The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 56, No. 17, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 23, 1969 Page: 3 of 8
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threshing-it-out
Long says anti-uniform interpretation is 'ridiculous'
To the Editor:
Although there has been the
beginnings of a movement to
remove ROTC from the Rice
campus, I firmly believe that
ROTC has a place at Rice be-
cause there are many students
who wish to take part. I, how-
ever, believe that statements
such as Mr. Lanford made in
last week's Thresher about the
wearing of improper uniforms
are inherently ridiculous and
potentially dangerous.
Mr. Lanford is of course cor-
rect in saying that the wear-
ing of an improper uniform is
against the law. There are,
however, many ridiculous and
unjust laws. There is probably
a law in Houston against chew-
ing gum in public, or some such
idiocy for our times, which no
one enforces. The law about
improper uniforms is in the
same category, and there is no
reason to enforce it. Such laws
should be repealed, but law
making bodies are notoriously
slow to repeal outdated laws;
all one can do is ignore such
laws.
The legitimate basis for the
law about uniforms is a desire
to prevent the impersonation
of a member of the armed
forces. A complete unauthor-
ized uniform will give the im-
pression that its wearer is part
of the miliary, and his actions
can cast discredit on the mi-
litary.
It is, however, obvious that
no one believes that the people
whom Mr. Lanford presents as
evil examples are not members
of the armed forces. To wear a
piece of a uniform is not to im-
personate a soldier. It is a
protest or an effort to laugh
at the military, and as such
is a healthy attempt to bring
the issue of war to the at-
tention of others.
Mr. Lanford seemingly has
the idea that the improper
wearing of a uniform will cast
dishonor on the military. The
wearing of an improper uni-
f or m, however, "dishonors"
only a piece of cloth and not
the soldier who wears a similar
piece of cloth. The military is
more than capable of maintain-
ing its honor without vindictive
prosecution of those who dis-
agree with military ideals.
ROBERT A. LONG, JR.
Will Rice '69
Sackett questions
Lanford's courage
To the Editor:
If the purpose of Mr. Lan-
ford's letter last week was to
ask the student body to polar-
ize itself over a ridiculous in-
terpretation of an obscure and,
under the circumstances, irrele-
vant law, I request that my
name be added to the list of
people who deserve "a free trip
to the calaboose" because of |
the way I look and/or dress.
I would also like to suggest j
that if Mr. Lanford doesn't
have the nerve or desire to
have these vicious felons ap-
prehended enough to do some-
thing about it, he should keep
his mouth and pen shut in the
future.
BEAU JON SACKETT
Will Rice '69
Korb cites WW Two in defense of campus ROTC
To the Editor:
The Rice chapter of the SDS
has made it known that it now
has as one of its primary ob-
jectives the removal of the
ROTC unit from the Rice Uni-
versity structure. Here, at last,
is evidence as to the true nature
of the SDS, evidence which not
even the most naive can deny.
The argument for the removal
of the unit should sound famil-
iar. The phrases "morality of
the war," "genocide," and "true
c o n v i c t i o n" will be kicked
around, with the Thresher doing
most of the kicking. For what
is surely the first time, people
ought to take note of what is
being said. The evidence is con-
clusive beyond any doubt. To
the ROTC's credit is the fact
that in the year 1941, the year
of outbreak of war in both Eu-
rope and the Pacific, over 10,000
ROTC graduates were called in-
to service. General George C.
Marshall said later, "Just what
we would have done without
these men (and the others to
follow) I don't know. I do know
that our plans would have been
greatly curtailed, and the ces-
sation of hostilities on the Eu-
ropean front would have been
delayed accordingly. We must
strengthen and enlarge the sys-
tem."
Can any group question the
"morality" of the defense of
Europe from Hitler and the
Nazis, or the defense of the
Pacific from the Japanese? I
think not, nor can, more gen-
erally, any group deem the de-
sire of young men to serve in
what is a world-wide defense
system immoral. The Rice Me-
morial Center is dedicated to
such men.
The interests of the SDS are
clearly not national, at least not
well-founded. It is high time the
Rice Community realized this
and regarded them accordingly.
ANDY KORB
Wiess '72
Fears of quality reduction scored as racist excuse
" To the Editor:
Perhaps that little booklet,
"Prospectus," which Rice puts
out could use some new pictures.
Here are some likely captions:
This is Rice University. There
are lots of pretty buildings and
things like trees and shrubs.
That little man over there tend-
ing the lawn is called a gnome.
He is not paid very much money,
but if the University pays a lot
of money to gnome types, the
quality of the education here
might suffer.
This is a Rice graduate, sit-
ting in an office in a big build-
ing downtown. Here comes a
man with very dark skin. See
the Rice graduate give a little
jump. He is not used to seeing
very dark faces very much. He
is not too sure just how to talk
to the man with very dark skin.
This leaves him vaguely un-
easy. You see, there weren't
more than a handful of people
with very dark skin at his
school. But, of course, if there
had been very many people with
very dark skin at his prestigious
wealthy powerful university,
the quality of the education
would have suffered.
This is a Rice engineering
^student emerging from the mul-
ti-million dollar campus com-
puter center. He is going to a
class taught by a brilliant pro-
fessor, using an excellent text.
This afternoon he will go to a
lab session in a well-equipped
room supervised by a well-
qualified graduate student. He
sees very few very dark faces in
an average week, and most of
those are maids. If you ask him
about integration being stepped
up at Rice, he considers the
question a minute. His first re-
mark always is, "Well, not so
that the quality of my educa-
tion would suffer."
This is a very ordinary Rice
girl. She thinks the quality of
her education has already suf-
fered, because of Rice's racism.
Do not talk to her about the
quality of your education when
you really are thinking of the
prestige of your Rice degree in
the future years. She is weary
of such talk.
She is also very tired of
watching a quietly obscene
spectacle. It is that of an insti-
tution, and many (often unwit-
ting) individuals, tending to run
lusting madly after prestige, all
the while screaming the name
of Education.
Checks Cashed for
Rice Students
Aaron Lee
Enco Service
2361 Rice — JA 8-0148
Mechanid On Duty
She very humbly feels that
while white racism, white su-
premacy, or whatever you call
this smug exclusiveness, is a
traditional and comfortable fac-
tor of prestige, it is a very defi-
nite handicap to education. Color
her, very quietly, fed up.
SUZY SAUNDERS
Jones '70
ftL^BTlHAMEir&^Ca
Book and mirror boxes,
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Also glass, tin, and plastic
containers.
2606 Sunset Blvd. at Ivirby
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HENRY J. ENGEL, Owner
•fe Automatic Transmissions
Paint & Body Shop
Air Conditioning
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2431 Dunstan
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in the SPEAKEASY stijle of tine 192O s
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BEVERAGES PEANUTS Gratis
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Steakburger
717 Franklin
OLD MARKET SQUARE
Open After Hours
Silent Movies, evenings
No Cover No Minimum
Ibur breath
can blow
somebody's
mind.
Especially when it comes
on bad. And, usually, you're the
last to know.
Beam is a tiny, new pocket-
size breath freshener that can
make your bad breath flip to
good.
Just put two drops or a
spray of Beam on the tip of
your tongue and, like wow,
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And your breath will start
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If you breathe carry Beam;
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the rice thresher, january 23, 1969—page
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Bahler, Dennis. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 56, No. 17, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 23, 1969, newspaper, January 23, 1969; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245046/m1/3/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.