The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 62, No. 35, Ed. 1 Monday, March 17, 1975 Page: 2 of 8
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the rice thresher
editorial
Long before he lost the confidence of the entire
country for his criminal misdeeds and consistent lies about
them, Richard Nixon had lost the confidence of the
ideological conservative constituency whos^pauses he had
championed and who had helped him to power.
But the 1968 promise of balanced budgets became
record deficits, and trips to Russia and China not only
eschewed his vaunted anti-communism but refuted it.
"Law and order" amounted to appointing as Attorney
General a Wall Street finance lawyer named John Mitchell
to apply his dubious talents (mainly a "tough-mindedness"
that would have made Mussolini proud) to making the
streets safe to walk again. After continually rejecting wage
and price controls or any restraints on the free market
system, Nixon incorporated them nonetheless and later
appointed Peter Brennan, head of a New York
construction workers' union, Secretary of Labor. Brennan
had nothing in common with Nixon's economic policies,
having always been in the forefront of the push for yet
more inflationary wage increases, but he had made Nixon
an honorary hardhat, thus making him a blood-brother of
other hardhats beating up on war protestors during the
1970 Cambodian invasion. After promising in 1968 to
replace welfare with "workfare" but doing nothing
substantial to alleviate the welfare problem, Nixon made
Caspar Weinberger, another "tough minded" man (whose
experience was with the Office of Management and
Budget) Secretary of HEW, with the intent to slash its
budget and eliminate such "wastes" as the Office of
Economic Opportunity. Nothing much came of it.
Despite the tough rhetoric, it became increasingly clear
that Nixon's politics were the politics of expediency, not
conservatism. In the wake of Nixon's departure, many
conservatives expressed optimism that Gerald Ford, a
solid, trustworthy crusader for conservative causes for as
long as Nixon had been, would return to the conservative
maxims so long neglected in American politics.
But if Presidential appointments are any indication,*
Ford may be even worse news to the conservatives who
were appalled by Nixon's lack of a firm ideology. Aside
from Vice-President Rockefeller, anathema to conservative
Republicans since the year one, the stern likes of Attorneys
General Mitchell and Kleindienst have been replaced by
Edward Levi, a soft-spoken man drawn from the ranks of
academia; Labor Secretary Brennan is gone, as Ford
apparency feels uncomfortable in cheaply cultivating the
blue-collar-yahoo vote that Nixon so craved, and Caspar
Weinberger may soon resign as Secretary of HEW — his
possible successor: former moderate Republican Senator
Charles Goodell, whom fellow Republican Spiro Agnew
(Ford's predecessor as Nixon's Vice-President) attacked in
the 1970 New York Senatorial campaign as "the Christine
Jorgensen of the Republican Party". Makes you wonder,
huh?
—joel rennie
threw
ifif
GARY BREWTON
Editor
DALE PAYTON-ENGLE
Business Manager
Cathy Egan Assistant
Business Manager
Rosine Wilson Ad Production
Manager
Dana Blankenhorn Circulation
Nancy Taubenslag . . Associate Editor
Emily Cof fman .... Associate Editor
Debbie Davies News Editor
Philip Parker Sports Editor
Joel Rennie Editorial Assistant
Janet Doty .... Production Manager
Doug Peck Head Photographer
Forest Davenport . Back Page Editor
Wiley Sanders Assistant
Head Photographer
Editorial Staff: Linda Eichblatt, Shannon Vale, Jim Asker, Fritz Morsches,
Carla McFarland, John Anderson, Tricia Regan, Lorel Dowden.
News Staff: David Walker, Brian Buchanan, Shannon Vale, Ron Miller, Danna
Bledsoe, Cheryl Miskell, Dfcbbie Osterman, Deby Wyatt, Nathan Gordon.
Fine Arts Staff: Elaine Bonilla, Paul Alley, Debbie Osterman, David
Courtwright, Thomas Zimmerman, Hannes Vogel, Andrew Blakeney.
Sports Staff: Steve Fouga, Scott Starks, Linda Eichblatt, Wiley Sanders, David
Au, Larry Nettles, Marc Siegel, Barry Josselson, Asuka Nakahara.
Business Staff: Mary Craig, Jim Davis, Carolena Houze, Mike Hindman, Cyn
Hudson, Margaret Nabors, Janice Colgrove, Tom Anderson.
Production Staff: Ruthie Melton, Bonnie Gershon, Gary Preuss, David White,
Bill Studabaker, Connie Dressner, Carla McFarland, Jeanne Fagan.
Austin Bureau: Steve Jackson.
The Rice Thresher, the official student newspaper of Rice University sine®
1916, is published semi-weekly on Mondays and Thursdays during the school
year except during examination periods and holidays by the students of Rice
University, 528—4141 ext 221. Advertising information is available on
request, 528—4141 ext 356. Mail subscription rate, $15 per year. The opinions
expressed herein are not necessarily those of anyone except the writer.
Obviously.
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"That's a guy from Will Rice. He decided to do
a little free-lance wildlife management when some
feathered friends deposited about six ounces of
guano on his 50-page philosophy paper." —duncan
opinion
ERA, Title
by LINDA EICHBLATT
The feminist movement has
been dealt, two mighty blows in
the last few days. First, the
defeat of the Equal Rights
Amendment (ERA) in several
state legislatures meant that
women would not be given equal
rights under the Constitution for
at least another year. Then the
Department of Health, Educa-
tion, and Welfare delivered their
watered-down guidelines to Title
IX of the Higher Education Act.
Title IX simply states that
there shall be no discrimination
on the basis of sex in any educa-
tional institution which receives
Federal funds. This law, were it
interpreted liberally, would erad-
icate sexism in nearly every
school in America, from elemen-
tary schools to universities.
HEW's original interpretation of
Title IX was submitted to the
public for evaluation last July
and dealt with equality in the
areas of athletics, promotions,
pay, admissions quotas, and
many other aspects of sexism in
education. These original guide-
lines were not completely satis-
factory to feminists; for
example, they failed to deal with
sexism in textbooks. Neverthe-
less, the guidelines did call for
affirmative action in several
aspects of education which trad-
itionally discriminate against
women.
The following are some of the
changes found in the revised
guidelines to Title IX which
went to the President for final
approval last week:
1. Complaint Procedure:
Under the original guidelines, a
violation of Title IX could be
reported directly to HEW, who
would then investigate the
charges made against the school.
Under the new guidelines, a
grievance procedure has been
established. This means that a
IX setbacks hit women
detailed charge of sex discrimin-
ation must be filed with the
school involved and investigated
thoroughly by the school before
HEW will investigate. As femin-
ists view this, confidentiality is
destroyed, complaints made dif-
ficult to file, and an advantage
given to those wishing to pre-
serve the status quo. The burden
of proof has effectively been
shifted onto those making com-
plaints.
2. Athletics: This is the area
of Title IX which wag most dras-
tically changed. There seems to
be no question that changes
were made due to pressure from
school adminstrators and big
sports organizations such as the
NCAA. The original guidelines
called for equal facilities, coach-
ing, and number of teams for
males and females. While there
was no mention of equal fund-
ing, it was plain that gross dis-
parities in athletic programs and
scholarships would not be toler-
ated. Furthermore, the original
guidelines called for an annual
survey to determine student
interest in the various sports and
affirmative action in providing
programs, training, and coaching
in sports which were previously
inaccessible to females.
In the new guidelines, the sur-
vey is not mentioned, and affir-
mative action is not required. In
addition, a definition of "con-
tact sports" has been added. All
contact sports (which includes
basketball) are excluded from
the list of athletic programs
which are to be equalized. Thus,
coaches in many universities will
be relieved to know that their
huge football budgets and pro-
grams will survive Title IX un-
scathed.
Feminists are saying that
HEW has betrayed them. They
feel that many of the women's
sports programs that have been
established in high schools and
colleges during the last year will
be quietly dropped, since the
pressure from the government is
off.
My feeling is that the defeat
of the ERA and the dilution of
Title IX are signs of a rather per-
vasive "backlash" against femin-
ists in this country. I believe
that women will keep pressing
for equal rights and will eventu-
ally outlast the opposition.
Women will continue to lobby in
each state where the ERA has
not been ratified. One possibility
is a huge march on state capitols
by women from all over the
nation. Perhaps we shall over-
come.
The Title IX situation seems
more grim. The only hope is a
barrage of mail to President
Ford, although he is himself a
former All-American football
player.
Susan B. Anthony, the
famous women's rights leader of
the last century, once said,
"Failure is impossible." I believe
she was correct, but it is not a
journey without setbacks.
Plumb to speak
on 18th century
world of youth
The eminent British historian
J.H. Plumb will speak on "The
New World of Children in the
-Eighteenth Century" at 8pm in
Bio. 131 on Tuesday, March 18.
The lecture, sponsored by the
History Department, is free of
charge.
A Fellow of the Royal Histor-
ical Society, Plumb holds the
chair of Modern English History
at Cambridge University. He is
the editor of the History of
Human Society series, and
author of many important books
on English political and social
history, including a two volume
biography of the first British
Prime Minister, Sir Robert
Walpole, Churchill: Hie Man and
the Masks; and The Death of the
Past.
the rice thresher, monday, march 17, 1975 — page 2
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Brewton, Gary. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 62, No. 35, Ed. 1 Monday, March 17, 1975, newspaper, March 17, 1975; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245230/m1/2/: accessed June 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.