The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, April 07, 1959, Image 1

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    Board Ruining A & M
Bryan Senator
Knocks Ruling
By The Associated Press
“If the A&M Board of Directors
is allowed to continue its ruinous
policies in another five years we’ll
have a classroom for every stu
dent,” Sen. William T. Moore of
Bryan said yesterday on the Sen
ate floor in Austin.
Sen. Moore appeared before the
Senate as a major opponent of the
Arlington State full-college status
bill.
He argues that A&M has 1,500
Vacant dormitory beds and many
vacant classrooms and that there
is no need for another 4-year col
lege.
If the bill was passed, Moore
predicted, “A&M will soon become
a branch of Arlington.”
Sen. Doyle Willis of Fort Worth,
sponsor of the measure, tuimed a
deaf ear to Sen. Moore’s arguments
that the bill should be amended to
remove Arlington from the A&M
Board jurisdiction.
Sen. Moo7-e said that in 1940,
A&M had 8,500 students and 10
million dollars in capital invest
ments. Since that time, he said the
college has capital investments tot
aling 40 million dollars and only
6,500 students.
The Board has supported the bill
as has the Texas Commission of
Higher Education.
Sen." Moore is the same senator
who in March, 1953, sponsored a
bill which was unanimously passed
making A&M coeducational.
After a week the Senate recon
sidered the bill and defeated it
2G-1, Moore casting the only dis
senting vote. At that time he pre
dicted that within 10 years (1963)
A&M would be “coeducational at
any rate.”
^ BATTALION
Published Daily on the Texas A&M College Campus
Number 96: Volume 58
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS, TUESDAY, APRIL 7, 1959
Price Five Cents
No Coeds for Aggieland;
This Time
Extra! Extra!
In leas than two hours yesterday, The Battalion staff pub
lished an “extra” announcing the U. S. Supreme Court’s
refusal to hear the coed appeal. News Editor Bill Reed
runs the mimeographing machine on the left, while Manag
ing Editor Fred Meurer grabs a handful of “extras” from
News Editor Dave Stoker, above, as deliveries are made.
Scanning the paper above is Mel Glasscock.
Class Elections
Set Wednesday
Student elections will be held to-
Record Votes
In Saturday
Board Election
A record 628 votes were cast
Saturday in the A&M Consolidated
School Board election race that
saw two Wellborn men and one
College Station man gain seats
on the panel.
One of the incumbents, C. A.
Bonnei’, board member for 15
years, was defeated. The other in
cumbent who was seeking re-elec
tion, Milton D. Williams of Well
born who has been on the board
since 1946.
J. B. (Dick) Hervey was the
College Station man gaining a spot
on the board and G. B. Hensarling
was the other Wellborn man picked.
The vote number was more than
three years. In the 1958 election
that have been cast during any
school board election in the past
three years. In thee 1958 election
only 146 votes were cast; 72 in
1957; and 180 in 1956.
Voters honored the “gentlemen’s
agreement” adopted by the board
back in the 1920’s which provided
that two men from Wellborn be
elected to fill the thi’ee vacancies.
Williams polled the top number
of votes, 341; following in second
place was Hervey with 291; and
Hensarling drew 261.
Juniors Excused
From Duty Tours
All juniors will be excused from
walking duty tours next Saturday,
Lt. Col. Frank S. Vaden Jr., as
sistant to the Commandant, said
yesterday.
No junior names will appear on
the bull ring list, he said.
In White Coliseum
‘LVl Abner’ Show
Tonight at 8p. m.
The final Town Hall production
of the year, the original musical
comedy “Li’l Abner”, will be pre
sented tonight at 8 in G. Rollie
White Coliseum.
The show will feature all of car
toonist A1 Capp’s famous hillbilly
characters including LiT Abner,
Daisy Mae, Mammy and Pappy
Yokum, Earthquake McGoon, the
Skaggs Brothers, Moonbeam Mc-
Swine, Available Jones and his
sister Stupefying Jones.
“This will be by far the most
One More Day
Left to Apply
For $250 Prize
Sixty entries have been sub
mitted for the $250 first prize in
the Battalion-sponsored essay con
test on “Texas A&M—What It
Means to Me.”
Deadline for entries is 5 p. m.
Wednesday.
Prize money for the contest was
provided by a former “Batt” edi
tor, C. L. Babcock ’20 of Beaumont.
He plans to use some of the es
says in connection with a program
to inform the state about the col
lege.
Judging of the entries will be
done by The Battalion staff. Top
10 entries will be screened by a
committee yet to be named. Win
ner of the $250 award will be an
nounced at the Mothers’ Day pa
rade May 10.
entertaining attraction ever offer
ed by Town Hall,” C. G. (Spike)
White, manager of i-ecreation and
entertainment, said yesterday.
“LiT Abner” is being presented
by Lee Guber, Grank Ford and
"Shelly Gross in association with
Norman Panama, Melvin Frank
and Michael Kidd. Gruber, Ford
and Gross are producers of the
successful Music Fail’s at West-
bury, N. Y.; Valley Forge, Pa.;
and Camden, N. J.
Panama and Frank are the cre
ators of the book entitled “LiT
Abner.” Kidd, director of choreo
graphy, is known for his dances in
such productions as “Guys and
Dolls”, “Can-Can” and “Finian’s
Rainbow.”
Johnny Mercer and Gene de Paul,
one of the nation’s most popular
writing teams, created the musical
scores for the show. Lyrics are
by Mercer, music by de Paul, in
cluding such great hits as “The
Country Is in the Very Best of
Hands”, “Love in a Home,” “I’m
Past My Prime”, “Namely You”
and several more.
Both Mercer and de Paul are
famous for their Broadway pro
ductions, and Mercer has written
various popular hit songs.
William and Jean Eckart created
the scenery and lighting.
“I saw the show in New York a
year ago and to me it was more
entertaining than ‘My Fair Lady’,
‘Westside Story’, ‘Damn Yankees’,
‘New GhT in Town’ or any of the
other big Broadway musicals,”
White said.
morrow in the Memorial Student
Center beginning at 8 a.m. and
closing at 5:30 p.m.
All Aggies are expected to vote
for the men running for offices in
their respective classes. Seven
voting machines have been set up
in the hall between the bowling al
ley and the fountain room of the
MSC.
“Because of the poor turnouts
shown in past elections, I would
like to urge all students to cast
ballots tomorrow,” W. D. (Pete)
Hardesty, Student Organization
Advisor, said yesterday. Last year
at the same election, only 1,167
voters went to the polls.
Topping the election will be the
Class of ’60. They will elect a
See List of Candidates on Page 4
president, vice president, secretary
treasurer, social secretary, histor
ian, student entertainment man
ager and two yell leaders.
The Class of ’61 will elect a
president, vice president, secre
tary treasurer, social secretary
and two yell leaders.
The Class of ’62 will elect a
president, vice president and social
secretary.
One MSC council member will
also be elected from each of the
classes.
Run-off elections will be held
April 15. If there are more than
five people running, there may be
three candidates in a run-off. If
there ear less than five people
running, only two will be in the
run-off.
For a candidate to win without
a run-off, he must have 20 per
cent of the total votes cast for his
office in excess of the next highest
opponent’s votes.
Guide Posts
Accustom yourself gradually to
carry prayer into all your daily oc
cupations. Speak, act, work in
peace, as if you were in prayer, as
indeed you ought to be.—Fenelon.
Batt ‘Extra’
Rolls In Tiny
Storeroom
Just because The Battalion does
not regularly publish an issue of
the A&M newspaper on Monday is
no sign that it cannot be done.
The Battmen did it yesterday.
No type was set. No pages were
made up. No presses rolled. No ad
vertising was sold.
In fact, the finished product
hardly resembled The Battalion at
all.
But when The Batt received the
flash from the Associated Press
saying that the prolonged coed
case had finally been turned down
by the United States Supreme
Court, wheels began turning in
Editor Joe Buser’s head.
Regular Channels Fail
A quick check with the A&M
Press informed him that it was im
possible to publish a paper via
regular methods by 5 p. m. But
there was an alternative.
In a matter of minutes, two tel
ephones were being utilized to call
top officials directly connected with
the coeds’ attempt to enter A&M
for on-the-spot comments, while
other reporters busily activated
typewriters.
When the copy was pushed
across the desk, a stencil -was
quickly typed and slapped on a
mimeograph machine crowded into
a 3 by 9 foot space in a store
room. In a number of minutes,
2,000 copies of the extra were
ready for distribution.
Staff Delivery
Without tarrying a second, Batt
men hopped into cars and delivered
the one-sheet extra to 18 dormi
tories, the Memorial Student Cen
ter and the front door of Sbisa
Dining Hall. After a comparatively
short publishing process of less
than two hours, everyone on the
campus had the opportunity to
know that A&M, which has admit
ted nothing but male students for
the past 83 years, will remain on
an all-male basis.
All in all, the extra edition of
The Battalion was no typographical
masterpiece, what with several ink
smudges and misspelled words
sticking out in spots. But it did
the job. As Editor Buser put it:
“It is just another example of
the role of The Battalion ’59—tell
the whole story as soon as possible.
“Seldom do iwe get a chance to
really ‘break’ a story on the cam
pus. But you can count on it ap
pearing in The Battalion when it
happens.”
for Real
So A&M Remains
A nA ll-MaleCitadel
All seemed quiet today on the campus of A&M after the
Federal Supreme Court handed down its decision ending two
Bryan mothers attempt to enter the all-male military school.
No shouts were heard, no outrageous demonstrations
were exhibited and classes continued in a normal pace.
The women, Mrs. Lena Bristol, 34, mother of two; and
Mrs. Barbara Tiittle, 20, a widowed mother of one, appealed
to the Supreme Court from 10th District Court of Civil Ap
peals in Waco which rejected their bid to become Aggies.
Dist. Judge W. T. McDonald of Bryan had earlier ruled they
were eligible to enroll, but the state appealed.
The women contended that the A&M Board of Directors
violated a constitutional guar-**
antee of due process and Tk -rk •
r rots Receive
A&S Council’s
Merit Awards
equal protection under the
law in rejecting them as stu
dents. The Texas appellate
court had ruled that the legisla
ture had control over state insti
tutions of learning and that it
gave A&M power to rule on ad
mission.
Not Suited for Girls
The Texas court said A&M had
7,474 men enrolled as students in
October, 1957, and that the dorm
itories were mostly in rows and
not suited for use by women.
The court said Texas ha^l made
substantially equal provision for
Toth sexes in 16 other state insti
tutions.
Both women said they wished to
attend A&M because it is near
their home. After the suit was
filed, Mrs. Tittle enrolled at Col
orado College in Colorado Springs,
but continued to press the suit.
Mrs. Bristol enrolled at Sam Hous
ton State in Huntsville, but with
drew when it was impossible to
commute.
Case May Flare Again
“I’ve been approached by two or
thi’ee women who want to get into
A&M, and it’s possible the whole
thing may start all over because
of this.”
This was the immediate reac
tion of John M. Barron, attorney
for the two Bryan women, after
the appeal to the U. S. Supreme
Court was turned down.
Barron, however, did not indi
cate too much surprise at the de
cision.
“I think since the Supreme
Court has passed on the matter,
I’m satisfied that their ruling is
correct. I just think it’s unfor
tunate for A&M that the ruling is
correct. The Supreme Court makes
the laws and we can’t do anything
but stand by them,” he said.
Officials Not Surprised
J. A. Amis Jr., college attorney
who represented A&M in their
first hearing in Bryan last year,
said he was not too surprised,
“just very happy at the decision.”
President M. T. Harrington re
marked that he was glad the de
cision had finally come, one way
or the other.
“I’m certainly happy the Court
(See All-Male Page 4)
Three faculty members of the
School of Arts and Sciences were
recognized by the Arts and Sci
ences Council last night for out
standing work done within their
individual departments.
Marion G. Daniels of the De
partment of Economics, Sidney A.
Kerley of the Basic Division and
Nelson A. Stewart of the Division
of Business Administration, were
each awarded a pen set and a ci
tation by Council President Grady
Barr.
The Council also passed a pro
posal submitted by a committee
headed by Dick Scott to make
final exams optional for graduat
ing seniors in the School of Arts
and Sciences.
In explaining the proposal, Scott
said the measures was designed
especially for those seniors who
didn’t have a high enough aver
age in a course needed for gradu
ation. Tei’ms of the proposal call
for such a student to be given a
final examination in that course
early enough so that his final
grade can be sent to the college
registrar before graduation exer
cises.
The passed proposal now goes
to the Academic Council for fui’-
ther study.
In accepting the faculty award,
Daniels said: “The School of Arts
and Sciences is becoming increas
ingly important as a part of the
college, as far as numbers are con
cerned.”
Calling A & S a “structural
change,” Daniels continued that it
is giving the School of Engineering
a “run for the money” as far as
campus leadership is concerned.
Kerley thanked the Council for
the award saying: “Money cannot
purchase this kind of recognition.”
“For the first time in my life,
I’m at a loss of words,” commented
Stewart. “I consider this one of
the highest honors I’ve ever had.”
Profs Receive Service Gifts
Marion G. Daniels accepts a pen set from night were in recognition of outstanding
Arts and Sciences Council President Grady service performed by the three faculty mem-
Barr as Sidney A. Kerley, right, and Nelson bers within their individual departments.
A. Stewart look on. The awards made last