THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2017 | SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 | © 2017 STUDENT MEDIA | @THEBATTONLINE
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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
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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