The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 66, No. 1, Ed. 1 Friday, July 14, 1978 Page: 2 of 12
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Not so long ago, the
Thresher stopped being a
"volunteey student news-
paper" and started being a
commercial commodity-with a
paid staff. Its editors stopped
looking for interested
amateurs and began to depend
almost exclusively on salaried
staffers to write and product
the paper weekly. In short,
working for the Thresher
stopped being an honor and
started being a job. Salaries
and production wages rose
from zero to $10,000. And the
staff became a devoted clique
noted more for its ability to
discourage "outsiders" than
its talent for journalism. The
paper itself was used to reward
friends and chastise enemies.
The Thresher, claimed its
staff, was above everyone--the
university, the SA and the
students. Unlike the rest of
aoademia. it was professional.
Editorial
Hopefully, all that will
change now. I believe a
professinal newspaper is not
what Rice people look for in
the Thresher, anyway. They
look for an accessible
newspaper. They want news
by students of interset to
students. And they want a
paper they can contribute to.
Some are interested only in
contributing misclassifieds.
Some like photography.
Others want to write
occasional articles without
making the Thresher their life.
A few (like me) want to work
on every issue.
It's important that ,the
fhresher be available to all
these different kinds of
students. After all, each of us
helps to pay for the Thresher
through the blanket tax. It
should be open to everyone
who wants to learn more about
it-
There doesn't have to be one
small group that runs the
Thresher. What there does
have to be is interest and
willingness to work among a
large group of people. The
Thresher needs input from
many groups-newcomeers
and old staffers alike. Almost
everyone has some talent that
would make the Thresher a
more enjoyable newspaper for
the Rice community to read.
Only by getting a wider
perspective are we going to
make the Thresher a really
top-notch paper.
„ If you have some interest
■'ou wish *o shp'-e, pleas visit
tne Thresher office. Many of
us, myself included, are
beginners here. We have a
long way to go on the
Thresher. But with help we'll
make the Thresher a good
reflection of our efforts.
—Kathryn vne
More Students in Admissions
President Hackerman has
rejected a suggestion made
through the S.A. that the
number of student members of
the University Standing
Committee on Admissions be
increased from two to four.
The increase was believed to
be necessary because the
Admissions committee divides
its work among subcom-
mittees. There were four of
these subcommittees. As a
result, there was no student
input to the decisions on half
of the admissions applications
last year.
Dr. Hackerman stated that
he felt the addition of more
student members unnecessary
because the Committee
already contained a good
representation of the Rice
community. Dr. Hackerman
added that if he increased the
number of student members he
would be pressured to
similarly increase the number
of alumnae on the committee
to four members.
According to Dean of
Undergraduate Affairs
Katherine Brown, Dr. John
Brelsford, the 1866-78
Chairman of the Admissions
Committee, told her last April
that he felt the work load
involved in serving on two
subcommittees would be
excessive for any one student,
and that he recommended the
addition of two more
undergraduates to the
committee.
Dr. Brelsford was not
reached for comment follow-
ing Dr. Hackerman's decision
not to increase the number of
undergraduates on the
committee.
Bakke
The Supreme Court's recent
Bakke case decision to strike
non-racially based admissions
quotas should have no effect
on Rice undergraduate
admissions, according to
Donna Yeager of the Rice
Office of Admissions.
Ms. Yeager said that since
Rice uses no quotas such as the
one the Supreme Court
objected to a University
California Medical School, its
admissions procedures will
not be changed by the
decision.
According to Ms. Yeager,
race is only one of several
criteria considered in the
process of deciding who will be
accepted into Rice.
The weighting of these
criteria varies at Rice and at
other schools, and so there is a
continuing national debate
about who deserves the scarce
places in prestigious educa-
tional institutions. The Court
left room for future discussion
of this question by allowing
race to be used as a criterion in
admissions decisions so long
as it is not the sole criterion.
The selection of graduate
students at Rice also seems
unlikely to be affected by the
Bakke decision. Currently,
admissins requirements and
selection criteria for graduate
students are set by the
individual academic depart-
ments. A sampling of the
departments demonstrated an
absence of racial quotas per se,
although one professo*"
M
x
I
commented, "We work very
hard to find qualified
minorities."
It will take time at Rice, as
everywhere else, for the
reaches of the Bakke decision
to become clear. Whether
institutions and employers
will use the decision to take
prior discrimination into
account in current admissions
and hiring policies or to excuse
an unwillingness to deal with
the problems of racial
discrimination will not be
known for a year or so. One
hopes that at Rice, where the
record of minority hiring and
admissions has been medi-
ocre, the decision will be a
signal to work harder at
recruiting qualified applicants
from a diversity of racial
backgrounds.
-TW Cook
Grad
Honored
Owen James Palmer, 25.
has been named the 1977-78
achlumberger Fellow in
Mathematics , it was
announced by R. O. Wells, Jr.
Chairman of the Department
of Mathematics here. Palmer's
fellowship is funded by the
Houston-based Schlumberger
Foundation.
Dr. Wells said Palmer is
beginning his second year of
graduate study at Rice. He was
the top student of the 1975-66
graduate class. Dr. Wells
added that Palmer is currently
preparing for his preliminary
exams toward his doctoral
degree in mathematics.
The Rice Thresher
Michelle Heard
'Kathryn Payne
Jill Gary
Marshall Welch
Marshall Welch
Nancy Falgout.
Matt Muller
Cissy Kraft
Charles Closman Pete Schwab
TW Cook
Greg Leroy
Editorial Staff
Editor
Summer Editor
Business Manager
Advertising Manager
Ass't Business Manager
Managing Editor
Associate Editor
Assistant Editor
Sports Editors
Head Photographer
Fine Arts Editor
Martha Ramos, Matt Wall,
Cissy Kraft, Michelle Heard
Production Staff Amy Brechin, Charles Closman, Phil
Parker, Roy Beller, Michelle Heard, Greg Leroy, Jill Gary
The Rice Thresher, the official student newspaper at Rice University since 1815, is
published weekly on Thursdays during the school year, except during examination
periods and holidays, by the students of Rice Univeristy, phone526-4791. Editorial and
Business offices are located on the second floor of the Rice Memorial Center, P.O. Box
1782, Houston, Texas 66001. Mail subscription rate, $19 per year, lite opinions
expressed herein are not necessarily those of anyone except the writer.
©Copyright, 1967 by The Rice Thresher. All Rights Reserved.
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Heard, Michelle. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 66, No. 1, Ed. 1 Friday, July 14, 1978, newspaper, July 14, 1978; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245373/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.