WORLD
THE BATTALION
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Aggielife: Getting high on life • Page 3
Opinion: The cost of illegal immigration • Page 5
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THE BATTALION
Volume 109 • Issue 173 • 6 pages
109 Years Serving Texas A&M University
www.thebatt.com
Tuesday, July 22, 2003
Jniversity cuts 35 staff positions
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tich calls forendingw-
linian state by 2005.
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ider Yasser Arafat bam
;es the use of violence
A'ith foreign countries'
be judged according i»
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said it was issued by
ban. The move folk
Saturday pledging
: Gaza Strip,
fter the Sharon-Abl
le decree, but repea
Thirty-five faculty members were laid off
londay due to budget constraints, said Texas
AM President Robert M. Gates.
In a statement July 8, Gates outlined plans to
direct campus activities and increase program
efficiencies. Gates announced the elimination of
SO positions, 211 of which were currently
ifilled due to the hiring freeze put into effect in
miary, leaving about 40 jobs needing to be cut.
“I urge everyone fortunate enough not to be
rectly affected by the layoffs to extend every
mrtesy and every feasible form of assistance to
ose who through no fault of their own are losing
icir jobs as a result of our budget constraints and
organization,” Gates said in the statement.
PLAYOFF!
Due to budget restrictions'
By Megan Orton
THE BATTALION
The Dwight Look College of Engineering was
one college that was dealt a heavy blow, losing six
employees.
“Anytime you lose anyone like this it is a very
bad feeling,” said Dr. George Bennett, dean of the
engineering college. “But we understand that the
University needs to reinvest where it needs to
grow. I really don’t see that there was any way
around it.”
Bennett said he thinks everyone is doing the
best they can given the situation.
The layoffs affect six colleges and the Office of
the President, the Executive Vice President and
Provost’s office and the Division of Administration
and the Division of Finance, Gates said.
Gates said he did not anticipate any addi
tional campus-wide layoffs during the coming
fiscal year.
His hope is that many of the individuals sched
uled to be laid off will find suitable employment
elsewhere on campus.
“With that distinct possibility in mind, and as
previously announced, I am lifting the current hir
ing freeze effective August 1,” Gates said.
Affected individuals will remain on payroll for
60 days, during which time they will be assisted in
their search for future employment. Gates said.
A&M’s Human Resource Department has
established a temporary Career Transition Center
to assist those affected, and an individual benefits
counseling session will be provided for each laid-
off employee.
See Cuts on page 2
'35 staff members laid off
Layoffs affected
Office of President
Office of the Executive VP and Provost
Division of Administration
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
College of Architecture
College of Education and Human
Development
College of Liberal Arts
Dwight Look College of Engineering
RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
Light it up
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A&M weighs
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SHARON AESCHBACH • THE BATTALION
Sophomore environmental design major Jason Gilbert draws
a topography plan for his environmental design class. The
drawing is the second stage of an ongoing project that will be
presented with the initial model.
Dotson charged in
roommate’s murder
By Gretechen Parker
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHESTERTOWN, Md. —
The former roommate of miss
ing Baylor University basketball
player Patrick Dennehy was
charged Monday with murder,
authorities said.
The warrant naming Carlton
Dotson was issued by police in
Waco, Texas, where Dennehy
has been missing since mid-
June, Chestertown Police Chief
Walter Coryell said. No body
has been found.
As he left the court commis
sioner’s office Monday night,
Dotson told a reporter: “I didn’t
confess to anything. Call the
FBI.” Shortly after his arrest,
Dotson had referred all ques
tions to his lawyer.
Dotson’s attorney, Grady
Irvin Jr., said in a telephone
interview that he had last spoken
with his client over the weekend.
He would not say what they dis
cussed.
“It is most unfortunate that
police have come to the conclu
sion that there is a death,” Irvin
said. “I am uncertain as to how
they came to that conclusion,
that Patrick Dennehy is now
dead.”
Two officers escorted
Dotson, in handcuffs, into the
police station about 9:20 p.m.
He emerged about 15 minutes
later with Coryell, another offi
cer and an FBI agent.
Dotson was fingerprinted
LJ
and processed at the police
department, Coryell said. He
was then taken to the Kent
County court
commissioner’s
office for an ini
tial hearing.
Coryell said
Dotson was in
Chestertown,
about 55 miles
dotson from his home
town of Hurlock,
on Sunday when he called
police from a grocery store.
“He said he needed help,”
Coryell said. “We took him to
the hospital for an evaluation.
During his stay there he contact
ed the FBI.”
The police chief said Dotson
stayed overnight at a
Chestertown hospital, then left
early Monday afternoon with
FBI agents.
He was interviewed by the
FBI and “as a result of that inter
view, this warrant has been
issued,” the chief said.
Irvin said he did not know
what Dotson told authorities.
“I don’t know if the arrest
warrant is based on statements
he (Dotson) made or informa
tion gathered through law
enforcement agencies and their
investigations,” Irvin said. “I’m
sure that when I read the war
rant, I am 100 percent certain
that there will be information
not previously available to my
See Dotson on page 2
By Natalie Younts
THE BATTALION
Following the University of Michigan affirma-
live action rulings in June, the next move for Texas
A&M is to hire the new vice president and associate
Provost for institutional diversity, said University
President Robert M. Gates.
“We’re in conversations with several of the can
didates at this point and I would hope that we could
"'rap that up in the next few weeks,” Gates said.
He said A&M officials are looking to the
College Board and Attorney General Greg Abbott
for advice about affirmative action policies and
Procedures.
The University of Texas has already begun
"nplementing new admission requirements
designed after the ruling, which will be enforced for
die 2004-2005 school year
Frank Ashley, A&M director of admissions,
said lawyers emphasized the importance of evalu-
each application to see how a person may
Contribute to institutional diversity at a national
College Board meeting in Chicago this month.
The lawyers also said each school needs to deter
mine what its critical mass of minorities is for other
minorities to feel comfortable, Ashley said.
“They gave the situation where a student may be
die only minority living in a dorm or the only minor
ity in class and they are scared to speak up, because
diey feel like if they say anything they’re speaking
for their whole race,” Ashley said.
Although the Supreme Court did not address
financial aid in the June rulings, it can be inferred
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
I Texas A&M officials are consulting
with others before making a|
stance on affirmative action
Deputy Chancellor Dr. Jerry
Gaston met with other Texas
chancellors in Austin
Director of Admissions Dr. Frank
Ashley met with the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board
Officials have also consulted with
Attorney General Greg Abbott and
various college boards
RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
that race can be considered in determining if a per
son gets financial aid, he said.
Ashley said people in Michigan are already try
ing to bring state mandates against affirmative
action, and that it will probably happen in other
states.
Ray Brown, the Texas Christian University
director of admissions who attended the College
Board meeting, said the meeting was successful.
“Everybody in the room was very pleased with
the outcome, but we were made painfully aware
that this is just signaling a new effort that’s going
to have to come about,” he said.
Jerry Gaston, A&M deputy chancellor, met
with other Texas chancellors to discuss the effect
of the rulings. Gates said.
“We definitely need a few more ears to go and
try to gather information,” Ashley said.
Ashley will be attending another College
Board meeting in Houston next month to further
discuss the ruling, and will take other A&M rep
resentatives with him.
Spring tuition increases $9 per hour
By Karen Yancey
THE BATTALION
University tuition will increase $9 per credit
hour starting January 2004, said Texas A&M
President Robert M. Gates at one of three public
hearings on tuition increases Monday.
Gates said with the investment in faculty,
tuition will again increase in the fall of 2004, and
it will be larger than the current one.
“I don’t see a change in the track coming, the
burden of education is shifting more and more
from the state to the student,” he said.
Gates said the University plans to hire 400 new
tenured and tenure-track faculty over the next
four years, because the University has the lowest
percentage of classes with less than 20 students
and the highest percentage of classes with more
than 50 students in Texas.
Gates said the University wants to change the
student-teacher ratio from 22-to-1 to a ratio of 16-
to-1.
With the $1.4 million reduction in general rev
enue from the state, A&M will start the fiscal year
2004 with a debt of $38.7 million. Gates said.
Despite that. Gates said he did not want to
make across-the-board cuts.
“That is a formula for mediocrity,” he said.
Gates said University administration received
the largest cuts with himself receiving the largest
cut in salary.
He also said the computer usage fee will not
increase because of student input requesting it
stay the same. He also said that the tuition
increase is significantly smaller than that of other
See Tuition on page 2
Century Scholars help raise retention
By Justin Smith
THE BATTALION
Texas A&M was honored
last week with a Retention
Excellence Award at the
National Conference on
Student Retention.
The award was given July
14 in San Diego by Noel-
Levitz, a division of Sallie
Mae, a consulting firm special
izing in higher education stu
dent recruitment, financial aid,
student retention and market
research.
Shasta Porchia, interim
assistant director of the
Department of Honors
Programs and Academic
Scholarships , said A&M was
selected because of its Century
Scholars Program.
“The Century Scholars
Program aims at 41 under-rep
resented high schools in Dallas,
Fort Worth and Houston where
we encourage students to come
to A&M,” she said. “We try to
keep them here so they eventu
ally can go back to their high
schools and recruit more stu
dents from those schools.”
The Century Scholars
Program, started in 1999, has a
current retention rate of 95 per
cent and A&M has a retention
rate of 88 percent, Porchia said.
There are currently 100 stu
dents in the Century Scholars
Program and 43 will join in the
fall, Porchia said.
To encourage students in the
program to stay in school, they
are given scholarships as well
as the chance to participate in
unique programs and events.
“Last year we took many of our
freshmen on a trip to London.
See Retention on page 2