THURSDAY, APRIL 26 | SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 | © 2018 STUDENT MEDIA
DRAFT DAY DREAMS Christian Kirk, Armani Watts among Aggies hoping to hear their names called By Angel Franco @angelmadison_ According to NFL Draft prospect and former Texas A&M wide receiver Christian Kirk, Draft Day is a day most football players hope to get to. “That’s every kid’s dream. to be able to go to college and have a great and successful career and be a first round draft pick and walk across that stage,” Kirk said. However, as the hours get closer to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell officially announcing the Cleveland Browns are on the clock, A&M’s streak of having a player drafted in the first round every year since Von Miller in 2011 is in jeopardy. While Kirk said he would be honored to continue the streak, he isn’t worrying about where in the draft where he will be picked. He just considers himself lucky to be in the position he is in. “I’d be wrong if I said it didn’t mean anything, it definitely means a lot being able to carry on that tradition,” Kirk said. “It’s definitely a goal of mine, but wherever I get picked up, I’ll be blessed and once I get to the next level that’s a new chapter and I’m going to have to go out there and do my thing.” Kirk, who declared for the draft after his junior season, is the only Aggie who is projected to potentially come off the board in the first round this year. Most mock drafts have him as an early to mid-second round pick. Out of six analysts on cbssports.com, only one has Kirk going in the first round, at No. 29 overall to Jacksonville. Thirty days before the draft, Kirk, along with teammates Armani Watts, Damion Ratley, Shane Tripucka, Priest Willis, Keith Ford and Qualen Cunningham, showcased their talents in front of representatives from
Wide reciever Christian Kirk could be drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft, carrying on the streak of first round picks from Texas A&M started in 2011 with Von Miller.
DRAFT ON PG. 4
Cassie Stricker — THE BATTALION
A political commentary on Comey Former FBI Director tells sensitive information By Kenya Robinson @_KenyaJ
Creative Commons
Former FBI Driector James Comey’s new book talks about his former job and sensitive data.
From abruptly being fired as FBI Director to sharing sensitive files with a former colleague, James Comey’s transparency with the media about allegedly sensitive information continues to raise eyebrows. Comey is currently under investigation by the Department of Justice about whether or not the memos he
leaked contained classified information to the press, as reported by the Wall Street Journal on Friday. Comey, who took detailed notes of his conversations with President Donald Trump while serving as Director of the FBI, passed a set of memos to Daniel Richman, former federal prosecutor, who then leaked Comey’s memos to the press. The Associated Press published 15 copies of Comey’s memos last week, which are currently under review by the DOJ. Comey’s decision to publish the memos after being fired raises questions on whether or not he illegally released information to the
public, an issue he discussed with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos last week in an interview. “I’m a private citizen and I have, in my safe downstairs, an unclassified memo about that conversation,” Comey said when discussing his conversations with President Trump. “And I’m a private citizen, I can tell people about conversations with the president that are unclassified. And so I’m going to do it.” Since 1940, the president has been responsible for setting forth the system of classifying information that COMMENTARY ON PG. 2
Alex Sein — THE BATTALION
Facebook was aware of the mistreatment of data two years prior to the banning of Cambridge Analytica, according to The Guardian.
Jesse Everett — THE BATTALION
Sueli Rocha-Rojas’s Spanish 301 class was challenged to express culture in their photographs used for the exhibit.
The data scandal explained Showcasing heritage through art A look at the information security issues plaguing Facebook By Henry Mureithi @SOCOMBlack On March 17, the New York Times and The Observer reported on Cambridge Analytica’s use of personal information data harvested by a Cambridge researcher, purportedly for academic purposes, without the consent of the relevant users. As a result, Facebook banned Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm, from advertising on its website. The Guardian also reported Facebook had been aware of this issue for two years, but did nothing to inform or protect the affected users. The Guardian later reported Joseph Chancellor, co-director of Global Science Research, the company that acquired and sold the data from tens of millions of Facebook users to Cambridge Analytica, has
been working for Facebook as a corporate quantitative social psychologist since around November 2015. On April 4, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told reporters the personal information of up to 87 million people, most of whom are Americans, was improperly shared by Facebook with Cambridge Analytica during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Consequently, Facebook announced sweeping changes to many of its Application Programming Interfaces (API) — the software tools that allow third parties, such as advertisers, to collect and use data directly from Facebook. Dwayne Whitten, information systems clinical associate professor, said Facebook users should be more cautious about their personal data, even at maximum privacy settings. “Users should never expect that their data won’t be shared or accessed by others,” Whitten said. “It’s been shown repeatedly that data has been sold, shared or accessed ANALYSIS ON PG. 2
Spanish 301 class uses photography to highlight different cultures By Jane Turchi @JaneTurchi
Students in Sueli Rocha-Rojas’ Oral Expression class are taking their studies out of the classroom and into the community. After presenting their artwork on campus, these Aggies aim to share their work with the surrounding area. Students in Rocha-Rojas’ Spanish 301 class presented 24 photographs, which demonstrate different cultures around the world and at A&M. Located on the second floor of the Academic Building, the exhibit featured works created by students in Rocha-Rojas’ class. To explain their meaning, each piece of art has a QR code that audiences are able to scan with their phone to watch students present and explain their piece in both Spanish and English. According to Rocha-Rojas, the Oral Expression class has expectations to share the art
with different communities throughout College Station and showcase the different cultures the works represent. The show will travel to local high schools and junior high schools within the College Station area when classes resume in the fall of 2018. “First, we would watch Spanish speaking films over other identities and then we had to relate those with our own identity and then they had to find within our own community,” Rocha-Rojas said. “They were learning Spanish and another language, the language of photography.” Rocha-Rojas said she came up with the idea for the project from her own photography studies, which she used to cross over into the Spanish language class. According to Rocha-Rojas, this is the first time she has taught the class at A&M and the projects represent the multiplicity of the Spanish identities. “My goal for the class was that they would learn Spanish and through Spanish they would develop a product, they would develop something that is going to go [as] an open ART EXHIBIT ON PG. 3
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The Battalion | 4.26.18
Creative Commons
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg said up to 87 million users’ data was shared with Cambridge Analytica.
ANALYSIS CONTINUED Creative Commons
President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey in May 2017, citing Comey’s handling of the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s e-mail server.
COMMENTARY CONTINUED can potentially be a threat to national security by executive order. The most recent example, Executive Order 13526, was signed by former President Barack Obama in 2009, according to the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. With that being said, when Comey was fired as FBI Director last year, in addition to being banned from the FBI premises, his privileges as an original classification authority were revoked. Saturday, President Trump claimed in a tweet Comey’s memos are all classified. Comey said in one of his memos he is unsure of the proper security classification for the memos. The Wall Street Journal also reported at least two memos contained redacted information. While the Justice Department continues to review Comey’s memos, in his new book, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership,” Comey said his reason for sharing the memos was to shed light on the president’s actions as possible obstruction of justice in regards to the Michael Flynn investigation taking place at the time. “One of the orders that was issued is I was never to be allowed back on FBI property, like I had killed somebody,” Comey said in his ABC interview. “So my staff had to box my stuff up and send it home. But I had the memo in my safe, my unclassified memo. And I thought,
‘If I get that out, that’ll put tremendous pressure on the Department of Justice to have somebody go get the tapes before President Trump could destroy them.’” Both sides of the aisle have provided criticism of Comey’s role in his handling of the Clinton investigation and his openness about his conversations with President Trump. In his interview with ABC, Comey said he didn’t vote in the 2016 presedenital election because he wanted to preserve the integrity of the FBI as an independent organization, free from political influence. Comey said he felt the Clinton investigation, and eventually the Trump-Russia investigation, couldn’t save him from being hammered by both sides. “You’re the FBI, you’re supposed to be finding the facts,” Comey said. “And you’re finding the facts in a world where everybody’s on a side, and can’t possibly understand you’re not on a side. And so you’re inevitably going to get hammered from all points, and you’re going to be involved in politics in some sense, because you’re in the middle of it. I’m the director of the FBI. I’m trying to be outside of politics so intentionally tried not to follow it a lot.” Following his interview with ABC News and New York Times ‘A Daily Transcript’ podcast, the former FBI Director is scheduled to appear on Fox News’ special report on Thursday at 7 p.m.
by companies without their permission. As users, we shouldn’t feel any comfort with our personal data in databases of any type.” Paula deWitte, computer science associate professor of practice, said there are steps Facebook users can take to protect their personal information. “Turn off apps on Facebook, which many will find as an inconvenience. If apps are left on, be suspicious of apps that ask certain information,” deWitte said. “Review privacy settings regularly. Who sees your posts? Friends? Public? Friends of friends? Do not post or store information that you do not want public — i.e., your phone number.” Whitten said Facebook shares data with third parties, a fact which Facebook users often aren’t aware of. “Users should limit the amount of data they provide online and also what they store on their computers,” Whitten said. “It may be more inconvenient sometimes to take the options to ‘save password’ or to not use multi-factor authentication, but convenience isn’t worth the increased risk.” DeWitte said she believes the privacy of social media users will end up becoming a tipping point in cybersecurity matters. “We as Americans have a different philosophy of privacy than Europeans,” deWitte said. “The Europeans have just passed the General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR, that applies to citizens or residents of an EU country regardless of where they live. GDPR would have required explicit consent before Facebook and or Cambridge Analytica used that data. Further, GDPR allows the data subject to remove the consent at any time and also institute ‘the right to be forgotten.’ In the U.S., we do not adopt that philosophy yet — but as the public becomes more aware that their data is a commodity bought and sold, I believe there will be a public demand for change.” Whitten said she has her own perspective on the current state of internet consumer privacy and information security regulation.
“More government regulations are required to further increase consumer privacy,” Whitten said. “The privacy laws in the U.S. are better than they were a decade ago, but there is much more work to be done in this area.” DeWitte said future enforcement actions against companies such as Facebook would be much more severe. “Additional regulations are coming,” deWitte said. “Right now, Facebook has broken no U.S. laws. They violated an FTC consent decree they signed in 2011, essentially a contract with the U.S. government that said Facebook would adhere to certain terms and conditions in maintaining privacy data. They did not. The fines are $40,000 per violation, which could reach one trillion dollars. That is highly unlikely. Facebook must comply with GDPR for its European operations. It will be easier for Facebook to implement GDPR for all of its users than to try and segment them into GDPR or no-[GDPR] compliance.” In 2011, the Federal Trade Commission accused Facebook of violating consumer privacy on its platform. Ultimately, the case was settled out of court, but the terms agreed upon in the 2011 consent decree did not prevent data abuse in the Cambridge Analytica case. “Although there are many regulations in place, we can’t assume they will be followed,” Whitten said. “Stiffer penalties can help, as businesses should be less inclined to misuse data if the resulting penalties aren’t worth it. But as we see over and over, misuse of data will happen and we as users need to protect ourselves. Unfortunately, we can’t assume everyone in the world is an ethical Aggie.” DeWitte said some of the under-enforcement issues raised by the 2011 decree and the present scandal still are being ironed out. “No, it is not under-enforcing,” deWitte said. “The FTC process takes time — just as lawsuits and courts take time. They have to have an investigation which they are opening. The FTC is limited by the number of investigators they have. It is a slow, but thorough process.”
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HELP WANTED Summer Employment: Bussers/Waitstaff. Frittella Italian Cafe, Casual but elegant environment; need motivated individuals with good work ethic, neat appearance and personable. We will train, apply in person. 979-2606666 The Forsyth Galleries in the MSC is looking for three new student employees to start early May. Check out Jobs for Aggies, Gallery Attendant/Guard for more details or you can leave your resume and cover letter at the Forsyth front desk. Work around your class schedule! No Saturday or Sundays, off during the holidays. The Battalion Advertising Office is hiring an Advertising Sales Representative. Must be enrolled at A&M and have reliable transportation. Interested applicants should come by our office located in the MSC, Suite 400, from 8am-4pm, ask to speak with Joseph.
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The Battalion | 4.26.18
Annual Atticus Finch Day celebration
Community to remember ethics and morals of Harper Lee’s famous fictional character Senior By Savannah Mehrtens Price Includes Boot Bag Logo and Name @SJMehrtens
read the fine print.
(More logos available) Price Includes
Logoforand Name Shop Little Aggies (More available) to anlogos Aggie Xmas IShop havefor adult andAggies other Little things in between. to an Aggie Xmas I have adult and other etsy.com/shop/aggiesandbows thingsReveille’s in between. by Charlotte, Seamstress
For the 10th year in a row, Atticus Finch Day will be on April 27, beginning at 11:30 a.m., with the goal to inspire lawyers and others to act with the values of Atticus Finch. The event is hosted by the Law Office of Shane Phelps, P.C.; Banks, Banks and Patranella Attorneys at Law. P.C. and the For Sterling Silver Jewelry: etsy.com/shop/aggiesandbows 979-778-2293 bystores.ebay.com/charboeg979 Charlotte, Reveille’s Seamstress Brazos County Bar Association. charboeg@yahoo.com Atticus Finch Day began after a heated debate a decade 979-778-2293 ago in a Brazos County courtroom between two attorneys, charboeg@yahoo.com Shane Phelps and Phil Banks, who said they were balling Price Includes COME SEE US their fists at each other before the judge and called for a break. Logo Name (More logos available) After apologizing, they discovered their shared appreciation inside the office of: Shop for Aggies of Finch, a fictional character from Harper Lee’sLittle Pulitzer A&B SELF STORAGE to an Aggie Xmas 1711 N Earl Rudder Fwy Prize winning novel, “To Kill aadult Mockingbird.” I have and other Courtesy (Hwy 6 ByPass) The case Phelps was fighting was against another lawyer, between. things in Bryan, TX 77803 .com/shop/aggiesandbows who his client was prosecuting for forgery. Atticus Finch Day is celebrated by lawyers in Brazos Charlotte, Reveille’s (between the exits of Hwy 21 & Tabor “The case got fairly contentious,” Phelps said. “It was a County to remind them toSeamstress act ethically. Road West side of Hwy 6 ByPass) 979-778-2293 little out of control in places and then at some point during HOURS: MON - SAT 9 am - 6 pm the trial, I raised an issue that I wanted to go into that would harboeg@yahoo.com personify what Atticus Finch was all about, who could enhave probably extended the trial.” Banks said he was frustrated during the case and said hurt- courage us to work together, to set aside our differences and to kind of devote ourselves to be better lawyers.” ful things to the other attorney. This year’s speaker will be Michael Morton, a man who After the judge called a break, both Phelps and Banks apologized to each other and are now friends, according to was wrongfully accused of murdering his wife in 1987 and spent the following 25 years in jail for the crime. He is also Phelps. “Back in that period, the Brazos County Courthouse was the author of “Getting Life: An Innocent Man’s 25-Year a very dysfunctional place,” Phelps said. “Lawyers were tear- Journey from Prison to Peace, A Memoir.” Phelps, who was a law clerk for the lawyers who defended ing each other apart, lots of scandals, just a lot of dysfunction. It kind of occurred to me after a while, you know we talk Morton, said there were efforts to free Morton because of about Atticus Finch all the time and what a wonderful role some evidence that had not been DNA tested, which was not an advanced scientific practice at that time. model he is, but we obviously fall short sometimes.” “There was some evidence that had been left, particularly Phelps said he looks to Finch’s morals and his willingness to sacrifice everything to do his job the right way as an ethical a bandana, left behind the house where Christine Morton was murdered,” Phelps said. “Lawyers down in Houston goal for an attorney. “We lose sight of how many noble things you can really and the Innocence Project in New York fought for eight years to force the DA’s office to test that bandana. When the do with a law license, like Atticus Finch did,” Phelps said. For closing arguments, without a premeditated plan, both courts finally ordered the prosecutors to do it, the bandana Phelps and Banks appeared in seersucker outfits, a typically had blood on it, DNA from Christine Morton, the victim, striped pattern on printed cotton or synthetic fabric with and from an unknown male that was not Michael Morton.” The murderer was soon found and convicted after Morton puckered and flat sections, which Finch wore in the novel. “He and I showed up wearing identical seersucker suits, had spent over two decades serving his wrongful prison senhe had the same shirt and generally the same type of tie,” tence. Morton was part of the passing of the Michael Morton Banks said. “It looked like we were the Bobbsey Twins or Act, Texas Senate Bill 1611, which requires all evidence to be given in a case if the lawyer asks for it, something not something.” After the trial, Phelps and Banks thought of a way to share previously required. “Particularly this year, I don’t think anyone will walk away their admiration of Finch through a celebratory day where the community could come together and listen to a speaker from the experience hearing Michael, hearing his story and meeting him in person without somehow being changed,” who would uphold such values, according to Phelps. “So we came up with the idea that once a year we would Phelps said. Atticus Finch Day is open to the public on April 27, bekind of gather all of the lawyers in Brazos County,” Phelps said. “As many as we could get, encourage the wearing of ginning at 11:30 a.m. with a social followed by Morton’s seersucker suits, we’d have lemonade, cookies, we’d have speech, which will begin at noon. some fellowship and we’d hear from lawyers who kind of
ART EXHIBIT CONTINUED educational resource ‘cause this is open to the public and this is going to be a traveling exhibition,” Rocha-Rojas said. “So, they made the product that is actually authentic.” As part of the assignment, students had to interview someone who identifies as Hispanic in the community. The photo would then show these differing Hispanic minorities. “Now we know that identity is real fluid,” Rocha-Rojas said. “They had to think about what is identity, how they would represent identity through photography.” To prepare for the art exhibit, students worked on their projects over the past two months. The assignment in-
volved studying different cultures within the Hispanic community and eventually finding those cultures on campus. Dylan Kiser, general studies sophomore, named his photo “Perdido en Pensamiento,” which means “Lost in Thought.” The photo presents the profile of an individual studying in front of the Academic Building. While Kiser shared the Hispanic-Jewish heritage of his friend featured in the photo, the perspective does not allow these observations to be made. “The message that I’m trying to communicate is that one identity that somebody has shouldn’t limit the other identities that somebody has and just when you look at somebody, and just like the guy in the photo, you can’t tell any identities that he has,” Kiser said. “The message is kind of simple.”
Biridiana Hernandez, political science junior, presented her photograph, “La Gente del Libro,” which means “People of the Book.” The photo depicts two Hispanic-Muslim girls inside the prayer room in Evans Library. “The reason that I titled my picture this is because when we were learning about [Islam] … we learned that Christians and Jews, as people, are called the ‘people in the book’ because we appear in the Koran,” Hernandez said. “[The class] really opened my eyes to learn about other people’s’ culture and their identities, specifically the way in which Hispanics have multiple identities. ... Just because you don’t look the same or speak the same language or share the same beliefs, it doesn’t mean that you’re not connected in some type of way.”
Friday, April 27th 9am to 4pm 12th Man Hall of the MSC The 2017 Aggieland Yearbook is a photojournalistic record of the 2016-2017 school year. The 115th edition of Texas A&M’s Official Yearbook. $65.00 + Tax Purchase a 2017 Aggieland on this day, you can purchase previous Aggieland years for a flat rate of $20 dollars.
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THE BATTALION is published Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays during the 2018 spring semester and Tuesday and Thursday during the summer session (except University holidays and exam periods) at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843. Offices are in Suite L400 of the Memorial Student Center. News: The Battalion news department is managed by students at Texas A&M University in Student Media, a unit of the Division of Student Affairs. Newsroom phone: 979-845-3315; E-mail: editor@thebatt.com; website: http://www.thebatt.com. Advertising: Publication of advertising does not imply sponsorship or endorsement by The Battalion. For campus, local, and national display advertising call 979-845-2687. For classified advertising, call 979-845-0569. Office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Email: battads@thebatt.com. Subscriptions: A part of the University Advancement Fee entitles each Texas A&M student to pick up a single copy of The Battalion. First copy free, additional copies $1.
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C. Morgan Engel — THE BATTALION
Defensive back Armani Watts is currently projected to be drafted No. 123 overall to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the fourth round, according to CBS Sports.
DRAFT CONTINUED all 32 NFL teams at the A&M Pro Day. Following the workout, Kirk said he believes he is the best receiver in the draft. “I’ll say I’m up there at the top, if not at the top. That’s what I believe, I just have to have that confidence every time I step on the field,” Kirk said. “I just have to believe in everything I do and bring a different aspect to the game, different dynamic.” Kirk said all he needed from the pro day was an opportunity to show what kind of player he is both on and off the field. “[I] just want to show these coaches that I am an all-around football player,” Kirk said. “Not only can I bring a lot to the field, I can bring a lot to
the locker room and be a leader and be accountable.” On Dec. 29, 2017, Kirk announced via Twitter he would enter the draft, and for the past four months, has been preparing for the draft every day. “This is definitely going to be the longest year of football I’ve had, so just [trying to] take it all in stride … and enjoying the process,” Kirk said. Watts, a 5-foot-11-inch defensive back from Forney, is the only other Aggie listed on the cbssports.com mock draft. According to the site, Watts is projected to be picked No. 123 overall in the fourth round to Pittsburgh after a trade. In March, Watts said he is lucky and thankful to go through the draft process and hopes to make the most of his experience.
“It’s pretty exciting, you don’t get this opportunity too many times, so I came out here [to] compete,” Watts said during A&M’s Pro Day. Watts said he hopes coaches and NFL executives saw the caliber of player he was on the field and take note of what qualities he could bring to their teams off it. “My work ethic [is] what I bring to the game,” Watts said. “I became a better leader this year and these past few years. [Football is] my job and what I can [contribute] to a team.” The 2018 NFL Draft will be held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, and is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. CT and will be televised on ESPN, FOX and NFL Network.
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