Texas A & M University
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TODAY
TOMORROW
YEAR • ISSUE 131 • 12 PAGES
COLLEGE STATION • TX
TUESDAY • APRIL 21 • 1998
affoldings at Olsen Field
ed by health officials
By Robert Smith
City editor
tents who have built scaffolding
1 the outfield fence at Olsen Field
ve. to find a new way to get a bet-
Mv of the baseball games begin-
jt! is week.
Til Environmental, Safety & Health
lltment of Texas A&M University
minced Monday it is working with
University Police Department
I) io ban the construction of scaf-
;at Olsen Field.
■is Meyer, director of the Envi-
Intal, Safety & Health Depart-
ntKaid safety is the primary reason
i| ban.
jft tend to get nervous about these
things,” he said. “The scaffolding could
cause a tragic danger, and with the big
“The scaffolding
could cause a
tragic danger.”
Chris Meyer
Director of the Environmental,
Safety and Health Department
series with Baylor coming up and the
possibility of hosting a conference
championship, you have to worry that
this is going to proliferate.”
Meyer said he saw one scaffolding
set up at Saturday’s University of Texas-
A&M game and four sets of scaffolding
during Sunday’s game.
“We don’t want to interfere with the
enjoyment of the games or diminish
the great baseball atmosphere at Olsen
Field, but when it comes to building
scaffolding, we just have to draw the
line. It’s too risky.”
Meyer said signs will be posted at
Olsen Field to inform fans that scaf
foldings are now prohibited.
UPD officials said they will assist in
enforcing the regulation, but have not
determined what the penalty will be
for violation.
lets affiliation go to trial
HOUSTON (AP) — Texas
■ey General Dan
irales wants the courts to
ide whether Texas A&M
yersity's alliance with
jston’s South Texas Col-
iiLaw is legal.
Berthe affiliation agree-
at, South Texas College of
Jlexas A&M University
I remain a privately
institution, but could
leater name recognition
der the A&M banner witli-
ihaving to relocate. Texas
■^^ould get a law school at
no additional expense.
But the schools could not
award law degrees under
A&M’s name without the ap
proval of the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating
Board. And the panel is not
convinced that Houston
needs a fourth law school or
that Texas A&M’s charter
permits a law school.
So the coordinating
board put the issue to
Morales. On Friday, Morales
decided not to issue a ruling,
because the law school on
April 13 filed a lawsuit in
Austin against the board.
Texas A&M is not a party
to the suit.
“We have a standard poli
cy if we are reviewing an issue
and it goes to court we drop
tire issue,” said Ward Tisdale,
a Morales spokesman. "We
yield to a higher power.”
The law school’s lawsuit
challenges the coordinating
board’s view that Texas A&M
needed permission before
entering into the public-pri
vate affiliation with South
Texas in January.
South Texas spokes
woman Sheila Hansel
praised the Morales decision.
“We believe it’s an ab
solutely correct decision by
the attorney general’s office.
It is now our goal to get a
binding decision in open
court on this issue,” Ms.
Hansel said on Monday.
“Our lawsuit will continue.”
The coordinating board
did not have an immediate
comment on the matter
Monday.
itt
feed Arena hosts first Muster
By Amanda Smith
Staff writer
r. Robert Spoede will light the last
lie tonight at the Muster ceremo-
Iftyyears after he graduated from
s A&M University as a member of
mrps of Cadets,
poede, a co-agent for the Class of
and a College Station resident,
he is honored to have the oppor-
ty to participate in the first Muster
e held in Reed Arena,
le remembers the Muster cere-
lies he attended as an undergrad-
? at A&M.
Muster was not the somber cere-
ny that it is today,” Spoede said.
; had Muster in front of the Ad-
listration building. There were
ally several hundred people there.
|n still remember the loyalty to (the
a) of soldier, statesman and
ghtly gentleman.”
Bpoede said although not all go on
lerve as soldiers, the Muster cere-
|ny must be appreciated by those
) attend and for those it remembers.
The honored Roll Call of the Ab-
It has become a tradition remem-
#■■■
a?#,
I
• 10 a.rn. - 3 p.m. — Muster
Camaraderie Barbecue held in
Academic Plaza
• 5 p.m. — Doors to Reed Arenas
open for Muster ceremony
• 6:40 p.m. — Performances
proceeding Muster.
• 7 p.m. — Roll Call for the
Absent Begins
bered by Aggies and friends of the
University today. Muster began as a
celebration of college days’ victories
and defeats on the drill field and in
side the classroom.
Tonight, old Aggies will join the
new at the Muster ceremony in Reed
Arena at 7 p.m.
Lisa Eubanks, a Muster committee
member and a sophomore English
major, said Muster has become a part
of the Aggie tradition.
“The spirit behind Muster moti
vates you to do things like Big Event
and Fish Camp and Bonfire,” Eu
banks said.
Please see Muster on Page 2.
itudents prepare Arena for ceremony
By Rachel Dawley
Staff writer
n preparation for today’s Muster,
students are working with Reed
na staff to ensure the new complex
ady for its opening.
Steve Hodge, director of special
nt facilities for the University,
d people have been working 18-
urdays since Saturday to prepare
! arena.
“We really didn’t start final cleanup
JlllS d preparation until this weekend,”
dge said. “We want to make sure it
iresentable and ready.”
Hodge said the building still has
igh edges, including a temporary
md system that will be used for
ister. He said student volunteers have
Iped make the opening possible.
“We had Town Hall come in last
iek to check seats and the Corps
d Muster committee have been
irking on cleanup efforts,” he said,
vebeen here for 25 years and seen
[gieshelp each other, so I’m not sur-
ised, but I am pleased.”
Muster committee members spent
Bt weekend cleaning the arena, but
ey realized on Sunday that they
luld not finish it alone. Members of
the committee contacted the Corps of
Cadets to help in the task.
“We were in a tight situation,” said
Wynn Rosser, advisor to the Muster
committee. “We knew we had a good
bit of cleaning to do, but we were not
sure how much.”
Tase Bailey, incoming Corps com
mander and a junior aerospace engi
neering major, said the Corps was
honored to help with the cleanup.
“The Muster committee called and
asked for the Corps help, and we
worked to put the word out,” Bailey
said. “This is what the Aggie Spirit is
about — helping others do a job.”
More than 500 cadets volunteered
on Monday to help with basic clean
ing duties, including vacuuming the
arena seats, picking up trash and pol
ishing surfaces.
“The arena was extremely dirty af
ter all the construction,” said Clint
Weber, a senior history major in Com
pany E-2. “We (the Corps) went over
every part of the arena about three
times. Muster’s one of the biggest
events and cherished traditions, and
it is important that it goes smoothly.”
Dion Brugger, a sophomore busi
ness management major in Compa
ny C-2, said cadets were thrilled with
''JT :
Si
GREG MCREYNOLDS/The Battalion
Priscilla Rappaport of Rapport Piano
Work Services, tunes a piano for to
morrow’s Muster ceremony,
the opportunity to see the arena be
fore it opens to the public.
“It’s exciting for us to look at the
arena before it opens tomorrow,” Bug
ger said. "Everyone is anticipating the
ceremony and the opening of Reed.”
Please see Reed on Page 2.
Side out
mMm
MIKE FUENTES/The Battalion
Kevin Coffman, a junior computer engineering major, spikes a volleyball Monday afternoon outside
the Student Recreation Center.
Eppright, Class of’26, dies at age 95
By Colleen Kavanagh
Staff writer
Colonel George J. Eppright,
member of the Corps Hall of
Honor and Class of ’26, 95,
died Saturday. Funeral services
will be held Wednesday at
Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral
Home in Austin.
Col. Eppright, of Manor,
Texas, was born January 27,
1903. He earned a bachelor of
science degree in electrical engi
neering and received commis
sions as a second lieutenant and
a member of the Air Corps of the
United States Army. He became
a pilot in the Air Corps Flying
Schools at Kelly and Randolph
Fields in San
Antonio.
Col. Ep
pright spent
three years in
the Philip-
fggl pines before
he was as
signed to the
Experimen-
George Eppright Engineer-
pictured in the j n g Division at
1926 Longhorn Wright Field
in Dayton, Ohio. There he
flight-tested more than 200
planes and was awarded the
Distinguished Flying Cross for
his contributions.
UT students hold sit-in to
support affirmitive action
Col. Eppright served in two
wars, World War II and the Kore
an War. In WWII, he was a mem
ber of General Eisenhower’s staff
in North Africa. Between wars he
was assigned to the War College
in Washington, D.C., and at the
Pentagon in the Office of the
Secretary of Defense.
He was Air Force Plant Repre
sentative at the Boeing Airplane
Company in Seattle, Wash., be
fore his retirement in 1955.
Eppright Hall was named af
ter Col. Eppright in 1990, and
family members said that of all
of his recognitions, his most
treasured was his induction to
the Corps Hall of Honor in 1994.
INSIDE
AUSTIN (AP) — TWo dozen
University of Texas students
marched to Attorney General
Dan Morales’ state office build
ing Monday to demand an ap
peal of an anti-affirmative ac
tion court ruling, staged a brief
sit-in and left without the
meeting they sought with him.
But the students vowed to
be back — perhaps next time
after making an appointment.
“The attorney general has
denied us access and opportu
nity with his interpretation of
the Hop wood decision, and to
day he denies us access and
opportunity to talk to him on
the matter... There is no justice
in the attorney general’s of
fice,” said Oscar de la Torre, a
graduate student at the Uni
versity of Texas’ Lyndon B.
Johnson School of Public Af
fairs and march organizer.
Morales spokesperson Ward
Tisdale said the attorney gener
al “is glad to meet with people,
but based on an appointment.
Just to show up and demand a
meeting is not an appropriate
way to go about doing it.”
The debate is over the case
named after Cheryl Hopwood,
one of four whites who sued af
ter being denied admission to
the UT law school. A 1996 fed
eral court ruling in that case has
left state colleges and universi
ties unable to consider race in
admissions and financial aid.
A recent injunction against
racial preferences by a federal
judge, in connection with a
ruling on Hopwood attorney
fees, opened the way for a new
appeal. But Morales said he
does not know whether he will
pursue one, noting that he op
poses such preferences.
Students demonstrating in
favor of an appeal were kept
from Morales’ secure eighth-
floor office by his security de
tail because they didn’t have
an appointment.
They did waited in the lob
by for less than an hour, sitting
part of the time and chanting,
“Dan Morales, you can’t hide.
We’ve got justice on our side.”
The students then moved
toward the elevators but were
blocked by security. At one
point, they collected dollar
bills and change and held the
money up to one of Morales’
special agents, suggesting
campaign contributors would
get them in.
aggie life
Shooting Fish
film sound
track brings
a great
variety of British sounds
to a single recording.
See Page 3
sports
Baseball team attempts to
go 3-0 versus the University
of Houston Cougars.
See Page 7
opinion
Collett: Practice of throwing
‘Sbisa balls’ offers
unnecessary nuisance.
See Page 11
online
http://battalion.tamu.edu
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