This years' student body election turnout exceeded last year's with 13,962 votes cast, and it ended with Jack Hildebrand and Will McAdams emerging from the six student body presidential candidates to advance into a runoff this week. Ryan Bishop, Paul Terrell and Houston Haley won the three senior yell positions.

After returning from the Ludacris concert Thursday, I felt so sad. Don't get me wrong, the concert was great, but I felt deceived. I enjoy Ludacris just as much as the next man, but honestly, I was not going to go to the concert so I could get some studying done.

Mr. Fisher, both you and Mr. Maddox miss the point of the VIP program completely. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that diversity was an important issue in higher education. Rather than use race-based admissions, President Gates sought to increase diversity at TAMU through other means.

We, Mark McCaig and Royd Hernandez, would like to thank those of you who supported us during the recent student body presidential elections. While we were not successful, we will continue to advocate the ideas we ran on in order make Texas A&M even greater.

When I picked up my copy of The Battalion last Friday, I was more than disappointed to see the reporting priorities for our campus. At the very bottom of the page was a relatively small image of the actor Rip Torn, Class of 1952, reciting verse from a first edition of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass.

The American media has a tendency to attach the name of Islam to terrorist groups that carry out actions against the religious beliefs of the Islamic faith. Heard that argument before? Sure, we all have, but nonetheless the media keeps doing it. The estimated size of al-Qaida is anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand people.

Although Amelia wrote a great article, I was not pleased with The Battalion's picture. But, sadly, I am not surprised. I was hoping to use the article for our required outreach part of our project; however, I do not feel that it would be appropriate to do that now.

I was personally offended today when a group of 30 North Siders decided to eat in the Commons Dining Room. They found it necessary to recite their juvenile rhyme about how close-knit they are and how the food we South Siders eat is less than quality. They went too far by not using plates, but slopping their food directly onto the trays, throwing things off the tables and onto the floor, and taking parts of an Easter display and throwing them around at one another.