WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2016 | SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 | © 2016 STUDENT MEDIA | @THEBATTONLINE
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INSIDE: Aggies hit the road after winning 2 straight games
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FOOTBALL Members of A&M’s Red Cross organization volunteer at Twin City Mission’s Community Cafe every Tuesday and Wednesday.
FILE
Trevor Knight (left) has thrown for 11 touchdowns and two interceptions in 2016. Keith Ford averaged 4.1 yards per carry against Alabama.
Taking the season one day at a time Aggies move past loss to No. 1 Alabama, look to learn from Saturday’s mistakes By Lawrence Smelser @LawrenceSmelser After suffering their first loss of the season to No. 1 Alabama Saturday, Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin and his Aggies want to move forward and fix the mistakes that were made, but also want to build on the positives. Texas A&M’s defense allowed 287 rushing yards to the Crimson Tide and have now allowed 569 rushing yards over the last two games. Defensive coordinator John Chavis said part of the problem was not rotating the linebackers. He said he hopes to incorporate the younger linebackers more and give the veterans a rest. “We’ve been better against the run,” Chavis said. “In the last two games when there’s been a mistake, I’m not going to jump on a kid if we haven’t put him in a position to succeed. We gave up a big play because we got someone out of a gap. We have to grow, get bigger and stronger. I like the fight in our football team.” Texas A&M’s offensive line allowed five sacks against Alabama, the most all season in a game. Sumlin attributed it mainly to how lethal the Alabama defensive line is and said he talked to his lineman after the game. FOOTBALL ON PG. 4
Homelessness in Brazos Valley Laura Haslam — THE BATTALION
Locals work to assist homeless citizens of Bryan-College Station By Mariah Colon @Mariahcolon18
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n a college town filled with ways to volunteer time through various campus-based organizations, many Bryan-College Station residents who need help can be overlooked — the homeless.
ACADEMICS
Jennifer Young, program director for Twin City Mission’s homeless services, said the reasons people become homeless vary from situation to situation and are not specific to demographics. “In reality homelessness can come from different reasons,” Young said. “It could be a missed paycheck, it can be a divorce or some type of family condition like that that can lead someone into a homeless situation. I’ve seen people with master’s degrees that have become home-
less for one reason or another.” Ron Crozier, director of community relations for Twin City Mission, said the Brazos Valley homeless population can be quantified using a simple formula: counts and surveys. “Every year we do a point and time count and every other year we do a point and time survey,” Crozier said. “There is a formula that’s used by the number of people you can actually count you can HOMELESSNESS ON PG. 2
Women in gaming talk overcoming stereotypes Female gamers in College Station share experiences in competitive gaming circuit By Rachel Knight @Reknight18
PROVIDED
While abroad, several construction science students built a replica of London’s Gherkin skyscraper.
Construction science reaches new heights A&M student group applies classroom teaching, constructs skyscraper replica By Sanna Bhai @BhaiSanna A skyscraper can take years to build, but a group of A&M construction science students only had four days to build a replica of the Gherkin, a historical London skyscraper. The students traveled abroad to the United Kingdom this summer to participate in Constructionism — a program focused on providing hands-on construction experience for students and professionals. In this program, students create scaled-down versions of civil engineering projects all around the world, giving them a chance to put their classroom knowledge to use. Steve Rodgers, construction law and risk management professor in the Department of Construction Science, SKYSCRAPER ON PG. 2
Noah Simpson — THE BATTALION
Women in the competition video gaming community can face sexism and discrimination.
While many gamers battle virtual characters, women in the eSports community are fighting their own battle. eSports, also known as electronic sports, refers to playing video games in tournaments ranging from the grassroots level to the national level. In 2014, ESPN estimated that there were 89 million eSports viewers worldwide spending 3.7 billion hours watching eSports. While the button-mashing strategy filled world of eSports is a typically male-dominated atmosphere, female gamers in College Station are looking to cement their place in the competition they love. Casper, communication freshman, will be commentating for Smash United at Battlegrounds, a large eSports tournament, Nov. 19. Casper’s love of gaming and eSports has prevailed through a rough introduction to eSports tournaments. At her first tournament, Casper was 17 and harassed by a 25-year-old male competitor. At a later tournament Casper met this same man, but was better prepared for his behavior. “I stood up and was like, ‘Say it to my face,’ in the middle of the tournament,” Casper said. “I actually embarrassed him a lot. His friends thought it was amazing because he does that a lot I guess, so when they saw that they were impressed. He came up to me later and thoroughly apologized.” Casper said she has continued with eSports because she loves gaming. “I love the people,” Casper said. “Despite the situations I’ve been in, I love seeing people’s minds change. Like that one guy, how he went from ESPORTS ON PG. 3
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Laura Haslam — THE BATTALION
Local volunteers at the Community Cafe serve hot meals to citizens in need every Tuesday and Wednesday.
Hold onto a piece of Aggieland
It’s not too late to order your copy of the 2016 Aggieland yearbook. The 114th edition of Texas A&M’s official yearbook will chronicle the 2015-2016 school year. Distribution will be this Fall.
If you haven’t, come by and
purchase a copy of the award-winning 2015 Aggieland yearbook, a 608-page photojournalistic record of the 2014-2015 school year. For older Aggieland yearbooks go online to aggieland.tamu.edu or call 979-845-2613. You can also drop by the Student Media Office in Suite L400 of the MSC.
HOMELESSNESS CONTINUED multiply that by 10 to get a more accurate depiction of what the homeless situation is in the Brazos Valley. We’ve been historically coming back with numbers of 100, 102 or 108.” Crozier said instances have come up where students were classified in this homeless category, and that promoting awareness among students and knocking down labels associated with homelessness is the first step in helping the homeless population. “Sadly, we have worked with homeless individuals who were involved at A&M who had used all of their resources just to pay tuition and had no place to live. Homelessness doesn’t define who you are that’s just where you are,” Crozier said. “Treat them as a person first and now we can work with them. If we treat them as a label, it is real easy to categorize them and put them aside.” Homelessness is often an issue noted in bigger cities, but Bryan-College Station has various programs and opportunities for students to get involved and become aware with the homeless population locally. Twin City Mission, one
of these organizations, encompasses two shelters: Phoebe’s Home for domestic violence services and The Bridge for homeless services. Twin City Mission offers internships for local students as well as volunteer opportunities for those looking to help their shelters. Students can serve in their local Community Café as well, which provides hot meals to community members. Alongside the homeless shelters in Bryan, there are individuals who decided to help in their own way. LaShunda Mitchell and her husband started making homeless care kits and founded Grind4God Ministries in 2014. Mitchell said students can get involved by donating items that are in constant demand, like soap, deodorant, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, small Kleenex tissues, socks and bottled water. “We do a year-round hygiene drive because [the homeless] come every day … most of them come once a week … so they can come in pretty much anytime they want to get stuff,” Mitchell said. Mitchell has faced difficult situations including people posing as homeless and misusing her resources. One time, a homeless individual was using the do-
nated mouthwash as alcohol and drank bottle after bottle of it, Mitchell said. “We had a scenario where two ladies came in with little kids and told me they were homeless. But sadly we found out that they weren’t homeless. They were prostitutes and they were using those kids to be able to get a free hotel to do their prostitution,” Mitchell said. “It’s hard to be able to have a heart to do it and keep doing it, but if we stopped Grind4God then we’re going to miss out on helping someone who really needs the help.” Mitchell said there is sometimes a misconception of those who help the homeless, but Grind4God Ministries has a mission to impact the lives of the homeless so that they can get back on their feet. “Our goal is not to keep them homeless. We help them. We give them resources where they can get free clothes,” Mitchell said. “We help them get jobs, we help them get into shelters. Since we have opened we have had four homeless people who are now not homeless, they’re living in their own homes with jobs, and that is our overall goal — to help them get on their feet and not be labeled homeless.”
SKYSCRAPER CONTINUED You deserve a factual look at . . .
Palestinian Genocide?
A Black Lives Matter platform accuses Israel of genocide. The assertion is false, it’s racist and it sabotages efforts to achieve justice for African-Americans. Black Lives Matter (BLM) asserts that Israel is responsible for “genocide taking place against the Palestinian people.” Given the definition of genocide, this accusation is groundless—and because it singles out the Jewish state, it ranks as racist anti-Semitism. Just as bad, this libel drives away BLM supporters who otherwise oppose police racial bias.
What are the facts? An Arab man who attempted to stab a police officer presentation of how that could apply in Israel.” Why is it racist to accuse Israel of genocide? at the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem was shot and killed by police. A 17-year-old Palestinian, who Those who condemn Israel falsely—for crimes it infiltrated a Jewish town near Hebron, murdered a does not commit—are attempting to delegitimize sleeping 13-year-old Israeli girl. The murderer was the Jewish state. Delegitimization is one of the killed by a security team when he attacked them. classic signs of racist anti-Semitism: Those who The fact is, most of the 200 Palestinians killed over use this strategy are asserting that of all the world’s the last year by Israeli nations, only Israel’s forces were involved in attempts to defend itself “I haven’t seen any presentation of violent attacks on Israeli from sworn enemies civilians, soldiers or how [genocide] could apply in Israel.” are criminal. That’s a police. Their response double standard—also Sari Bashi, Palestine Director, was not genocide, it was anti-Semitic. Where Human Rights Watch self-defense. is Black Lives Matter’s condemnation of Syria, Even in the 2014 Gaza war, which killed about 2,100 Palestinians, only which has killed hundreds of thousands of its 45% were non-combatants, one of the lowest citizens? What about Iran, which hangs LGBTQ civilian death ratios in modern warfare—due people? How about China, which has occupied largely to Israel’s extraordinary efforts to avoid Tibet for more than 50 years? attacking residential areas and warn civilians in In truth, Jews have every right to selfadvance of bombings. determination in the Middle East. Jews have had Indeed, a close look reveals not a shred of an uninterrupted presence in the region for 3,000 evidence that Israel intends or is in fact committing years, including their own nation state. For some 2,000 of those years, following their exile from genocide. What is the definition of genocide? Genocide ancient Palestine, the Jewish people have strived is one of the most horrific crimes against to resettle in their Biblical homeland. Finally, in humanity—and it was exemplified by Adolf Hitler’s 1948, with United Nations approval, Jewish selfplan to exterminate Jews and his killing of some six determination was realized as the State of Israel. In million of them. These are the two legal elements short, those who deny Israel’s right to exist—those of genocide: There must be deliberate intention who delegitimize it with accusations of genocide— to destroy a national or ethnic group, and there are guilty of anti-Semitism. must be a concerted effort to effect that goal, such How does the genocide libel harm Black Lives as the methodical killing of that group’s members Matter? Jewish Americans have been among or inflicting conditions calculated to bring about the most stalwart leaders and supporters of the group’s physical destruction. As one quickly the American civil rights movement from the sees, neither of these conditions exists in Israel or beginning—they were among the founders of the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria (“the the NAACP—and powerful Jewish support for West Bank”). defeating racism continues to this day. Moreover, Israel has no plan to eliminate Palestinians, nor the State of Israel enjoys strong approval from is it methodically killing them on ethnic grounds. the overwhelming majority of Americans. When In fact, some two million Palestinians are citizens a movement, such as Black Lives Matters, strays of Israel and enjoy full democratic rights and one from its core purpose into peripheral issues— of the highest standards of living in the Middle particularly when it resorts to wildly false East. The Palestinian population within Israel accusations— that movement quickly loses broad and in the disputed territories has doubled since public support. In short, if Black Lives Matters 1990 and continues to grow apace. According truly cares about stopping police racial bias, it to Sari Bashi, Palestine country director for will marshal all its forces to dramatize disturbing Human Rights Watch, “[Genocide] is an attempt law enforcement practices and gather support for to destroy an entire people. I haven’t seen any reform—not alienate supporters.
said the project coordinators were impressed with the amount of knowledge the A&M students had compared to others who had participated in the same program. “The English workers were absolutely in awe that our students knew what they were doing,” Rodgers said. “There are students over there who are in engineering or architecture and they don’t know what end of the hammer to hold, much less how to put up a structure.” Dayle Alfaro, construction science senior, said while the group was prepared, they were expected to produce a replica with minimal guidance, with a short deadline and on a budget. “It was definitely a sink or swim moment,” Alfaro said. “We were thrown out there and told we had to do this.” Chris Schultz, construction science senior, said shortage of time was a major issue in the project. “They handed us a set of plans and said, ‘Build this,’” Schultz said. “So we had to estimate all of it, price it, quantify it and then we had to sit down with the owner and get the schedule and budget approved before we could even start construction ... There was a time crunch.” Schultz, who was tasked with concrete pouring, said the project was a much more difficult job than he had imagined. “It also gives you appreciation for the craftsman,” Schultz said. “Since I poured the concrete, which was extremely difficult, I gained more respect for the people who are out on the streets working with concrete on a daily basis in huge amounts.” Rodgers said he was pleased with the outcome of the project and believed it was because the students were trained in the classes for these situations. “So our students wound up going out
PROVIDED
A group of A&M construction science students built a replica of the London Gherkin in four days this summer.
there without any fear of getting dirty. They had already had classes such as estimating or budgeting, scheduling and safety,” Rodgers said. “They were so surprised that we came in under budget and finished in less time than scheduled ... Usually they tear the structure down as soon as the students leave, but this time they left it for the rest of the year.” Alfaro said she values this experience because it gave her an experience many people do not have, boosting her resume, along with her respect for the construction industry workers. “Eighteen people out of the entire department so far can put that on their resume and now I am one of them,” Alfaro said. “The newfound respect for the actual people doing the labor, was a big outcome. A lot of times, most people in construction science go straight to the office, being the boss. They have never really had to do the work and realize how difficult is actually is. It is an experience everyone should have to know what it feels like.”
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Libels of genocide against Israel are attempts to delegitimize solely the Jewish state among all the world’s nations and are therefore anti-Semitic. What’s more, such racist accusations alienate not only Jewish allies of the Black Lives Matter movement, but also other political progressives who will be repulsed by defamation of Israel. This message has been published and paid for by
Facts and Logic About the Middle East P.O. Box 3460 Berkeley, CA 94703 James Sinkinson, President
FLAME is a tax-exempt, non-profit educational 501 (c)(3) organization. Its purpose is the research and publication of the facts regarding developments in the Middle East and exposing false propaganda that might harm the interests of the United States and its allies in that area of the world. Your tax-deductible contributions are welcome. They enable us to pursue these goals and to publish these messages in national newspapers and magazines. We have virtually no overhead. Almost all of our revenue pays for our educational work, for these clarifying messages, and for related direct mail.
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The Battalion | 10.26.16
FILE
Freshman midfielder Grace Piper has started in eight games this year and earned SEC Freshman of the Week.
A&M headed to Mississippi after winning 2 straight By Matt Koper @MattKoper Coming off a two-game winning streak, the A&M soccer team will hit the road this weekend to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs. The Aggies (9-7-1, 4-5-1 SEC) took their last two matches 2-1 against Kentucky Oct. 20 and 2-1 over Auburn Oct. 23. The Aggies are locked in eighth place in the conference at 4-5-1 and 13 points and cannot advance in placing. Both Vanderbilt and Tennessee have 16 points, and hold the tiebreaker over A&M. The top 10 teams in the conference will advance to the SEC Tournament set to kickoff Oct. 31. Head coach G Guerrieri said his team has a lot of confidence right now, but cannot look past Mississippi State. “Mississippi State is an explosive team,” Guerrieri said. “They haven’t been scoring goals lately, but they have a long throw-in and I was saying to the girls, ‘You’ve got to be ready for some physicality.’” Freshman Grace Piper and junior Haley Pounds both earned SEC awards in the past week — SEC Freshman of the Week and SEC Offensive Player of the Week, respectively. Pounds, A&M’s offensive leader, added an-
Noah Simpson — THE BATTALION
other goal after scoring on a penalty kick as the deciding factor over Auburn. Pounds has seven assists and four game-winning goals, totaling 21 points for her as the regular season draws to a close. She is also within the top 10 in the conference in goals. Piper has contributed offensively in the past few matches. For the season, Piper has four goals and an assist — her assist being the key in the team’s 2-1 overtime victory over Kentucky. Defensively, senior goalkeeper Danielle Rice hosts a 9-6-1 record as the regular season wraps up. Rice has put up five shutouts and the Aggies are second in the conference in goals allowed per game at 0.92. The Aggies have struggled on the road at 0-4 and are seeking their first road victory. The Bulldogs (6-11, 1-9 SEC) return home off a 1-0 loss to Florida on the road. With Mississippi State’s record, the Bulldogs currently sit in last place in the conference and are 3-5 on the season at home. There are four players tied for the lead in goals on the team at two a piece, and freshman Mallory Eubanks leads the team in points at seven. Junior Tanya de Souza, goalkeeper for the Bulldogs, is posting a 5-11 record with two shutouts. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will broadcast on the SEC Network+.
Visualization sophomore Cassandra De La Torre is a leader in A&M eSports and says she wants to see more women in eSports challenge stereotypes of female gamers.
ESPORTS CONTINUED generalized for the male population and what they ask for. Females would like to see a more easy-going friendly environment in games.” De La Torre also said the anatomy used in game characters is geared toward males. As a visualization student, she focuses on character development herself and said she believes character’s anatomies affect female gamers. De La Torre said the biggest challenge she faces as a female in eSports is communicating with others. “Most people think, ‘Oh, she’s just a female, she probably cannot play as well,’” De La Torre said. “I will still try my best even though I get all of those kinds of comments. I encourage people to keep playing. It doesn’t matter what gender you are.” Mallory said despite a few bad experiences, she enjoys the overall sense of community within the competitive gaming circuit. “It is not common to see someone love [Super Smash Bros Melee] as much as the competitors do,” Mallory said. “When you have that connection you already feel like a family.”
saying all these inappropriate things to coming up to me apologizing and being like ‘I apologize to you, I respect you.’” Garreth Casper, founder of “College Station Smash Bros,” a group of student gamers who hold tournaments in the MSC, said while women face challenges in eSports, when he attends College Station Smash Bros tournaments he doesn’t see these problems. “I don’t see it in my community,” Garreth said. “When I see unsportsmanlike conduct, I shut that down. I remind everyone that we are a community. Anytime I see things like that I nix it. The leadership I left behind feels the same way. If it is there, it is everyone’s job to shut it down.” Visualization sophomore Cassandra De La Torre is a leader in A&M eSports, and said she wants to see more women in eSports go against the stereotypes of female gamers. “I know that they are shy and it is really selective since it is dominated by the male population,” De La Torre said. “When you have games that are more violent it is more
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The Battalion | 10.26.16
A&M men’s golf finishes 5th overall in weekend tourney
FILE
Sophomore Chandler Phillips carded all three rounds under-par in the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate this past weekend, earning a share of a fourth place finish.
Chandler Phillips earns third top-five finish in Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate By Alex Miller @AlexMiller20 The A&M men’s golf team concluded its fall tournament schedule this past weekend, placing fifth overall at the Golf Club of Georgia Collegiate hosted by Georgia Tech. In a tournament primarily filled with ranked teams, the Aggies finished 6-under (858) as a team on the weekend, just two shots behind co-champions Texas and Virginia who tied for first at 8-under. “What a great tournament,” Texas A&M head coach J.T. Higgins told 12thMan.com. “It was like a national championship field and I feel like we proved we can play with anybody in the country. Our guys did a great job and I’m so proud of them. They battled from start to finish even after we got off to a really rough start. We put ourselves in a hole but came all the way back and just fell a little short.” Sophomore Chandler Phillips (-6) carded all three rounds under-par on the weekend, earning a share of a fourth place finish, his third top-five finish in four fall tournaments. “Another great tournament for Chandler with a top-five showing against some of the
best players in the country,” Higgins said. “He just gets better and better every week and has been so solid for us all year. I can’t say enough about him and the job he’s doing for us.” Freshman Viraj Madappa (-1) followed Phillips for the Aggies on the leaderboard, shooting a career-best 3-under on Sunday to finish tied for 16th. Rounding out the scoring for A&M was junior Chandler Champ (+4) who tied for 39th along with junior Kavan Eubank (+5) and sophomore Brandon Smith (+7) who claimed 43rd and 56th places outright respectively. The tournament in Alpharetta, Georgia capped off a successful fall for the team, which finished in the top-five as a team in each of their four tournaments. “I thought we had a really successful fall season,” Higgins said. “In all four tournaments we played in the final grouping with a great chance to win. We were really competitive and a lot of guys played for us and were able to get some great experience. I’m excited about this team and what this season holds in store for us. We’re going to go to work and get better before the spring season and see if we can’t compete for an SEC and national championship.” The team will return to the course on Jan. 23 when they travel to Tucson, Arizona to compete in the Arizona Intercollegiate.
FOOTBALL CONTINUED “I think Alabama has had an effect on everybody,” the fifth-year head coach said. ‘[The offensive line] is young interiorly. Coach Turner has done a great job with them. That’s a great front that Alabama has. They were better. That game is that game. They played as hard as they could play. I think you’ll continue to see Alabama do that to people. You’ll see a lot of those guys drafted. We’ll get better.” Keith Ford was a bright spot for the Aggies Saturday. Ford finished the game with 62 yards off 15 carries and helped move the chains. Moving forward, Ford and the team’s leading rusher, Trayveon Williams, will split carries. “Keith Ford is your older guy,” offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone said. “He’s a physical, downhill runner. Trayveon is a make-you-miss-in-the-hole guy and accelerates away from you. Keith, if there is not a hole, will attempt to make one. It was cool to see him get out [and play] he had been nicked up. I see the running backs splitting carries as they were earlier in the season.” Despite the loss, Texas A&M only dropped three spots in the AP Poll to No. 9 in the nation. When asked whether winning out could create a stir regarding the College Football Playoff, Mazzone said the team isn’t focused on ranking, rather on getting better one day at a time. “Coach Sumlin has done a great job all year with our mantra — it’s about us,” Mazzone said. “The kids have really bought into it. We have to go out every day in practice. You have to win Saturday’s game in practice. I think these kids will do that. All I know is that we have to be 1-0 this weekend. We need to have a good practice today to fix our issues from Saturday.” A&M quarterback Trevor Knight finished the game with 164 passing yards and a pair of touchdowns along with an interception. He said the Aggies can play even better than in the wins prior to the loss to Alabama during the 6-0 winning streak.
FILE
Senior quarterback Trevor Knight finished the game against Alabama with 164 passing yards.
“We can be more consistent,” Knight said. “I still don’t think we’ve played our best game yet. On the offensive side of the ball and more as a team. Having that click and finding that perfect game where where we’re just hitting on all cylinders. Despite this last weekend we’re still on track to get better and better as the back half of the season comes along.” Texas A&M will continue its season Saturday against 42-point underdogs, New Mexico State. Kick off is set for 6:30 p.m. at Kyle Field and the game can be viewed on ESPNU.