The Rattler (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 47, No. 6, Ed. 1 Friday, December 6, 1963 Page: 2 of 4
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: The Rattler and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the St. Mary's University Louis J. Blume Library.
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Page 2
THE RATTLER
Friday, December 6,1963
Rattler pffte. Editorials
Homecoming and the Alumni
This weekend, we at St. Mary’s are
celebrating our annual homecoming.
The RATTLER, like every other or-
ganization on campus, is taking part
in the festivities. We are wondering
why. It strikes us that homecoming
should have someone coming home.
But where are our alumni? Do they
have to be invited to take part in the
weekend’s activities or should they
take it upon themselves to come un-
invited ?
We feel that this year’s homecom-
ing* while undoubtedly one of the most
highly planned homecomings in years,
has left out the one vital ingredient
that makes a homecoming worth-
while—the ex-students’ reunions.
The student councils of past years
(and this year’s student council is no
exception) have never made an intense
effort to notify the ex-students of the
date of the homecoming or of the
plans for their participation.
Why, for example, isn’t a specific
class holding a reunion ? Has the
Alumni Association been invited to
participate in the activities? The an-
swers given to the RATTLER to these
questions have been at best vague.
The proposals made during last
year’s student council election for a
“bigger and better homecoming” have
not, to our observation, been carried
out. It is obvious to us that those pro-
posals, like most campaign pledges,
are nothing more than stump rhetoric
to garner the votes of a few students
who are concerned about making St.
Mary’s a first class community of
scholars. The exclusion of the alumni
from the homecoming eliminates a
very valuable segment of the St.
Mary’s community. It is little wonder
that the alumni of St. Mary’s are re-
luctant to support her when they are
treated with such a shoddy lack of
consideration.
On page one of this issue you will
read of the plans that some interested
University students, officials and
Alumni members have to insure that
next year’s homecoming is truly a
homecoming. We wish them luck and
congratulate them for their interest.
We also hope that they have the grace
of perseverance to see that their plans
are realized.
The Wisdom of Children
Editor’s note: Much has been written
on the death of the president last week;
much has yet to be written. Perhaps the
most eloquent statements on the meaning
of his death are the simplest. We feel that
we cannot express the sense of loss of
John F. Kennedy or distinguish our com-
ments with greater simplicity than those
expressed below by the third, fourth and
fifth grade students of Holy Rosary
School.
HOW I FELT WHEN PRESIDENT
KENNEDY DIED
By The Students of Holy Rosary School
. “The Friday when the President died, I
felt as bad as if I did it. The rest of the day
I could not think of anything nice. ... At
first I tried to tell myself it wasn’t true, but
somehow it didn’t work. You have to face up
to things—not run away from them. . . . When
I heard he was injured I became sad, and
then when I heard he died I became sadder.
... I heard the news and felt ashamed. . . .
When he died I did not think of having the
assassin punished. All I wanted was for the
day to start over again.
. . . While I watched Television, I felt it
was one big movie that went on and on,
but when Monday came that was the day
I felt something way deep down in my
heart and that was the day I said goodby
to our President. ... I said the rosary
five times. I did not do nothing for a
whole day. I did not drink, or sleep very
much. ... I went to watch him as they
went to Washington. I felt sad because
he talked good to us and they were going
to take him a long way to bury him. . . .
So I started to cri, so I went to my room
and knalt before my statuy of God, and
praded that we wood have another Presi-
dent. I was happy because we had a
nother President. ... It was a ugly day.
I felt sorry when they played the drums
for our Late President John F. Kennedy.
I did not no what to do without John F.
wefts..* a v« ^ ■* •. ^ ^^
THE RATTLER STAFF
Opinions expressed in The RATTLER are
those of the editors or of the writer of the
article and not necessarily those of the
University administration.
EDITORIAL STAFF
Editor ___________________________________________Thomas Harrell
Asst. Editor_______________________________George Goolsby
News Editor_________________________________________Mike Legan
Sports Editor ...................................... Tony Copp
Columnists ___________________________Allan Schwartzman,
Gwen Schwartzman,
Marilyn Kuehler
Typist ......................................................Sue Brown
Staff Photographers ____________________:.Leonard Orrin
John Dewey
Staff ________________Jim Lytton, Pat Miller, Barbara
Madden, Margaret Wead, J. Kevin
Donohue, Tony Lister, Tony
Garcia, Bill Haley, Claude
Zavaba.
ADVERTISING STAFF
Business Manager __________________Jim Hufstetler, Jr.
Adertising ________________________Bill Michel, Bill Haley
Moderator ______________________Bro. Arthur Goerdt, SM
Subscription: $1 per semester
Kennedy. Now I wish he would come back
to life. Then it would be fun again. . . .
“I feel like a friend of the President and
his wife and children. When I heard that he
was shot I felt sad because he told the people
to serve the country of the United States of
America. ... We lost a great man and Mrs.
Kennedy lost a great husband. ... I give
Mrs. Kennedy and Caroline and John my love.
And I hope Mrs. Kennedy lives as long as
her children do. . . .
“This was the most terrible thing
ever to occur in Texas. ... I felt that I
would die for him. I would never every
see him again. I have never think that .
he would be killed in Texas. ... I feel so
terrible because I am a Texan and because
it happened here. I feel very a shamed to
be a Texan. . . .
“He kept us out of war he gave us faith
and freedom. He was good to colored people.
He gave them jobs to work. He was so good
to us. ... I wish he hadn’t died so soon. He
was somewhat like Abraham Lincoln. He help-
ed the colored people and the Mexicans. . . .
We wanted freedom, he wanted freedom, as
a matter of fact, the whole nation wanted
freedom. Why did it ever have to happen to
a man like him? ... We all started crying.
Even colored people cried for him because he
was the only man that wanted them to be
free, let them have freedom. . . .
“Jackie and President Kennedy went to
Russia and he was in a bad country and he
did not get killed. ... He has even shaked
hands with the people in Russia and nothing
has happened. . . . Even Cruschech was sad
by the news to, even though he didn’t like
Kennedy he wouldn’t kill him. Some Russian
students and American students at a Uni-
versity in Russia, they shook hands when he
was died and called each other brothers. . . .
I hope that our new president does not
get killed like President Kennedy, and I
hope that Mr. Johnson’s family doesn’t
come to Dallas, because they might get
shot too. ... /
“But why did he have to die. ... I loved
him very much. He spoke very plain too. . . .
Whenever he went some place he always had
a smile. . . . My mother said he had a brilliant
mind and God doesn’t make many of them.
. . . Sometimes I wish I would have died
rather than to have the President die. . . ,
Why did it have to happen to Kennedy? But
I know God wanted him. ... I felt that if he
were still not a Catholic he would be in heav-
en, because if he were not a Catholic, he was
still very good and always thinking of others
in other countries. ... If he isn’t in heaven
no one will go. . . . Now I pray that God will
his soul for every in heaven. . . . May God
bless him and the next President, too. . . .
Those holidays just didn’t seem so nice to
me. ...
“President Kennedy went to Dallas
Texas they gaved President Kennedy a
parade. And while they drove in a car
downtown there was a man in a building
with a gun. . . . We have lost a great
leader. I think that John F. Kennedy was
the best President that ever lived, he did
more for our country than any war could
do. . . . My Class just couldn’t believe it
and some girls started to cry. Only one
boy almost started to cry and I won’t
say his name. Well I got go now so thank
you. . . .
“Rest in Peace J.F.K.”
The RATTLER is a-publication of St. Mary's Uni-
versity. Its reorganization and new format are in keep
ing with furthering the University aims, “unity through
action.” The RATTLER is a bi-partisan newspaper
dependent upon student staff and departmental help
for information. Its policy is rooted in traditional col-
lege journalism: information, education, and promo-
tion. The continuation of this policy is dependent upon
the support of St. Mary’s populace; The RATTLER
editor is wholly responsible for its application.
Editor 1963-1964
The Spectator
■By MIKE LEGAN
Who Says Freshmen Can’t Work Together
LETTERS 1 Medusa
Caver’s Rebuttal Dean Seeks Names
Sir:
The article in your last issue
about the cavers shows the
sarcasm of an unknowing and
unthinking observer. The author
of the article, besides never hav-
ing been caving with, or even
met the cavers, apparently knows
nothing about speleology as a sci-
ence or sport. Otherwise he would
not be so presumptious in his
eloquent ejaculations.
The safety rules of the club
are not “crazy”, intended to be
used as a mockery or even be
taken lightly. These tried and
proven rules (when not quoted out
of context) form the groundwork
for a sound and interesting sport,
rather than guerilla maneuvers or
some such thing, as they have
been represented.
In view of the small number of
enthusiastic members it would
seem that the cavers’ “wild
times” are either misrepresented,
or a lot of people are missing out
on something.
As their latest blast, the cavers
are working on a survey of one
of the local caves. People who
are proficient in sighting a
transit, reading a brunton, or
photographic techniques are wel-
come to get in on the fun and
games.
Barbara Madden
GRINGITO
SPEAKS
OUT
The real proof of how swarthy,
vociferous and traditionally obvi-
ous Rattler rooters are is to come
tomorrow night at the home-
coming game. Gringito was trap-
ped inside the bonfire, but in his
desperation to escape before igni-
tion he heard some students glee-
fully talking. “And then, when
the bonfire burns down to glow-
ing embers, we sneak up on it
with our marshmallows, guitars
and dates and have a good, old,
unsophisticated fun-fest.” Gring-
ito was reminded of school spirit,
and tradition by these words.
* * *
The rampaging opinions in
the cafeteria this week found a
new subject. Saturday classes
were exposed in their every as-
pect. Amid the ensuing fist-
fights and general brawls that
broke out promptly at every
table, one thing was apparent;
someone was interested.
The splintered, haggard troops
from the bonfire construction are
a frequent sight on campus. How
would you like to find an ape in
your living room with a safety
razor and a slightly rational
gleam in his bushy eyes. We have
them here. They are spirited. As
long as they shave, who could
guess? At least they are devoted
to apehood. Gringito wonders
about some men.
* * *
The momentous changes in
..the world are at times accentu-
ated, accelerated and made
minutely moving to large mas-
ses of people. Gringito read
that out of 6,000 years of re-
corded history, there have been
5,748 years of war in which
more people were killed than
are now alive in the world. The
pinnacle of success of modern
man may prove only to be the
first step of an infinite ladder.
Ed. Note:
The following letter is being
circulated to residents of the
dorms by Bro. Anthony Frede-
rick, Dean of the School of
Arts and Sciences. The RAT-
TLER encourages dorm resi-
dents to co-operate with Bro.
Frederick and forward the in-
formation that he requests as
soon as possible.
Dear Resident of Chaminade
or Marian Hall:
If you are a senior at St.
Mary’s, you unquestionably are
interested that the traditions you
have established will be continued
in the student who takes your
place next year. If you are now
a freshman, a sophomore, or a
junior, you must assuredly be in-
terested in who is to share quar-
ters with you on the floor and in
the hall where you will reside
next year. It is assumed, more-
over, that from freshman to sen-
ior, present boarders want every
St. Mary’s hall resident to illus-
trate the qualities of fine gen-
tlemen and to be endowed with
the acumen and the intelligence
to profit by the best of the educa-
tion St. Mary’s has to offer. Fin-
ally, the Dean of the School where
the program of all freshmen and
that of most transfers begins is
interested in securing resident
students who can live up to the
advantages boarding school
living has for study and superior
academic work and for increasing
the value of your degree from St.
Mary’s through a constant flow
of students who in graduate
school and in later career are
recognized for high standard per-
formance because of their St.
Mary’s University training and
education.
In the light of the above ex-
planation, will you not be kind
enough to name one (1) or two
(2) or more relatives or acquain-
tances who you think should be a
Chaminade Hall or Marian Hall
resident next year and to whom
you think (without naming you)
the current St. Mary’s recruiting
literature should be directed. You
are being asked, in other words,
to share in the naming of your
successor or the companions with
whom you will live at St. Mary’s
during the academic year, 1964-
1965.
Sincerely,
Anthony Frederick,
S.M. Dean
Rep Cites Errors
The news story which appeared
in the last issue of the Rattler
concerning the events which took
place at the Nov. 14 Student
Council meeting was an improve-
ment over coverage given the
Nov. 7 meeting, since the staff
decided to wait until after the
meeting before writing this last
article.
In spite of the improvement
there were still several errors,
which I feel should be cleared up.
The worst error in the article was
the statement, “He (I) submitted
as an example of NSA’s ‘very
partisan slant’ the organization’s
provision of scholarship opportun-
ities for ’Ghanian students who
were political enemies of Kwame
Nkruma, the left wing dictator
of Ghana.” The fact is that the
question was that NS A had re-
fused to grant scholarships to
these students who had been de-
prived of their academic fi’eedom
while the organization professed
to be the “guardian of academic
freedom” and had in the past
made grants to foreign students
in similar circumstances.
By MARILYN KUEHLER
Harken freshmen! The long-
awaited moment has arrived.
Now is the time for all able-
bodied young bodies to pit mus-
cle against gravity to build the
biggest wood-consumer in the
history of St. Mary’s, namely
the bonfire. With the help of
our upperclassmen “big dad-
dies” whose years of experience
will undoubtedly guide us in
our supreme efforts, we will
proceed to set the scene for the
Congo-type celebration that will
cap the activities of Home-
coming. May everyone have as
much fun today and tomorrow
as we will have building the in-
ferno.
On a certain event held by a
certain fraternity, a certain
pledge crushed the foot of a cer-
tain member with a rock. Since
we already have one “Rocky”,
what shall we call the pledge?
Meanwhile our friend is hobbling
around on crutches.
SOS! Can someone figure out
a way for the freshman class
to unite? We barely know the
kids in our own orientation
class, and info pertaining to us
doesn’t circulate as well as it
should. For instance, one body
hadn’t even heard about our
elections. Oh for a plan.
Shades of lightning and revela-
tion and all that jazz. One of our
more masculine men on campus
in the form of Sam Buchanan
has finally showed his face. Yes-
terday while erasing down the
hall, I almost fell over to see dear
Sammy without his beloved beard.
Now that we’ve seen both sides
of the story, what’s the verdict,
people ? Should he grow again or
not ?
Has anybody noticed that a
St. Mary’s co-ed can’t get into
the dances of the two ladies
colleges without sneaking into
the humanity at the back? As
hard as it may seem to believe,
we DO go to St. Mary’s . . .
While we’re on the subject, do
any of you at the aforementioned
schools know the meaning of the
word “reciprocation” ? Somehow
I feel that you are not co-operat-
ing with us. The RATTLER con-
tinues to devote space to OLL
and IWC, yet we fail to find
stories concerning St. Mary’s in
the LOGOS and the PHOENIX.
Seriously girls, I speak now as a
StMU’s student and not a femin-
ine feline back-stabber, so how’s
about looking into this affair.
Once again, a note to our
gentlemen—
We wish t o express our
thanks to all the young men
who persist in holding the doors
open for us. Some of you go
beyond the call of duty and
wait for us to come, bookladen,
to a door. Great!
What are the dorms doing on
the weekends ? Every Monday
morning there’s a nice little trash
pile outside of the cafeteria.
What’s going on, spit-ball fights ?
All right Delta, I bite. What’s
a “gazelda”?
Auf wedersehen!
The article failed to mention
that I had pointed out several re-
forms in the structure of NS A
made at the last national congress
which changed the governing ap-
paratus in a way that may make
the organization more represen-
tative of student opinion.
Perhaps the errors and omis-
sions would have been eliminated
if a reporter had been present at
the Nov. 7 Student Council meet-
ing when I gave a somewhat more
detailed and better organized re-
port than the review I discussed
at the Nov. 14 meeting.
BILL HALEY
REP-AT-LARGE
CHAIRMAN, NSA
INVESTIGATING
COMMITTEE
BENEATH all this growing disillusion with the
Foreign Aid program there lies an assumption that
we would be wise to re-examine.
We mean the assumption, firmly established in
American political orthodoxy, the axiom, it seems, of
Liberal and Conservative alike, that our motiva-
tion in providing Foreign Aid must be purely selfish
—that the business of giving money to other coun-
tries can only be justified as a means of swaying
those countries to our will, that the Aid program is
defensible only as a weapon in the Cold War.
“SELF-INTEREST”
“It cannot be defended as a charity,” says
Goldwater in “The Conscience of a Conservative.”
The test is whether “the Foreign Aid Program,
for all its drawbacks, (has) made a compensat-
ing contribution toward winning the Cold War.”
“I had one guiding principle in my conduct
of ICA afairs,” said John B. Hollister, a Foreign
Aid administrator under Eisenhower, “Each
proposed project had to be judged by a single
standard: ‘Will the spending of money for this
purpose increase the security of the United
States?’ . . . My sole concern was and is with
the self-interest of this nation.”
And though these are Tory voices, most liber-
als seem to concur, or to make a pretense of con-
curing. Thus the late President rarely supported the
Aid program as anything more than a means of
“containing” the Communists. And thus adminis-
trators of the program, such as the one quoted
above, are at great pains to purify their motives.
They are none of your do-good head-in-the-clouds
idealists with a sentimental yearning to help other
countries—on the contrary, they are hard-headed,
tough-minded strategists, with a cunning eye on
the Kremlin. Their only thought is on the cold war;
their “sole concern is with the self-interest of this
nation.”
DO-GOODERS
What unites everybody is an apparent con-
tempt for the idea of disinterested Foreign Aid.
Hence the disillusion with Foreign Aid. For as
a Cold War weapon, the program is simply not
working well enough to justify a tenth of its cost.
And this has become quite plain in recent years.
We have spent millions, for example, in assisting
the neutralists with the hope of quickening their
anti-Communist ardor; and the conservatives are
quite correct in arguing that this effort has failed.
You cannot bribe nations. And if we insist on see-
ing our aid grants as sophisticated bribes, we had
best abandon the program. If the assumption is
valid that our “self-interest” is the only admissible
justification for the Aid program, then there is no
answering its critics.
But we are not disposed to grant this as-
sumption. Why can’t foreign aid be justified as
a “charity,” to use that intentionally sarcastic
word? Why can’t its basis be the manifest
obligation of rich nations to help poor? Why
can’t our attitude toward it be the disinterested
one urged by the late Pope John in “Mater et
Magistra”:
“Nations enjoying an abundance of material
goods should not remain indifferent to those nations
whose citizens suffer from internal problems ^ that
result in poverty and hunger . . . This obligation is
all the more urgent since ... it is impossible to pre-
serve . . . peace while glaring socio-economic inequal-
ities exist among (nations). . . . Necessity and justice
alike demand that technical and financial assistance
be given with sincere political disinterestedness and
for the sole purpose of bringing those underdeveloped
nations to the point where they can advance them-
selves economically and socially.”
GUILT COMPLEX
Of course, there is a pat way of responding to
these questions. It is to attribute such arguments
as the one quoted above to “Eastern Seaboard In-
ternationalists” who have a “guilt complex” about
our being so rich while the majority of nations are
poor. We have “earned” our affluence, and need not
be ashamed of it. Presumably the underdeveloped
countries have “deserved” their poverty. _
But this is nonsense. We have inherited our
wealth from previous generations, who gained it
through lucky accidents of history, geography, and
natural resources. And the have-not countries have
inherited their poverty and squalor. The disparity
between the haves and have-nots is unjust. And from
a pragmatic viewpoint, it is dangerous, topheavy, and
increasing, in obedience to the law that the rich get
richer and the poor get poorer. What, then, _ is
ridiculous about the desire to correct an injustice,
and curb a notoriously dangerous tendency? It is
not “do-goodism”; it is simple commonsense.
So we think disinterested good will is a suf-
ficient basis for the Aid Program. But we are
quite certain that it is the only possible basis.
If we want to continue foreign aid on anything
like its present scale, we must blush deeply and
confess the shameful fact that we are do-good-
ers, and want to share our bounty. And if, on
the other hand, we are unwilling to do this, and
cannot see foreign aid as anything more than
an instrument of our foreign policy, then let us
proceed to slash the program drastically. That
is, let us continue the present trend.
FRIDAY MORNING, NOV. 22, was the time Aus-
tin booksellers chose to bring out “JFK: The Man and
the Myth,” a widely trumpeted piece of anti-Kennedy
polemic by Victor Laski—supposedly a devastating
examination of the Kennedy administration and poli-
cies, but bearing more resemblance to a hard-cover
smear sheet, spending most of its pages on such
personal scandal and insinuation as (to quote from
its advance billing):
• How the clan relaxes—and why Jacque-
line Kennedy feels out of place.
• The document that started a strange
rumor about a Kennedy first marriage.
• Hedda Hopper’s revelations about Joseph
Kennedy’s hasty withdrawal from the movie
business.
• Kennedy’s friendship with the Holly-
wood “Rat Pack” and Porfirio Rubirosa, gay-
blade son-in-law of Dictator Trujillo.
And so on and so on. Before the sun went down,
every copy had to be taken down and hid deeply
away in cold storage. It is still impossible to find a
copy in the city, though scarcely half a dozen wer«
sold before 1:38 pm, EST.
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St. Mary's University (San Antonio, Tex.). The Rattler (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 47, No. 6, Ed. 1 Friday, December 6, 1963, newspaper, December 6, 1963; San Antonio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth842272/m1/2/?q=%221964~%22: accessed August 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting St. Mary's University Louis J. Blume Library.