The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 57, No. 10, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 6, 1969 Page: 2 of 10
ten pages : ill. ; page 21 x 14 in.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
editorial
fhr*shlng-lt-out
Smith commends curricutum study
tu&tttivy. Senate
The Rice Student Senate, in a last yawn of effort to end
the tedious trivia of the two preceding hours, passed two resolu-
tions Tuesday night, and blinking, suddenly realized it had dis-
covered the world outside does have relevance.
In a complete reversal of their earlier stand, perhaps as a
reaction to President 'Nixon's crockuvit address the night before,
our student leaders finally recognized and even encouraged sup-
port for the November moratorium. The Senate recommends
setting aside Friday, Nov. 14, for discussion of the tragic war,
in classes or in place of classes.
More amazingly, the Senate realized that there does exist
a common cause: a letter supporting the faculty-student move
to unseat Frank Erwin from his post as Chairman of the Texas
Board of Regents will be sent to the student body president in
Austin.
The Thresher lends its wholehearted support to both re-
solutions, and congratulates the Senate. We hope that this move
is only the beginning of a more active awareness of the necessity
for participation in our generation's reshaping of its world.
CCS
Farmer to protest SA 'decision'
To the Editor:
The Student Senate tonight,
in considering the eligibilty of
candidates for the Inter-College
Court Chairman, made its deci-
sion not on the points which I
discussed at great length, but
rather based its decision on the
question "Shall the Inter-Col-
k*ge Court be allowed to inter-
pret its own Constitution with-
out the Student Senate over-
turning what they decide?"
This question was originally
raised by Andrea Primdahl and
was supported by Barry Kap-
lan, George Grenias and Dan
King as being the central ques-
tion in the entire controversy.
This is a valid question, if
the Court indeed has this
power. On checking with the In-
ter-College Court Constitution,
one can clearly see that the
Court is not given the power to
interpret its constitution. What
it can and did do was to in-
vestigate the controversy and
make a recommendation to the
Student Senate.
It is therefore apparent that
ich University?
To the Editor:
It might be of interest to
your readers to know that as-
tute judgement in making care-
ful selections weighs heavily in
academic-world promotions. At
one Southern university the
four members of the committee
which selected the football
coach, after that coach's out-
standing gridiron success, have,
in turn, been promoted to presi-
dent of that university, vice-
president, chairman of his de-
partment, and master of a
residential college.
BASIL WEBB
Baker, '70
the Student Senate shirked its
responsibility to decide itself on
the eligibility of the candidates.
Its final decision was not the
result of considering the crucial
issues of the gross ambiguities
in the Inter-College Court Con-
stitution and the fact that the
controversy over juniors being
candidates came after a junior
was elected by a 50-vote mar-
gin. The Student Senate rather
based its decision on an argu-
ment which actually never ex-
isted.
The Student Senate admitted
tonight that they had made a
mistake and reversed an earlier
decision. They made another
mistake tonight and should con-
sider rectifying it. For these
reasons I cannot consider this
matter closed and will continue
to fight the decision to prevent
my running for Chairman of
the Inter-College Court.
I find it ironic that the rea-
son for my running and the
platform on which I ran was to
reform the Inter-College Court
so as to make it a truly viable
and dynamic judicial institution,
at Rice.
WILLIAM TED FARMER
Hanszen '71
Erratum
To the Editor:
In all fairness to Mr. Lovett,
I feel obliged to point out that
you erroneously identified him
in last week's Thresher as a
member of the Rice University
"Board of Directors." No such
Board of Directors exists.
Mr. Lovett is one of the seven
Trustees on the Rice University
Board of Governors, and serves
■as chairman of that Board.
LEE HORSTMAN
SA president
JACK MURRAY
Editor-in-Chief
MIKE WALKER
Business Manager
Howard Simms Assoc. Ed.
Talley Guill Ad. Manager
Kathleen Williamson .... Fine Arts Ed.
Doug Williams .... Circulation Manager
Laurie Kurtz National Ad. Mgr.
To the Editor:
The curriculum revision plan
of the Brown College Curricu-
lum Committee includes a pro-
posal that the freshman and
sophomore years of the Rice
curriculum be entirely pass-fail
and that the junior and senior
years be graded as presently
or be pass-fail according to the
individual student's choice.
Objections range in validity
from the argument that making
the introductory-level courses
automatically pass-fail would
weaken the credentials for grad-
uate school admission of stu-
dents in certain majors for
which the grades in such
courses are considered relevant
by graduate schools, to the
claim that the professor must
possess the potential threat of
a lowered grade in order to
effectively "discipline" the
student for sloth or way-
ward thought. The former ob-
jection could possibly be sat-
isfied by making only the fresh-
man courses automatically pass-
fail; the latter scarcely deserves
being noted, much less accom-
modated.
Other objections to this pass-
fail could produce unfortunate
resentment. Some students who
change their post-graduation
intentions late in their under-
graduate careers would have'
only "P's" to present as gi'ades
to graduate schools.
Two approaches used else-
where which are relevant to
both these problems are (1) re-
place both number grades and
simple pass-fail in advanced
courses by pass-fail plus a writ-
ten qualitative evaluation by the
instructor, or (2) have instruc-
tors submit number grades to
the Registrar's Office as usual,
but weaken them as a competi-
tion mechanism by keeping
grades on closed (even to the
student, normally) file until the
student needs them to prepare
applications for graduate
school, transfer, or whatever.
Regarding (1): most advanced
courses are small enough to
make individual evaluations by
the instructors feasible; such
evaluations along with stand-
ardized tests and recommenda-
tions should provide students
with sufficient credentials to
compete equally for graduate
school admissions; such a for-
mal evaluation system would
provide the additional advant-
age of stimulating greater in-
teraction between students and
faculty.
Other perspectives on the
Brown pass-fail proposal could
be offered, and hopefully will
be. However, the certainty that
will stand throughout the dis-
cussion is that the present high-
pressure grade system is unsat-
isfactory. In the zealous quest
for almighty grades the goal
of education must often he neg-
lected. Confronted with the too
familiar choice between raising
his grade and exploring his
course, the student must choose
survival in this savage system.
The intense pressure to maxi-
mize grades induces students to
take "safe" courses rather than
experiment. The prospect of an
arbitrary grade corrupts the
intellectual integrity of the
teacher-student relationship. A
strict number grading system
usurps the role of intellectual
curiosity and personal initiative
in the learning process, and re-
places these with a cheap game
in pursuit of semi-annual num-
bers on a scrap of paper. Fur-
thermore, the strain on many
freshmen due to grade pressure
is downright physically un-
healthy.
Exploring and implementing
alternatives to the present
grading system are hampered
by 12 or many more years of
systematic conditioning of both
students and faculty. Pass-fail
is casually taken to connote
lower quality without a fair
appraisal of all the possibilities.
From the fact that highly lim-
ited pass-fail has been used in
the context of the present in-
tensely grade-oriented system
to conceal low quality work, it
is deduced that a similar use
of pass-fail would necessarily
prevail in a radically different
system in which pass-fail grad-
ing is an integral part. Never-
theless, these and other diffi-
culties in grading system re-
form can be mastered if all
people interested in improving
the undergraduate experience at
Rice approach the difficulties
with open minds.
MIKE SMITH
Will Rice '71
Honesty and integrity is best policy
To the Editor:
Two things about H. Mal-
colm Lovett's letter to Lee
Horstman (printed in last
week's Thresher) particularly
disturbed me. First, that he had
never actually seen a copy of
the Campanile which he sees as
such a threat to the school's
reputation. (". . . and while I
haven't seen it, I am told . . .")
Second, that he assumes that
eVei'yone shares his "natural
desire that (the University's)
public appearance to be in the in business circles, misrepre-
best" possible light"
Mr. Lovett apparently does
not feel that a first-hand ac-
quaintance with the facts of a
situation need precede his
sounding the alarm. As a recent
alumnus, I am concerned that
his attitude may not be a typical
one among the trustees. I also
regret that he feels Rice must
always strive to appear "in the
best possible light." While this
may be considered good practice
sentation or distortion of facts
has no role in a university. My
own feeling is that a school of
Rice's very genuine high caliber
need fear nothing from honesty
and integrity in its dealings
with the public, and I am dis-
mayed that the Development
Office feels pressure from
above to put a sugar coating
on everything released for pub-
lic consumption.
SAM N. BRAUDT
Hays decries RMC exhibit usage
To the Editor:
This letter is not actually ad-
dressed to you, but rather to
the Student Center Board and
others responsible for the ex-
hibit which monopolized the
Rice Memorial Center for some
two and one-half weeks. I refer
to the war exhibit which ap-
peared on the eve of the First
National Moratorium against
the war in Vietnam.
The contention has been made
that the exhibit was an art ex-
hibit and not part of a political
movement. However, to even
the most casual observer it had
definite political implications.
And I for one do not think that
the Rice Memorial Center
should be so taken over—poli-
ticized—by any group. There
is a vast difference between a
group's meeting in the R.M.C.,
and the couches and college bul-
letin boards removed and the
walls and floor space filled with
propaganda. Is the Memorial
Center to be a place where all
students, faculty, and alumni
can feel free to meet, talk,
relax, and hold programs; or is
it to become—like student cen-
ters at many universities—an
instrument of a political group ?
I sould hope that in the fu-
ture the broader purposes of
the R.M.C. will be more care-
fully considered and the feel-
ings of more students inves-
tigated before the erecting of
such an exhibit.
Sincerely,
JOHN R. HAYS, Jr.
Wiess '71
'I could say I haven't seen it but..
thresiier
Charles Szalkowski .... Exec. Assoc. Ed.
Laura Kaplan Managing Ed.
Susie Clary Fine Arts Ed.
Mike Ross Calendar Editor
Ford Hall Sports Editor
Staff: Lee Horstman, Charles Lavazzi, Greg Colomb, Gil Perez, Steve
Thorpe, Diane Weaver, Jane Hamblen, Bruce Topletz, Austin Bay, Chip Matthews,
Jeff Myers, Eff Martin, Donald Bayne, Lee Cagley, John Mauldin, David Wil-
liams, Dennis Bahler.
The Rice Thresher, official student newspaper at Rice University, ia published"
weekly on Thursday except during holidays and examination periods by students
of Rice University, Houston, Texas 7701. Phone JA 8-4141, Ext. 221, 645.
The opinions expressed in this paper are those of its writers and editors and
are not necessarily those of Rice University, its administrators or officials.
The Thresher is a member of the United Student Press Association and
subscribes to College Press Service.
the rice thresher, november 6, 1969—page 2
To the Editor:
Re Malcolm Lovett's letter, I
could say I haven't seen it my-
self but I heard he made a
jack-ass out of himself and
those two ladies whose letters
he included with his own. Maybe
he needed them for moral sup-
port—-pardon the pun.
But seriously, Mr. Lovett
speaks of "gentle" folk and I
wonder what could be more
gentle than pretty little Penny.
I didn't find the picture "offen-
sive" and neither did my mother
—and she's no liberal.
I suggest Mr. Lovett take a
look at the book himself, alone
preferably.
In my opinion Rice has finally
distinguished itself by putting
out a progressive and impres-
sive yearbook. Instead of being
proud, Mr. Lovett is ashamed.
He and I must be living in dif-
ferent worlds and I believe that
his is the less real. The times
they are a-changin' Mr. Lovett,
better shape up or ship out
because evidently things are
moving right along without you.
All due respect, Mr. Lovett,
yourself.
but you did open yourself to
criticism by having your letter
printed. I did read it and I
think you made an ass out of
DEBBIE THEODORE
Brown '70
Bumper stickers
To the Editor:
Does anyone know where I
can buy bumper stickers con-
cerning the campaign to^select
a new football coach, like* those
which appeared last year?
R. G. SULLIVAN
Will Rice, '71
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Murray, Jack. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 57, No. 10, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 6, 1969, newspaper, November 6, 1969; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245067/m1/2/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.