Battalion
Cool,
cloudy,
windy
College Station, Texas
Friday, April 2, 1971
WEDNESDAY—Clear. Winds
easterly 10 to 15 m.p.h. High
69, low 38.
THURSDAY—Clear to partly
cloudy. Winds easterly 15 to 25
m.p.h. High 72, low 44.
845-2226
Freshmen 4-time champs
in national drill contest
Ifc:-.
The Fish Drill Team re
turned in triumph Sunday night
after capturing the national drill
championship for the fourth
straight year and first place in
the Cherry Blossom Festival Pa
rade of Princesses in Washing
ton, D. C.
The Fish scored 888 out of a
possible 1,000 points in the Na
tional Intercollegiate ROTC Drill
Contest Friday, sweeping the
award for the fourth straight
year.
It was the second straight first
place for the unit in the 3%-hour
Parade of Princesses, featuring
Good wishes
bands and marching units from
throughout the nation.
Forty-four teams competed in
the drill contest, with the Fish
winning by 18 points over second
place Texas A&I.
“I’ve never seen a team put out
more than our freshmen did Fri
day,” declared Fish Drill Team
sponsor J. Malon Southerland.
“It appeared the judges were
very strict in grading. I assume
they were impressed by our mili
tary bearing and tremendous
complexity of our sequence,”
Southerland said.
The Fish were under extra
pressure after winning the na
tional title the last three years.
“Here’s the team everyone is
after” a drill official commented
when the group arrived for a 35-
minute practice session Thursday
night.
The judges were officers from
Marine Corps and Army honor
guards in the Washington area.
Other places in the competition
were third, Rutgers, 858; fourth,
Gannon College, 856; fifth, Seton
Hall, 850, and sixth, Pennsyl
vania Military College, 843.
Sam Houston State, St. Mary’s
University and the University of
Texas at Arlington also were en
tered from Texas.
Team members received a 21-
foot “telegram (see story below)
with over 800 names from Texas
A&M administrators, faculty and
students while having lunch Fri
day at the House Office Building.
Southerland said it sparked the
team for the afternoon perform
ance.
“We came to win and bring the
honor back to Texas A&M,” said
Bill Peppard of Houston, team
commander. The two-foot trophy
is a model of the Washington
Monument—and the Fish brought
two home.
Members of the National Capi
tol A&M Club hung a Texas flag
over a section in the D. C. Na
tional Guard Armory where the
contest was held. About 45 for
mer students and their families
viewed the drill meet.
The Fish left A&M at 5:30
a.m. Thursday and returned at
11:15 p.m. Sunday. Two hundred
students held a yell practice to
send the team off and 500 were
waiting when they returned.
Transportation aboard a com
mercial airline was furnished by
the Association of Former Stu
dents.
Friday morning the team
toured the White House and
(See Freshman, page 2)
.1 ^ .
reach Fish
through ‘hams’
MEMBERS OF GIRL SCOUT TROOP 459 take part in
Clean Up College Station Day Saturday. Over 25 groups
in the city participated. (Photo by Larry Martin)
MSC accolades
awarded tonight
Fourteen awards including the
prestigious Thomas H. Rountree
Memorial will be presented to
night at the 21st Memorial Stu
dent Center Awards Banquet.
The 6:30 p.m. banquet, built
on the theme of a “Royal Came-
lot Feast,” will be in the MSC
Ballroom, announced Council
President Thomas C. Fitzhugh of
Waco.
Also on the streamlined list of
awards to be given are the Law
rence Sullivan Ross Award for
exemplary service to Texas A&M
through the MSC and a special
1970-71 presentation, the Eliza
beth Todd Chapman Award.
The latter, to be given in rec
ognition of outstanding contri
bution to the MSC Council and
Director in the spirit of Eliza
beth Chapman, honors the late
head of the MSC graphics art
department. Mrs. Chapman died
in an auto accident near Bastrop
last summer.
Also to be presented are fresh
man, sophomore and junior
awards and student and advisor
Distinguished Service Awards.
The Rountree Award was
established and first presented
in 1966 “to recognize and honor
the outstanding student of the
MSC Council or Directorate
whose dedication and contribu
tion to the recreational, educa
tional and cultural programs of
the council and directorate” bring
distinction to the center.
Rountree, a 1952 A&M gradu
ate, pioneered leadership as a
student leader in the MSC Di
rectorate’s development of pro
grams in international affairs.
The permanent plaque was giv
en by Mr. and Mrs. J. L. H.
Rountree as a memorial to their
son.
Committee appreciation awards,
previously given at the annual
banquet, are being given at com
mittee functions this year to
enhance the various awards and
streamline the banquet.
Student Senate to ask board
for women’s dormitory in fall
The Student Senate Monday
unanimously approved a resolu
tion asking that women’s hous
ing be made available in the fall
of 1971 rather than the sched
uled fall of 1972.
The resolution will be present
ed to the Board of Directors by
Kent Caperton, Senate president,
at its April 26 meeting.
The resolution says that there
have been sufficient requests
and justifications for on-campus
housing for the 1971 fall semes
ter and that it feels the board
should reconsider its action.
The Senate also approved a
proposal by graduate student
Sayeed Hassan to appeal to
President Richard Nixon to stop
the genocide in East Pakistan by
use of their offices.
“We don’t want to have an
other Biafra”, Hassan said, “even
though it seems headed that
way.”
*
Each year, the Association of
Former Fish Drill Team Mem
bers collect signatures on a good
luck telegram to be sent to the
Fish Drill Team at the National
Drill Competition.
This year, however, their ef
forts were almost thwarted by
unforseen national developments.
When they took the good luck
telegram with about 1,000 signa
tures, including those of A&M
President Dr. Jack K. Williams
and Col. Jim McCoy, to the West
ern Union office, they were told
that because of the Lt. William
Galley protest, all the lines into
Washington were jammed and
that a three-day wait was ex
pected.
Since three days obviously was
too long to wait, they were in a
quandry as to what to do until
Jan Bertholf, a former Fish Drill
Team member and member of the
Memorial Student Center Ama
teur Radio Committee — W5AC,
thought of sending the telegram
by amateur radio teletype.
After a lengthy search, the
“hams” succeeded in locating an
amateur in the Washington area
with the proper teletype equip
ment — Frank White, W3PYW,
in Silver Spring, Maryland. A
long-distance phone call set up a
schedule, and on-the-air contact
was established early Thursday
evening.
But the problems weren’t over
yet — variable radio conditions
and the extensive typing neces
sary kept Ed Campbell, Tim
Ahrensand, Dave Cheek, all Ra
dio Club members, up most of
Thursday night getting the tele
type message through.
White had the 40-foot roll of
paper deliver to the office of
Congressman Olin Teague, which
delivered it to the Fish Drill
Team.
THREE SUDAN ARTS DANCERS of Houston prepare
to “kill” the “devil woman,” a white European portrayed
by one of the Sudan Arts troop. The group was presented
Friday night by The Black Awareness Committee as part
of Black Experience I. (Photo by Larry Martin)
No longer sold in packets
3 Dog Night tickets available
Individual tickets to the April 24 Town Hall performance by the
Three Dog Night are on sale in the Student Program Office of the
Memorial Student Center, Civilian Student Council Treasurer Paul
Ammons said Monday night.
Ticket sales, which began Monday, will continue until all tickets
are sold. Ammons noted the sale of ticket packages for Civilian
Week-Weekend has ended.
Tickets to the Friday night Casino and Saturday night Sweetheart
Presentation Dance are available through April 20 in the Civilian
Student Activities Office, room 103 of the YMCA, Ammons said. After
April 20 tickets will be available only at the door, he said.
A fall civilian student activity card entitles a student to a dance
ticket, Ammons said, and a spring card entitles its holder to a $1
reduction on a Casino ticket.
Ammons said tickets to the Aggie Cinema’s April 22 presentation
of “How the West Was Won” will be available at the gate the night of
the movie.
Walton Hall President Leon Drozd, Week-Weekend chairman, said
Monday night that the Monday of Civilian Week (April 19),
high-performance automobiles will be featured in the quad area west of
Sbisa Dining Hall. He said students and faculty members who want to
display their cars should make arrangements with Moore Hall President
Bill Gore, room 357, 845-1639.
Inspirational architecture hard to find,
furniture sculptor Nakashima declares
Dr. George Nakashima speaks at the Architecture
Building Friday. (Photo by Bill Mclntire)
By DOUG GIBBS
Battalion Staff Writer
Why should a furniture sculp
tor who believes “education is ir
relevant” lecture at A&M ?
“I was asked, and couldn’t
think of a good reason not to
come,” said Dr. George Naka
shima. “Also, I have a weakness
for jet planes.”
A creator of furniture based
on “the beauty of simple things,”
Nakashima flew from his home
and business in Pennsylvania to
lecture informally in the Archi
tecture Building Friday, after
speaking Thursday at Rice Uni
versity. He was sponsored by the
Forum for Environmental Stud
ies of the College of Architec
ture and Environmental Design.
During his four-hour lecture,
classes changed and students
came and went, but he passed
only once to rest, and even then
was pursued by questioning stu
dents. Dressed in slacks, loafers
and a stylized Japanese jacket,
Banking is a pleasure at First
Bank & Trust.
he spoke matter-6f-factly, occa
sionally jabbing at America,
architecture, and education.
An outspoken critic of this
age’s architecture, Nakashima
told students it is time to tear
down the old and get a fresh
start. Calling America the “civi
lization of the full stomach,” he
blamed materialism for our lack
of inspirational architecture.
“Architecturally, London and
Paris are dead,” he said, “b u t
New York is probably the dead
est of all. We need a concept, a
technology and an efficiency, not
money.”
Students warmed quickly to
comments urging “throw out
your T-squares, your drafting
boards, your triangles. Get rid
of them, and you’ll probably be
left with just good architecture.”
Reflecting on his own educa
tion, Nakashima said, “I gradu
ated during the depression. Since
jobs were scarce, most of my
friends ended up selling apples
or pencils on street corners. In
stead of selling apples,” he
paused, “I traveled around the
world.”
Nakashima says he is conduct
ing a “one man war against in
stitutionalized architecture,” de
nying any relationship between
architecture and design.
Today’s system is like “prac
ticing baking a cake by drawing
a picture of it,” he said, “it’s
mad.”
He told students he never
builds to an architect’s specifica
tions.
“They try to send me a set of
drums, and ask me to beat on
them,” he said. “But if you don’t
get in on the reality of some
thing, you’re missing out on
three-fourths of the fun. The fun
lies in creation.”
At this point, looking about
himself, Nakashima said, “I un
derstand there is very little hip
piness at A&M. That’s too bad.
“I wonder,” he added, “if I am
talking to the right people.”
“America has never had a
great architect,” Nakashima said,
“the ideals of our type of civili
zation are not high enough.” He
said we must draw back into our
selves and find a motivation, our
own inspiration.”
“Culture? We (America) don’t
have a culture, it’s a civilization.
And even American civilization
is not that good.”
A believer in Hinduism, Naka
shima said it must be America’s
objective in the future. Describ
ing it as “the most ethnic of all
religions because it accepts any
one who reaches his own state of
consciousness,” he said it is the
first step to understanding our
environment.
Nakashima was optimistic
about the future of architecture:
“It’s a question of the spirit,
where we go from here is up to
what you people do. Certain
things that have happened re
cently, such as the commune, are
returning us to simpler things.
Until then, I have gone under
ground.”
Schools have a tendency to run
away from issues, according to
Nakashima, but have a role in
experimental work. Prefabrica
tion, “something Japanese hous
es have been involved in for hun
dreds of years,” could be devel
oped in schools, he said.
He said it is time to stop build
ing monuments, and start mak
ing “useful objects to fulfill
man’s life in a manner akin to
the manner in which nature pro
duces a tree or a flower.”
“I do practically all my de
signing while walking through
the woods,” he said. “I should
have been bom in the 13th cen
tury—I’d like to go out and start
building cathedrals.”
Displaying his belief in mysti
cism, Nakashima told listeners
that if things get bad enough, a
leader will arise. “If a new man
—a complete man comes along—
the possibilities are endless.”
Towards the close of the lec
ture, a student raised his hand
and asked, “has there ever been
a great architect?”
Nakashima answered, solemn
ly, “I’m not convinced.”
University National Bank
“On the side of Texas A&M.”
—Adv.