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The Battalion
fol. 93 No. 101 (12 pages)
1893 — A Century of Service to Texas A&M — 1993
Thursday, February 24,1994
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age optimistic about Big Eight merger
By Mark Smith
The Battalion
I Texas A&M's Interim President E.
Dean Gage and several members of
&M's athletic department are optimistic
bout the proposed merger of four South-
est Conference schools with the Big
ight Conference.
"Overall, the specifics of the matter
ould be premature to comment on,"
Gage said. "But, in the long term, as far
s athletics and academics are concerned,
it is an attractive offer."
I The Southeastern Conference's defec
ts said,‘Id! tion from the College Football Associa-
n throwthr:; ,'tion's television contract with ABC and
■5SPN two weeks ago may have been the
ghting agiiMnajor impetus for other conferences' pos-
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The Big Eight was offered a $60 million
television contract with ABC and ESPN to
egin in the 1996-97 football season, and
as offered an additional $20 million if
he Big Eight was merged with the SWC.
Monday, the Big Eight invited A&M,
TJwsSiuifpie University of Texas, Baylor and Texas
Cte.'Wech to join the conference.
The Big Eight has set a Friday deadline
o ask-s Tor the four SWC schools to reach their
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Baylor regents vote unanimously to accept conference bid
The Associated Press
WACO — Baylor regents voted unanimously
Wednesday to become the first Southwest Conference
school accepting a Big Eight merger offer/in what could
be the beginning of the nearly 80-year-old SWCs demise.
Board of Regents Chairman Thomas R. Powers
emerged from a 21/2-hour closed meeting of the
board to announce the school was severing its ties
with the SWC.
"We are delighted and excited that our board unani
mously voted to accept the invitation that's been of
fered," Powers said at a news conference. "We think the
financial possibilities of this new alliance are exciting."
Two other original SWC members, Texas and Texas
A&M, and longtime member Texas Tech all had re
gents' meetings scheduled this week to consider the of
fer from the Big Eight's Kansas City, Mo., offices.
A formal announcement of the merger appeared
only to need regents' rubber-stamping at the schools.
"We're looking forward to the challenge. I believe
it's a new era for us," said Baylor President Herbert
Reynolds.
Reynolds said Baylor received the invitation late
last week and that the Big Eight schools voted unani
mously to invite his university, Texas, Texas A&M
and Texas Tech.
Disintegration of the SWC, which began in 1990 af
ter Arkansas joined the Southeastern Conference,
would leave Houston, Rice, Southern Methodist and
Texas Christian to fend for themselves in the competi
tive world of TV sports.
The offer was designed to find the best possible tele
vision contract beginning in 1996-97. The Big Eight,
with other conferences already signed with networks,
decided having the four SWC schools would make for
a more lucrative offer.
Baylor is the first of the four schools to accept the
Big Eight's offer. Regents at A&M will meet via confer
ence call Thursday afternoon, with boards at Tech and
Texas scheduled to discuss the offer Friday.
That's the Big Eight's deadline for the SWC's so-
called "haves" to accept or reject its invitation, sources
told The Associated Press.
"We're on the very first step of a long ladder toward
this merger," said Baylor athletic director Dr. Dick El
lis.
He said the four SWC schools would still have two
See Baylor/Page 9
decisions. If the schools cannot reach a
decision, the Big Eight will accept the
ABC offer without the SWC.
Wednesday, Baylor regents voted
unanimously to accept the proposal.
The A&M Board of Regents will meet
at 2:30 p.m. today and will discuss the
invitation.
A decision should be reached by the
Friday deadline, said Wally Groff, A&M
athletic director.
'I'm glad to see this thing moving so
quickly,'
in time.'
he said. "I'm sure we'll finish
Four years ago, after the University of
Arkansas left the SWC for the SEC,
A&M and UT both discussed the possi
bility of leaving.
But political pressure by the Texas
State Legislature forced the two schools
to reconsider any move.
Gage said, however, that the political
climate is different this time.
"I think there has been a reasonable
amount of time that has passed for the
revenue and attendance to increase,"
See A&M/Page 10
ile G. I
in' ,
this tssM ;
se to i
Taking advantage of the recent windy weather,
Ty Weaver "sail-skates" along the side of Simp-
Lee Reynolds/Special to The Battalion
son Drill Field. Weaver constructed the skate af
ter seeing it on television.
Liberal Arts Council plunges
ahead with multicultural classes
By Jan Higginbotham
The Battalion
The College of Liberal Arts Council decided in a
special session Wednesday to proceed with a pro
posal to implement a three hour international studies
requirement for the 1994-95 school year.
The decision came after Texas A&M University
Interim President E. Dean Gage announced last week
he would not approve the council's proposal to re
quire Liberal Arts students to complete six hours of
U.S. racial, ethnic and gender cultures and three
hours of international studies.
Dr. Woodrow Jones, interim dean of the College
of Liberal Arts, said he was shocked by Gage's deci
sion, but was pleased with the council's positive atti
tude and their decision to go ahead with the interna
tional studies requirement.
"There has been a tradition here that the president
not act in curriculum matters," Jones said. "In
practice, we have never gone to the president in cur
ricular matters and the president has never taken
such action."
Jones said the University's administration folded to
outside pressure in deciding against the requirement.
"Why is it so easy to talk about international cul
tures and not talk about our own cultures?" he said.
"There is a lack of leadership at this University and
it's at the top."
In addition to their decision to go ahead with the
international studies, the group also agreed to take
action in response to Gage's decision.
After much discussion, council members decided to
send letters of response from the dean of the college
and from the council's steering committee to Gage.
The council's curriculum committee will pursue
further changes at the college level and a delegation
of council members will be sent to speak with the in
terim president about the issue.
Marco Portales, a professor of English, said send
ing a delegation to speak with Gage is important to
make him understand the magnitude of the issue.
"The issue has been clearly politicized," Por
tales said. "He (Gage) has been listening to other
people. He needs to look at what is needed and
what should prevail."
"We need cultural commerce so we can get on
with the business of creating a society," he said.
"We need to go out of our way to diversify."
Many of the council members were concerned be
cause Gage acted outside of his authority and ques
tioned the issue of faculty governance.
See Requirement/Page 6
Student Senate wants University
to give Aggies a voice in fee hikes
By Kim McGuire
The Battalion
The Texas A&M Student Senate wants the Univer
sity administration to obtain the opinion of the student
body before any mandatory student fee is increased.
The Senate passed a bill Wednesday petitioning
the administration to give the Senate prior notifica
tion before any fee change occurs.
Sen. Ben Dale, academic affairs chairman, said
students are often neglected when fees are being
discussed.
"The way the system works now a fee can be cre
ated and implemented without the knowledge or
opinion of students," Dale said. "People who initiate
the fee always say 'this will benefit students.' Yet if
the Senate says 'no' they won't be able to say that."
Dale said the Senate is asking that the group
proposing a fee change make a presentation to the
Senate Finance Committee to discuss the reasons be
hind the change.
The committee would then question the group,
do follow-up research and present its findings to
the Senate.
Dale said Interim President E. Dean Gage and
Vice President of Student Affairs J. Malon Souther
land have promised an official response to the bill.
The Senate also passed a bill that will exempt
students from exams after 5:30 p.m on the day of
Aggie Muster.
Sen. Jeb Jones said this bill was created because
many students have to miss Muster because of exams.
"Muster is such a special tradition," Jones said. "No
one should ever have to miss it if they want to go."
The bill originally called for all classes to be can
celed on the day of Aggie Muster, but it was revised.
Jones said the bill was changed because it
"wouldn't fly" with the Faculty Senate.
In other business, senators heard the first reading
of a bill that would approve a Parking, Transit, and
Traffic Advisory Council's recommendation restrict
ing campus residents and parking garage permit
holders from parking anywhere but their assigned
areas on weekday nights.
Kathy Mathis, PTTS associate director, said the
council recommended changing current policy be
cause it would allow more students to park closer,
enhance safety and reduce unnecessary traffic on
campus.
"The problem we're trying to resolve is red and
green permit holders parking in staff areas and keep
ing off campus students from getting a space at
night," Mathis said.
Assault victim takes aim at accused attackers
. i.
By Angela Neaves
beag
RESOf
The Battalion
The victim of an assault involving Texas
i&M students and former students testified
Wednesday in a civil court case that he was
beaten by more than one individual.
A 12-person jury will decide if Kevin Orm-
ston, 23, acted alone when he assaulted John
Ialker, former A&M student, or if three other
students, Stephen Swan, a senior finance ma-
r, Gregory Pappas, a graduate agricultural
sconomics student and Earl Dyke, a former
\&M student, participated in the assault of
Talker in front of Redstone Apartments on
the night of April 9,1992.
Walker, who is now attends Sam Houston
State University, testified that he did not
low who hit him first, but he said he is posi
tive he was beaten by more than one person.
"It seemed like an eternity to me," Walker
said. "I was definitely struck by more than just
one person. I was experiencing blows to my
head and ribs while also being kicked. One
person could not have done the damage."
Walker suffered injuries to his face, head
and ribs, he said. His clothing was tom, and
his cowboy hat and boots were stained with
blood, he said.
He is suing to recover the costs of his cloth
ing and medical bills, and he is also suing for
punitive damages.
Ormston testified that he was the only man
who hit Walker.
"I thought Walker had beaten a female
friend of mine," Ormston said. "Two days later
I found out I had fought with the wrong man.
It was senseless and very stupid on my part."
During the fight, Ormston said he stopped
for a moment and asked Walker about as
saulting his friend.
"I asked him if he liked beating women,"
Ormston said. "It was at that point that
Stephen (Swan) pulled me off of Walker. He
said 'he's had enough, man.' "
Ormston was later convicted of criminal
assault charges, sentenced to two years pro
bation, 300 hours of community service and
was banned from any establishment that
serves alcohol.
"I've learned violence is not the answer,"
Ormston said. "I messed up in a bad way,
and I will pay for that mistake for the rest of
my life."
Ormston said he repeatedly tried to contact
Walker after discovering he had assaulted the
wrong man.
11111
Inside
Sports
•A&M baseball splits double-
header with Southwest Texas
State
Page 7
Aggielife
• Dairy Products Lab: Serving
Aggies for more than 40 years
Page 3
Opinion
•Megliola: From land of
dreams to land of screams
•Editorial: Abandon ship,
A&M should join Big Eight
Page 11