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By Glenn Dromgoole
Student unrest: Part 5.
College students still raise hell.
The panty raids, drunken orgies and practical jokes
that tagged the “Lost Generation” in the Roaring 20’s
are still with us, but to a more limited extent.
We have already considered the contributing factors
that tend to make today’s college student more serious
about the world around him and more likely to engage in
protest against it.
But headlines still proclaim fraternity hazings, holi
day riots and campus parties that get out of hand. Whether
he is having fun, creating havoc or attempting to solve the
world’s problems, today’s student is more disturbed 'in
dividually than any other segment in society or any college
group in history.
THE SUICIDE RATE among a group of eastern college
students was 50 per cent above the national rate over a 16
year period.
More than twice as great a percentage of students are
seeking psyciatric help today than 10 years ago.
Almost twice as many students have reported ulcers
during the past decade.
About half the college students drop out before com
pleting their education, and half of these trace their prob
lems to emotional causes.
“THE HAPPY COLLEGE student is a myth,” reports
Dr. and Mrs. Richard E. Gordon, whose book, “The Blight
on the Ivy,” offers perhaps one of the best studies available
on student emotional problems. “An enormous number of
students are carrying emotional burdens which range from
merely painful to agonizing.”
Stanford professor John Black says, “Colleges are . . .
becoming centers of intense emotional stress and pressure
for all who live or labor there. Twenty years ago, those
who cared studied, and got good grades; those who didn’t
played. Today, or tomorrow, everybody cares, everybody
studies, but the old grading curve hasn’t changed mu<rh. The
result can only be more intense, self-serving competition
and more temptation to succeed by hook or crook, more
hostility and anxiety.”
THE RISE IN emotional disturnaces on the college level
has been traced to 1957, when Russia launched Sputnik I,
its first man-made moori, on Oct. 4.
This defeat shocked Americans into action. They began
to demand more of the schools and students. More pres
sure was applied on students to finish high school, then go
on to college, until today more than half the nation’s high
school graduates enroll for higher learning — a figure nearly
twice that of the pre-Sputnik era.
With this enrollment increase came tremendous com
petition. No longer could the playboys play. They were
expected to work .... or get out. Competition for admis
sion to many schools became severe, and the fight to stay
in followed accordingly.
Increased pressure brought increased stress and strain,
more parental demands, more national demands. A highly
technical, automative age needed well-trained workers. The
high school diploma for a 1960 graduate had little value.
THESE PRESSURES, these economical and professional
advantages, these critical needs continue to lure more and
more students into halls of higher education every year.
The average student hails from a family with an annual
income of nearly $6,000, an urban or suburban area, a group
of friends who also attend college and parents who take a
positive attitude toward education.
Parental attitudes, say the Gordons, play a major role
in determining the student’s ability to adjust to the in
creased pressure of college life. Comparing a group of high
school and college students with comparable I.Q.’s, the Gor
dons postulated that underachievers were more likely to
show these characteristics:
1. Their parents’ interests were not intellectual.
2. Their parents did not complete high school.
3. Their fathers had lower middle class or lower class
occupations.
4. The students’ own interest were not intellectual.
5. The students had no clear long-range goals and
ambitions.
6. The students did not seek help and counsel from
older, experienced people.
7. The students’ mothers did not work outside the
home.
8. The students had had illnesses in addition to the
usual childhood diseases.
9. The students had had disciplinary problems in school.
10. The students belonged to a minority religious or
ethnic group.
THE GORDONS also listed a number of “stress factors”
in determining why one student is overwhelmed with college
pressures and others are not.
1. Previous severe physical illness.
2. Death of a parent before the student was 21. (This
was termed “especially serious” if the parent was of the
same sex and the child was only an infant at the time.)
3. Family history of emotional disturbance or alcoholism.
4. Foreign-bom father.
5. Divorced or separated parents.
6. Severe physical illness in the family.
7. Business of financial difficulties.
8. Romantic problems.
9. Previous emotional illness.
INDIVIDUAL UNREST is not limited to the under
achiever. The overachiever — bookworm, egghead, etc. —
also may be headed for trouble.
“The student who leaves college with only a Phi Beta
Kappa key and a Summa Cum Laude on his diploma enters
the world half-educated,” the Richards wrote.
This student likely receives much encouragement at
home, often discusses his work and ideas with well-informed
adults, makes up his mind early about his future, chooses
his courses carefully, never cuts class, reads more than the
assigned work, is always digging for more knowledge.
What he lacks is social life, an integral part of campus
activity. Dorm bull-sessions, work in campus organiza
tions, attendance at athletic contests and dating and fra
ternizing liven up the college years and contribute to the
student’s complete education.
“THE STUDENT who scorns them deprives himself
of the greatest gift college has to offer — an abundant life.
He’ll graduate at the top of his class — if he makes it to
the podium,” claim the Richards.
But despite the dreary picture, all is not bleak. The
medical and social sciences are continually searching to help
man understand himself.
“There is every reason to look with increasing confidence
to the future management of students’ emotional problems,”
say the Richards. “Students are now better prepared for
college, for their new responsibilities, for the stresses they
must face.
“Let us remember that pressure need not always crush;
that properly applied it can help mould the productive and
rewarding life.”
Wednesday: Social unrest.
Ags, Ponies In Showdown s p»ge"
Cbe Bdttdlion
Volume 61
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1966
Number 270
Fish Win Drill Honors
IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE
Battalion photographer Herky Killingsworth wrote a col
umn last week bemoaning the fact that he sent out a multi
tude of Valentine cards but received nary a one in return.
Killingsworth has since been swamped with Valentines
from sympathetic female fans. Only trouble is, all the love
notes are anonymous.
Yet Official Says
Mascot’s Condition
Stays Unchanged
FISH ADMIRE TROPHY
Members of the Freshman Drill Team display the trophy
they won over the weekend for placing second in the Pur
due University drill team competition. Left to right are
Glynn Wilson, executive officer; Lee Pais, team comman
der; Gary Eaton, right guide, and Richard Calvert, guidon
bearer.
Chemistry Prof Appointed
Assistant Science Dean
By DANI PRESSWOOD
Battalion News Editor
A veterinary medicine hospital
spokesman said Monday that Rev
eille’s condition remains un
changed.
Dr. E. W. Ellett, associate pro
fessor of Veterinary Medicine
and Surgery, said the Aggie mas
cot is not expected to recover
from her latest kidney attack.
“She’s holding her own and
seems to feel fairly good,” he
said. “However, the original kid
ney damage remains.”
The doctor noted that tests
are being run every three or
four days to determine the
amount of damage.
The 14-year old Shetland shep
herd is suffering from chronic in
terstitial nephritis, a disease
which hampers the elimination of
metabolic products.
Her latest attack has hospital
ized her for the past three weeks i
Since Reveille is in no pain, the
doctor informed, there is no rea
son to put her to sleep.
Reveille II was a gift to Texas
A&M by Mr. and Mrs. Max
Wienert in 1952.
Although she has lived with
and marched alongside Company
E-2, Reveille has gained world
wide fame with her halftime
antics at football games, keeping
the field clear while the Texas
Aggie Band performed.
Her kidney trouble began in
1956, with a seizure which des
troyed a large amount of kidney
tissue.
Because of her old age she is
no longer able to replace the
functional tissue which has been
destroyed by the recurring at
tacks. She has lived more than
90 human years.
According to Ellett, uremic
poisoning is the result of the
inefficient kidney function.
Reveille has passed through a
stage in which she would have
died without early medical ap
plication. The disease’s acute
phase has passed and she is no
longer under intensive treat
ment.
“If she improves sufficiently
she will be turned back over to
E-2,” Ellet remarked. “We just
don’t give up on old Reveille
very easily.”
However, the doctor noted, if
she should recover this attack,
another will occur soon which
she will not survive.
Another campus favorite, Ran
ger, died earlier in the school
year of a similar kidney ailment.
By TOMMY DeFRANK
Attorney John Barron’s at
tempts to force coeducation at
the A&M College in the 1950’s
through the courts were supple
mented by a similar try waged in
the State Legislature by cohort
Bill Moore.
State Sen. W. T. (Bill) Moore
was a native son of Bryan and,
along with Barron, had seen first
hand examples of close friends
or kin who desired a college edu
cation but were turned away from
A&M because they were women.
Moore, a member of the A&M
Class of 1940, also felt strongly
that coeducation should be im
plemented as soon as possible to
provide for “the normal social
and spiritual development of the
individual.”
“We speak of traditions . . .
of A&M College. Likewise, we
as Americans are proud of the
United States of America and
hold dear the traditions passed
down through its age of develop
ment. But I do not feel that
traditions should be so binding
and unflexible as to prevent the
development of the individuals
concerned,” he wrote in a 1953
letter to the Dallas A&M Club.
“Can we continue to be proud
of traditions if they prevent the
natural development of the minds
By MIKE BERRY
Battalion Staff Writer
The Texas A&M Freshman
Drill Team won second place
Saturday in top national drill
competition at Purdue University
in Lafayette, Indiana.
The Fish competed against 19
other teams from North Dakota,
Michigan, Kentucky, Wisconsin,
and Ohio.
The exhibition drill was graded
by Marine officers and noncom
missioned officers. The Marine
captain who inspected the team
told Lee Paris, the commander,
it was undoubtedly the finest unit
he had seen that day.
“That compliment, coming
from a Marine officer,” said Dan
Petty, the team’s senior advisor,
“inspired the team to try
harder.”
The highest possible score for
exhibition drill was 1,300 points,
1,200 for the drill phase and 100
for the inspection phase. The
Fish scored 1,136 points.
Capitol University of Colum
bus, Ohio, won first place with a
score of 1,147 points and Loyola
University of Ohio won third.
The Fish were preceded by the
reputation of the 1963 team that
won third place at Purdue.
“There were many compli
ments from spectators who were
looking forward to see the Tex
ans drill,” said Petty, “and this
year’s drill team followed suit,
completely lived up to their repu
tation and formed their own.”
Petty said that the team’s style
was generally the same in intri
cacy and movement as the north
ern team, but is performed in a
straight military manner—sharp
and strict, contrasting to the oth
er’s flashy style.
In addition to the 28 members
of the team, seven advisors, one
senior, one junior, and four soph
omores traveled to Indiana. Maj.
Calvin Reese and Maj. G. J. Har-
ber of the Department of Mili
tary Science accompanied the
freshmen.
The team left Friday from
Easterwood Airport and flew to
Bunker Hill Air Force Base
aboard a C-119 troop carrier. The
transportation was provided by
the 446th Troop Carrier Wing
based at Ellington Air Force
Base in Houston.
An interesting sideline to the
day’s activities was the sharing
of a dressing room with a girl’s
drill team. “It added spice to the
day,” Petty said.
The next competition for the
team will be at the A&M Invita
tional Drill Meet March 26. Plans
are being made for the LSU Drill
Meet and possibly the National
Cherry Blossom Meet in Wash
ington, D. C.
and spiritual bodies of the in
dividual?” he asked.
“If . . . A&M College should
become coeducational the college
would become not only the larg
est school in the southwest but
the best school in the southwest,
academically as well as in size,”
he predicted.
On March 3, 1953, Moore intro
duced a resolution asking the
Senate to direct the A&M Board
of Directors to abolish the all
male enrollment standard.
One report claims Moore in
troduced his legislation at a time
when the Senate was conducting
routine business and many Sena
tors were not present on the
floor. At any rate, however, his
resolution was passed on a voice
vote without objection or dis
cussion.
Sen. Searcy Bracewell of Hous
ton, also an A&M former student,
was not in the Senate chamber
at the time but rushed in when
informed of the resolution and
immediately countered with a
motion to reconsider.
Debate between the two former
students continued for more than
an hour before the Senate ad
journed, and the resolution was
not to have been taken up until
the next week.
But the Senate jumped the gun
John B. Beckham has been
named assistant dean of the Col
lege of Sciences, Dr. Clarence
Zener, dean of the college, has
announced.
Beckham has been at A&M
since 1946. He is an associate
professor in the Department of
Chemistry.
The assistant dean, 49, per
formed undergraduate work at
Daniel Baker College and ac
quired the master’s degree in
chemistry at A&M in 1950. He
is a member of the American
Chemical Society, Sigma Xi and
Phi Lambda Upsilon.
Beckham taught in Texas high
schools at Rocksprings, Giddings
and Taylor. He was a chief am
munition inspector in ordnance of
the U. S. War Department for
three years before coming to
A&M.
Beckham, his wife Mildred and
a son, John, reside at 1015 James
Parkway East in College Sta-
two days later and voted over
whelmingly to kill Moore’s resolu
tion.
The vote was 27-1, with the
Bryan senator the only lawmaker
to support his earlier stand.
Even Sen. Neveille Colson of
Navasota, one of the few women
to have attended A&M, voted
against Moore.
Several senators indicated they
had been deluged with angry let
ters from constituents critical of
the first resolution.
Shortly after his ill-fated coed
attempt, Moore became tangled
in a battle with A&M administra
tors by submitting another reso
lution directing the Board to
eliminate the position of chancel
lor.
And while blasting Moore for
his second resolution, some A&M
officials also took exception to
his views on coeducation.
“Sen. Moore is, of course, en
titled to his opinion concerning
the advisability of coeducation at
the A&M College, even to the
point of continuing the fight for
it in the face of clear expression
of opinion by the people of the
state and by the Senate,” said R.
Henderson Shuffler, A&M Sys
tem director of information.
“His attempt to determine the
policies of the Board of Direc
tion. The son is a junior physics
major at A&M. A daughter, Mrs.
Patricia Bunkley and her husband
were graduated from A&M in
January and reside in Victoria.
Senate To Study
Insurance Plans
The Student Senate will begin
shortly a study of various stu
dent insurance policies to re
place the present policy that will
expire at the close of the 1966
school year.
Clark Munroe, A&M director of
personnel, told the Senate that a
new policy should be approved by
about March 1.
Senate President Roland Smith
said the Senate will plan a stu
dent opinion poll to enable stu
dents to voice opinions concern
ing both the present and the new
policy.
tors ... by resolutions from the
Senate floor . . . are improper
and irresponsible acts for which
he should be held accountable
by the people of Texas who own
the institution which he seems
determined to personally take
over,” Shuffler added.
A&M President M. T. Harring
ton, commenting on newspaper
references to the “alarming low
in enrollment,” also took a short
at Moore.
“I am convinced that there is
now and always will be an im
portant place in the Texas high
er educational system to be filled
by a strong, technical college for
men only,” Harrington said.
Moore’s relations with the
Board were somewhat strained
over the issue for a time, but
the storm over his legislative
proposals finally subsided and
the spotlight switched to John
Barron’s coeducation lawsuits in
1958 and 1959.
But the Bryan solon retained
his belief that coeducation was
the key to turning A&M into an
institution of the first class.
After the Senate defeated his
coed resolution in 1953 Moore
predicted A&M would be coeduca
tional in 10 years.
His prediction was accurate.
(Next: the 1963 breakthrough.)
History Of Coeducation —5
Shifts To Legislature