COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- A senior Texas A&M cadet was suspended Monday for the remainder of the fall semester for brandishing his saber at a Texas A&M football game and waving it at a Southern Methodist cheerleader.
Greg Hood, wearing his cadet uniform and his saber, emerged from the 3 -hour hearing and said only he had been suspended for the remainder of the semester. He would not comment further.
Late in the second quarter of the Oct. 31 game, following an SMU touchdown that made the score 12-0 en route to a 27-7 victory, SMU's male cheerleaders ran onto the astroturf at Kyle Field to spell out 'SMU' with their bodies. A&M tradition prohibits visiting cheerleaders from going onto the playing surface.
Hood, the officer of the day and responsible for the general behavior of the Aggie student body, rushed onto the field after the SMU cheerleaders, brandished his saber and thrust it threatenly at one of them. Another cheerleader knocked Hood down and Texas A&M security officers and one Aggie football player stopped the scuffle.
SMU cheerleaders said they were not informed of the rule which limited their activities to the sidelines.
A&M security officers said the rule also prohibited Hood from going on the field.
Hood, of Dallas, said between sessions of Monday's hearing he had reacted as an Aggie, not as a cadet.
'Fellow Aggies have stood behind me, even though I was wrong in what I did,' he said.
No witnesses were called to the hearing, although several cadets waited outside in the halls.
Col. James Woodall, commandant of cadets, said Hood could re-enter the Corps if he returns to A&M in the spring. However, Woodall said Hood would have to apply again and would be treated the same as any other student seeking admission to the Corps.
The Texas A&M ROTC program offers commissions in all branches of the military and annually commissions more officers than any other school in the nation aside from the military academies.
