2 HSU professors face meth-making charges

A director and an associate professor in Henderson State University’s chemistry department were arrested Friday on charges of manufacturing methamphetamine, according to a media release.

Clark County Sheriff Jason Watson arrested Terry David Bateman and Bradley Allen Rowland, both of Arkadelphia, Friday afternoon on charges of manufacturing meth and use of drug paraphernalia, the news release said.

The news release did not say whether investigators believe the two associate professors manufactured methamphetamine on campus, but it said Arkadelphia police, a narcotics task force and Henderson State University contributed to the investigation. HSU is a public university in Arkadelphia.

The university’s website listed Bateman as an associate professor and as the director of undergraduate research in the chemistry department. An online profile under Bateman’s name said he has been working at Henderson State University since 2009.

Rowland was listed as an associate professor in the chemistry department.

Henderson State University spokeswoman Tina Hall said Friday that both associate professors had been on administrative leave since Oct. 11, three days after police responded to the university’s campus after a report of a chemical odor in the Reynolds Science Center.

Hall said what happened in the science center is part of an ongoing investigation, but both professors were still on administrative leave as of Friday evening.

The science center was closed because of the chemical odor Oct. 8 and was reopened Oct. 29 after a third party tested the air quality and ensured it met Environmental Protection Agency standards, Hall said.