Thursday, hehrum
FRIDAY
Februaiy 11,2000
Volume 106 ~ Issue 89
10 pages
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“We have trouble recruiting students because
we do not have a diverse faculty,” Carlson said.
“Yet, we also have trouble recruiting faculty be
cause of the lack of diversity among the students.”
Scott said minority professors often seek places
where they can mentor minority students, and
A&M cannot compete with universities with more
ethnically diverse student bodies.
Though A&M’s minority population may be
small, Carlson said the Faculty Senate rarely hears ‘
complaints about the working environment on
campus.
“The complaint that we hear most often is not
concerning the way minorities are treated on cam
pus, but how they are treated in the Bryan/College
Station community,” Carlson said. “The biggest
deterrent is the feeling of social isolation in the
community.”
Individual academic departments at A&M are
primarily responsible for the recruitment of mi
norities to their teaching staff. In the past, the de
partments have had special funds set aside to use
in attracting minorities, Scott said.
“Recently there have been court movements
at the federal level that have made such funds il
legal,” Carlson said. “Additionally this legislation
has made it so that we can no longer legally know
if the people we are hiring are of minority
groups.”
"These movements in the federal courts have
made it hard to make sure that we are hiring a di
verse stafY,” Scott said.
1% AFRICAN AMERICAN
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RUBEN DELUNA/I ni BATTALION
Police report DWI trends
Bryan DWI arrests decrease, College Station increases
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BY BROOKE HODGES
The Battalion
When Officer James Woodward arrived on the scene of
a motorcycle accident several years ago, there was little
question that yet another motorist had fallen victim of hav
ing a too many drinks before hitting the road.
“The driver had misjudged a curve and collided head
first with a legally parked car,” Woodward said. "He died
instantly.”
Woodw ard has seen a multitude of alcohol-related acci
dents during his eight
years with the College
Station Police Depart
ment (CSPD)— ranging
from a few' cuts and
bruises to death.
But Sergeant Ernie
Montoya, a Crime Pre
vention Unit officer
with the Bryan Police
Department, said the
city of Bryan,, has wit
nessed a drop in the
number of drivers who
cause these accidents.
The number of driving
while intoxicated arrests (DWIs) reported by Bryan Police
Department dropped from 547 in 1998 to 350 in 1999.
“Credit for the decrease has to be given to the citizens,”
Montoya said. "The public [has been) taking action and get
ting a designated driver.”
I lowever, the number of DWI arrests by CSPD has risen
in College Station from 474 in 1998 to 593 in 1999.
Woodward said the rise is likely the result of increased
manpower and spending more effort on educating officers
about the signs of drunk driving, rather than an increase in
drunk drivers.
He said officers have also started enforcing stricter reg
ulation of large and unruly parties.
“College Station is a big party town with the number of
students we have,” Woodward said.
The Brazos County Attorneys office is responsible for fil
ing all DWI arrests made in the Bryan-College Station area.
"We will file between 1,600 and 1,800 DWI’s this year,”
said Jim Kuboviak. Brazos County Attorney. “Less than half
of those will be students.”
If a person of any age is stopped by an officer and a blood-
alcohol test shows a level over the state limit of .08 percent,
a DWI will be issued.
A DWI is a class B misdemeanor and carries up to a
$2,000 fine and/or jail time.
“If you are unable to operate a motor vehicle at any
[blood-alcohol] level or age, it will result in a DWI,”
Kuboviak said.
A police officer can is
sue a driving under the in
fluence (DUI) to any per
son under the age of 21 if
a blood-alcohol test shows
a level under the state lim
it of .08.
A DUI carries a class C
misdemeanor penalty,
which is punishable by a
fine and suspension of the
offender’s drivers license
for 60 days.
If a student receives a
RUBEN DELUNA/Tm Battalion
DWI from UPD, they are required to take an alcohol edu
cation workshop from the Drug and Alcohol Education pro
gram, said Lorna Breault, Coordinator of first-year student
alcohol education.
“We talk about the laws and rules and affects of alcohol,”
she said. “ But w ; e also focus on values and judgment.”
The Alcohol Education Workshop sees approximately
100 students per year for DWIs, DUIs, minors in possessions
(MIP) and public intoxication (PI), Breault said.
If a student receives a DWI on-campus from UPD, they
also go through Judicial Services, said Rick Powell, a stu
dents’ attorney with Student Conflict Resolution Services.
"Each case is looked at, and a punishment is decided on,”
Powell said. “Punishment can range from found not in vio
lation — to verbal reprimand — to suspension from [the
University].”
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SUSAN REDDING/Tin Baitai ion
Dressed as Gumby and Frosty, Ramy Hanna, a sophomore environmental design major, and
Matt Sneller, a freshman agriculture development major, dance outside the MSC to promote
Campus Crusades Thursday.
Epicenter closes
The Epicenter Sports Bar and
Nightclub has temporarily closed
due to legal troubles.
Epicenter owner Sri Kandalam
owes $11,113 in taxes to the
county, the city of College Station
and the College Station Indepen-
News in Brief
dent School District.
According to a lawsuit, Kandalam
also owes money to Charles Parker,
a local businessman, and to Chim
ney Hill Properties Limited, owner of
the building where Epicenter is.
“If things work out, it won’t be
closed for long,” Parker said in an
interview with The Bryan-College
Station Eagle.
According to the lawsuit, Kan
dalam owes Parker about
$300,000 from the sale of his
ownership of Epicenter to Kan
dalam last year for $360,000.
Once the legal action is settled,
Parker expects the Epicenter to re
open for business.
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WASHINGTON (AP) —The more
money made available through federal
student loans and aid, the more it en
tices colleges to raise tuitions, com
plained senators who contend students
and government cannot keep up.
“It is incumbent on us to take a se
rious look at the effect of this govern
ment spending on tuition rates,” Sen.
Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., chairman of
the Senate Government Affairs Com
mittee, told university officials
Wednesday. In 20 years, tuitions at pub
lic and private schools overall have
doubled in the past, after inflation. The
increases have made college unafford
able for many families, despite the an
nual $41 billion in federal grants and
guaranteed loans, Thompson said.
Senators who fear more federal aid
could further drive up college costs
speculated that states could raise pub
lic tuition caps — figuring more stu
dents could afford it because of a larg
er loan, a higher grant or a potential tax
break on their bill.
Senators also said private schools
might reduce their campus-based pro
grams in favor of students who can af
ford to pay their own way with the help
__
of federal loans and tax deductions.
But college officials denied
Wednesday that they were driving up
tuition to lake advantage of increases in
federal aid, and said there’s little gov
ernment can do to control costs.
“Tuition price controls will not
work and will be destructive of acade
mic quality in higher education,” said
William Troutt, president of Rhodes
College in Memphis, Term.
“It’s hard to believe that parents
would welcome a decision by the fed
eral government to curtail severely
their access to loan capital,” said David
Breneman, a University of Virgnia ed
ucation school dean.
Blame the soaring price tags on a
handful of the most-expensive private
schools catering to students who don’t
need aid, said Harvard economist Car
oline Hoxby.
“There is no evidence that students
are being forced to enroll in inexpen
sive colleges that are inappropriate for
their level of preparedness,” said Hox
by. She highlighted Education Depart
ment data which shows that since 1970,
tuition at the least-expensive schools
See Tuition on Page 2.
Board appropriates millions to UT
BY KATHRYN A. WOLFE
The Daily Texan
The University of Texas System
Board of Regents unanimously approved
two measures Wednesday that will pro
vide $400 million for system-wide con
struction projects in addition to granting
an additional $4.75 million in 2000 for
the University of Texas (UT).
Funds will now be distributed from
the Permanent University Fund (PUF)
iffto the Available University Fund
(AUF) at 4.5 percent, giving UT more
PUF money than before—$4.75 million
in additional funds for 2000 and an esti
mated $130.6 million by 2005.
“I'm delighted to see the PUF finally
unleashed after having been virtually
frozen since 1993,” said Dan Burck, vice
chancellor for business affairs.
The investment income from the
PUF, the UT and A&M System’s $7.7
billion endowment, is siphoned into the
AUF and is used to pay for develop
mental projects within the two systems.
“I’m delighted to see the PUF finally
unleashed after having been virtually
frozen since 1993,” said Dan Burck, vice
chancellor for business affairs. “I firmly
believe that so many good things are go
ing to come from this.”
Burck said new construction projects
funded by PUF monies will help com
ponent schools of the UT System realize
other benefits, such as attracting gi fts and
additional research
money and creating
new jobs.
The new rate will
also raise $650 mil
lion in bonds over a
six-year period to
fund construction
projects.
The second mea
sure passed allocates
$401 million of the
$650 million in PUF
bonds for system-
wide construction
projects, amounting
to $196 million for
UT System academic components and
$205 million for UT System health com
ponents.
Board Chairperson Don Evans said al
though PUF money for construction pro
jects is currently allocated evenly between
academic and health institutions, that
shouldn’t be seen as an arbitrary division
or a precedent for future allocations.
“...we thought these were the best
projects at this point in time,” said UT
System Chancellor William Cunning
ham.
“What we’re really seeing is the fruit
of Proposition 17,” said UT President
Larry Faulkner. “It was put there with the
understanding that it would bring sub
stantially greater benefits from the PUF
and that’s what we’re seeing.”
Proposition
17, a state consti
tutional amend
ment approved
by voters in No
vember 1999, al
lows PUF funds
to be invested
more aggressive
ly than before,
resulting in the
potential for
greater earnings,
while assuming
greater risk.
Not all of the
$650 million of
the approved bonds will be spent. $248
million will be saved in case of an emer
gency or other upcoming project.
Cunningham said he is confident that
over the next six years the PUF will con
tinue to generate money for new bond
programs.
“If we have continued expansion of
the stock market, we may well have
some additional bonding capacity before
See Funds on Page 2
“I am glad to see
the PUF (Perma
nent University
Fund) finally un
leashed after hav
ing being virtually
frozen since 1993. ”
— Dan Burck
vice chancellor for business affairs
INSIDE
Testing the
waters of
Faith
Page 3
www.new-experiment.
com/isabadidea
DotComGuy misrepresents
online buying. Page 9
• Men's swim team hosts
No. I 'Horns
m m»r
pri j
U A
• Listen to KAMU-FM
90.9 at 1:57 p.m. for de
tails about 'The Potters
of Mata ortiz" exhibit.
• Check out The Battal
ion online at
battalion.tamu.edu.