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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 8, 1947)
Page Twn T HE BATTALION, College Station (Aggieland), Texas TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 1947 Administration Busts ... In all the charges made by the YSA and the Cadet Corps, we failed to detect a well-grounded grievance that certainly should be brought to light. That is lack of tact, insight, and skillful diplomacy on the part of the administration when dealing with students. It is possible to trace back through the record of the en tire controversy and find numerous instances^where the Com mandant, the President and the Board of Directors have fumbled the ball in the precise job of student relations. Bust No. 1 Start at the beginning—January 27, 1947. A new order was released to the Cadet Corps, prohibiting room orderlies, use of the board, freshman walking in the streets, humping, and allowing fish to sit in booths at campus confectionaries without fear of penalty. This was all embodied in the Ar ticles of the Cadet Corps. But here’s why the seniors decided to turn in their com missions—neither the senior class as a whole, nor individual members had been consulted for advice in framing the Ar ticles. No one had even ben notified, officially, that a change in discipline was contemplated. All was strictly hush-hush, as if the administration were planning the invasion of Rus sia. The Senior Class president was not notified or consul ted. The Cadet Colonel, though he knew, was not at liberty to speak about the Articles. The first complete dope anyone had on the subject came out in The Battalion the night the switchover from dean of men to commandant was to be announced. Seniors were quite naturally perturbed, and felt they had been by-passed on a matter of utmost importance to them and the school. They blew up, and butted heads with the Administration, to the grief of all concerned. All the bickering, distrust, and unrest might have been prevented by the simple democratic procedure of sitting down around a table and discussing the proposed change in dis cipline. That would have been tactful, skillful diplomacy. Instead, a new and galling change in the Cadet Corps was thrown in the face of the seniors, and the administra tion was foolish enough to believe they would take it lying down. Bust No. 2 President Gilchrist met with a senior committee late one afternoon during the January ruckus. He listened to their plea, then dismissed some of their grievances as trivial. He flatly stated that he anticipated no change in the Basic Pol icy, nor in the interpretation of it in regard to hazing. His manner was short, brusque, and somewhat disinterested. Re sult of this interview was a demand for the removal of Gil christ, terming his manner in meeting with the committee “insulting.” Could this have ben prevented by tactful handling of the committee? Perhaps so. Bust No. 3 Here’s one that very few people know about or under stand. Col Meloy felt the seniors’ vote of “‘no confidence” in Brandt and Nelson was unjustified. The night after the vote was taken, he met with the seniors and made this state ment in regard to the vote—“That action is communistic.” Now if you are hunting around for a sure way to make a group of Texans angry with you, call them Communists. It never fails, especially where there is no basis for it. And it didn’t fail for Col Meloy. Bust No. 4 In the same speech, Col. Meloy ordered all seniors to go to Ross Hall, and, if present at the meeting when the “no confidence” vote was taken, to “repudiate their vote.” In using the word “repudiate”, Col. Meloy underestimated his audience. Nearly everyone understood him to mean “tell how you voted, and take it back.” The seniors, of course, jumped to the defense of the right of secret ballot. This semantic misunderstanding was corrected the next day by Col. Meloy, but the damage had been done. Bust No. 5 The fifth mistake, made by President Gilchrist himself in a statement to the board answering the YSA “questions”, was in laying the blame for the veterans uprising to admin istration attempts to stop hazing. To those living at A. & M., his mistake was readily ap parent ; to the people of the state, it looked like a smoke screen to cloud other more fundamental issues. Hazing is abhorrent to the majority of the people of Texas, and Gil christ knows it. Therefore, he undoubtedly thought if he countercharged that the veterans were upset about hazing restrictions, the people would side with him. To the unbiased eye, it is evident most of the vets don’t care a whit about hazing, either in their dorms or in the corps, and don’t participate either. Freshmen don’t run details or grab pooches for them. It is regrettable that a person in a position of high edu cational responsibility should cite hazing as an issue with the veterans in order to insure approval of the administration stand. Two explanations for his emphasis of the hazing is sue come in mind. Either Gilchrist believes his allegation is correct because of ignorance of the situation, which is un- forgiveable for a college prexy, or he is hypocritically curry ing favor with the people, which is equally unforgiveable. Bust No. 6 The Board of Directors made this one. In a statement released after last week’s special session, the board stated: “The presidency of this institution is not an issue of controversy between this board and the student body of this college. This matter is one placed legally in the hands of the Board of Directors, and we recognize responsibility . . . only to the people of Texas.” The obvious fallacy in this reasoning is that the stu dents of A. & M. are people of Texas, a majority having the right to vote. Many own property in College Station or in their hometowns, and pay taxes on these holdings, taxes which contribute to just such state institutions as Texas A. & M. The board, by their own statement, cannot overlook the student-citizens right to have a voice in the controversy. Perhaps the board committed this error of logic through ignorance of valid thinking processes. If so, it is a startling reflection on the men responsible for the education of thous ands of Texas citizens. The Battalion The Battalion, official newspaper of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas and the City of College Station, is published tri-weekly and circulated on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday afternoons. Member Pbsocioted College Press Two Strikes on Vets ... The Veterans Association goes before the Senate-House investigating committee in Austin tonight with two strikes against it. Strike One The association called newspapermen from all over the state to attend a mass meeting at which sensational charges were apparently to be hurled. The newspapermen came, the meeting met, but the specific charges, when presented, hard ly merit the build-up. They were posed in the form of ques tions. But the questions could well have been asked without the theatricals simply by consulting college officials — and the same answers would have been received. Why pay $78 an acre for land when adjacent land was selling for $60 an acre? Why wasn’t Dean Potter’s recommendation about the wind tunnel followed? Why did the college refuse an out right gift of Bryan Army Air Field? All good questions, but easily answered. The land was bought for $75 an acre, was valued at $78. Dean Potter never made any such recom mendation about the wind tunnel. The Army never offered Bryan Air Field to the college. So what were the questions leading to? Charges of financial skullduggery? Mishandling of funds? Or just challenging the judgment involved? No one has yet said, and the questions have only confused the issue. There are probably many questions which could have been asked by the veterans which could not have been ans wered so easily. Such as “Exactly what type institution does the Administration seek to make of A. & M.?” There is nothing sensational about such a question, but it is funda mental. The questions as presented at the mass meetings-show ed that the Veterans either had not taken time to search for the facts, or had investigated very sloppily. Newspapermen at the meeting were amazed at the loose nature of the ques tions. The explanation that the questions were being asked honestly in hope of informative answers does not ring true. For on the strength of six questions, before any chance for answer was given, the veterans demanded ouster of Presi dent Gilchrist! Obviously, the charges made at the mass meetings, and the demand for Gilchrist’s ouster, had little to do with each other. Strike Two When the officers of the Veterans Association went be fore the board of the college, they refused to amplify their charges on the grounds that they had no faith in the board. Yet Bob Poison, vice-president of the association, had said the night before, “We believe certain members of the board of directors are in the dark as to certain conditions here. We believe the board will give us a fair deal.” And Bill Andrews had stated: “It’s not for us to pick the next president. Only the board of directors can do that. And only the board can force Gilchrist’s resignation.” That last statement was true. As Director John New ton said, “This board is the only body that can dismiss Pres ident Gilchrist—if that is your object.” As E. H. Harrison, also a director said, “You’re just spinning your wheels with a legislative committee.” There is no reason whatever to expect the Senate-House committee to be any more favorable than the board of di rectors. Only facts—major facts—will impress the investigating committee. Only facts—unimpeachable facts—will impress the Texas public. Education Factory... (This editorial was written before Dr. F. B. Clark’s speech in Dallas.) In all the dispute between the administration on one side, the cadets and the Veterans Association on the other, little has been heard from the faculty. This seems strange to those familiar with other colleges, where the faculty is highly vocal. Maybe it’s the nature of the school. Maybe professors of engineering and agriculture just aren’t given to speaking out the way teachers of English or economics do. But it is more likely due to the fact that the A. & M. faculty is not a unit. There is no faculty club on this campus, where teachers could get together and hold their own “bull-sessions.” (Yes, the profs do that, too.) Teaching at A. & M. is just a job. Professors are just hired hands. Is it the faculty’s desire to have it that way, or is it another matter in which A. & M. has failed to catch up with its own growth? Not so many years ago, most of the A. & M. faculty was housed on the campus itself. There was no need for a fac ulty club, when every teacher knew every other, and they could gather in each other’s homes easily. There was no great number of students. Faculty-student friendships sprang up naturally. Times have changed. A. & M. has grown into one of the nation’s larger schools. (Did you ever realize that just be fore the war, A. & M. was larger than Yale, much larger than Princeton?) Several generations ago, colleges were run by the fac ulty. Policies were set by the academic council, consisting of full professors. The president (or rector, or chancellor) was a professor himself. The board of directors, (or trus tees), ^ composed of business or professional men, was the body in whose care the physical and financial assets were placed. Now the board of directors has taken over most of the functions of the academic council. (We don’t mean just at A. & M. This has happened nationally.) Teachers every where have become merely hired hands in a education fac tory. That, as much as low salaries, is what is driving teach ers out of the profession today. The board believes that education is a business, as sta ted by John Newton at the last meeting. But “business” does not necessarily mean “factory.” And even in factories, during the war, it was found that efficiency jumped, troubles slumped, when employee-management committees were used. In business and in education, good ideas may come from the rank and file, as well as from “on top.” IT’S AN IDEA Says the “Baylor Lariat” in regard to dismissals of Aggie cadets from the corps, “If the purge were conducted on a Reguar Army basis, all these cadet officers would be fined 15 cents, reprimanded, and recommended for promotion.” Entered as second-class matter at Post Office at College Station, (Aggieland), Texas, under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1870. Subscription rate 4.00 per school year. Advertising rate* on request. Represented nationally by National Advertising Service, Inc., at New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Allen Self Vick Lindley Charles E. Murray J. K. B. Nelson David M. Seligman Paul Martin Corps Editor Veteran Editor —Tuesday Associate Editor .Thursday Associate Editor -Saturday Associate Editor Sports Editor Larry Goodwyn, Andy Matula, Jack Goodloe, Dick Baker, Earl Grant.....Sports Writers Wendell McClure Advertising Manager Martin E. Crossly Circulation Manager Ferd B. English, Franklin Cleland, William Miller, Doyle Duncan, Ben Schrader, Wm. K. Colville, Walter Lowe, Jr., Lester B. Gray, Jr., Carl C. Krueger, Jr., Mack T. Nolen —Reporters “MISS, MRS., MS, OR MSS.?” Miss? Or Mrs? That is the question. Probably into your life there has come the problem of how to address a letter to a woman of whose marital status you are uncertain. Rather than guess at Miss or Mrs.—and usually come out wrong, Mary Kasko, a young woman over 21 who would make life simpler, would have you address all women as “MS”. The plural would be “Mss”. The pronunciation, respectively, is Miss and Misses. Miss—I beg your_ pardon—Ms. Kasko says she’s received several letters at her home, using the title Ms., and not all of them were misprints. (Ed. Note: To make her plan practical, Ms. Kasko would first have to get rid of the standard meaning of the abbreviation Mss. At present, according to dictionaries, Mss means, not “Misses” but “manuscript”!) First Composite Regiment Broken Up; Units Reassigned Letters The First Composite Regimental staff was deactivated by order of Col G. S. Meloy last Wednesday, leaving A. & M. with three regiments—the Infantry, Field Artillery and Sec ond Composite. ■f The step was made necessary, according to officials, by the num ber of officers dismissed from the corps during the cadet officer trials. Jimmie Demopolous, com mander of the regiment, was among those dropped. Cadet Capt. Burt T. Summers, adjutant of the First Composite, was transferred to the Second Composite with the same rank and office. The Cavalry Squadron was at tached to the Infantry Regiment as Third Battalion. The Engineer Battalion, with Company “A” Chemical Corps at tached, goes to the Artillery Reg iment as Third Battalion. The Signal Corps is already in the Infantry Regiment. The Second Composite includes two flights of Air Corps, and three companies of veterans. THE LAST MAN Dear Editor: May I congratulate you upon the editorial, “The Last Man”, in the Battalion of Saturday, March 22. We are truly living in a fool’s paradise, giving much enthusiatic and aggressive attention to prob lems not nearly so much signifi cant as the one discussed in your editorial. Sincerely yours, WALTER P. TAYLOR Unit Leader Fish & Wildlife Service TEACH RUSSIAN! Barbecue-Dance On Dear Editor: Due to the present world situ ation in which Russia plays such a prominent part, I feel that the language of this country should be included in the curriculum of this institution. What are the proper channels through which such a request could be considered ? Yours truly, WILLIAM F. NICOL DON W. CARROLL Pre-Med., Pre-Dent. Soci ety. (Editor’s Note: Dr. J. J. Wool- ket, head of the Modern Lan guage Department stated that Russian will be offered when an instructor can be found.) Wainwright Says U. S. Army Not Involved in Case Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright, Fourth Army commander at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, stated last week that the army was not involved in the panel-board trials of A. & M. Cadets. Wainwright pointed out that the actions were taken by the college as disciplinary measures. ROTC cadets are not subject to court-martial, he said. Hey, Advertisers! May 3 Highlights Newman Activities Social plans for the spring semester were announced at the Monday night meeting of the Newman Club in the base ment of St. Mary’s chapel. Club president Grif Greenwall called the meeting of about 100 members together at 7:15 p. m. Social chairman Bill Perry an nounced that the outstanding dance of this semester will be on May 3 when the club will hold a barbecue and dance at the slab. Another dance is scheduled for April 18. Herman Neusch gave the pre- linary plans for the Province Con ference of Newman Clubs to be held here on April 18-20. Repre sentatives from college Newman Clubs in Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas will attend the meeting. Highlight of the conference will be a dance and banquet. The club then heard a report from Joe Cullinan, who attended the regional convention of the Na tion Students Association in Aus tin last week: Cullinan was elected regional vice-president of the re gional association. What’s Cooking The Battalion needs two men who are interested in writing advertising. Men who will be in school during the summer and throughout the 1947-1948 school year are preferred. For more information contact the Battal ion office in the basement of the Administration Building. WEDNESDAY, April 9 8 p.m.—Town Hall, Houston Symphony Orchestra. THURSDAY, April 10 7:30 p.m.—Communication and electronic personnel of Naval Re serve meets on second floor Pfeuf- fer Hall. The Atmosphere and Hospitality of the \*A fA OLD Mi SOUTH is always to be found — at — HOTARD’S CAFETERIA 311 N. Main—Bryan ‘Where the art of fine cookery has not been forgotten’ DON’T MISS THE BIG JAYCEE 2nd Annual Round-up and Rodeo at BRYAN ROPING CLUB ARENA One Mile North of Bryan on Hiway 6 APRIL 11th and 12th Houston Clubbers To Meet Wednesday A Houston Club meeting will be held Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. in Room 129, Academic Building. Details of the Longhorn picture will be discussed and a movie will be shown. The picture will be made at 5 p.m. Friday, April 11 on the steps of the Agricultural Build ing. The club’s special meeting at one of H o u s t o n’s night spots last Thursday drew their largest at tendance of the year. USED TRUCKS ’45 Ford Pick-up— New Engine ’37 Ford Pick-up ’43 Chevrolet Truck and Trailer ’43 Dodge Personnel Carrier BRYAN MOTOR COMPANY N. Main Bryan ^ S a\d GOOD bl a(f( , s ^iewbe nigh pr/ Ce ^ r 25*SHAVES YOU FOR 3 MONTHS! GUARANTIED BY THE MARLIN FIREARMS COMPANY Fine Guns Sime 1870 NEW SHAVER GIVES “SIMPLEST SHAVES OF YOUR LIFE!” Special Offer Introduces New Enders Speed Shaver Now at Your Campus Store SAFER... SMOOTHER ...SWIFTER Mystic, Conn. It’s here at last! Today the Durham- Enders Corp., an nounced the sim plest of all razors— the new Enders— the world’s most modem razor. It s new in every way—but its big fea ture is its extreme simplicity. You simply click the blade in and shave. Only one piece, no moving parts, no extra “gadgets.” And it’s light in your hand, and swift and keen on your face. You get an extra smooth shave, an extra-safe shave, an extra-swift shave. Already chosen as “the razor of.the airlines.” And here’s the offer: don’t risk a penny. Get the new Enders at your campus store —introduction price only 49(5 with 5 double-thick deluxe speed blades. Your money back if Enders Shaving isn’t the swiftest and easiest in your life! Look for the special Enders offer next visit to your campus store. OPENS 1 p. m. DAILY ADMISSION: $1.00 plus tax 8:00 P. M. Lots of Parking Space UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON Summer Centers of Mexico & Guatemala ATTENTION! A. & M. STUDENTS COMBINE VACATION WITH STUDY & TRAVEL Mexico City, June 3—July 9 Guatemala City, July 21—Aug. 20 For students of all levels and departments Spanish not required or essential Low-cost, all-expense arrangements Veterans pay only travel-living costs Six hours elective credits. Unique supervised groups travel and study Numerous visits and side trips Write for BULLETIN: Dr. Joseph S. Werlin, Director U. of H. Intern. Study Centers, Houston. Phone: C. 4-1681. TUESDAY - WEDNESDAY THURSDAY ONLY BETTE DAVIS — In — GLENN