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Battalion Editorials
Page 2 THE BATTALION WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1952
Seating Problem Again
Faces Incoming Senate
SEATING ARRANGEMENTS at Kyle Field
^ for the Kentucky game followed the tra
ditional first game confusion.
A need for the signal devices used suc
cessfully last season was obvious.
Among these are identification tickets
for dates as to the section they should oc
cupy. A different colored card for each
class, used with surprising results last fall,
could be incorporated.
So much of ivhat is great has sprung
from the closeness of the family ties.
J. N. Barrie
Free Vote Makes
For Better Citizen
l^LECTIONS AT A central polling place at
^ A&M are doing better than expected.
Each of the sophomore ^nd junior classes
have cast 1/3 the number of ballots as there
are members in the classes.
In the past, elections held may have had
a larger percentage of students voting, but
the method usfed wasn’t always cricket.
The central polling place also pulls more
votes than most class meetings have in the
past.
Today in a world where freedom is real
izing a value above the dollar, a free vote’s
importance is rising accordingly.
One of the best reasons for the method
of election is the lesson it teaches: to keep
something the way you want it, you your
self must put out an effort. In this case,
going to the polls to vote.
You may publicly support the candidate
of your selection or prefer the privacy of
fered in the new method. Both are avail
able. It is your own personal decision that
controls your action. This too, is new.
The privileges of citizenship rightly*be
long to those who also accept the responsi
bilities. If we are to support and preserve
Our heritage of freedom—government of the
neople—we should be sufficiently interested
to exercise our right of franchise.
Thomas Paine once said, “Those who ex
pect to reap the blessings of freedom must,
like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting
it.”
Students at A&M are beginning to wake
up to this fact.
More guides also are needed to control
and direct traffic up the ramps at a faster
rate to proper sections.
Also traditional, but unejoyable, was the
crowded condition of the better seating sec
tions, caused to some extent by the seating
of some former students in the student sec
tions. They should be kept out.
Another point was the seating of both
civilian and corps students together. Last
fall, each group was seated in equally divid
ed sections, one behind the other allowing the
corps, which marches in later, a fairer choice
of seats than were available Saturday.
In short, we feel the Student Senate
should grasp the seating problems as one of
its first assignments. The plan developed
and used last year should work again this
fall with comparable success.
To slacken the confusion created in the
first home game, the senate should have its
plan ready before the next event, only 10
days away.
/ hold the maxim 7io less applicable to
public than to private affairs, that honesty
is the best policy.—Washington.
Action Started
On Date Tickets
rpHE QUESTION of “Why not lower priced
date tickets?” may be answered in the
near future.
A committee appointed by the Athletic
Council is investigating the problem. They
expect an answer by their November meet
ing.
We feel the committee will pry for ev
ery possible solution and come up with a fair
answer.
Both sides of the problem have merits.
The committee should find these. Their re
port is eagerly awaited by students'Who feel
something could be done.
•
Well, Well, Well
CEN. LYNDON JOHNSON recently said “it
^ will be 1955 before the United States can
consider itself well armed.”
We wonder when the U.S, can consider it
self well educated.
Extension Service Fetes New Officers
The Extension Service Club of
College Station aoid Bryan began
its 34th year by honoring the new
officers with a fashion tea in the
MSC Assembly Room Thursday.
Officers being honored were
Mesdames Jack T. Sloan, presi
dent; Tyrus R. Timm, vice-presi
dent; James E. Adams, recording
secretary; Edward H. Bush, cor
responding secretary; A. H. Kar-
cher, treasurer; B. G. Hancock,
reporter; Floyd Lynch, parliamen
tarian and R. R. Lancaster, histor
ian.
Lester’s Smart Shop of Bryan
presented “A Glimpse at Fall
Fashions.” Miss Wandabelle Wise
was the commentator. Club mem
bers, children and other women
modeled.
The year book committee com
posed of Mesdames A. M. Meekma,
chairman; R. E. Burleson, Fred R.
Jones and James E. Poore togeth
er with Mesdames Jack Miller, A.
L. Smith, and A. H. Walker
served as hostesses for the tea.
Brazos Polio
Receives Aid
A March of Dimes check for
$1200 has been received by the
Brazos County chapter of the Na
tional Foundation for Infantile
Paralysis to help care for polio
patients in Brazos County, accord
ing to Howard Badgett, chapter
chairman.
The Bx-azos County Chapter at
present is pi’oviding funds, in
whole or in part, for the cax-e of
14 patients sti’icken this year.
The Battalion
Lawrence Sullivan Ross, Founder of Aggie Traditions
“Soldier, Statesman, Knightly Gentleman”
The Battalion, official newspaper of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, is published
by students four times a week, during the regular school year. During the summer terms, and examina
tion and vacation periods, The Battalion is published twice a week. Days of publication are Tuesday
through Friday for the regular school year, and Tuesday and Thursday during examination and va
cation periods and the summer terms. Subscription rates $6.00 per year or $.50 per month. Advertising
rates furnished on request.
Entered ae second-class matter at
Post Office at College Station, Tex
as under the Act of Congress of
March 3, 1870.
Member of
The Associated Press
Keprescnted nationally by National
Advertising Services, Inc., at New
York City, Chicago, Los Angeles,
and San Francisco.
The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for republication of all news dispatches cred-
ited to it or not otherwise credited in the paper and local news of spontaneous origin published herein.
Rights of repubncation of all other matter herein are also reserved.
News contributions may be made by telephone (4-5444 or 4-7604) or at the editorial office room, 202
Goodwin HiiIl Classified ads may be placed by telephone (4-5324) or at the Student Activities Office,
Room 209 Goodwin Hall.
FRANK N. MANITZAS, JOEL AUSTIN
Ed Holder..
Harri Baker
Peggy Maddox
, Co-Editors
Sports Editor
City Editor
Women’s News Editor
Today’s Issue
Jerry Bennett News Editor
Joe Hipp Assistant News Editor
Ed Holder Sports News Editor
Jerry Bennett, Bob Hendry, Joe Hipp, Chuck
Neighbors, Bob Selleck ; News Editors
Qus Becker Associate Sports Editor
Vernon Anderson. Bob Boriskie. William Buckley,
Arnold Damon. Robert Domey. Allen Hays.
Joe Hladek. Bill Foley. Ed Fries, Raymond
Gossett, Carl Hate, Jon Kinslow, H. M.
Krauretz, Jim Larkin. Steve Lilly, Kenneth
Livingston, Clay McFarland, Dick Moore, Ro
land Reynolds, John Moody. Bob Palmer, BiU
Shepard, and Tommy Short Staff News Writers
Joe B. Mattel Editorial Writer
Jerry Wizig, Jerry Neighbors, Hugh Philippus
Gerald Estes Sports News Writers
Jerry Bennett. Bob Hendry Amusements
Jon Kinslow, Ed Fries City News Editors
Willson Davis Circulation Manager
Gene Ridell, Perry Shepard Advertising Representatives
Bob Godfrey. ... . .Photo Engraving Shop Manager
Bob Selleck, Leon Boettcher Photo-Engravers
Keith Nickle, Roddy Peeples... Staff Photographers
Garder Collins File Clerk
Thelton McCorcle Staff Cartoonist
THE AGGIE-NIZER
‘Freedom For Student Newspaper’
A Free Press Presidents Abhor
Necessary Also
In Our Colleges
By JOEL AUSTIN
Battalion Co-Editor
I had an opportunity to talk with editors of other South
west Conference newspapers this week at the Sportsmanship
Committee meeting in Fort Worth. A natural topic of dis
cussion when college editors get together is censorship by the
administration, something which has never been a problem
at A&M since I have been here.
It is amazing to find the limitations some college editors
are faced with. For example, one school must not take a
stand on any issue unless they take the administration’s
viewpoint. The editor must consult these people to find out
which way the paper should lean, regardless of his own way
of thinking.
At another school I learned the editor (a girl) took the
liberty of hitting at the administration on a certain point
which she believed they needed criticism. Since that time
her house mother has been unduly hard on her about such
things as not wearing a hat to church, and other people em
ployed at the college have made conditions “rough” because
she took the liberty of opposing something done by high of
ficials of the college.
Complete Editorial Independence
The Battalion maintains complete independence from officials of
tne college as to what should go into the editorial columns. This
doesn’t mean college officials are neglected when items concerning
them are publicized. They certainly have an opportunity to present
their side of any question, but the editors are always the judges of
what goes into The Battalion.
A proposal was made last year by a few men on this campus to
set up a publications board with elected members from the student
body and appointed members from the college faculty and staff to serve
on it.
This board would meet to discuss any editorial viewpoints to be
taken by the paper and decide just what stand The Battalion would
take on certain issues. Editors of this newspaper would be allowed
to be members of the board, but their voice would be only as loud as
that of other board members.
Conditions Could Have Been Different
If such a board had been set up things could have been
decidedly different this year, but fortunately it never got be
yond the planning stage. As it progressed up the levels of
authority in our school, someone realized the value of a free
paper and stopped action to create an editorial board.
It would be highly unfair to editors of a college news
paper to force them to print something they did not believe in.
They must face other readers and take the responsibility for
what goes into the paper, regardless of how it gets there.
If an editorial board said the paper was going to support doing
away with senior boots and other editors didn’t want to, how ~
do you suppose they could convince others that boots; should
be done away with? And if they attempted to, how could
they answer to friends who also met the issue with opposition.
Answer For Own Doings
A man should answer for his own doings and not those of
a particular board or committee which isn’t faced with the
everyday problems of printing a newspaper.
Any time the editors of this paper come forth with
something that does not meet with your approval, we want to
hear from you and your words will be printed in the “Letters
to the Editor” column. It is perhaps one of the best read
sections of the paper.
After your letter is printed with your name, you must
answer to others for anything you said in the letter. But
on the other hand, how would you like for someone to tell
you what to put in that letter before you wrote it, and then
require you to stand the responsibility of what is in it ?
Still Free Paper
We are fortunate The Battalion
is still a free newspaper and its
editorial columns are never read
by anyone until the paper is off the
press.
I like what President Robert
Gordon Sproul of the University
of California said after his student
daily was in hot water with the
university regents last year.
“It’s good for students,” he says,
“to carry full responsibility for the
policies and performance of a cam
pus newspaper, and the mistakes
they make are not only effective
educationally, but are less impor
tant than the administration and
public think at the time they oc
cur.
“In spite of periodic exaspera
tion, I believe it is good for a col
lege or university to have a student
body which is encouraged to think
for itself by the existence of op
portunity to make mistakes. Af
ter all, one of the basic freedoms
we are all trying to protect is the
freedom to criticize and complain—
the freedom to ‘gripe’.”
Any Censorship
(Editor & Publisher, trade magazine for newspapers, has
conducted surveys among 30 college and university presidents on •
“How much freedom for the student newspaper?” In accordance
with National Newspaper Week, Oct. 1-8, we are presenting these
articles, for we feel they concern you, the reader of a free news
paper. The last article printed dealt mostly with the freedom al- *
lowable to a student newspaper. Today’s is centered on “freedom
from censorship, criticism, responsibility,” all in accordance with
a newspaper’s freedom.—The Editors.)
From Editors & Publishers:
1140ST OF THE PRESIDENTS, but certainly not all, con-
strue “all possible freedom” to mean freedom from cen
sorship. As Chancellor Henry T. Herald of New York Uni
versity puts it: “I abhor censorship of the press in any form,
and I would give students the same freedom in the conduct of
their newspapers as I would expect society to give the press
in general.” p « m *
And President Deane W. Malott of Cornell says, “Quite#
naturally, the Cornell Daily Sun’s editorial efforts are greet
ed on occasion by less that the wholehearted enthusiasm of
the faculty, administration and alumni. Faculty ‘censorship’
might make for conformity, but that course would lead only-,
to the withering of a healthy force on the campus.”
But President Milton S. Eisenhower of Pennsylvania
State College believes that “for purposes of promothi^ac-
curacy and responsibility in journalism,” news and ediumial
copy should be checked “at times” by the administration.
President Eisenhower believes in “pretty full freedom
for the student newspaper provided good judgment, good
taste and responsibility are exercised; and the best interests
of the college are protected.”
Criticism Allowed by Most Presidents
Most of the presidents seem
willing to permit student news
paper criticism. Dean of Students
Fred H. Weaver, responding for
Chancellor R. B. House of the Uni
versity of North Carolina, believes
“A student newspaper not free to
criticize would be a travesty of
journalism and of education.”
And President Irvin Stewart of
West Virginia University says, “It
has been my policy to take each
criticism seriously and seek the
facts underlying the practice lead
ing to the criticism ... . Where
the facts do not appear to justify
the criticism, we call that to th^f
attention of the student editors.
This is not with any view of seek
ing retractions but merely to see
that errors are not perpetuated in
succeeding issues.”
Student Responsibility Is Essential
A majority of the presidents,
however, insist that “student re
sponsibility” is an essential ingre
dient of such practice, and a num
ber state the principle that “free
dom of the student press should
be commensurate with its editorial
responsibility.”
The presidents vary in their in
terpretation of this “responsibil
ity,” and in their estimates of stu
dent potentially for handling it.
Chancellor Heald of NYU says,
“I believe student editors should
be granted freedom ^and autonomy
commensurate with their demon
strated ability to think and act as
mature individuals. As a matter o!
fact, of course, they do not alway;
possess this ability.”
But President Malott of Corne 1 /
declares. “The principle of free
dom with responsibility is funda
mental .... The Cornell Daily Sun
enjoys full independence to choose
its own staff, conduct its own bus
iness and editorial affairs and
make its own decisions on editor
ial matters.
“We do not put any restrictions
or limitations upon (the Sun) and
in general the paper meets its
community and university respon
sibilities, so it does not seem to
us that controls are imperative.”
Sound Conduct of Paper Possible
On the other hand, West Vir
ginia University, explains' Prof.
P. I. Reed, director of journalism,
assisting President Stewart in an
swering E&P’s query: “ . . . The
faculty of the School of Journal
ism . . . assumes the moral right
to choose as the student depart
ment heads of the newspaper only
its men and women who rank high
est in grades, industry, manners,
good dispositions, personal integri
ty, and high ideals ....
“ . . . The Daily Athenaeum is
produced in the laboratories of
the School of Journalism and is
supervised closely for all techni
cal operations. Moreover, one of
the staff reads all editorials and
other matter to keep a weather eye
on the general academic land
scape ”
President F. L. Morrill of the
University of Minnesota explained
that the problem of “freedom of
the student press” is perennial—
principally “because the successive
student editors over the years vary
so widely in experience, maturity,
and sense of responsibility.”
The Minnesota Daily operates
under the general supervision of
a Board of Publications, composed
of students, faculty, and adminisr^
tration, which exercises authority
delegated by the Faculty Senate
on Student Affairs. “Through this
machinery of counseling and con
trol, there should be ample op
portunity (sometimes unrealizei
and unused, to be sure) for thl
sound conduct of the newspaper
without any need for an ‘adminis
trative crackdown,’ ” concludes Dr.
Morrill.
Dallas Lawyer Speaks
At A&M Consolidated
David A. Witts, Dallas lawyer,
will speak to the students of A&M
Consolidated School Thursday on
Americanism.
Witts’ talk is sponsored by the
State Bar Committee on Citizen
ship. He will also speak in Bryan,
to the Junior Chamber of-
merce, and to the America
gion.
Witts is being brought to this
area by Bob Colson, post com
mander of A&M’s Post 541, Ameri
can Legion.
P O G O
By Walt Kelly
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LI E ABNER
Will Abner Get The Point
By Al Capp