FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 | SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 | © 2017 STUDENT MEDIA
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FOOTBALL: JARRET JOHNSON & UCLA’S QUARTERBACK FEATURED SCITECH: HARD SCIENCE VS. SOFT SCIENCE
A&M and UCLA will wear a special sticker on their helmets to honor the victims of Hurricane Harvey during Sunday’s game. FILE
FILE
Aggies head west to start season against UCLA By Heath Clary @Heath_Clary
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or the second-straight year, Texas A&M will kick off its 2017 football season against UCLA. This time, though, it will be at the Rose Bowl, the first time in school history the Aggies will play in Los Angeles’ historic stadium. Last season the Aggies outlasted the Bruins in a 31-24 double-overtime victory, and they
will look to do the same thing Sunday as they try to improve head coach Kevin Sumlin’s career record in season openers to 9-1. “It’s exciting to go back to the West Coast and play in front of a lot of family and friends,” junior wide receiver Christian Kirk said. “I’m just ready to get there — I went to the Rose Bowl once and it’s an exciting place. You can feel all the history and tradition that’s been within the stadium and to get the opportunity to go in there and play a big-time game against UCLA is exciting.” The Aggies return five starters on offense and seven on defense, but Sumlin has yet to announce who will take the first snap at quar-
terback. The sixth-year head coach did indicate at Tuesday’s press conference he knows who will start but wants to keep UCLA guessing. Whether it ends up being senior Jake Hubenak, redshirt freshman Nick Starkel or true freshman Kellen Mond, Sumlin does not want to give the Bruins an idea of who to prepare for. “We’re happy with our plan. We know what we want to do and started to work that plan last week,” Sumlin said. “We’re continuing with it as it is. They’ve all got strengths, and the young guys have some weaknesses. The older guy has more knowledge, and he
should. We’ve got different levels of experience. I’ve been pleased, and the staff’s been pleased. We’ll continue down the road we started down a couple weeks ago.” Fortunately for the Aggies, they do have several offensive weapons that should take some pressure off the eventual quarterback. Kirk, a consensus preseason All-American, is the SEC’s top returning receiver and will anchor the receiving corps while running back Trayveon Williams will try to build on last year’s 1,000-yard freshman campaign. Keith Ford will share carries with Williams, PREVIEW ON PG. 3
New laws, including David’s Law, take effect
Cyberbullying, texting while driving addressed with new legislature By Meredith McCown @mccown_meredith
On Sept. 1, 60 new laws will go into effect in the state of Texas with two that have ties to A&M, David’s Law and the HandsFree Law. David’s Law, or Senate Bill 179, requires an anti-cyberbullying policy in school districts and will establish a precedent for allowing further investigation in the matter. Additionally, the Hands-Free Law, or House Bill 62, will ban texting and driving statewide. Governor Greg Abbott signed both into action in June. Chris Molak, David’s brother and Class of 2017, told The Battalion last semester that he hopes this law will encourage people to take a stand against cyberbullying. “I hope for one, it shows those who have been affected negatively by cyber abuse and harassment, let them know that this kind of thing shouldn’t be tolerated,” Chris said. “Also, I hope it mainly serves as a deterrent for parents to get involved with their kid’s lives, and actually feel like there could be some repercussions if their children misbehave, in the ways that we couldn’t pursue legally the first time around, so we’re trying to just create a precedent for families to go through.” Maurine Molak, David’s mother and co-founder of David’s Foundation, said the new law holds the opportunity to be effective not only in Texas, but across all states. “We’re hoping that other states will look
at this as a model law and be able to use it because it is comprehensive, a lot of states just felt like it was the school district’s responsibility to address this,” Maurine said. “And we felt like it’s not just a school issue, and it’s not just a parental issue, and it’s not just a legal issue. It is all of those people working together, it is a community response to an epidemic, and we all have to get involved in this issue.” Regarding David’s Law taking effect, Maurine said the kids and parents of this generation will play a significant role in making a change in society. “A lot of the problem is everything is being done through screen and you’re not seeing the person on the other end, and so a lot of the youth have lost that ability for empathy and being able to understand that somebody else has been hurt because you’re not seeing that person’s face,” Maurine said. “It’s going to be important for them to be part of the solution.” To raise awareness, the David’s Law Foundation began a sticker campaign, where each sticker has an anti-bullying pledge with a phrase that says, “I pledge to never use my device as a weapon.” As of now, Maurine has sent over 120,000 stickers across Texas, including entire school districts. “It’s a symbol, ‘I will not be that person. COURTESY I will not be that cyberbully, and I will stand up for somebody if I see somebody being a David’s Law, which establishes an anti-cyberbullying policy in Texas schools, is named after target,’ Maurine said. “It’s all about raising 16-year-old David Molak who took his own life after consistent cyberbullying. awareness and bringing it out into the light, but this is a very serious issue. We just can’t “And having a visual sign, a reminder about there’s a soul behind every screen,” Maurine brush it under the rug anymore.” Maurine hopes that David’s Law will be it will hopefully slow people down. That they said. “And that you never know what day the more than a legal regulation, but rather some- will think before they send. That they will person on the other end or what battle that thing that impacts the world for years to come. remember David and they’ll remember that person is fighting.”