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10 COPIES B
8-Part History Of
Coeducation Begins Today
grab bag
By Glenn Dromgoole
Student unrest: Part 1.
Perhaps the most accurate prophecy of 1965
was recorded last Sept. 17 by the Kiplinger
Washington Letter.
“Student unrest on campuses will bring dem
onstrations this fall .... Big universities and
small colleges — both kinds are seething.”
Sure enough, as if the letter had provided
them with the idea, students around the country
demonstrated en masse slightly more than a month
later.
The particular cause was the war in Viet
Nam and the concurring uproar about unfair con
scription laws — or any conscription at all.
And while the aftermath brought unjust con
demnation on the entire college and university
set, the protests were significant. Thousands of
students rallied around a common belief — a com
mon philosophy that the war in Viet Nam was
wrong.
A counter-protest was begun on other cam
puses, with blood drives, telegrams, petitions and
magazines collections indicating other students’
support of the war.
The whole thing only further emphasized what
nearly everyone already knew: that the present
college-age generation is alive.
“They’re full of spit and vinegar,” people
would have said in earlier years. Now they term
it “student unrest.”
Student unrest: That’s an all-conclusive
phrase. ,
It ranges from protests of war to demands
for more academic freedom to disgust over out
moded rules and regulations to desired correction
of obvious campus wrongs to stimulation for cam
pus improvement to development of mind.
It also reflects on their superiors, influence,
ability to teach and character.
It is not unique —as some claim — to this
particular generation of college student. It seems
to be an integral part of the maturity process.
Neither is all student unrest bad. Some of
it may be harmful per se, but not usually in the
long run. It is normally disagreeable with the
status quo.
Student unrest and protest includes far more
than the long-haired, unshaven stereotyped college
demonstrator so often portrayed by national media.
While these are the most outspoken, the most
beligerent, the most noticeable, they are by far the
minority of student protestors.
What we shall examine in these articles are
both the outward and inward student demonstra
tor—seeking understanding both of society and
himself.
Reynold's Rap
By Mike Reynolds
Are you a desirable ? Or are you a member
of some organization, ethnic group or church
that makes you undesirable ? The courts in Iowa
have set themselves up a judge concerning what
type of private activities in which their defendants
engage. This has been done before in the case
of judging homes fit for adoption of infants and
children, but this time, they have really gone off
the deep end.
The Iowa Supreme Court has just recently
handed down a decision that prevents a seven year
old from living with his father and step-mother
because their way of life is “bohemian.” They
awarded custody of the child to his maternal
grandparents because theirs is a “stab'e” “mid
dle-class”, “mid-western” atmosphere. Testimony
before the court revealed the father as an agnostic
or atheist. It frowned upon his occupation as a
photographer for a Job Corps training center.
It belittled his ambition to be a free-lance writer.
The father also engaged in some activity at
the Universitv of Washington supporting the
American Civil Liberties Union. The administra
tion didn’t like it and let him know about it.
The Iowa Supreme Court doesn’t like political
activists, evidently, because they sited this activity
as another reason for taking the child to “better”
surroundings.
Okay, so maybe his house has paintings hang
ing in it that the investigators don’t understand.
Maybe his wife plays the guitar. Maybe he didn’t
vote Democratic in the last election.
Maybe he doesn’t use Crest Toothpaste or
drink Pepsi-Cola, either. Sure a court has to
check the monetary status of a situation. Sure
they have to make certain the bread-winner is
sober enough during the week to make an honest
living. It looks like somebody overstepped their
bounds, though. It will be a sad day for in
dividualists if the U. S. Supreme Court backs
un this decision. I can see the day when the cen
sus taker may ask more than just figures. If
vou don’t fit the religious or political beliefs of
the local government, there go the kids.
Personally, I wish that this had started a
long time ago. I didn’t have the opportunities in
mv family that I could have had in others. Why
didn’t the courts award me to a millionaire’s house
hold ? There are many, many people in the
U. S. that think to be a Southerner is the lowest
thing on earth. Why didn’t a court give me a
good “mid-western” background? My mother
doesn’t play the guitar, but she does play the
piano and made me take lessons. Why didn’t
some court take me away from that constant
banging and useless creativity? The grass always
needed cutting and the garbage always had to be
taken out on Mondays and Thursdays. That just
isn’t the type of climate to subject a youth.
A boy or girl should be allowed to hide in the
womb until they are at least of voting age.
Che Battalion
Volume 61
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1966
Number 266
Gummer New
MSC Council
President
CANADIAN FOLK ENSEMBLE PERFORMS TONIGHT
Les Feux Follets, Canadian national dance dent Center, the troupe’s 65 dancers, singers
ensemble, will perform at 8 p. m. tonight in and musicians will depict portions of the
G. Rollie White Coliseum. Sponsored by the development from Canada through the eyes
Town Hall Committee of the Memorial Stu- of her people.
History Of Coeducation—1
Early Coeducation Tries
Failed To Materialize
8 : : : :
Steven V. Gummer, junior ac
counting major from San An
tonio, was elected president
Tuesday night for the 1966-67
Memorial Student Center Coun
cil and Directorate. He will suc
ceed John Rodgers in April.
“I appreciate this honor very
much,” Gummer told the council.
Ags Send
Telegram
To Team
Victory Over Tech
Urged By Students
By DANI PRESSWOOD
Battalion News Editor
Sealed with 533 Aggie signa
tures, a telegram was sent to
Lubbock Monday night urging
A&M’s conference-leading basket
ball team to victory over the
Texas Tech Red Raiders tonight.
Co-sponsored by KORA’s Ag
gie Hour and The Battalion, the
telegram read, “We, the under
signed, plus all the Aggie listen
ing on the radio will be pulling
for you Tuesday night.. Just
give it your best. That’s all we
can ask. Beat the everliving
h outta Texas Tech.”
The signatures, headed by that
of P. L. (Pinkie) Downs, were ob
tained Monday afternoon at a
desk between the post office and
the fountain room in the Memorial
Student Center. Aggies paid a
dime to sign their names.
Conceived and organized by
senior Jerry Cooper and his Ag
gie Hour cohort, Tom Morgan,
the telegram idea had no advance
publicity.
“I was real impressed with the
turnout since the guys had to
come here to sign,” Cooper noted.
“We didn’t start signing until
one o’clock and that didn’t give
us very much time.”
Cooper said the telegram would
be delivered to Coach Shelby Met
calf Tuesday morning with the
intention of letting him present
it to the team at his discretion.
Upset by Texas Saturday, the
Aggies will attempt to rebound
against the Raiders.
“Working on the council and di
rectorate has been one of my
most enjoyable experiences at
A&M. I am looking forward to
working with the 17th council and
directorate.”
Gummer has an overall grade
point ratio of 2.488 and posted a
2.83 during the fall semester.
Other council and directorate
officers will be elected at a later
date, Rodgers said.
“The only reason we elected
Steve at this time is to get him
more acquainted with the setup,”
Rodgers explained.
In other business, the council:
Announced that
four scholarships
for travel abroad
had been award
ed to Stephen S.
Thurman, Pedro
Garza, John Al
len Kearney and
Kenneth Neal
Wegenhaft. The
students will use
GUMMER the scholarship
for travel this
summer.
Heard a report from Craig
Buck, chairman of the eleventh
Student Conference On National
Affairs, and Jack Ramsey,
SCON A XI finance chairman, on
the expenditures of the confer
ence. They reported that at the
present time the conference has
a deficit of $950.21, but additional
contributions will cover most of
it.
Filing Opens
For Senate
Filing opened Monday in the
Student Programs Office of the
Memorial Student Center for six
Student Senate positions left va
cant from the fall semester.
Deadline for filing is Feb. 21.
Senate members Ronald Fletch
er, senior, engineering represent
ative; Carlos Silliman, junior, en
gineering; Robert Houze, junior,
geosciences; Richard Kuklinski,
geosciences; James H. Kelly,
third year, vet medicine, and
Mike Reynolds, chairman of the
Issues Committee have resigned,
leaving their positions open.
Lack of grade points and ex
cessive absences at Senate meet
ings accounted for the vacancies.
The lection will be held March 1.
By TOMMY DeFRANK
Coeducation and controversy
have been bred into an insepar
able combination throughout the
long and turbulent history of
Texas A&M.
The various attempts to effect
complete coeducation, both in the
Legislature and in the courts,
have been accompanied by drama
and crisis unique among institu
tions of higher learning in this
state.
Indeed, the dominant ingredi
ents in the stormy development
of Texas A&M in the twentieth
century have been the oft-re
sumed and always bitter battles
over admission of women to the
traditionally all-male institute.
The Agricultural and Mechan
ical College of Texas was created
by act of the Texas Legislature
April 17, 1871. It was founded
on provisions of the Morrill Act
of 1862, which donated public
lands in each state to be sold at
auction, with proceeds to be set
aside in a perpetual fund.
INTEREST FROM the fund
was to be used to support “a tech
nological college whose objective
must be, without excluding other
scientific and classical studies
and including military tactics, to
teach branches of learning per
taining to agricultural and me
chanical arts in order to promote
the liberal and practical educa
tion of the industrial classes in
the various pursuits and profes
sions of life.”
These same words were borrow
ed by early Texas statesmen, who
established operating procedures
for the college in the Constitu
tion of 1876.
In neither the Constitution nor
any of the legislative statues
were there then recorded any
references or stipulations per
taining to the sex of students en
rolled at A&M.
But the college came close to
becoming coeducational even be
fore classes ever began.
The Senate commissioned a
committee to study the facilities
of the still unopened college in
early 1876, and after an inspec
tion tour the committee reported
back to the Senate — and pro
posed that coeducation be imple
mented.
“The committee are of the
opinion that the college should
be open to both sexes,” the rec
ommendation reads in the Sen
ate Journal of June 13, 1876.
“The endowment was intended
for all.”
The legislators apparently be
lieved the language of the Mor
rill Act made no stipulations to
the sex of persons to be enrolled
in the land grant colleges.
THE SENATE FAILED to
approve the proposal, however,
and the Agricultural and Me
chanical College opened its doors
in October, 1876.
For the first 23 years the col
lege remained an all-male insti
tution. As far as can be deter
mined, no females applied for
admission during that period.
However, in early 1901 there
was considerable speculation that
the state Legislature might es
tablish an industrial school for
girls, and citizens of Bryan be
gan exploring possibilities to in
corporate such a school into the
A&M College at nearby College
Station.
W. R. Cavitt wrote the Secre
tary of Agriculture, James Wil
son, Feb. 6, 1901, regarding the
question of industrial schools for
both sexes. Wilson, formerly
head of the Agricultural and Me
chanical College of Iowa, a sis
ter land-grant school to its Tex
as counterpart, returned a pre
stigious endorsement to coeduca
tion.
He first noted that nearly all
agricultural schools in existence
at the time provided courses of
instruction for women, and at
many of these colleges a consid
erable number of women were
attending classes.
WILSON THEN pointed out
that aside from the agricultural
colleges other state and church
colleges — “even such conserva
tive institutions as Harvard and
Columbia” — had adopted coedu
cation with great success.
“Coeducation may now be said
to be the prevailing custom in
American institutions for higher
education,” Wilson wrote.
“In its intellectual and moral
aspect coeducation has been
found beneficial for both sexes,”
he continued, “and as an econ
omical arrangement by which the
same grounds, building apparatus
and faculty may be employed, it
has very much in its favor.”
Apparently encouraged by the
Secretary’s reply, Cavitt and six
other townspeople published later
that year a four-page pamphlet,
“Reasons For Locating the Girls’
Industrial School at the A&M
College”, to convince the Legisla
ture the school for girls should be
established at A&M.
The group boasted that A&M
“is now and has been for 25 years
the center of industrial education
in Texas,” and thus was the logi
cal choice for instruction of girls
in industrial arts.
They also argued a point of
law that would be later used in
subsequent court fights against
the all-male enrollment policy.
“Girls are admitted on equal
terms with boys to nearly every
one of the 42 agricultural colleges
in the United States, there being
no limitation as to sex in the law
under which these colleges were
established, and it is a question
worthy of consideration as to
whether girls are not now en
titled, as a matter of right, to
admission to the A&M College of
Texas,” the pamphlet read.
COEDUCATION backers also
touched briefly on physical at
tributes of the college, boasting
that “an extensive open prairie
surrounds the college on all sides
and there is free circulation of
the air —• generally a steady
breeze.”
It was also emphasized that
the area was free of causes for
disease and also possessed excel
lent railway, telegraph and ex
press facilities.
But the strongest arguments
for coeducation were from the
scholastic and economical stand
points.
At the time there were four
courses of study at A&M: agri
culture, horticulture, mechanical
engineering and civil engineering.
Industrial courses were also of
fered, including various courses
in mathematics, English gram
mar and composition, history and
the natural sciences.
The pamphlet argued these in
dustrial courses would provide
the backbone of instruction at the
proposed girls’ school.
“The present courses of study
are admirably suited to the needs
of girls seeking an industrial
training,” it said, but studies in
household economy, sewing, cook
ing and music were also suggest
ed to offer a curriculum fully
adapted to the needs of women.
FINANCES WERE a second
important consideration. It would
reportedly cost only $40,000
initial outlay plus $5,000 yearly
to build a girls’ dormitory, sep
arate classroom building for sub
jects suited only for girls and
hire teachers for these subjects
at A&M.
But the Bryan group claimed
it would cost $500,000 to establish
the school elsewhere and $75,000
annually to maintain it.
“The things that should decide
the location are costs of location,
economy of operation, health of
the students, accessibility by rail
and probabilities of success. We
believe that for each and all of
these reasons the school should
be made a part of the A&M Col
lege. Its success would be as
sured the day the bill became a
law,” the pamphlet contended.
The group tacked on a moral
clincher: “The moral and re
fining influence of the young la
dies over the male students at
the College would be great and
appreciated by every parent who
has a son at this institution.”
BUT THE LEGISLATURE
paid little attention to the enthu
siastic pamphlet, and that same
year created the college of In
dustrial Arts (now Texas Wom
an’s University) at Denton to
provide industrial training for
the girls of the state.
The first attempt at coeduca
tion, while probably more of a
civic venture than a crusade for
women, nevertheless ended in
failure.
Unlimited coeducation was
stymied, but the all-male status
had already been punctured.
(Next: the early coeds.)
Mortimer's Notes
IT HAS FINALLY happened! .... Texas A&M, with its limited
coeducational status, has reached the height or depth (if you prefer)
of a full-fledged university
The word is out that young men from other universities are
coming to A&M to date the Maggies
You know how rumors are But, anyway, a quite reliable
source reports that at least one Rice University male student has
a long standing date with a Maggie for the A&M-Rice basketball
game here Feb. 25
THE FORMER STUDENTS Council is looking into reserved seat
option arrangements for the enlarged Kyle Field seating area, sched
uled for completion by the fall of 1967
The study was undertaken by the council at its meeting here
Saturday
THEY’RE AMENDING regulations for Ross Volunteer member
ship right and left now
Back in the fall, RV leaders and the Trigon brass warned both
junior and senior members of the elite military unit that failure
to post a 1.0 GPR for the first semester would mean dismissal
Time and again this rule was drilled into the members’ head ....
But, lo, when mid-term grades were announced and several mem
bers were under the 1.0 minimum, new rules began to flow from
the Trigon
In fear of losing several top ranking seniors and not a few
juniors, a new order went something like this: “If you didn’t have
a 1.0 last semester, but have a 1.25 overall, then we’ll let you stay
in”
Had the change not been made, the Ross Volunteers would have
been something less than a strong organization But by low
ering — or rather, amending — the rules, the term “elite” might
have lost some of its impact
CERTAIN CORPS STAFF members seem to be rather upset from
a rash of parking tickets applied to their cars in the Trigon parking
lot
The staffers had not yet received their special permits when
the tickets were passed out at 3:30 a.m. Monday
Campus Security had failed to issue the special permits, but
proceeded to ticket the staffers’ cars anyway At 3:30 a.m.
Monday See Ya ’Round — Mortimer.