The Lady Aggies travel to
Houston to take on the
defending SWC champions.
Sports, Page 7
Littlefield: The verdict of
the Simpson trial had little
to with O.J.'s innocence.
Opinion, Page 11
Students gain experience
by gathering data on
severe weather.
Aggielife, Page 3
Battalion
Vol. 102, No. 28 (12 pages)
Established in 1893
Wednesday • October 4, 1995
The People vs. O.J. Simpson
Simpson freed, vows to find killers
0.). Simpson was acquitted Tuesday of the murders of Nicole Brown
Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
□ The nation gathered around televisions and radios to witness
the jury deliver the verdict in "the trial of the century."
LOS ANGELES (AP) — O.J. Simpson
headed home Tuesday, picking up a life of
freedom instead of starting life in prison.
Acquitted of murdering his ex-wife and her
friend, he pledged to track down the real
killers who are “out there somewhere.”
In a courtroom on the verge of explod
ing with emotion, a hush fell as Judge
Lance Ito’s clerk, Dierdre Robertson, read
the two words: “Not guilty.”
Simpson mouthed the words, “Thank
you,” at the jury, then clasped his hands to
gether and was embraced by his attorneys.
Tears of anguish and shouts of joy
burst from the three families whose lives
were torn apart by the bloody June 12,
1994, slayings of Nicole Brown Simpson
and Ronald Goldman.
“Oh my God!” exclaimed Simpson’s
grown daughter, Arnelle, embracing her
brother Jason.
“We did it!” a family member exulted to
lead defense attorney Johnnie Cochran Jr.
Eerily, the Simpson saga
ended much as it had begun,
with the fallen football super-
star being transported in a
white van to his estate while
news helicopters tracked him
overhead.
Tuesday’s televised verdicts
were the most-watched event
since June 17, 1994, when Simpson, in a
white Bronco with his friend A1 “A.C.”
Cowlings driving, led police on a surreal
slow-speed chase viewed by millions.
Cowlings was at the door to embrace
Simpson when he came home. Later, fami
ly members gathered for a champagne par
ty on the lawn of Simpson’s lush estate.
“Last June 13, ’94, was the worst
nightmare of my life. This is the sec
ond,” Goldman’s father, Fred, said at a
prosecution news conference. “This
prosecution team didn’t lose today. I
deeply believe this country lost today.
Justice was not served.”
At a defense team news conference,
Cochran insisted the issue of race, which
he played heavily in the trial, did not
overcome the facts.
“This verdict speaks justice,”
Cochran said. “This was a case based
upon the evidence.”
He denied playing “the race card,” say
ing instead that credibility had won out.
“Race plays a part in everything in
America,” he said. “But this stuff about
playing a race card is preposterous.”
He said he hoped the Los Angeles Po
lice Department would alter shoddy in
vestigative practices exposed in the trial.
As the words setting Simpson free
were spoken in court, his elderly mother,
Eunice, seated in a wheelchair, wiped her
eyes, held up her hands prayerfully and
murmured words of thanks.
“1 was always in prayer. I knew my
son was innocent,” she said at the de
fense meeting with reporters.
Across the room, Goldman mouthed
the word “murderer” as the verdict was
announced. Kim Goldman, who spent
most of a year in court honoring her
dead brother’s memory, doubled over
and sobbed along with a younger broth
er and sister.
At the courthouse, Simpson’s older son,
Jason, read a statement from his father:
“My first obligation is to my young
children, who will be raised the way that
Nicole and I had always planned. ... But
when things have settled a bit, I will pur
sue as my primary goal in life the killer
or killers who slaughtered Nicole and Mr.
Goldman. They are out there somewhere.
Whatever it takes to identify them and
bring them in, I will provide somehow.”
Simpson also noted that many will sur
mise he is guilty, acquittal or no acquittal.
“I can only hope that someday, de
spite every prejudicial thing that has
been said about me publicly, both in and
out of the courtroom, people will come to
understand and believe that I would
not, could not and did not kill anyone,”
his statement said.
See Simpson, Page 2
" ... I will pursue as my primary goal
in life the killer or killers who slaugh
tered Nicole and Mr. Goldman."
— read from a statement by O.J. Simpson
Reactions to
verdict vary
□ The outcome of the trial
surprised many A&M
students and faculty.
! By Kristen Homyk
: The Battalion
Texas A&M students and faculty
; members debated Tuesday whether
; O.J. Simpson’s acquittal on two counts
of murder was correct or possibly the
; result of racial issues.
As “the trial of the century” came to
: an end, people gathered in the Com-
; mons television rooms, the MSC Flag
Room and Hullabaloo to see and hear
; the verdict of the Simpson trial.
Students with portable radios inter-
i rupted lectures with the news, and
verdict announcements were made
over public address systems in some
; campus buildings.
Some students offered concise reac-
i tions to the decision, placing much
: faith in the judicial system.
Rodrigo deJuana, a freshman me-
: chanical engineering major, expressed
; surprise at the decision, but said he
; does not feel too concerned.
“The jury saw everything, so 1 fig-
; ure they know a little more than I do,”
; deJuana said.
Corey Echols, a freshman business
major, also supported the decision of
: the jury.
“O.J. Simpson was innocent from the
I get-go,” Echols said. “The jury sow that.”
Other students showed their lack of
; faith in the verdict, suggesting that
; the trial was anything but typical of
| the American system of justice.
Shaun Schoener, a junior psychol-
; ogy major, said the verdict was an
; example of the justice system failing.
“It’s a joke,” Schoener said, “The
See Reactions, Page 2
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Fields addresses College Republicans
Stew Milne, The Battalion
Congressman jack Fields spoke to the Col
lege Republicans Tuesday night.
□ Congressman Jack
Fields focused on
national issues during
the Tuesday night
meeting.
By Courtney Walker
The Battalion
While the Texas A&M Col
lege Republicans may have the
recent dispute with the Univer
sity on their minds, Congress
man Jack Fields, R-Humble,
had a different agenda at the
group’s Tuesday meeting.
Along with continually reaf
firming the statement “one per
son with courage makes a ma
jority,” Fields talked about the
proposed telecommunications
reform bill, his image of the Re
publican Party, welfare reform
and the proposed tax reforms.
Fields argued that Republi
cans do care about welfare re
form and want to do something
positive about the system.
“We have to focus on re
sources and what we have avail
able,” he said.
Fields discussed two options
on tax reform bills.
One option, presented by Con
gressmen Richard “Dick” Armey,
R-Lewisville, proposes a 17 per
cent flat tax rate, and Congress
men Bill Archer, R-Archer, pro
poses a consumer tax.
‘With a consumer tax you con
trol what you pay a tax on, and it
would also eliminate the internal
revenue tax,” Fields said.
Fields stressed the impor
tance of students getting in
volved and participating in the
Republican primary elections.
“I hope you’ll debate like
cats and dogs in the prelimi
naries and then find a com
monality at the end and move
together as a strong Republi
can Party,” he said.
Fields said the Republican
Party is what people want
America to be.
“The average American
wants to have less government
spending, less government regu
lation, and to be secure in de
fense,” he said. “With strength
comes peace.”
Republicans seek multiculturalism referendum
□The College Republicans want to
obtain a student referendum which
requires 10 percent of the student
body to sign a petition form.
By Courtney Walker
The Battalion
College Republicans is looking past its up
coming hearing and planning a strategy to de
termine students’ views on the Faculty Sen
ate’s proposed multiculturalism requirement.
The organization will appear before the
Student Organizations Hearing Board Nov.
3 to defend what adviser Dr. Richard Stadel-
mann called “absurd violations of right to
free speech.”
College Republicans is charged with violat
ing fund-raising guidelines and providing
false information to prospective contributors.
The multiculturalism proposal would require
students to take six credit hours of courses fo
cusing on U.S. and international cultures.
A letter sent to former students by College
Republicans criticized the Faculty Senate, the
administration and the proposed multicultur
alism requirement.
Stadelmann said the Faculty Senate is try
ing to make a more attractive package and of
fer more classes so no one will object. But
things have not changed significantly, and
students will have a narrow range of political
ly correct courses if the requirement is ap
proved, he said.
David Brown, College Republicans presi
dent, said the group feels there is no way it
can lose the hearing, and the members are
See Referendum, Page 5
A&M CELEBRATES
11 9th BIRTHDAY
□ Yells and music
will be part of the
festivities today, and
the Traditions
council will
distribute balloons.
By Melissa Keerins
The Battalion
Texas A&M
opened its
doors to 40
students
and 6 facul
ty mem
bers Octo
ber 4, 1876,
and today ■
students
will celebrate
the Universi
ty’s 119th year.
A number of stu
dent groups will take part
in the birthday festivities.
The Traditions Council
will distribute balloons to
day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
at Rudder Fountain, and
the Century Singers and
“’ll wm
Women’s Chorus perform
as well.
The yell leaders and
Reveille VI will be at Rud
der Fountain at 12:30 p.m.
for a pull-out yell practice.
Cindi Ericson, public re
lations sergeant for the
Texas A&M Corps of Cadets
and a junior political sci
ence and international
studies major, said there
will also be a special
musical interlude
at noon.
“Albritton
Tower will
be playing
three songs
at noon in
honor of
A & M ’ s
birthday,”
Ericson
said. “They
will play, ‘No
ble Men of Kyle,’
‘The Twelfth Man’
and finish with ‘The
Spirit of Aggieland.’”
Mary Helen Bowers, who
is in charge of the bells at
Albritton Tower, said the
music will last approxi
mately 5 minutes.