The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, September 30, 1996, Image 1

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rlume 103 • Issue 21 • 10 Pages
Monday, September 30, 1996
The Batt Online: http://bat~web.tamu.edu
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Brandon Hausenfluck
The Battalion
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second former Texas
tt employee at the Center
Construction Education in
Department of Civil Engi-
ring has surrendered to
iversity police for alleged
>al actions.
iaye Weatherly Mizer
ned herself in to the Univer-
Police Department Friday
ran audit revealed she had
mitted falsified vouchers
time sheets.
Ihe audit, performed by
M System Auditor Sondra
yer, revealed a false voucher
[been submitted in October
5 for $639 worth of services
twere not rendered.
The fictitious voucher was
gedly created to cover the
of a missing airline ticket
as reimbursement for a
iceled course offered by
center.
The audit also revealed
Mizer had allegedly falsi-
two time sheets, for 36
ursofwork, which resulted
payment of more than
40 to former center em-
lyee Cynthia McNeill. Mc-
was arrested Thursday
allegedly embezzling more
$30,000 from the center.
hospi
If convicted of the fourth-
degree felony, Mizer could face
six months to two years in state
jail and a fine of up to $10,000.
UPD Detective/Sgt. James
Lindholm II said the two
crimes are unrelated.
“Mizer didn’t get any money
out of the deal,” Lindholm
said. "The money (for the reim
bursement) went to the stu
dent ... it was a coincidence all
the way around.”
Lindholm said this kind of
“white collar” crime is not rare.
“There’s always a scam go
ing on sometime, some
where,” he said. “Travel fraud
occurs when people say
they’re flying to meet with
people about University-relat
ed issues and then spend
most of their time consulting
outside firms. This is just one
example of it.”
Lindholm said Mizer was
not trying to benefit from the
alleged falsifications but that
she was trying to cover up her
mistakes.
Bob Wiatt, director of UPD,
said there has been no indica
tion of a scam at the center.
“McNeill took $30,000 for
personal gain,” Wiatt said.
“Mizer did it against Universi
ty regulations, and they were
not working together.”
Stew Milne, The Battalion
A&M free safety Toya Jones (#5) forces a Colorado fumble in the fourth quarter of the football game Saturday. See Page 7 for related stories.
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: aculty fights policy at forum A&M Regents design new
award for System faculty
he policy
ates that
hree bad evalu-
ions can
cause tenured
professors to
be terminated.
By Laura Oliveira
The Battalion
Texas A&M’s post-tenure review
policy was attacked by faculty
members at an open forum Friday
as a way for the University to abol
ish tenure.
Dr. Dan Wood, an associate pro
fessor of political science, opposed
the policy and said the review
process is a smoke screen for doing
away with tenure.
“This thing is mislabeled,”
Wood said. “This is actually a
post-tenure removal.”
Dr. Larry Crumbley, an account
ing professor, said the University
wants to do away with tenure.
“We are basically doing away
with tenure,” he said. “They are
doing it in a very sly way, but they
are doing it.”
The Board of Regents passed the
post-tenure review policy in Fall
1995, but the Faculty Senate will
modify the policy Oct. 14. Forums
are being held to discuss changes.
Individual colleges will imple
ment the proposal differently,
depending on research, teaching
and development within their
departments.
However, one thing will remain
constant throughout the colleges,
the three bad evaluations and
your “out” policy.
Tenured professors who receive
three consecutive negative evalua
tions from students and faculty and
then fail to meet the approval of the
department head and dean will be
terminated.
Crumbley said the policy will en
courage professors to concentrate
only on receiving good evolutions
“This thing is
mislabeled. This
is actually a
post-tenure
removal.”
Dr. Dan Wood
Associate professor
and they will neglect their teaching.
“The professors who are giving
the better grades (to students) and
covering the least material (in class)
will be getting the better [student]
evolutions,” Crumbley said. “So
there will be a massive grade infla
tion, destroying higher education.”
The legality of the post-tenure
review was a source of concern at
the forum. The faculty members
proposed seeking legal advice to
determine the constitutionality of
the review before further deci
sions are made.
By Melissa Nunnery
The Battalion
The Texas A&M University
System Board of Regents estab
lished a Regents Professor Ser
vice Award when it reconvened
Friday morning to vote on all
agenda items referred to com
mittees Thursday.
Mary Nan West, chairman of
the Board of Regents, said in a
press release the award is to rec
ognize professors at all of the
A&M System schools.
“The Board of Regents wanted
to design an award system in
which we could recognize out
standing faculty members at all
of our universities and agencies
for their distinguished service,”
West said in a press release.
A&M System Chancellor Barry
B. Thompson said he supports the
award as a way for A&M to recog
nize its outstanding professors.
“There is a clear need in the
A&M System for an award of this
type,” Thompson said in a press
release. “I am highly supportive
of this process.”
Thompson said recipients of the
award will be some of the most out
standing educators in the System.
Recipients will be awarded
$9,000 over three years, the title
of Regents Professor, an A&M
System medallion to wear with
academic regalia and a plaque.
The first Regents Professors will
be named in the Spring.
Candidates for the award
must be full-time professors who
have been employed by an A&M
gether to investigate the feasibil
ity of having a statewide health
science center,” Parker said.
The Board also approved $2
million from the Permanent Uni
versity Fund for classroom reno
vations, set a Nov. 30 deadline for
settlement with Tenneco Power
Generation Co., and approved
“There is a clear need in
the A&M System for an
award of this type/
System school or agency for at
least five years.
The Board also heard a report
on the organization of an A&M
System statewide health science
center.
Terri Parker, director of com
munications for the A&M Sys
tem, said the proposal is under
consideration.
“A task force has been put to-
the establishment of an er
gonomics center for Texas Engi
neering Experiment Station.
The Board named A&M’s busi
ness school the L. Lowry Mays Col
lege of Business Administration
and Graduate School of Business.
Mays, Class of ’57, donated $15
million to the college. The donation
is one of the largest single gifts in
the University’s history.
he Battalion
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aze trails in B-CS.
Aggie life, Page 3
uffaloed
'e error-prone A&M
•otballTeam dropped
1-3 after a 24-10
SS to Colorado.
Sports, Page 7
issing Boys
t)ward: Six-year-old
[)y punished erro-
ously for sexual
rrassment.
Opinion, Page 9
Students design health center
By Brandon Hausenfluck
The Battalion
The models and draw-
ing$ of Texas A&M architec
ture students are being
considered in the building
of a nutrition and health
care facility in Guatemala
City, Guatemala. Nineteen
students in the Department
of Architecture have each
designed prototype models
of a nutrition and health
community center to help
alleviate malnutrition and
hygiene problems in chil
dren and mothers.
George Mann, the Ronald
L. Skaggs endowed professor
of health facilities design,
said the project gives stu
dents real-life experience.
“In essence, it (the pro
ject) was a form of educa
tion where the students lis
tened to Dr. Bates, and
turned it into a building,”
Mann said. “One of my for
mer students lives in
Guatemala City and he
gave us a dose of reality on
how to build the clinic. The
project gave the students a
chance to make a state
ment on a much broader
spectrum ... addressing
worldwide problems.”
Each of Mann’s students
had three weeks to design
their projects. They were re
quired to submit a model
they thought would be the
most efficient.
Radhika Nair, a senior en
vironmental design major,
created the model chosen as
the best design.
Nair said there were sev
eral factors to consider
while designing the clinic.
“We had a concept of
what we were building,”
Nair said. “I designed it to
have a community-type
feeling because that’s what
they’re used to in
Guatemala. People need to
feel comfortable visiting
this place.”
The center will be built
on a three-acre plot and will
include a playground area
and classrooms. The build
ings will be spread out in an
open-air setting.
The Institute of Nutrition
of Central America and Pana
ma (INCAP), a branch of the
World Health Organization,
helps develop nutrition and
health programs in seven
Central American nations.
The institute will raise
about $100,000 to fund the
project once a design has
been chosen.
Dr. George Bates, a pro
fessor of biochemistry and
biophysics, has spent sev
eral years developing nutri
tion programs and has
worked with INCAP in the
past. He said the facility is
one of many that INCAP
plans to build throughout
Latin America.
“INCAP is the premier
health institution in all of
Latin America,” Bates said.
“We hope to have these
clinics in several Latin
American locations.”
Bates said the centers
will be used to educate
people who suffer from
malnutrition and to assess
other health problems.
See Center, Page 6
Stew Milne, The Battalion
Radhika Nair holds her
model for a nutrition
health community center.
Former regent to
stand trial in Giddings
(AP) — Did former Texas A&M Board of Regents
Chairman Ross Margraves use a state airplane for a per
sonal trip to Louisiana?
That question will be the focus of Margraves’ felony
trial, which begins jury selection Monday in Giddings.
The case was moved to the Lee County town 47 miles
southwest of Bryan because of pre-trial publicity.
If convicted, Margraves would face a maximum penal
ty of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $5,000.
Margraves was indicted last April on one count of offi
cial misconduct. He is charged with using a Texas A&M
System plane to fly from Houston to Baton Rouge and
back on Aug. 4, 1993, to attend his son’s graduation from
Louisiana State University.
Margraves, through his attorney David Berg, claims he
was a speaker at the ceremony and that he met with LSU
Chancellor William Davis during the trip. The flight cost
taxpayers $1,435.
Berg told The Dallas Morning News in Sunday edi
tions that the presence of Mrs. Margraves on the flight
was legitimate because, by accompanying her husband
as a guest of LSU, she “furthered the University’s (A&M’s)
interests in many ways.”
Margraves resigned in April 1994 amid a Texas Rangers
investigation into business dealings at Texas A&M.
The case is to be heard by state District Judge J.D. Lan
gley from Bryan.