Che Battalion Texas A&M University Volume 61 COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS FRIDAY, MARCH 19, 1965 Number 154 Frosh Raise Nation-Wide Test Ranking A “significant” rise in scores of A&M University freshmen on nationally-standardized tests is reported. The trend is revealed in a newly-released evaluation of scores made by entering fresh men of recent years. University officials also cite the rank in high school classes of these freshmen. More than 80 per cent of the students entering this academic year ranked in the top half of their high school class. “The trends of higher rank in high school class and higher scores on aptitude tests at A&M definitely indicate the new fresh man is of much higher caliber than his counterpart of 15 or 20 years ago,” Dr. W. J. Graff said. “These trends, coupled with the emphasis at A&M on excel lence in teaching and the im proved academic facilities, mean added strength for the academic program,” the dean of instruction said. A&M officials agree with na tional testing authorities that there is no single method or test for precisely predicting an individual’s subsequent academic performance. But all feel that high school class rank plus re sults of the nationally-standard ized tests provide solid informa tion. “Since 1949 the percentage of students entering A&M with rank in the upper half of their high school class has steadily increased from about 60 percent to more than 80 percent,” Dean Graff said. “As far as high school rank in class can measure aca demic excellence, the A&M fresh men were about average in 1949. The trend tow'ard higher rank in high school class has been noted at other universities but the dean said “a sudden spurt” Loan Association Gets Approval The First Federal Savings & Loan Association Thursday re ceived official notice of its ac ceptance by the Federal Home Loan Bank System. “This makes our association fully operative,” Glynn A. (Bud dy) Williams Jr., president said. "Now we can accept deposits for savings accounts and make home loans.” Offices of the only federally- chartered association are located at 2913 Texas Ave. in Bryan. “I wish to sincerely thank the more than 350 charter members who provided more than $500,063 capital to form this new associa tion,” Williams said. commencing in 1961 held special meaning for A&M. “A steady increase” in the scores of A&M freshmen of cer tain nationally-standardized tests also is apparent. The university began using the College Entrance Examination Boards exclusively in 1961. Prior to that time, the School and College Ability Test, another nationally - recognized examination, was used. “Since 1957 the scores have steadily increased until the pre sent average score (the 1964 en tering class) is at the 60 per centile rank compared to the na tional average,” Dean Graff said. This means that the A&M fresh men rank above 60 percent of those taking the tests. The improvements in high school class rank and scores on the national tests, coupled with improved teaching, hold im portant advantages to A&M’s future the dean noted. An exam ple is that a greater share of the students likely will enter graduate and professional schools. Testing Center Conducting Poll Of Area Girls The Counseling and Testing Center is presently conducting a study to find out how many fe males in the area would attend A&M if barriers were lifted. Dean of Instruction W. J. Graff said the study is being made upon the request of the Board of Di rectors. Graff said the results should be completed within a month. The information will be present ed to President Earl Rudder and the Board of Directors. Graff said IBM cards were ad dressed to be returned and were distributed to grade schools. He said the cards had postal permit numbers so the cards could be mailed back as a card, to those conducting the study. The survey attempts to research two areas. The first will research last years’ graduating seniors and where they are now attending school, and a survey of junior and senior girls in high schools in the area. The second part of the research will poll women who graduated before 1964. Graff said that the IBM cards distributed in the grade schools would be taken home to the students’ parents. The parents would give the name of female relatives who might en roll at A&M. 8 Student Posts Filled Run-Offs To Determine 13 Class Offices Thursday Mistaken Identities Pictured above are the two sets of onstage twins that are key factors in The Aggie Players’ “The Comedy of Errors.” Standing, left to right, are Jordan A. Brooks and Terry Mayfield. Below are Thomas Avant and Bud Franks. (See review, Page 2.) Eight positions were decided Thursday in the Student Elections and 13 positions will be decided in run-offs Thursday. A total of 1,586 votes were cast in the election. For president of the class of 1966, Narciso Cano and Jack R. Fickessen will be in a run-off. Thomas R. Hargrove and Marion H. Tindall will meet in the run off for the position of vice-presi dent. The secretary-treasurer for ’66 will be decided between Charles T. McGinnis III and Louis Sabayrac. Other positions for the Class of ’66: social-secretary was won by Harris Pappas. John D. Gaden Jr., will meet Charles A. Mella in the run-off for historian. Joseph K. Bush was elected head Fish Drill Team Competes At LSU The Freshman Drill Team will compete Saturday in the South ern Invitational Drill Meet at Louisiana State University and will host the first annual A&M Invitational Meet March 27. The cadets will be among 10 drill teams expected to attend the meet in Louisiana. Teams will represent schools in four states. Teams from nine colleges and universities have accepted invita tions to participate in the meet scheduled at A&M. Officials expect approximately 300 cadets to represent the nine teams. The first annual meet at A&M will be held on the main drill field. An inspection at 8:15 a.m. will begin the competition and the meet will continue through basic and fancy drills. Eight trophies will be awarded to winners. In addition to a large trophy for the winner in all phases of competition, there will be trophies for teams scor- Student Solons Ask Change In Entertainment Office A resolution recommending that the office of entertainment chairman be put under the Mem orial Student Center Directorate for appointment instead of being elected by the senior class was passed by the Student Senate Thursday night. The resolution would replace the Senior Class office of en tertainment chairman with a concessions manager, an office previously appointed by the class president. The resolution will be given to the Executive Committee of the Academic Council for ap proval. It will not affect the election of entertainment chair man for the class of '66. “The Town Hall Committee is under the MSC Directorate in all ways except that the chairman is elected by the senior class,” said Robert Boone, supervisor of the Town Hall program. All other chairmanships are chosen by a panel and judged on ability. The present system requires Cards Are Ready For Who’s Who A&M students selected to appear in the 1964-65 edition of “Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges” are urged to pick up their certificates. Certificates may be obtained at the office of the Dean of Stu dents, Room 209, of the YMCA. Building. the MSC to screen candidates for entertainment chairman before they may stand for election. In other Senate action, Bill Altman, welfare chairman, said that the Aggie Blood Drive will be held April 7-8 in the basement of the MSC. Pre-registration will be con ducted near the MSC post office March 30-April 2. Altman brought up the possi bility of opening the drive to all members of the faculty and staff of the university; and ap proval of members of the Senate was voiced. Charles Wallace, chairman of the Election Commision said the commission was considering a $1 fee for replacing lost voting cards. ing high in inspection and drill. The Association of Former Fish Drill Team Members is sponsor ing the meet. Teams that have accepted invi tations for the March 27 compe tition include Arlington State, Sam Houston State, West Texas State, Texas A&I, University of Houston, Hardin-Simmons, Uni versity of Texas, A&M Southern University and A&M College, Baton Rouge. Army and Marine Corps repre sentatives will judge the teams. The drill team will march in San Antonio’s Fiesta Flambeau parade on April 24 and will ap pear on May 1 in Corpus Christi. “The team this year is small, but it looks good,” Calvin Reese, one of the sponsors, said. Other sponsors are Air Force Maj. Thomas F. Hines and Army Capt. John L. Lorms. Members of the drill team have at least a “C” average in their studies. Several are listed as Distinguished Students . Malon Southerland is the presi dent of the Association of Former Drill Team Members. He said other teams may still join in the competition to be held at A&M. 2 Debaters Added To Tourney Team Two additional A&M debaters have been named to participate in the Southwest Conference Tourna ment Friday and Saturday on the Texas Christian University cam pus. Newly-announced as the team to represent A&M with the negative proposal in the seven rounds are Karl L. Rubinstein and Sam S. Henry Jr. Rubinstein, from San Antonio, is a senior majoring in English. He serves as adjutant of the Fourth Group Staff. Henry is a junior majoring in government. He is a technical ser geant on the Fourth Battalion Staff. yell leader. Also elected was Tif- ton Simmons Jr. Roy L. May and Russel Stein outpolled Michael Beck for Mem orial Student Center Council Rep resentative. Michael Nabors won the stu dent entertainment manager posi tion over Robert W. Owen. Four posts were filled in the class of ’67 elections. Three will be decided by run-offs. Mark C. Berry won the social secretary post over Rex O. Grey. William R. Hindman will handle the MSC council representative post. Also decided was the yell lead er race. Thomas C. Stone and Rayford R. Carey won. Run-offs will include president, vice-president and secretary-trea surer. William W. Gordon and Donald J. Matocha will vie for the presidental post, Eddie Joe Davis and Neal C. Ward for the vice- president and Harold C. Schade and Robert J. Meyers for secre tary treasurer. All races for the class of '68 will be decided in the run-off. Jack R. Coleman and Bennie G. Mays will compete for president, Neal W. Adams and Stephen E. Menczer for vice-president and Wayne J. Baird and Henry G. Cisneros for secretary-treasurer. Social-secretary - will be between John Daly and Lee Horton and the MSC Council post between Donald L. Allen and Clyde R. Westbrook. TV Program Set By Singing Cadets The Singing Cadets, men’s choral group at A&M, will participate in a statewide television special on KHOU-TV, channel 11, in mid- May. The cadets will join outstanding college talent from all over the state in the “Talent ‘65” presenta tion. A TV production crew with mo bile tape-camera unit will record the Singing Cadets performance Monday on the steps in front of the Coke Building. Robert Boone, director of the group, will supervise the musical production. The hour-long special will be sponsored by Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. This week groups from the Uni versity of Texas and Baylor Uni versity are being recorded. Fol lowing the College Station visit, the unit will move on to Sam Hous ton State Teachers College, South ern Methodist University and Tex as Christian University. Other schools are also scheduled to parti cipate. jPII Candid Comments On Current Crises ‘Super’ Campus Government Given Varied Support Question: Do you favor a consolidation of all student governments into a single body? TOM ROSENSTEIN Sophomore, Spring Branch I believe in two separate student body governments—one repre senting the Corps and one the Civilians. These two governing bodies would then be responsible to a major body which would weigh the views of the two separate bodies equally and develop a subsequent opinion. This opinion would then repre sent the complete student body. BOB NICHOLAS Senior, Dallas Maybe this is what our student body needs. I don’t know. If this was done perhaps the efforts of our student leaders could be coordinated to work as a team, not just for the Corps or Civil ians. I do believe, however, that the student body as a whole de serves a lot more power in school government than it has now. EUGENE SUPAK Freshman, Fayetteville I do favor consolidation of the various governing student bodies into one. I feel that one united student body could function with much more efficiency. A united student governing body could consolidate the ideas and opin ions of the separate groups and in this way decisions could be reached based on the greater ma jority. MELVIN BEYER Junior, Sinton I think the consolidation of the small councils would be more beneficial to the students of A&M. This would centralize the government plus prevent con flicting opinions between coun cils. The only drawback is that some offices would be closed for many students wishing to run. RICHARD J. MERGEN Sophomore, El Paso In my opinion there should be three bodies. There should be a body consisting of only Corps personnel and one having only Civilians. Then, there should be a body that has both the Corps and Civilians represented. With this set up, the two lower bodies could pass resolutions to the combined body and this body could rule on the decisions. THOMAS I. BROWN III Junior, Bishop I believe that all the individual student councils should be re organized into one governing body. This would allow a more efficient way of governing the students. It would also prevent the policies of one group from conflicting with other groups. A more efficient governing body would provide for a better stu dent body. JACK E. MYERS Sophomore, Cleveland I do not think that combining the different student govern ments would be a good idea be cause some of the people on those positions do not really know very much about the func tions of the other organizations. A student who has never been in the Corps would know very little about its functions. This also applies to a Corps member serving on a Civilian governmen tal body.