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.”