The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 57, No. 4, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 25, 1969 Page: 1 of 8
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t
the
„ nee
thresher
rice university, Houston, texas
volume 57, number 4 tliursclay, sej)tember 25, 1960
John Hay a
No apparent reason
Black-white student couple accosted in Hermann Park
Two Rice students, John Bi-
rotte, a Lovett sophomore, and
Maureen Shepard, a junior in
Brown, were apprehended by
the Hermann Park Patrol Sun-
day afternoon while walking' in
the park across the street from
the campus.
Birotte is black; Miss Shep-
ard is white.
According to Birotte, the in-
cident occurred when the pair
were preparing to leave the
park after spending the after-
noon there. As they walked
toward Birotte's car, a patrol-
man approached and asked
them for identification. Birotte
was able to supply it, but Mau-
reen had none in her posession.
They were taken to Park Po-
lice headquarters where they
were met by another patrolman.
Birotte asked the second officer
for his name and badge number,
but he refused to give the in-
formation. (The officer's badge,
with his name, C. N. Poole, was
in plain sight, Birote said.,)
Miss Shepard was forced to
go inside the building, but Poole
told Birotte to "go about his
business." Meanwhile a ser-
geant began questioning Miss
Shepard. ,,
Does your daddy know?
"What are you doing in the
park with that thing?" he said.
"Does your Daddy know
you've been seeing that nig-
ger?"
The sergeant then instructed
Poole and his partner to take
Miss Shepard to the police sta-
tion downtown. During- the ride
the two officers took turns
quizzing her repeatedly with the
same questions.
"How old are you?" they
asked.
"What were you doing with
that nigger?"
Miss Shepard was taken to
the Juvenile Division at the
station where her interrogation
continued. She explained that
she was a Rice student, but the
officers threatened to detain her
at the station overnight if she
did not. prflduce proper identifi-
cation.
Miss Shepard suggested that
they call the University.
While she was waiting for the
officers to make the phone call,
the receptionist in the Juvenile
Department, a black woman,
approached Miss Shepard and
asked her why she was there.
"You aren't a runaway, are
you?" she queried.
Being with blacks
When Miss Shepard replied
negatively, the receptionist
then asked her what she was
charged with. Misg Shepard an-
swered, "For being with black
people."
The receptionist then sug-
gested to the officers that since
they had no reason to detain
Miss Shepard, she should be re-
leased. The officers then took
Miss Shepard back to the park,
and let her out with a warning.
"If we ever catch you in the
park witth that creep again, the
same thing will happen."
"I'll have my ID next time,"
she replied.
"That doesn't matter," they
told her. "The same thing will
happen."
The whole incident, including
the trip to the police station
downtown took about an hour
and a half.
Dr. Clark Read, Chairman of
Biology Dept. at Rice and presi-
dent of the local chapter of the
American Civil Liberties Union,
said the whole procedure was
illegal. Read thought it was
basically a "gut reaction" on
the part of the police on seeing
a white girl with a black boy.
"Police have no right to de-
mand a documentary ID. All a
person.is required to do is ver-
bally tell his name. The officer
had no evidence lor reasonable,
suspicion. It was unlawful be-
havior on the part of the offi-
cer," Read said.
The ACLU sent letters of pro-
test to the Chief of Police and
the Mayor, but since Miss Shep-
ard was not actually charged
with anything, neither she nor
the ACLU can lodge a formal
Archis prepare for curriculum 'revolution'
By DON JOHNSTONE
Those creatures we call archis
are offering an exceptional
example for all departments by
taking some interest in, and
thinking about power in, the
over-all-ness of their education.
Twenty-three (of 43) members
of the' Jr. Arch, class signed
pass-fail request slips and tack-
ed them to the lab wall (oh,
that we had a church door)
along with a note respectfully
requesting departmental discus-
sion of the grading system in
architecture. The slips were of-
fered as symbols of their frus-
ti-ation with what they consider-
ed an archaic, absurd grading
system.
At the time of writing of this
article plans were established
to meet in the junior lab Wed-
nesday night and paint (or
whatever) the sterile white
walls into a creative environ-
ment for their attempts toward
creative projects. Plans, in ad-
dition, are to. call a meeting to
■gather concrete proposals for
the restructuring of the archi
education; this meeting would
occur at the same time as a
department-wide lecture and
possibly offer a symbolic split
in the department that night
work into two different curri-
culums—one group proceeding
with present arrangements and
another along more flexible
lines.
Creative discipline
It is fitting that such creative
revolution should begin with
the archis; theirs is a creative
discipline (or so they are now
demanding); they live together
and work together and share
one identity as if they were a
roving commune, or college;
their department is unique, set
off from the more scholarly
disciplines, and a neat, small
package with which they can
easily experiment.
But there are more reasons
why this is happening in the
archi department, and with the
junior class. One can receive
training in architecture, or one
can receive (produce for him-
self) an education in it.
When the juniors were fresh-
men under Miss Evans they be-
came aware of the educational
side through her personal ap-
proach, one which expanded the
mind (? ! ?) to the realm of
art and the needs and feelings
of human environment. Their
next year was, to a large extent,
a continuation of this open end-
ed approach to creating "en-
vironmental spaces" rather than
"buildings," under the direction
of Todd and Papademetrion.
AIA approach
The division in architectural
thinking, naturally, fell right
into their laps with the third
year, quite well defined. Dr.
Newton is best qualified to
teach them, this year, the or-
ganizational processes of get-
ting a building built, how one
goes about office procedure in
a firm, how one defines for him-
self just what is wanted by the
developer, the client, the con-
tractor, the future occupants,
how one accomplishes what is
expected of him. Dr. Newton's
motto is "process before pro-
ject." He requests that his stu-
dents put aside, temporarily,
their past learned approaches
and master the art of giving the
public what it wants, of getting
down the discipline of logical
architecture. The students call
this the AIA (very similar to
AMA) approach of how to run
an office.
But many of the' archis have
found out about offices in the
summer, and about the total-
itarian aspects of AIA. They
have decided they want to be
creative of' innovative rather
than merely competent (as Mr.
Todd describes the reputation
of Rice grads). Some have de-
cided they want to study archi-,
tecture for its creative poten-
tials rather than in order to fit
well into the professional estab-
lishment. In the department
there are still those who want
this "training" but now there
are many who want the educa-
tion with no time wasted in
training.
Something else is being left
out, presently, of our archis'
education: sociology, psychology,
and to some extent, art. In their
few remaining precious hours
they are, of course, free to touch
such courses just enough to
realize all three have immeasur-
(Continued on pane 2)
complaint. According to state
law, a suspect held for two
two hours must be charged or
taken before a magistrate. If
not, the officer is subject to
civil suit for false arrest.
"The best that can be hoped
for," Read said, "though inade-
quate, is an apology."
Miss Shepard's reaction to the
incident was one of disblief.
"I've never been more angry in
my entire life. I cannot believe
how much these people hate
Negroes ... I can't express
their-, 'dirt under the feet' atti-
tude."
Dr. Read's reaction was more
succinct. "The whole thing
stinks," he said.
Masters pass
new open house
policy revision
The College Masters last
night approved a proposal from
the College presidents which in
effect called for open house
regulations to be determined
by each individual College.
The presidents had met with
the Masters last Monday to dis-
cuss revisions informally, and
met Wednesday to draw up
specific proposals for a new uni-
versity open house policy.
The recommendation called
for deletion of sections two and
three from the university reg-
ulations concerning open house,
and further requested that each
College be permitted to establish
its own rules.
Section two reads, "No Col-
lege may have regular recurring
or automatic open house during
the evening hours."
Section three states that
"There may not be mere than
two evening open-house oc-
casions per week in any Col-
lege."
As it stands now, the pro-
posal is only a recommendation;
it will not go into effect until
passed by the Committee on
Undergraduate Affairs and by
acting president Vandiver.
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Murray, Jack. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 57, No. 4, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 25, 1969, newspaper, September 25, 1969; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245061/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.