EDNESDAYNOVEMBER 28, 2001
Texas A&M University
1 SECTION • 12 PAGES
Celebrating 125 Years
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NEWS IN BRIEF
pan sentenced for
jsexual assault,
|to pay $150 million
BRYAN (AP) - Behrooz
I'Bruce” Daftarian, a
jecruiter for Doug Hunter
Enterprises, was sentenced
life in prison for sexually
Assaulting children who were
blients at his modeling studio
has been ordered to pay five
pfthem about $150 million.
On Monday, District Judge
Rick Davis ordered Daftarian,
vho was convicted of aggra
vated sexual assault in March,
[to pay one victim $29.7 mil
lion. He ordered Daftarian to
(pay the other four victims
&30.2 million each.
iHouston law library
[to get flood funding
|to replace lost books
HOUSTON (AP) - The
University of Houston's
O'Quinn Law Library will
receive $21.4 million in fed
eral funding to replace
174,000 law books and a
microfiche storage collection
lost in June during flooding
from Tropical Storm Allison.
The funding, announced
Monday by the Federal
Emergency Management
Agency, will replace materi
als damaged when eight
feet of water flooded the
library’s lower level.
The federal funding is pro
viding 75 percent of the $28!5
million price tag to buy the
new books and microfiche col
lection. The rest of the money
come from local sources.
r.yj.
Number of
international
students at A&M
in Fall 2000
3,479
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Page 3
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Students remember
fun, scary experiences
on the slopes
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Page 11
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Brazos
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• Ice at exposition
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FORECASTS COURTESY OF
www.weathermanted.com
A&M considers forgoing Easterwood
Sippial: University needs out of airport business
By Amanda Smith
THE BATTALION
Texas A&M officials have indicated
an interest in relinquishing ownership of
Easterwood Airport in the near future,
along with a possible relocation.
Charles Sippial, vice president for
administration, said the growing
University campus must continue to
reassess its goals in relation to the airport.
“Owning and operating an airport is
not a University function. It is our desire
that a public entity operate the airport,”
Sippial said.
Sippial said state projections indicate
the number of Texans needing a degree
will exceed the state capability by 2015
and that A&M may need to expand cur
rent facilities.
“There is increasing pressure to admit
more undergraduate students,” Sippial
said. “We must be in a position to assist our
state to meet this demand. Our research
needs are also expanding and they will
require additional land and facilities.”
John Happ, director of aviation of
Easterwood Airport, said discussions
have indicated that ownership of the air
port located on Raymond Stotzer
Parkway could change in the next five
years, although relocation is not likely to
occur for another 20 to 25 years.
“There are a lot of questions that have
not been answered,” Happ said. “There
still has to be lots of research done, as
with anytime you move a Targe trans
portation facility.”
Sippial said the airport has continued
to extend its service beyond the immedi
ate A&M community, reaching into
greater Bryan-College Station.
“We built our airport because there
was not one that met our need at the time,
nor was there a public entity that could
have done so,” Sippial said. “Over the
years, the airport has grown to serve the
See Easterwood on page 2.
TKE
decides
against
appeal
By BRANDIE LlFFICK
THE BATTALION
The Texas A&M chapter of
the Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE)
fraternity was given a deferred
suspension until June l, 2002,
for violating University stu
dent organization rules con
cerning alcohol and pledging.
TKE had until 5 p.m.
Monday to file an appeal
against the punishment.
“We did work with Thomas
Danner (president of the A&M
chapter of TKE) and it was
decided not to file an appeal,”
said Kevin M. Mayeux, chief
executive of TKE national
headquarters. “A deferred sus
pension is a common punish
ment given to national organi
zations by institutions for vari
ous offenses. This is not an
uncommon punishment.”
Dean of Student Life Dr.
David Parrott said that until
June, TKE is not in good
standing with the University.
“That basically means that
they will not have a vote in the
Interfratemity Council,” Parrott
said. “The allegations, investi
gation and hearing created an
opportunity for learning and
growth for all involved. The
true measure of the impact of
this series of events will be the
resulting changes in this
group.”
University rules stipulate
that fraternity rush events are
to be alcohol-free.
In early Sept., junior polit
ical science major Clay
Cunningham said the TKE
organization provided alco
hol for minors, hazed pledges
and was discriminatory
against him because of his
sexual orientation.
Cunningham said in an
interview in Oct. that the
organization asked him to turn
See T KE on page 2.
Flying saucer
BRETT MARETH •THE BATTALION
Jeff Hughes and Tim Thornton, freshman engineering majors, launch a frisbee from a device they constructed for ENGR 111. The launcher
was required to propel a frisbee through a target up to 30 feet away.
B-CS unemployment rate remains low
By Melissa Sullivan
THE BATTALION
As the nation faces mounting
unemployment rates of 5.4 per
cent and Texas faces similar
increases in the number of
workers seeking employment,
the Bryan-College Station area
continues to weather the storm
of layoffs and job cuts with
unemployment rates of l .7 and
1.5 percent.
Bryan-College Station offi
cials say the area’s saving grace
is Texas A&M , which employs
a large sector of the local popu
lation and is immune to fluctua
tions in the economy.
In a recent report released
by the Texas Workforce
Commission, Bryan-College
Station has the lowest unem
ployment rate among the
Metropolitan Statistical Areas
at 1.5 percent for the month of
October.
This figure is down from
the month of September, in
which College Station showed
a rate of 1.8 percent and
Bryan at 1.7 percent.
“In general, if you look at
university communities through
out the Midwest who lack high
technology-like jobs, they con
tinue to have a low rate of unem
ployment,” said Roland Mower,
president and CEO of the Bryan-
College Station Economic
Development Corporation.
According to the report,
cities such as Lubbock and
Waco have unemployment rates
considerably lower then the
state figure, which stands at 5.2
percent for the month of
October and is up from the
September figure of 5.0 percent.
“Cities like that are not finely
developed,” Mower said.
Cities like Austin that offer
a higher number of technolo
gy-based jobs suffer more.
Mower said.
Houston
Austin
Waco
Lubbock
OCT 2001
SEPT 2001
4.3%
5.6%
4.5%
5.2%
3.7%
4.9%
2.2%
2.4%
1.5%
1.75%
Areas like Bryan-College
Station are better suited to sur
vive economic recessions.
Mower said.
“We have a strong foundation
for further diversification and
being in the same town as Texas
A&M University is just icing on
the cake,” Mower said.
CHAD MALIAM • THE BATTALION
Being in a small town also can
have an effect on the way compa
nies recruit new employees.
“The low rate df unemploy
ment can make it easier for a
company to recruit and give spe
cial circumstances, but that just
See Rate on page 9.
Castillo appointed as
Spring 2002 editor
By Sommer Bunge
THE BATTALION
Mariano Castillo’s first
experience with The Battalion
was carrying stacks of the
newspaper to his upperclass
men’s rooms on the
Quadrangle, shouting, “Dah-
nah-nah-nah, Batt Fish!”
The Texas A&M Corps of
Cadets tradition of using
freshmen to collect the stu
dent newspaper from Corps
Headquarters sent Castillo
and classmates in Fall 1998
running through the Corps
living area with towels
around their necks and belts
around their heads.
When Castillo, an interna
tional studies and journalism
major, took a job writing for
The Battalion s Aggielife
section the spring of his
freshman year, he did not
know where it could take
him. A- Muster feature
Castillo wrote for the news
paper that April earned him
and his Corps buddies junior
privileges for the day. which,
in the Corps allows a fresh-
See Castillo on page 12.
JOHN LIVAS • THE BATTALION
Mariano Castillo will head The Battalion
for Spring 2002 as editor in chief.
Robinson to head
petro department
By Tanya Nading
THE BATTALION
Ranked the No. 1 undergraduate engineering department with
Ph.D. programs and the best graduate program in 2002 by U.S. News
and World Report, the petroleum engineering department is under the
direction of a new department head. Dr. Ronald James Robinson.
Robinson was appointed department chair on Nov. 12. As the
new department head, Robinson said he wants to do many things to
ensure that the department remains among the best in the nation.
“As a department, we will continue to produce the best students
and recruit on a global basis, since petroleum engineering is a glob
al field, and we will build up the graduate programs and research
program substitution,” Robinson said.
Robinson has a bachelor of science in math and physics from
See Petroleum o?i page 9.