The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 66, No. 6, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 14, 1978 Page: 1 of 14
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The Rice Thresher
Volume LXVI, Number 6
Rice University, Houston, Texas
Thursday, September 14, 1978
Army ROTC: New Lease on Life
Jamie Strauss
At the end of last semester in
the final issue of the Thresher,
the future of the Army ROTC
program at Rice was left
uncertain. The U.S. Army's
final decision on whether to
continue the Rice program was
still undecided.
The Undersecretary of the
Army, Manpower and reserve
Affairs, came to Houston this
summer to speak with
President Hackerman and
Provost Vandiver. Under-
secretary Nelson looked at the
major problem at Rice: the lack
of enrollment of advanced
program students (those of
junior and senior status). This
enrollment situation exists
nationwide and in all classes,
but because Rice was below a
national quota the threat of
disassemblement was near.
Colonel Ronald Coffman
and his family have been
brought to Houston to head the
Rice program. This move by
the Army indicates an
understanding of Rice's
requirements. President
Hackerman said, "I think the
evidence is very strong that it is
the intent of the Army to
produce a strong ROTC
program at Rice." President
Hackerman also stated that he
had been told by Under-
secretary Nelson that the new
commander being sent to Rice
would be specially screened to
meet Rice's specific needs.
President Hackerman felt
that two main reasons
compelled the positive Army
interest and action towards the
Rice program. He thought,
first, that the quality of
commissioned students from
Rice had always been of a high
caliber and, second, that the
ratio of the number of ROTC
members to the total student
body is as high as anywhere in
the nation. He also pointed out
that dropping enrollment is
occuring in universities
throughout the nation.
The Army ROTC program
has been hurt by the limited
number of scholarships
available. This year only three
of the fourteen new freshmen
are on full scholarships.
'Recruitment has been a
challenge, but Major Robert
Duffy indicated that several
options are being discussed to
encourage members of the Rice
community to join the ROTC.
One option would be to allow
military science courses to be
counted as a P.E. substitute.
Another would be to increase
the credit of the courses from
six to eight hours. Also, vested
credit might become available
to students who decide to leave
the program. Now, only
commissioned students can
receive credit for military
courses.
A common misconception
about the ROTC is that it is a
military organization on par
with the Army in its
regimentation and demands.
The purpose of the ROTC
program is to provide trained
Tavistock Provokes Reaction
Kathryn Payne
Last weekend over sixty Rice
students experienced a three
day group relations conference,
aimed at studying the nature
and use of authority.
The conference was led by
members of the staff of the
Texas Center of the A.K. Rice
Institute, which uses the
Tavistock method to conduct
its conferences.
Unlike a leadership
workshop in which the learning
might have been well-defined,
the Tavistock conference was
open-minded. Each participant
left the conference with a
different experience. The
singularity of each person's
reaction to the conference
made the weekend extremely
valuable to some and relatively
unimportant to others. This
singularity of experience was
also the cause of the conference
being described differently by
each student.
Basically, the conference was
divided into two events, the
small group event and the
institutional event. Each
member of the conference was
placed in a small group with
about eight other persons,
some of whom he had probably
never seen before. A staff
consultant was present in the
room and interjected
comments when he felt the
group needed his consultation.
The groups met five times for
one-and-a-half hours and once
for one hour. In general, the
small groups discussed how
covert feelings influenced the
work of the group and how
authority was exercised in the
here and now. Often two or
more members of the group
came into conflict; sometimes
the whole group attempted to
dump its frustration on one
member who was felt to be
causing all the problems.
In order to mask the
differences or prevent conflicts,
the groups found they used
many methods which ranged
from changing the subject to
ignoring a potentially
important comment to
attacking the physical
appearance of the consultant or
a fellow student. Obviously, the
small groups were very
emotional experiences for most
of the participants.
the other major activity of
the conference was character-
ized by a less controlled
environment called the
institutional event. This part of
the conference allowed
students to study groups and
authority by forming their own
groups or by observing the
work of the staff.
Most of the groups were
concerned primarily with
interacting with the staff. A
large number of the partici-
pants, from one-third to one-
half of the total membership,
used the institutional event
sessions to study the staff and
the structure of the staff group.
Many groups were formed
which eventually dissolved;
only a few survived, but these
underwent major changes
during the course of the
conference.
The institutional event
seemed to deal mostly with the
rational workings of a group-
how its structure and
membership developed and
evolved over time.
One member of the
conference described the
Tavistock experience as "one
shock after another."
Undoubtedly the stress
involved set the group relations
conference apart from the
other, more controlled fortns of
learning which take place on
the Rice campus. Tavistock
was a personal awakening for
many of its participants, a time
for experimentation for others,
and a unique experience for all.
Participants called it
"fascinating", "frightening",
and "not anything like what I
expected."
Unlike last year's partici-
pants, most of this year's
members said they could see
that Tavistock would have a
tangible influence on their
leadership positions. More
than a personal experience, this
conference was expected to
affect many of its participants
in their roles in the colleges and
the university. The intangible
nature of the learning was the
most common criticism of the
c o n f er ence last year;
apparently this year's
conference was more successful
in effecting tangible results.
There seemed to be strong
support among the students
who attended that the
conference was a beneficial
form of learning and that
future conferences would be
well received.
people for the Army Reserve or
the National Guard. If a
commissioned tour of duty is
desired by any non-scholarship
person, he or she can compete
for a three year term of duty. Of
course, the scholarship
students are committed to serve
a four year Army term after
they accept a commission.
The Army ROTC also offers
an additional benefit: on-the-
job training in leadership. At
the end of four years, the
student will be an officer in the
U.S. Army or the ROTC can
offer graduate study opportu-
nities, including full medical
school scholarships at the
expense of the Army.
The fate of Rice's Army
ROTC program looks a lot
steadier than it did five months
ago. With the new blood of
Colonel Coffman and several
options to generate student
interest and goodwill towards
the program, optimism runs
high in the basement of Cent ral
Kitchen behind the Herman
Brown building where the
headquarters are located.
If anyone is interested in the
program or in the Army after
graduation, he should go down
to the Central Kitchen and talk
to Major Duffy or Captain
Adams. President Hackerman
summed up the way the ROTC
staff and the Rice administra-
tion feels about the program,
"The ROTC is an important
program. If for no other
reason, it is a good way to
maintain civilian interest in the
military."
Baker Bitten by
Bathroom Bacterium
Clint Hicks
Wednesday, September 6,
1978; a date which will live in
infamy. On that fateful day.
over 45 persons were stricken
with a mysterious ailment after
having eaten dinner in the
Baker Commons.
Common symptoms includ-
ed nausea, stomach cramps,
headached, chills, and fever.
The onset of the disease
occurred at different times
from individual to individual,
but by 10:00 p.m. a great many
persons were sick. Very early
the next morning several of
them were taken to the
Emergency Room at Hermann
Hospital.
Doctors examining those
brought to the hospital at first
diagnosed the illness as food
poisoning. However,
investigation failed to turn up
any common item among those
consumed by the various
victims. Futhermore, a
subsequent examination of the
food by Health officials did not
turn up any evidence of food
poisoning.
As the sickness slowly spread
to the other colleges, Health
officials turned away from the
food-poisoning theory and
sought another explanation. A
similar outbreak of sickness
occurred in Houston some six
weeks ago, and this led
inspectors to speculate that the
"Baker Bug" might be caused
by a bacterial or viral infection.
Details are sketchy at this
point, but sources indicate that
officials believe the Baker Bug
is in fact a bacterial infection,
possibly spread through the
bathrooms. Students would
thus be well advised to keep
their bathrooms clean and
disinfected.
Although the possibility of
food poisoning has been ruled
out by investigators, those who
were stricken are not so sure. A
number of their questions
remain unanswered. For
example, why did so many
Bakerites become ill only
minutes after dinner? Why is
there no evidence of the disease
being spread from person to
person? Indeed, why did some
become sick while others
remained well?
Then again, food poisoning
is not a good explanation,
either. A number of persons
ate the same foods the sick
people ate and weren't affected
at all.
Even now, over a week later,
there appears to be no
satisfactory explanation for the
Baker Bug. At this point, it
seems that there never will be.
It makes a person wonder:
What's to keep it from
happening again? and again?
and again ?
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Heard, Michelle Leigh. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 66, No. 6, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 14, 1978, newspaper, September 14, 1978; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245378/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.