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.
â– 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