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Offensive line coach Jim Turner leads his unit in individual drills during the first day of spring practice for the football team.
Cassie Stricker — THE BATTALION
BACK TO WORK
A&M football team kicks off spring practice, looks toward fall By Angel Franco @AngelMadison_
W
hen defensive line coach David Turner cried out, “WHERE’S THE JUICE!?” at senior defensive tackle Reggie Chevis prior to warm-ups, it was clear football was back as the Texas
A&M football team began spring practice Wednesday afternoon. While stars from last year’s squad — including Trevor Knight, Myles Garrett and Josh Reynolds — gear up for this week’s NFL Draft Combine in Indianapolis, the Aggies had their first glimpse at their future squad, which features a handful of talented underclassmen and also welcomes back several key players from injury. Head coach Kevin Sumlin said although the Aggies suffered significant
losses on the defensive side of the ball with the departures of Garrett, Daeshon Hall and Justin Evans, the program was able to reload during the offseason through recruiting. Sumlin reiterated the benefit and importance of having newcomers and underclassmen go through drills in the spring, summer and early fall, which will make a significant difference come the start of the season. “We signed one of the top junior-college defensive ends in the FOOTBALL ON PG. 2
MSC OPAS has brought numerous shows to A&M’s stages, including Lyle Lovett, “Jersey Boys” and “Beauty and the Beast.”
Maria Fuentes — THE BATTALION
Junior Robert McIntosh is disputing charges of voter intimidation which led to his disqualification.
Pretrial held for ‘McIntosh vs Keathley’ appeal By Brad Morse @BradSMorse53 Texas A&M’s Student Government Association held its pretrial hearing Wednesday for the disqualified candidate for student body president, Robert McIntosh, who is contesting his disqualification. McIntosh, who initially won the SBP race, was disqualified last Friday evening after 14 reports of voter intimidation were reported to the Election Commission. Videos were submitted which showed McIntosh and other campaign members approaching students and asking them to vote on their phones while they watched. McIntosh’s campaign filed an appeal to the Judicial Court last Saturday, but on Sunday McIntosh received another disqualification-level charge — failure to report a campaign expense. For the expense report charge, McIntosh failed to account for glow sticks seen in a campaign video, which was posted to Facebook Feb. 19. All candidates are required to turn in receipts for all materials used in any campaigning effort. The expense report McIntosh turned in did not account for the glow sticks. The reports on the violations, as well as McIntosh’s expense report can be read in full at tamuelection.com. MCINTOSH ON PG. 7
SETTING THE STAGE MSC OPAS members shed light on their organization’s success By Maddie Brennan @maddiekbrennan MSC OPAS runs the show — literally. As Texas A&M’s renowned performing arts organization, MSC OPAS partners students and staff in entertaining and inspiring A&M students and Brazos
Valley communities with diverse fine art performances. MSC OPAS sets a precedent for uniquely engaging students and community members with the performing arts. In 1972, Earl Rudder and Wayne Stark pulled together community support and funding to found MSC OPAS as a chance for students, many of whom had never seen a live performance, to experience world-class productions firsthand. MSC OPAS has grown exponentially since its founding, hosting shows
FILE
from Willie Nelson to “Les Miserables” and Yo-Yo Ma to “Jersey Boys.” The executive director of MSC OPAS and student committee adviser, Anne Black, discussed how OPAS goes about securing big-shot titles for Texas A&M’s stages. “A lot of our ability to attract shows comes from our long-standing relationship with the industry. We see a lot of product,” Black said. “We go to New York as a group, students and OPAS ON PG. 2
New Student Senate bill aims to make job, internship interviews excused absences By Eraj Mohiuddin @5678Eraj A new bill recently passed by Student Senate will work toward making class absences due to job or internship interviews university excused. The bill was proposed by Alan Hernandez, vice chairman of Student Services Committee and member of the
On-Campus Caucus, and Jordan Argamany, a petroleum engineering senior and student senator, and was unanimously passed by the body. The bill proposes a revision of Student Rule 7, which currently only allows graduate and professional students to miss class days for mandatory admission interviews which cannot be rescheduled. This bill proposes this rule also extend to
undergraduate students. “Students are here, yes, to get a degree, yes, to get educated, but ultimately, we also want to find what we are passionate about,” Hernandez said. “I think the first step in getting an idea or exposure to that is hands on experience, so jobs and internships. Joseph Hood, speaker of Senate, and I were doing some research SENATE ON PG. 2
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Redshirt freshman Nick Starkel goes through throwing drills. Starkel will compete for the starting quarterback job this spring. All veterans and families welcome. All services free.
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FOOTBALL CONTINUED country [Micheal Clemons] and he’s going to have every chance he can get and show what he can do,” Sumlin said after Wednesday’s practice. “I was really happy with our [defensive] line class this year as far as what we wanted to do and increase our profile, size wise with 6’5, 6’6 guys. When we were recruiting, we were really selective this year we passed on a couple of guys that were maybe not what we were looking for, for our profile for the SEC.” Aside from the new additions from the recruiting trail, Sumlin said a large group of players who have spent several years waiting for their name to be called will also help the coaching staff effectively fill voids. “The guys who are here right now have played football for us, they’re experienced and they’ve been waiting their turn,” Sumlin added. “That’s
OPAS CONTINUED staff — and we spend 18 hours a day seeing products for consideration.” As an organization with upwards of 100 student members, four of whom serve as paid staff members, MSC OPAS relies jointly on the student body and community for support and participation in order to carry out its daily functions. These student-staff relationships are the foundation of OPAS, and the students work with the staff to perform most of the organization’s functions, Black said, including securing performances, publicity and running each performance. “We’ve been able to maintain and hang on to the student staff partnership, keeping our students involved in the day-to-day business,” Black said. “There are all kinds of ways to be involved. You can even sign on to just
SENATE CONTINUED about this, and we saw an article that said that 60 percent of the time, internships lead to full time job offers.” Hernandez also hopes to clarify some confusion that has previously come up in the past where students had a mandatory interview in New York on an exam day. The students were forced to receive a zero because they could not reschedule their “super days.” “Now that students are competing for internships with big businesses and other firms, they begin to have something called a super day where you spend a whole day with a company, often in New York,” said senator Jordan Argamany. “How are we supposed to continue to attract these companies for recruiting when students aren’t able to go to a super day because a professor may not be compliant?” After learning about some instances of conflict regarding Rule 7, Hernandez and Argamany combined bills they were coincidentally working on at the same time that dealt with similar proposals. “We took the best parts of our bills and combined them to create one bill that had the most effective means of addressing the issue,” Argamany said. “It was just a funny coincidence that we had written the same legislation, and we were able to take some wordage of mine and some researched facts from his to combine them to make what is bill SB 69-33.” They also received input from many professors and administrators for different perspectives and to gather support, including Sorin Sorescu, head of the Finance Department, who has also
what college football is about.” One player who has been waiting for his time to shine is sophomore Justin Dunning. He was forced to sit out last season due to a torn ACL suffered during fall camp. Sumlin said the coaching staff is taking his return to full-speed drills slowly, as Dunning (6-foot-4, 235 pounds) is also transitioning from safety to linebacker. This will allow him get reacquainted with the drills and limit the risk of re-injury. “[Dunning’s] going through individual drills right now,” Sumlin said. “He’s gone through the whole off season conditioning. There’s no question that the kid wants to play. Toward the end of last season, I saw him walking around with the linebackers and [coach John Chavis] and I asked him, ‘What are you doing?’And he said, ‘I think I want to play.’ We’ve taken it kind of slowly with him. He won’t be in any of the team drills this spring; that way he can get used to that position.”
For the fourth year in a row, A&M boasts a competition for quarterback heading into spring ball with two new faces in the room, including four-star early-enrollee Kellen Mond. Senior Jake Hubenak — the only quarterback on the roster with collegiate experience — is vying to fend off the highly touted Mond, redshirt freshman Nick Starkel and early-enrollee Connor Blumrick. Sumlin said it’s too early to tell who will get the nod to start the season against UCLA, but he said the group is bonding and ready to get to work. “These guys [Mond and Blumrick] are happy to be here and they’re doing great,” Sumlin said of the newcomers. “You got a bunch of guys in [the quarterback room] that are competing and are communicating, including the walk-on guys. We have plenty of arms out there … It’s day one and we have no pads on and we have 14 more practices to go.”
work the shows and see the shows for free!” Although student membership has decreased slightly for MSC OPAS over time, biology senior Taylor Rowland, the director of Education Outreach, said he hopes this will change. “You can always find time for the things you really love. I find that once people really put in a little time to OPAS, they want to put in more time,” Rowland said. “They find that they love the people that they’re working with; they love the jobs they’re doing.” Rowland said his favorite performance was Willie Nelson and the show’s ability to represent the unity created through MSC OPAS. “Up front there was a 90-year-old couple, and literally right next to them were two college students,” Rowland said. “I’ve never seen a performance like it; so many different people of all ages all came together and had an amaz-
ing time.” Amanda Ibarra, chair of MSC OPAS and allied health senior, said students are a key part of what makes OPAS unique. With the newly created Reserve Path, students who don’t have the time for another organization’s demands, can still get involved by working show nights. Moreover, she hopes as MSC OPAS continues on, more and more people will get involved in whatever manner possible. “I hope that into the future students continue to enjoy and love the arts, that’s what OPAS does for the campus,” Ibarra said. “We’re bringing something that’s not really accessible to everybody, but we make it accessible here and do what we can for the students, not only those involved, but also those that come in and see shows.” To get involved or purchase tickets, you can learn more on MSC OPAS’ website: http://www.mscopas.org
been working on a separate rule change proposal for Rule 7. He has been helping Hernandez by providing the perspective of a faculty member. “When you pass a rule like this, there is a trade off between doing what is right for our educational mission, which is ultimately to help our students find good jobs, and that the rule can be abused, a part of the faculty’s concerns,” Sorescu said. “Students can schedule job interviews on purpose around exams to try to avoid them. It becomes problematic on how to enforce it.” To prevent abuse of the bill, both Hernandez and Sorescu plan on placing restrictions on when and how the bill will be used. Hernandez’s bill proposal calls for two absences per student while Sorescu’s rule change proposal calls for individual colleges to determine if the student should be granted a university excuse for interviews regardless of number. “[You have to] think through the unintended consequences, every time you pass a rule,” Dr. Sorescu said. “There is typically some unintended consequences, so we have to think through those carefully. I expect some faculty to have some concerns over abuse, so the rule has to be very tightly written to prevent the possible extent of abuse.” The writing for the bill can be revised throughout the process to address these exceptions before reaching A&M President Michael Young’s desk. After the unanimous Senate decision, the bill will go to the University Rules and Regulations Committee, the Faculty Senate, then Young’s office. According to Sorescu, the proposal can either be sent back for more research to be done,
revised or accepted. “The biggest part is going to be presenting it to the Faculty Senate because they have the final say in sending this to President Young’ office,” Hernandez said. “I am excited and I look forward to continuing this conversation with Faculty Senate. They are an outstanding group of professors, and I trust that they will make the right decision.” The bill will be presented to the University Rules and Regulations Committee April 7. Hernandez, Argamany and Sorescu do not expect much controversy from the rest of the process, but they do expect revision. “I feel confident that the university will see the need and respond because this will greatly benefit the students,” Hernandez said. “It will give the students that sense of security that they can accomplish their future career goals. We are still having a lot of conversations with administration. The bill is a way for us to communicate to the administration that ‘Hey, this is something that the students feel is important.’” Sorescu said the bill is in the best interest of the university because it allows businesses from various states to bring their opportunities to A&M’s campus and give students flexibility in the search for jobs. “As all of these great things are happening for our university, we have to be aware of the fact that working with out of state employers requires making certain adjustments,” Sorescu said. “We have to work with these employers based on their needs, their recruiting schedule. It is a rule change that not only helps the students, but will help the university better fulfill its education mission.”
BASKETBALL
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The Battalion | 3.2.17
Freshman forward Robert Williams has scored at least 13 points in all of his last eight games.
“A dunk is a dunk, but it makes people happy.” Robert Williams, forward
FILE
A PROMISE NEAR FULFILLMENT Robert Williams projected to be lottery pick in NBA Draft, bringing him one step closer to honoring grandmother’s wish By Lawrence Smelser @LawrenceSmelser
A
t 14 years old Robert Williams was similar to many teenagers caught between deciding which sport to focus on in high school; for him it was football or basketball. The decision became simple when he dedicated his life to basketball after he became determined to grant his grandmother’s wish after she died that same year. “When [my grandmother, Shirley Smith] started getting sick my sister [Brittanni Smith] used to stay the night with her in the hospital,” Williams said. “My sister told me that right before she passed she told her to tell me to keep playing basketball and don’t give up. Me and my grandma had a love-hate relationship — we’d argue, cry, she’d hold me, that’s how it was. My sister told me that, and I said, ‘This is it. I’m going to the NBA for her.’” Five years later, after becoming a top-50 recruit in the country, Williams sits in a star role for Texas A&M as tournament play looms. In 29 games, the 6-foot-9, 237-pound phenom with a 7-foot-5.5 wingspan has reached double-digit points 20 times and also holds 10 doubles-doubles to his name. “The sky is the limit for him,” A&M point guard J.C. Hampton said. “He’s still so young. You don’t understand how good he really can be. His work ethic has gotten better since I’ve stepped here on campus.” The 19-year-old has become a household name around not only College Station, but across the country. Currently, Williams is projected to be a lottery pick (top 14) in this year’s NBA Draft. And if Williams is picked in the lottery, he would become the highest drafted Aggie in Texas A&M program history ahead of Antoine Wright, who was picked 15th in 2005 by the New Jersey Nets. “I just play basketball, that’s all I can do,” Williams said of the hype he hears about himself. “I hear it day in and day out, people call me, text me and send me mock drafts. Of course I like it because it’s new to me, but I guess at some point it’s like, I get it, y’all are sending me the same stuff every day, I get it. I can go to the NBA, I get that. Just let me live, let me play my game day by day. Whatever happens, happens.” In addition to scoring, Williams’ emergence as one of the best big men in the country stems from his ability to get rebounds and protect the rim. The Vivian, Louisiana, native is second in the SEC in rebounds per game with 7.9 and 17th in the country in blocks with 2.6 per outing. “I mean you don’t want to miss a shot but when you have a guy like Robert you expect him to get the rebound,” said Williams’ teammate Tonny Trocha-Morelos. “When I see the double team I just shoot it. I’m like, ‘Okay if I don’t make it I know he’s going to get it.’” Williams knew he was something special as early as high
school, something that’s only grown throughout his time in college. “In high school I knew I was good against the talent I was playing against,” Williams said. “People are going to tell you you’re going to do this and do that but in this world there are great players out there. My godfather [Ricky Evans], who was my AAU coach, used to tell me ‘You’re special, I’m telling you I’ve been around a lot of basketball players but you’re special.’” Williams was a four-star recruit out of Caddo High School and was touted as the No. 1 player in Louisiana. Both he and A&M head coach Billy Kennedy call the Pelican State home. “It was fun,” Williams said of being recruiting by Kennedy. “I knew coach Kennedy well because he talked to me every day of the week. Sometimes he would fly down just to see me and talk to me for 30 minutes. I was like ‘Man, he really wants me.’ It was cool we had the Louisiana connection.” Williams grew up in Vivian, a small town 31 miles north of Shreveport with a population of roughly 3,600 people. He said he feels extremely proud to represent his town as he becomes more and more well-known. “I love my town so much,” Williams said. “It feels great to say I’m from there. My best childhood memory was playing little league basketball, like getting up on Saturday mornings at 8 and laying the uniform out getting ready to put it on. You’re getting ready to play against all your friends. Those were the best memories.” Williams chose A&M over Baylor, LSU and Mississippi State and was influenced on his official visit by his current teammates, who made him feel at home. “I can honestly sit here and say every one of my teammates, I’d die for,” Williams said. “They’re my brothers, no doubt. When I first saw Tyler [Davis], I asked DJ [Hogg], ‘Does he really act like this?’ And he was like ‘Yeah this is really how he acts.’ So when I saw DJ, Admon [Gilder], Tyler, I knew this was a family and we could be really good. So I wanted to come here.” Williams is averaging 11.7 points per game over the season but in conference play he’s managed to average 12.5. He said he began to realize that he was becoming a great college player a month before SEC play against Virginia Tech and that his game has made strides since he first step foot on campus. “I think [I’ve grown] physically and mentally as far as preparing myself for games and for practice,” Williams said. “Physically I feel like every day I’m in the weight room. I feel like I’ve gotten so much bigger. And I know I’ve still got a long way to go but the strength and conditioning coach got me right.” Williams was able to attend a Nike Camp heading into his senior year of high school and was given strong advice from arguably the best basketball player on the planet, LeBron James. After coming to terms with playing with one of his idols, then-17-year-old Williams said he learned a lot from the experience. Williams laughed about one occasion when he didn’t
stick his hand out for a pass from James because it was as fast as a “bullet.” “[Lebron] just told us basically no matter if it was in basketball or whatever it is in life, to commit to it fully,” Williams said. “If you’re going to do something, do it the right way and give it your all. I think of that advice every day. You’ve got to give it your all because if you don’t then there’s no point in doing it. That’s just how it is.” Sitting at 16-13 overall and 8-9 in SEC play, the NCAA Tournament is likely out of reach for the Aggies unless they win the SEC Tournament. The maroon and white are currently projected to sneak into the NIT but still have to play Kentucky in the final regular season game. Williams said his goal for the remainder of the season is to become more of a leader by being louder and to send the two seniors on the team, Hampton and Tavario Miller, out on a positive note. “Personally I feel like I need to start talking more, on offense and defense,” Williams said. “I feel like I don’t talk a lot. I have to be vocal on the court with my teammates. Team-wise, just got to finish strong for the two seniors. They may never play basketball again so to finish strong and have fun.” After the season Williams will be eligible for the NBA Draft. Kennedy explained he would meet with Williams and his family to make a decision on his future. In Texas A&M’s win over Alabama on Feb. 25 — where Williams led the team in scoring and had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds — the A&M crowd began chanting, “One more year.” “Everyone’s projecting him as a lottery pick,” Kennedy said. “Robert loves being an Aggie so it doesn’t hurt my feelings at all to hear them yelling for one more year. I’d love a lot of people chanting that Saturday because he’s got a lot of people screaming ‘you’ve got to get out of here.’ He’s a heck of a talent. We’re just blessed to have him.” One of the things people will miss most about Williams if he’s drafted is his emphatic dunks. Williams joked that he’s no doubt the best dunker on the team. “From my perspective I don’t see what’s so special about [dunking],” Williams said. “I’ve been doing it since 10th, 11th grade. But when I do it everyone’s like, ‘Oh, did you see him?’ A dunk is a dunk, but it makes people happy. My favorite showtime dunk is either a monster — just come off two feet and cock it back — or a windmill.” After everything he has accomplished throughout high school and college, from averaging 21 points at Caddo High School to being named SEC Freshman of the Week on multiple occasions, Williams believes his grandmother would be delighted with how he’s developed. “Oh my goodness, she would be so proud,” Williams said with a grin. “I can just see the smile on her face. If she could just see me now all grown up, because I was so young when she passed, she’d be proud.”
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The Battalion | 3.2.17
All seven of the planets orbiting “Trappist-1” are all roughly earth sized, and three may have water.
Q&A What 7 new planets mean for science
The Battalion science and technology editor Josh Hopkins spoke with Darren DePoy, physics professor, about a recent discovery of seven earth-sized planets orbiting Trappist-1, a dwarf star about 40 light-years from Earth. THE BATTALION: What makes the “Trappist-1” system so special? DEPOY: Probably two reasons. We’ve found thousands and thousands of planets around other stars; this was sort of special because the planets that were found are basically about the size of the Earth and are likely to be roughly the mass of the Earth as well. The other thing that makes this unusual in sort of a discovery sense is that there is a lot of them. This is the first time we’ve seen a planetary system with this large a number of small planets, and that’s unusual in a sense that we don’t know about many other systems like that. It’s very likely there are lots of other systems like that out there in the universe, we just don’t know about them.
THE BATTALION: What are some of the implications of finding this system and what does it mean for us? DEPOY: Well, it’s sort of a confirmation that there are planets kind of like the Earth out in the universe. That’s a good thing to confirm; the suspicion has been there that those Earth-like planets are possibly not uncommon, but you don’t know that until you go and measure them, something to tell you how frequent those things happen … There are a lot of stars in the universe — there’s 10 to the 10 stars or so in our galaxy and there is about 10 to the 10 galaxies in the universe. So the likelihood that there is other Earthmass systems is pretty high, because even if only 1
Courtesy: NASA/
percent of stars have Earth-like planets there is still a lot, and even if only 1 percent of those have water that’s still a lot. And even if only 1 percent of those have some kind of life that is still an enormous number of systems, but we would like to go and measure that. You can’t say one way or the other until you go and measure it.
THE BATTALION: This system is said to be about 40 lightyears from Earth. What does that mean? How close is 40 light-years? DEPOY: Forty light-years is a distance. It’s the distance over which light will travel in 40 years. That’s pretty close by the standards of these sorts of things. To give you a sense of what that means it takes about seven minutes for the light to get from the sun to us. A few years for light to get from us to the nearest other star, other than the sun. The size of our galaxy is about 100,000 light years. So, it’s still not close. On the scale of our solar system it’s pretty far away, but on the scale of our galaxy it’s pretty close.
THE BATTALION: From what we’ve seen there are three planets in the system in the “habitable zone.” What does this mean? DEPOY: The habitable zone is a region around a star where if we imagined all of the light and energy you are getting from the star falling on the planet, depending on what kind of atmosphere the planet has — or not if it doesn’t have an atmosphere — then the conditions at the surface will be such that liquid water could exist. It’s thought that liquid water is an important ingredient in getting biology going, in getting life going. Kind of the definition of the habitable zone
is we calculate that under a broad set of conditions liquid water could exist on the surface of these planets. It doesn’t mean it does, it means it could. An important criteria is whether or not those planets have atmospheres, if they have zero atmosphere liquid water can’t exist on the surface. If they’ve got a really super thick atmosphere like Venus, it will be really hot on the surface even if it’s not that close to the sun. So there is a lot of uncertainty still on whether there actually is water on the surface of those planets or not, and it depends a lot on what the atmospheres are like, or if they even have atmospheres.
THE BATTALION: What sort of research might follow from this find? DEPOY: Obviously one of the big questions is do these things have atmospheres or not. And it turns out that in principle if you have a star, and the planet goes in front of it — that’s how these things were found you see a little dip in the amount of light you are getting from the star. When it’s transiting like that, some of the light from the star will skim through the atmosphere. So if you look very carefully during one of these events, you can see the impact of an atmosphere — if it is there — on the light from the star… So if the atmosphere has a whole lot of water in it — clouds — that will look different than if it doesn’t have any atmosphere at all. The atmosphere changes what the star will look like a little bit, but that’s a super hard measurement to make, and it really is not quite possible with the facilities that we have today. But in about 10 years, we are building facilities now that will be done in about 10 years that ought to enable that kind of measurement.
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FOR RENT Beautiful two-plex for rent in CS, 2 bedrooms, ample with large fenced backyard, tranquil, 3 minutes from campus, remodeled, convenient to everything, call for special, 832-572-1090. Brand new 1bd/1ba, walking distance to campus, call 979-693-4900. HOUSE FOR LEASE! Available for 2017-2018 school year. 4bed/2.5bath, ideal roommate floorplan, 1mile from campus on Sterling St right off Texas Ave, alarm system monitoring included with rent. $2000/month. Aggie owned and managed. Text 214-563-4040.
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HELP WANTED Brazos Valley Imports part-time receptionist. $8/hr 12-8 Tuesday, Thursday, every other Saturday 96. Contact David 979-776-7600 Cleaning commercial buildings at night, M-F. Call 979-823-5031 for interview. Frittella Italian Cafe, Casual but elegant environment; need motivated individuals with good work ethic, neat appearance and personable. We will train, apply in person.
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Seeking boys and girls youth lacrosse teachers/coaches for local BCS youth lacrosse program. coach@aggielacrosse.com SUMMER OF YOUR LIFE! CAMP WAYNE FOR GIRLS, Summer camp, Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania (6/17-8/13/17). If you love children and want a caring, fun environment we need Counselors, Instructors and other staff. Interviews on campus Feb.28! Select The Camp That Selects The Best Staff! Call 1-215-944-3069 or apply www.campwaynegirls.com
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Featuring a unique rooftop pool, and the largest fitness center in the area, we are ready to rock your college experience. Sterling Northgate is the newest luxury housing community for students just like you. Visit Our Leasing Office to experience VIRTUAL REALITY!
XX — THE BATTALION
Junior Robert McIntosh was disqualified Friday for 14 counts of voter intimidation, a charge which he is appealing via the TAMU J-Court.
‘Not with coercion but with personal interest’ Robert McIntosh’s campaign manager speaks out in campaign’s defense Sam Alders Campaign Manager
O
ver the course of the past two months, I have had the privilege of working on the Rally with Robert campaign for Student Body President. I have known Robert McIntosh since I was a senior in high school, and I have always admired his upright character and his commitment to the people around him. So, when he asked me to serve as his head campaign manager it was an honor to say yes. Throughout my time spent with the campaign staff, I began to better understand the nature of leadership and the enormous value it brings to this campus and the world at large. As we came together as a campaign team, we quickly realized that our purpose was not to win an election but to instead leave the Texas A&M student body impacted, influenced and inspired. In addition to winning the popular student vote, our campaign was successful in achieving what we had set out to do. This was the ultimate sense of accomplishment that our team earned last Thursday and Friday, and we left those two days with an awareness that we had accomplished our end goal. As a campaign that valued relationships and personal interactions, we understood just how important each student was that passed by our signs, and we made every effort to identify and seek out a personal connection with every student that we could. As the voting days drew near and campaign excitement continued to build, our sign representatives began standing next to the sign, greeting and conversing with students who were walking by throughout the day. For the duration of the final three days, Robert was stationed at sign locations so that he could both thank the supporters holding his sign and
MCINTOSH CONTINUED McIntosh and his campaign will be contesting both these charges at his hearing Thursday evening. Business honors junior and chief justice of the SGA Judicial Court Shelby James said the pretrial hearing will not be an indication of the hearing Thursday evening. “The court doesn’t ‘prejudge’ issues, or determine a ruling before the oral arguments,” Shelby said. “Though we’ve received evidence from both parties, we only voted for its acceptance and will not critically analyze the cases presented by the parties until the actual hearing.” Shelby said the only effect the pretrial hearing will have is how the court will decide to proceed with the matter. “If the evidence is deemed valid, the Court will proceed with case 69-01. However, if the Court establishes the facts asserted by the defense are wrong, Case 69-01 will be deemed unnecessary,” Shelby said. Case 69-01 deals with the voter intimidation violations. Case 69-02 deals with the expense report violation. The pretrial hearing held Wednesday night only dealt with case 69-01. During the trial, witnesses to the reported violation testified to what they saw. “I saw someone from their campaign fol-
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personally greet the students he wanted to represent. The precedent of encouraging our fellow students to vote has been employed by countless campaigns not only in this election cycle but also in previous years. There was not one time during these two days that we harassed or coerced our fellow Aggies to vote. Rather, we greeted all, regardless of their differences, with the humility and excitement that accompanies meeting new faces. We left every interaction feeling encouraged and uplifted because of the individual we had just met. As for the charges of voter intimidation, one look at the evidence reveals that we were doing what we had set out to achieve not with coercion but with personal interest — in broad daylight — fully upholding all of the rules of the electoral process. Furthermore, on the subject of secondhand reporting of intimidation, it is dangerous practice for us to impose our own perceptions on our neighbors. I believe we have no place for this within a unified Texas A&M University. We value all Aggies on this campus as joint representatives of the 12th Man, and our campaign operated from this mindset throughout the whole process. For a team that valued personal connection and was established on the principle of engaging students in a manner that was impactful, influential, and inspiring, this was a success. This was the culmination of a well-run campaign, and it exemplified everything that we had set out to achieve. We will confidently fight — and hopefully win — in order to move forward to serve Texas A&M. Thanks and Gig ‘Em, Sam Alders ‘18 Sam Alders is a non-profit management junior and head campaign manager for the Robert McIntosh campaign.
low a girl out of the plaza, and heard her say, ‘Stop following me you’re making me uncomfortable,’” said food science and technology senior Joshua Sutton. Sutton said he saw similar things occur with several people. “There were numerous people out there — they pulled out their phones, which we assumed was to vote,” Sutton said. Sutton said he took photographs of a few instances of this, which occurred last Thursday, and reported the violation after. Business honors senior and election commissioner Rachel Keathley, who led the defense, said she felt the hearing went well. “The evidence was clearly displayed. The fact that our witnesses saw this happen and experienced this happen has shown enough that we are confident in our decision to disqualify [McIntosh],” Keathley said. Keathley also said if case 69-01 is dismissed, it will not affect the result of the SBP election. “There is a second disqualification charge. If it was thrown out it would come down to 69-02,” Keathley said. Management junior and McIntosh’s campaign manager Sam Alder declined to comment. McIntosh’s official hearing will be held tomorrow evening, March 2, at 8:30 pm in the Koldus Building, room 110.
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