San Diego State University

Marine Lance Cpl. Elmer Ugarte, recuperating from being shot in the shoulder during a firefight in Iraq, is thinking of going to college once his active-duty service is finished. "I made some history in Iraq," the 22-year-old Ugarte laughed. "Now I think I'd like to study history." Ugarte was among a dozen Marines brought to San Diego State University last week for the kind of VIP treatment usually reserved for the star athletes the Aztecs are recruiting.

The undercover officers started to appear at San Diego State fraternity parties about six months ago. They dressed like students, complained about their parents and professors, and talked freely and knowingly of things of great interest on campus: music, sex and drugs. Soon they were accepted, with no questions asked. They were spotted at student hangouts on and off campus. They swapped cellphone numbers with other partygoers. They text-messaged their newfound friends.

Stung by bad publicity from last week's massive campus drug bust, San Diego State University has begun a public-relations blitz with the theme "We're prouder than ever." The university has taken out a full page in today's Union-Tribune with names of more than 500 alumni and local notables boosting the school. The $19,000 ad was paid for, in part, by Cox Business, a division of cable and television giant Cox Communications, and by restaurant owner Ralph Rubio.

Esteban Nunez, the son of former California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, and three other men who were arrested in the fatal stabbing of a college student in San Diego fit the definition of a criminal street gang, police said in search warrants released Wednesday. Nunez and his companions identified themselves as members of The Hazard Crew or THC, according to the documents. THC is an abbreviation for the active chemical ingredient in marijuana.

Opponents of a San Diego State student exchange program on Cyprus were disappointed Wednesday when the Cal State system's trustees did not suspend the overseas classes. Greek American organizations and others had sought to stop the summer program about international conflict resolution because it was held last summer in the Turkish-occupied part of Cyprus, which they said amounted to immoral support of a puppet regime. The classes' organizers and other faculty stressed that the U.S.

A 32-year-old Bonita man pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to posting a threat against San Diego State University students on his website. The threat was posted in the wake of the killings at Virginia Tech. Cristobal Fernando Gonzalez said the threat was a hoax to draw attention to his website. He faces a possible five years in prison when sentenced Sept. 4.

Re: "Expelling academia's crackpots," Opinion, July 30 Although I disagree with his characterization of the 9/11 victims as "little Eichmanns," Ward Churchill should be defended against the "little McCarthys." According to Gregory Rodriguez, it was not enough for the University of Colorado to expel Churchill after a prolonged and open-ended fishing expedition. Better to do it because his ideas happen to be outside the political mainstream.

A 32-year-old Bonita man was sentenced in federal court Tuesday to six months in custody and a $1,500 fine for posting what he called a hoax on his website threatening violence at San Diego State. Cristobal Fernando Gonzalez said the threat, posted in the wake of the shooting rampage in which a gunman killed 33 people at Virginia Tech last April, was meant to draw attention to his website. As part of his sentence, Gonzalez was ordered to take a business ethics course.

Re "Less to bank on at state universities," Oct. 7 Following the passage of Proposition 13, California's schools quickly went from among the best in the nation to among the worst. The tax scheme did protect homeowners from outrageous tax hikes, but it shifted the tax burden away from the wealthy to working-class people. That increased economic and social inequality; schools became more segregated by class and race. The de-funding of the university systems must be part of the mix, and it is.

The Brigham Young-San Diego State game scheduled for Saturday night has been postponed until Dec. 1 because Qualcomm Stadium is being used as an evacuation center for residents displaced by wildfires. "There is a far greater priority than sporting events in the San Diego area at this time," Mountain West Conference Commissioner Craig Thompson said in a statement. "The focus should be on emergency response and resources, and getting the community back on its feet.