Daily Archives: September 8, 2006

Academic wrangling

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TSU prez Slade2.jpgTurns out that former Texas Southern University president Priscilla Slade’s decision to teach accounting at the school — while under indictment for accounting irregularities — was not a good idea. The school announced yesterday that Ms. Slade has been put on leave from her teaching duties and that a proceeding is being commenced to attempt to revoke her tenure at the school. The proceeding to revoke tenure will almost certainly be postponed pending disposition of the criminal charges against Ms. Slade.
Meanwhile, up in always-interesting Austin, University of Texas law professor Loftus Carson‘s lawsuit against the University of Texas and related parties hasn’t received much publicity. However, that all changed when Professor Loftus filed a motion to recuse U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks from his case after the Austin American-Statesman listed Judge Sparks as one of 30 judges who have received complementary Longhorn football tickets and attended exclusive receptions while at UT football games. Judge Sparks recused himself from Professor Loftus’ case yesterday and appointed a judge who is not a Longhorns fan (a rare jurist in Austin) to handle the case. I mean, what else could Judge Sparks have done given that the no. 2 Longhorns are playing no. 1 Ohio State on Saturday night in Austin?
By the way, the Statesman article on the Loftus case reports that Judge Sparks observed during the recusal hearing that he considered the tickets and receptions “a small favor” from UT for the time that he serves on panels at the UT Law School. Longhorn football tickets “a small favor?” Judge Sparks has obviously not purchased any UT football tickets lately. ;^)

James deAnda, R.I.P.

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deanda.jpgFormer U.S. District Judge James deAnda, former chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, died yesterday at the age of 81 at his summer home in Traverse City, Mich. after a short bout with prostrate cancer.
Judge deAnda was the last surviving member of a four-man legal team that handled the appeal in Hernandez v. Texas, the landmark 1954 Supreme Court case that overturned an all-white jury’s murder conviction of a Texas man because Hispanics had been systematically excluded from the jury pool in the case. The Supreme Court ruled for the first time in Hernandez that Hispanics were a separate group deserving of the same Constitutional protections as other minorities.
Judge deAnda was a native Houstonian who graduated from Davis High School before obtaining an undergraduate degree from Texas A&M and a law degree from the University of Texas. He practiced law in Houston for almost 30 years before President Carter appointed him to the U.S. District Court bench in 1979, where he served with grace and wit until he resigned in 1992 to return to private practice. Judge deAnda continued to practice law ably until shortly before his death.
A funeral Mass will be celebrated for Judge deAnda at 11 a.m. Wednesday, September 13th at St. Michael’s Catholic Church on Sage Rd. near the Galleria.

Houston Texans, Year Five

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HoustonTexasLogo.jpgHas it really been only a year since the pre-season review of the Texans’ 2005 season? Look at all that has transpired over the past year:

The Texans had a disastrous start to what was considered a promising 2005 season, which included a first home game roasting of some understandably upset season-ticket holders;
A previously-fawning media bailed out quickly as the Texans ship was sinking, even though some reporters remained quite confused over the Texans seemingly inexplicable decline;
Former Texans general manager Charlie Casserly was initially in disbelief over the season, but then became increasingly defensive over criticism of his personnel management, which — at least in regard to drafting players — turned out not to be as bad as most folks assumed, although it became apparent that selecting QB David Carr with the first pick of the 2002 NFL draft was a mistake;
As the Texans’ fortunes faded, hope sprang anew that the team would be revived by a once-in-a-decade-type running back, only to have those hopes dashed by intrigue and then the selection of what may end up being a more prudent choice in the long run, even though John McClain contended that it is impossible (except for him) to evaluate NFL drafts accurately in the short term;
Coach Dom Capers graciously accepted being cut loose at the end of the horrifying season, but then worked his new job to scam Texans owner Bob McNair for more salary. Meanwhile, despite strong denials from Casserly and McClain that Casserly was being shown the door, Casserly was fired after the NFL draft even while denying that he was being fired, and then confirmed that he was indeed fired a couple of months later;
After three seemingly successful seasons and a fourth disastrous season in the team’s first four years, Texans owner Bob McNair changed the management model for the Texans going into the team’s fifth season;
Increasingly sophisticated statistical analysis of professional football generated some underappreciated factors for determining the outcome of NFL games; and
Although more circumspect about the Texans’ prospects in comparison with the pre-season last year, the local media’s pre-season coverage of the team and its players frequently continues to lack any objective analysis.

Whew! So where does that leave the Texans coming into the 2006 season? Well, certainly not in great shape but, somewhat surprisingly, in better shape than would normally be the case of team coming off a 2-14 season. Indeed, a reasonable case can be made that the Texas are finally moving in the right direction.

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