Mavericks Fan Ejected After Hurling Mark Cuban Onto Court:
DALLAS–A Dallas Mavericks fan was ejected from the American Airlines Center Sunday after an incident in which he threw debris on the court. The debris, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, was hurled from the seats behind the team’s bench, striking assistant coach Avery Johnson in the head during a time-out. Police and security rushed immediately to the stands where they forcibly removed the fan, 27-year-old Richard Harwich.
“We had a minor incident involving a fan that threw some debris onto the court during a time-out,� said Gary Henderson, head of security for the American Airlines Center. “Our security forces responded swiftly and defused the situation. Any fan that wishes to throw Mr. Cuban from the stands will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. He is not a weapon or a projectile. He is the owner of this team.�
Grade exclusion cheapens degree, sets unfortunate precedent
With the stated goal of becoming a Top 20 public university over the next 15 years, A&M already had its work cut out for itself. As former students who have returned to complete graduate degrees, it was disappointing to read about the decision to institute a grade-exclusion policy.
Hiring graduates, accepting graduates into professional post-graduate programs and future educations: a schools reputation is, for better or for worse, a key component which employers, other universities and potential students gauge their decisions on.
Although the current policy allows for only three grade changes, it is the principal of the matter: if A&M invites and accepts “high-quality� students (i.e. top 10%) who for whatever reason waste their first year and for whom 3 Q-drops are not enough, that says something about the academic expectations they have of their students. In effect it takes away personal responsibility and accountability which students will have to deal with in real-life, outside the unrealistic protective bubble at the University.
Furthermore, it simply cheapens the degree of everyone else who graduated in the past and everyone who had to live with their mistakes and grow from them.
Regardless as to what other institutions are doing (is Baylor really the role model A&M should be emulating?), A&M should institute policies which place academic excellence and scholarship above all others – we could have been trail blazers but instead we are yet another misguided group following a short-sighted path.
Tim Swanson
David Veksler
Margaret Rynn
Class of 2003
