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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1994)
Campus B Bush to attend November ground breaking ceremony for presidential library. Page 2 THE Opinion FRANK STANFORD: By enforcing this "one minute" prayer period in public schools, the government is truly "respecting an establishment of religion" because minors MUST attend school. Page 15 Aggielife •AlIALION BBKIlMgStBBMiKiiiggiaiPilllgMMiiiSlI^i Breakdown of Bryan-College Station music scene Page 3 THURSDAY September 1, 1994 Vof. 101, No. 4 (16 pages) “Serving TexasA&Msince 1893” University settles dispute with Gilbert 12th Man Foundation bows down, express mails football tickets to wife of disassociated booster By Michele Brinkmann The Battalion Texas A&M announced Wednesday it has mailed priority season football tickets to Pattie Gilbert, wife of disassociated booster Warren Gilbert. “After months of being in an extremely difficult situation, we now hope that this matter will be resolved,” said Wally Groff, A&M athletic director. “We were caught in the middle of a complex situa tion that involved individual rights, Texas contract law and sanctions im posed by the NCAA.” In 1978, Warren and Pattie Gilbert of Dallas gave a 830,000 endowment to the 12th Man Foundation, entitling them to four preferred tickets and parking for Ag gie football games for life. On Jan. 5, the University disassoci ated Mr. Gilbert in order to comply with sanctions handed down by the NCAA because he had violated that organiza tion’s rules. Mr. Gilbert broke NCAA rules be tween 1990 and 1992 when he paid nine student-athletes for work that was never performed. As a result, the NCAA placed the Texas A&M football program on pro bation for five years. Mr. Gilbert was banned from A&M athletic programs for the five-year period. He is also prohibited from receiving bene fits or privileges that the public cannot receive, including preferred seating at football games. To attend a home foot ball game, Gilbert would have to buy a general admission ticket. Mrs. Gilbert said she wrote the 12th Man Foundation earlier this year asking them about her tickets because she had not received them. Mrs. Gilbert said her family’s en dowment was a legal and binding con tract and because she had not violated any NCAA rules she could not be.de nied her rights. She said the matter has nothing to do with her husband or attending foot ball games. “Legal contracts are more important to me than a football game,” she said. “The whole thing is over the fact that they need to honor their contract with me.” Frank Shannon, executive director of A&M’s 12th Man Foundation, said the tickets were sent to Mrs. Gilbert Tuesday via express mail. “She should have received them by noon on Wednesday,” Shannon said. This week the University mailed out a new policy to priority ticket holders re minding them: “A disassociated member of the Texas A&M athletic program can not utilize priority tickets or other bene fits not generally available to the public at large.” Groff said because Mrs. Gilbert did not violate any NCAA rules, the University could issue her the tickets, provided they are not used by her husband. “Since Mrs. Gilbert is considered a representative of the University’s athlet ics interest,” Groff said, “if she provides priority tickets to Mr. Gilbert he would be indirectly receiving an improper bene fit and not only would jeopardize her right to future tickets but could cause the University to violate NCAA rules. “We want to do what is right for all concerned. We have every intention of complying in every way with NCAA regu lations as well as the laws of the state of Texas.” Amy Browning/THE Battalion “Howdy sir!” Jack Easter (left) ,a freshman business major from Duncanville, Copperas Cove looks on. "Whipping out" is a way for under whips out to Caleb Rackely, a sophomore political science major classmen to meet and introduce themselves to upperclassmen from San Antonio, as Ryan O'Connor (center), a freshman from within the Corps of Cadets. West ready to accept challenges as Regents’ first chairwoman By Amanda Fowle The Battalion For Mary Nan West, Texas A&M’s first woman Board of Re gents’ Chairman, stepping into an historically male role is noth ing new. West, 69, said she has never felt discriminated against because she is a woman. “My grandfa ther told me that I could do any thing I wanted to and still be a lady doing it,” West she said. West was raised by her grand parents on the Rafter S Ranch in South Texas. She became the ranch manager when she was 18. She worked with the San Anto nio Livestock Exposition for many years, and became its chairman in 1981. Since she has been chairman, the Exposition has raised more than $5.2 million in scholarships for students. Keith Martin, executive direc tor of the San Antonio Livestock Exposition, said West is a great asset for the livestock show. “She not only spends her time on the project,” he said, “but also her money. She buys the kids’ animals.” Before being appointed to the Texas A&M Board of Regents, West was on the Board of Regents for Incarnate Word College in San Antonio, the Marine Military Acad emy in Harlingen and the Texas Animal Health Commission. She was also the first, woman to serve on both the Marine Military Academy Board and the Texas Ani mal Health Commission. West became involved with Texas A&M when she was asked to join the Agricultural Develop ment Council, through the Col lege of Agriculture and Life Sci ences. She also worked with A&M students through the San Antonio Livestock Exposition. West graduated from St. Mary’s Hall, a private high school for girls in San Antonio. She attended the Universities of Colorado and Arizona, but did not complete her degree. She has two daughters, seven grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Her grandson, George West Bodden, Class of ’93, graduated from A&M and now manages the Rafter S Ranch. West was appointed as a Re gent in 1985 and is now serving her second six-year term. “When I was asked to join the Board of Regents, I didn’t know if I had the time to commit,” she said. “When I accepted, I didn’t realize it would take this much time.” West’s busy schedule keeps her hopping from her ranch in South Texas, to College Station, to the other schools in the A&M system, and to San Antonio to run the livestock exposition. “I’m pretty busy,” she said. See West/Page 14 IRA calls cease-fire, hopes to halt religious upheaval BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — The IRA declared a cease fire Wednesday, and Northern Ireland now waits to see if the long-sought truce will hold and bring talks to end a quarter-cen tury of sectarian bloodshed. The Irish Republican Army’s supporters called the declaration a historic opportunity for peace in the British province. But it disappointed British officials and majority Protestants in Northern Ireland who wanted explicit assurances of a perma nent truce. There also are worries about whether Protestant gunmen will hold their fire. nr, | - , < / .T|~> . Today s BAT Aggielife 3 Campus 2 Classified 8 Opinion 15 Sports 9 Toons 10 Weather 14 What's Up 5 Many militant Protestants fear the British government has made secret concessions to the IRA to win a peace, and the ex tremists could try to provoke re newed IRA violence by attacking the province’s Roman Catholic minority. Hours before the IRA’s decla ration, the outlawed Ulster Vol unteer Force kidnapped a 37- year-old Catholic, shot him in the head and dumped his body on a roadside. In recent years, Protestant ex tremists have killed more people than the IRA in “The Troubles,” which have brought the deaths of more than 3,100 people. “I welcome this IRA cease-fire in the sense that for some months no one will be murdered by them — but don’t expect me to be grateful,” said Alan McBride, whose wife, Sharon, was among 10 people killed by an IRA bomb at a Belfast fish shop last October. The governments of Britain and Ireland pledged last Decem ber that there would be no change in the status of Northern Ireland without the consent of a majority of its people. The IRA has sought for 25 years to end British rule and join the province with the Irish republic. Helping a country torn by violence Two A&M students, Red Cross work to provide relief for Rwandans By Susan Owen The Battalion Two Texas A&M graduate students have started a group to raise money for the Rwan dan refugees living in camps in Africa. The group, called Rwandan Relief Volun teers, opened an account Tuesday for contri butions through the Brazos Valley Red Cross chapter. Co-chairmen David Oehl and Gerald Emesih said they plan to host a guest speak er this fall and to publicize information about the Rwandan situation. Oehl, a graduate student in aerospace en gineering, said the idea for the group came after he and Emesih watched a television newscast about Rwanda a month ago. “We saw all the mass murders and the kids without parents and all the horrendous images on TV, and we were just moved,” Oehl said. Emesih said he was concerned by the car nage and the plight of the people he saw on the screen. “You see 2- or 3-year-old kids, all of a sud den, becoming the head of the family,” he said. More than 500,000 Rwandans have been massacred in the fighting and more than one million refugees have fled the country into Zaire and other neighboring countries. The death rate in the refugee camps is now down to about 300 per day, but the camps faced an initial scourge of cholera, dysentery, meningitis and other diseases which killed some 45,000 Rwandans. Emesih and Oehl founded their group, which now has 10 members, to raise aware ness of the situation in Rwanda and funds for the refugees. Oehl said the members are not all A&M students, but come from diverse back grounds in the community and want to help for similar reasons. “We want this to be a community effort, not just for students,” he said. Emesih, a graduate student in agricultural engineering, is from Nigeria and is the presi dent of A&M’s African Students Association. “There are so many people that are touched and looking for a way to help,” Eme sih said. He said that according to his records, there are no Rwandan students at A&M, but there are students from neighboring countries. Emesih said he thinks the Red Cross will be involved in sending aid to Rwandans for a long time. “The health epidemic is spreading and might get over to neighboring countries,” he said. “They can only do so much.” Oehl said they chose to' affiliate with the Red Cross to ensure that the money raised would go directly to help the refugees. Bill Thomas, executive director for the Brazos County chapter of the American Red Cross, said all contributions designated for the Rwandan relief effort will be forwarded to the International Red Cross in Geneva, Switzerland. The Red Cross takes their administrative costs out of money from non-earmarked do nations and the United Way, Thomas said. “All the monies that do come in will be sent on to International Red Cross,” he said. As of Aug. 12, the American Red Cross had raised $3 million in contributions, $17 million worth of antibiotics, and an anony mous donation of $1 million to be used for the Rwandan relief effort. The Red Cross opens and operates refugee camps, sends food, provides medical supplies and personnel, and works to im prove sanitation and water purification in the tent cities set up to house refugees. Thomas said the national Red Cross con centrates on raising money from major cor porations. He said that in the Brazos Valley, some individual contributions for Rwandan aid have been made, but there has been no orga nized program to raise funds. “This would be the first fund-raising ef fort that has been undertaken here,” he said. See Rwanda/Page 14