T
18,440
READERS
THE
BATTALION
Published Daily on the Texas A&M College Campus
Number 97: Volume 57
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS, THURSDAY. MARCH 6, 1958
Price Five Cents
‘Conformity vs. Individuality’
—Battalion Staff Photo
The student-faculty panel, on “Conformity left to right, Dr. Dan Russell, George Rags-
vs. Individuality at A&M” answers questions dale, Dr. John Calhoun, Billy Libby and Dr.
from the floor at last night’s discussion in J. Q. Hays,
the Wesley Foundation. Panel members are,
★ ★ ★
Individuality Favored
In Panel Discussion
By FRED MEURER
Individuality undertaken to achi
eve one’s objectives is more desir
able than conformity.
This was the general conclusion
reached last night by four mem
bers of a discussion panel which
studied “Individuality vs. Con-
fotmity at A&M” before a large
audience in the Wesley Founda
tion.
Sponsored by several churches in
the area, the panel was made up
of Dr. John Q. Hays of the De
partment of English, Dr. Dan Rus
sell of the Agricultural Economics
and Sociology Department, Geo’rge
Ragsdale, editor of The Engineer,
and Bill Libby, a member of the
Student Senate and the Student
Publications Board. Dr. John C.
Calhoun Jr., vice president for en
gineering, served as moderator.
Calhoun opened the talks by say
ing such a program was in order
because there has been a trend at
A&M lately to speak out for one
self. He added the discussion was
definitely not a debate.
As the fii’st speaker, Hays of
fered two answers for the ques
tion, “Why Be An Individual?”
“Individuality”, he said, “is bet
ter for us as a person; a way of
making the most of ourselves. It
is also better for our country. A
lack of it is a sign we’re slipping.”
“We must know ourselves to be
CommunitySupper,
Open House,Tonite
Tonight’s the night for the com
munity supper, sponsored by the
College Station Mothers and Dads
Club, which will be held in the
Consolidated High School Gym
nasium.
The chicken supper will be
served buffet style, beginning at
5:30. Tickets are 85 cents for
adults and 70 cents for children.
Following the supper, visitors
will have a chance to see “what
goes on” inside the schools during
a normal school day as grades 6-12
give an open house, “mock” school
day.
During the open house, both
junior and senior high school stu
dents will go through an abbreviat
ed, but typical, morning of classes.
An assembly will be included as a
part of the program by both school
groups.
The junior high assembly will be
led by the Junior High Boys
Chorus and the Senior Chorus will
lead the senior high assembly.
an individual,” he said. “We must
find out what we can do best and
set out to do it.”
He remarked individuality would
make our country stronger because
“we’ll have better scientists, engi
neers, teachers and students.”
Russell, it telling “Why people
Conform”, differed slightly from
Hays in his viewpoints. “In my
opinion,” he said, “there is no such
thing as an individual.”
After showing how people could
conform to different things, such
as groups, ideals or theories, he
said, “I’ll take individuality and
conformity both. Pick out an in
dividual thing and conform to it.”
Ragsdale telling “How Much
Conformity Is There at A&M,” di
vided Aggies into four groups:
Corps, Civilians, freshmen in the
Corps and Corps upperclassmen.
“The Corps is guided by group
pressure, with each individual made
into an exact replica of a Fightin’
Texas Aggie”, he said. “Civilians
have no organization, so they try
to conform by forming groups.”
Libby, answering the question,
“Can One Be An Individual Any
where”, said in reference to A&M,
“In any military group, because
of its nature, it must be a con-
formitory society. Each indivi
dual, however, can still think for
himself.”
He commented it was good to be
an individual, but only to the point
at which a person is still part of a
group.
“Leadership in itself is indiv
iduality; following blindly is con
formity,” he said.
Following their comments, the
speakers answered questions from
the floor. Calhoun allowed only
those questions which did not refer
to personalities.
Most of the questions centered
indirectly around the current com
pulsory Corps issue. One of the
panel members pointed out that
compulsory Corps would bring
about a conformed group. The
question then, according to him,
would be whether the Corps would
be better or worse because of it.
All Cadets to Don
‘Pinks’ Next Year
All members of the Corps
will wear pink pants, black
ties and black belts next year,
Taylor Wilkins, assistant com
mander, said yesterday.
In a general order on uniform
This Child
Loves Money
Surgeons yesterday removed a
nickel from the esophagus of a five
year-old Poi’t Arthur child—ailing
since he was nine months old.
Some time ago, little Gary Fenn
coughed up a penny, but his con
dition failed to improve. X-rays
revealed the nickel in his throat
and it was removed at John Sealey
Hospital in Galveston.
The doctors believe the first de
posits in this child’s piggy bank
were made over four years ago.
Weather Today
College Station forecast calls for
cloudy skies and occasional showers
or thundershowers today, with a
maximum temperature of 68 de
grees and a low tonight of 58.
Relative humidity at 8 a. m. was
96 per cent, and the temperature,
58 degrees.
Singing Cadets Set
For Two Showings
A benefit for the Dallas A&M
Mother’s Club scholarship fund is
on the two-step tour for the Sing
ing Cadets’ second trip of the
spring semester.
The Cadets and the Girls Choir
of Texas Woman’s University will
sing at Highland Park Friday night
to benefit the scholarship fund.
Saturday night the Business and
Professional Women’s Club of Mt.
Pleasant will sponsor the Cadets.
The group will leave Friday
morning and return Sunday.
regulations effective Sept. 1, Col.
Wilkins outlined several changes in
winter unifoiuns for next year.
They are:
• I and II classmen will wear
pink pants, khaki or serge shirts,
green caps, black ties and black
belts. White belts will be optional.
• III and IV classmen will wear
pink pants, khaki shirts, green
caps, black ties and black belts.
• Pink overseas caps will not
be worn at any time.
• Plastic raincoats will not be
worn as part of the uniform at any
time.
• Green shirts and green pants
will not be worn except as an off-
duty uniform by I and II classmen.
Off-duty is the time after retreat
formation daily and from noon
Saturday until reveille Monday.
• Green shirts may be worn
with pinks as an off-duty uniform
by I classmen only.
Army’s Explorer 1
Lost Outside Orbit
Syrian Chief
Says King Sand,
U, S. Plotting
DAMASCUS, LT>) —Syria’s
intelligence chief accused Ara
bia’s King Sand yesterday of
masterminding what he called
a multimillion-dollar plot to
wreck the new United Arab Re
public and kill President Gamal
Abdel Nasser. He said the
United States knew about it.
President Nasser himself report
ed a bribery plot had been in the
making but he did not link King
Saud or his government with it.
There was no immediate com
ment from Saudi, American or
other sources outside the Egyp-
tian-Syrian sphere. The Syrian ac
cusation is the boldest made thus
far in the growing battle of wordy
propaganda between the Egyptain-
Syrian-Yemeni union and the rival
Arab camp formed by the Iraqi-
Jordan federation and its poten
tial Saudi ally.
Lt. Col. Abdul Hamid Serraj,
powerful head of army intelligence,
made the Syrian charge at a news
conference. He had a tape record
ing of what he said was a talk he
had with an emissary of the oil-
rich King Saud.
Serraj said Saud wanted him to
lead a coup, and that he was of
fered two million Syrian pounds-
about $575,000—to arrange the as
sassination.
Dates Invited For
Civilian Weekend
About 30 girls from Sam Hous
ton State College, Huntsville have
been invited to A&M as dates for
Civilian Weekend, March 24.
The girls are being selected by
the student governing body at Sam
Houston; their Aggie dates will be
chosen by the dormitory councils.
Tickets for the weekend are on
sale through dormitory council
presidents and at the office of Stu
dent Activities.
Four skits are being prepared b^
Aggie wives’ clubs as entertain
ment for the barbecue before the
dance.
The dance itself will be semifor-
mal, beginning at 8 p.m. in Sbisa
Hall. Music will be funished by
Sandy Sandifer and His Orchestra
with the Sinclair Sisters.
Tentative plans also include a
baby sitting service during the
barbecue and dance.
Apparent Failure
Blamed on Radios
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., (H 5 )—The Army lost its
second Explorer satellite yesterday minutes after firing- it
spaceward with the Jupiter-C rocket. Odds are that it didn’t
go into orbit.
Scientists guessed that the satellite’s radios may have
failed, or it might have crashed back into the earth’s atmos
phere.
In eiither case, they don’t know where it is and probably
won’t be able to decide the fate of the Explorer II for several
days.
In Pasadena, Calif., Dr. William Pickering, head of the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of
Technology, joined Maj. Gen.
Aggies Get
Thanks From
R.E. Speaker
In a letter received yesterday by
The Battalion, Dr. Ronald Mere
dith, convocation speaker for the
1958 Religious Emphasis Week
wrote as follows:
To the students fd Texas A&M,
A week has passed since I bid
adieu to your wonderful cam
pus. Having spent a week there,
I can say truly, you have a
great school. I don’t know when
I have ever enjoyed an associa
tion with students as much as I
enjoyed my few days of living
with you.
You are one of the most re
sponsive groups it has ever been
my joy to address. I only hope
that in the days and years to
come I may hawe a chance to re
new my associations with all of
you.
Thanks for all your courtesies
and kindnesses to me. I shall
never forget by days at Texas
A&M.
Sincerely,
Ronald Meredith
Radar Head Gives
Talk In Washington
Dr. M. G. H. Ligda, head of the
Radar Meteorology Section, Ocean
ography and Meteorology Depart
ment, gave two lectures at a woi’k-
shop on meso-analysis that was
held in Washington, D. C., March
3-4 under the sponsorship of the
District of Columbia branch of the
American Meteorology Society.
The lectures were entitled “The
Use of Radar in Meso-Analysis
and Shoi’t Range Forecasting” and
“Radar — Its Capabilities and
Limitations in Weather Detection.”
•John B. Medaris, Army missile
chief, in this statement:
“There is every indication
that the satellite fired today
did not function normally and there
is a great probability that it is not
in orbit. No further information
will be available until technical
data is interpreted and reduced.
This will probably take several
days.”
Pickering, whose laboratory
staff helped build the Army’s Jupi-
ter-C, said there was only one re
port that a radio signal had been
I’eceived from Explorer II, and
that was questionable. It came
from a station at Inyorken, Calif.
There was no immediate com
ment at the Air Force Missile
Test Center at Cape Canaveral.
It was learned that the difficulty
which held up the firing of the
satellite 18 minutes was attributed
to a tape recorder weighing just
half a pound.
It was tried several times and
finally repeated its signals cor
rectly.
Then at 1:28 p. m. EST, the
Jupiter-C blasted off from its pad,
rising gracefully and strong.
Scholastic Society
Chooses Officers
Phi Eta Sigma, national scholas
tic honor fraternity, elected of
ficers for 1958 in a called meeting
at the Basic Division building Fri
day evening.
New officers are: president,
Donald L. Day of Tomball; vice-
president, Walter R. Willms of
Columbus; secretai’y, Aubrey C.
Elkins Jr. of Premont; treasurer,
Ernest G. Gregg of College Sta
tion; and historian, Robert M. May
of Dallas.
C. H. Ransdell, associate dean of
the Basic Division, said only 63
men qualified for the honor society
last semester. Usually some 100
freshmen become eligible for Phi
Eta Sigma during the fall semes
ter, he said.
800 Attending
Water School
Here This Week
Progress in the efforts of
Texans to solve water prob
lems was reported at the
opening session of the 40th
Short School of the Texas
Water and Sewage Works Associ
ation here this week.
More than 800 persons are at
tending the sessions of the school
conducted through Friday.
One of the principal speakers
at the opening session was Marvin
C. Nichols, of Fort Worth, who is
chairman of the Texas Board of
Water Development.
Other speakers include Karl
Hoefle, of Dallas, director, South
west Section, American Water
Works Association; K. S. Watson,
of Schenectady, N. Y., president
of the Federation of Sewage and
Industrial Wastes Association; H.
D. Bearden, director, Engineering
Extension Service, Dr. Lloyd R.
Setter, of the Robert A. Taft San
itary Engineering Center, Cincin
nati, Ohio; and V. M. Ehlers, Tex
as State Health Department.
The short school, is being held
in cooperation with the State De
partment of Health, Southwest
Section, American Water Works
Association, Texas Engineering
Extension Service, and A&M Col
lege.
By-la wRa tifica lion
Planned by Senate
The Student Senate meets to
night at 7:30 in the Senate Cham
ber of the Memorial Student Cen
ter to consider ratifying a new
constitution.
The constitution outlines the
new method of selection of Sen
ators, similar to the method offi
cers and members of the present
Senate were selected.
Also on the agenda for tonight’s
meeting is a report fi’om the Sen
ators attending the Texas Inter
collegiate Student Association con
vention at Texas Christian Univer
sity last weekend.
Other business includes setting
up the Former Student Faculty
Achievement Award and the Par
ents Day Convocation.
iPP
A&S Council Picks
Award Candidates
The Arts and Sciences Student
Council met in the Senate Chamber
of the Memorial Student Center
Monday night and nominated can
didates for the annual faculty
achievement awards.
Three faculty members were
nominated for the teaching award,
one for student relations, and one
for the faculty appreciation award.
Nominees for the awards will
also be submitted by the schools
of agriculture and engineering.
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Looks Fishy, Boesn’t It?
-Battalion Staff Photo
This three inch fish fell, “Henny Penny”
style, from the sky yesterday during the
hard rain and hail. It was discovered in
front of the Richard Coke Building by H. L.
Heaton, registrar, and J. Gordon Gay, co
ordinator of religious life.
Fish Story:
They Rained
Yesterday
Aggies are used to all kinds of
weather but today was probably
the first time it rained fish on the
campus.
Two college staff members are
bearers of the tale of falling fish
on the campus.
The two—J. Gordon Gay, co-ordi
nator of religious life and H. L.
Heaton, registrar and director of
admissions—wei’e walking in front
of the Richard Coke Building fol
lowing the hard rain and hail this
morning when they came across a
dying fish on the sidewalk.
The fish was a three-inch top-
water minnow of the type found in
the Gulf of Mexico, according to
Richard J. Baldauf, assistant pro
fessor in the Wildlife Management
Department.
He said fish are commonly scoop
ed from the Gulf by water spouts,
picked out of the spout by the
wind and deposited on dry land.
Common or not, the two men will
have a fish story to tell their
friends for quite awhile—at least
until it rains fish on the A&M
campus again.