Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 6, 1979)
Battalion Thursday, December 6, 1979 College Station, Texas USPS 045 360 Phone 845-2611 Senate OKs bill for monthly Taps at the world through ... Jim Kamas, a graduate student in horticulture at Texas A&M University, displays some of the leaded glass he and his wife make. He was selling his wares at the arts-and-crafts fair by Rudder Fountain Wednesday morning. The fair will continue today and Friday. Battalion photo by Clay B. Cockrill By ELLEN EIDELBACH Battalion Reporter Student senators voted 49-25 Wednes day night to recommend holding Silver Taps on the first Tuesday of each month of school at 10:30 p.m. The recommendation — which will be made to the Vice President of Student Ser vices Dr. John J. Koldus — was almost put up for reconsideration after being decided by a roll call vote. The reason for the reconsideration was because Tracy Cox, the senator who au thored the bill, had Sent a message to the Ross Volunteers that the bill had passed. Student body president Ronnie Kapavik said the bill is not final and the Ross Volun teers should not have been notified. A bill is not final, he added, until the speaker of the senate and student body president have signed it. The senate decided not to reconsider the bill and it passed by tbe original margin. Brad Smith, vice president for student affairs, said there are two main reasons for holding Silver Taps once a month. A regularly scheduled ceremony would increase attendance and make the student body more aware of its importance, he said. The results of a survey taken Nov. 27 and 28 in the Memorial Student Center to find out sentiments towards the possible change showed 48 percent of the people questioned wanted the change and 52 per cent were against it. A total of 1193 students and faculty were surveyed. Only the freshman surveyed voted against the change. Several arguments at the meeting pre sented both positive and negative reasons to change Silver Taps. Senior yell leader, Jeff Smiley, was against the change on the grounds it would depersonalize the meaning of the cere mony and be unfair to families and friends of the dead person to hold it at a later date. He also said the number of people attend ing Silver Taps shouldn’t be significant of its importance. In addition, students who don’t take time to attend shouldn’t be cal led Aggies. Smiley added tradition is based on past and not future concerns. Cox said the bill is not intended to change tradition. “The point of Silver Taps,” Cox said, “is that you go just because he (the dead per son) is an Aggie. A lot of people just don’t care anymore. I think more people will come if they know it’s the first Tuesday of the month.” He also explained that only 50 percent of the parents invited to Silver Taps attend. One parent, Cox said, said she felt no additional sorrow because she had attended the Silver Taps ceremony for her daughter. Other senators expressed concerns ab out off-campus students not being able to attend due to no shuttle bus service. In other action, passed bills which in cluded: - requesting the traffic panel to designate bicycle paths on both sides of Spence Street from Zachry Engineering Center to the Commons - coordinating a program on personal security. - having a week for students to meet representatives of various campus organi zations - urging the highway department to in stall a traffic light at Joe Routt and Well born Road - thanking president Miller for cancell ing classes on Monday due to the Aggies’ football victory over Texas on Saturday. Only one bill was on its first reading. It concerned an urge for academic depart ments to use a seniority system for prere- gistration. [l.S. says Kremlin press statements ‘deplorable’ United Press International MOSCOW — The Soviet Union Inesday broke its loud silence on the n hostage situation, condemning the ed States — not Iran — for breaking ational law. fyniPiciintly, the report in the Coin- ist Party newspaper Pravda did not ten Soviet counteraction if the United :s uses military force against Ayatollah illah Khomeini’s Islamic government. ‘acting to the statement, the United charged the Soviet Union is not g enough to help secure the release of American hostages in Iran and accused the Kremlin of deplorable press statements on the situation. “The commentary that was carried in Pravda today is deplorable. We have made our views known on this subject to the Soviet Union, ” President Carter said. Sec retary of State Cyrus Vance raised the issue during a midmorning meeting with Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin. The Pravda article was considered signi ficant because it,was signed hj^Alexei-PeL - rov, a pseudonym known to mean the au thor was a high ranking Kremlin official and the message was authoritative. While it noted that the Nov. 4 storming of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and the taking of American hostages violated inter national law, Pravda said the United States had also broken international statues by beefing up its military force in the Persian Gulf and by harboring the deposed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. “A very alarming and dangerous situa tion is being formed,” Pravda said. “The Umted-States is.resorting to blackmail with respect to sovereign states. “Instead of setting an example of forbear ance, responsibility and being cool-headed in the present situation, instead of doubl ing their efforts to seek a reasonable way out of the situation, instead of not letting their emotions burst, certain circles in the United States are staking (a lot) on force.” It noted the sending of the aircraft car rier Kitty Hawk to the Persian Gulf and said “there are more than enough facts showing that preparations for using force are being carried out in the Middle East. Forces of such size have never been accu mulated in the vicinity of Iran. It said the holding of the hostages by Islamic students who have threatened to kill them “cannot serve as a justification for violating the sovereignty of an indepen dent state — the core of the whole interna tional law.” Carter said, “What we have is a two-fold thing here: The Soviets have taken some positive constructive steps in diplomatic channels such as the U.N. Security Council resolution in support of the principle of diplomatic immunity. But, he added,. “In light of the Pravda article, the Soviet position remains ambi guous.” “Speaking for the U S. government, we feel the Soviet Union can and should do more to support the immediate release of the hostages. Insofar as the Pravda com mentary is concerned, that commentary is deplorable. Vance met with Dobrynin at his State Department office just before the Soviet diplomat s return to Moscow for consulta tions. Asked if they discussed the Pravda article. Carter said: “I wouldn’t lead you away from that idea.” ilitant students reject .N. council resolution United Press International iHRAN, Iran — P’inance Minister pi Hassan Bani Sadr Wednesday aled for the release of 50 American ages and official Tehran radio said a N Security Council resolution deman- their freedom paved the way for furth- negotiations. ut militant students holding the hos- is for the 32nd day Wednesday rejected U.N. resolution, threatened to try the ages for spying and urged the entire km world to arise and kick out “this eat devil,” the United States. While the militants appeared to dig in on r demands over the release of the hos- !s, Bani Sadr told a news conference he )d against a spy trial and urged the re- e of the hostages. Bani Sadr, who was replaced recently as h’s foreign minister, said a solution Mid still be found to the crisis if U.N. retary General Kurt Waldheim con- led an international commission to look 3 the crimes of the shah, fearlier he had lectured the militants, >ing they could not try people who “are cial representatives of a foreign state en you have captured them on their own rritory. They can only be expelled. ” Dutside the embassy, hundreds of Ira- ns demonstrated, waving placards such ‘guns and warships do not scare us.” The students holding the embassy issued iir60th communique, saying: “Today all Moslem world, in particular you (the pie of Saudi Arabia) should rise and block the way for the U.S., this great devil.” The militants said rising against Amer ica was a “Godly duty,” accused the Un ited States of plundering Arab oil wealth and killing Moslems and said the people of Islam should not be afraid of dying and becoming martyrs. Interior Minister Ayatollah Kashemi Rafsanjeni also denounced the U.N. re solution as “worthless,” but the country’s official radio issued conflicting commentar ies, both criticizing and praising the resolu tion. In a morning commentary, the radio cal led the resolution “unacceptable. But a later commentary said it left the way open “for continuing efforts” to bring a peaceful end to the crisis, now in its 33rd day. The later commentary said the Security Council resolution was “not compulsory'” and in no way condemned Iran but “indire ctly warned the United States about milit ary threats or actions. ” With contradictory statements totally confusing the situation in Tehran, Foreign Minister Sadegh Qotbzadeh, who said Tuesday the hostages would definitely stand trial, traveled to the city of Qom for talks with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to decide Iran’s official reaction to the latest U.N. moves. A spokesman for the students holding the hostages appeared to contradict a state ment by Qotbzadeh that the students themselves would judge the hostages, now in their 33rd day of captivity. Iranian Ags respond to request for status By JACKIE FAIR Battalion Reporter Iranian students at Texas A&M Uni versity met with San Antonio Immig ration officials Wednesday in com pliance with President Carter’s orders to check the status of Iranians students enrolled in U.S. universities. The students were responding to a letter they received from the Texas A&M International Affairs Depart ment, calling for a mandatory review of the students’ current status as legal temporary residents. “We sent a letter to every Iranian student enrolled at Texas A&M, ex cept those in the Corps, and urged them to spread the word,” said Frank Castillo, of the San Antonio Immigra tion Service. “If they don’t show up, they face deportation proceedings.” Iranian cadets have to go through similar screening to be allowed in the Corps. After filling out a government form concerning health, income, employ ment and other aspects of their lives in the U.S., the students were ques tioned about their answers by the im migration officers. They were also required to bring their passports, evidence of their cur rent address and a letter from the Uni versity certifying their academic status. “If they fail to meet any of these requirements, they must be sent to San Antonio for further questioning,” Castillo said. “For example, if it is a matter of grades, the student can probobly ex tend his probation, but only after further questioning in San Antonio to determine his efforts.” If he doesn’t meet the require ments, he is given the choice of going back on his own or going through the deportation proceedure. One Iranian student, who asked that his name be witheld, was angry about the questioning. “They (the immigration service) are wasting my time and their own,” he said. “How will relations improve be tween our two countries by sending back a couple of Iranian students?” But P. Wayne Gosnell, director of the International Services on campus, said he feels the students are lucky the San Antonio officials came here. “Otherwise the students would have had to travel to San Antonio,” Gosnell said. “It’s more efficient this way. ” A Texas A&M University Iranian student begins filling out the paperwork required by the International Student Service interviewers in Bizzell Hall. Battalion photo by Lee Roy Leschper Jr. ithlete-reporter loses place on women s track team By LIZ NEWLIN Battalion Editor Angelique Copeland, a sprinter, was dis- jissed from the Texas A&M University omen’s track team two days after The ittalion published her article concerning issible favoritism in the use of the Athle- Department weight room. The depart- hent says the two events are not con fected. Track Coach Bill Nix said the dismissal Was “totally irrelevant to the story.” I He said Copeland was removed from the Ream Friday afternoon because she dis puted his authority during a workout. Copeland said Nix told ber and her run- ng partner they weren’t performing up to is standards — they weren’t running fast plough — and they should leave practice. The other woman left practice, but 'opeland went back and told the coach she ’as doing her best. Nix then told her she as off the team for arguing with him. Her running partner is still on the team. Copeland says she was removed because of the story. “After the story ran. Coach Nix felt pressure from the Athletic Department, even though no one told him to get rid of me,” Copeland said in an interview Wednesday. “Just judging from the flak I got, he must have felt some pressure. “When he told me I wasn’t doing my best in practice, I tried to get across to him I was trying to do my best.” Copeland says she wasn’t “the politest thing in the world, ” but contends she wasn’t screaming at him, as Nix says. Both Nix and Copeland say they’ve nev er had disciplinary disputes before. Cope land says she still wants to run track, espe cially after eight years of training. What kind of chance does she have to get back on the team? Tuesday Nix said Nix said Copeland had “a chip on her shoulder all the time,” but the dismissal was “totally irrelevant to the story.” Copeland believes Nix was also upset because he had to return a key to the weight room; he had used the key to let the cross country team work out after hours. Strength Coach Mike Flynt, who super vises the room, had allowed Nix to use the room when Flynt was not there — a tech nical violation of the rules. “He (Nix) was upset after Coach Flynt took back his key to the weight room since under strict interpretation of the rules that was favoritism,” Copeland said. Athletic Director Marvin Tate had told Flynt to observe the rule strictly. Copeland told her coach about the weight room story before it ran. After Flynt took the key away but still before the story ran, Copeland says Nix told her she should consider that publishing the story would be hurting the track team. Nix said he didn’t agree with the story, and said Tuesday he told her, “If you could get the article out of the paper. I’d appreci ate it.” But, he said, the story did not color his decision. “She was not told to leave this team be cause of the article. It was strictly as an See related editorial, page 2 athlete. I don’t hold one thing over another.” Assistant Athletic Director Kay Don also said the dismissal was unrelated to the story. “No one has ever told anyone she was to be taken off a team,” she said. Don, who heads the women’s athletic program, said she called Copeland into her office after the story appeared as an “informational meeting. At the time, Copeland said Don told her she had “set the women’s program back two years.” But in an interview Tuesday, Don said she’d “been able to work out potential problems and doubted the story would harm her program. Don also said the matter was out of her hands. The article in last Wednesday’s Battalion said non-collegiate athletes were being allowed to use the weight room in DeWare Fieldhouse, a violation of the rules Flynt had established. Flynt said at least one stu dent was using the room as a “favor to a friend. ” In that case, Tate said he knew the student wanted advice from Flynt, but was not aware the student was using the weight room. After learning about the weight room use, Tate instructed Flynt to cut out special privileges, including the key to Nix. Andy Williams, managing editor of The Battalion, assigned Copeland to report and write the story after she discovered the situation. Copeland is in Journalism 204, a class that writes articles for the paper. Copeland was a non-scholarship member of the track team. Looking back, Williams says a better de cision would have been to assign another reporter to the story — one who had no possible stake in it. “I think it was a bad decision, Williams said Wednesday, “but I could not imagine the repercussions would be as severe as they appear to have been. Williams says the story was reported accurately and fairly. “Obviously, as it turned out, it would have been a better decision to let someone else do the story. But I think it’s ridiculous we have to worry about this kind of con sequence.”