The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 59, No. 1, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 2, 1971 Page: 1 of 14
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Rice University receives gift valued at $7.5 million
Houston Endowment Inc., a
foundation created by Jesse H.
Jones, Tuesday gave the Rice
Hotel, the five-story drive-in
entrance building and the Rice
Hotel Garage to Rice Univer-
sity.
Rice University will operate
the hotel and garage, talking
over immediately.
J. Howard Creekmore, presi-
dent of Houston Endowment,
declined to place a dollar value
on the gift. However, other in-
formed sources said the prop-
erties have a market value of
approximately $7.5 million.
"We could not have found a
more appropriate recipient,"
Creekmore said. "We are
pleased to be able to help Rice
University in its continuing
program of scholastic excellence
for our youth, ^t the same time
the gift ties closely into the
history of Houston and the his-
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toric corner at Main and Tex-
as."
H. Malcolm Lovett, chairman
of the board of governors of
Rice University, expressed ap-
preciation for the gift "on be-
half of the trustees and gov-
ernors of Rice University, the
administration and all members
of the university community.
"This is a magnificent con-
tribution to Rice University and
its services to the nation in the
area of higher education," Lov-
ett said. "It is another invest-
ment in the dynamic city that
Jesse Jones did so much to build,
and is actually the fourth in a
series of gil'ts to the university
by the Jones interests. The
Mary Gibbs Jones College was
the first residential college for
women on the campus, and the
Jones interests provided the
Mary Gibbs Jones and Jesse
Holman Jones professorships.
"Through the vision of the
trustees of Houston Endow-
ment Inc. the work of Jesse H.
Jones continues to improve the
quality of life for those who
come after him."
Rice University owns the land
on which the Rice Hotel stands.
This is the site of the first
capitol building of the Republic
of Texas, after Texians gained
independence from Mexico in
1936. Later the Capitol Hotel
was built on the site and was
acquired by William Marsh
Rice, whose legacy created the
then Rice Institute. Rice kept
an apartment in the hotel after
he moved back to the East
Coast and entertained his
friends and business associates
there during his frequent trips
back to Houston.
In 1910 Jones acquired a 99-
year lease of the land from the
then Rice Institute. He replaced
the old wooden hotel with the
modern structure which lias be-
come a Houston landmark.
Jones named the hotel, which
opened in 1913, for William
Marsh Rice.
iLovett is the son of the first
president of Rice, the late Dr.
Edgar Odell Lovett, who fash-
ioned Rice's steady rise in the
academic world. Both Lovett
and Creekmore are graduates
of Rice University.
State funds now made available to Rice freshmen
by LEIGHTON READ
State money will be available
to Rice freshmen in the form of
Tuition Equalization Grants for
the first time in Texas history.
Made possible by the 62nd Leg-
islature's passage of Senate
Bill 56 last May, the grants are
to go to Texas residents attend-
ing approved private colleges
and universities in this state.
In a preliminary allotment
from the Coordinating Board of
the Texas College and Univer-
sity System, Rice will have
$28,280 for distribution to mem-
bers of the class of '75. The
grants will be based on need,
but no student can receive more
than $'300 per semester. Guide-
lines for the equitable use of
this fund are currently being
drawn by Mr. Lucian Wilkins
in the Rice Financial Aid Of-
fice. A forthcoming announce-
ment with detail application
procedures, which will probably
involve the College Testing
Service's "Parent's Confidential
Statement" and some state
forms.
Passage of the bill culminated
three years of dedicated re-
search and persuasion by the
Independent Colleges and Uni-
versities of Texas (ICUT), an
organization of virtually all the
private institutions in the state.
As part of the effort, last
spring, ten Rice students joined
delegates from Houston's three
other private colleges to discuss
the bill with nineteen Houston
representatives.
The Tuition Equalization
Plan, similar to programs in
seven other states is designed
to help close the large gap
which exists between the cost
of tuition at public and private
schools. ICUT discovered that
the average annual tuition at
accredited private senior col-
leges is now $1000, and this
figure has been rising at the
rate of 12.57% annually. Tn
comparison, state tuition, which
didn't change from 1957 until
1971, went up $10 to $110 for
this year's in-state students.
This dramatic difference in
tuition has been the major fac-
tor in a steady shift of stu-
dents from the private to the
public sector of higher educa-
tion. The percentage of Texas
students enrolled in private in-
stitutions has been declining at
a rate of 2% per year and is
now at an all-time low- of loss
than 17 9c. There are now over
16,000 vacancies in Texas pri-
vate schools. In Rice's "Report
of the President, 1967-68," Ken-
neth S. Pitzer made an im-
portant point:
"One of the justifications of
private universities at this
time when most students are
enrolled in State institutions
(Continued on Page 5)
the rice thresher
volume 59, number 1
thursday, September 2, 1971
Kobayashi quits internal VP post, calls SA worth/ess
August 3, 1971
To the Student Senate:
After due consideration, I
have decided to resign from the
office of Internal Vice-President
of the Rice Student Associa-
tion. This decision is primarily
based upon the following facts:
(1) I cannot conceive of my
doing anything truly worth-
while as S.A. Internal Vice-
President, and (2) I can con-
ceive of my tearing myself up
in the process of trying.
During the past six months I
have spent a great deal of my
time and energy on "S.A. busi-
ness," and practically all of
that effort has been spent la-
boring over the purely in-house
operations of the S.A. govern-
ment, dealing with worthless
work manufactured by the S.A.
government itself, or trying to
prevent the S.A. government
from accepting proposals, ideas,
or attitudes which I considered
to be bad — to be wasteful,
harmful, or otherwise stupid.
I could justify the expendi-
ture of that time and energy if
I co®d believe that, in the long
run, these efforts might con-
tribute to some positive, worth-
while accomplishment — for
example, the institution of coed
colleges, the reformation of the
student health service, or the
active participation of students
in policy decisions concerning
financial aid, admissions, or the
curriculum. In fact, believing
in those possibilities is what
has kept me in student govern-
ment for the past two and a
half years.
Now, however, I have come
to realize not only that the
S.A. government continually
fails to accomplish anything
truly worthwhile, but also that
it may very well prevent such
accomplishments by draining
away the time and energy of
those who might otherwise be
able to succeed.
It is possible that, faced with
such futility, I should just lim-
it my expectations and accept
the fact that, at best, my work
as S.A. Internal Vice-President
will help keep the S.A. govern-
ment going. I find, however,
that such expectations are bas-
ically meaningless. Suppose
the S.A. government succeeds
in perpetuating itself — so
what? Any government, any or-
ganization, ihas no inherent
value. The worth of an organi-
zation must be measured by
what it accomplishes, what
things are done which wouldn't
have been done if it didn't exist.
If all an organization does is
perpetuate itself, it has no
worth.
The crucial fact is that I sim-
ply cannot devote myself to
worthless activity — especially
at a time, such as now, when
I know there are worthwhile
things I could be doing instead.
I become nervous, nasty, gener-
ally unhappy, and physically ill.
The explanation of my deci-
sion is now, as far as I know,
complete. I submit my resigna-
tion as of this day, 3 August
1971.
Perhaps, however, an adden-
dum is in order. I think it must
be fairly clear by now that I
am disgusted with the govern-
ment of the Student Associa-
tion of Rice University, but I
feel obliged to point out that I
have chosen my words care-
fully. Just because I believe
that nothing worthwhile will
be accomplished by the S.A.
government as it now exists, I
do not necessarily believe that
nothing worthwhile can be ac-
complished by students at Rice.
I believe that, when la stu-
dent or group of students wants
something done in the univer-
sity, their best course of ac-
tion is to think the situation
through, to work the problems
out in their own minds, and to
convince those people who have
authority over the situation
(whether those people are other
students, faculty, or admin-
istrators) that they are right.
I iam not by any means imply-
ing that this course of action
is simple or easy — in par-
ticular, the process of "con-
vincing" is extremely compli-
cated, and never the same in
any two situations; I do not
even imply that I think this
course of action is "fair" —
only thiat I think it is best.
While invSlVed in the S.A.
government, I found it impos-
sible to act in the way I felt
to be best — my time and
energy were drained away into
other activities. Now that I am
out of the government, I hope to
be able actually to do some-
thing worthwhile.
To take one item in particu-
lar, I have decided that the
institution of coed colleges at
Rice would be very worthwhile,
and I intend to direct my ef-
forts to that goal. I am cur-
rently one of the three student
members of the university com-
mittee on coed housing chaired
by Dr. Fulton; a repoi-t from
the committee to Dr. Hacker-
man should be forthcoming, and
I believe that, if we try, some-
thing worthwhile might result.
There are, of course, other
things which I consider to be
worthwhile, not all of them re-
lated to "the good of the uni-
. versity," but I do not consider
this letter as a platform from
which to advertise my. own per-
sonal values. I have only tried
to explain my decision to re-
sign to those people whom I
feel I owe an explanation, and
if my personal value judgments
seem to weigh heavily in each
sentence, it is because my de-
cision must be based funda-
mentally on my value judge-
ments, and not because I wish
to impose those values on any-
one else.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathy Kobayashi
SJ>
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Freed, DeBow. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 59, No. 1, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 2, 1971, newspaper, September 2, 1971; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245108/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.