The Battalion — June 8, 2022

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8 | SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 | © 2022 STUDENT MEDIA

THE ROAD TO OMAHA

NEWS

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The Battalion | 6.8.22

Cameron Johnson — THE BATTALION

The Class of 2023 celebrates Legacy Night in front of the Jack K. Williams Administration Buiding on March 31, 2022.

College of Arts and Sciences recieves proposed changes Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences program looks to combine degrees

By Kyle McClenagan @KMcclenagan The proposition to create a new Institute of Biological Life and Sciences was just one of the many suggested changes in the MGT America Consulting, or MGT, report evaluating Texas A&M. While the institute may never see the light of day, a “common first-year curriculum” is currently being formulated by Working Group 13: Life Sciences Meta-major.

The proposed institute would have combined the existing Department of Biology and Biomedical Sciences Program in an effort to increase resources between the departments and give students more elasticity in their major. The original report, released on Oct. 25, 2021, also suggested the implementation of a new general biology major for all incoming biology students.

“This format allows students the flexibility and time to explore various academic avenues and choose the path that best suits their career goals and maximizes their potential while decreasing time to graduation,” the report read.

Alex C. Keene, Ph.D., professor and head of the Department of Biology at A&M, said the findings in the MGT report laid the groundwork for future changes.

“I think the MGT report itself was a starting point,” Keene said. “Really, the overall objective is to streamline the process for

[students] and allow them more flexibility to choose what their major is.”

This could be favorable to students trying to find the major that best fits their career goals, Keene said.

“I actually see a lot of benefit in it because you come in as a freshman and you don’t know exactly what you want to do. There’s an opportunity in experiencing some biology in the classroom and interacting with faculty,” Keene said.

The MGT report also mentions this by citing a newsletter by the Texas A&M Office of Undergraduate Studies, which reads that changing majors is a common occurrence.

“It is not uncommon for undergraduates to change their major; some students switch their major two or three times before finding the one that is right for them,” the newsletter by Sydnie Harrell of the Office of Undergraduate Studies said.

This reasoning and approach is similar to that of the Entry to a Major, or ETAM, process set up for freshmen engineering students.

Which according to the A&M engineering website, requires students to apply for their major following their freshman year of general coursework.

“With 22 majors to choose from, we don’t ask you to make your decision during your first year,” the engineering website reads.

“Our common first-year curriculum was designed to allow you to explore your options while gaining a foundation in programming and engineering.”

Keene said that as of now, there are no plans to completely overhaul the major process.

“Students switch their majors all the time

anyways, and so I think as long as the support network is in place, so that students get where they need to be, then my sense is [that] all departments will be satisfied with that, and so will students,” Keene said. “I think, mostly, it’s about what benefits the students the most.”

In addition to the possible collaborations within the proposed Institute of Biological Life and Sciences, Keene said the new College of Arts and Sciences could provide biology majors with some important resources.

“Just to give you an example, there’s tons of things that I could see wanting to do with the English department,” Keene said. “Science writing is just a really important part of what we teach in biology, and some would argue it’s one of the most important things you can learn as a science major.”

Nothing is set in stone, and the working groups, specifically Working Group 13, have yet to officially present their findings to University President M. Kathrine Banks, Keene said.

“I was not on a working group, but I think every department had representation on them,” Keene said. “I imagine [a formal decision, will come] probably sometime this summer. As you can see the outlines are all there.”

As for the other half of the proposed institute, Director of Communications for the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences Jennifer Gauntt said current BIMS leadership does not want to discuss any possible plans until an official decision is made.

“Because suggestions submitted to the president as part of working groups related to the College of Arts and Sciences and the Institute

of Interdisciplinary Studies have not yet been approved, we would prefer to wait until those suggestions are finalized before commenting on the BIMS move,” Gauntt said in an email to The Battalion.

The March 25 progress report by the Life Science Meta-major working group, or Working Group 13, said there is a shared curriculum throughout much of the BIMS and biology freshman course work.

“The working group identified the shared required coursework in the first two semesters for all ‘partner’ degrees both within and outside the College of Arts and Sciences,” the report reads. “The degrees that have been identified with clear overlap in first year curriculum, or that are opting to participate in the program are: Biomedical Sciences [or BIMS], Biochemistry, Biology, Genetics, Molecular and Cell Biology, Microbiology, Neuroscience, Nutrition and Zoology.”

Tim Scott, chair of the Life and Sciences Meta-major working group, said in an email to The Battalion that while he doesn’t think the institute will be created, they are working on a common curriculum.

“I don’t believe we will create an institute as referenced in the MGT recommendations,” Scott said in an email. “However, Biomedical Sciences is moving to the Interdisciplinary Programs portion of Arts and Science[s]. The aim is to create a common first-year curriculum for both biology and biomedical sciences and other similar life sciences degrees.”

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LIFE&ARTS

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The Battalion | 6.8.22

Summer of science

Photo Coutesy of Aggie STEM

Students complete an engineering experiment at an Aggie STEM summer camp.

Aggie summer camps offer unique STEM experience for students, teachers

By Emma Lawson @ELawsonAtTheBat Make sure to pack your sunscreen and bug spray — summer weather has officially hit Texas. As students begin their summer break, Aggie STEM hopes to provide them with an educational and exciting summer while also teaching what it means to be an Aggie.

Aggie STEM is a collaborative effort from both the College of Education and Development and the College of Engineering dedicated to providing tools to help students and ed-

ucators advance in the of disciplines science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM. From June 6 to July 23, Aggie STEM will be holding Monday through Friday summer camps for students in elementary, middle and high school and teachers looking to develop their STEM skills. During the camps, Aggie STEM hopes to develop a love for all things STEM and A&M related, with the goal of campers becoming future Aggies. Registration is currently closed, but a waitlist can be found by visiting the Aggie STEM website.

Robert M. Capraro, Ph.D., is the Aggie STEM co-director and said he created the summer camps in 2001.

“I wanted to continue [teaching math] with kids but there wasn’t space for that at

A&M, so I created my own space by having a summer math camp, which was focused on kids who had math learning problems,” Robert said. “It slowly evolved into a STEM camp as the years went by. As more and more people became engaged, they brought their expertise and their passion. It evolved with the faculty and the grad students who were involved in[to] what we now have as Aggie STEM summer camp.”

Kids who come to camp will be immersed in STEM activities while also gaining a taste of life as an Aggie,” Robert said.

“When we do the orientation, instead of saying, ‘Welcome to Aggieland,’ I say to all of them, ‘Welcome home,’” Robert said.

“For the Aggies in the room, they know

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what I mean. They gave us a happy, healthy child, and we promise to give them back a happy, healthy child, just a whole lot more Aggie-fied.”

Six of the camp counselors at the Aggie STEM summer camps were once campers themselves, Robert said, and they hope to continue a legacy of encouraging opportunities for underrepresented campers.

“Our female count is now almost even with males,” Robert said, “We have $100,000 in grant funds this year in order to bring kids who couldn’t afford to come. 40 percent of our kids who were coming to camp will be here because of a scholarship. They are incredibly high achieving kids, they just don’t have the money to come.”

Mary M. Capraro, Ph.D., is a professor of mathematics education at A&M and works alongside Robert for the summer camps to inspire a love of math in both undergraduates and school-level students.

“Students come to the classroom with the fear of mathematics, and it’s always the last subject that they want to take,” Mary said.

“I taught a problem solving class with undergraduates last semester, and the students said that now they really like mathematics. Maybe because they see the love of math in me and they see that I don’t fear it.”

For Mary’s class, she said students will adopt a rainforest theme and have the opportunity to design their own mini-cranes.

“They’ll be designing a crane because, in order to study the canopy of the rainforest the researchers need a crane to be able to go up,” Mary said. “They will design a prototype of their crane and then compete to see who lifts up the most pennies.”

Miriam Sanders, extracurricular activities director and previous camp counselor for Aggie STEM, said she is excited for the social activities planned for the kids for their free time.

“After they’ve heard from STEM experts and participated in activities using project-based learning during the day, they may be a little bit tired, but we have lots of social things for them,” Sanders said. “We have game night, karaoke night and a pool night.”

Other activities the campers will be participating in include Aggieland Safari, seeing the new “Jurassic World” movie, getting Aggie swag from C.C. Creations and Layne’s chicken tenders, Sanders said.

“We’re going to do a lot of academic things but it’s also inculturating them into A&M culture,” Sanders said. “We want to share iconic things that are true to the nature of College Station with the activities that we do.”

SPORTS

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The Battalion | 6.8.22

Aggies, Cardinals to clash in super regional

A&M coach Jim Schlossnagle speaks with family in the crowd after winning the College Station regional at Olsen Field on Monday, June 6 2022.

Aggies defeat first-year head coach Jim Schlossnagle’s former squad to earn first super regional appearance since 2017

By Kay Naegeli @KayNaegeli Fueled by Pringles and the guidance of first-year head coach Jim Schlossnagle, Texas A&M baseball is making a run in the postseason.

At the beginning of the 2021 season, A&M was predicted to finish second to last in the SEC West. Now, the Aggies are hosting a super regional.

The A&M baseball team started the season as a group of 14 transfers, 12 returners and 13 true freshmen. The SEC preseason predictions were not in favor of the Aggies, but they have flipped those odds like a bat flip from senior outfielder Dylan Rock.

Aggie fans expected big changes to come when Schlossnagle was hired from TCU, but no one expected changes so soon. In his

first year, No. 5 A&M won the SEC West, claimed the College Station Regional crown, and for the first time since 2017, will be playing in the super regional round of the NCAA Tournament.

Last weekend, to grasp the program’s 10th time winning a regional, the Aggies maneuvered past Oral Roberts, Louisiana and TCU to claim one of 16 remaining spots in the super regional round. Of those 16 squads left, there are five SEC teams, the most of any conference, and four teams that A&M has beaten this season including No. 9 Texas, Ole Miss, No.14 Auburn and Arkansas.

“We just keep fighting,” Rock said. “Never give up. Just keep going. Winning pitches.

Just do what we do. We’ve been in that situation the whole year, and nothing changes.”

Because A&M was selected as a top-8 seed, the Aggies will host No. 12 Louisville in the College Station Super Regional starting on Friday, June 10 at 7:30 p.m. in a best-of-three series format.

“I’m just super grateful for the opportunity to still play,” sophomore first baseman Jack Moss said. “I think that’s what it’s all about. I

know how hard this team has worked. I know the adversity that everyone on this team has faced, whether that was in the transfer portal, fighting through injuries, or whatever the case may be. It was just kind of a moment of relief, I guess you could say that. We still have work to do, and we’re not done.”

The Aggies and Cardinals have only met once before in 2017, when the Cardinals defeated the Aggies 8-4 in the 2017 College World Series opener. Louisville has appeared in seven super regionals since 2013, while A&M is making its first appearance since 2017.

This season, the trio of Rock, Moss and junior designated hitter Austin Bost are the heart of the batting order, with a combined batting average of .365. Defensively, righthanders junior Micah Dallas and sophomore Nathan Dettmer are Schlossnagle’s go-to starting pitchers with a combined 5.02 ERA, along with a handful of relievers and closers to help finish the job.

As for the Cardinals, their top three batters average a .342 BA , but the pitching rotation of aces will give A&M a hard time in the batter’s box.

Robert O’Brien — THE BATTALION

Postseason A&M has proved its resiliency, however, ahead of SEC play, the Aggies lacked fight. Against Houston, Schlossnagle challenged the team’s competitive grit, comparing wins and runs to a Pringles chip.

“When you win a game, you should want to win two,” Schlossnagle told SiriusXM Radio. “When you want to win two, you should want to win three. It’s like Pringles. Who ever opens a can of pringles and eats just one?”

Dallas brought a can of Pringles to A&M’s following game, handing out chips after every run scored. Since then, the team has adopted the motto and after a long awaited season, A&M has surprises planned with the company. Although an NIL deal has not been confirmed, Pringles shipped an over 70 pound box to the team and has made it known on social media they fully support Aggie baseball.

The series against Louisville begins on Friday, and will continue on Saturday at 2 p.m. rolling over to Sunday if needed. With two wins, the Aggies will claim the series and head to Ohama, Neb., for their chance to compete for a College World Series title.

SPORTS

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The Battalion | 6.8.22

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SPORTS

The Battalion | 6.8.22

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SPORTS

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The Battalion | 6.8.22

Aggies take on Outdoor Championship Cameron Johnson — THE BATTALION

Senior Kim Dow runs the women’s 800-meter during the Alumni Muster at the E.B. Cushin Stadium on April 30, 2022.

Approaching NCAA Championship, A&M track & field has victory on mind

By Jordan Epp @j_epp22 On the flight to Eugene, Ore., a group of 23 Aggies made their way to the track capital of the country. A journey that began on Friday, Dec. 3 in Fayetteville, Ark., came full circle in the same college town on Saturday, May 28 at the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds.

Now, with about two dozen Texas A&M athletes traveling to the home of the Ducks, an area known as “Track Town, USA,” they have a chance to show America that, at least this year, “Track Town” is located in College Station.

With legendary coach Pat Henry at the helm, A&M has won nine combined titles since 2005. Even at age 70, Henry isn’t satisfied with the 36 career titles he’s earned as a coach at the NCAA Division I level.

In 2021, the women’s team finished as national runners-up twice, and the men’s team earned 31st and sixth place finishes in indoor and outdoor, respectively, fueling the teams’ hunger for their first track title in Aggieland since 2017.

At the conclusion of the indoor season,

A&M finished in fifth and 10th place across men’s and women’s teams, respectively. The team is certainly looking to improve upon that performance, and it has plenty of firepower to do so.

Taking to Hayward Field, the No. 3-ranked Aggies’ women’s team advanced 10 different athletes and two relay teams to the Pacific-Northwest.

On the field, freshmen Lianna Davidson and Katelyn Fairchild will be throwing the javelin at the NCAA Outdoor Championships for the first time, while fifth-year Ghanaian long-jumper Deborah Acquah will be returning for her third time.

After placing top three in six of her nine javelin competitions, Fairchild, who earned a second-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships, was named SEC Co-Freshman Field Athlete of the Year. She also earned membership on the All-SEC Second Team and was given Freshman All-SEC honors.

Joining them is sophomore Jamaican high jumper Lamara Distin, who finished as the runner-up in Oregon last season. She also was the lone woman from A&M to be named to the All-SEC First Team.

On the track, the Aggies had even more women advance, including graduate hurdler Deshae Wise who qualified in two individual events: the 100 and 400-meter hurdles. Senior Kaylah Robinson also advanced in the

100-meter hurdles with a wind-aided, meetbest finish of 12.57 seconds, +3.5, equaling the fastest time under all conditions ever at the NCAA West Regional.

Among the other individual qualifiers were sophomore Laila Owens in the 200-meter, sophomore Charokee Young and junior Tierra Robinson-Jones in the 400 and senior Avi’Tal Wilson-Perteete in the 800-meter.

The two qualifying relay teams were the Aggies’ 4x100 team of Robinson, Owens and juniors Jania Martin and Rachel Hall and the 4x400 team of Robinson-Jones, Martin, Young and senior Jaevin Reed. Every member of the two relay teams, except Reed, was named to the All-SEC Second Team.

On the No. 13-ranked men’s team, seven individual athletes qualified as well as one relay team.

On Day 1 of the West Regional on Wednesday, May 25, freshman shot putter Bryce Foster, who doubles as the football team’s starting center, advanced to Eugene to further highlight the strong start to the dual-sport athlete’s young, nascent collegiate career.

Joining him on the field, sophomore Carter Bajoit secured the last qualifying spot in high jump for his first career trip to Oregon.

On the track, senior Moitalel Mpoke and junior James Smith II — members of the All-SEC First Team and Second Team, re-

spectively — advanced in the 400-meter hurdles. Freshman All-SEC member Emmanuel Bamidele advanced in the standard 400, and sophomore Brandon Miller, who has spent essentially the whole season on The Bowerman Award’s various watchlists, advanced in the 800.

Another dual-sport athlete, sophomore Devon Achane, who rushed for 900-plus yards in 2021, is capping off his sophomore campaign with a trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 100-meter dash, narrowly qualifying off of a tiebreaker.

As for the men’s relay team, the Aggies’ 4x400 team, consisting of Miller, Bamidele and freshmen Ashton Schwartzman and Cutler Zamzow, advanced as well to the final stage.

The Aggies will be facing the best of the best in Eugene, giving the team an opportunity to shine among the stars. The Outdoor Championships will start on Wednesday, June 8, and will continue through Saturday, June 11. The events can be watched on ESPN networks, including ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU.

OPINION

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The Battalion | 6.8.22

By Joe Ravi -- (CC-BY-SA 3.0)

Panorama of the west facade of United States Supreme Court Building at dusk in Washington, D.C., USA.

Opinion: Court appointed death Supreme Court decision condemns more than just the innocent

By Caleb Elizondo @CalebElizondo7 Proponents of the death penalty often envision utilizing it only against the most deserving of convicts in the most certain of convictions.

However, the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Shinn v. Ramirez is a solemn reminder this is anything but the case.

Arizona resident Barry Jones was arrested in 1994 for killing and raping his girlfriend’s daughter, Rachel Gray. The catch? With the lack of evidence, the state’s case against Jones was primarily based on the fact that Gray had been in his care shortly before her death.

The state court in Arizona sentenced Jones to death.

During the trial, Jones’ court-appointed attorney failed to utilize medical evidence that

could have exonerated him, leading many to conclude that his conviction can be attributed to incompetent legal assistance.

“Jones’ trial counsel failed to undertake even a cursory investigation and, as a result, did not uncover readily available medical evidence that could have shown that Rachel [Gray] sustained her injuries when she was not in Jones’ care,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in her dissent.

Upon exhausting all available state remedies, Jones — like many others on death row — filed a petition of habeas corpus to the federal government in order to overturn his conviction. Normally in federal hearings following a habeas petition, new evidence would not be allowed. However, per the 2012 Supreme Court decision Martinez v. Ryan, Jones could bring forth evidence of ‘ineffective trial assistance’ to challenge his death sentence.

After all, if everyone is entitled to effective trial assistance — as the sixth amendment jurisprudence states — then surely sentencing

a man to death without access to a competent attorney would run contrary to our country’s morals, values and Constitution.

If you disagree with this reasoning, you may be one of the six conservatives currently serving on the Supreme Court.

Returning a 6-3 decision across ideological lines, the Supreme Court ruled that Jones and other similarly situated individuals had no right to bring forth evidence pertaining to ineffective counsel in federal court — effectively sentencing an innocent man to death.

Jones, despite briefly overturning his sentence in federal court, is now — not withstanding any miraculous developments — to die at the hands of the state of Arizona.

While the issues at hand in Justice Clarence Thomas’ majority opinion are admittedly complex, one does not require expertise to realize its reasoning is flawed. I have read his opinion, and while I lack the energy and space to debunk his rationale in detail, frankly, it does not matter. In a country that prizes itself

on its foundational principles and rule of law, an innocent man will face state-sanctioned murder as a result of this ruling.

According to The Innocence Project, “This decision will leave thousands of people in the nightmarish position of having no court to hear their very real claims of innocence.”

That gruesome fact in and of itself is a more damning indictment than any lengthy analysis I could ever hope to write. To sentence a man to death without access to competent representation — as the state of Arizona has done — is not just the end of a life, it is also a subtler death for the values codified in our Constitution that the court is tasked to uphold.

As Justice Sotomayor writes, “For the subset of … petitioners who receive in-effective assistance both at trial and in state postconviction proceedings, the sixth amendment’s guarantee is now anempty one.”

Let me be clear, while it may be easier to empathize with those falsely convicted like Jones, even the justly convicted deserve the SUPREME COURT ON PG. 11