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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 15, 1966)
11, 19{( COPIES Che Battalion Volume 61 GQJLLEGE STATION, TEXAS TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 1966 Number 282 Editorial Student Senate: Student Senate To Hear fr^r^v' 1 Faculty Rating Program paper if the Major id all eneral ceting jre in- Pex Texas A«feM , s student body has another opportunity this spring to determine the fate of its local government. With Student Senate elections less than one month away, it is time to consider improvement and strengthening of that organization. The Senate has received no small amount of criticism this year — and in the past — for its complacent attitude in dealing with student problems. Most of the attacks have been on the organization’s sins of omission rather than commission. Its failure to investigate major areas of concern — parking problems, campus bookstore revenues, student-faculty-administrative relations and difficulties, fee increases, student government reorganization—has contri buted to the growing attitude of student apathy toward local government engulfing our campus. In six months the Senate’s only noteworthy action has been its involvement in the political clubs issue, through which it has proven capable of sensibly handling local problems. Although two years elapsed before Senators took any stand in the area, their resolution advocating sanction of political organizations was indeed creditable. Aside from this activity, however, the Student Senate has been decidedly more social than political, more passive than active. The reason is twofold: Student Senate is not endowed with any great power, and elections are conducted lacking positive programs and debatable issues. The latter must be solved before the Senate can gain any stature with the university and its student body. Present campaign procedures have little merit. Candi dates request support on basis of what they wear, not what they believe. Corps versus civilian has prevailed at the polls — a two-party system of sorts, but not a capable one. The only prevailing criteria for election is that a Lake To Present Plans Thursday SOPH SWEETHEART Sally Lindsey was selected as 1966 Sophomore Sweet heart at the Sophomore Ball Saturday. The 5’5” blue eyed blonde was escorted by Steve Melzer. Miss Lindsey is a student at Baylor. candidate does or does not wear a uniform, and the out come is decided by whether the Corps or civilian body can muster the largest aggregation to the polls. Issues are never debated. Letters to the editor advo cate “better, stronger government” and go into detail oh a candidate’s social record, but never do they describe his plans to strengthen government, his stands on current issues or his attitudes toward university policy and student life. For example, during the recent special election to fill thee Issues Chairman position, both candidates possessed positive programs and indicated solutions to campus prob lems. But these issues were not aired by the candidates except in private conversation; their campaign posters and letters consisted only of endorsement by campus leaders, eye-catching cartoons and broad generalizations. They advocated “stronger government” and urged a Corps-civilian cooperative effort in electing them, but never did they define their objectives. Texas A&M needs a two-party student political sys- Premarital Sex Relations Forum Topic By DANI PRESSWOOD Battalion News Editor Student Senate Issues Chair man Sim Lake said Monday he will propose a resolution to adopt a program of faculty evaluation by students at Thursday night’s Senate meeting. Such a program would provide a means of students evaluating individual faculty members to help professors improve their teaching techniques. Lake said the resolution, if passed by the Senate, will be sent to the Executive Committee for consideration. He will re quest that the Committee report its progress to the Senate. “We are going to ask that a student - faculty committee be formed to study plans employed at other universities and report back with the best plan for A&M,” he remarked. Dr. Henry Bowman, of the University of Texas, will speak on “Sex in Human Relations— Premarital” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the YMCA. According to Lake, faculty evaluation programs are present ly in operation at several major universities, including the Uni versity of Wisconsin, Harvard, Yale, University of California, Princeton and Michigan State. tem, not one that elects its representatives on basis of military or civilian affiliation. Presenting the third 1966 Mar riage Forum, Bowman will dis cuss premarital sexual relations, ideals and standards of sex mo rality, how standards may be established, whether present day standards make sense and the “sexual revolution.” “We polled from 30 to 50 A&M faculty members on this and they are overwhelmingly in favor of the concept of student evaluation of faculty members,” he said. Lake explained that the pro posal is based on the premise that faculty members desire to improve their proficiency. 1.. Own :e 1 ink xas Co. ivor Until such a system is developed and until issues become the primary concern of office-seekers, student gov ernment here will continue to squander time, disenchant its constituents and inadequately serve campus needs. A feeble attempt was made by several students last spring to organize such a party, but it fell into the old trap of advocating “stronger government” and urging Corps- civilian cooperation. It lacked specific positive programs and appeared more concerned with adequate representation of cadets and civilians than with current issues. It urged election of party candidates because they were party candi dates, not because the party promised a progressive plat form. Yet with all its weaknesses, the old University Party offered hope. Had its limited success been followed by an attempt to persuade successful party candidates to fol low a particular united political path, A&M would have been on its way to a party system. However, after the election the group didn’t conduct a convention and it has not held a policy meeting all year. Its intentions were obviously aimed at electing one particular slate of officers, and it was therefore no more beneficial than the prevailing cadet- civilian procedure. Political organizations — conceived with a uniform purpose and program, meeting at regular intervals to discuss policy and procedure, striving to fulfill its objectives, serv ing as a watchdog on the party in power, proposing a slate of officers dedicated to the best interests of the students, determining student opinion — could offer student govern ment a path to follow, practical political experience for candidates and voters, and solutions to campus problems heretofore untouched by Student Senate. Student government cannot continue to function with out some common incentive, and Corps versus civilian rivalry has not provided it. We suggest another method. It couldn’t do any worse. A UT sociology professor, Bowman is a nationally recog nized authority on marriage and family life. “An improvement in the level of ability of students should be accompanied by an improvement in the level of the faculty,” he noted. He is author of several books concerning marriage, including “Marriage for Modems” and “A Christian Interpretation of Mar riage.” “By an improvement in the faculty, we by no means purport to imply that the general level of instructors at A&M is not of high caliber and above re proach,” he continued. He is named in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in Ameri can Education, Who’s Who in the South and Southwest and in American Men of Science. “But, as in every large group, there are exceptions to general rule and this is true among the faculty at A&M.” His articles have been pub lished in professional and popu lar magazines, scholarly journals and in collections of readings on marriage and the family. Lake points out that such an evaluation program was em ployed here in the early 1950’s but was discontinued for lack of proper execution. Bowman served as president of the National Council on Family Relations from 1958 to 1959. This organization consists of 3,000 members whose professions are concerned both directly and in directly with marriage and the family. He added that A&M’s Commit tee on Development of Teaching Techniques in 1964 suggested a similar program be reinstated, but the suggestion was never followed up. In 1963 the U. S. State Depart ment assigned Bowman to Aus tralia and New Zealand to lecture on marriage education and coun seling. “Presently the only way the administration has of knowing the standing of professors is when some dissatisfied student comes in with a gripe,” Lake said. “This presents an unfair representation.” Lake, who has been investi gating the possibilities of this Luedecke Addresses JETS Conference Space Exploration Limitless RY L A space program management e xpert said here Friday the United States is hardly out of its backyard in the exploration of 0,1 ter space. Maj. Gen. Alvin R. Luedecke, deputy director of the Jet Pro pulsion Laboratory at the Cali fornia Institute of Technology, spoke of the Moon, Venus and Mars—all many millions of miles from Earth. Then he pointed to Jupiter, hundreds of millions of miles further, intimating that the sky’s the limit. The 1932 Texas A&M engineer ing graduate discussed the space program first to 700 high school students at a Junior Engineering Technical Society conference and later to the public. He reviewed problems faced by the 4,100 persons in his organiza tion. “The terminal phase of trajec tory is most critical,” he said. “Any kind of failure in this area lose the mission.” “Secondly,” he went on, “we are trying to develop a system for landing relatively heavy spacecraft in a vacuum. We can’t create a vacuum here to test the craft in the right environment.” Luedecke noted the Jet Propul sion Laboratory plans to put a Surveyor spacecraft on the moon during the second quarter of this year. Launch dates are classified information. The Surveyor is to be powered by an Atlas-Centaur booster system, he said. The Eldorado native reviewed future JPL interplanetary ven tures by the U. S. “A fly-by mission of Venus is planned in 1967,” he said. “Mars is due for a fly-by mission in 1969, and in 1973—via our Voy ager Program, we plan an orbit ing mission in which we will land a capsule on Mars.” “I don’t think anybody is seri ously thinking right now of put ting a man on Mars,” he con tinued. “We have enough to do man on the undertaking for two months, said some departments on campus are currently using a faculty evalua tion program. “These are already being used by many instructors that are really interested in improving,” he said. From research conducted by Lake and senior David Miller, exists supporting evidence from the March, 1964, issue of “The Journal of Higher Educaton.” The journal states that “each professor needs to be aware that the way he teaches is not less important than what he teaches.” Lake says his argument is best summed up with a statement from Fred J. Kelly’s “Improving College Instruction.” “Evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of having ratings by students,” it reads. “To teach effectively is to lead, to inspire and to guide the learner ... To test the students is to test teach- MRS. A&M Cathy Nicholson was named Mrs. A&M for 1966 at the Mrs. A&M banquet and ball Saturday in the Memorial Student Center. She was chosen from a field of 28 fi nalists. Her husband is a senior civil engineering- student. MSC Council Chooses 3 Committee Chairmen Junior Bill Hindman and soph omore Larry Hearn were elected Monday night as councilmen-at- large for 1966-67 by the Mem orial Student Center Council and Directorate. The council also selected three MSC committee chairmen. George Long, junior economics major, was named chairman of the Travel Committee, while Jer ry Stevens, junior majoring in business, and Chuck Glass, soph- Filing Closes Friday For Graduate Council Filing deadline for Graduate Student Council candidacy is Fri day, Associate Dean R. W. Bar- zak has announced. University elections are sched uled March 24. The Graduate Student Council has 12 elected members with sev en from each of the colleges and the Institute of Statistics. Five at-large members are chosen by the current council. omore aerospace engineering ma jor, were chosen to head the Leadership and Public Relations Committees, respectively. Hindman is majoring in civil engineering and has an overall grade point ratio of 2.17. Hearn is majoring in mechanical engi neering with an overall GPR of 1.9. In other business, the council: —Heard committee reports on the MSC Building Studies Com mittee. The Building Studies Committee is studying future needs of the MSC. —Accepted the Tom H. Roun tree award. Rountree, class of 1952, was killed in an auto acci dent in 1953 and his parents gave the council authority to give an award in his honor to a student with “outstanding leadership.” —Authorized the proposed Per sonnel Committee to organize and begin functioning in the next fis cal year. —Accepted the proposal by the Public Relations Committee to put out a bimonthly publication about MSC news. —Heard a report from Pete Belinsky on the Talent Commit tee. He reported that the Inter collegiate Talent Show was video taped by the Texas A&M Edu cational TV and the tapes will be aired by several stations in Texas. Student Insurance Warning Issued trying to put moon.” About the Russians’ recent “soft” landing on the moon, the general commented: “I have no doubt that they made a “retard ed" landing . . . I’m sure they put a capsule on the moon.” The general visited the con struction site of A&M’s $6 million Cyclotron and was briefed on progress by A&M Research Vice President A. D. Suttle Jr. and Dr. John A. McIntyre of the Cyclo tron Institute. Luedecke was general manager of the Atomic Energy Commis sion when the 5-man commission voted to support the construction with $3 million. Clark C. Munroe, A&M’s per sonnel director, has issued a warning to students about a life insurance offer “designed for stu dents of Texas A&M.” “This program, like all other life insurance offers, is issued without A&M’s endorsement,” Munroe pointed out. “The pro gram may be excellent — but students should not buy it under the assumption that the universi ty has approved the policy’s terms.” Munroe noted that some stu dents had received a brochure describing the special offer and had questioned him about the policy. He explained that the only “of ficial” policy for students was student accident insurance with Federated Security Insurance Company, issued each September for 12 months. This program has the endorsement of the Stu dent Senate and is administered through the personnel office, he added. Tickets On Sale For Saroyan Play PAGEANT ROYALTY King Cotton Roland Smith of Lawn, extreme right, is shown with eight members of his court who will participate in the 32nd annual Cotton Pageant and Ball April 2. From the left in the background are Jim Polonis of San Antonio; John Cosper, Edna; James Supak, Coupland, and Tom Blanchette, Beaumont. In the foreground from the left, are Jimmy McAfee of College Station; Jimmie Brown, Agua Dulce; Larry Schwertner, San Angelo, and Weldon Bol linger of Sealy. Advance tickets for the Aggie Players’ production of “The Time of Your Life” are now on sale in the College Station - Bryan area. William Saroyan’s Pulitzer prize-winning play will be pre sented in Guion Hall March 21- 26. It will be the Players’ sec ond major production of the sea son, following “Death of A Sales man” which was presented in November. Tickets may be obtained from First Bank and Trust, Bryan; Carroll’s Corner, North Gate; Bank of Commerce, College Sta tion; A&M Student Programs Of fice, Memorial Student Center; Gibson’s Discount Center, Red mond Terrace Shopping Center, and the Fallout Theater in the rear of Guion Hall. Tickets are $1 for adults and 75 cents for A&M students with ID cards. 1