Page 11
IE
^1
B %ll
Sports. Aggies prepare for first road game • Page 5 Opinion: The fate of affirmative action
t0rm for
- ne nce ij i
'ey have r
ect ure majo,
,tu (liosohi-;
1 elemenis,"
'triic’ure |
'he area f
w aniediodij|
rchitecturerj
would add i
s aid. Thevjj
ects stude-
1 provide ^
id we w®
flow of tra
about die
■igninea
I Hr,
ATTAT in
rX JL JL jCTlI-jL
|olume 109 • Issue 71 • 12 pages
ww w.thebatt. com
Tuesday, December 10,
Duke receives letter of reprimand, no removal
By Rolando Garcia
THE BATTALION
IA Memorial Student Center (MSC)
Council officer who told police he had
been kidnapped and robbed and then
admitted to fabricating the story
' makinglifiql received a letter of reprimand Monday
nake
a staler,
kusUrs
; has pui
lere the
* kindly ti
elter som
t to five [es
e second Irs
error conic
lichcanbe;
ith only s":j
iividualcr,
<e this is cs
icy don't s
t. and the;'•
iweitzersi:
aid the ver
ower. theb
igenuity toil
n.
to the ter-
; with the.
rorism bv a
by alloni;:';
p shop in ffl
id. Goins 2
lomaticall) 1 it
t off the ten®
eded suppoc
i doubt in'
■stem world a
l,” he said :
lilities and e
e terrorists.'
ftm the MSC Council.
■ Chris Duke, MSC executive vice
|resident for marketing and senior
political science major, avoided
■moval from his position, but will be
placed on deferred suspension. Duke
will be allowed to continue in his role
as MSC vice president, but if he gets
in trouble again, the lengthy perform
ance review process will be skipped
and the matter will go to the executive
committee of the MSC Council. The
council is composed of students and
senior MSC staff.
Duke underwent a formal investi
gation and sanction process that has
only been invoked a handful of times
in the 50-year history of the MSC.
The last inquiry into the improper
behavior of an MSC officer resulted in
the 2001 removal of then MSC
President Josh Rowan.
“The council responded in a way
they felt was most appropriate,” said
MSC President Barry Hammond.
Hammond, a senior finance
major, declined to discuss the coun
cil’s decision. The MSC bylaws pro
vide for removing a council officer,
but no mention is made of lesser
sanctions, and Hammond said he is
not aware of any disciplinary process
of a council officer tha’t resulted in a
letter of reprimand.
Duke declined to cpmment.
Duke contacted Corpus Christi
police Oct. 8 and said he had been
kidnapped outside his College Station
apartment by a man with a gun and
forced to drive to Corpus Christi,
where Duke said the man robbed him
and left. Duke later admitted the story
was false, but police
declined to press
charges.
Hammond said
the letter of repri
mand would remind
Duke that he had
“not followed proto
col” but would not
say how Duke’s
behavior did not
comport with MSC ethics. The inci
dent was investigated by Dr. Dave
Parrott, dean of Student Life, and
DUKE
although Hammond would not release
Parrott’s report, he said Parrott con
cluded Duke did not violate student
rules or MSC rules.
Hammond said the letter of repri
mand is in keeping with the MSC’s
practice of upholding the Aggie Code
of Honor while allowing student lead
ers to learn from their mistakes.
The MSC, with an annual budget of
more than $6 million, is one of the
University’s largest student organiza
tions. Hammond said he did not
believe Duke’s misbehavior would
blemish the organization’s prestige and
standing in the A&M community.
Design time
The projects for the sophomore environmental design studio
were on display at the Langford Architecture building. The
JOHN O. LIVAS * THE BATTALION
project took three weeks to complete and allowed 32
students to satisfy fictitious clients with different concepts.
United Airlines files
for bankruptcy
court protection
Bush nominates next Treasury secretary
ids r#
ig seme-
im
3 licatio ,lS
e the
visited
jtive^
i inclu de
plans,
or ema
of
,entf
| at ^
e Texas
oststha'
.m-
o.rn.
John W. Snow, 63
Bush
names
Treasury
nominee
Education — Bachelor's degree,
iS° n Colle 9e, University of Toledo,
nfw 2 ' Pf 1,0 in economics. University
Virginia, 1965; law degree, George
vv ashington University, 1967.
Experience — President and chief
executive officer, CSX Corp., 1985-
Pfesent (chairman since 1991); vice
President, CSX, 1977-85-
administrator. National Highway
Ssrtsty Administration, 1976-
. deputy undersecretary,
epartment of Transportation. 1975-
assistant secretary for
governmental affairs, DOT, 1974-75;
eputy assistant secretary for policy,
I 1Q7 ® ^ nd international affairs, DOT,
d-74; adjunct professor of law,
1 Washington University Law
| c oo1 ’ '•972-75; assistant general
icounsei, dot, 1972-73; Wheeler &
I Jnf 6r ,aw firm ’ 1 967-72; assistant
I nf nf SSOr of economics, University
f° f Maryland, 1965-67.
Eamiiy - Wife. Carolyn; three sons.
‘OURcE: Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush
turned to railroad executive John W. Snow to be his
new Treasury secretary on Monday and signaled
his determination to push ahead with a new round
of tax cuts to jump-start the sluggish economy.
Three days after shaking up his economic team
by firing Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill and
Lawrence Lindsey, the head of his National
Economic Council, Bush announced he would
nominate Snow, the president of Richmond-based
CSX Corp., one of the nation’s largest railroad
freight lines, as O’Neill’s successor at Treasury.
In many ways. Snow, 63, has a resume similar to
O’Neill’s. Both men served in the Ford administra
tion where they worked with Dick Cheney and then
both left the government to pursue business careers.
However, O’Neill, the former head of Alcoa
Corp., proved to be a gaffe-prone economic
spokesman for Bush, infuriating Republicans in
Congress and roiling financial markets with his
comments. Snow is seen as a more cautious pub
lic speaker and a politically savvy operatoi who
will be better able to sell the Bush program in
Congress and on Wall Street.
“I look forward to joining your economic team
to advance a pro-growth, pro-jobs agenda, said
Snow, who holds a Ph.D. in economics from the
University of Virginia and has been an active pai-
ticipant in public policy debates in Washington, at
one time as chairman of the influential Business
Roundtable.
Determined not to repeat his father’s mistake of
appearing to be insensitiive to rising joblessness dur
ing economic hard times. Bush told reporters that he
would soon be proposing “specific Steps to increase
the momentum of our economic recovery and the
treasury secretary will be at the center of this effort.”
Bush pledged to provide more tax relief, saying
“many Americans have very little money left over
after taxes.” He also said he wanted to put forward
proposals to bolster investor confidence, which
has been shaken by the loss of trillions of dollars
in stock market wealth, and to help Americans
save for retirement.
Congressional and business lobbyists who
have been briefed by administration officials
said Monday that Buslh was considering a pack
age of tax cuts and spending measures that
would cost between $250 billion and $300 bil
lion over 10 years.
These officials, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, said that the major tax cuts the admin
istration was considering were accelerating the
personal tax rate reductions scheduled to take
effect in 2004 and 2006, lowering the tax on cor
porate stock dividends, long a Republican goal,
and boosting tax breaks to encourage businesses
to invest in new plants and equipment.
CHICAGO (AP) — United
Airlines made the largest bank
ruptcy filing in aviation history
Monday, saying it was the only
way to keep the world’s No. 2
airline flying after two years of
heavy losses.
The Chapter 11 filing was the
sixth-largest ever as measured
by assets.
The suburban Chicago-based
company has lost $4 billion in
the last two years due to a
slumping economy, flawed busi
ness strategies and the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks. It faced debt
payments of $875 million later
this week.
“We’re in control of United’s
destiny,” United CEO Glenn
Tilton said in a telephone inter
view. “We’ve made a good deci
sion for United. It is in fact
Chapter 1. ... This is a tremen
dous opportunity for United to
transform this company and to
emerge stronger than ever.”
Tilton told customers and
employees at O’Hare
International Airport that the
carrier would keep flying. “We
are now going to take this occa
sion to create a new beginning
for United,” he said.
Tilton said he expects the
bankruptcy process to be com
pleted within 18 months.
At a bankruptcy hearing at 7
a.m., Chief Judge Eugene R.
Wedoff issued orders allowing
United to keep operating until
another hearing Monday when
he is to issue further orders
allowing the airline to continue
its operations.
United said it obtained $1.5
billion in financing from several
banks to continue operating, and
had $800 million in cash on hand.
An attorney for United,
James Sprayregen, told the
judge the company was losing
$20 million to $22 million a day
this month and desperately
needed to cut costs.
The company and a coalition
of union leaders were scheduled
to meet Tuesday to begin talks
about reducing costs.
The airline has promised to
keep flying while it sheds costs
under the auspices of a bank-
United lands in top
U.S. bankruptcies
The parent company of United
Airlines, UAL Corp., filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
Monday-
Top bankruptcies since 1980, by
company, filing date and assets
based on previous year’s 10-K
financial statement, in billions
2002
: $103.9
WorldCom Inc., July 21,
mmmmmmmmmmwKM
Enron Corp., Dec. 2, 2001
■■■■■■■■Ml $63.4*
Texaco ,nc ^ April 12, 1987
Financial Corp. of America,
Sept. 9, 1988
> '-> A ‘ O O - S3
Global Crossing Ltd.,
Jan. 28, 2002
•mmiMi je2 5. s
UAL Corp., Dec. 9, 2002
1 $25.2**
Adelphia, June 25, 2002
M % $24.4
Pacific Gas and
Electric Co., April 6, 2001
•Mi $21.5
MCorp., March 31,1989
fflmm. $20.2
Kmart Corp-. Jan. 22, 2002
SIS $17.0
* 10-0 figure from Nov. 19. 2001 is shown.
** $22.8 billion as of Monday.
ruptcy judge and overhauls its
business plan to try to become
profitable again. As of Monday’s
filing. United had assets of $22.8
billion and liabilities of $21.2
billion, the company said.
United operates about 1,700
flights a day, or about 20 percent
of all U.S. flights. It has the
most extensive worldwide route
structure of any airline.
The bankruptcy filing will
come at a steep price for the
83,000 employees who own 55
percent of the company. A bank
ruptcy court judge is almost cer
tain to order wage and job cuts
and could dissolve the employee
stock ownership plan.
Two of United’s unions, the
Air Line Pilots Association and
the Association of Flight
Attendants, said both sides
must work together during
restructuring.
“Any successful restructur
ing of United in bankruptcy
must involve continued cooper
ation and collaboration among
ALPA, United management and
all of the company’s labor
unions,” the pilots’ union said.
Report shows Texas’ admissions plan not increasing diversity
By Jeremy Osborne
the battalion
A new report by the U.S.
ommission on Civil Rights
D '-CR) shows the Texas admissions
P rcentage plan is not working to
crease diversity among student bod-
on college campuses,
dp f . le P^ an aut omatically admits stu-
hiU) 8 ^ r0rn t ^ le t0 P ^ percent of Texas
r-f , sc hool classes to the universities
Iheir choice.
J h e Percentage plan (HB 588)
c S ado Pted in 1998 after the Fifth
H(!n Ult ( “ ourt °f Appeals 1996
that < f° < ^ V .‘ ^ tate °f Texas decision
apt - e oectively ended affirmative
act '°n m Texas.
state 6 stud y ana lyzes admissions at
su PPorted universities and
fessional programs that are not bound
by HB 588.
“The Hopwood decision has had a
lasting impact on the participation of
minority group members in Texas
institutions of higher learning, espe
cially at its flagship institutions,” the
report said. “Minority undergraduate
and graduate enrollment and admis
sions largely, except for the rare
instance, declined at Texas public
institutions.”
For instance, from 1994 to 2001,
the percentage of African Americans
enrolled at the University of Texas
dropped from 5.3 to 3.0 percent.
The report’s findings also show
that, since the 1998 implementation
of the plan, only in the 1998-1999
academic year did percentages of
students admitted to U1
pro- minority
increase significantly.
“I think this is an issue the legisla
ture must address and resolve they
can’t simply postpone it as they have
for 10 years,” said Dr. Marco Portales,
Texas A&M professor of English.
In order to combat this decline, the
A&M System Regents tentatively
approved a plan proposed by assistant
provost for enrollment Joseph Estrada
in December 2001. The plan called for
the admission of the top 20 percent of
students from about 250 low-perform
ing or disadvantaged schools.
“I think it’s a well-intentioned
plan,” Portales said.
The plan was halted in March
after public scrutiny and questions of
legality.
See Report on page 2
HISTORY OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
Texas adopts
Top lO
percent plan
The last time the
Supreme Court
addressed
affirmative action
Hopwood v. State
of Texas ends
affirmative action
in Texas
Texas A&M Regents
approve a proposed
Top 2D percent
admission plan for
250 disadvantaged
Texas high schools
Top 20
The Supreme
Court grants
plan harts
d ue to
hear two cases
deafirtg wMy
affirmative action
MM
RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION