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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 18, 1997)
ber 17,199: e day. I knowtherj mes when I was ha /and the sound ofj ng out like sweet nllomecmetook 1)4™ YEAR ISSUE 14 ieir busy schedule ; my presence in id n’t take much eflBTISI * n’t even havetosto s las gotten away6c :nmunity andfon.’ )eaker tO dlSCUSS elf-absorption. r etend that 1 say IfV-positive life everyone I mete ;teve s a christian campus becau* !akerwho |s H |V-positive. will ,e impossible tot |ak abou , his |ife and his strug . In notice those I itb the d j sease tonight at 7 wn or upset and luc | d e r Theater. ^ 31 Sawyer, a hemophiliac, contract- the virus from a blood transfu- . iwhen he was eight years old. simple smilewilld ^ am p US Crusade for Christ is know that someoi insor j n gthe speech, hem and cares l il h y e ouwan:Nf‘ lvl Professor always ready (OB )nOred bV SPE arted Howdy to [Cet )r. Michael J. Economides, an it as a response professor of petroleum engi- Te x a s A & M U n i v e r s i t y •wt TODAY TOMORROW •14 PAGES COLLEGE STATION • TX See extended forecast. Page 2. THURSDAY • SEPTEMBER 18 • 1997 ing I have todo,!: /ilege. So to ALLv i —HOWDY and iop! Jodie Holl Class oj 1 sneourages letters tottei be 300 words or less an: 's name, class, and ttalion - Mall Call Teed McDonald A&M University !ge Station, TX 7843-1111 pus Mail: 1111 409) 845-2647 t@tamvml_tamu.adu n letter policy, pleased ect your question to die ring, has been chosen by the iety of Petroleum Engineering E) to receive its Production Engi- ring Award at the annual meet- Oct. 5-8 in San Antonio, he award is given annually in ignition of achievements in and tributions to the field of forma- evaluation technology. * hiting awarded liter reserves the righttti _ « style, and accuracy.te anf1lial meeting I in person at 013 Reei ^ I student ID. Lettersma^} obert L (Bob ) Whiting, A&M essor emeritus and former d of the Department of Petrole- Engineering, will be awarded two ors at the annual meeting of the iety of Petroleum Engineering Oct. 5-8 in San Antonio. Vhiting will receive the DeGoly- listinguished Service Medal for contributions both to the SPE the petroleum engineering i. Also, he will be named to the Legion of Honor in recognition s 50 consecutive years of nbership to the SPE. 997 Farm Aid ncert canceled ALLAS (AP) — The Oct. 4 Farm ’97 fund-raising concert has n canceled because of lagging let sales and a lack of corpo- support. What we do is just look at our Its vs. the sales of tickets. It wasn't there in Dallas,” Harry |th, program director for ^^iton-based Farm Aid, said om ten tofive.TtitLj nesc | a y “We don’t have an ex- are interviewed nation. We just know we didn’t aestion related to »t the support that we needed." Their platformisiLastyear, about 40,000 attended ^ue stand on a fFarm Aid concert at Williams- e in shape tohSn ] ;al rigors that nning the crown | id ing on a float ir two hours is landing as watch ] >n.) telecast the field j supported with 3 at the appropri organization, impletely fiction an interview answer — vliss Vermont, nown for its se, how do you ne? ill Bob, I think ii pie just need to :e Stadium in Columbia, S.C. Two ks ago, Willie Nelson and Dallas /boys owner Jerry Jones an- nced that this year's concert to efit family farmers would be at ss Stadium in Irving. Headliners e to include John Mellencarmp, [Young, John Fogerty, the Dave hews Band and Nelson. Tickets |es ranged from $17.50 to $50. ince Nelson, Mellencamp and ng founded Farm Aid in 1985, ir as Americans, i 116 k enefits have been staged, ider God 'eluding two others in Texas, adearingly naive | sda y’ s cancellation was a first, condescending?) s talk about the mt to make in ea, as if our public are watching. /s that Washingtoi ive a 15 percent tniday nights, s that the Miss ant is a beauty though most of m to have fright 6ith said. V m eeth and despite j . j ■: ” -i,- n any given day mpus you will men more at- he big-haired ys win (and the the blatant at- up to the female volleyball player Kristie ledsrud closes in on the Schaub: Rockin’ coun try music is not what it used to be — true to its roots. See Page 3 \)HH IS auty pageant it is /arance, not sub- l ones (pageants, mow) are tele sex does sell, ss America to retain what ill have, they hat it is, like ord books in her final year. See Page 9 I »!#«## See Page 13 A&M to release enrollment figures By Joey Jeanette Schlueter Staff writer Texas A&M’s final enrollment figures for the 1997-98 academic year will be in today, and with them the effect the Hopwood deci sion on minority enrollment. Other universities across Texas have announced enrollment fig ures, and have not seen a major decrease in minority enrollment this fall. Some universities predicted a decline as a result of the Hopwood decision, which outlawed race- based admissions and scholar ships at Texas universities. The University of Texas report ed a final enrollment of 48,866 for the fall, 858 more students than last fall. Of those, 6,645 are fresh men, an increase of 1,116 from last year’s numbers. Of the 6,645 freshmen, 807 are Hispanic and 163 are African- American, an increase from last year’s 772 Hispanic and 162 African-American freshmen. Stephen Monti, interim provost of admissions for UT, said the uni versity is unsure of the cause of the increase in minority freshmen. He said the university sent 400 more acceptance letters to stu dents of all ethnicities than it has in previous years. However, the UT Law School had a drop in minority enrollment. The school enrolled four blacks and 26 Hispanics as first-time law students this year. Last year, the law school saw 31 blacks and 42 Hispanics enrolled. The University of Houston saw a rise in its minority freshman enroll ment also. Last year UH had 456 black and 494 Hispanic freshmen enrolled. This year, there are 524 black and 646 Hispanic freshmen. In contrast, minority enroll ment figures for Texas private uni versities dropped in some cases. Rice University reported 28 black freshmen enrolled, com pared to 52 last year. Hispanic en rollment declined also, with 59 enrolled this year compared to 76 last year. Rice officials said the drop may be because other private univer sities, such as Stanford and Har vard, acquired more minority stu dents because the schools consider race in admissions and scholarship decisions. The A&M Admissions and Records Office said earlier in Au gust they expect a 23-percent drop in black freshmen enrolled and a 15-percent drop in Hispanic fresh men enrolled this fall as a result of Hopwood. Please see Enrollment on Page 2. Tickets please AMY DUNLAP/The Battalion Daniel Lee, a biomedical science major, picks up football tickets for this weekend’s game against Southwest Louisiana. Suspended professor denies accusations Staff and wire report A Texas A&M professor ac cused of depositing more than $ 100,000 in school money into a private bank account has been suspended with pay, Texas Journal ofTheWall Street Journal reported Wednesday. Dr. Dhiraj Pradhan, who holds the College of Engineer ing Endowed Chair in Com puter Science, has until Friday to respond to the allegations. “I have done nothing wrong,” he told the journal, adding he hopes “cool heads will prevail, so I can simply be a faculty member here again.” Pradhan, who joined the A&M faculty in 1992, knew since last October that he was the subject of a University in vestigation. He contends the Univer sity is retaliating against him because of his criticism of the University’s manage ment and tenure policies and his ethnicity. He said racism is the under lying cause of his suspension. “I am a proud Aggie,” Pradhan said, “and I am sad they [University officials] feel that way. I still wish to teach at A&M, but I don’t want to be subjected to that kind of treatment.” Pradhan, a native of India, filed last month a race-bias complaint against A&M with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC, which does not comment on such filings, has not asked the the University for a response. According to a report by University auditors, Pradhan abused his position as a facul ty member, filing false travel vouchers and requiring his students to perform work that “I am a proud Aggie ... I still wish to teach at A&.M, but I don’t want to be subjected to that kind of treatment.” DR. DHIRAJ PRADHAN COMPUTER SCIENCE PROFESSOR would benefit two private businesses he controls in Col lege Station. Pradhan owns Digital Computing Systems, Inc. and Technology Transfer Institute, both in Bryan. The report also said Prad han improperly withheld from the University more than $100,000 in revenue generated from a course he and others taught on com puter-assisted design. The course was developed ac cording to the guidelines of a $318,000 grant to A&M from the National Science Foun dation, which also is investi gating the use of the money. Pradhan denies the accusa tions, claiming his position as endowed chair should not be under review. The no-review clause for endowed chairs was reviewed anyway, he said. In addition, the report says Pradhan wrongly used $20,000 in University money for course expenses. Pradhan, who says he spent the $100,000 in revenue on com puter course expenses, in cluding teacher pay, main tains A&M was not entitled to that money because it did not own the rights to the course. Although the course was taught on campus, the pro fessor said, it was adminis tered through a private group of professors and did not use the NSF dollars. Pradhan said he was al lowed to spend the $20,000 on course expenses because it was part of a $32,000 gift from Mentor Graphics Corp. of Wilsonville, Ore., which gave the money to Texas A&M with the stipulation that it be used by Pradhan for the design course. Pradhan learned in De cember the Brazos County district attorney was consid ering charging him. District Attorney Bill Turner said in a letter to the Universi ty late last year that his office was “proceeding to indict ment,” though no indictment has been handed up. It was not until his sus pension in August that Prad han was informed of the school’s specific allegations against him. University officials de clined to discuss the case with Texas Journal. Mary Jo Powell, associate director of Universi ty Relations, told The Associ ated Press Wednesday it is against University policy to discuss a pending matter. A call to the district attor ney’s office Wednesday was not immediately returned to the AP ► Task Force for Alcohol Abuse University addresses alcohol use rguson: Baseball caps campus reflect lack of ectsofoursod fudent sanitation cares, superficial, mt to watch the r News Hour >s Jim Leher de good in a bikini http://bat-web.tamu.edu adcson is»«»| eck out The Battalion on- marketing major ^ for additional Mail Call ^Kters. access to The Wire nd past articles. By Daniel Thevis Staffwriter Following the August death of a Louisiana State University student from alcohol poisoning, Texas A&M and campus groups are educating students about alcohol abuse. Dr. J. Malon Southerland, vice president of student affairs, said members of a Task Force for Alcohol Abuse will be appointed within the next two weeks. Southerland said the Task Force will focus on alcohol use at Universi ty events and the effect of alcohol abuse on the A&M campus. The Task Force also will make recommenda tions to school officials for changes in University policies and programs. Dr. Dennis Reardon, coordinator of the Department of Alcohol and Drug Education Programs, said after the death at LSU, letters were sent to resident advisers and directors asking them to watch for warning signs of al cohol abuse in on-campus students. Reardon said the department offers alcohol education work shops and Alcohol 101 classes for students who violate the Universi ty’s alcohol policy. Eric Vroonland, Intrafraternity Council president and a senior fi nance major, said despite the LSU ”1 hope we can use the [LSU] incident and increase awareness and responsibility.” ERIC VROONLAND IFC PRESIDENT death, fraternity membership did not decline this year. “It [the LSU incident] didn’t affect Rush or membership,” he said. “But the more incidents like this, the greater the suspicion about fraterni ty and Corps [of Cadets] activities.” Danny Feather, Corps comman der and a senior economics major, said improper alcohol use is serious problem. “Alcohol abuse has become an ac cepted part of culture,” he said. “Also, the majority of serious violations — hazing, sexual abuse—are a result of alcohol abuse. One of the reasons a Corps unit was disbanded last year was for allowance of underage drink ing.” Lanita Hanson, assistant director of Student Activities and coordinator of Greek Activities, said campus- group activities have been under more scrutiny since the death at LSU. Hanson said she has received tele phone calls from parents wanting to know what events their sons will par ticipate in during fraternity Rush. Both Feather and Vroonland said their respective organizations re quire members to attend some type of seminar on alcohol education. “I hope we can use the [LSU] inci dent and increase awareness and re sponsibility,” Vroonland said. After the death at LSU, Sigma Nu and Phi Delta Theta, two national fra ternities, have set goals to become “dry” by the year 2000. Hanson said the A&M chapters of the two fraternities have not begun the process of becoming “dry,” but that the University will support their efforts. Please see Task Force on Page 2. Tobacco deal left in limbo WASHINGTON (AP) — Ap plauded by public health leaders, President Clinton called on ciga rette makers Wednesday to dig deeper to salvage the landmark tobacco deal — including raising cigarette prices by as much as $1.50 a pack. The industry and congressional Republicans found much to fault. Clinton ignored the deal’s focus on settling the lawsuits that plague tobacco companies, in stead asking that Congress pass sweeping laws with one goal: stopping tobacco companies from hooking teen-agers. His decision leaves the sum mertime tobacco deal an orphan, with no action this year and ques tions about how Congress could address the issue in 1998. By Janu ary, cigarette makers probably will be deep into lawsuits in Texas and Minnesota that could remove their desire to compromise. “To me, this is not primarily about money,” Clinton said. “This is about changing... both the behavior of the tobacco companies, the be havior of the American people, the future behavior of our children.” Clinton Clinton was repositioning the de bate so that "if you care about re ducing the number of kids who smoke, you have to be in favor of the president’s pro posal,” said for mer Food and Drug Commis sioner David Kessler. He said that stance had united feuding public health groups. But Republi can leaders at tacked Clinton’s recommendations as too vague, and Senate Majority Whip Don Nickles warned that he hadn’t decided whether lawmakers should offer legislation necessary for the deal even next year. "I don’t feel compelled that we have to pass this in two months. I don’t feel compelled that we have to pass this in 12 months,” Nickles said. Clinton’s failure to provide spe cific recommendations “makes it far more difficult for us to do at all, regardless of the terms,” said Rep. Thomas Bliley, R-Va. He plans in formational hearings this winter.