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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 1966)
LIBRARY CARPUS 10 COPIES D grab bag By Glenn Dromgoole Student unrest: Part 8. Texas A&M is crawling out of its shell. The university’s administration, in its attempts to establish “academic excellence” here, may be faced with problems of student unrest as their goals are reached. Elimination of a compulsory Corps of Cadets and an ever-present swing toward full coeducation is likely to enhance the school’s academic stature, but with it A&M will come of age in areas of academic freedom, student de mands and administration-faculty-student relations. An ever-increasing percentage of civilian and graduate students is likely to grow even larger as the anti-coed feeling diminishes, and the Corps of Cadets will claim a smaller percentage of A&M’s student body in its ranks. These changes could likely destroy the small-college, conservative atmosphere that has prevailed on the A&M campus since the school opened its doors in 1876. Administrative ability to pass all orders through Corps channels is quickly vanishing, and the university’s military- type policy of handling students will not hold water in a predominantly civilian population. Texas A&M has made an all-out effort to reverse sag ging enrollment figures, with this year's 16 per cent in crease the best in nearly 20 years. Elimination of the all male, military atmosphere here, coupled with a broad GI Bill, could bring additional thousands into A&M's folds. Such a surge would open new areas for student protest and administrative concern. Unless additional dormitories are provided, students will have to turn to off-campus hous ing, already prevalent at many bulging universities. Ad ministrators would face the entirely new concept of con trolling off-campus activities and liberalizing the present strict off-campus housing policy. Student government problems are likely to be multipiled. No longer can the Student Senate operate on the philosophy: “What the Corps wants, the students want.” Already out numbered more than 2-1 by the civilian segment, cadets con tinue to control nearly all student government on campus. An attempt was made last spring by 1964-65 senate president Frank Muller to reorganize all campus govern ment. That attempt, unfortunately, died on the vine as this year’s Senate failed to carry it through. Student opinion about government^ b^re is negative. Senators and Battalion staffers have deplored the general apathy that exists between constituents and representatives. Small voter turnouts have insured Corps victories: civilians cannot be rallied around without issues as easily as the Cadet Corps. Campus government could be a significant influence in determining student opinion and taking action in the stu dents’ best interests. Right now it lacks any influence and has very little prestige and respect among the students. The fault doesn’t lie primarily with student apathy. Government here has not given anyone real cause in recent years to rush to the polls. About the only significant action taken by the body this year has been reinstating political clubs on campus. Vital current issues such as the cancellation of Johnny Cash’s Bonfire Night appearance have failed to receive unanimous consent necessary for the Senate to take action on matters not on the agenda. Civilians have inadequate government in the Civilian Student Council, whose activity this year could be recorded on a pin head. Representing about two-thirds of the A&M enrollment, the council should be one of the strongest organ izations on campus. Consolidation of all student government, including the Memorial Student Center Council (presently the only govern ing body exercising any power), is necessary if students are to have a voice in the administration of their university. Besides unsatisfaction with student government, there are other signs of student unrest here. The two most promin ent during recent years occurred in the autums of 1964 and 1965. A demonstration for political clubs was held in front of the Academic Building in October, 1964. Although considered unsuccessful at the time, the rally reopened an issue which eventually brought about campus acceptance of Young Democrat and Young Republican organizations. The second individual action which indicates the con servative shell might be crumbling was the Students for Johnny Cash organization which was formed after the Bon fire show cancellation last November. The group brought Cash to town for an off-campus performance, then took the name Committee for Student Opinion. However, noth ing has been heard from the group since the Bonfire per formance. Administration cancellation of Cash’s campus perform ance because of narcotics smuggling charges resulted in a policy change added to the university code, indicating the prevailing conservatism: “Guest speakers, lecturers and entertainers invited to the campus shall be of good moral character, reputation and of such calibre as to reflect credit upon Texas A&M Univer sity, thereby contributing to our program of excellence at every level of operation. In view of this, no speaker, lec turer or performer shall be invited or allowed to appear at Texas A&M who has criminal proceedings pending against him.” Of course, the most permanent issues of student con cern and unrest here are coeducation and military training. These, however, are gradually being dissolved by policy changes from the Board of Directors. The topic most likely to replace them is academic freedom. Already a hot campus topic throughout the nation, this issue has been raised here by local members of the American Association of University Professors. Tight administrative reins upon action of professors and students are questioned and deplored by the group. As the univer sity grows away from its military control, students are likely to begin resenting the grip, and counter with such action as opinion forums (one of which is in the planning stages for this spring), course critiques of professors and more freedom for student organizations. Press freedom could also be questioned. Although the university has been, on the whole, lenient with student pub lications, there has been a growing tendency to exercise more control of the student writers. These are among the problems and possible areas of student unrest that face a changing Texas A&M. There are more, such as campus impersonality, the mass exodus of students on weekends, and outmoded University Rules and Regulations and a possible trend toward speaker bans. * * * * This concludes an eight-part series on student unrest. We have tried to gain a little insight as to why this unrest exists, if it is beneficial or harmful, if it is as wide-sweep ing as is claimed, what some effects might be and if Texas A&M is affected. Student unrest, we hope to have pointed out, is not a bad word. It has been distorted by bearded beatniks, but they compose a very small minority of the students who are — in one degree or another — rebeling against society and self. The revolution is occurring where it rightly should: in centers of learning and thought. €bt Battalion Volume 61 COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1966 217 3 Fish Choose Sweetheart Saturday CONNIE WHALEY LINDA DEAN Ring Spokesman To Hear Gripes Martin Hamilton of Hous ton, representative of L. G. Balfour Company, will dis cuss complaints about recent ly-delivered senior rings with Texas A&M officials and seniors. He will be in Room 7 of the Coke Building from 8 a.m.- 5 p.m.. Registrar H. L. Heat on announced. Dissatisfaction has been voiced with rings delivered this month. Based on mid semester grades, 326 rings were ordered in November. New RE Program Flops; 16 Attend First Lecture By ROBERT SOLOVEY Battalion Staff Writer Don’t believe all those stories about Religious Emphasis Week dying. It’s dead. Sixteen people witnessed the final rites Thursday night. Reagan V. Brown, speaker for the first of a series of lectures, attributed the poor turnout to an increasing loss of values and a decreasing interest in religious emphasis. The extension sociologist, who has spoken in several states and cities in Texas, who has degrees from Texas A&M, who has built million dollar businesses and aid ed over 9000 communities to help themselves—had hoped to inspire his audience to do and to live better—which he did. Brown said religion is like jujitsu, which gives a soldier an advantage over his opponent. People today are searching for the answer of how to live, a philosophy that will guide them through a fast, changing world, he noted. honest motives and trust in heav en and God. Brown said it is a difficult thing to think clearly in the face of vast contradictions which on one side say “look before you leap,” and on the other side say “those who hesitate are lost.” Profs To Address Ag Instructors Two Texas A&M agriculturists will speak to Area 7 high school vocational agriculture teachers next week in San Antonio and Bastrop. Price Hobgood, head of the De partment of Agricultural Engi neering, will talk Wednesday on economical use of electric power. Program time is 4 p.m. in San Antonio’s East Central High School. The other speaker is Dr. James B. Storey of the A&M Horticul ture Section who will discuss steps in developing a native pecan grove. His talk is at 3:30 p.m. Thursday in Bastrop. He noted friendship is one of the most important values to which man should cling. He re lated the story of a soldier, who, under heavy enemy fire, went to help a wounded buddy, only to have him die during the attempt. When he returned to his own lines a lieutenant asked him whether or not he though his actions were foolish. The soldier replied it was worth it just to get there in time to hear the dying man say, “I knew you would come.” “Love a man not because he is white or black, Catholic or Jew, but because he is a human being,” Brown said. The one who profits most is the one who does the best he can and the one who helps others, he added. He said today’s world needs men who are productive, make an effort, make the best day-to- day choices and who value their soul as well as their wealth. “Don’t just profess Christianity, practice it,” he admonished. But only 16 people heard the message. Middle East Expert Great Issues F eatures Linde The Great Issues Committee’s World Around Us Series will present Richard Linde, noted lecturer and world traveler, at 8 p. m. Tuesday in the Memorial Student Center Ballroom. Linde’s program, “Middle East Tinderbox,” will com bine a documentary color film with commentary upon the historical background and political development of the Mid dle East. Linde describes the Middle East as “a highly inflam mable area of incomparable beauty, timeless treasures, vil lages of historical antiquity ^— and cities as modem as tomorrow. It is a molten land where tempers and temperatures spar. It is the crossroads of the world, birth place of western civilization, cradle of three great religions and a land of Arab color and contemporary vigor.” The film program will present glimpses of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel and Turkey. Admission for students with activity cards will be 50 cents while cost to the general public will be $1. Students and faculty wives, public school students and University students without activ ity cards will be charged 75 cents. Linde, who served with the U.S. submarine fleet in the Pacific and later in China during World War II, has received degrees from Drew University and Asbury Col lege and a graduate degree from Harvard Business School. He has received an award for meritorious service from the Ar my-Navy Commission on Chap lains and the Distinguished Serv ice Award from the United States Election Set Tuesday An election to fill five vacated positions on the Student Senate is scheduled for 8 a. m. - 5 p. m. Tuesday in the Memorial Student Center, Election Commission Har ris Pappas has announced. Committee for the United Na tions. Linde is listed in Who’s Who in the East, Who’s Who in the Midwest and the Dictionary of International Biograhphy. He has also written several maga zine articles. He has traveled throughout Europe, the Middle East, Russia and the Orient. Sophomore Ball Slated March 12 The Jades will provide music for the 1966 Sophomore Ball, scheduled from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. March 12 in Sbisa Hall. The ball will be patterned aft- * er the Combat Ball, with uniform for military students, fatigues and combat boots. Civilians will wear sport shirt and slacks. Selection of the Sophomore Sweetheart will highlight the dance. She will be chosen from seven finalists who will be named next week. Sophomores desiring to enter girls in competition for Sopho more Sweetheart should turn in a 3x5 or larger picture to the Student Programs Office in the Memorial Student Center before March 4. Tickets on sale at the Student Programs Office cost $3.50 per couple. He said that through his ex perience of fighting and dying alongside many men he has learned “life is so important that people will cling to it with the last fiber of their ability.” He said if he were asked how a man could become success in his field, he would only have to remember four things: to think without confusion clearly, love one’s fellow man, act from truly Physicist Sees Short Work Week Men of the future may go to work at 8 a.m. Monday and quit an hour later for the weekend, a thermonuclear physicist told a physics colloquium Thursday. J. E. Hammel of the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. New Mexi co, spoke at a weekly depart mental meeting. "Tremendous masses of energy may be released from thermo nuclear materials,” Hammel said. Such energy is on the other end of the mass spectrum from the atomic bomb, and may be more rigidly controlled. With practically unlimited sources of such energy avail able, man will only have to start machines going, then twiddle a few knobs and check meters to keep forces in line, he added. History Of Coeducation 8 x* | The Future: An Analysis By TOMMY DeFRANK Battalion Managing Editor (Editor’s Note: Today’s in stallment concludes the history of coeducation at Texas A&M.) Most recent additions to the long trail of past coeducation difficulties intermingled in the development of Texas A&M seem to indicate the final chap ters in the long and bitter feud are not far from being written. The 1963 Board decision estab lishing limited coeducation has since been expanded with the in jection of a new consideration: federal legislation prohibiting discrimination. Last summer a Fort Worth newsman discovered the Board of Directors had requested Texas Attorney General Waggoner Carr to detennine if federal statutes on discrimination clashed with the existing coeducation policy. Board President H. C Helden- fels said the matter had arisen because some Board members feared the school might lose mil lions of dollars in federal grants if the enrollment policy were ruled unconstitutional. Carr ruled Oct. 15 that the limited coeducation policy was discriminatory. “There is a serious legal ques tion as to whether, in a trial in court, we could successfully de fend an attack upon the present classification established by the Board of Directors for admission of female students as being a reasonable classification,” Carr said. Heldenfels immediately ap pointed a four-man committee to study the problem and deliver a report at the Nov. 24 Board meet ing. No report on the matter was made public after that meeting, but five days later a Dallas news paperwoman charged the Board had secretly agreed to adopt a policy of unlimited coeducation in the near future. But while vehemently denying the accusation, Heldenfels re vealed to another reporter that the Board had given A&M Presi dent Earl Rudder authority to personally scrutinize female ap plications for admission and use his discretion in determining if they should be allowed to enroll. Since that time a number of women ineligible under the 1963 policy have applied for admission and been accepted, although the Registrar’s Office has not re leased any figures. So with another breakthrough of the all-male status that has been prevalent for most of the college’s 90 years, it appears complete coeducation is but a matter of time. Although attempts supporting both coeducation and the all-male status have been carried through the state’s judicial and legisla tive bodies, the ultimate authori ty for the final decision rests with the executive branch — the A&M Board. The Supreme Court of the United States has twice upheld the right of the Board to sole authority in the matter, a privi lege reemphasized by Waggoner Carr in his October ruling. And the increasing support for coeducation from all areas of the A&M campus in the past 15 years also seems to have permeated the Board. Champion of the all-male p&ii-: tion is Board President Helden fels, who has said publicly he opposes any change from the limited coeducation setup but privately has professed an in tense desire for A&M to remain free of women. Heldenfels can count on two backers at most, with the remain ing six members favoring coedu cation in some form. Complete coeducation forces »re led by Sterling Evans, presi dent when the limited coed policy was approved in 1963. Carr ruled the Board can either return the school to a male-only status or effect complete coedu cation, and it seems doubtful the Board will choose to ban women when they have been attending classes regularly for two years. If the Board selects the full coed route it will be damned by thousands of former students who still clamor for the “old” A&M, but such a move would raise few eyebrows as it once would have. The back of the all-male A&M has been broken in the last few and injury is likely SKEaaent.