Prairie View Settles Dispute With Athletic Conference

Black Issues in Higher Education, Feb 18, 1999

PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas -- The president of Prairie View A&M says his school's dispute with others in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) has been resolved and the sanctions stemming from the band's fight with Southern University's band have been satisfied.

"We need to get on with the primary business of educating people," says Prairie View's president, Dr. Charles A. Hines. "There is an absolute need for a measure of closure to this."

The comments were Hines' first about the controversy since the September brawl between the Prairie View A&M and Southern University bands at halftime of a game played at Lamar University in Beaumont (see Black Issues, Oct. 15, Oct. 29, Dec. 24, 1998; Jan. 7, 1999).

SWAC commissioner Rudy Washington suspended both bands for two games, but Prairie View's band sat out only half the suspension before performing in the Cotton Bowl during a game against Grambling State University.

Hines says he does not regret any of his decisions since the band fight, including allowing the band to play at the Grambling game. Because of contract obligations, he says, Prairie View could have faced an $80,000 penalty and possible lawsuits from vendors had the band not performed.

In December, the conference's council of presidents approved fining Prairie View $31,000 for violating the suspension and ordered the school to take "appropriate action" to show its commitment to "the values and ideals" of the SWAC.

Prairie View has paid the $31,000 fine.