VMI Cadet. March 20, 1964

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Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia, March 20, 1964
President Johnson To Visit VMI
* • •
Avmj Conducts ROTC Inspection Tour
jCoL Barrow
Heads Team
On Monday, 16 March, the U. S.
Army R.O.T.C. Detachment 8 was
visited by a board of inspectors
from the 21st Army Corps. The
board was headed by Colonel
Samuel H. Barrow, who is current-ly,
the Professor of Miiltary Sci-ence
at the University of Virginia.
Also, on the board were Major
Theodore S. Spiker, La Salle Col-lege;
Captain Dan J. Mizell, Uni-veirsity
of Scranton; and Captain
John G. Berner from the 21st
CQrps Headquarters aviation sec-tion.
VMI was the first school on
this board's tour, which also in-cluded
inspections of the ROTC
detachments at VPI, Pennsylvania
Military College, Hampton Insti-tute
and Virginia State College.
In an interview with the CA-DET,
Lt. Col. George H. Simp-son,
Commandant and Professor
of Military Science, emphasized
the fact that this was an inspec-tion
of the ROTC detachment, and
not of the Institute. He added,
however, that many of the activi-ties
of the Institute cross into the
realm of the ROTC program, and
that for this reason the barracks
and various cadet activities were
included in the tour by the board.
The inspection was divided into
various phases, including particl
pation of military personnel in
school and community activities,
the training of ROTC cadets, the
instruction observed by the board
in ROTC classes, institutional sup-port
for the detachment, the Army
Flight instruction program, and
the Regimental Band.
The board found the participa-tion
of the miltary personnel in
(Continued on page three)
Kilpatrick Speaks
Oil 1984 Politics
On Tuesday, March 17 at 8 p.m.
The Southern Conservative pre-sented
Mr. James J. Kilpatrick
to speak on "Some Observations
of 1984" in Lee Chapel. Mr. Kil-patrick
is the editor of the Rich-mond
News-Leader and author of
The Sovereign States and The
Smut Peddlers.
The speech began, appropriate-ly
enough, with the first sentence
from George Orwell's novel 1984.
"It was a bright cold day in April
and the clocks were striking thir-teen."
As in the novel, that sentence
set the theme for the entire
speech, which was basically a de
fense of property rights. A society
in which the right to own property
does not exist would be chaos.
Mr. Kilpatrick reminded his audi-ence
that such a society was the
subject of 1984 that the year 1984
is not so far away. The implica-tions
that with the present trend
infringement on properly rights,
(Continued on page three)
COLONEL SAM BARROW (left), PMS at the
the University of Virginia, headed the Army In-spection
team that recently visited VIVII. On his
right is Lt. Colonel George H. Simpson, Com-mandant
of Cadets at VML
Honorary Society Seen
As Future Possibility
Should Phi Beta Kappa be in-stituted
at VMI? In most cases,
the faculty feels this honorary so-ciety
would be an asset to the
academic program. Could Phi
Beta Kappa be instituted at VMI?
This answer will be made known
upon the completion of the Self
Study Program in 1965.
Phi Beta Kappa is primarily an
honor society for liberal arts col-leges.
It was founded as a secret
fraternity organization at William
and Mary on December 5, 1776.
The ideals set up were those of
Wisdom, the guide of life." The
society temporarily disbanded
when Cornwallis invaded the col-onies
during the Revolutionary
War, but reorganized and by 1883
had charters in 25 colleges, among
them Harvard, Yale, and Dart-mouth.
The year 1883 also marked the
culmination of three great changes
in Phi Beta Kappa that give it its
present day policies. The oath of
secrecy in Phi Beta Kappa was
discontinued after several other
"secret societies" were found to
Le engaged in illegal activities
Along with this, Phi Beta Kappa
discontinued its social activities
and became a purely honorary so-ciety.
September 5, 1883 marked
the unification of all the local
college chapters into the "National
Council of the United Chapters of
Phi Beta Kappa." Some of the
local colleges which hold member-ships
today are Willaim and Mary,
Davidson, University of West Vir-ginia,
University of Virginia, Uni-versity
of Riehmoiui and Wa.sh-ingtun
and Loe.
If a college wishes membership
in Phi Beta Kappa, a local chap-ter
must be initiated by Phi Beta
Kappa members on the faculty. A
committee is then sent from the
national organization to study the
college. The library, courses of
study, faculty, and available fac-ilities
are inspected and the find-ings
given to the Phi Beta Kappa
Senate. The Senate, in turn, gives
its opinion and passes the applica-tion
onto the council, which either
approves or disapproves the col-lege
for enrollment.
There seems to be little doubt
among the faculty that Phi Beta
Kappa would be of great value at
j VMI. Although we now have a
j system of honors awarding stars
! and furloughs, it is felt that mem-
I bership in this national honor fra-
I ternity would provide a great in-j
centive for higher quality acade-i
mic work. The exchange of ideas is
I a primary objective among the
i members of the organization. For-i
mal Phi Beta Kappa activity con-
' sists of two or three meetings
I yearly. The election of officers, a
: dinner, and an address are a part
: of the annual business,
j VMI is considered, by many, to
j be a technical school, even though
the enrollment in liberal arts is
greater than in engineering. There
is no Philosophy major at VMI,
and Greek and Latin are not
taught. These could be detering
factors if VMI was to apply for
Phi Beta Kappa.
We do, however, have qualified
faculty members to initiate a chap
ter. The Board of Visitors has re-
(Continuecl On Page 2)
Couper Leaves
Papers^ Books
A number of collections and
items from the extensive histori-cal
files of the late Colonel Wil-liam
Couper, retired VMI busi-ness
executive officer, have been
given to the Preston Library.
Colonel Couper, who died Feb-ruary
15, was associated with VMI
for almost half of his life, and
had been the Institute's official
historian for some thirty years.
However, his interests in history
had extended far beyond VMI
and he had been an exacting
chronicler of events of General
Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson,
and of Lexington and Rockbridge
(Continued On Page 7)
LB J To Attend
» Dedication
Lexington, Va. —Acceptance last
week by President Johnson.of ait.
invitation to make an address at
the dedication of the Marshall Re-search
Library here on May 23
has given impetus to planning for
a ceremony which will bring t«>
reality an eleven year project to
create a national memorial to the
late General of the Army Georgft-
C. Marshall, United States Chief
of Staff in World War II and late?
Secretary of State and Defense.
In addition to President John-son,
Former Presidents Trumaft
and Eisenhower will be on the
platform as well as General of the
Army Omar N. Bradley, Marshall
FounclatLon President, Virginia's
Governor Albcrtis S. Harrison Jr.
and other notables. The Founda-tion's
list of approximately 3,000
i specially invited guests includes
j many other persons of national
prominence. This is expected to b«
one of the most outstanding events
of its kind in the State's history.
Foundation officials planning the
event estimate that a crowd of ovei'
15,000 will jam this community
of 6,000 for the ceremony, and
special arrangements for traffic,
housing and other facilities are
already underway.
The dedication ceremonies will
begin at noon daylight saving time
and will be preceded by a full
dress review of the Corps of Ca-dets.
The Marshall Library, a
handsome windowless structure, a
blend of contemporary styling with
the traditional Gothic architecture
of VMI, is located on a plot of
ground donated by the State of
Virginia and faces the VMI Pa-rade
Ground.
The Library, now nearly com-plete,
will be occupied by the
Foundation's staff in April and
displays of exhibits concerninig
(Continued on page three)
COLONEL SIDNKY M. MATTHl WS