l tuesday, february 11, 2014 l serving texas a&m since 1893 l first paper free – additional copies $1 l © 2014 student media

thebattalion

Graduate student LGBT club creates welcoming atmosphere on campus

organization

Local project works to end child

enslavement

FOUNDER FIGHTS FOR RIGHTSQA&:

THE BATTALION: How did Mercy Project get started?

FIELD: About four years ago I travelled to Ghana, Africa, for the first time. I had read in a book about child trafficking and minors facing injustices and as part of a Dallas Church Group I was working [with] as a volunteer. Once I went there, I was just captivated by the place and its people. I saw firsthand those problems and was so brokenhearted [by] the situation. Once we returned to the U.S. I had

Chris Field is the founder and executive director of Mercy Project, an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works to provide long-term and sustainable solutions to child trafficking in Ghana, Africa. Although he eventually transferred, Field started school at Texas A&M in the Class of 2005. City reporter Pallavi Kaushik sat down with Field to talk about his project.

William Guerra — THE BATTALION

A new organization created to foster an accepting environ-

ment for LGBT graduate students, The LBGTQA Graduate Group of Texas A&M, was unofficially founded last semester and is on its way to becoming an official A&M organization.

Jeremy Saenz, president of the group and counseling psychology graduate student, said the group was created to meet the needs of LGBT graduate students looking to social-ize and relate to others in similar

life positions.“With the graduate group a lot

of times there are people who are older and they kind of have more professional mindsets to what they are studying,” Saenz said. “Our goals are more toward develop-ment and creating a warm climate and the advancement of gradu-ate students along with welcom-ing more researchers who are LGBT aware into the Texas A&M school system.”

Nick Barta, treasurer and public relations officer and materials sci-ence and engineering graduate stu-dent, said the group is attempting to

challenge the perception of A&M as “homophobic.”

“We want to make a more wel-coming environment also since A&M is ranked as one of the most homophobic campuses,” Barta said “That’s one of the myths that we are trying to dispel from A&M because it is possible that it is something that could keep very good students from potentially looking at A&M as a possibility when something like that is so false.”

Saenz said the group partici-pates in and organizes philanthropic

Alexander Nelowet The Battalion

Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service announced in a news release Monday that the TEEX-operated Brayton Fire

Training Field would be receiving a $500,000 donation over the next five years.

The Brayton Fire Training Field has been operated by TEEX since 1960 and is the largest live-fueled firefighter training facility in the world, according to the TEEX website. The facility has 132 training stations, 22 live-fueled fire props and trains more than 45,000 emergency responders annually.

Phillips 66, a Houston-based energy manufacturing and logistics company, will contribute the donation for future expansion.

In the release, Bob Herman, senior vice president of health, safety and environment, projects and procurement for Phillips 66, said the company is donating the money to the program because the fire school has supplied the company with hands-on training that allowed its staff to safely respond to incidents.

The donation will be given in a ceremonial check at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Brayton Fire Training Field H.D. Smith Opera-tions Complex.

Fire school to accept donation from Phillips 66Lindsey Gawlik The Battalion

local

Jayavel Arumugam — THE BATTALION

COURTESY

Chris Field, founder of Mercy Project, works to end child enslavement in the Ghana fishing industry.

See Mercy on page 4

Former student’s story brings national issues close to home

immigration

COURTESY

On May 25, 2012, for her 21st birthday, Ana Parra mailed an immigration application to bring her de-

ported father back to the U.S.Parra, a Class of 2013 computer science major, and her

two younger sisters were born to immigrant parents in the U.S. When Parra was 14, her mother died due to kidney problems. For a year, Parra looked after her sisters until

July 1, 2008, when her father was deported back to Mexico because of an expired visa. On the day of her 21st birthday, she sent the immigration application to bring her father back to be with his family.

“My father shouldn’t be punished for staying in the United States to take care of his family who had just lost a mother,” Parra said. “As soon as I was of the legal age to be a petitioner, I sent the application.”

Katy Stapp The Battalion

Ana Parra, Class of 2013, is working to help her father gain residency in the U.S.See Immigration on page 5

See LGBT on page 4

COMMUNITY EFFORTPRESSURE ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

With 10 to 15 students in each of the four candidate’s inner campaigning circle

and many more carrying out smaller tasks for campaigns, the days lead-ing up to the Feb. 21 election are a community effort.

Between the late-night planning, the speaking engagements, banner holding and fitting in a nap when-ever possible, student body president elections can monopolize lives during campaigning season.

Just over 25 percent of students voted for an SBP candidate in last year’s elec-tions, a turnout that is almost 800 votes higher than the voter turnout for yell leader. Behind these votes is a process that starts long before the official two weeks of campaigning.

Kasey Kram, one of four candidates running for student body president, said picking the right team to sup-port him through the process and help carry the burden of stress is vital. Kram said he feels lucky to have a campaign staff with individuals who have helped

with Texas Lieutenant Governor race campaigns.

“It’s a lot of work and it’s a lot of stress on those individuals for the cam-paigning,” Kram said. “Campaign-ing is not just the two weeks that you can speak to organizations and hand out fliers and hold banners. It’s a lot of prep work beforehand, making sure each member is prepared, mak-ing sure their schedule lines up with campaign season.”

Andrea Berrios, campaign manager for candidate Gus Blessing, said be-tween managing the campaign timeline and helping brainstorm among other managerial activities, she expects to spend four to five hours a day on the

Aimee Breaux The Battalion

William Guerra — THE BATTALION

(Above) Gus Blessing, senior international studies major and SBP candidate, delivers his speech during a SAIL meeting Monday night in Rudder Tower. (Below) Numbers reflect maximum budget allotment for each position.

By and large, people are willing to help

you and to be a part of something if you ask.”

— Mark Womack,

2013 Bush School graduate

“Our goals are more toward development and creating a warm climate and the advancement of

graduate students along with welcoming more researchers who are LGBT aware into the Texas A&M school system.”

— Jeremy Saenz, president of the group

and counseling psychology graduate student

a lingering feeling that I needed to get involved and help more. We tried to look and no other organization seemed to be tackling this root cause of poverty so we decided to start the Mercy Project on our own to address the root causes.

See Campaign on page 6

BAT_02-11-14_A1.indd 1 2/10/14 11:17 PM

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the battalion

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Reserve your 2014 yearbookThe 112th edition of Texas A&M University’s official yearbook will chronicle traditions, academics, the other education, sports, the Corps, Greeks, ResLife, and campus organizations, and will feature student portraits.Go to http://aggieland.tamu.edu or call 979.845.2696 to order by credit card. Or drop by the Student Media office, Suite L400 in the MSC from 8:30 A.M. to  4:30 P.M. Monday–Friday. Pre-order your 2014 Aggieland yearbook and save $10. Distribution will be during Fall 2014.

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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.

thebattalion THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT VOICE OF TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893

Jake Walker, Editor in Chief

thebattalion

newspage 2

tuesday 2.11.2014

Jayavel Arumugam — THE BATTALION

Phillip Maxwell, Class of 1986,

presents his short film “Everything’s

For Sale,” and says fiction can

stem from truth.

Overcoming the effects of financial struggles drove former student Phil-

lip Maxwell to create his short film “Ev-erything’s For Sale,” which was screened on campus Monday.

The production of the film was more than an attempt at screenwriting — the member of the Class of 1986 used his own experience with financial debt as a sto-ryline for the short in order to illustrate the negative impact money can have on a person’s life.

“Fiction definitely comes from a place of someone’s truth,” Maxwell said in his presentation.

Kelsey Gaines, sophomore communi-cation major, said Maxwell’s explanation

of his short film is what made the message so clear.

“I think that just with this situation, going to watch and then listen to him talk, you really see the full circle,” Kelsey Gaines said. “It’s a really cool experience because this is life. This is reality for some people. It was really interesting.”

In the film, the main character is even-tually overwhelmed by his fear of bank-ruptcy and is manipulated into consider-ing suicide as a way to escape it. Maxwell said portraying realities through screen-plays is what makes a script so powerful.

“In short, the idea of filmmaking is a metaphor for your life,” Maxwell said.

Kelsey Gaines said she could appreciate Maxwell’s honesty in reflecting himself through the character he created.

“He was just super vulnerable, too,” Kelsey Gaines said. “I think part of that vulnerability is what produces the best work, whether we want to realize that or not. I think it’s cool that he’s willing to

share that with us.”Madeleine Gaines, freshman kinesiol-

ogy major and younger sister to Kelsey Gaines, said she did not anticipate the lev-el of openness that was involved in Max-well’s lecture and enjoyed being able to talk with the person who wrote the film.

“I wasn’t expecting him to be so hon-est about his personal experience,” Mad-eleine Gaines said. “I kind of felt uncom-fortable, like, ‘Oh wow, that was really honest.’”

Kelsey Gaines said she enjoyed attend-ing the event and was pleasantly surprised with the way it turned out.

“I was really impressed with how much I actually liked it and just how original it was,” Kelsey Gaines said. “I wasn’t expecting what happened and I find that refreshing and just entertaining. I like surprises. I like new things. It’s cool to go into something and come out with it being completely different than what you anticipated.”

Screenwriter dives into truth-versus-fiction debate

Katie CanalesSpecial to The Battalion

fi lm

Former student presents short film ‘Everything’s for Sale’

“I think [The College Dropout] had a great impact on his career and really

set him apart. It was a milestone that he can look back to now, saying, ‘Look how far I’ve come since then.’”

David Palacios, sophomore business major

Q:thebattasks ‘The College Dropout’ turned 10 years old Monday.

What is your opinion on Kanye West’s career?

“His older works are still very good, but his actions have made me like the music less. I think his style used to be basic, like

classic rap. Now it’s more about being artsy and out there. I think he has become too exaggerated.”

Chase Tucker, sophomore business major

Photo feature by David Cohen — THE BATTALION

“I’ve liked Kanye since the beginning. 808s and Heartbreaks is one of

my favorite albums of his, but also Yeezus because of the di� erent turn he took there. I like his style because

it’s unique, where he has his own image di� erent from other artists.”

Angelica Guerra, freshman mechanical engineering major

BAT_02-11-14_A2.indd 1 2/10/14 10:13 PM

thebattalion

news page 3

tuesday 2.11.2014

To refocus the view of human sex traf-ficking, MSC FLI and Aggie Cinema

Club are teaming up through an event called “Break the Chain” to bring aware-ness to the international issue and inspire action.

Through the striking emotional tri-als shown in the documentary “Born into Brothels,” both organizations hope to use the film to educate the public on the impor-tance of the issue and to encourage Aggies to take the initiative to make a difference, said Taylor Beach, MSC FLI assistant direc-tor of international service and outreach.

“We feel that it is important to raise awareness about this international issue that affects so many people around the world, including right here in College Station,” Beach said. “We hope to inspire people to stand up and fight for justice.”

The film will be made possible through the assistance of MSC Aggie Cinema Club,

which seeks to entertain and educate stu-dents through events such as Break the Chain, said John Schomburger, vice chair of Aggie Cinema Club.

“This event is important to Aggie Cine-ma because we strive to educate the students on campus as well as entertain through our other films we are showing,” Schomburger said. “We hope this event with FLI will make an impact on the students through bringing awareness of this issue.”

To help get the message across, the event will host a speaker from Redeemed Min-istries who will share her experience of rescuing a victim of human sex trafficking from the University of Texas. The speaker is now a residential advisor for a safe house in College Station.

“Throughout this week as a part of So-cial Justice Week, we are passing our statis-tics as well as collecting items for the safe house here in College Station,” Beach said. “The items to donate include household items such as toilet paper, dishwasher tabs, high efficiency laundry detergent, $25 HEB gift cards and $25 Starbucks cards.”

Several booths from different organiza-tions that focus on human trafficking will also be set up at the event for attendees to learn more about the issue and give oppor-

tunities to donate in various ways. “We want people to be able to give in

all forms whether that is financially through donations, physically through volunteer opportunities or emotionally by furthering their knowledge of the industry,” Beach said. “We want the effects of this event to go beyond the campus of Texas A&M.”

The event is expected to reveal the truth and revamp the perspective of how others view human sex trafficking in hopes to per-suade the Aggie family to open their arms to those who are in need of help. Emily Canales, sophomore marketing major and assistant director in FLI, said the event is a step in the right direction toward spreading awareness about human trafficking.

“I think this event as a whole has been groundbreaking and it will only grow in immensity,” Canales said. “This documen-tary screening titled “Born into Brothels” will hopefully attract many students on campus to become aware of an ongoing global crisis, now considered an example of modern day slavery and force the ugly subject upon individuals who want to help stop the atrocities.”

The event will be from 6-8 p.m. Tues-day in Hullabaloo 117B.

Sex trafficking takes spotlight in filmactivism

Samantha LattaThe Battalion

MSC FLI, cinema club pair for ‘Break the Chain’ on Tuesday

To open up the Texas A&M Social Justice Week, the Department of Multicultural Services pre-

sented a workshop Monday titled, “Who Hates the “D” Word,” to address diversity on campus.

Dianne Kraft, diversity education coordinator, and P.J. Jones, diversity education specialist, hosted the workshop. The workshop served as a forum for discussion concerning the reservations that students on campus have with discussing diversity.

Before the discussion began, two students weighed in their perceptions on the representation of diversity at A&M.

Taryn Laughlin, senior community health major, said she saw A&M as a diverse campus that was in-clusive of all cultural backgrounds.

Tiffany Goericke, sophomore allied health major, mirrored Laughlin’s thoughts. Goericke said she too saw A&M as a diverse campus, and that she saw stu-dents as courteous and accepting of others.

In the discussion, the students and speakers alike looked deeper into some of the problematic issues encountered on campus such as discrimination and stereotypes.

Kraft said in her presentation that not all discrim-inatory actions on campus are “overt in nature,” most, in fact, are “discreet or subtle.”

Students reflected further on their personal expe-riences and interactions where they felt that mem-bers of the University discriminated others.

After discussing examples of diversity they felt were problematic, students were encouraged to brainstorm resolutions on how the University could address and work to resolve these disparities and dis-comforts with the diversification of A&M’s student body.

Both Laughlin and Goericke said they felt a change in their perception of the issue of diversity on campus after the forum.

Laughlin said after hearing the passion from the two presenters, she wanted to become more open-minded and active in promoting diversity on cam-pus.

Goericke said the workshop would help her apply the concepts she learned to her daily life.

“Before I thought, ‘Well yeah, we’re diverse being all different groups and classes, but when it comes down to it, everyone goes their separate ways,’” Goericke said.

Discussion challenges perspectives

diversity

Victoria Rivas The Battalion

Jennifer Reiley — THE BATTALION

Emily Canales, sophomore marketing major, and Michael Martinez, freshman applied mathematics major, volunteer with MSC FLI to advertise for a joint event with Aggie Cinema Club.

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BAT_02-11-14_A3.indd 1 2/10/14 11:05 PM

events, such as a clothing drive the group hosted last semester for an orphanage in Mexico.

Andrew Liao, materials sci-ence and engineering graduate student, said it is great that a graduate LGBT group is form-ing and believes their graduate student status will give them increased credibility.

“I think it’s a good idea to have a LGBT graduate club,” Liao said. “Their philanthrop-ic events not only help others but will increase awareness of the LGBT community at A&M. Since they are led by graduate students, I think that people will respect their ef-forts to educate others out-side of their busy work and research schedules.”

The group is attempting to begin a “welcoming commit-tee,” in which group mem-bers would help prospective students get an idea of the atmosphere here at A&M, Barta said.

“We are starting up a wel-coming committee,” Barta said. “If there are GLBT stu-dents that are interested in go-ing to A&M we can show them around and help them under-stand what they can expect on campus. We are helping to try and get rid of that stereotype, [to show] that [Aggies] have developed and [are] increasing our visibility.”

Francesco de Dilectis,

group member and aerospace engineering graduate student, came to Texas A&M from It-aly and said he was apprehen-sive before he interacted with students on campus.

“This is my fourth year here at A&M and when I came over I was a bit worried because I had read the ranking when it came to LGBT friendliness [was] very low,” de Dilectis said. “In four years, I have never had any bad interac-tion with anybody in Bryan or College Station.”

The group has socials twice a month. For more information, those inter-ested may check the group’s Facebook page.

thebattalion

newspage 4

tuesday 2.11.2014

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LGBTContinued from page 1

I think it’s a good idea to have a

LGBT graduate club. Their philanthropic events not only help others but will increase awareness of the LGBT community at A&M. Since they are led by graduate students, I think that people will respect their efforts to educate others outside of their busy work and research schedules.”

— Andrew Liao, materials science and engineering graduate student

THE BATTALION: What causes these ‘socio-economic’ problems for families in Ghana battling poverty?

FIELD: Basically, you have really poor parents that have more children than they can take care of. Then they end up not being able to feed them, clothe them, educate them, and they end up with no future. The parents then get frustrated. Then for example, you have these fi sherman who need cheap labor, small hands — there’s a special method in Ghana that makes it easier to grab fi sh with smaller hands — so the children can at least have a small meal a day. The poor parents then sell the children to the fi sherman hoping that at least they’ll be able to eat and learn a trade.

THE BATTALION: What do you do at Texas A&M to help people at Africa?

FIELD: Well we are based here in College Station and we are working with a team at Texas A&M that is helping to develop a fi sh food process. What we do in the fi shing villages that own these children is we go into the village and teach and offer to teach them aquaculture or ‘cage-fi shing.’ Those techniques basically replace the need for child labor so that one man can do the work of several children

MercyContinued from page 1

and in that process the most expensive cost is the fi sh food. So we’ve built our own fi sh food manufacturing facility. Basically the group at A&M is fi guring out what machinery we need, ingredients, agricultural details, etcetera.

THE BATTALION: So the group at A&M is doing a project that covers many areas of study and research?

FIELD: Yes, it’s a very complex and detailed project. There are fi nancial aspects, engineering aspects, agricultural and so on.

THE BATTALION: How is the program growing and how has it grown from when it fi rst started?

FIELD: It’s been over three years now since I’ve been doing this and we have partnered with fi ve villages and over 4,000 people. We have rescued a total of 46 traffi cked children. Forty-fi ve of those kids will be reintegrated, but the others go to a rehabilitation center and receive counseling and the such for three to nine months and then be sent to their homes and given means to attend school. One of those kids was an orphan, who my wife and I have now adopted and brought home with us.

THE BATTALION: What are your hopes for the future of the project?

FIELD: What we’re trying to also

do is place our facility where child traffi cking is most common — a village called Yeji — and get those single and married poor mothers to be employed there. That way we aren’t just reacting to child traffi cking and poverty at the back end and supply a solution to make child-traffi cking not a solution. By taking away the children’s labor, we don’t want to further destitute the family. You can’t cause more problems. This way there is an income for the family.

THE BATTALION: What prompted you to join and want to stay?

FIELD: Those kids work long 14-hour days, seven days a weak, are horribly abused — both physically and mentally, lack of dental hygiene and life’s really not good. The opportunities stolen from them — attending school, learning, sports that they may not have even heard of at the age of 18, just knowing we’re returning them to them is equally important. And our efforts are the reasons we hear them tell us they want to be doctors, engineers and pilots. We are so blessed to be surrounded by compassionate people who believe in this vision with us. The world lacks passionate people who work hard day and night, putting their lives on the line for a cause — but standing up as a leader, these people have rallied up with us.

BAT_02_11_14_A4.indd 1 2/10/14 9:49 PM

Barbara Hackman Franklin, for-mer Secretary of Commerce,

will visit the Bush School on Tues-day to discuss her experiences as a woman in government and the book by Lee Stout, “A Matter of Simple Justice: The Untold Story of Barbara Hackman Franklin and a Few Good Women.”

Franklin, a staff assistant in President Richard Nixon’s admin-istration, is known for recruiting women for high-level government jobs — a first for the White House. Through Franklin’s efforts, the number of women in these high-level positions has nearly quadru-pled.

For her presentation, Franklin said she would be discussing the book and its relevance today, even 40 years later.

“[I’ll discuss the] women ap-pointees at that time who broke through barriers were put into jobs that women never held and they were successful,” Franklin said. “There are lessons in this for any-one today. This is hopefully a story that inspires women in this genera-tion.”

Franklin said she believes “one person or a few people can really make a difference” and that college students today can learn a lot from the story she has to tell.

“I think it’s relevant because it’s an inspiring story and it dem-onstrates how important leader-ship is,” she said. “[Students here are] going to school and hopefully each and every one of [them] will

be a leader. The women [of the book] were very supportive of one another — I would hope women today would also be supportive of one another.”

Through her time as an influen-tial woman in government, Frank-lin said she learned that she enjoyed helping people through everything she did.

“I’ve certainly learned that pub-lic service is a noble calling and it is very gratifying,” Franklin said. “I hope more young people think of it. It’s part of any good life. It was enormously satisfying because I felt I was doing good.”

Macy Hurley, speaker pro tem-pore for Student Senate and junior political science major, said she plans on working in a legislative office in Austin when she gradu-ates. She said Franklin’s efforts in the political world helped change the face of politics.

Hannah Weger, student services chair for Student Senate and junior political science and communica-tion major, said she has been in-volved in government-related ac-tivities since high school. Women like Franklin, who get involved in government — local, federal or otherwise — are crucial because they can impact legislation that di-

rectly affect women, Weger said.“I think it’s very important to

have women involved in govern-ment,” she said. “A&M’s compo-sition is about 52-48 women, so women take up half of the popula-tion. The goal of Student Senate is to represent the student population and it’s hard to not have women in that picture when we make up over half of the population.”

Because Franklin broke barri-ers both during and after Nixon’s administration, Weger said women could not only thank her for lead-ing the way for women in politics, but also gain valuable lessons from her experiences.

“[Franklin was] coming up into an age when women in higher positions or governing roles was something that wasn’t as com-mon,” Weger said. “She has a lot to teach us. She was just coming around that corner. Women to-day don’t necessarily have as large of a stigma, so it’s a motivational thing because if she can overcome the boundaries, then women have a greater chance of becoming in-volved and motivating others to get involved [in government].”

Franklin said she hopes students can take away, from her story, that being a leader is crucial.

“Leadership, wherever it hap-pens to fall, really counts,” Franklin said. “Integrity counts, high ethical standards count and what you end up with is your reputation.”

The discussion will be at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the George Bush Presi-dential Library Center. The event is free and open to the public, but reservations are required and can be made at the Bush School website.

By February 2013, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services approved Parra’s application and her documents were sent to the National Visa Center. Parra received a notice from the NVC in March stating that her father was eligi-ble for further processing. Parra said she was supposed to serve as an interpreter during her Spanish-speaking father’s in-terview in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Just before the interview, a Mexican police officer told her she would not be able to go into the interview with her father.

“He didn’t tell me why, he just said I couldn’t go in,” Parra said. “He told me if the interviewer needed any help translating, she would come get me. She never did, although my father said he asked her to several times.”

The case handler informed Parra that because her father was deported in 2008, he would not be eligible to return until 2018.

“I just want him back,” Parra said. “I hardly get to interact with him other than phone calls and we got really close after my mom passed away.”

Bob Libal, executive director of Grassroots Leadership, an organization that works toward ending social and eco-nomic oppression in the United States, said that unfortunately Parra’s case is not uncommon.

“It’s very difficult for people who are in mixed status families to gain status,” Libal said. “Often times what people will say, ‘Why didn’t you just come le-gally or get legal when you got here?’ The truth is it’s very hard to have legal status and to gain legal status. I wish that this was a case that was unusual but those cases are very common.”

Parra said she was supposed to leave for a job in Seattle in two weeks, but requested to have the date pushed back until March 17 to have more time to try and bring her father home. Parra also created a website to give a voice to her family’s story.

“I’m just trying to get the word out and get as much attention on the issue

as possible,” Parra said. “There are a lot of people in my situation and I want it to be recognized.”

America’s deportation system, Libal said, has had a similar format to its cur-rent one for almost 20 years.

“The system in the United States now is deporting almost 400,000 people every year, so this is a very large sys-tem,” Libal said. “Much of the legal ba-sis for that system goes back to 1996 and a couple of immigration bills that were passed in the wake of Oklahoma City bombing, which initially was suspected that it was done by people not from the United States before it turned out that it was done by Americans. Those laws really changed our system from a pre-sumption of being able to stay in the country to the presumption of deporta-tion. Now people can be deported or contained in a prison-like setting for a variety of reasons.”

Dianne Kraft, diversity education co-ordinator for the multicultural services department, said the issue disgusts her.

“So many families are separated be-cause of this,” Kraft said. “It’s sad how unnoticed these things go and how few people are aware of this issue.”

Libal will be speaking at Texas A&M from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday in Rudder 401 to address immigration issues and discuss how Grassroots Lead-ership makes an effort to slow and stop immigration detention and deportation.

While Libal said the current status of American immigration is flawed, there is also hope for the future.

“This is obviously something that’s very impactful and I think very depress-ing in many ways, but I also think that there’s a glowing movement of people in Texas and around the country that says that this isn’t something that we want as Americans — that people are trying to do something to change this,” Libal said. “I think that’s the hopeful part of the story is that people who are impacted by these policies and other people are standing up and saying they don’t want this type of thing to con-tinue.”

thebattalion

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ImmigrationContinued from page 1Political pioneer to share story

Kadie McDougaldThe Battalion

bush school

Franklin helped pave way for women in D.C.

Barbara Franklin

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thebattalion

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tuesday 2.11.2014

managerial activities, she ex-pects to spend four to five hours a day on the campaign. Berrios said that while she has no experience campaigning, she is a project-oriented per-son, a characteristic she said is necessary for the job.

“In addition to manag-ing people and making sure things get done, I also find myself doing a lot of things I probably should have del-egated to people, but we didn’t realize it at the time,” Berrios said.

Berrios said the job is ul-timately a learning experi-ence for everyone, fueled by a common belief in the role the student body president should play.

No matter what position in the campaigning structure someone holds, managing classes, organizational com-mitments and campaign ac-tivities is a balancing act.

Kevin von Storch, candi-date Kyle Kelly’s campaign manager, said while he will be stocking up on caffeine, balancing obligations will re-quire more than long hours — it will ultimately be a mat-ter of setting an agenda each day and giving it his best.

Von Storch said a big part of campaigning is prioritizing classes.

“It’s going to be a full-time job for the next two weeks,” von Storch said. “This is ac-tually something Kyle’s mom touched on at our retreat. School does come first, it just won’t necessarily come at typical times that you are doing homework late in the night. You are going to be drinking caffeine, running on low sleep, but I gave my word to Kyle, I gave my word to my parents, that I’d stay focused on school.”

Though von Storch said he would be busy with cam-paigning each day, he said he would still contribute to organizations like Maroon Coats and Big Event as well.

“Balance is going to be tough,” von Storch said. “It’s going to be trial and error these next two weeks, but I truly believe that if you are giving it your best that’s all that can be asked of you.”

Von Storch said that while the process is trial and er-ror for everyone involved, Kelly’s experience in leading current student body presi-dent Reid Joseph’s campaign last year is insightful for the entire team in promoting Kelly’s goals.

“It’s really helpful for me and the rest of the team be-cause he’s done this before,” von Storch said. “He remem-

CampaignContinued from page 1

bers some strategy as far as, ‘Don’t forget this and don’t forget that.’”

Mark Womack, who grad-uated from the Bush School in 2013, worked on six cam-paigns for various positions within Student Government through his undergraduate and graduate career at Texas A&M, including an unsuc-cessful campaign with his twin brother for a yell leader position and a successful cam-paign for former student body president John Claybrook.

Womack said campaign staffs can total more than 100 people and can generally be divided into three tiers.

Womack said the bulk of the campaign staff is made of front line “infantry” people who do everything from holding signs to talking to organizations on a candidate’s behalf.

“You wouldn’t want to call it grunt work, because that de-means what it [is],” Womack said. “It’s the most important thing, when it comes down to it, in running a campaign.”

The second tier is made up of a core of people who facilitate activities that candi-dates come to rely on, Wom-ack said, and these people make sure signs are held and promotional material is passed around.

“I think in some of the campaigns, you’ll have a group that is basically not quite campaign manager level, but is there all the time and can be relied on,” Wom-ack said.

Womack said the last tier is made up of the managers of the campaign. These students are likely to devote the most amount of time for the lon-gest time-span, often testing platform ideas with groups and working on designs as early as October.

Somewhere along the line, candidates and their teams must ask the fundamental question of why campaigning is worth it.

Berrios said that at the end of the day, there is nothing in it for her. Berrios said she was helping for two main reasons: because she believes in Bless-ing’s goals and out of com-mitment to a friend.

Blessing said the prospect of being able to involve stu-dents in innovative ways is one of the reasons the experi-ence is simultaneously stress-ful and exciting.

Richmond Howard, a can-didate who did not file within the time allotted, said his team is still moving forward with campaigning plans and will run as a write-in candidate if necessary. Howard said the reason he and his team are go-ing through the task of cam-paigning and fighting against the filing misunderstanding is because they see potential in student government that has not been tapped.

“With my campaign, most of the logistics are being han-dled by our team,” Howard said. “Personally, my job is to connect to students, to build relationships with stu-dents. Our mission is not just to serve and stay in office all day, but to be very much ac-tive with the student body.”

Von Storch said in going from one University presi-dent to another he stands by his candidate through the stormy campaigning season because he feels the student body needs a president with hands-on experience.

Womack said one of the biggest phenomena he took away from campaigning was how hundreds of people are willing to come together to help despite the amount of work.

“By and large, people are willing to help you and to be a part of something if you ask,” Womack said. “People are surprisingly willing to give up their time, their energy, even their money if you approach them in a sincere way and say, ‘Hey, listen, I’ve got a dream, and not just that, I’ve got a dream to help make this Uni-versity a better place. I need your help to make that dream come true, to make that a re-ality.’ People will sign up in droves for it. I think it’s bi-zarre and it’s not uniquely an A&M thing.”

It’s going to be trial

and error these next two weeks, but I truly believe that if you are giving it your best that’s all that can be asked of you.”

— Kevin von Storch, campaign manager for

candidate Kyle Kelly

BAT_02-11-14_A6.indd 1 2/10/14 10:54 PM