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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1998)
TODAY TOMORROW )4 TH YEAR • ISSUE 73 • 10 PACES COLLEGE STATION • TX WEDNESDAY • JANUARY 21 • 1998 &M professor threatens lawsuit if fired By Amanda Smith StaffWriter Atenured Texas A&M professor ;us( d of improperly diverting orerthan $100,000 of University ids into his private bank ac- unt is threatening to sue the loo I if he is fired. The accusation is lodged against [ Dhiraj Pradhan, the school’s ;hes i paid computer science pro- sor^ in a report by University au- ors. Pradhan has been on paid ve since Aug. 19. Houston attorney Charles Ors- nmvho represents Pradhan, said ^■olcssoi is inline mi nl wrong- ling . uid may sue the university if ^Hred. “T1 c University may fire Prad- n,” Orsburn said. “That is going cost the university dearly. If at happens, we will try to get n compensated.” |IfAM does not honor an agree- jnt under which it employed »avy handed Pradhan as an endowed chair, “we are going to do everything that we can to see that the whole world knows about it,” said Orsburn, the lead defense attorney for Pradhan’s four-lawyer defense team. C. Roland Haden, vice chancel lor and dean of engineering, de clined to comment on whether or not Pradhan will be fired. Bill Turner, the Brazos County district attorney, said that no crim inal charges have been filed against Pradhan. University officials, in a report outlining their investigation of Pradhan, said he: -Used University funds for per sonal travel and lodging expenses associated with three private com panies he owns. -Made graduate students per form work exclusively for his private companies. -Threatened not to sign a mas ter’s thesis for graduate student Gavin Holland unless Holland pub licly presented a paper to benefit one of Pradhan’s private compa nies. Holland, according to the re port, said he agreed to present the paper for fear that he would not get his thesis approved and receive his master’s degree. Holland could not be reached for comment. Orsburn said Pradhan, a native of India, has been the subject of false accusations made wholly on the basis of his ethnicity and out spoken nature among professors at the University. In an e-mail Pradhan released to 600 faculty members in October 1996, he urged the forma tion of a labor union for professors at A&M. Orsburn said he was upset when investigations began immediately after the e-mail was sent out. “Within 24 hours, the vice chancellor of Texas A&M began an intense witch hunt to try to find accusations against Pradhan,” Orsburn said. “A couple of weeks into October 1996, while Pradhan was out of town, a University po lice officer raided his office and stole his computer.” Robert Wiatt, the director of the University Police Depart ment, said that the information on Pradhan’s computer was part of the investigation. “Whenever the complaint was made, it was made to the System through a University audit,” Wiatt said. “Some of the information un der investigation was on his com puter. But system internal auditors did not do anything illegal.” Wiatt said that the investigation has expanded since its beginning over a year ago. “Once the internal investigation began, Pradhan claimed that the in vestigations were racially motivated.” In addition to the investigations by the University, the National Sci ence Foundation (NSF) is conduct ing an investigation at the federal lev el, according to the university audit. Orsburn said that Pradhan ac cepted his position as the College of Engineering Endowed Chair in Computer Science in 1991 with the knowledge that he would have vir tually un- UNDER v, INVESTIGATION^ • misuse of graduate students to profit private firms misuse of University Funds lim ited | discretion over the spending of a university endowed fund for the department. “Texas A&M (originally) gave Pradhan a letter agreement (when he first came) and said that he would have a huge endowment at his dis posal,” Orsburn said. “Without any superstars in the computer science department, A&M was trying to find one. Dr. Pradhan is one of the world’s leading authorities on computer mi crochip design.” By setting up one of his private companies, Pradhan was able to get a federal Small Business Initiative for Research (SBIR) grant for university research, Orsburn said. “That was the only way that he could get money to con tinue the research on fault-tolerant computer chips,” Orsburn said. Richard Volz, the head of the computer science department, declined to comment on the uni versity audit and accusations against Pradhan. . JAMES FRANCIS/The Battalion ^na Banay Harrell, a junior mechanical engineering major, receives her 1997 Aggieland jarbook behind the Graphics Arts Services Building Tuesday afternoon. Students can pick ip their 1997 Aggielands this week. owen decides against rther tuition increases Staff & Wire Report [ The only tuition increase facing Texas V&]\ l University students this year will be the 3gislatively mandated $2 per semester cred- :hpur, effective with the start of the 1998-99 ^cademic year. Jv&M President Dr. Ray M. Bowen has leaded against proposing any increase in he University Authorized Tuition (UAT), diich was formerly called the General Use Fee. ■Bowen said an increase in tuition was not lecessary because of the amount of state unc is the University received. Bln recent years, the UAT has funded fac- tlty and staff raises,” Bowen said. “The 1998- '9 Appropriation from the state was suffi- , iem to fund raises for the coming year dthout a UAT increase.” - Bowen added, however, that it will be necessary to propose to the A&M Board of regents a $4 increase in the UAT for the 1999- 2000 term. The Board of Regents will meet this Thursday. The state legislature authorized public colleges and universities in Texas, effec tive last fall, to set the UAT at a level not to exceed that of the legislatively mandated tuition. The mandated tuition is required by state law to increase by $2 per semester credit hour until it reaches $40. The tuition rate at the university is now $34 per semester credit hour and will in crease to $36 this fall. A&M’s UAT is also $34 per credit hour. The combined state tuition/UAT rate for the 1998-99 academic year will be $70 per credit hour, $2 less than the maximum al lowed by the state. Bush Presidential Library opens its doors to researchers By Colleen Kavanagh Staffwriter With the opening of the George Bush Presidential Library research facility yes terday, over two million pages of official presidential records documenting the history of the George Bush administra tion became available for research. The records from the 10th presidential library include correspondence, memo randa, reports and briefing material creat ed by the Bush White House in response to congressional and constituent inquiries, international crises and the development and implementation of the 41 st president’s domestic agenda. The library is open to all researchers, but those under the age of 16 must be accompanied by an adult. Research can be done in the onsite reading room, and the library can be contacted with research questions by mail, telephone or e-mail. David Alsobrook, director of the Bush Presidential Library, said archivists meet with researchers to of fer guidance about which processed records and collections are most likely to contain useful material. They will also explain regulations, finding aids, research room procedures and services and will provide informa tion on obtaining access to unprocessed presidential records. “The facility is essentially user-friend ly once someone learns how to use it,” he said. “The main thing is knowing your topic before you come in. If you do that, we’ll help you use the materials.” The Bush materials were brought to College Station after President Bush left office in Jan. 1993. Since then, archivists have been processing them in accor dance to the terms of the Presidential Records Act and the Freedom of Infor- ■■■■■■ ■ < i e < >| c; i: ivu s i i.! rv r a it m FILE PHOTO The George Bush Presidential Library research facility, which opened yesterday, houses over 2 million pages of documents from the Bush administration. mation Act. The files of the White House Press Of fice and the White House Office of Speech writing consisting of subject files, alpha files and chronological files maintained by the office staff of the Bush administration. Records maintained by each staff member are included in the files. The Bush Presidential Library is the first library to include the records of two vice presidents: the vice presidential records of George Bush 1981-1989 and the vice presi dential records of Dan Quayle 1989-1993. President Bush’s Daily Diary, main tained by the White House Office of Ap pointments and Scheduling, are also avail able upon request. The diary, a daily schedule of meetings, trips, speeches and White House events involving President Bush, should not be confused with Presi dent Bush’s personal diary, which is not available for researchers at this time. Alsobrook said being able to see a copy of any president’s daily schedule and drafts of every speech he delivered is interesting. “Seeing the activities of the president from the time he wakes up in the morn ing to the time he goes home at night is interesting,” he said. “Many people hear or watch speeches, but they don’t give much thought to all that goes into pro ducing them.” Warren Finch, supervisory archivist of the library, said researchers can see how a speech was born, from the information used behind it to the final speech. “The information here shows the evolution of the speech and the changes made before it was delivered,” he said. “It’s interesting to see the things that were changed.” Board of Regents to host reception for students Meeting offers forum to discuss University issues Please see Bush on Page 4. aggie life L.A. Confidential, starring Kevin Spacey, leads the list of top ten movies of 1997. By Colleen Kavanagh Staffwriter Texas A&M University students are invited to at tend a reception with the Board of Regents to dis cuss campus issues and student concerns from six to seven tonight at the Board of Regents meeting room in the MSG. Terri Parker, director of communications, said the reception gives students the opportunity to meet the nine Board members and discuss student-relat ed issues. “The Board wants to be able to interact with stu dents at Texas A&M Univer sity,” she said. “They want to listen to concerns in an in formal session.” The Board of Regents is scheduled to meet in Col lege Station on Thursday. Earl Nye, a regent from Dallas, said the Board want ed to have an occasion “Different people have different interests, and we’d like to hear what the students think.” EARL NYE BOARD OF REGENTS MEMBER where the only agenda item was the opportunity to visit with students. “We’re people, and we’re interested what’s going on,” he said. “The more people who come, the better per spective we’ll have.” Nye said he is looking for ward to meeting with students and hearing their concerns. “I think we should take advantage of the opportuni ty to visit with students,” he said. “Different people have different interests, and we’d like to hear what the stu dents think.” Dr. Dionel Aviles, a regent from Houston, said he hopes to hear as many stu dent opinions as possible. “I will listen to every body’s points-of-view,” he said. “I never go into a meet ing with my mind made up. Making decisions involves looking at the future of the University as well as the Texas A&M System.” “Being an Aggie myself, it is neat to meet the students at Texas A&M,” he said. “I like to hear student input — they’re our clients.” See Page 3 sports Texas A&M Track and Field Teams prepare for upcoming indoor season. See Page 7 opinion Safety, protection issues in the debate over carrying handguns. See Page 9 online http://battaiion.tamu.edu Hook up with state and national news through The Wire, AP’s 24-hour online news service.