The Battalion: September 28, 2016 by The Battalion

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By Heath Clary @Heath_Clary

efore every set the Texas A&M volleyball team plays, Amy Nettles plants a kiss on the wrist of Stephanie Aiple. The tradition started last year when Aiple, the reigning SEC Player of the Year, had to have her wrist taped because of a torn ligament. The duo makes it a point to perform this routine every single time out — even though Aiple had her wrist surgically repaired in January — and Nettles refuses to even entertain what would happen if they didn’t do it. The exchange is a perfect example of the continuity and selflessness that head coach Laurie Corbelli makes a priority in her program, both of which Nettles understands and embodies. After all, it was those very characteristics that attracted her to A&M in the first place. “I met the girls, and the atmosphere here was a lot of love,” said Nettles, who sported a black eye at the time of the interview — the result of getting kneed in the face by a teammate in practice. “Just love for the game and a lot of places weren’t like that as much. Other schools didn’t have the high team chemistry and that’s something that’s important to me. Winning is the best, but winning with people you love is even better.” For the past two seasons, Nettles has been a big piece of the Aggies’ winning ways, and she is doing much of the same in 2016.

NETTLES: DIG MASTER

The junior libero from San Antonio has been an anchor in the back row for A&M in all three of her seasons in College Station. She won the team’s Best Defensive Player award in both her freshman and sophomore campaigns after she led the team in digs, and is doing so once again so far in 2016. “She is spunky, she’s feisty and I love her to death,” Aiple said. “She works so hard, she’s a great leader on the court and she just gets better every day. I never see a setback with her, she’s just always working hard and getting better.” Not surprisingly, digging is Nettles’ favorite part of playing volleyball. She said she especially enjoys the times when there aren’t any blockers separating her from one of the opposing team’s hitters — who is about to spike the ball in her direction as hard as possible — and she has to do whatever it takes to keep the ball off the ground. “It’s so rugged, you just have to do whatever you can,”

said Nettles, who needs 132 more digs to become the 21st Aggie in school history to reach the 1,000-dig club. “You have to be like, ‘I don’t care where it hits me, I just hope it gets up.’” Communication is a key aspect of the libero position, and Nettles has never had trouble with that because she is a naturally outspoken individual. However, she said communication is not just being loud all the time and yelling random things. Communication also involves having a steady attitude and exuding confidence no matter the situation. “Communication can be nonverbal and verbal,” Nettles said. “So just having a confident nonverbal attitude is always a good feeder for everyone because everything is so contagious. So if you even look confident, the communication is like, ‘We got this, we can do this.’” Nettles also possesses the ability to NETTLES ON PG. 4

Junior libero Amy Nettles was the only Aggie to play in all 115 of A&M’s sets in the 2015 season.

JUNIOR LIBERO AMY NETTLES TALKS COMMUNICATION ON, OFF THE COURT Kevin Chou — THE BATTALION

‘Break dancing on a bike’ ‘Bike Guy’ in Pickard Pass a pro BMX flatland rider, practices tricks in tunnel By Luke Henkhaus @Luke_Henkhaus

Carlie Russell — THE BATTALION

Political science junior Michael Shao, or the “Bike Guy,” spends time in Pickard Pass practicing for his professional BMX flatland competitions.

Michael Shao, more commonly known as the “Bike Guy” or “That Guy on the Bike,” can often be seen performing elaborate tricks on his bicycle in Pickard Pass — a talent that has made him somewhat of a phenomenon among the Texas A&M student body. In addition to being a political science junior at A&M, Shao is also a professional competitor in the sport of BMX Flatland. He uses the wide, flat space in Pickard Pass to practice for competitions. “It’s kind of like break dancing on a bike, or figure skating with a bike,” Shao said. “You don’t hit ramps, it’s just on flat ground — whatever you can do on flat ground.” Shao recently placed second in the expert division of the Texas Flatland Roundup X competition, which was held in San Antonio last weekend. “Right now, I’m the number 3 expert rider in the United States,” Shao said. “But the season’s not over, so anything could happen.” Although Shao performs many tricks while practicing in the pass, there is one in particular he said he is especially proud of. “It’s called the spinning half-hiker. It’s one of the first tricks I learned,” Shao said. “Everyone’s really impressed by it. They don’t understand how I do it so fast. It’s kind of my go-to trick.” SHAO ON PG. 2

Prestige within the pages Oldest Texas A&M library boasts one of world’s largest science fiction, fantasy collections By Alice Corcoran @AliceJ_Corcoran Texas A&M has five different libraries, with more than five million books. But only one of the libraries on campus houses many pieces of Aggie tradition: Cushing Library. Built in the 1930s as the original library for Texas A&M, Cushing Library is the oldest library on campus. Cushing Library has grown to house one of the world’s largest science fiction and fantasy collections. Jeremy Brett, curator for Cushing Library’s science fiction and fantasy collection, said Cushing Library is an important landmark on campus because it allows for interaction between all kinds of majors and fosters cultural education at Texas A&M. “We are an engineering school and an [agriculture] school obviously that’s part of our identity and we need that,” Brett said. “But I think if we really want to be the best public university in the country we have to build the humanities side of it ... Libraries can help, and this particular kind of library does that.” CUSHING ON PG. 2

Yuri Suchil — THE BATTALION

Cushing Library is the oldest library at Texas A&M and houses George R.R. Martin’s original manuscripts for “A Song of Fire and Ice.”

A&M leads SEC in rushing, defense playing lights out

Kevin Chou — THE BATTALION

Freshman running back Trayveon Williams leads the nation in yards per carry with 9.7.

By Lawrence Smelser @LawrenceSmelser Entering the 2016 season, Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin and his team had high hopes for improving the running game and the defense in coordinator John Chavis’ second year. Now, after starting the season 4-0, the Aggies have the SEC’s top rushing attack headed by Trayveon Williams, the nation’s leader in yards per carry with 9.7. The defense is allowing only 16 points per game and in Saturday’s 45-24 win over Arkansas the Aggies made two goal line stands inside the two-yard line. “I’m really excited about how our players performed in terms of effort,” Chavis said. “I thought it was incredible. I’ve never seen a group play any harder. The goal line stand was incredible. It was as big as it gets. They denied them the end zone, and I’m as proud of that as I can be.” In his last two games against Arkansas and Auburn, Williams has run for 280 yards and three touchdowns of 89, 33 and 22 yards on only 20 total carries. Williams has been named SEC Freshman of the Week for two straight weeks and his success as an Aggie would not have occurred had he stuck with his original commitment to TCU. “We were fortunate to flip him,” Sumlin said. “He was committed to another school. He changed his mind and I’m glad he did. He’s got real explosiveness. He and Colton Prater are playing at a really high level for freshman. They have one thing in common: Their work ethic off the field. That has set them apart. I think them coming in and seeing the change in approach in the off-season — it’s all they know. They’ve had a great start to the season, but they don’t wear it on their sleeves. Trayveon enjoys it, but he’s working on it off the field to be as good as he can be.” The maroon and white rushed for 366 yards against the Razorbacks, the most since recording 381 against Arkansas on Oct. 1, 2011. A&M quarterback Trevor Knight had three runs of more than 40 yards this weekend — two for touchdowns — and he is one of two quarterbacks in the nation to have more than 1,000 PRESSER ON PG. 4

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Cushing Library makes efforts to reach a variety of audiences. In the past, Cushing librarians have put on events exhibiting Shakespeare’s First Folio, World War I literature and even a feature on Elvis Presley. Currently, they are working on putting on a display of Texas Literature. According to Brett, the most popular collection at Cushing Library is the collection that author George R.R. Martin donated to the library. The collection includes his original manuscripts, correspondences with his editor and replica weapons from HBO’s hit television show, “Game of Thrones,” which is based off of his book series “A Song of Ice and Fire.” “[The George R. R. Martin collection] is the single biggest collection within the science fiction collection,” Brett said. “It’s the most popular items in the library as a group. Martin told us this: we’re going to get the Iron Throne. HBO made a few and what Martin told

us is that they’re going to give him two [thrones], and he doesn’t want two, so he’s going to give us one. We’ll put it on display, and Reveille can come sit in it.” Since 1991, Felicia Piscitelli has worked in the libraries at Texas A&M, but began working in Cushing as a cataloger in 2009. Piscitelli said the difference between working in a normal library and working in Cushing is that Cushing deals with much more specialized and rare collections. “Sometimes we have to solve mysteries,” Piscitelli said. “Say something was written as a response to someone. Do you catalog it under who wrote it, or who it’s about? Sometimes, with older works, we don’t even know when they were published. Also, when you catalog something in a focused collection, descriptions are much more detailed. You go beyond bibliographic info and even indicate illustrations.” Cushing may be old, but it gets new collections all the time, Piscitelli said. “There’s more here than people might think,” Piscitelli said. “A lot of

people think that it’s just about old Aggie stuff and the university archives and that is an important part of the mission, but it’s not the only thing we have. I think for a long time that was kind of its mainstay but we’ve really been building the other collections. We’re running out of space.” Although Cushing is expanding rapidly, many students do not utilize Cushing to its full potential. “I’ve don’t know much about Cushing,” said Brittany Martinez, a biomedical sciences junior. “I’m an off-campus student, and I’ve never gone there for class. I’ve just never had a reason to go there.” Brett hopes more people will grow to appreciate what Cushing Library has to offer. “We’re kind of a hidden treasure, I know, but I think there’s room in the world for seeing this kind of stuff and experiencing it,” Brett said. “When people come in they always come out very excited. I think people should be aware we can inspire that feeling.”

Carlie Russell — THE BATTALION

Junior Michael Shao is a professional competitor in BMX flatland who uses the flat space in Pickard Pass to practice tricks.

SHAO CONTINUED While some of his tricks may seem dangerous, Shao said so far he has only suffered one major BMX-related injury — a broken ankle. Shao said the reactions he receives from students when he is practicing in Pickard Pass are mostly positive, including claps and other supportive gestures, as well as some students trying to capture footage of his tricks on their phones. “A lot of times people ask to film or they secretly film — I notice that,” Shao said. When it comes to being filmed, Shao said although he doesn’t usually mind it, he does have certain preferences. “If I’m working on something I kind of prefer not to be filmed,” Shao said. “I prefer it if you just ask me and I’ll do some of my competition stuff that I can do first try.” Although many students may not be aware of Shao’s professional status, he has nonethe-

less become a regular feature of their journey through Pickard Pass. Alexandra Vieira, a university studies-architecture freshman, said she became accustomed to the sight of the “Bike Guy” in the tunnel. “At first it was weird. I’m a freshman, so I don’t know how long he’s been here,” Vieira said. “Now I just expect to see him there. If he’s not there, then it’s even more weird.” Engineering freshman Steven Sellers shared another positive response. “It’s pretty cool. He’s got a skill and he’s working at it,” Sellers said. “It just adds a unique aspect to the campus — just knowing that there’s somewhere where some guy does some cool thing.” Vieira said Shao’s frequent presence in the tunnel has a positive impact on the overall campus atmosphere. “I think it definitely makes a statement that we don’t have just have one kind of person that goes to A&M,” Vieira said. “We have variety.”

SPACEX

Elon Musk announces plans for Interplanetary Transport System Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO, unveiled his plans of creating an Interplanetary Transport System (ITS) between Earth and Mars to the International Astronautical Congress in Mexico Tuesday. Musk discussed full reusability on Mars, refueling in orbit and choosing the propellant production to Mars. Musk said these key elements that must be achieved to create a system that transports people to Mars in hopes of creating a self-sustaining city. He estimated it would cost $10 billion per person to travel to Mars — he hopes to decrease this to $200,000, making the journey more affordable. Musk said the ITS would allow people to travel back to Earth between the Earth-Mars launch window, occurring every 26 months. Trips to and from Mars could last 80 to 90 days and the shuttle would provide entertainment like floating in the air, eating space food and watching movies. — Staff report

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Mandatory racism awareness class awaits university funding TAMU Anti-Racism demands social justice course be added to Texas A&M core curriculum By Brad Morse & Chevall Pryce @BradMorse3 @ChevallP The student group called TAMU Anti-Racism is calling for more racial awareness on campus in the form of new, mandatory curriculum. TAMU Anti-Racism, a group of students who have staged several protests in response to what they perceive as racist acts and attitudes on campus, plans to continue to raise awareness about their cause. In addition to protests, TAMU Anti-Racism is calling for the university to mandate a racism awareness class as part of all students’ core curriculum. “As Aggies of color, we pay too much tuition to put up with racism on our campus,” said Emilio Bernal, a sociology senior and member of TAMU Anti-Racism. “Racial justice is just as important as mathematics, English and science, and needs to be treated as such.” The group, which is calling for the social justice course to be a standard three-credit-hour course, met with A&M President Michael Young in the spring to discuss the formation of the course. During the meeting, Young did not agree the course should be referred to as a “social justice” course, but said core principles of social justice TAMU Anti-Racism has asked for will be incorporated. “It’s not just one and done,” Young said during the spring meeting. “It would entail more than just a history of racism. That doesn’t necessarily put [students] in the context of [their] current situation.” Despite the meeting, Bernal said TAMU Anti-Racism still doesn’t feel confident about the university’s commitment. He said the organization feels as though Young is willing to do enough to appear to care, but will be unwilling to go through with the change. “They don’t want to rock the boat,” Bernal said. “I wish they were as good at creating real and lasting change on our campus as they are at sending out emails superficially apologizing for our school’s racism and sexism, emails pretending that we’re all one big happy Aggie family, emails lying and attempting to pacify Aggies of color.” In addition to meeting with Young, members of TAMU

Anti-Racism also have been in recent contact with members of faculty who have expressed interest in teaching the course. “We have the resources — qualified teachers who are willing to lead the course,” Bernal said. The teachers Bernal refers to are communication professors Srivi Ramasubramanian, Leroy Dorsey said and Mays Business School research fellow Leonard Bierman. Members of TAMU Anti-Racism have been working alongside these professors to discuss logistics of the proposed course. “Such classes will serve to make students more well-rounded and aware of real world issues,” Ramasubramanian said. “They fit in with the intended goals of ICD [International and Cultural Diversity] courses.” Apart from teaching students about being tolerant, Bernal and other TAMU Anti-Racism members hope the class will achieve other goals in conjunction with the approval of the class. “We have three main pillars we want to see accomplished,” Bernal said. “We want this mandatory class, more minority students and faculty on campus, and for there to be penalties for racist behavior on campus.” Whether the class will be a semester-long course or a seminar-style lecture is still to be decided. “The Core Curriculum Council is still considering different models for implementation of the ICD graduation requirement,” said Julie Harlin and Andrew Klein, co-chairs of the Core Curriculum Council, in an emailed statement. “We have FILE been meeting with many different constituent groups to explore options.” The A&M Core Curriculum Council, which determines In the spring 2016 semester, the TAMU Anti-Racism met what courses and curriculum are consistent among A&M’s with President Michael Young to discuss logistics of a social many colleges, has been looking at similar courses at other justice course. universities — like the University of Missouri and the Unidoesn’t feel totally necessary. Most people don’t harbor these versity of Oklahoma — for guidance. “The CCC studied the core curriculum and graduation attitudes, and we don’t need to tell people how to think.” Widger also said he feels as though the environment on requirements at several peer institutions,” Harlin and Klein campus doesn’t match what TAMU Anti-Racism is saying. said in their statement. “Most have similar curricular require“In my experience, Aggies are very welcoming and friendments.” ly to everyone, regardless of race, religion or background,” Not everyone is in favor of the class becoming mandatory, Widger said. like applied exercise physiology junior Josh Widger. Bernal said the logistics of the course have already been de“I don’t think it’s necessary; it could actually be detrimental termined, and it could be introduced as early as next semester in some cases,” Widger said. “It would be a waste of time if the university commits to the course. to make it a semester-long course. If anything, do a seminar “All we need is a permanent financial commitment from during the New Student Conference over it, but even then it our university,” Bernal said.

How would you feel about a required anti-racism course being added to the core curriculum?

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“I think it would be a good course to take and to require people to take, but I’m just not sure exactly how people would take it.”

“I think in today’s society with everything that’s going on right now, I think we are all very sensitive and that’s something that needs to be tapped into.”

“I think definitely it would be beneficial to everybody just to kind of know more about the origins of our opinions about racism and more about how that materializes in our day to day life.”

Morgan Clark, chemistry freshman

Lenwood Nelson, geography senior

Devin Dozier, economics junior

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Junior libero Amy Nettles has led A&M in digs in all three of her seasons in Aggieland.

NETTLES CONTINUED flip the switch on her personality when the lights come on, going from a sarcastic jokester to a competitive leader. “She’s a goofball; she’s nuts, but off the court and on the court she’s like two different people,” said senior defensive specialist Victoria Arenas. “She’s funny and goofy off the court, but on the court she’s just super competitive and demands excellence from herself.” Nettles was the only Aggie to play in all 115 sets throughout the 2015 season, a testament to her durability, toughness and downright love of volleyball. According to her teammates, she works hard in the weight room and takes good care of her body, allowing her to fight through pain and not miss time because of injuries. “You just decide what is more important to you,” Nettles said. “This game or sitting out, and I never want to sit out.” Corbelli said Nettles’ resilience is part of what makes her a great player. “She’s one of the mentally toughest kids I’ve ever coached,” Corbelli said. “She’s very much a blue collar worker, comes every day ready to be drenched at the end of practice, and a great leader.” The leadership Corbelli talks about is evident in multiple areas of her game. In addition to the fact that she is always on the court, she has proven to play her best when the team needs her most. In the Aggies’ historic run to the SEC championship last season, Nettles recorded double-digit digs in each of their last 16 matches. In the Nov. 25, 2015 match against Missouri — when A&M needed a win to clinch the SEC championship — Nettles exploded for a career-high 30 digs in a 3-2 victory over the Tigers.

“That game was just so much fun,” said Nettles, who lists that Missouri match as one of her favorite A&M moments. “It was also a challenge. They were fired up and they wanted to beat us, and we would not back down. “Just having the challenge of being like, ‘I’m going to give everything I have for the team and I’m going to do whatever I can.’ It wasn’t easy, and that’s what I loved about it.” Nettles also serves as a valuable source of information for all her Aggie teammates, particularly to some of the younger players on the squad. She has played every position on the court at some point in her career, so she has a lot of knowledge about all facets of the game and does her best to assist her young teammates any time they have questions. “I think any player who is on the court that much, is as vocal as she is and is such a contributing factor on every play is a leader,” Arenas said. Nettles was one of the 11 A&M volleyball players to travel to Haiti on a mission trip last summer — which she calls a “life-changing experience” — and Corbelli said she is a model citizen off the court as well as on it. Texas A&M’s digs leader for an SEC career has a few different routes she could pursue after college, but extending her volleyball career is the plan right now. “I really want to continue playing for as long as I can, so going overseas and playing professionally is definitely in my head and is definitely a goal that I want to accomplish,” Nettles said. “I just want to keep getting better and I would never want to sell myself short.” But before she crosses that bridge, she wants to help the Aggies win another SEC championship and improve on their second round exit from last year’s NCAA tournament. It’s clear that she loves a challenge and, more often than not, she and her team come out on top.

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Kevin Chou — THE BATTALION

Wide receivers Josh Reynolds (left) and Christian Kirk (right) each caught a touchdown against Arkansas on Saturday.

PRESSER CONTINUED yards and 300 rushing yards.The other is the Heisman front-runner — Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson. “As soon as your quarterback is a serious threat as a runner, it creates problems for the defense and creates more options for the offense,” offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone said of Knight. “I didn’t know Trevor was that fast. I think him being a threat helped Trayveon, Keith and James. Schematically, we’re not a complicated offense. We want to do a couple of things really well. Our offensive line just keeps improving week-toweek. That has something to do with who they practice against, as well.” Despite being ranked No. 9 in the nation and first place in the SEC West, the Aggies’ mindset remains humble. Wide receiver Christian Kirk said Sumlin puts an emphasis on having a chip on the shoulder. “We remember when no one use to talk about us at the beginning of the season and

now everyone is,” Kirk said. “We’re in the top 10 in the country. We’re not going to listen to any of that. The ability for guys to block all that out, the talk of success and to still keep a chip on our shoulder is what’s going to carry us through the rest of the season. It’s the number one thing [Sumlin] talks about every day. He says don’t forget where we were four weeks ago.” The Aggies will play at South Carolina on Saturday and try to improve their record to 5-0.The second half of the season is where the Aggies have had trouble the past three years but Sumlin said he and his squad have taken the steps he deems necessary for success. “This team is physically stronger than last year’s,” Sumlin said. “We’ve got the maturity factor. We made some tough decisions last year regarding our staff, and we’ve made some drastic changes to the player development plan.Those differences are apparent to me. Whether it changes results or not, we’ll have to see.”

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FURTHER CONSIDERATION will look at national news through

FOOTBALL FOCUS PODCAST

EPISODE 1 FOCUSES ON THE FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

EACH FRIDAY DURING FOOTBALL SEASON ON ITUNES AND SOUNDCLOUD

... A new podcast analyzing national news a student lens, bring in campus experts and provide a more in-depth perspective on certain stories. Follow @TheBattOnline on Twitter for updates and links.

THE 2017 AGGIELAND

GET YOUR PHOT0 TAKEN TODAY!

Going on now thru OCT. 13th Monday thru Thursday 10am - 3pm Should any student be unable to make the specified times on campus they can contact Specialties directly to set up a complimentary in-studio appointment at 979-696-9898. Any graduating seniors who wish to set up a cap/gown photo will need to contact the studio at 979-696-9898. Cap/Gown sessions cost $21.95. ALL CLASSES will be in the yearbook. Photos are taken at the SANDERS CORPS MUSEUM LIBRARY!

It’s your yearbook. Be in it.