage freshmen and sophomores to apply, but students may try out regardless of semester standing or major. No previous journalism experience is necessary.

8/7/13 9:53 PM