Side of Manhattan. The main difference was New York was very cosmopolitan. Very big. I loved the cultural chaos that New York had. I have a huge family in New York. Believe it or not, more than in Greece. I also lived in Atlanta, Ga., for about five years and Chicago.

THE BATTALION: What has been your favorite city?

VASILAKIS: My favorite cities have been Chicago and New York. Chicago is really cultural, and I like all the cultural ingredients that it has that you don’t get elsewhere in the architecture and the water. It is much different than New York. It was a huge change when I came to Texas. The University here is great, and the students are great so I enjoy it here.

The Hispanic Presidents’ Council and the Profes-sional Hispanic Network teamed up Monday

night in the Memorial Student Center to lead the opening ceremony in celebration of Hispanic Heri-tage Month.

In addition to a food buffet and a poetry reading, the event featured keynote speaker Marco Portales — pictured above with Joseph Puente, executive direc-tor of Hispanic Presidents’ Council — who discussed

the importance of an “evolved” Hispanic and Latino community.

“Latinos have a deep desire to succeed,” said Por-tales, an A&M English professor. “Education is our first concern and most desired need. The present and the future are not going to be like the past. The world always continues to evolve, and we have the oppor-tunity to lead this change.”

Donations to Texas A&M from Sept. 1, 2012, to Aug. 31, 2013, reached an all-time high for the University at more than

$740 million. According to a University press release, the dona-

tions are more than $300 million more than any other 12-month period reported, making the University among the top fundraising institutions in national rankings of higher education. The funds are nearly double what the University of Texas received in the same period.

Kathryn Greenwade, vice president of the Associa-tion of Former Students, said the Texas A&M Foun-dation, the Association of Former Students, the 12th Man Association and the Bush School collectively raised the funds, along with former students and other members of the Aggie network.

The drastic increase in donations is suspected to have resulted from, amoung other causes, Texas’ thriving economy and energy business. Greenwade

said she believes the rise in funds can be attributed to former students who are proud of the University’s re-cent successes and have had some success of their own.

“I think we’re at a time where there’s a lot of posi-tive news about Texas A&M,” Greenwade said. “Ag-gies feel good about Texas A&M and there’s an all-time high in pride. I think it speaks to the generosity of Aggies and it speaks to the success of Aggies [because they] are in the position to give back.”

Greenwade said the majority of the funds are re-stricted by the donors, which means they are directed to be used in a certain manner, whether it be for a certain scholarship or for the Kyle Field renovation.

“The money [the Association of Former Students] raises is unrestricted,” she said. “We work with the University to figure out how it may be utilized.”

Because state support has declined, Greenwade said an increase in private funds increases in significance to the University every year.

“It’s very important to the University to strive for excellence and move toward what we want this Uni-versity to be,” she said. “We want to be the top public University in the nation.”

l tuesday, september 17, 2013 l serving texas a&m since 1893 l first paper free – additional copies $1 l © 2013 student media

thebattalion

Professor Vasilakis gives a glimpse into

his personal life

FROM GREECE TO AGGIELAND

Professor Apostolos Vasilakis discusses his childhood in Greece and his teaching career at A&M.

Shelby Knowles — THE BATTALION

See Vasilakis on page 5

QA& :THE BATTALION: What was it like growing up in Greece?

VASILAKIS: My father was in the military and every two years we would move to a different part of Greece. It was fun, but difficult since I didn’t have a chance to make friends. I was growing up during the dictatorship, and I was there when democracy came. It was difficult since my father was in the military at the time, which was part of the dictatorship. It was one of those experiences you will never forget. These were historical events we were living in. Though we were young, we were still shaped by them.

THE BATTALION: What was the difference between New York and Greece?

VASILAKIS: Twenty-four years ago I moved to the States and lived in New York for about six years in the Upper West

Alexandra Slaughter, lifestyles writer, sits down with English professor Apostolos Vasilakis

Let’s be friends

@thebattonline

Page 2: Why is the First

Amendment important

to you?

Q:thebattalion asks

Event celebrates Hispanic ‘desire to succeed’J-Court denies transfer student’s SBP eligibility

student government

Transfer student Jarrett Namken argued to be able to run for Student Body President in the spring

— what he claims is his right as an Aggie — during a hearing for the Student Government Association Judi-cial Court’s first case of the year.

The hearing took place Friday in Koldus and dealt specifically with a suit brought by Namken alleging that election commissioner Allison Krenzien over-stepped her bounds in declaring Namken, who has completed two semesters at the College Station cam-pus after transferring from Texas A&M at Galveston, ineligible to run in the SBP race due to a failure to fulfill the requirement of completing three consecutive semesters at Texas A&M.

The court released Monday a unanimous 6-0 deci-sion in favor of Krenzien.

According to the majority opinion, the decision was partially based on the core premise that

Aimee BreauxThe Battalion

See J-Court on page 6

Jade Bedell — THE BATTALION

Why is it important to

celebrate the

Constitution?

Kadie McDougaldThe Battalion

William Guerra — THE BATTALION

$740 million in reported 2012-2013 fundraising dwarfs previous high

For the full story, go online at thebatt.com

BAT_09-17-13_A1.indd 1 9/16/13 10:17 PM

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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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“It is important to me because as someone who’s going to go to the military and fight overseas I

understand that a lot of countries don’t have that.” Grant Mason, senior agriculture leadership and development

major

Q:thebattasks Why is the First Amendment

important to you?

“It allows people to be themselves.” Joseph Chavez, freshman economics major

“Without it, what kind of society would it be?” Jonah Eddleman, freshman Blinn Team student

page 2

Why is it important to celebrate

the Constitution?

“To me, that’s the ultimate freedom.”

Colby Seay, educational administration graduate student

“I want to be able to say what I want to say.”

Amanda Pullin, sophomore

telecommuncation media studies

major

Photo feature by Wafi Alzawad — THE BATTALION

“It gives you the ability to express yourself.” Grant Stein, sophomore general studies major

“It is a foundational aspect of our nation’s laws.” Lindsay Rubenstein, senior biology major

“Because without the Constitution, our country would not be what it is today.” Megan Holle, freshman environmental

geoscience major

“Well, it’s what set up our nation’s government.”

Clint Nygard, junior agricultural science major

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Couples balance education with life as newlywedsRING (BEFORE) SPRING

Mackenzie MullisThe Battalion

With classes, student organizations and jobs, college life can be hectic. When

students add a marriage to the mix, life can become a unique balancing act.

After a 10-month engagement, senior communication major Laura Jackson was married this summer. Jackson commutes from her apartment in Houston to College Station to finish her last nine hours of school before graduating in December, while her husband Bryan works full-time in Houston.

“I don’t feel like a college student any-more,” Jackson said. “I am in a unique posi-tion because I am commuting from Houston every Tuesday and Thursday so I am not even in the college environment. School is kind of just about graduation now.”

Jackson said finishing school is all that mat-ters now and that she has mentally “checked out.” Because many of her friends are not yet married, Jackson said they don’t always know how to relate to her.

“I would say that some of my relationships with my friends have changed,” she said. “I am just in such a different stage of life than most people, so some people get it and un-derstand and others just don’t know what to do with me.”

Jackson said married life and school makes

for a difficult schedule, but she is happy with the outcome of her decisions.

“I am pretty happy,” she said, “I never planned on being married in school but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. It definitely does make it harder, so it is just a matter of what your priority is. I would say that if you are with the right person then it is totally worth it, even if it does make things harder.”

Now that Jackson is living with her hus-band, she said small aspects of life are chang-ing.

“I am not really allowed to have as many cute decorations,” she said. “I also make a lot more food.”

Senior interdisciplinary studies major Heather and senior civil engineering major Justin Lambert were married this June and are still attending school together. Heather said changing her last name has been an ordeal with school documentation.

“Changing my social security card and my drivers license, that took a long time,” Heather said. “You have to get your marriage certificate back to prove your new last name.”

Living expenses can become an issue in any marriage, but tuition and fees associated with college can sometimes add even more stress.

“Our parents are paying for our school still,” Heather said. “That was kind of a deal we worked out. Our parents said they would pay for school if we paid for everything else.”

Heather and Justin both said trying to bal-ance their identities as students and a married couple has left them feeling a little lost.

“Our lives are just different now — you are kind of in this weird limbo,” Heather said. “In church we changed our small group so that now we are with married couples but that means we’re not really getting to meet college students anymore. We’re in between phases.”

Justin said their college friends don’t always understand how to relate to them or that he and his wife can still spend separate time with their friends.

“Our friends don’t understand that we can do things individually,” Justin said. “Just be-cause we’re married doesn’t mean we can’t be separate. We’re not Siamese twins.”

Even though the situation may present challenges unique to married students, Jus-tin said he was comfortable with his decision as both his parents and grandparents married early.

“I was a lot more willing to go through the process because of my background,” Jus-tin said. “Both of my parents were married in college — my dad’s parents were married in college and my mom’s parents were married in between high school and college. For us, if you find the one, you don’t wait for things to get easier. When you know it, you do it.”

Both Heather and Justin have part time jobs and emphasized the importance of having a

financial plan before marriage, particularly when still in school.

“If we didn’t know what we were doing then [marriage] would be really overwhelm-ing while in school, trying to also figure out our finances,” Heather said. “By the time we got married we knew we could do this and we knew it was a good decision.”

In June, Chelsea Grams, genetics graduate student, married senior agricultural leadership and development major Mitchel Grams. She said making time for one another while also getting schoolwork done can prove challeng-ing.

“Having enough time for both school and each other is important,” Chelsea said. “We make sure we’re not neglecting each other.”

Mitchel is a member of the Corps of Ca-dets, which Chelsea said has become easier for him after marriage.

“This has been easy for him because he doesn’t have to do morning formations any-more — he doesn’t have to go to as many Corps things,” Chelsea said. “People also get sick very easily in the Corps when you’re liv-ing with all of those people so he is excited because he won’t be getting sick as much.”

Chelsea said being married while in school can be a challenge, but she finds it manageable and rewarding.

“If you’re in love,” she said, “it’s the most important thing.”

page39.17.2013thebattalion

lifes

tyle

sb!Wafi Alzawad — THE BATTALION

(From left) Couples Bryan and Laura Jackson, Justin and Heather Lambert, and Mitchel and Chelsea Grams each had weddings this summer and are current A&M students.

COURTESY

COURTESY

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to have your POrtrAit made for texas A&M University’s 2014 Aggieland yearbook. ALL StudentS: have your portrait taken today in Suite L400 of the MSC. Walk in 10 a.m – 4:30 p.m. or schedule an appointment by emailing arphototamu@gmail.com or calling 979.846.9690. It's your yearbook. Be in it.

among the records of the 2013-2014 texas A&M school year in the Aggieland yearbook. if your recognized student organization, sorority or fraternity, Corps outfit, residence hall or club sport would like to schedule a free group shot, stop by our office, Suite L400 of the MSC, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., or visit our website, http://aggieland.tamu.edu, to apply, then return the completed forms to our office. for information, email aggieland.yearbook@gmail.com or call 979.845.2681.

aggieland 2014

Brazos Valley Italians chronicle heritageITALIAN LIFE, DOCUMENTED

Honoring a deep heritage, filmmak-ing partners Sergio Carvajal and

Romina Olson have captured Italian cul-ture in the Brazos Valley in a documen-tary series focused on Texas-Italian life.

Local Italians congregated at St. An-thony’s Catholic Church in Bryan on Sunday to preview a screening of the third episode, “The Italians from the Bottom,” of the documentary series “The Texas Italian Stories.” Created by two collaborators from Austin Intercul-tural Transmedia Approach to Learning (ITAL), the series explores how people identify with their Italian heritage. Fea-turing residents of the Brazos Valley, the episode documents the important histor-ical contribution of Italians to the region.

“The idea was how we could make something that is actually fun to watch and where you can learn not only Ital-ian culture itself and what happens only

in Italy, but something that also happens around here,” Carvajal said. “There is Italian culture all around.”

The series of videos are recognized as part of the “Year of Italian Culture in the U.S. 2013,” a cultural and educational initiative enacted by The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and The Embassy of Italy in Washington D.C.

Carvajal and narrator Olson said “Texas Italians” and native Italians were equally represented throughout the vid-eos to celebrate their cultural similarities and differences.

“This is a way to bring everyone to-gether and kind of break that wall they kind of build between each other,” Ol-son said.

A native of Tuscany, Italy, Leonardo Lombardini — associate professor of horticulture at Texas A&M — appeared in the video.

Lombardini took the team to Royalty Pecan Orchards, a place that was origi-nally cultivated by immigrants.

“They wanted to film me in my en-vironment,” Lombardini said. “They asked me what differences I saw from Italy and here in the United States”

“The Italians from the Bottom” high-lights how Italian farming techniques impacted the Brazos Valley. Lombardini said Italians brought an appreciation for the land that carries over to present-day.

“One of the things I think I brought with me was more respect for the land and the environment,” Lombardini said. “Just the fact I come from a different country where we grow different crops and have different methods, I brought in a different perspective”

Lombardini also took the team to a historical marker located off of Highway 50 on land settled by Italian immigrants in the 1870s.

Carvajal said many Italians today might not know how to become ac-quainted with other local Italians.

Carvajal said he and Olson would con-tinue filming these short documentaries

and then present them to the participat-ing communities. Calling the screenings a “perfect environment,” Carvajal said he was optimistic the screenings would inspire the “exchange” of stories.

“The Italians of Bryan might want to talk about [their experiences] but they don’t know how,” Carvajal said. “The video provides everyone a platform to start conversation. We hope to see lot of people connecting.”

Both Carvajal and Olson said one of their goals is to establish relationships with universities throughout Texas. The videos are bilingual, so they said Texas A&M students learning Italian can ben-efit from watching the films as well.

“We hope that the Italian courses taught at Texas A&M and those profes-sors can use this in their classes or just as extra [material] so students can learn about the Italian culture in Bryan,” Ol-sen said.

thebattalion

news page 4

tuesday 9.17.2013

COURTESY

Andy Sherrod (left) and

Sergio Carvajal work on the

set of ‘Texan Italian Stories,’ an attempt to capture Italian culture in the

Brazos Valley.

Allison Rubenak The Battalion

xBAT_09-17-13_A4.indd 1 9/16/13 9:07 PM

thebattalion

news page 5

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THE BATTALION: Why did you move to Texas?

VASILAKIS: We, my wife and I, both got jobs here. My wife is also in academia as well. We also felt it was better for our sons, 8 and 11, to grow up away from the city of places like Chicago and New York. When I first moved here, I was by myself for a month and the air conditioner broke. I had to stay in a hotel for a few days. The heat doesn’t bother me, but the humidity does. Greece also had warm temperature but not humidity.

THE BATTALION: How did you meet your wife?

VASILAKIS: I met my wife at graduate school. We were

both in the same department and we took seminars together. We were friends first and the rest is history. So it was a good thing, moving to Atlanta as I got my doctorate degree and found my wife.

THE BATTALION: What made you want to be professor?

VASILAKIS: I loved literature. I have a degree in computer science. It was very boring. It wasn’t something that excited me. Since I went back to school, I knew I might as well get a degree in something I loved. It is the whole idea, when I teach my classes about Greek tragedy, the idea that these old stories and myths can relate to today. And why we keep reading the same plays — Shakespeare, Homer — and what they tell us about today.

Wafi Alzawad — THE BATTALION

VasilakasContinued from page 1

THE BATTALION: What is your favorite book?

VASILAKIS: That is very difficult. I would have to say one of my favorite books would be Homer’s “Odyssey” to reread and teach. I like that it is so close to the human experience. It is about a man who spends most of his life away from his family — 10 years fighting the Trojan War and 10 years trying to get back. I have students who are veterans who can relate. The students in my class, especially the ones who have fought in Iraq or Afghanistan, like to compare their own experiences with Odysseus’.

THE BATTALION: How would you compare Texas to Greece?

VASILAKIS: People in both places are very friendly — very open. I have had very positive experiences in both. You can depend on your neighbors when you are away to let you know if something happens. Both College Station and Greece have a small, tight-knit culture. The differences are in topography and locations. You aren’t close to water or islands here in Texas. Greece is also going through a financial crisis, which complicates things.

THE BATTALION: What was your favorite memory growing up?

VASILAKIS: My favorite memory was with my grandparents when I would go swimming in the summer. That is probably my most vivid memory, enjoying the freedom that summer offers.

THE BATTALION: What advice do you have for your students?

VASILAKIS: You don’t have to read a lot of books, but read the ones you do carefully. And read one poem a day. It is like an aspirin. You don’t see the benefits now, but you will.

THE BATTALION: Pick one word to describe yourself.

VASILAKIS: I am a very energetic person. I don’t stop. I always need to be doing something. You will rarely see me sitting when I am lecturing. When I am in big rooms I like to walk around a lot. I don’t like standing still.

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the student government in Texas A&M University at Galveston has “little to no overlap” with the Texas A&M University at College Station. Additionally, the court refer-enced a previous case to affirm Krenzien’s ability to interpret election rules.

At the heart of Namken’s case was the idea Namken is being punished for the vague-ness of the SGA election code. Namken said the problem arises as Texas A&M Univer-sity is defined as “such insti-tutions of higher education as is established by the state of Texas located in the reason-able vicinity of College Sta-tion” and the election com-missioner is able to specify what a “reasonable vicinity” constitutes.

“Not a word in this ex-

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Flags around the country were ordered to half-staff Monday in the wake of a shooting at a Navy ship yard in Washington D.C. that killed a reported 13 people at time of press.

cludes Aggies in Galveston from running for student body president,” Namken said. “It does not state how far you have to be from College Station.”

When questioned by the court as to whether or not reasonable vicinity can in-clude all schools in the Texas A&M University system, spe-cifically the Quatar branch, Namken said to not include every branch is to put words into the constitution without justification.

“[The constitution] does not define Quatar as not being in reasonable vicinity,” Nam-ken said. “The makers of this document said, ‘reasonable vicinity.’ So that means that if the [makers of this document] wanted to exclude someone, exclude a campus, they would have explicitly said it.”

Krenzien said she based her decision of reasonable vicinity to the Texas A&M University on the election regulation’s definition of the Bryan-Col-lege Station area when con-sidering fair market value.

Krenzien also said to in-clude any branch would force the College Station SGA to al-low a student from Quatar to run for SBP, and the Quatar campus is blatantly not in rea-sonable vicinity.

Krenzien said the deci-sion is both fair and reflective of her history of responsible decision-making as election commissioner.

“I didn’t put any words in here, I used my constitutional right to interpret election reg-ulations using what I found and my personal judgment,” Krenzien said.

Namken’s argument also leaned on the idea that the Galveston and College Sta-tion campuses share many commonalities, including tra-ditions such as Midnight Yell, Silver Taps and Yell Leaders.

Krenzien said despite com-mon traditions, the student governments are separate en-tities and face separate issues, a point that would later be echoed in the majority court decision summary. To further illustrate this point, Krenzien cited the section of the Texas A&M-Galveston constitu-tion that states the Galveston branch SBP must have reg-istered and completed four semesters at the Galveston campus.

“So in Galveston’s consti-tution they would not allow for students from Texas A&M University at College Station to serve, yet Mr. Namken is suggesting that we allow stu-dents from their institution to come and run and be student body president of our institu-tion,” Krenzien said.

Krenzien said during the hearing the case lacked stand-ing because this year’s election rules are still subject to revi-sion and approval by Student Senate, a point that the opin-ion ignored.

“Mr. Namkin hasn’t been harmed in any way,” Kren-zien said. “He hasn’t filed as a candidate for student body president. He hasn’t been dis-qualified from anything. He is simply foreseeing the eventu-ality that he might run, and if he were to run, that he might be disqualified.”

In his period for refutation, Namkin said he was being harmed because he was unable to start gathering support for a successful campaign.

In addition to the major-ity opinion, J-Court justice Brenton Cooper authored a concurring opinion stating there was a constitutional ar-gument to be made by the plaintiff, but the argument was not made and the elec-tion commissioner’s authority stands.

The majority opinion addi-tionally stated the court only considered the information received in the filed appeal and hearing to formulate a decision because considering outside information is “not the job that falls under the court’s prerogative.”

The majority opinion also further urged the Student Senate to take steps to better define “Texas A&M Univer-sity” in the constitution.

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Flags lower in time of national mourning

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