September 22, 2002

Murky line between corporate philanthropy and personal philanthropy leaves area ripe for abuse by top corporate officers, who may take credit for largess that rightly belongs to corporations and their shareholders; government regulators do not monitor or require companies to disclose charitable contributions; several shareholder proposals have been put forward to allow investors to set agenda for giving and to open company records on donations; corporate philanthropy has soared over last decade, and many companies now generously finance not only causes of their current chiefs, but also those of their former leaders; photos; graph (L)

Male walk-ons have become unwanted luxury in most college athletics programs; colleges are working hard to maintain roughly equal number of male and female participants, to comply with law prohibiting sex discrimination in federally funded institutions, called Title IX; their delicate balancing act is disrupted each year when there are three to four times more men than women arriving unsolicited for first week of practices; athletic department administrators are telling coaches of women's teams to keep as many walk-ons as they can, even encouraging them to scour campuses for more candidates to fill rosters, in effort to respond to disparity; result is many men are having their dreams dashed when they are shut out of tryouts; photos (M)

Interview with actor Jack Nicholson, who comments on his life, career and new film, About Schmidt; photo (L)

Complexity and confusion surrounding US policy on 'regime change' in Iraq discussed; photo (M)

Prominent national Democrats regard Sen Robert G Torricelli of New Jersey as party's most vulnerable Senate incumbent, and fear he might cost Democrats control of Senate; they expected him to overcome his ethics troubles more easily; his predicament has roiled party and stirred resentment toward him among fellow Democrats; some say his wounds are self-inflicted, that he gave ammunition to Republican challenger Douglas R Forrester by engaging in behavior that led Senate Ethics Committee to reprimand him for improperly accepting gifts from campaign donor; some Democrats worry that party's focus on New Jersey threatens to limit money and other resources available for other Democrats; photo (M)

Seasonal influx of young college graduates with first career jobs has swept into town and they are adapting to realities of real estate in New York area; those with jobs but slender salaries discover that sort of dormitory life continues; those with well-paying first jobs find that pooling rent money pays dividends in space and surroundings; challenge of finding first apartment in New York City is even greater today when rule of thumb used by landlords and brokers calls for salary of 42 to 52 times monthly rent just to be considered prospective tenant; $1,200 studio requires minimum income of $50,000 when many sought-after entry-level jobs pay under $30,000; some recent graduates who have found apartments comment; photos (M)

Gretchen Morgenson Market Watch column on deterioration of Dell Computer Corp's balance sheet; notes that working capital declined markedly in recent years, that liabilities are up 48 percent while assets are up only 17 percent, that shareholders must takes on faith Dell's valuation of its investments at $4.6 billion and that there is also $1 billion liability associated with Dell's previous sales of put options on its shares; graph (M)

Article on Mogul Style, atavistic way in which company executives spend enormous amounts of money, their own or not, on home furnishings and parties to impress one another; photos (M)

Fate of United States economy rests mostly on whether corporate managers make fresh and substantial investments in plants, equipment and other capital goods, but many managers are in wait-and-see mode because of array of uncertainties at home and abroad, including prospect of terrorist acts, war with Iraq and shareholder demands for new standards of corporate governance; photos; graphs illuminate economic slowdown (M)

Prime Min Ariel Sharon says that if Iraq attacks Israel, he plans to strike back; his statement, made privately to senior Bush administration officials in recent weeks, represents major shift in Israeli thinking since 1991 Persian Gulf war, when 39 Iraqi Scud missiles struck without any Israeli response; Israeli politicians and generals now believe that Arab leaders perceived Israel's restraint in 1991 as weakness; Pentagon fears that Israeli entry into any war with Iraq would stir up Arab public opinion and make it harder for Pentagon to maintain cooperation from Arab states where Washington hopes to base American forces; Defense Sec Donald H Rumsfeld tells Congress it would be in Israel's 'overwhelming best interests' not to intervene if US goes to war with Iraq; Pentagon is planning military steps to reduce Iraqi threat to Israel and obviate need for Israeli retaliatory strike; photos (M)

Notre Dame University defeats Michigan State University, 21-17 (M)

Investigators in Tahiti, police in California and mother Patricia Phillips try to piece together clues to explain disappearance and suspected murder of Bison Dele, his girlfriend Serena Karlan and boat captain Bertrand Saldo in Tahiti, assumedly at hand of Dele's brother Miles Dabord, who is currently comatose in California hospital; photos (M)