Free Republic

Families seek to hold Tech fraternities liable for students' deaths BY D. LANCE LUNSFORD AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Two Texas Tech fraternities are facing similar allegations in separate lawsuits after the deaths of two pledges following pledge retreats in 2001 and 2002. Delta Sigma Phi (DSP), Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) and a number of their members are facing suits filed by parents of the former pledges. The suits' allegations include hazing and sleep deprivation. The fraternities say no wrongdoing occurred. While DSP and 49 members are accused of several violations of Tech policy and Texas law regarding hazing, TKE faces the same accusations...

Tech pumps up tuition by 36 percent Regents pass new admissions policy By SEBASTIAN KITCHEN AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Texas Tech regents passed a dramatic $20 per credit hour increase Friday, despite objections from the student body president, and approved a policy that will include race and ethnicity as admission factors. The overall increase for the coming school year will add more than $500 to students' bills since the fall 2003 semester. "This is going to hurt our students," said Jeremy Brown, president of the Student Government Association. Tech tuition per credit hour Fall 2002 and spring 2003 $88 Fall 2003 $92 Spring...

Tech plans change in admissions Race-based policy set for approval by regents By SEBASTIAN KITCHEN AVALANCHE-JOURNAL The Texas Tech Board of Regents is expected to approve race and ethnicity as factors in admissions at its Friday meeting. Other universities, including the University of Texas, returned to race-based admissions after a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June stated that race and ethnicity can be included as factors in the ad missions pro cess. The change has met opposition on campuses throughout the country, including Tech and Texas, where the Center for Equal Opportunity and other organizations are attempting to overturn the...

Knight's outburst draws reprimand Raider fans throw support behind coach BY PATRICK GONZALES A-J SPORTS EDITOR Texas Tech head basketball coach Bob Knight was on the sidelines Tuesday night — a day after a highly publicized verbal spat with the university's chancellor threatened to put another dent in his coaching career. After a day of deliberation among school officials, Tech athletic director Gerald Myers said in a press release distributed Tuesday afternoon that appropriate personnel action had been taken in regard to Knight. No suspension was involved, Myers said, but the action did include a reprimand. Knight was greeted with...

Dispute fuels Tech activism By SEBASTIAN KITCHEN AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Molding a student voting bloc to take on City Hall over a housing issue may have ramifications that go beyond purple houses and numbers of roommates, organizers say. Will students registered to vote in Lubbock begin to take more interest in local issues? Will they become a factor in local elections? That's entirely possible, says Colton Batchelor, Texas Tech Student Government Association external vice president. Historically, college students here show little inclination to vote in local elections, Batchelor says, noting that he, too, has been guilty of apathy. "I think, in general,...

Ex-Gov. Smith dies at 91 By JOHN FUQUAY AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Preston Smith, Texas' 40th governor, who graduated from Lamesa High School and owned movie theaters in Lubbock, died Saturday in University Medical Center three days after being admitted with pneumonia. Longtime friend Otice Green said Smith's family was with him when he died at 4:45 p.m. He was 91. "It was a very sudden at tack," Green said. "He was feeling fine Monday, recovering, and he was with his daughter, then he began feeling bad. Other factors began to set in, and he experienced one failure after another." Services are scheduled...

Texas Tech will return to a former policy of including race and ethnicity as a factor in ad missions after the Board of Regents approved the measure Friday. Race was a consideration before the 1996 Hopwood decision, which overturned affirmative action in Texas. The suit, named for lead plaintiff Cheryl Hopwood, was filed by four white students who were denied admission to the University of Texas School of Law. However, a June ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court allows universities to return to using race as one of multiple factors in the admissions process. "It allows the admissions policies to...

Youth obesity weighs heavily on Tech's heart By JOHN DAVIS AVALANCHE-JOURNAL Confronting the "silent threat" of childhood obesity will be the first order of business for the Healthy Lubbock Initiative, Dr. M. Roy Wilson's vision for making Lubbock the healthiest city in Texas. Wilson, the new president of Texas Tech's Health Sciences Center, spoke Monday to about 125 people from Lub bock's health, academic, religious and business sectors about his views on children and obesity. "Your presence here today means a lot," Wilson told the audience. "You are committed to what we want, which is to make the quality of...

Concerns on tuition grip Tech By SEBASTIAN KITCHEN AVALANCHE-JOURNAL The trend of public universities becoming less state-supported and more family- and student-supported continues this semester as record numbers of students pay record tuitions across the state, and the trend may be just beginning. The Legislature recently gave university boards of regents the authority to set tuition rates on their campuses. One major Texas university already has used its new-found power, and others are looking at the cost of doing business before possibly bumping up tuitions in January. The rising cost of education has Texas Tech students and administrators worried. Tech...

Tech plan calls for increase in tuition, fees By SEBASTIAN KITCHEN AVALANCHE-JOURNAL The average Texas Tech student will pay $400 more a semester if the Board of Regents passes tuition and fee increases suggested by the administration. The 19 percent overall increase in tuition and fees is proposed to offset a reduction in funding that stems from the state's $9.9 billion budget shortfall, said Cindy Rugeley, vice chancellor for news and information. Regents will consider the increase Feb. 27. The largest jump would be in fees. Currently, fees are subsidized by state funds. Those state funds would be removed from...