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iNT CLINTON
Aching to Play
Cowboy Mouth hits the road
after months in the studio.
AGGIELJFE, PAGE 3
Taylor: A&M should
place more honor on its
real hero.
OPINION, PAGE 7
JStng of The Tyll
Pitcher Shane King
has the will to win
SPORTS, PAGE 6
The Battalion,
%
Vbl. 102, No. 133 (8 pages)
Serving Texas A&M University Since 1893
Friday • April 19, 1996
Quanell X stresses unification
center, eight
n contact with
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if illness, otfi-
inder observa-
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Eleanor Colvin and Pamela
Benson
The Battalion
nts
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525,000 bond,
led Tuesday.
Quanell X, a minister for the Na
tion of Islam, delivered an explosive
message, addressing the question
“Black and white — can the dream be
reality?” last night at an Alpha Phi
Alpha Explosion Week program.
Explosion Week is being held to
honor Reginald Broadus, an Alpha
Phi Alpha fraternity brother, who was
murdered in 1994.
X, who has appeared on the Texas
A&M campus several times, said he
has a special message to give students
each time he returns.
“Black America is thirsty for a
change,” he said. “I’ve come to
quench the thirsts of my people be
cause the future leaders that will
represent the agenda for African-
Americans tomorrow come from
universities like Texas A&M.”
He urged African-Americans to
wake up, unify and take action in or
der to bring about a “physical fruition”
of their dreams.
“We keep looking at white folks,
and they are not the problem,” he
said. “The real solutions lie with us, so
we must come together to solve our
own problems.
“Don’t let them lull you off to sleep
... because once they control the diam
eter of your knowledge, they control
the circumference of your life.”
X said affirmative action is one tool
used to control African-Americans.
He said students should not fear the
discontinuation of affirmative action
or race-based scholarships.
“You (white America) always want
us to depend on you,” he said. “That’s
why you want us to beg for affirma
tive action. It’s like asking the oppres
sor to liberate the oppressed.”
In reference to the recent 5th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals Hopwood vs.
State of Texas decision, which made
using race as a criterion for admis
sions illegal, X said economic, politi
cal, mental and moral strength are
qualities African-American students
must possess in order to effectively
negotiate with administrators.
Although X openly expressed his
disapproval of interracial dating and
his dismay at white America’s morali
ty and sexual practices, he said people
often misinterpret his message.
“I don’t hate white people,” he said.
“How can I hate what God has or
dained? I can’t call you a dog if you’re
not acting like one.”
Eric Malonson, a junior biomed
ical science major, said that al
though X talked about respecting
others, he detracted from his mes
sage by showing disrespect to some
students in the audience.
“I agree with most of the things he
said, although he stepped on some
toes,” he said. “He should realize that
although he has a good message, his
delivery hinders his goals.”
The foundation of X’s message was
that black unity must be achieved be
fore unity of all races can be attained.
Aaron Drayer, a senior interna
tional studies major, said negative
See X, Page 5 Quanell X
Tim Moog, The J
spoke in the MSC Thursday night.
Whoopstm k
wows students
By Johanna Henry
The Battalion
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Amy Browning, The Battalion
MAJOR LIBRARY COVER-UP
Stacks of books were covered with plastic to protect them on Thursday, when the west end of the fourth floor of the Sterling C. Evans Li
brary was closed because of water damage.
Texas A&M students will
gather on Simpson Drill Field
Saturday to eat ethnic foods, en
joy entertainment from a diver
sity of groups and attend several
other activities at the fourth-an
nual Whoopstock.
See related EDITORIAL, Page 7
The theme for this year’s fes
tival, which begins at noon, is
“Unity Begins with You.”
At the festival, Students will
have the opportunity to face
paint, toss sponges at campus
leaders and fly kites.
Ruthie Foster, Loud Plaid
Jackets, the Aggie Wranglers,
the United South Asian Ameri
can Committee, the Native
American Student Association
and Omega Psi Phi fraternity
will provide entertainment.
Toby Boenig, the former stu
dent body president; Lynn Hicky,
the assistant athletic director;
Ranjan Natarajan, a graduate
student; and others will serve as
masters of ceremony.
Erin Mozola, a junior math
major, said Whoopstock is fun
because of the diverse people
who attend.
“I went last year, and it was a
lot of fun because the crowd was
so much fun,” she said.
“It is unusual that you get
that group of people together.”
The Department of Multicul
tural Services held the first
Whoopstock four years ago in re
sponse to a Ku Klux Klan rally
in College Station.
Ten campus leaders organized
the event in two weeks with the
support of 48 organizations.
With almost 400 people in at
tendance, the event became a
new campus tradition.
More than 1,000 people at
tended Whoopstock ’95, and the
committee hopes to double that
number this year.
Sheri Schmidt, the coordina
tor of diversity education, said
Whoopstock is a time for all stu
dents to get together.
“Whoopstock is unique be
cause it is a way to have fun, see
something new and learn to ap
preciate our differences,” she
said. “Many events are either
Black or Hispanic events or an
event for women or some other
organization, but Whoopstock
bridges those gaps.”
Rebecca Charles, a Whoop
stock committee member and
See Whoopstock, Page 5
Spirit awards leadership
Students receive Buck Weirus Spirit Awards Sunday
By Erica Roy
The Battalion
Fifty-one Texas A&M students
received the Buck Weirus Spirit
Award April 14 at the All-Univer
sity Awards ceremony.
Although applicants are re
quired to be in good academic
standing with the University,
the awards are based on ex
tracurricular activities and
leadership skills.
Paul Henry, chairman of the
Buck Weirus Spirit Award Selec
tion Committee, said students
who increase their level of respon
sibility and leadership each year
they attend A&M are likely to re
ceive a spirit award.
Kellie Roberts, a spirit award
recipient and senior chemical en
gineering major, represents this
progression of leadership posi
tions. Roberts was a Fish Camp
counselor and was on Fish Crew
before she became a Fish Camp
co-chair last year.
She was an orientation leader
for two years and a day manager
at KANM student radio. She rep
resents the College of Engineer
ing in the Student Senate.
Roberts said she was excited
when her name was called at the
awards ceremony.
“I have received a lot of
scholarships,” Roberts said,
“but I would trade them all in
for this one.”
Henry said the selection
committee prefers applicants
who are involved in a variety of
campus activities. However, the
committee does not choose stu
dents who are involved in many
clubs without holding any lead
ership positions.
Students involved in activities
See Spirit, Page 5
Survivors staying home today
Many people will not visit the Oklahoma City bombing site
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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Diana McDonnell was
standing next to a friend’s desk in the Alfred P. Mur-
fab Federal Building when a bomb ripped through
her eighth-floor office one year ago.
That memory is still too fresh for McDonnell to re
turn to the site Friday for ceremonies marking the
anniversary of the bombing, which killed 168 people,
including 35 of her co-workers in the Department of
Housing and Urban Development.
“I was there last year at 9:02, and I don’t want to
be there this year,” McDonnell said Thursday. “I’m
staying home tomorrow. I could not go to work yes
terday. And I could not go today. I’ve kind of reached
the point where I could not go any further.”
For McDonnell and other survivors of the bomb
ing, the emotions are too strong to allow them to
| return Friday to the vacant lot where the building
once stood.
“Many are leaving the city. Some are leaving
the state,” said Troy Grigsby, special assistant to
the state coordinator for HUD. “Nobody’s been al
lowed to forget. There have been constant, con
stant reminders.”
Grigsby is one of a few HUD administrators who
will answer telephones in the Oklahoma City office
while the rest of the staff takes the day off.
“I, like everybody else, have to keep going,”
Grigsby said. “You have to remember, but you
have to keep going.”
At the bombing site Friday, moumers will re
member the dead by observing 168 seconds of silence
and then reading their names in alphabetical order.
Bagpipers will lead a procession of survivors and
families about five blocks to the Myriad Convention
Center, where another ceremony will be held, includ
ing speeches by Mayor Ron Norick, Gov. Frank
Keating and Vice President Al Gore as well as a
videotaped statement from President Clinton.
Corregidor Island
Muster reunites Aggies after
50 years
By Heather Pace
The Battation
Texas A&M students and former
students from around the world will
celebrate the 50th anniversary of the
famed 1946 Corregidor Island
Muster on Sunday.
Held annually on April 21, Muster
is an A&M tradition in which the
names of students and former stu
dents who have died during the past
year are called.
Photo Courtesy of Texas A&M archives
In 1942, George F, Moore, A&M Aggies gathered in the Malinta Tunnel at Corregidor Island
Class of 08 and the commander of for Muste r roll call in 1942.
forces m the Phillipmes, and Maj.
Tom Dooley, Class of ’35, led a group
of 25 recently commissioned A&M cadets to the
island of Corregidor in the Phillipines.
The men joined American troops that were
stationed in a tunnel, which served as the World
War II headquarters for Corregidor operations.
The tunnel was 35 feet wide and 1,400 feet long.
Because they were under attack, the A&M
cadets in Corregidor could not leave their posi
tions in the Malinta Tunnel on April 21 to hold a
formal muster, so Dooley and Moore called roll for
their deceased comrades in the Malinta Tunnel.
Fifteen days after the roll call, the Japanese
occupied the American stronghold.
In 1946, a group of A&M cadets returned to
Corregidor to commemorate the 1942 roll call.
Some of the former students who participated
in the 1946 Muster will return to A&M this
weekend to participate in the campus Muster.
Amy Vandaveer, a senior English and speech
communication major, said this anniversary
gives those who traveled to Corregidor in 1946
the chance to reunite.
“Fifty years ago they traveled all over the
place to get to Corregidor and celebrate peace,”
Vandaveer said. “This is an excuse for them to
get together again.”
Several artifacts from Corregidor Eire on dis
play in the A&M archives on the second floor of
the Sterling C. Evans Library.
The arrangement, which will be on display for
a month, includes the original flag that hung over
the opening of the tunnel during the 1942 Muster
and a photograph of the men at the 1946 muster.
Dr. Donald Dyal, director of Cushing Li
brary, said many library visitors have enjoyed
the display.
“They were visibly moved,” Dyal said.
“Muster is one of the neatest traditions at this
school because it allows people the chance to
get together and remember people who are not
with us anymore.”
This year’s Muster will start at 7 p.m. in G.
Rollie White Coliseum.