“tFRIDAYJANUARY 18, 2002
TTAll
VOLUME 108 • ISSUE 76
X'mocratic N
i s campaign in
of Jurist, the
ears ago in a re
jndy, a town of
i of the Kentud
&M grad
tinder fire
nron scandal brings
thics into question
■S
By Sommer Bunce
I THE BATTALION
I The role Big 5 accounting firm Arthur Andersen LLP
md its former lead auditor, David Duncan, Class of
1f81, may have played in the Enron scandal has left
questions in the Aggie community that both figures have
UH'se ties to.
Duncan, who was fired from the firm last week after
BC usations that he ordered the destruction of key Enron
^Rcuments. has remained connected to the University and
sii on an advising board to the Lowry Mays College and
^■-aduate School of Business.
Ethics have always been a strong part of the curricu
lum in business courses at A&M, said Murphy Smith, the
^fcpartment of Accounting assistant head. Some aspects
■ ethics are included in every course, and every auditing
Babook has a chapter on trade ethics, he said.
I Smith said that if Duncan, who is being questioned in
congressional investigation into Enron’s demise,
y acted unethically, it should not be a reflection on A&M
■d its business school graduates.
I "We’re all sad it happened, it’s just too bad for all of
^ress; ESRI fu.| who knew he was an Aggie,” Smith said. “We expect
ethical behavior from everyone.”
> ease a shotU-S Arthur Andersen, which employs more than 1.600
t southwest \ii®opie in its Houston branch, sends recruiters to campus
ge and fostertaBch spring to hire A&M graduates and interns. This
-an Bar Asso. wt?k, despite the national attention and ethical review
plication for3.. f inT1 j s under, was not an exception as the Aggie-sup-
®rti n g firm joined other major firms in speaking to
* f irst c ' ass 01 adcounting students.
ilt\ members,b® | n the wake of such national exposure, recruiters spent
T 1 w ra ,t t ^ l ‘ s wee ^ calling the interns expected to arrive in
111111|a ' arv Andersen's Houston office Feb. 18 to assure them a job
^ with the firm would still be viable.
said state DdH Sa ' t * l * le firm was un d ers tandably concerned
iv a ^ 0Ul people wanting to disassociate with it.
>rn a news eoK/fc m " 1 ^ ey must concerned that employees want to
W! ^Bnp ship," Smith said. “And this could obviously be very
SjBthersome to a student going into accounting."
I’ Smith said the incident will not leave the accounting
| profession permanently marred. As a rule, accountants,
■ I esjiecially auditors, protect the public interest and will
^ continue to do so, he said.
■ "I hate to see the general public get the perception that
* ■countants are anything but the most ethical,” Smith said.
>on$
See related story on Pg. 2
Haden to retire
Search begins for new
oner interrogalR
i are continuing
'd Myers, chair-■
i iefs of Staff, w
imong them v:
o their home cp- 1
/alker Lindli. i • • 77 7
Taliban fighter engineering college dean
was still aboan ,, , ,. .. ., .
. in the Arabia*' J ustln Smith
laid he would' BATTALION
soon to Ju with the forthcoming retirement of Dr. Roland Haden
custody. from Texas A&M, the call has gone out for someone to
10111 t ie , * 1 ' s shoes. Haden, the vice chancellor for engineering
1 ° U and the dean of the Dwight Look
College of Engineering, is also the
director of the Texas Engineering
Experiment Station (TEES), that over
sees Texas Transportation Institute
(TTI) and the Texas Engineering
Extension Service (TEEX).
Mary Miller, associate vice president
for administration and a member of the
search committee, said a replacement
would be responsible for these same duties,
ly “Haden’s replacement will have to take on all these
M tasks, along with their role as vice chancellor and
I djan,’’Miller said.
^ i,f Heading up the search for Haden’s successor is Texas
A&M Vice Chancellor and Dean of Agricultural and Life
Sciences Dr. Edward Hiler.
I “We are still just in the early stages of the search,” he said.
I The committee is currently creating an advertisement,
which will be published in journals aimed at administrators
See Haden on page 2
vorld — most
of hundreds of
pines to train
Rumsfeld said
fiat must be met
HADEN
of the
cany
eal
Jungle gym
STUART VILLANUEVA • THE BATTALION
Students in a beginning tumbling class warm up by jogging Building. Jogging on the mat teaches students to adjust to the
laps around the tumbling mat in the gymnasium in the Reed springs that lie underneath it.
Cornyn makes campaign stop
By Brandie Liffick
THE BATTALION
Texas Attorney General John Cornyn
kicked off the fourth day of his campaign by
stressing the importance of lower taxes, edu
cation reform and the building of a strong
national defense.
Cornyn spoke to students Thursday morn
ing in the Memorial Student Center as one of
the first destinations on his early campaign
trail. Cornyn is running on the Republican tick
et, hoping to fill the seat that Phil Gramm, R-
Texas, will vacate after serving in the Senate
since 1985. The March 12 primaries will
decide which Republican candidate will run
for the seat in the general election this
November.
Cornyn made his campaign promises clear
during the stop and adopted the Republican
platform, telling students “our hard-earned
dollars belong in our pockets, not the govern
ment’s.”
“I believe that our founding fathers
designed a government that would guarantee
individual freedom, and promote self-
reliance and which recognized that the rights
of the individual are the cornerstones of eco
nomic and personal freedom,” he said.
Education and free enterprise were also
mentioned in Cornyn’s speech.
“I believe that education and opportunity
go hand in hand,” Cornyn said. “And that
regardless of who you are, or where you
come from ... the very best thing we can do
in this society is to make sure that every child
receives the best education possible.”
Cornyn was elected attorney general in
1998, and served as a Texas Supreme Court
judge from 1991 to 1997.
A1 Jones, a candidate for District 14 in the
Texas House of Representatives^ was one of
many candidates who appeared to support
Cornyn’s campaign, he said.
“This is a great opportunity for me to meet
See Cornyn on page 2
JOHN LIVAS • THE BATTALION
Texas Attorney General John Cornyn greets a friend after making his campaign speech
Thursday in the MSC Flagroom.
Graves to undergo more tests Friday
By C.E. Walters
THE BATTALION
Texas A&M University System
Chancellor Howard D. Graves will
undergo tests Friday to determine
if the course of his treatments for
cancer will allow him to lead a
winning battle, or if he and doc
tors need to look in a new direc
tion for a cure.
Graves, chancellor since 1999,
was diagnosed with a rare form of
cancer in January 2000. Since
then, the cancer has spread into his
lungs and abdomen. He will
undergo a CT scan today so doc
tors can decide whether or not his
current treatment is effective.
Graves spoke Thursday night to
a group of faculty in the Christian
Faculty Network.
“The status (of the cancer) now
is pretty stable,” he said.
When talking about his
chemotherapy, he said it was nec
essary for the therapy to boost his
platelet production' in his bone
marrow.
Graves said that his faith is
helping him through his fight with
cancer.
Student killed in one-car crash
By C.E. Walters
THE BATTALION
» Texas A&M student John Corbin
Oarver was killed early Tuesday morn
ing when his car veered off Interstate
45 south of Centerville, Texas.
11 Carver, 23, a junior Construction
Science major, was traveling to
visit his girlfriend, Carey Johnson.
Johnson said she knew Carver for a
year and a half.
Johnson and Carver’s friend of four
years, Scott Kana, said Carver wanted
to pursue a career in construction.
“He just wanted to build build
ings,” Johnson said.
Carver was an employee at On the
Border who loved his friends and
playing disc golf, she said.
Both Johnson and Kana said they
will miss Carver.
“He was a very sweet guy, intelli
gent ... everyone loved him,”
Johnson said. “I don’t think anyone
ever disliked him.”
Kana, who recently graduated
from Texas A&M, came to College
Station to visit Carver several times
last semester.
“He was a good guy, a great friend,”
Kana said. “He had a girlfriend he was
crazy about.. .it’s kind of devastating.”
19; ''
Opinion Pg. 9
Misguided youth
Suicide plane crash was act of
tragedy, not terrorism.
AggieLife Pg. 3
Making the grade
For many students, professional
educations are the next step
after graduation.
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