thebattalion l wednesday,
november 13, 2013
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50 years of inclusion
Speakers to share integration stories One of first four black students admitted to A&M to speak Ashe Matocha The Battalion
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tudents can get a glimpse Wednesday of what Texas A&M was like when women and African-Americans were first allowed to enroll. MSC LEAD is hosting “Former Students’ Stories” at noon at Rudder Plaza, which will feature Rozanna Mendoza, Class of 1986, and Leroy Sterling, one of the first four African Americans admitted to the University in 1963. The former students will share their experiences from their days on campus during the University’s history of integration and discrimination issues. Justin Richardson, executive director of the MSC LEAD sub-community hosting the event and biomedical engineering major, said the event will give current students a unique perspective on the past by providing them with first-hand accounts. “The event will engage current students to recognize issues they may not have perceived as still relevant,” Richardson said. “With that knowledge they can be better prepared to face the future.” Current students will be able to ask the speakers questions about their life on campus during their times as students. “Oftentimes our past can inform our future, and if we can learn from our past we can better our future,” said Alec Krance, MSC LEAD chairperson and junior political science and psychology major. “It is my hope that students will learn of A&M’s past in regards to inclusion so they can see how important it is to take steps to be inclusive on today’s campus.” Linley Martin, sophomore health major, said See Inclusion on page 4
Yomi Adenuga — THE BATTALION
Junior offensive tackle Cedric Ogbuehi speaks to the media Tuesday at the Bright Complex.
THE HUNT FOR PERFECTION James Sullivan
The Battalion exas A&M’s air raid system, led by sophomore Johnny Manziel, has failed to have a “perfect game” this season, but junior offensive tackle Cedric Ogbuehi said the Aggies are just a few mistakes short of perfection. “If we stop hurting ourselves, we’ll score 70,” Ogbuehi said. In A&M’s 51-41 home finale win over Mississippi State on Saturday, the offense’s point production off 537 total yards with three turnovers was enough to down the Bulldogs. But 91 rushing yards — roughly 17 percent of the total production — forced the Aggies into the air. A factor for the disparity between A&M’s air and ground attacks was the offensive line’s rust, head coach Kevin Sumlin said. Ogbuehi returned to the
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unit after sitting out two games with an undisclosed injury. “[The offensive line] was a little rusty,” Sumlin said. “People think if you’re a lineman, you’re a lineman. You move from guard to tackle, back to guard, and haven’t played in a couple weeks and you’re playing big, strong SEC linemen.” As the Aggies inch closer to the season’s end, the offense has become more focused on its elusive “perfect game.” Offensive coordinator Clarence McKinney said the task remains a stimulus for continued production and even though it is “unrealistic,” he believes the unit needs only to perform a “complete” game to reach its potential.
Offensive personnel chase elusive ‘perfect’ game
See Presser on page 2
research
Lab takes bilingual approach to language Researchers examine multilingual tendencies Homer Segovia The Battalion
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s wires and connections knit the world’s cultures closer and closer together, researchers in the Texas A&M language and cognition lab work to understand the growing population of multilingual speakers. Jyotsna Vaid, professor of psychology, arrived at Texas A&M in 1986 and established what is now the language and cognition lab to further linguistic research within the psychology department. As the number of multilinguals increases globally, Vaid said the nature of language research must change
along with it. “The idea is to go beyond at looking at just English single-language users, which has tended to be the way in which psychology of language had been studied for a long time, until the last 15 years or so,” Vaid said. “There has become more of a global interest in looking at the variety of languages that are out there and the variety of language experiences that people have.” Belem Lopez, a psychology graduate student working in the language and cognition lab, said while bilingualism research has often focused on comparing bilinguals and monolinguals, she is more interested in the differences between bilinguals themselves. “Not all bilinguals are the same,” Lopez said. “A way to look at that would be through experience, and an experience I’m interested in is
language brokering.” Language brokering is the informal translation process that children of immigrants often engage in, translating English to their parents’ native language in parent-teacher conferences, trips to the doctor or other day-to-day activities. Lopez is researching college students who were language brokers as children by testing them with bilingual word tasks and observing the variation in their answers. “Research has shown that sometimes children feel like they’re a third parent or they can feel a little stressed out, but then there has been positive research psychologically where it says that children have higher confidence or they do better on standardized tests,” Lopez said. “A question that my advisor and I have is, ‘Well, See Language on page 4
William Guerra — THE BATTALION
BACH MEETS BRUNO MARS Century Singers balance genre choices Shelbi Polk The Battalion
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Tanner Garza — THE BATTALION
Ashley Morehead (from left), Zach O’Neal, Haley Demos and Sarah Pederson practice Monday in the MSC choral office.
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he audience sat in the dark, waiting expectantly for the singers to appear on the stage. But music instead erupted from among the audience, as the performers jumped from concealment and headed to the stage surrounded by song. So began Century
Singers’ Showcase, where members of the 80-voice Century Singer choir performed anything they desired. The showcase represents only one of many events the organization has performed throughout the 20132014 season. Though the choir concentrates on classical music, events such as
the showcase give members the opportunity to perform a diverse range of tunes. The various performance options offered by Century Singers helps unify the members, said Zach O’Neal, junior business administration major. “There’s a piece for See Century on page 4
inside news | 3 Started from the bottom WBAC will host a discussion on rap music and the black community Thursday.
soccer | 2 A&M to host NCAA 1st round A&M will play Utah in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday at Ellis Field.
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sports
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STUDENTS Would you like to join the Aggie Spirit team? Do you want to help get Aggies to class on time?
Then we want to talk to you!
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he Texas A&M women’s soccer team — less than a week after defeating top-seeded Florida 2-1 en route to the Southeastern Conference tournament title — was named as a host school for the first round of the NCAA Tournament, which kicks off Friday. A&M earned its position in the national tournament through the SEC tournament title, marking the program’s 19th consecutive entrance. The Aggies are just one of five schools to reach the NCAA Tournament every season since 1995, each under current head coach G Guerrieri. The Aggies (17-4-1, 9-2 SEC) hold a 102-1 home record on the year, and will face a Utah squad (10-4-6, 6-3-2 Pac-12) that finished third in its conference this season. A&M owns an all-time 3-0 edge over Utah. The fourth-seeded Aggies will face off against Utah at 7 p.m. Friday at Ellis Field. James Sullivan, sports editor
Todd Van Emst — SEC
The Texas A&M women’s soccer team celebrates its first SEC tournament title Sunday.
We are hiring Aggie Spirit bus drivers. No experience needed Work 12-39 hours per week $8/hr starting pay with regular raises and get paid while we train you! Apply online at transport.tamu.edu or for further information scan the QR code below
thebattalion The IndependenT STudenT VoIce of TexaS a&M SInce 1893
Jake Walker, Editor in Chief The BaTTalion is published daily, Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters 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 Student Services 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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Presser Continued from page 1
“You’re talking about a complete game — 14 possible drives — where you score touchdowns in all 14, then you’re looking at a lot of points,” McKinney said. “It’s unrealistic, but as a coaching staff and players, we feel like we can score on every possession. We’ve had that opportunity, we just haven’t put it together.” Entering the bye week, Sumlin said the Aggies have an opportunity to recover from injuries and refocus before closing out the season with consecutive road games at No. 21 LSU and No. 9 Missouri. Sumlin said he remained convinced the road matchups will serve as motivation, especially since the outcomes will affect A&M’s bowl placement. “[The bye week] comes at a good time for us with the two games we have on the road against two high-quality opponents, both ranked teams,” Sumlin said. “We have a couple games that are meaningful and will dictate a lot for this team. It gives our guys a lot to play for.” Defensive coordinator Mark Snyder said he was satisfied with the defensive
Yomi Adenuga — THE BATTALION
Head coach Kevin Sumlin addresses the media during Texas A&M’s weekly press conference Tuesday at the Bright Complex. unit’s performance against Mississippi State, which generated a large portion of its total yards in the fourth quarter. Snyder attributed the opposing teams’ success in the fourth quarter to many of his veterans’ inexperience playing late in the game due to A&M’s success last season in blowing out opponents early. “We were bleeding yards,” Snyder
said. “You look at the clock at some point and you’re like, ‘Get this game over with.’ We’re letting people hang around and having to play into the fourth quarter this year and that’s something we’re addressing. I was pretty pleased for 40 minutes this past week.”
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thebattalion
student government
black awareness
Senate to vote on extended library hours
Impact, history of rap takes mic
Progress made to extend hours in Evans; bill to support A&M in Israel also on docket Annabelle Hutchinson The Battalion
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tudent Senate will meet Wednesday to vote on a bill extending Evans Library hours and a bill to support the proposed Texas A&M branch in Israel. Brody Smith, SGA vice president of academic affairs, said even though the TAMU Library Expansion Bill has not passed through Senate, it has already prompted action from administrators. Smith said library administrators have agreed to extend Evans Library hours until 2 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, starting next semester. David Carlson, dean of University Libraries, wrote in an email to Student Government that the library will aim to lower the costs of expansion by sharing staff between the Annex and Evans. “We’re going to try out some version of the ‘shared staff’ model already working during those times and hope that it works, which means that we don’t anticipate an increase in costs,” Carlson said. “We are concerned about ensuring that Evans remains a place where students feel — and are — safe, so we’re also going to pursue security options and see if we can’t increase coverage.” Smith said the extended hours will be a trial contingent on the number of students utilizing Evans Library during the extended hours. “They are going to be tracking the numbers in the spring and if numbers stay constant with what the Annex was, then they will leave the library open,” Smith said. The TAMU Library Expansion Bill supports the changes at Evans Library and also seeks to expand West Campus Library Facilities. “West Campus Library now is currently very overused,” Smith said. “There is not enough space and the computer labs are always full. With so many more students coming in this year, with a 1,500-student push to the new freshman class, it is just overused.” Smith said the library administration was interested in adding onto the West Campus Library or even
We’re going to try out some version of the ‘shared staff’ model already working during those times and hope that it works, which means that we don’t anticipate an increase in costs.” — David Carleson, dean of University Libraries building a new library for the College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine because of the high use of West Campus Library and the new dorms to be built on West Campus. Smith said the administration supports the expansions, but would need donors to build an entirely new library. Also to be voted on at the meeting is a bill that supports the creation of a Texas A&M University branch in Israel. Sarah Mercer, senior international studies major, introduced the idea for the bill to the Student Senate. “As I mentioned in my presentation, Texas A&M will be the first American university to have a branch campus in Israel and I think that is an honor,” Mercer said. “We should be proud of that and we should support the school in those initiatives.” Mercer, who is not a student senator, said most students are not aware that any student can introduce a bill in Student Senate if they get the support of one student senator. “I would definitely encourage other students if they have an issue that’s really on their hearts to come into contact with the Student Senate and to present it in front of everyone,’” Mercer said. Student Senate convenes every other Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Koldus 144. Anyone is welcome to speak during open forum at the beginning of each meeting.
Panel to focus on impact of music to culture Mikel Moon The Battalion
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s students turn the knobs of their car radios, they may pay little attention to the origins and implications of the music blaring from their speakers, but the MSC Woodson Black Awareness Committee will turn up the volume with five panelists to discuss the impact of rap music on the black community and society as a whole. Serving as panelists for the discussion, “Started from the Bottom, Now We’re Where?” are Texas A&M professors Tommy Curry and Reuben May and three Prairie View A&M University professors. They will analyze the influence of rap culture, following it from its origins through its expansion into mainstream culture and into the present day. The panelists will explore different ideas about the genre and analyze its portrayal of the black community. Topics may include sexism, violence, drugs and poverty, according to members associated with the event. Candace Morris, director of Black History Month and junior accounting major, said she hopes the event will inform people. “What WBAC aims to achieve in hosting this event is to educate the audience about the history of rap music and how it has a relationship with
the black community,” Morris said. “Nowadays, the audience of rap music sees rap music as the black community. They equate that with each other even though rap music isn’t a true representation of the black community, so we just want the audience to understand the evolution of both rap music and the black community and how they differ and share relationships.” Aja Holston, WBAC chair and senior political science major, said addressing hip-hop and rap is relevant to students because of its popularity. “For people who consider themselves to be fans of hiphop, fans of rap, it’s really important that they understand the history of it and they understand the purpose of rap and hip-hop and it was never to be entertainment,” Holston said. “It was always to be an avenue for black people to have a space to speak in, to speak your thoughts.” The event will last as long as the discussion continues, said Lyndon Pryor, MSC program advisor for WBAC. “As always, with any discussion, depending on audience engagement, what type of topics that we end up hitting and how those strike our panelists, we kind of allow the conversation to go where it will,” Pryor said. “Started From the Bottom, Now We’re Where?” will be at 7 p.m. on Nov. 14 in the Psychology Building, Room 108. The event is open to the public.
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FOR RENT 4/3, 3/3 &3/2 Houses, Townhouses, Duplexes &Fourplexes, 1250-1700sqft. Very spacious, ethernet, large kitchen, extra storage, W/D, great amenities, marble and granite, on multiple bus routes, now pre-leasing, excellent specials. 979-694-0320. www.luxormanagement.com
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Spring lease, $1200/mo, 2bd/1.5ba, built 2011, close to campus, call 979-255-2488.
Christ United Methodist Church, College Station, TX is seeking 4 dynamic Youth Interns to help lead a program of 100+ active youth. Candidates should have prior experience in working with youth, be a sophomore or greater in college, possess solid communication skills, be a team player and comfortable speaking about faith matters. Responsibilities include helping lead Sunday night youth, Wednesday night Bible Study, keeping in touch with assigned youth, and attending trips. Compensation will be up to $13,000 for each intern per year. For more information contact Kevin Rund at 979-690-4673 or to apply, send resumes to kevinrund@christ-umc.org
Student sublease from January to May. $650/month plus utilities for 2bd/1ba duplex on Dominik Drive. Fenced yard, parking for 2, close to campus, pets allowed. Call/text 281-799-4871 for details.
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Century Continued from page 1
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everyone,” O’Neal said. “When you join a choir you don’t assume that we’re going to do a Bruno Mars song and then the very next week completely go through Mozart. I think that if you enjoy contemporary music you can find your niche there, and if you enjoy classical music you can find your niche there. If you enjoy both you’re just happy all the time.” This season marks notable changes in the organization, said John O’Hearne, Century Singers treasurer and junior telecommunication and media studies major, as the arrival of new director Eric Posada brought with it a new direction and new opportunities. “Whenever you have a change of director I think there’s just a very obvious leadership change in what he’s going to bring to the table,” O’Hearne said. “We’ve seen it in how he interacts with the choir and I guess one of the most interesting things to me is just the energy that he brings.” O’Neal said one such opportunity Posada brought to the organization was the chance to sing for Omar Maldonado, Class of 1997, in his campaign video as he ran for a judge of Hidalgo County Court. Century Singers is scheduled to tour around the state, take a trip to Germany, sing at Muster and perform with the Nordic Choir. The Nordic Choir is among the top choirs in the world, and O’Hearne said this could be an incredible opportunity for Century Singers. “If we’re able to hold up and put on a good show with them that could be incredible national recognition for us,” O’Hearne said. “There are just a lot of exciting opportunities that I think we’ve been having. I think that’s just the general theme of this year. It’s not that past years haven’t been exciting. We’ve had
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Office of Professional School Advising — 979.847.8938 — Henderson Hall
2013 Aggieland yearbooks are here. If you did not order the 2013 Texas A&M university yearbook (the 2012-2013 school year), a limited number are available at the Student Media office, Suite L400 of the MSC. Hours: 8:30 a.m.– 4:30 p.m. Monday–friday. $85 plus tax. Cash, check, VISA, MasterCard, Discover and American Express, accepted.
aggieland 2014
this event is important because it sheds light on the harsh reality faced by students of minority races. Hearing from two former students about their experiences will be eye opening, she said. “If you talk to students of various races, I guarantee you will hear some stories of how they were discriminated against in some fashion regarding race,” Martin said. “The University likes to focus on the word ‘diversity,’ though, and in time we will all hopefully be able to represent that to its fullest.” Wednesday’s event is part of the “Day of Engagement” put on by the Texas A&M University’s 50th Anniversary of Inclusion committee to celebrate the 50-year anniversary of the admittance of African-Americans and
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FINAL DAY
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they’re using language in a sophisticated way, maybe there’s some long-term cognitive and linguistic repercussions to this.’” Lopez said the process of language brokering could have implications for the education of bilingual children. “Language brokering is something that people aren’t taught, they just kind of get thrown into it,” Lopez said. “Maybe it’s something that teachers should take into account. This is an advanced skill that children are learning. How can they incorporate that into education?” Kayoung Kim, a psychology graduate student working in the language and cognition lab, is observing how orthographic differences — differ-
some really cool things happen over the years, but this year is kind of a culmination that keeps your head spinning all the time.” Despite these changes and opportunities, O’Neal said Century Singers has managed to stay close and maintain a family dynamic that sets their music apart. “There’s a whole dynamic of singing with people that you’re friends with rather than people that you don’t know,” O’Neal said. “It brings a certain excitement into the room. Because when all of your friends are singing together in the same room and you know that you’re about to produce something beautiful together as a family, there’s just so much more to it than singing with random people.” In addition to nearly four hours of practice per week, the choir hosts weekly social events and parties for its members. Taylor Cooper, sophomore agricultural leadership and development major, said he appreciates that the choir is about more than just music. “It’s what makes us more than a choir I guess,” Cooper said. “It’s got a very family feel, very tight knit. We have a lot of our own traditions and everything. It’s definitely a very unique organization.” Century Singers strives not only to give its members the opportunity to grow musically, but also to grow as individuals, O’Hearne said. “When you look at A&M, people can think there’s not musical opportunity, but that’s not even remotely true,” O’Hearne said. “If you’re willing to put the time into Century Singers, we will give you as many opportunities as we can, not only to grow as a person with our different social events and as a leader, but also musically.” The choir will next be performing Mozart’s Requiem with the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra on Nov. 24 and taking part in the Holiday Spirit of Aggieland Christmas concert on Dec. 8.
women to the University. “Our sophomore members have been handing out fliers this week in the MSC and there are large foam board signs in Rudder Plaza helping to spread awareness,” Richardson said. “Anybody who walks by is invited to come and learn from our former students.” Krance said he hopes the event will help promote learning opportunities for students on campus. “We are an organization dedicated to developing sophomore leaders while providing leadership opportunities for all of campus,” Krance said. “You cannot force people to learn, they have to have a genuine interest. It is my hope that students at A&M are interested in our University’s past and seek to learn from it.” The event is free and the first 150 students will receive a free T-shirt.
ences in spelling and representation of sounds — between English and Korean affects how speakers of both languages perceive them. “We started with people like me who have quite good proficiency in English but are dominantly Korean-users,” Kim said. “That was our first part, and we demonstrated that orthographic knowledge does influence how we were understanding speech sounds. So now as a next step we’re using Korean-Americans who differ on their literacy experiences.” The participants are given a sound deletion task in which participants are given a word and then asked to drop in what they believe to be the first “sound” of the word. The differences in their responses highlight the unique characteristics of the Korean language as well as the partici-
“Maybe [language brokering] is something that teachers should take into account. This is an advanced skill that children are learning. How can they incorporate that into education?” — Belem Lopez, psychology graduate student working in the language and cognition lab
pants’ dominant language. The study focuses on literacy and its effect on speech, but Kim said the broad objective is to view how language affects human perception. “In a nutshell, I’m interested because I’m trying to think of the influence of the language experience in how people view the world,” Kim said. “That could be investigated with lots of other things. The effect of literacy on how people perceive speech sounds, that’s really specified. But if you were to think about it, generally speaking, it’s just seeing how language actually changes your perception.” Though communication can be found in other animal species, Vaid said an argument could be made that communication through language is the embodiment of the human experience. “There are so many ways in which language affects everyone’s daily life, not to mention just courtship and attraction and the kind of humor that draws people together,” Vaid said. “There are a number of reasons why language is such a central kind of phenomenon and yet we take it for granted. But it does a lot of work on many levels for us.”
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