Texas A&M
The Battalion
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Vol. 88 No. 124 USPS 045360 12 pages
College Station, Texas
Monday, April 3,1989
Papers say George Smith changes story again
By Stephen Masters
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
The saga continues.
Former Texas A&M fullback
George Smith resurfaced over the
weekend by being quoted in two
published accounts. One account has
anew version of his recantation; an
other has Smith recanting this new
version.
In a copyrighted story Saturday,
the Dallas Morning News reported
that Smith reversed his original story
about “hush money” in November
after he was offered $30,000 to do so
by an A&M source he would not
name.
“And you know, I had to get
something pretty good to do what I
did,” Smith said in the Morning
News story. “They promised me
enough to Finish my education,
which is all I ever really wanted to do
— $30,000. In that neighborhood.”
Then a report in Sunday’s Bryan-
College Station Eagle quoted Smith
as saying he never spoke with any
one from the Morning News on the
matter.
George Smith
"I don’t know nothing about
that,” he said in the Eagle story. “1
didn’t talk to nobody.”
Citing anonymous sources, the
Morning News story also alleged
that the NCAA has been given infor
mation confirming a newspaper re
port last year that Smith was allowed
to move into Cain Hall, A&M’s ath
letic dormitory, during Summer
1982, prior to his freshman year.
The story also said Smith’s aunt,
Elizabeth Jordan, has told NCAA in
vestigators she heard Smith threat
ening to tell about A&M rules viola
tions if Athletic Department officials
did not send him money.
Jordan confirmed Sunday that
she spoke with NCAA investigators
“around March,” but when asked if
she told the NCAA she heard Smith
threaten to expose the Athletic De
partment, she said, “Not really. I
ain’t heard him say nothing about
sending money. Not sending mon
ey.”
When asked what she told the
NCAA, she said, “I don’t remem
ber.”
Jordan said she “heard Smith talk
ing to somebody,” but she “didn’t
know what all he was saying.”
Jordan said she hasn’t seen Smith
in person since he was living with
her this past summer in Atlanta. It
was during this time that she said she
overheard Smith’s call about which
she allegedly told investigators. She
jaid Smith lived with her for four or
five months.
A Dec. 7 Morning News story
quoted Larry Wilson, director of
Parks Department in Douglasville,
Ga. and Smith’s former boss, as say
ing he had overheard another
threatening call by Smith. Wilson
said in the Morning News story that
he overheard Smith yelling at for
mer A&M receivers coach George
Pugh telling him to “send him some
money or he would tell what he
knows.”
In more than eight hours of taped
interviews with the Morning News,
Smith said former A&M athletic di
rector and football coach Jackie
Sherrill paid him $4,400 over a two-
year period in return for silence
over alleged recruiting violations
during Smith’s tenure with the Ag
gies.
The fullback played for A&M for
the 1982 and 1983 seasons before
transferring to Clemson.
The Morning News story broke
Nov. 18 and the Texas sports media
descended on A&M. At a hastily
called news conference the following
day. Smith recanted his accusations.
Smith said the money he had re
ceived from Sherrill was a loan.
Smith was quoted in the story say
ing Sherrill arranged for Smith to
enroll in classes and move into Cain
Hall during the summer of 1982,
prior to beginning his freshman
year, an apparent NCAA violation.
Smith also said in the story that
Sherrill paid for this room, board
and tuition during Summer 1982.
Smith said all statements he made
about A&M recruiting violations
were false and that he had made
them up to help the saleability of a
book he and Morning News reporter
Doug Bedell were working on.
Smith appeared before NCAA in
vestigators with A&M officials Nov.
20 to reiterate that he his previous
statements were lies.
Saturday’s story, also by Bedell, al
leges that Smith had documentation
on “what had transpired before his
recantation” and that this informa
tion would be turned over to the
NCAA in March. The story said
Smith was to meet with NCAA en
forcement representative Charles
Smrt in March to recant his previous
recantation.
Smrt told the Eagle he could not
comment on whether Smith had
been interviewed because the inquiry
is still incomplete.
The Morning News story said
Smith was planning to leave the
country after discussions with Smrt.
The story reported that Smith’s
phone was disconnected “within
days” of the session with Smrt.
A&M released the findings of a
two-month internal investigation
into the allegations that payments by
Sherrill to Smith constituted “hush
money.” The summary of the report
indicates that “there is no evidence
to support the charge alleged to
have been made by George Smith
that these payments constituted
‘hush money,”’ the report says.
Several paragraphs of the report
and five pages of Sherrill’s 16-page
affidavit have been withheld with
University public information offi
cials citing the “Buckley Amend
ment” as the principal exception.
The amendment exempts student
records and other information from
Texas Open Records Laws.
OCA president
announced
incorrectly
By Kelly S. Brown
STAFF WRITER
The position of Off-Campus Ag
gies president was incorrectly an
nounced Thursday when Student
Government election results were
given. The office will be decided
along with seven other positions in a
run-off election Tuesday.
Candidates for OCA president
are Curtis Rick, the 1988-89 OCA
president and a junior biology ma
jor, and Shawn Knight, a sophomore
political science major. Rick received
251 votes, white ICmght garfiered
248 votes.
The error occured during the
evaluation of election returns by
election commissioners, Kristin Hay,
co-chairman of the election commis
sion, said.
Organizations within Student
Government use different methods
to decide elections — some use a plu
rality method, by which the winner is
the candidate who receives the most
votes, while other organizations use
a majority method, by which a candi
date must receive more than half of
all votes cast.
OCA uses a majority vote system,
but the election commissioners
thought OCA offices required only a
plurality, Hay said.
Run-off elections will begin at 9
a.m. tornmorrow. Polling places in
clude the Academic Building,
Blocker Building, Kleberg and the
MSC. All polling sites except the
MSC will be open until 6 p.m. Stu
dents may vote at the MSC until 8
p.m.
Photo by Phelan M. Ebenhack
March to the Brazos
Senior Corps of Cadets member William Montgomery, peering
out of an M113 armored personnel carrier, leads about 2,000
cadets down University Drive Saturday morning during the
annual March to the Brazos. The event, which consists of
military excersises and athletic activities, raises funds for the
Muscular Dystrophy Association through pledges.
Report shows no evidence
Sherrill paid ‘hush money’
By Stephen Masters
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
An internal investigation released
Friday shows no evidence to support
allegations that Jackie Sherrill paid a
former Texas A&M football player
“hush money.”
In his summary of the report,
Vice President for Finance and Ad
ministration Robert Smith said al
though payments were made to for
mer running back George Smith (no
relation to Robert) by Jackie Sherrill,
A&M’s former athletic director and
football coach, there is no evidence
to support the “hush money” allega
tions of the Nov. 18 Dallas Morning
News story.
Robert Smith was put in charge of
the internal investigation by Univer
sity President William Mobley after
the original Morning News story
broke.
The Nov. 18 story quoted George
Smith as saying Sherrill paid him
$4,400 from 1986 to September
1988 in return for keeping quiet
about alleged recruiting violations
during Smith’s time at A&M. Smith
was a fullback with the Aggies for
the 1982 and 1983 seasons.
The summary says the report ex
amined each of Smith’s original alle
gations, including five confirmed
payments made to Smith via over
night mail. No record was found of
an alleged July 10, 1987 payment.
The six alleged payments covered in
the summary total $3,000.
The report quotes Sherrill saying
he “can neither admit nor deny that
money or anything else was sent to
George Smith” in November 1986
and January 1988. Sherrill has ad
mitted payments to Smith on June 6,
Sept. 13 and Sept. 26, 1988.
In Sherrill’s sworn affidavit, he
says he sent Smith $500 on three
separate occasions in 1988 to set
Smith up in an apartment. Sherrill’s
statement says he sent the money
separately because he thought Smith
would “make better use of it if it did
not come all at one time.”
An explanation for the reason
Sherrill sent cash rather than checks
to Smith is offered in a section titled
“Informal Response to Addtional
Inquiries.”
“Sherrill carries cash,” the re
sponse says. “No cash money is kept
in or around the Athletic Depart
ment, whether in the private office
of Jackie Sherrill or otherwise. . . .
Sherrill routinely pays cash for
things that do not require a record
or that do not have income tax impli
cations. Simply stated, it is his habit
to carry and pay in cash.”
There is no speaker identified for
the statement, labelled only “Not a
Statement of Jackie Sherrill.”
In a sworn affidavit. Bob Matey,
director of Athletic Video Services,
said that on two occasions in Septem
ber 1988 Sherrill asked him to mail
envelopes to Smith by overnight
mail.
In the first instance, Matey says he
put his name on the return address.
The second time, he said he “didn’t
feel comfortable about” mailing the
letter with his name on it. Because of
this, the statement said, he used the
name of an acquaintance, Mark
Paulson, a Brazos County deputy
Jackie Sherrill
sheriff, on the return address. Matey
said he used his own former address,
800 Marion Pugh, because he did
not know Paulson’s address.
Matey’s statement said he in
formed Paulson of using his name “a
few days later.”
Paulson confirmed in an affidavit
that Matey informed him of the in
formation, but said he was not told
until Nov. 18 when the Morning
News story broke.
Paulson’s statement says Matey
told him “Coach Sherrill was known
to help students who have been play
ers after they are gone.”
Smith’s affidavit says the only
See Report/Page 6
Predominantly black universities
experience increased enrollment
HOUSTON (AP) — A generation
after blacks fought for the right to
attend white universities, many black
parents are encouraging their chil
dren to enroll in Texas’ predomi
nantly black schools to get more per
sonal attention and camaraderie.
Officials say enrollments at Texas
Southern University and Prairie
View A&M University are following
a nationwide upward trend. It comes
as parents look for an affordable,
competitive education for their chil
dren and students look for smaller
classes and a reprieve from the re
surgence of racism at many predom
inantly white colleges, the Houston
Post reported.
“For one thing, this is your own
race,” said Karen Shaw, 25, a black
University of Texas graduate who
enrolled at TSU pharmacy college in
“We (blacks) have a common
bond,” Shaw told the Post. “We have
a common interest to try and suc
ceed in the white man’s world.”
Donald Hill, chairman of the TSU
Faculty Assembly Council, said when
black parents saw white universities
beginning to integrate in the 1960s
and early 1970s, they urged their
children to attend those schools,
thinking that was the best track to
mainstream American society.
Now, as predominantly black
schools have become more compet
itive in their offerings and more so
phisticated, parents are urging stu
dents to return to them.
Enrollments at two-thirds of the
42 colleges supported by the United
Negro College Fund have increased
this year, said Alan Kirschner, a vice
president for the fund.
In Texas, meanwhile, fall enroll
ment at Prairie View A&M hit a re
cord high of 5,640, and TSU re
ported 8,554 students, up from
7,319 in 1987.
Kirschner said part of the reason
for black colleges’ growth is costs are
about half that at private predomi
nantly white universities and stu
dents have taken advantage of more
financial aid opportunities in recent
years.
Also, the schools are more com
petitive in recruiting top students
away from Ivy League schools by of
fering honors and mentor pro
grams, such as the Banneker Honors
College at Prairie View A&M.
“My parents realized it’s a good
experience having black teachers
who understand where you’re com
ing from and who may be more sym
pathetic,” said Judith Whitmire, who
turned down an offer from Massa
chusetts’ exclusive Wellesley College
to attend Prairie View A&M, her
parents’ alma mater.
Still, the schools continue having
problems attracting black male stu
dents and acquiring substantial en
dowments and other funding.
Black male college enrollment na
tionwide dropped from 470,000 in
1976 to 436,000 in 1986, according
to an American Council on Educa
tion study released in January.
The Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board reports that
black male enrollment at state public
universities reached a peak in 1984
of 13,010 and declined to 11,912 in
1987.
“My god, it’s absolutely frighten
ing,” TSU President William Harris
said. “This is a male-dominated so
ciety. If one group (black men) is not
participating in the interest of the
population, the whole group will
suffer.”
At TSU, the number of females
applying for next fall is more than
A Texas A&M student died Satur
day morning after a pickup hit her
at the intersection of Wellborn Road
and West Main Drive on the west
side of campus.
Karen E. Miller, 34, of College
Station, stepped backward into the
roadway while videotaping the Al
britton Tower at about 6 a.ru., Col
lege Station police said.
The driver of the pickup, who was
travelling north on Wellborn Road
double the number of males: 1,226
to 597. Currently, female students
account for 54 percent of TSU’s
spring enrollment. At Prairie View,
women outnumber men 2,999 to
2,641.
Glenn Terrell, 17, a high school
junior, said he thinks Yale Universi
ty’s law school still will offer him
more than would an education from
the predominantly-black colleges.
“When it comes down to finding a
job, I’ll have a better opportunity of
finding a better job at Yale than at
TSU,” said Terrell, who is ranked
No. 1 in his class at Houston’s Jones
High School.
in the outside lane, told police he did
not see the student in time to avoid
the collision.
Miller, a senior health education
major, died before reaching Hu
mana Hospital.
Her two children and a friend
were with her at the time of the acci
dent, but they did not see it happen.
No charges have been filed in con
nection with the accident.
Student killed by truck
while videotaping tower
Bill calls for professor
on state regents boards
By Alan Sembera
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Testimony begins today in the
state House Committee on
Higher Education concerning a
bill that would add a non-voting
faculty member to university
boards of regents.
One of the faculty representa
tives who will testify in support of
the bill said Friday he supports
the faculty-regent idea because of
a need to facilitate communica
tion between governing boards
and faculties.
Dr. Kenneth Margerison, pres
ident of the 1,200-member Texas
Faculty Association, said the cur
rent system that relies on admin
istrators to represent faculty con
cerns falls short because
university administrators don’t
have a full knowledge of what
happens in the classrooms.
“We’re interested in trying to
alert the boards as to what we see
as the educational needs of the
universities,” he said.
One of the educational con
cerns of faculties, he said, is the
deterioration of university library
resources.
“University administrations
don’t seem very interested in this
problem,” Margerison said.
Claudine Hunting, president
of the TFA’s newly formed Texas
A&M chapter, agreed with Mar
gerison that there is a need for
more faculty input to the boards
of regents.
One of the problems at A&M,
she said, is the professional situa
tion women face as a minority in
the faculty.
“In many cases among tenured
faculty, especially among middle-
level professors, women are
looked down upon by their peers
if they state opinions favoring
equity between the sexes,” Hunt
ing said. “They’re interrupted,
and aren’t allowed to speak.”
Hunting said she wants coop
eration with the administration
on this and many other issues.
Having a faculty regent would
lessen the feeling that professors
are treated like numbers, she
said, and would contribute to
ward a more productive Univer
sity.
Gary Hart, president of A&M’s
Faculty Senate, said the Senate
has not taken a stance on the fac
ulty regent bill, but said a com
mittee had been formed to inves
tigate it.
Under the bill, which was in
troduced to the House by Rep.
Wilhelmina Delco, D-Austin, the
governor would choose the fac
ulty regent from a list of nomi
nees provided by faculty bodies.
Three nominees would be se
lected for each university system
by a council of faculty senators
comprised of one senator from
each member school.
An identical bill has been filed
in the Senate by Sen. Gonzalo
Barrientos. D-Austin.