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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 30, 1993)
1970 Summer, 1975 — James Breedlove was accepted by the Student Publications Board as the new editor in chief. A newcomer with no previous experience at The Battalion, the staff was resentful of Breedlove. Problems grew and a large turnover began. Breedlove resigned in the spring of 1976 from continuing problems with the staff. — Breedlove Spring, 1976 — The Battalion and the journalism department at A&M begin to work together. The paper became a part of the lab requirement for intermediate journalism classes. Bob Rogers, chairman of the Student Publications Board (presently journalism undergraduate advisor) was instrumental in the change. It was officially ended in August of 1991. wamss.® 0 0 ^ dp Thursday, Se] Page 10 1893 - The Battalion • 1993 Thursday, September38, 1966- Bat 1963 — Breaking the racial barrier Black former students reflect on A&M life past & presen By Stephanie Pattillo • The Battalion Unlike the the protest and controversy over the enrollment of women at Texas A&M University, blacks quietly integrated June 3, 1963, when A&M admitted three black students to the summer session. Although Clarence Dixon Jr., the first black to receive a degree from A&M, grad uated in May 1967, the history of blacks at A&M in The Battalion is obscure until the late 1970s. According to the April 28, 1978 issue of The Battalion, a nine-person investigation team from the Department of Health Edu cation and Welfare (HEW) began an inves tigation of the University’s desegregation policies. Texas A&M was one of four Texas schools selected for these rigorous in vestigations of racial segregation. In 1977, Texas A&M s fall enrollment was 29,414 students, including 111 blacks (0.37 percent) and 244 Hispanic students (0.83 percent). At that time, The Battalion reported that A&M did not have a minori ty recruiting program. Richard Lewis, Class of‘78 and member of the Black Culture Advanced and Unified at A&M, said in the May 4, 1978, issue of The Battalion the main reason more blacks did not come to Texas A&M is a lack of communication between the school and prospective black students. “Blacks don’t have a tradition or heritage of coming here,” he said. “This University is going to have to desegregate. They are going to have to recruit minority students with the same vigor with which they recruit black athletes.” In the summer of 1981, HEW released its report on desegregation at Texas A&M. The December 6, 1982, issue of The Bat talion cited the report as saying Texas schools did not comply with Title VT of the 1964 Civil Rights Act,, which states that discrimination in federal programs is pro hibited on the basis of race, color or na tional origin. Each university system in the state was asked to ^ubmit its own desegre gation plan. Texas A&M’s plan called for an increase of 105 black and 135 Hispanic students in 1982, and 535 black and 675 Hispanics by 1986. The A&M Board c>f Regents published a policy statement in Decemoer 1 980 outlin ing general steps taken to “provide an equal educational opportunity” and “operate on a totally desegregated basis, ” according to The Battalion’s March 23, 1981 issue. But by 1983, articles in The Battalion still said minorities at A&M were under represented. Kevin Carreathers, director of multicul tural services, said A&M in 1993 still hasn’t achieved true integration. “Have we fully integrated in all aspects of A&M? No,” he said. “But there are op portunities for integration in all aspects of the University to take place. We still have organizations that, whether minority or non-minority, the focus is still on one eth- Gay said he remembers one of his pro- ~ A nty. He said some departments on campus the still have an all-white faculty while other departments are very diverse. In the Jan. 25, 1983, issue of the The Battalion, DeAndrea Davis, Class of ‘84 and former president of the National Soci ety of Black Engineers, said A&M’s tradi tions may contribute to. the alienation some minorities feel. “Most traditions were initiated at a time when virtually no minorities attended,” he said. “Since the school is so heavy on tradi tions, some minority students may feel alienated.” In that article, a Hispanic student who asked to remain unnamed, said the attitude toward minority students by other students ma^ be a cause of the low minority rate. ‘In general you can tell there are some prejudices, but they are all subtle and well- hidden,” he said. But Hugh T. McElroy Jr., associate di rector of human resources and Class of‘71, remembers an incident that occurred when he was living on the fourth floor of Fowler Hall. “I remember once my roommate and I had a cross burned in front of our dorm room,” he said. Although McElroy, A&M’s first black to start on the football team, encountered this hostile event, he said there was not open, continuous hostility on campus. “While that act may have symbolized the way many people feel, it was an atypical occurrence.” Vergel L. Gay Jr., Class of ‘73, said he didn’t feel welcome as an A&M freshman in‘1969. “Fundamemklly what I did not feel was an overall attitude of acceptance that cut across social and class barriers,” he said. fessors referring to an area in Bryan-College Station as “colored town.” And although the professor later apologized, Gay ex plained that was just a sign of the insensi tivity of the individuals and times. McElroy said he was flabbergasted to hear that Fred McClure was elected in 1976 as the first black student body presi dent and that Ronnie McDonald was named the first non-reg black yell leader in 1991. The first black woman received an MBA in 1983, according to The Battalion. Mel- va Robinson Pratt said in the May 6, 1983 issue of the campus newspaper that she is proud to be the first black woman to get an MBA at A&M but said it is “rather sad it took 20 years for one black woman to grad uate with an MBA.” The official fall 1993 enrollment num bers from the registrars’ office are 42,524 students on the main campus in College Station. Blacks make up 3 percent of the student body with fall enrollment totaling 1,220. Hispanics total 8 percent of the student body with fall enrollment totaling 3,594. The rate of increase of black students has outpaced the growth of the University by about three to one, McElroy said. The numbers were so negative to begin with, and they are still meager now, he said. But according to articles in Thp ion, since the early ‘80s, the admii>$Smition has worked to recruit and retain minorities. Carreathers said A&M just didn’t have the powers in the administration or Associ ation of Former Students until the early ‘80s to make recruitment and retainment of minorities a priority. Gay said he has noticed an attitude change by the University since he was in school. “The administration at the time were tolerant, but not sensitive,” he said. “I feel the University did not understand what was happening when the the first blacks came to A&M. ’ McElroy said he sees the administration moving in the right direction although not as fast as he’d like to see it. He said he sees the University pass through different phases through time. “I tend to think we are bouncing ndq? between acceptance and really wanting mi norities,” he said. I lie official fall enrollment of TexasM is 42,524 students with black studa comprising 3 percent (1,220) Hispanics comprising 8 percent(3,591, "I tend to think we are bouncingnowt tween acceptance and really wanting norities," said Hugh I. McElroy Jr., as» ate director of human resources and Cl: of'71. As the edi turned to w< greeted with cal of Texas / Thomas I new editor t 14,1966 issi weekly state Lindsey, dire ations at At of the year a or critical < would not hi Censorsh When Ur came to A& existed for from admini A&M, Rude supervisor ai to oversee all Rudder 1 public image and did not light, The T< DeFrank accepted the tided to see The Texas C An article istration anc Sept. 22, 19 Frank wrote ment of a t present spea DeFrank’ on the dela; forum coulc would prob Continued 1963 —The year female students became official mittee, its p Little by little through the years women gained recognition as full-time student! "tF 11 By Stephanie Pattillo The Battalion Although women were not offi cially allowed to attend Texas A&M University for the school’s first 87 years, they have greatly influenced the history of the University since A&M’s beginning. The college’s general policies ini tially prohibited women from at tending classes. However, through the years, administrators made ex ceptions to that policy. As early as 1895, the first female attended class es at Texas A&M. Soon after, the bitter debate of co-education at Texas A&M began. A headline above a story about Ber nice Carter, A&M’s first female cadet in the October 7, 1915 issue of Bryan’s The Weekly Eagle read “Strange ‘fish’ have at last invaded our sacred abode”. It was not until 1925 that the, first woman received a degree from Texas A&M. Mary Evelyn Crawford, sister of an engineering professor, entered A&M in 1921 and attended both regular and summer sessions. She was granted a degree in English in the summer of 1925; however, ac cording to the Feb. 16, 1925, issue of The Battalion, she was not per mitted to receive a diploma at sum mer commencement. “I got a call from the registrar’s secretary',” Crav/ford said. “She told me to come over to her apartment and get my diploma. “I was so glad to hear that I did get a diploma, I would have crawle4 over to that apartment.” Women were officially allowed to enter A&M only after the diffi cult economic times of the De pression forced the necessity of daughters and wives of professors to enroll as students. On Sept. 27, 1933 the Board of Directors, by emergency decree, opened the tne doors of Texas A&M College to women to com pensate faculty members for their salary reduction during the De pression. Eleven women took advantage of the ruling, the first of its kind, that permitted enrollment of daughters of all college employees residing in Brazos County. But several women, ineligible for admission under the terms of the Board ruling, also applied at this time and were refused admis sion. This sparked the first of many lawsuits against the College on grounds of discrimination. This first case, like many others, was dismissed, and the judge in the case determined the Board held complete authority in the matter of admitting students. According to the newspaper in the late 1950s, the subject of women at A&M became a touchy' issue. Although The Battalion edi torialized in support of coeducation Cort of Cadets and in 1958, the t ^oros the Association of Former Students violently opposed coeducation. In the same year, John M. Bar ron, Bryan district attorney, re sumed the legal battle that had lain dormant ever since the the 1933 co education lawsuit denied by a Bryan district judge. “My situation went back to the Depression in 1933 when my nieces and cousins couldn’t get an educa tion, and the school was there with plenty of room available,” Barron said in 1966. “Under those circum stances, I feel the all-male policy was arbitrary' exclusion.” Barron won the lawsuit for his female clients on March 26, 1958, but a Waco court of civil appeals re versed the lower court decision on October 2. The case reached the U.S. Supreme Court in April, 1959, and the high court refused to con sider the appeal by a one-vote mar gin. Barron then immediately filed a new lawsuit on Nov. 5, 1959. Af ter losing his suit again, Barron’s ap peal swiftly passed through state ap pellate courts and the U.S. Supreme Court again refused to reconsider the case. Like the courts, some of the stu dents had mixed reactions to the idea of women at this all-male school. In an Oct. 3, 1957 opinion poll in The Battalion, Sydney Heaton, a freshman math major. said, “Co-education would make A&M just like any other cookie pushing school. It would ruin us!” But, Charles Sinclair, a senior Corps member, said, “More boys will come to A&M because of the girls, and of course, the girls themselves would help increase the enrollment.” After a bitter battle in the Texas Legislature and in the courts, the Board of Directors announced their decision to allow women at Texas A&M on April 27, 1963. The Board ruling, which became effective June 1, 1963, stated all qualified women would be admitted to the graduate program and that the wives of students in residence and women staff members could register for undergraduate programs. The announcement stated that women would be admitted on a day'-student basis only, that is, no on campus housing was available for women. On April 27, 1963, The Battal ion reported, “The student body, most of whom were away when the decision was made public, were un happy. While feelings among civil ians were mixed, the Corps of Cadets were furious. More than 4,000 students booed President Earl Rudder when he told them there was no possibility of repealing the new policy.” Even a few of the women who were at A&M at the time were not fully' supportive of the decision to go coed at A&M. According to the May 3, 1963 is sue of The Battalion, Carolyn Adair, who worked for the college person nel office and whose husband was a graduate student in physics at the time, said, “I side with the boys. I hate to see a lot of tradition ruined. But as long as it has been passed I’m going to take advantage of it.” And that is just what she did. Adair, who is currently director of student activities, came to Texas A&M in the summer of 1962 with her husband. When she graduated from high school, she said she want ed to come to Texas A&M, but it was all male. When she first came to A&M, she said women only had secretarial positions. “I wanted to come to A&M, but I felt it was good to have an all-male option for some people just like some schools were all-female,” she said. “I didn’t want to be the one to spoil the tradition. But once it opened up for women, I was glad to participate.” Adair said she felt like part of the student body even though she was the only female in her classes. “Although it never happen to me, I heard stories from other women about having doors slammed in their faces and lewd things said to them in the classroom,” she said. Dr. Sallie Sheppard, associate provost, graduated from A&M in tally men : £i on campu! World Wa to campus Cc in the kmrf The Ba such as the and the pui Richard Al 1965. She went to high school College Station and wanted to tend A&M for its math progn After her first year at the Univec of Texas, she transferred to A&M Like Adair, she said she did; receive hostile treatment front males in her classes. “In terms of being a stude® was always well treated,” shesii was t F, e bq “The fellows in the class were dial and made me feel partol group.” Dr. Betty Unterberg of history and first full proressort) pointed at Texas A&M, camera University in September 1968, “I had no women in myclas5& she said. “At that time, the Coif managing e was very strong.” Altermar “Students were a litde shocked; see a woman professor,” “On the first day of class, they thought I was the secret^ coming to tell them their profess couldnt make it to class.” She said she has never faced discipline problem in her years® teaching at Texas A&M andsd 1 her students have always been spectful. Although respectful ontheoot side, deep down, many of the® 1 ditionalists at A&M had a dil cult adjustment as women ini trated their “all-male citadel,” 1 ; cording to reports in The ion at that time. At this t fees were 1< of the Admi By 194! forced to re [ non becaus< materials. The Battai twice-a-wee tothree-tim Although under the S The only The Battai ic of 1947. A fracas prodi The Battalic ing to Lindl tion was ru one Saturd events that regular edith By 1947 lly HAPPY 100 th ANNIVERSARY <Sr Fl^ Lee McCabe Manager ’92 Jerry Joyner Owner '53 1851 Briarcrest Dr. Bryan (409) 774-4633 2414B S. Texas Ave. College Station (409) 696-0467 ajojoLj <E9~fnnujET±aTu to THE BATTALION for a century of service. From: Floppy Joe's Software Store We wish to Congratulate The Battalion for 100 years publications to the A&M Community Culpepper Plaza at Texas and Harvey Road 693-1706 COACH'S 210 George Bush Dr. 764-8263 Battalion n the staff to s “The Ba tary,” he sai ism classes. The sui with prepai publication wire-servic in the new in Goodwit “When their summ talion was ’ Boxes in d< ing to Lind The Bat tociate me Press and v the Assc 'vhich it wa AJthoug tttent had! 1950,T independer “Studen separate f ]ohn Whit tdion in t 52. “Tho Necessarily Althoug themselves Nation, B; lowed the Per and its “Part of to rais< hng bun >” Whim f