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VOLUME 64, Number 51
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1968
Telephone 845-2226
End Silver Taps?—Senior Dispute Over Shape Of Table
Sees Auto Safety As Key\ Continues To Thwart Talks
rward, flips®
ohn Whitmon
ay night. Tilt
Austin Monday
ht)
Texas Aggies would like to
end the traditional Silver Taps
for comrades killed in traffic ac
cidents.
In the last 13 years, Silver
Taps ceremonies have honored
40 of A&M’s dead in traffic mis
haps.
SENIOR LARRY Graviss of
San Antonio feels something can
be done about road accidents
claiming the lives of so many
Aggies.
Silver Taps is a 21-gun salute
followed by Corps buglers blow
ing Silver Taps in honor of a
fallen comrade. It’s played dur-
;mg a complete blackout on the
:ampus, with students—Corps and
civilians — silently gathered in
front of the Academic Building.
Graviss, a tall, sincere-speak
ing cadet lieutenant colonel and
Corps operations officer, is be-
lind a move to accomplish such
jin end.
NO ONE is prompting him,
except the memories of those he
feels have needlessly died in traf
fic accidents.
Three members of the Corps
ise
[Fruit Drive To Be
At Christmas Meal
Enough apples, oranges and
ananas for 400 needy Bryan
loys Club members is the goal
the Student Senate’s Fruit
rive scheduled to coincide with
lie annual Christmas dinners
Wednesday in Sbisa and Duncan
ining Halls.
| Baskets will be placed at the
exits of both halls to receive fruit
donated by the students.
“For many of the boys, the
fruit will be the only Christmas
gifts they’ll receive,” David Mad
ox, Senate vice president, said.
LARRY GRAVISS
were killed Nov. 9 in a head-on
car-truck collision. The cadets^—
one of them a senior and buddy
of Graviss-—were part of the
3,000-man Corps mustering in
Dallas for the A&M-SMU foot
ball game.
Graviss has been busy at work
compiling records on deaths of
students.
WITH CHRISTMAS fast ap
proaching, he has taken a close
look at traffic deaths during the
holidays.
“Seven students have been lost
in the past 13 years during the
Christmas season,” he said. A
total of 40 students have died
since 1955.
The largest number were killed
in 1967 when eight died. In 1965
five students met death and four
in 1963.
OF THOSE KILLED, 10 died
on scheduled Corps trips, seven
during Christmas holidays and
23 others at various times of the
year.
Air Force cadets, required to
post all traffic violations when
tion’s Own
Service
:rsity
il Bank
Apu" Is Fall Film Finale
“The World of Apu,” final fall
lm presentation of the Memorial
tudent Center Contemporary
rts Committee, will be screened
Wednesday.
[The 8 p.m. film series presen-
*tion will be shown in the MSC
allroom, announced chairman
lark Schumann of Dallas. “The
porld of Apu” is a film from
India, directed by Satyjit Ray
with music by Ravi Shankar.
Schumann said tickets for next
semester’s series will be on sale
at the door. Nine films scheduled
for the spring festival include
“Rashomon,” “The Umbrellas of
Cherbourg,” “Knife in the Wa
ter” and “The Virgin Spring,”
among other foreign and domestic
movie classics.
entering the program, revealed
“228 of 518 violations were for
speeding,” said Graviss. “This is
approximately 50 per cent of the
violations.”
Graviss pointed out steps are
being taken to reduce “any need
for speeding” while at A&M.
FRESHMAN and sophomore
cadets, required to be back on
campus by 8:30 on Sunday nights
and at the first class following
holidays, may now call their units
if they are delayed in returning.
“If he calls saying he’s going
to be late, then it’s okay,” noted
Graviss. It is a step to reduce
speeding.
Better than 50 per cent of the
resident students have cars on
campus, creating a greater traf
fic safety problem, he noted.
GRAVISS HAS several ideas
to help promote a strong safety
program among students, espe
cially cadets since they perform
a “mass exodus” on Corps trips.
These include:
• Passes for freshmen and
sophomores would have pre-print-
ed safety checks.
• Designation of a safety of
ficer with each unit, possibly the
executive officer.
• Operation orders for Corps
trips could have road stops map
ped, including all-night restau
rants.
• And, large signs on campus
reminding students of number of
days since the last Silver Taps.
GRAVISS, son of retired Air
Force Col. and Mrs. G. R. Graviss
of San Antonio, is seeking more
answers from the military.
“You can’t beat the military,”
he said. “It’s organized.”
He plans trips soon to Ran
dolph Air Force Base and Fort
Sam Houston to discuss safety
programs.
At present, Graviss has suc
ceeded in getting “a lot of people
talking about it.”
SAFETY EMPHASIS has al
ready spilled over into campus
activities with fewer accidents re
ported during the traditional bon
fire days before Thanksgiving
holidays. Graviss assisted with
safety procedures, working with
the first aid committee.
Graviss likes the administra
tion’s policy to start classes at
10 a.m., Jan. 6 following the long
holiday.
“It will keep students from
driving at night. It’s a great
safety factor,” he concluded.
PRESENTS CHARTER
Ed Cooper, director of civilian student activities, presents
Andy Scott, Walton Hall president, with the charter for the
first civilian dormitory club in ceremonies at the Ramada
Inn. Name of the new social club is the “Walton Warriors.”
(Photo by Mike Wright)
New Loans Provide
UpTo$l,500Yearly
A federally insured student
loan program for up to $1,500 a
year and $7,500 over a college
career has been announced by
Robert M. Logan of the student
financial aid office.
Loans at not more than seven
per cent interest are possible at
the institution of the borrower’s
choice.
“APPLICATIONS may be sub
mitted to any participating
hometown bank, savings and loan
association or credit union,” Lo
gan said.
The program has several dis
tinct advantages, he adds. Re-
At Senate’s Idea Exchange
|. '
Delegates Explore Faculty-Student Gap
By DAVID MIDDLEBROOKE
Battalion Staff Writer
GATE The relative “distance between
indents and faculty” at A&M
,as a key point brought out in
I nc i! 6 Senate’s second Stu-
[ J. CXflS r nt Idea Exchange Conference
| ere weekend, according to
irC I! ^ ar ^ er ’ Senate president.
On nearly all other campuses,
i°int student-faculty group de-
AN
RE
.WARE
fSTAL
SIFTS
airies
on issues that directly af-
| ec I the students,” Carter said.
Another major difference Car-
T note d was in handling of cam-
P 18 elections. At Baylor Univer-
T y > ' w here “50 to 60” elections
f year are run by a small group
I Section commissioners, a com-
^ er system is used to tally
|®tes.
I m sure that we’ll be looking
I® them (computers) in the future
l° r slections,” Carter said.
DELEGATES FROM six South-
est Conference schools gathered
ere Friday and Saturday for
® nieeting. Ric e University was
^ le to send a delegation be-
USe °T final examinations, Car-
r s aid. Delegates from the Uni-
^'ty of Texas at Austin failed
atten d the conference, although
Fading to Carter, Texas Stu-
J 1 President Rostam Ka-
i, USs ‘ had told him last week
a delegation would be pre-
ANOTHER POINT brought out
was that at every other school,
the student government leaders
receive some sort of compensa
tion. The compensation was either
cash or a reduction in fees.
“Students from the other
schools were actually surprised
that A&M leaders didn’t get
something for their efforts,” said
Tom Fitzhugh, a recorder at the
conference.
Arkansas also has something
unusual in student-administration
relations, Fitzhugh said. On a
regular basis, members of the
state legislature are invited to
the university to visit and see
what is happening.
IN ADDITION, noted Fitzhugh,
they also meet students and stu
dent leaders specifically to hear
complaints the students have.
This enables the legislators to re
turn to their offices with a fair
knowledge of how things really
are at the school.
“An enormous amount of com
munication took place,” said
Carter. “I will be coming out
with more of the ideas I received
later.
“I feel the conference was very
successful. It accomplished just
what we had hoped: an exchange
of ideas,” he concluded.
payment can be over a period of
five to 10 years, beginning nine
months after the borrower ceases
to be a student on at least a half
time basis.
For qualified students, the fed
eral government will pay interest
charges during the in-school
period. The qualification is an
adjusted family income of less
than $15,000 a year.
“PRINCIPAL payments need
not be made while the borrower
is an armed forces member,
Peace Corps or VISTA volunteer
or pursuing a fulltime course of
study at an eligible school,” Lo
gan went on.
“The nice part for a qualified
student who knows he is going
on active military duty is that
while he’s in the service and the
government is paying interest, he
can be paying out the principal,”
he said.
A&M student eligibility re
quires enrollment and good
standing or acceptance for en
rollment, a minimum of six
semester hours or more work
load and U. S. citizenship. Stu
dents on conduct probation are
not eligible.
Federal loan applications and
instructions are available at the
Student Financial Aid Office in
the YMCA.
By LEWIS GULICK
PARIS (A*) — The Saigon gov
ernment’s negotiators in Paris
say they will yield no further
in the dispute over the shape
6f the table for the Vietnam peace
talks.
The South Vienamese delega
tion “has gone far enough” and
“cannot diverge from the formula
of a two-sided conference,” dele-
gatio^&fficials said.
SAIGON’S VIEW on the pro
cedural dispute holding up the
peace parley was conveyed again
to the Americans Monday night
at a dinner session of the top
allied negotiators: U. S. Ambas
sador W. Averell Harriman and
his deputy, Cyrus R. Vance;
South Vienam’s Vice President
Nguyen Cao Ky and Ambassador
Pham Dang Lam.
Earlier Monday Ky issued a
sharp denial of U. S. Defense
Secretary Clark M. Clifford’s im
plication that Saigon was much
to blame for the continuing de
lay in the start of the conference.
He said ever since Clifford suc
ceeded Robert S. McNamara,
“Secretary Clifford has shown a
gift for saying the wrong thing
at the wrong time.”
THE NEW chief of the Viet
Cong delegation, Tran Buu Kiem,
censured both the United States
and South Vietnam equally upon
his arrival from Hanoi Monday.
Preparations for the meeting are
“being dragged out by the de
laying tactics of the United States
and the Saigon administration,”
he told 300 cheering welcomers
at the airport. Kiem is considered
the foreign minister of the Viet
Cong’s National Liberation Front.
The shape of the table at
which the negotiators will sit is
the focal issue in the quarrel
over arrangements for the con
ference because the shape will
symbolize the status of the NLF
at the talks.
THE COMMUNISTS say the
NLF is the authentic representa
tive of the South Vietnamese
people and rates a full position
at a four-sided conference. Wash
ington and Saigon do not recog
nize the NLF except as outlaws
and hence claim the parley is
two-sided—between the allies and
their Communist opponents.
Hanoi negotiators started with
a proposal for a square table.
Their latest offer is an undivided
round table. U. S. negotiators
have gone from a long rectangu
lar table to a divided doughnut
shape, their most recent com
promise proposal.
Duncan, Sbisa,
Dorms To Close
For Christmas
Residence halls and dining
halls will be secured Friday for
the Christmas holidays, Alan
Madeley, housing manager, an
nounced.
Dormitories will close at 6 p.m.
and dining halls, after the dinner
meal. Residence halls will open
at 1 p.m. Jan. 5; and Duncan
and Sbisa will reopen Jan. 6,
Madeley noted.
Only Schumacher and Hotard
Halls will remain open, Madeley
said. Students remaining on
campus should contact a resident
of Hotard for permission to use
his room. Schumacher will be
available only for students who
are residents of the hall.
Students who wish to live in
Hotard must turn in to the hous
ing office written permission
from all room occupants by Fri
day, Madeley noted.
Students who are residents of
the two halls and wish to remain
on campus for the holidays must
register with the housing office
by 5 p.m. Friday. Nothing will
be charged to those who remain.
Delegates Praise Coordination,
Deplore Subjectivity Of SCONA
Delegates to A&M’s recent
Fourteenth Student Conference
on National Affairs praised the
forum’s smooth coordination and
efficiency but criticized its lack
of objectivity, according to Don
McCrory, SCONA XIV chairman.
“Some students were disap
pointed that the conference
speakers all seemed to support
the (Johnson) administration’s
point of view,” McCrory told the
Memorial Student Center Coun
cil and Directorate.
He noted that it was not
SCONA’s intention to present but
one side of its topic, “The Limits
and Responsibilities of U. S.
Power,” but that some speakers
tended to emphasize pro-admin
istration points and not others.
In other business. Council Pres
ident Benjamin Sims reported
that the Town Hall committee
was still losing $3,924 despite the
response for Sam and Dave and
[LDING*
iCIATI 0>
new idea discussed.
^ Another
er said, was one being con-
^ University °T Ar-
Peopie there are thinking of
lb ;> var sity senate’ composed of
; a[ JUt ° ne -third each students,
[j ^ t . y ’ an 4 administration,” he
rained. “This would be the uni-
81 y s main governing body.”
Pro fessor’s Wi fe Becomes
Only Female B-CS Lawyer
the Union Gap which drew a
combined audience of 10,000
people.
Sims also noted that the Travel
committee is still accepting ap
plications for four student ex
change programs: the Experi-
Paul Eggers, a 1968 Repub
lican gubernatorial candidate
scheduled to speak here at
noon today, was forced to can
cel his visit here, announced
Ronald Hinds, chairman of
A&M’s Political Forum.
Hinds said the Political For
um will attempt to reschedule
Eggers next semester. His
topic was to have been “The
Future of the Republican Par
ty in Texas.”
ment in International Living,
Operations Crossroads Africa,
the International Association for
the Exchange of Students for
Technical Experience and Jobs
International.
Travel will also begin inter
viewing students in January for
loans to finance summer over
seas trips, Sims noted.
THE GREAT SEARCH
The game between A&M and Stephen F. ^ f u f coaches^joined in a search
up several minutes rnttes^ondh^oHimmsp^ ^ Underw0 od won the
searclfbut^SFA won'the ganrn^T5^4^ Story on page 4. <rhoto by Mike Wright,
AUSTIN — Mrs. Thelma van
Overbeek, wife of Dr. Johannes
van Overbeek of Texas A&M, was
sworn in as an attorney at law
Monday before the Texas Su
preme Court.
The mother of six children
plans to practice law in Bryan-
College Station, giving her the
distinction of being the only wom
an attorney currently practicing
in the area.
Mrs. van Overbeek, a native of
San Francisco, was awarded a
Juris Doctor degree last year
from the McGeorge School of Law
at University of the Pacific in
Sacramento, Calif. She received
her B.S. degree from the Univer
sity of California.
WEATHER
Tuesday—Cloudy. Winds Nort
Tuesday — Cloudy. W T i n d s
North 10 to 15 mph. High 57,
low 38.
University National Bank
“On the side of Texas A&M.
—Adv.
She began studying for her law
degree after the last of her chil
dren started school. The three
youngest children now attend La
mar Junior High and Stephen F.
Austin High School in Bryan.
The van Overbeeks came to
Texas last year when Dr. van
Overbeek was appointed director
of the Institute of Life Science
and head of the Biology Depart
ment at Texas A&M. He was
formerly chief plant physiologist
for Shell Development Company
at Modesto, Calif.
The family resides at 3615 Sun-
nybrook Lane in Bryan.
A. W. Davis, president of the
Brazos County Bar Association,
said he only knows of two other
women ever practicing law in
Bryan-College Station. One of
them was Mrs. lola Barron Wil
cox, daughter of former Judge
W. S. Barron. Mrs. Wilcox and
her husband recently moved from
the city. The other woman attor
ney was the wife of a Texas
A&M doctoral candidate, who also
moved when her husband received
his degree last year.
Laundry Group
To Meet Thursday
The Student Laundry Commit
tee will discuss laundry operat
ing procedures with university
officials at noon Thursday in the
Sbisa Cash Cafeteria.
Any student desiring to offer
suggestions about the laundry
operations and policies is invited
to contact one of the following
committee members:
Arthur P. Callahan, dorm 2,
room 118, 5-2750; David George,
Fowler Hall, room 211, 5-2108;
Ernest Godsey, Hughes Hall,
room 422, 5-3809.
David Middlebrooke, Hotard
Hall, room 411, 846-9944; John
R. Oliver, dorm 6, room 203, 5-
7259; and Albert Reinert, dorm 2,
room 123, 5-2050.
Bryan Building & Loan
Association, Your Sav
ings Center, since 1919.
B B & L —Adv.