The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 67, No. 20, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 17, 1980 Page: 3 of 20
twenty pages : ill. ; page 20 x 14 in.View a full description of this newspaper.
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BEYOND THE HEDGES/by David Botler
Grade inflation is talked about
at some schools, but is practiced
vigorously at others. New reports
from Yale indicate that 77 percent
of the grades given to
undergraduates last spring were
A's or B's.
The report follows a poll of
undergraduates last year which
showed vigorous opposition to
adding plusses or minuses to letter
grades. Such a change, according
to students polled by the Yale
College Council, would increase
what they see as already heavy
academic pressure.
The figures reported in the Yale
Daily News show that 40.3 percent
of the grades given to
undergraduates were A's, while
37.3 percent were B's. News editor
Andy Perkins commented that to
most Yalies, "C is really a failing
grade; you don't want to get one if
you can help it." Still, despite the
fact that Yale now includes failing
grades on transcripts (a reversal of
policies implemented in the 60's),
Perkins notes that "I know very
few people who actually fail a
course."
***
Texas Tech medical researchers
are beginning field tests of a new
type of women's contraceptive
device estimated to be 95 percent
effective.
The collagen sponge, developed
by Dr. Wayne Heine of Tech and a
colleague from the University of
Arizona, is designed to be used in
the place of an IUD or a
diaphragm. The device is designed
to be inserted like a tampon, and
can remain in the body for up to
four weeks. Two variations are
being tested: the sponge itself,
which can be washed out and
reinserted after intercourse, and a
sponge soaked in spermicide,
designed to be used once and
thrown away.
Heine says that about 50
volunteers will be involved in the
pilot study at Tech over the next
six months; if successful, the
testing program will be expanded
to involve about 1000 patients at
different locations around the
country. He pointed out that since
the study is still in the experimental
stages, no guarantees of
effectiveness can be made at this
point. But if the pilot tests and later
field studies have positive results,
Heine estimates that the device
could be on the market within two
to three years.
Modest Proposal Department:
Former Minnesota senator and
Presidential candidate Eugene
McCarthy has an alternative to the
Chrysler bailout. His answer: give
the money to General Motors.
Writing in The New Republic,
McCarthy comments that the
Congressional debate on saving
Chrysler "never got much beyond
consideration of the narrow and
immediate issue of loss of
jobs...the broader issues of the
automobile and of American
culture were never seriously
discussed, nor was the more
limited question of the condition
of the auto industry itself."
Taking a leaf from former GM
president and defense secretary
Charles Wilson (most famous for
saying "what was good for our
country was good for General
Motors, and vice versa"),
McCarthy says a bailout of
Chrysler will be good for GM,
since it maintains the facade of a
competitive industry—but it
wouldn't be good for the country,
because an inefficient company
will be kept in operation. Giving
the money to Ford, which is also
losing money in its US and
Canadian operations, would make
Ford more competitive with
GM—which would be good for the
country, but not for GM.
Therefore, the GM "bailout"—
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which would "help move that
company to produce the kinds of
cars the country needs and should
have, and to make GM more
competitive with foreign
automobile manufacturers."
The taxpayers' cost of
subsidizing student loans shot up
sharply last year. The U.S. office
of Education reported to Congress
that loans made under the
Guaranteed Student Loan
program totaled $2.8 billion in the
fiscal year ending September 30,
up 55 percent from fiscal 1978.
The GSL program distributed
the money to a larger number of
students as well: the number of
loans increased by 400,000 last
year, to 1.4 million. The GSL
administrators suggest that the
loans—made by banks to students,
regardless of financial need—have
increased because of rising college
costs and inflation.
The Fighting Texas Aggie Band
will not be moving to Kuwait, after
all.
The Texas A&M Battalion
reports that a Kuwaiti oil
millionaress was so impressed by
the Aggies' performance during
the halftime of the A&M-Rice
game last November that she
offered to buy the band and take it
back to Kuwait with her. School
officials politely declined her offer,
and gave her an album of the
band's best-known tunes instead.
D00NESBUBY
J
hi, it's pick. uh-huh.
is he there he and
yet? joan just
? _ arrived.
I
joan says
you're a care-
taker, zeke.
that must b£
INTERESTING.
/
5OUMte
SOWHAIS /szEKE.ZEKe
HEUKE. gxzHHER HE'S
FROM ASPEN,
, -s COLORADO.
( 'rA/
a lot of people pont
appreoa7e custom!. u/ork,
but it's really very chal-
lenging. you gotta be
pretty sharp, mjknolu
ma, he's
QUITE.. QUFTE
SOMETHING
I DON'T WHAT ARE
u ii
i can imagine. bot
does it fay mjell-
enough for. you to
support both your-
self and joan?
/
think she you talk- |l |
likes me, ing about?
man. shf adores
\ you!
ml
oh, weil, mother!
i deal a stop being
little dope, so nosey'
too.
SO HOW LONG I GUESS
HAVE YOU BEEN ITS BEEN
A CARETAKER, A80UTTMEE
ZEKE? YEARS, MAN.
t /
SO ARE YOU
WO PLANNING IF THAT'S
TO STAY THE OKAY.
NIGHT?
HONEY?
rrsME
mom?
saw i'm
SO LATE. ARB
ZEKE AND JJ.
STILL HERE?
YE5, THEY'VE
STAYED OVER.
ZEKE'SONTHE
COUCH IN THE
DEN.
NO, NO, IT'S
JUST TEMPORARY
UNTILTHERJ6HT
OPPORTUNITY
COMES ALONG.
/
is it some-
thing you're
pursuing as
a career?
Y
OF COURSE, ITS OKAY. HONEY.
YOU CAN STAY UPSTAIRS IN
THE SPARE ROOM, AND IF
HE DOESN'T WW, ZEKE
CAN HAVE THE COUCH.
/
THAT ZEKE HAS myJu,
TO STAY DOWN- IUNDeR-
STAIRS T0NI6HT. srAfjn
I HOPE YOU'RE. \
NOTTOOAmY — X
WITH ME.
YOUR
IDEA?
IF IT WEREN'T,
UIOULDI STILL
BE UP LISTENING
FOR SQUEAKING
.FLOORBOARDS?
16CfT A GOOD JOB OFFER
WORK/NONA CONSTRUCVON
SITE IN DENVER RECENTLY,
BUT, OF COURSE, I HAD
10 TURN FT DOWN.
/
i'm too zeke's
you sensitive, a can-
had to? cer, 'mom.
WHY. IT'S
i THOUGHT mother,
THERE H/OUtWr PONT
BE ANY PROP- BE SO
l£M, MAN. DENSE.
\ /
W-THE unTuo
couch? mother..
comfy,
am 600P
nigh i, mom
baby. \
good
NIGHT,
ZEKE'
\
NIGHT,
YOU HAVE TO
lam's THIS? MEET ZEKE
hey, man,
yougota
beer.? i hello?
chn7 sleep.
YWRE
WHATEVER
BEFORE YOU
CAN TRULY
HAPPENS? TO
LETTING GO?
MY CONCERN.
The Rice Thresher, January 17, 1980, page 3
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Muller, Matthew. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 67, No. 20, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 17, 1980, newspaper, January 17, 1980; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245426/m1/3/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.