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Page 2
THE BATTALION
Wednesday, May 23,1951
Basic Division Freshmen and Officers Say
—
More Personal Counseling, Better Student Contact Needed
''TODAY'S installment of The Battalion’s three-part Basie Division
' * series deals with recommendations and suggestions for improving
personal and group freshman counseling.
The information presented here was gathered through question
naires and personal interviews and represents the opinion of fresh
men and upperclassmen .students assigned to the Basic Division.
Published here Monday, the first of this series was written at the
request of The Battalion by John R. Bertrand, dean of the Basic Div
ision. Bertrand presented his views of the accomplishments, needed
changes, and purpose of his department.
Tomorrow’s installment will deal with dormitory and military
cadet life in the Basic Division.—The Editor.
By THOMAS! M. FONTAINE
Battalion Staff Writer
HEN the editors of The Battalion first gave me the go-
ahead on a Basic Division story, I asked them to let me do
some easier assignment such as “How To Make An Atom
Bomb In Your Home Workshop.” Talking to enough Fresh
men and cadet officers to gain an idea of the general opinion
concerning the many new plans incorporated in the Basic
Division seemed too much even for a guy who likes to talk
as much as I do.
Dean John R. Bertrand came to my rescue with the offer
to let me examine the results of questionnaires given just
From the City Desk .
College Station in Retrospect
During a Busy Twelve Months
F OR THIS final edition of our column while City Editor,
we would like to point out the many activities that took
place in the City of College Station since last June.
The past twelve months have probably been an ordinary
year to many of the old residents hereabout, but we believe it
was a busy year and a period which will affect the future
actions and activities of this city for years to come.
As an observer, we have seen the City Council in action,
the Chamber of Commerce and its many committees striving
to accomplish many good deeds which their limited facilities
and finances provide.
The local civic clubs have contributed greatly to the ad
vancement of civic activities and the addition of the Lion’s
Club here has brought added interest in the local work al
ready being done by the Kiwanis Club and the Bryan-College
Station Rotary Club.
To a newcomer such as we are, the College Station Sum
mer Recreation Committee has operated one of the most com
mendable programs we have ever seen in a town of this size.
Young people and adults alike have shown a growing in
terest in these many activities which are conducted for their
pleasure by trained personnel.
Social activities came into the limelight through the
pages of The Battalion during the past year after a short
absence. Vivian Castleberry’s weekly Women’s Page and
daily stories concerning social events in the city point to the
many events which keep the ladies of the city busy. \
A Retrospective Glance
We would like to take a retrospective glance over the
events of the past year and give a brief picture of what hap^
pened in College Station. ■ *1, 4j{
July 5 found the cities of College Station and Bryan with'
new telephone rates after months of negotiations witn rep
resentatives of the Southwestern States Telephone Company.
The company was allowed a rate increase of $36,000 an
nually, $20,000 less than they had requested.
The July 10 session of the City Council brought about
annexation of territory on the South Side. A proposal for
reducing water rates during the Summer and Fall months
when consumption is high was also presented for discussion.
Our first attempt to columnize news of College Station
found us commenting on City Council discussions on these
proposed reduced water rates. Nothing ever came of the
matter, to the best of our knowledge, and the rates are still
unadjusted.
Next came the question of parking meters in College
Station and we heard the members of the City Council go
round and round about the matter. Nothing was ever done
and people still seem to get their cars parked with little or
no trouble—minus the expense of purchasing the meters and
minus the added revenue the meters would have brought in.
Fire Stirs College Hills
A mid-night fire on July 27 stirred local residents from
their sleep as the College Hills residence of John Bogard suf
fered an estimated $17,000 loss.
An acute water shortage in early August produced re
quests from the city and college for local residents to limit
grass and garden watering. The supposedly “ample” supply
of water from the Bryan reservoirs fell dangerously low un
til the shortage was staved off several days later.
Mid-August brought about a request from over 100 cit
izens who petitioned the City Council for “Better methods
of fire protection.”
The Battalion
Lawrence Sullivan Ross, Founder of Aggie Traditions
"Soldier, Statesman, Knightly Gentleman”
Entered as second-class
natter at Post Office at
College Staton, Texas,
Dnder the Act of Con
gress of March 3, 1870.
Member of
The Associated Press
Represented nationally
by National Advertising
Service Inc., at New York
City, Chicago, Los An
geles, and San Francisco.
CLAYTON L. SELPH, DAVE COSLETT Co-Editors
John Whitmore, Dean Reed Managing Editors
Andy Anderson, Bob Hughson Campus Editors
Fred Walker Sports Editor
Joel Austin City Editor
Vivian Castleberry Women’s Editor
Today’s Issue
John WRitmore Managing Editor
Andy Anderson Campus News Editor
Fred Walker Sports News Editor
Joel Austin City News Editor
T. M. Fontaine, Carter Phillips —Editorialists
Allen Pengelly— Assistant City Editor
Leon McClellan, Jack Fontaine, Ed Holder, Bryan Spencer, Bob Venable, Dale
Walston, Bee Landrum, Frank Davis, Phil Snyder, Art Giese, Cristy Orth,
James Fuller, Leo Wallace, W. H. Dickens, Fig Newton, Joe Price, Pete
Hermann, Wesley Mason, B. F. Roland, Ivan Yantis, Sid Ragsdale, Bill
Aaberg, Ide Trotter, John Hildebrand, Chuck Neighbors, Bob Selleck, Bill
Streich, Curtis Edwards. Howard Heard —Staff Writers
Jimmy Ashlock, Joe Blanchette, Ray Holbrook, Joe Hollis,
Pat LeBlanc.... Sports Staff Writers
Sara Molinary, Bob Alderdice Staff Photographers
Sid Abernathy Page Make-up
Dick Kelly Club Publicity Co-ordinator
Joe Gray —Photo Engraving Shop Manager
Tom Fontaine, Johnny Lancaster, Charles McCullough, R. R. Peeples,
R, D. Witter Photo Engravers
Autrey Frederick Advertising Manager
Russell Hagens, Bon Haynie Advertising Representatives
. . . By Joel Austin
A committee was appointed by the mayor, although no
official report was made to the council, nor any action taken
as a result of committee findings.
The late Summer months also brought countless grass
fires which kept the local firemen on call several times daily.
The hot dry days conditioned the grass for burning and var
ious reasons—most of which could be traced to trash burn
ing—were given for the fires being set off.
September 22 was a big day for several students at A&M
Consolidated High School as they moved into the numerous
offices of the City Hall to run the city for a day. An annual
Kiwanis Club sponsored event, Royce Rodgers was mayor for
the one day vigil.
Anniversary Day Publicity
The Chamber of Commerce directors got their heads to
gether and came up with a plan to' sponsor publicity of the
October 4 Seventy-fifth anniversary day celebration at A&M.
They sent representatives to civic club meetings in surround
ing towns and helped the 75th anniversary committee great
ly with their work.
Then came the question of reducing the electric rates
in the city. For a long time the City Council had resolved
that electricity in College Station was too high. Several
councilmen also thought that a reduction might be an in
centive to local residents to consume more power.
The Board of Directors of the A&M System ruled that
the college, suppliers of much College Station power, would
charge a new* rate of 1.1 cent per killowatt hour.
The rates were finally set at the October 16 meeting
of the Council and they gave residential consumers much
lower prices than had been charged here previously. Accord
ing to statistics we compiled, the new rates offered a 17%
reduction.
College Hills Power Higher 1
Immediately after the reduction of rates for most of
College Station, city leaders discovered that residents of
College Hills, who purchased their power from the REA in
Bryan, were paying far more than other local electricity
consumers.
The long, tedious actions of justifying this situation were
begun in mid-October and completed only last month.
Maybe we were echoing against brick walls in our num
erous requests for a clean-up campaign. The second of four
such requests came late in October when several local people
were stricken with polio. ■ It’s still a good idea. No city ever
gets so clean that a good clean-up drive would not help a
great deal.
The city had its yearly money raising campaigns whicH
proved to be a little less fruitful than in past years. Re
sponse to the Community Chest, March of Dimes, and other
drives fell consistently below the goals.
In the local civic club organizations, A. C. Magee was
named president of the Kiwanis Club. R. B. “Bob” Halpin
got the nod for the presidency of the newly organized Lion’s
while G. W. Schlesselman is Rotary prexy.
A&M Campus Security officers were sworn in as special
policemen for the city. With the new authority vested in
them, they are to aid local policemen while patroling the
campus.
Nestor McGinnis, amiable city secretary and professor
in the Floriculture and Landscape Architecture Departments,
was named College Station “Man of the Year” by the Cham
ber of Commerce on January 9.
Utility Bond Issue Passed
College Station passed a $200,000 utility bond issue in
early January to pave the way for the purchase of power
lines in College Hills from the REA and make available
thousands of other dollars for added utility expenditure.
February found the City Council granting salary hikes
to city employees. Plans were laid at the February 13 meet
ing for the annual city elections, and L. E. Boze was named
election judge.
Old man weather found his way down to this East-
Central Texas community to deal quite a blow as chilling
snow and sleet covered the ground for several days in mid-
February. Damage to trees and shrubry was high, although
no other serious damages were reported.
Then came the big realization by many local residents
that it was about time for College Station to become a Home
Rule City if local city leaders were to compete witl^ other
municipalities when nearby land was being annexed.
Charter Committee Named
The city council appointed a charter committee to meet
and discuss the operations necessary for College Station to
become a Home Rule City for which it will qualify as soon
as the official 1950 census figures are released.
Voting time came for the annual city election and sev
en men found themselves squared away in the races for the
three positions on the city council. Howard Badgett, new
comer Harry Boyer, and Bill Fitch emerged winners in
Wards I, II, III respectively.
April 1 was the big day for College Hills electricity con
sumers. The City Council signed a contract with the REA
to purchase all power facilities owned by them in that section
of the city for a price of $38,109.37.
Annexation of new propei*ty became the keyword of both
(See CITY DESK, Page 4)
recently to both the freshmen and the upperclassmen assign
ed to the Basic Division.
Although this article does not attempt to give the full
story of the Basic Division, it should give a fair sample of
what those, most directly concerned—freshmen, cadet offi
cers and noncoms, and the Basic Division staff—think about
the experiment after the first year.
Methods of Questioning
First let’s consider how the questionnaires were given.
For such a survey to be useful, it must be taken from a rep
resentative cross section of the people from which we want an
opinion.
The work evaluation questionnaire was given to all the
upperclassmen of the Basic Division at a meeting called by
Dean Bertrand. The reason for the meeting was not revealed
until the men were already assembled. This was done to pre
vent premature talking which might have destroyed the
value of the individual responses — by talking about the
questionnaire beforehand a man might adopt majority opin
ion and forget any of his own suggestions.
On May 3, all Basic Division students who had Basic
classes that day were asked to give their reactions to var
ious aspects of the Basic Division program, to the cadet of
ficers assigned to the Eighth Regiment, to the military coun
selors, and to the general overall worth of the Basic Division.
Besides these two sources of information, this writer
talked to many freshmen and upperclassmen to gather first
hand ideas and comments.
Freshmen and Officers Agree
One of the most surprising things learned from this
study of the Basic Division was the close agreement between
the freshmen and the upperclassmen on needed improvements
and recognized failures.of the Basic Division. Both groups ex
hibited a strong interest in bettering the Basic Division, and
each group g^ve surprisingly well thought out answers to
questions and suggestions.
Both groups agree that two aspects of the Basic Divi
sion have been most valuable to the individual student. The
two are tied very closely together— counseling and the ease
of changing courses without too early dropping from school.
Nearly all freshmen seemed agreed that the least valuable
part of the Basic Division had been the first semester Basic,
or Freshman Orientation, course. Dean Bertrand and his
staff have already planned a revised first semester Basic
course for next year.
More Personal Counseling
Besides suggestions for improving specific Basic cour
ses, the most often mentioned need for improvement is for
more personal counseling. There has long been a need for
more personal advice and closer contact between the student
and the college staff and it seems that most of the students
think the Basic Division is where such help can most suc
cessfully be given.
One point that was brought out about the counseling was
that for the most part it has been confined to those freshmen
having trouble with their studies. Most Students feel that
Basic Division counseling should be more than that.
One prevalent suggestion in the questionnaires was mak
ing more personal conferences compulsory for all freshmen,
These talks should be on a less formal plane than the “ger
on the ball” counseling now given.
One C. 0. pointed out that the present method of sura-
moning cadets for counseling—notes to report to the advis
or’s office with the connotation of a reprimand—failed to
accomplish the desired purpose. The freshman cared little
for the counseling; he just wanted to get away as soon as pos
sible from what he felt was a “chewing out” for bad grad®.
This could be remedied by counseling for all freshmen and an
active effort toward building the reputation of Basic counsel
ing as being something more than just a reminder to study
more.
Increase Basic Staff
Those who have had counseling almost unanimously
agree that the advisors of the Basic Division staff are doing
a commendable, though limited, job. Suggestions from this
group, and from many of the upperclassmen, most often
stressed increasing the size of the Basic Division staff. Many
of the freshmen complained that members of the staff were
so busy that students couldn’t get in to see them when they .
needed to. ' I
One of the most serious and most often repeated com
plaints was about lack of guidance in selecting their course
of study. The Basic courses which explain various occupations
aren’t enough, they say. Many freshmen who are passing
their courses with good grades are dissatisfied with their
present courses of study. When asked why they hadn’t gone
to see their advisors, most of them revealod that they did
not know such help was available. Those that know of the
work of the Basic Division staff explained that the advisors
expected the freshman to have a specific problem before
they came for advice—but many of the freshmen needed a*
good general talk on courses of study and requirements for
them from a qualified person.
Many of the freshmen were disappointed by lack of per
sonal information gained from the freshmen week tests.
These freshmen said that they expected to use the results
of the tests to help them determine a suitable vocation, but
that they never received any mention of the results of their
individual testing.
Officers Want More Information
The upperclassmen felt that they could do a more inteiii-
gent job of advising the freshmen if they had the chancfc to
work closer with the Dean and the Basic Division staff. Since
the upperclassmen assigned to the Basic Division feel that
they have a greater responsibility than just as cadet military
officers, they feel they should be intimately acquainted with
the policies governing scholastic probation, changing courses,
and the like.
Sounds like a lot of gripes, doesn’t it ? But the complaint^
gripes, and suggestions for changes help point the way to
wards achieving the goal of the Basic Division—better pre
pared and better satisfied college students.
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