PRINT THIS PAGE | E-MAIL THIS PAGE

Wednesday, July 30, 1997

A&M to go ahead and move Reveille graves for stadium expansion

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) - Despite alumni and student complaints, Texas A&M University will move the burial site of its collie mascots to accommodate a $30 million expansion of Kyle Field.

"We're ready to move forward," Malon Southerland, vice president of student affairs, said Tuesday.

Four collies - all named Reveille - were buried near Kyle Field and the school plans to move them about 15 yards to make room for the athletic field's renovation.

Word of the proposed change prompted outrage among students and alumni who fired off complaints to E-2, the company of A&M cadets deemed caretakers of the purebred American collie.

Aggie tradition calls for the dead collies to be positioned in their graves so their paws and faces point towards the stadium's north tunnel.

That's so they can see the Aggie scoreboard.

The outrage among Aggies promoted a huddle last week where officials explained to student groups the architects' finding that the graves must be moved in order to build a better facility.

"We're accepting it," Jeff King, E-2 commanding officer, said Tuesday. "We're sad that it has to be done, but we're accepting it and we're just trying to work with the administration."

In a letter to the editor printed in Tuesday's issue of The Battalion, A&M's student newspaper, King and two other cadets expressed their disappointment.

"Make no mistake, E-2 is not happy with the decision to move the graves," the letter reads.

On the positive side, King said, E-2 cadets will be able to design the new grave site.

"We get to make it look really nice. They (athletic department officials) are going with whatever we say. They're really cooperating with us," he said.

The Reveilles will be moved temporarily to a garden area across the street from the current site.

When the expansion is finished in 1999, the grave site will be moved to a tree-lined plaza just outside the north end of the stadium.

Southerland said officials had considered moving the grave site inside the stadium so the Reveilles could see the scoreboard, but then the graves would be off limits when the stadium is locked.

However, administrators are considering putting an electronic message board - where scores could be displayed - outside the renovated stadium's north end.

That way the Reveilles could continue to see the Texas A&M score. Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
Send the URL (Address) of This Story to A Friend: