The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 64, No. 18, Ed. 1 Monday, November 8, 1976 Page: 2 of 8
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ry
Apathy of students toward convocation decried
To The STUDENTS Of Rice
University
The following letter
contemptuously attacks your
apthetical attitudes and your
lack of responsibility toward
the perpetuation of Rice
University as an outstanding
educational institution. I
challenge the student body,
minus those few who took the
time to attend Convocation in
its entirety, to intelligently
discuss with me the problems
now prevalent at rnce and
their possible solutions. Yet I
strongly doubt that any of you
would take the time to do this
due to your pathetic dedication
to an ideal of non-involvement
nor could you even if you tried
due to your blatantly obvious
ignorance. It's disgusting! You
were given an opportunity to
assert yourselves—to attend
Convocation and become
consciously aware of the crisis
Appeals board blasted
To the Editor:
It is only as a last-ditch
effort that I take my cause to
the students of Rice Univer-
sity. Actually, though it is not
my cause, but the cause of
everyone who drives a car. I
am speaking of the University
Standing Committee known
as the Parking Appeals Board,
of which I have been a member
for the past three and.a half
years.
In previous years, the Board
endeavored to apply the spirit
rather than the letter of the
parking regualtions, and tried
to take various student
problems into account.
Mitigating circumstances
cited as the cause of the
parking offense were under-'
stood, and unless a person was
a habitual offender, his
problem or excuse was
assumed to be valid. (There
were some exceptions to this
policy, of course; for some
offenses, there is no excuse.) If,
in any situation, a doubt
existed, the benefit of that
doubt was given to the student,
not to the ticketing officer.
This actejJ as a check on
overzealous campos and
assured that students would
have a committee of their peers
understanding of their
problems to which they could
appeal. This is no longer the
case.
The Board now takes on
itself the responsibility of
ruling on the truth or
falsehood of special cir-
cumstances cited by the
appealing student. Rather
than providing a third
viewpoint somewhere between
that of either student or
administration, the Board
parrots the viewpoint of
Security and the Proctor.
Indeed, the only reason that
there still exists a "student-
oriented" board must be that
the Proctor does not have the
time to review the appeals
himself.
Don't nffsunderstand me; I
know that there is a problem
with parking on campus to
which there is no easy
solution. I am NOT advo-
cating a blind, rubber-stamp
approval of any appeal, but
then, neither can I condone the
policies of the present Parking
Appeals Board. All I ask is
that the Board not contribute
to the growing "police state"
atmosphere at Rice. Reg-
ulations can be bent and
campos can be wrong.
Sincerely,
Patricia E. Regan
Chairman (and only 1 vote out
of 4) Parking Appeals Board
P.S. Feedback would be
appreciated;if people are
satisfied with the status quo,
then they deserve it.
the
rice
thresher
CARLA McFARLAND
Editor
CATHERINE M. EGAN
Business Manager
Steven M. Setser
Advertising Manager
Barry Jones Sports Editor
Philip Parker Assistant Editor
Jim Fowler Humor Editor
Walter Underwood Photography Editor
Mark Linimon Filler Editor
Danny Medina Production Assistant
Tom Brown News Services Editor
Sports Staff Philip Parker, Larry Nettles, Asuka Nakahara, Golden Pan
Copy Editors Cindy Childress, Elizabeth Karschnia
Circulation Managers Bill Barron, Butch Spaw
Editorial Staff Jeff Kerr, Lance Crabbe, Matt Muller
Photography Staff Paul Fong, Mark Chatlett,
Rich Jensen, Robert Miller
Art staff Dale Charletta
Production staff Marty Hood, Eric Freeman, Bill Studabaker,
Elisa Hernandez, Steve Carr, Byron Welch,
Rob Lyman, Pat McLaughlin, Belle Shepherd,
Danny Medina, Lee Holder, Mark Linimon, and Grungy
The Rice Thresher, the official student newspaper at Rice University since 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, 527-
4801. Advertising information available on request, 527-4802. Editorial and
business offices are located on the second floor of the beautiful Rice Memorial
Center, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, Texas 77001. Mail subscription rate, $15 per year.
The opinions expressed herein, such as "the new logo blows dead rats," are not
necessarily those of anyone except the writer.
"Obviously" «
that is now confronting Rice.
It was a prime opportunity for
the voice of the students to be
heard, but few spoke out.
Many were too busy nursing a
hangover or playing volley-
ball to be concerned with such
matters. You blew your chance
and you'll suffer as a result of
it, unless you "clean up your
act" (as the cliche goes).
Students must become active
participants in our micro-
cosmic society and assume
some of the responsibilities for
shaping and molding an
intellectually and emotionally
stimulating environment.
Changes in the not too
distant future are a necessity
to the health, vitality and well-
being of this university. The
survival of Rice and the
maintenance of its "pres-
tigious status" are inherent in
this newly founded dilemna,
which arose as a result of
progress backfiring. That is to
say, this university is now
experiencing an unanticipated
financial crunch simulta-
neously coupled with an
appreciably lower admission
rate. Ato>.g insult to injury,
we are also contending with
lack of leadership and
ambiguous goals. During the
sixties Rice, like most other
colleges and universities, was
expanding at a rate relative to
the projected increase of
students. Now this progress
has come to a standstill and
thus decisions have to be made
concerning the curtailment of
certain programs as well as
reorganizing some of the
departments.
The only way this can be
accomplished, so that benefits
to all are maximized, is
through a unified effort of the
administration, faculty and
students. I believe that this
was one of the purposes of
Convocation—to open up a
channel of communication
between all sectors of the
university and to critically
analyze the nature of the
university and its com-
ponents. Through this
medium it was possible to
achieve a greater under-
standing and a broader
perspective concerning the
mechanisms of a highly
complex structure. (I am
speaking, of course, from my
own rewarding experience in
conjunction with an active
participation in Convocation.)
Should emphasis be on the
undergraduate or the graduate
program?
Should Rice set its goals first
and then attempt to get
financial backing or, given X
amount of dollars, should it set
its goals accordingly?
What are the goals that Rice
should aim toward?
These are just a sampling of
some of the issues discussed
during Convocation and the
solutions to these questions
will affect every single student
now attending Rice as well as
all future students.
BUT WHAT DO YOU
CARE??????????????????????
Phyllis Goodman
Baker '78
exPIRG
Texas Public Interest Research Group
Fast to remind U.S. of food crisis
Although there's no Rome
Food Conference this year to
focus attention on the world
food crisis, a quarter of the
world's population—over a
billion people—still don't get
enough to eat. That's why
Oxfam-America, the inter-
national relief and develop-
ment agency, has organized
the "Fast For a World
Harvest" on the Thursday
before Thanksgiving, Novem-
ber 18.
Last year 200,000 Amer-
icans went without food on the
Thursday before Thanks-
giving. So far this year the
response has been encoura-
ging.
The money people donate
from going without food for
the day supports projects in
the developing world. Last
year the funds from the "Fast"
supported projects in Bangla-
desh, Peru, Cameroon,
Argentina, and Ghana.
What good does fasting for
one day do? By fasting for one
day, you will have shared the
experience of hunger felt by
much of the world's popula-
tion. By sending your money,
you're helping others who
aren't as fortunate as you.
For more information write:
Oxfam-America, 302 Colum-
bus Avenue, Boston, Mass-
achusetts 02116 or contact the
TexPIRG office (527-4099) on
the second floor of the RMC.
Open Honor meeting set
To the Student Body:
An Open meeting of the
Honor Council will be held
Wednesday, Nov. 10 at 7pm in
Sewall Hall 303. The following
topics will be discussed:
1)" faculty members as non-
voting Council members;
2) faculty role in investi-
gations and trials;
3) Thresher ad for research
papers;
4) student attitude survey;
5) graduate and under-
graduate orientation.
All Rice students and
faculty are invited to attend.
Margaret Jordan
Senior Honor Council Member
io$
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i'd umetd
donate am
electoral
machine...
/
the rice thresher, november 8, 1976—page 2
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McFarland, Carla. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 64, No. 18, Ed. 1 Monday, November 8, 1976, newspaper, November 8, 1976; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245309/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.