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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 24, 1966)
Polls Volume 61 Stay Open Until 6 p.m. Thursday In MSC Cbc Battalion COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 1966 Number 288 Critical Room Shortage Predicted By Fall Term By ROBERT SOLOVEY Battalion Staff Writer Dean of Students James P. Hannigan revealed Wednesday only 6,460 dormitory spaces will be available in the face of an anticipated record fall enrollment of 11,000 students. Hannigan also discussed social fraternities, never before per mitted on campus, which he said may have a remote chance of being allowed if the threat of inadequate facilities materializes. The Housing Office urges all students to make room reserva tions this spring and not wait until summer if they expect to find housing space on campus. Hannigan noted that 3,000 stu dents will live off campus or in married students’ housing, but that room will not be available for about 1,500 students. He also said fraternities on other campuses have filled a housing need but said the A&M tradition was that everyone was a cadet and lived in a dormitory. He said an application today by a social fraternity would be flatly refused, but during a future acute housing shortage students could apply to the Executive Commit tee for more sympathetic action. Several years ago A&M tried to put three students to a room when space was short. Hannigan indicated this was totally undesirable and in the future students may have to seek approved housing in College Sta tion or Bryan. That “future” may be here next Kroitor Reviews 18th Century In Literary Festival Address Dr. Harry P. Kroiter, A&M English professor, examined the concept of the “noble savage” in 18th century English literature Wednesday. The presentation was part of the third annual Literary Fes tival here this week. Kroiter is chairman of the project, spon sored by the Department of Eng lish. Kroitor discussed the reaction of Samuel Johnson and James Boswell to the British preoccupa tion with the “savages” of North America and the Indies. “Johnson and Boswell resisted the romanticization of the Noble Savage,” he noted. “They de fended the civilization of England as being more valid than the serenity of primitive cultures.” Kroitor frequently quotes from articles in the Hypochondriack, a satirical periodical produced by Johnson. “Johnson’s goal in his tongue- in-cheek writings was the civiliz ation of British society,” he said. He was able to point up the para dox of praising the beauty of the simple life and the accomplish ments of an advanced, complex society at the same time.” He referred to Johnson’s cele brated dictionary, which termed “savage” primarily as wild and uncultured, “much as one might describe wild berries.” The next segment of the Fes tival will be a concert reading at 8 p.m. Thursday in the Memorial Student Center Assembly Room. Students in the oral interpre tation class, directed by Vic Wiening, will present the pro gram. Selections from works by Pope, Addison, Swift, Johnson and other 18th century authors will be included. fall and students who have not signed up for rooms by the end of this semester will have to com pete for space on a first come, first served basis. Room reservations may not be held beyond the student’s sched uled hour to register, Hannigan noted. “We are in a transitional period with an enlarged corps and an enlarged civilian enrollment,” he said. “In the past fraternities have been considered incompatible with the corps.” Hannigan pointed to several choices which might have to be made. He said fraternities may be considered if the need for hous ing forces the university into a tight position. More than likely though, the school would tighten up entrance requirements, utilize every available space, approve some off-campus facilities and wait until 1968, when master plans call for the construction of up to six new dormitories in the Duncan area. “I feel a smaller percentage of students belong to fraternities to day on most campuses, but many are a positive addition which pro vide the student with a little family,” Hannigan said. A&M has recognized 18 honor and service fraternities but never social fraternities. He said many people consider social fraternities exist for parties, are snobbish and engage New Rifles Replacing M-l; Corps Drills Unarmed The M-l rifle is disappearing from Corps of Cadets drills and ceremonies. Advent of the M-16 rifle, which fires NATO - standardized 7.62 mm bullets, is the culprit. The M-16 is the standard foot sol dier’s weapon in line companies of the U. S. Army. Manual of arms and dismount ed drill with the M-l are being reduced in the training scheme at A&M. The rifle Aggie officers will see, use and instruct with when they go on active duty is the M-16. “With the M-16, a soldier slings arms and marches,” commented Frank Nicolas, assistant to the commandant. Manual of arms with the M-16, slightly lighter and shorter than its famed predecessor, is limited to sling, port and present arms. The 20-round magazine juts be yond the trigger guard, impeding “shoulder arms” movements. “Army ROTC cadets still have the M-l,” noted Lt. Col. Rayford Brooks, associate professor of military science. “Operation of it and the M-16 are similar. Both are gas-operated and have a ro tating bolt. Nomenclature, dis assembly and assembly and some dismounted drill is instructed with it.” The new order of things dis concerted one freshman. “We’ve had two hours manual of arms and rifle drill and they say that’s all we get,” the fish lamented. A REFRESHING PAUSE Hollyn Fuller enjoys a brew and some good conversation in Nick’s Saloon, a San FYan- cisco bar in the late 30’s. The scene is from “Time of Your Life,” the Aggie Players production which runs through Saturday night in Guion Hall. Curtain time is 8 p. m. nightly for this unusual, slice-of-life play, which won author William Saroyan the Pulitzer Prize. Willy Cook, at the piano, and Bud Franks are the other two cast members shown. in questionable hazing practices. “Why have these when cadet companies are really little fra ternities in all but name?” he noted. Plans for next fall show the Corps will still be split, with 2,140 cadets living in the Duncan area and 768 in the Sbisa area. Civilians will utilize all other dormitories, including dormitories 10 and 12, totalling 3,244 spaces. With the advice of Tom Cherry, vice president for business af fairs, and Hannigan, the Housing Office instituted the policy of ob taining reservations now or face . competition from thousands /rft other students seeking spaces. The old army days of living in tents may not be over yet. Single, undergraduate students" must still live on campus or with their parents, and room reserva tions may be canceled before August 15. Brenda Lee Show Slated Saturday Singing Star Brenda Lee will perform Saturday night at Texas A&M. The Town Hall performance is set for 7:30 p.m. in G. Rollie White Coliseum, Chairman Mike Nabors announced. Doll-sized Brenda (4 feet, 11 inches tall and 100 pounds) is a show business heavyweight. Her recordings read like a who’s who of the hit parade. Begin ning in 1956 with “Jambalaya” she added hits with “Sweet Nuthin’s,” “I’m Sorry,” “Emo tions,” “Dum Dum,” “Fool Num ber One,” “All Alone Am I,” and ‘Break It To Me Gently.” This year, in a world wide poll, Mill Lee won the title of “The World’s Number One Fe male Vocalist.” She has gold records galore, trade paper cita tions and keys to cities through out the country. Movie goers may see Brenda in her film debut, “The Little Bears.” Successful appearances in Eur ope and South America, as well as in the United States, prompt ed a television producer to com ment on her talent. “She looks like a little girl, sings like a woman and she car ries her spotlight like a lady,” he said in explaining her “per fect combination.” Her appearance Sunday night on the Ed Sullivan Show was one of many on his show as well as those of Perry Como, Danny Thomas, Steve Allen, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Dick Clark and Bob Hope. Expanding her career to night clubs, Brenda performed to ca pacity crowds in Boston and then went on to Las Vegas to wow audiences at the Sahara and Flamingo Hotels. Appearing with her Saturday night, as they do whenever she performs, will be the Casuals, a group from Nashville, Tennessee. These musicians started six- and-a-half years ago with Bren da, and when she is not per forming, they schedule their own shows. They have played at the Copacabana in New York, the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas and the Latin Casino in Phila delphia, and are always invited back for a repeat performance. Tickets for the last scheduled Town Hall program of the year are available in the Student Pro gram Office in the Memorial Student Center. TOWER TELLS TALE These markings were discovered on the water tower Wednesday morning after a Cadet Court ruling. Author and printer of the slogans is as yet unknown. (See details on page 2.) WOAI Director McReynolds To Emcee Annual Cotton Ball Bill McReynolds of San An tonio will be master of ceremonies for the 32nd annual Cotton Pageant and Ball April 2. McReynolds is farm director of WOAI radio and television in the Alamo City. The pageant and ball, one of the social highlights of the school year, is sponsored by the A&M Student Agronomy Society in honor of cotton, the state’s major cash crop. King Cotton this year is Roland Smith of Lawn, a senior plant and soil science major. Pageant activities include selec tion of Queen Cotton and eight members of her court from among 160 young ladies representing colleges, universities, clubs and other organizations throughout Texas. Selections will be made by Mrs. Bill Chambliss, photographer; Mrs. Vivian Castleberry, woman’s editor, Dallas Times Herald, and Curtis Castleberry, art gallery executive, all of Dallas. Wedding Highlights Pakistan Student Night A “shadi” — Muslim wedding — heads the attractions of the Pakistan Students’ Association cultural evening Friday. The 8 p.m. program in the Memorial Student Center fea tures dances, songs, musical numbers and a style show of Pakistan costumes for formal and informal wear. Two document ary films on folk dances are also scheduled. Refreshments and a social hour follow the free, public program, said Muhammed Hussain, presi dent of the 54-member student group. Model Questionnaires Studied Faculty Evaluation Analyzed By GLENN DROMGOOLE Faculty evaluation — how the students rate their teachers — may be adopted by Texas A&M this year. The Student Senate issued a resolution to the University Exe cutive Committee last week ad vocating the establishment of such a program. Committee ap proval is desired before the pres ent school year ends. What would be included in such an evaluation? Several Senators asked Issues Chairman Sim Lake that ques tion last week, and he responded by exhibiting several ratings used at other institutions and by two A&M departments. Michigan State University stu dents use a seven-point ques tionnaire to examine their pro fessors. Each question is rated from A to along the same lines as students are graded. The questions were: 1. Were important objectives met? 2. Does instructor’s presenta tion of subject matter enchance learning ? 3. Is instructor’s speech ef fective? 4. How well roes the instruc tor work with students ? 5. Does the instructor sti mulate independent thinking ? 6. Do grading procedures give valid results? 7. How does this instructor rank with others you have had? The letter answers added still more information about an indi vidual professor’s performance. For instance, the answers to question six are: Instructor’s estimate of my overall accomp lishment has been quite accurate to date; instructor’s estimate . . . is of average accuracy; instruc tor’s estimate is quite inaccurate. Rice University takes a more subjective look at its instructors through more broad questions and short essay answers or ex planations. The questions in cluded: 1. I took this course because: 2. Was this course worth tak ing for the reasons you took it? 3. The instruction was: (Ex cellent, good, fair, poor) 4. What would you suggest that would improve the method of instruction ? 5. The course materials were: 6. What would you suggest to improve the course materials? 7. Other aspects of the course were: 8. I would or would not rec ommend this course to others. 9. I would further suggest that: 10 I would like to complain further that: The Department of Modern Languages here already uses a course critique of its own, using an objective rating indentical to Michigan State’s to grade an in structor’s Preparation for class meetings, presentation of sub ject matter, ability to interest students, scholarship (knowledge of subject), stimulation of criti cal and independent thinking, tolerance and liberality (differ ences of opinion; easily angered, etc.), attitude toward students (courteous or impatient), per sonal appearance, personal pe culiarities (manner pleasing or annoying mannerisms). The departmental question naire also asked students to rate the instructor from 1-10 in com parison to other professors here, and called for constructive com ments and criticism. Names were withheld from the sheet and stu died by the instructors only. “The evaluations were pri marily for the use of the instruc tor himself,” commented Dr. Jack A. Dabbs, department head. “For that reason we did not suggest that anyone else see it unless the instructor wanted him to. Some of the suggestions showed thought and gave the instructors the chance to see how these things look on the other side of the desk.” Of all the evaluations Lake showed the Senators, however, the most inclusive was devised by a professor in the School of Busi ness Administration here to eval uate organization of class meet ings, teacher’s interest in the sub ject, level of interest maintained in class, attention to physical classroom conditions (light, heat, ventilation), knowledge of sub ject matter, clearness of explana tions, freshness of presentation, class discussion, feeling between teacher and class, self confidence, tolerance, availability and atti tude toward student conferences, ability to communicate, stimulus to thinking, fairness of grsdi&fV use of examination as a learning device. A general rating of the instructor from poor to “one of the best” was also urged. Students were also asked to complete a checklist on the teach er, indicating he should: Speak more loudly, speak with less mo notony, use more familiar words, present material slower, use more humor in class, make black board writing more legible, leave material on the board longer, be more prompt in ending class on time, improve his personal ap pearance, get better acquainted with his students or try to eli minate annoying mannerisms. The critique also asked for suggestions to improve effective ness by: More effective use of visual and auditory aids, hand ing out a mimeographed outline of the course, giving tests and examinations more often (or less often), giving less emphasis to rote memorization for examina tions, making assignments more clearly and understandably, hav ing more class discussion and questioning or choosing a better textbook. Another question wanted to know if the student thought the course should require more or less work for the credit received. Space for other suggestions was provided, and students were asked what they liked "most and least about the course. These evaluations are examples that w’ill be studied if the Exe cutive Committee gives approval to the Senate resolution. Action not expected by the adminis trative body for at least a week.