The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 67, No. 24, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 14, 1980 Page: 2 of 24
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Cliches cloud debates
I attended after-dinner discussions of the coed conversion issue at
both Jones and Lovett last week. As I had expected, both were well-
attended, and as I had feared, both quickly became rather emotional.
Stereotypes are dangerous things: they are easy to form and
perpetuate, hard to discuss or disprove, and make complex issues
seem cut-and-dried. Worse, they usually fuel arguments which
preclude reasonable conversation. Unfortunately, there was no lack
of stereotyping at either meeting.
Coed colleges are neither sexual Utopias nor insular glass houses;
single-sex colleges are neither havens for social cripples nor
fraternity/sorority houses. However, overgeneralizations of this sort,
put forth by pro- and anti-conversion partisans alike, dominated both
of the meetings.
Let's consider one of these stereotypes — that "coed colleges are
insular." It is true that single-sex colleges must go outside themselves
for sexual interactions, and thus tend to be more visibly 'social,' but
this sort of interaction does not obviously represent a superior
personal life for single-sex college residents. In fact, the only truly
obvious thing about the clich6 is that "insularity" has become a
buzzword whose mere mention rouses debaters to slip into repetitive
rhetoric, and to slip out of more reasoned discussions about the real
differences between the coed and single-sex housing systems.
These differences lie in the day-to-day ways men and women
experience each other in their living environment. At coed colleges,
where men and women are not just visitors, or somebody's boyfriend
or girlfriend, or strangers on the make, these interactions are more
frequent, more ordinary, and more conducive to the formation of
long-term friendships across sexual lines. Coed housing — whatever
else it may be — really does foster different sorts of day-to-day social
interactions between men and women than does single-sex housing.
I am not convinced that either housing system is vastly better than
the other. I live in a single-sex college and like it. It works well. And I
am far from convinced that either system is anywhere near perfect. I
do prefer the coed arrangement, because I believe its benefits
outweigh its adverse effects by a greater margin than is the case for the
single-sex arrangement.
About the only thing I am really convinced of concerning the coed
issue is that if discussions continue as they have started — with
harsh character judgments of single-sex and coed college "types" and
with the seemingly holier-than-thou attitude of some pro-conversion
partisans — we may as well stop talking, because any decision we
make will be based on bad information, angry feelings and gut
responses — and nothing much of any good ever comes out of these
ways of thinking.
—Matt Muller
SHOOTIN' BLIND/by David Butler
"Duke, get back on page three
where you belong."
In a minute, boss. Just a couple
of things I wanted to say, this being
Valentine's Day and all that.
Even after five years in this
place, 1 don't think I've come to
terms with the myth of the Typical
Rice Girl or its new counterpart,
the Modern Rice Woman. And I
suspect I'm not alone. Most of the
time, this whole business of dating
and relationships is best seen with
20/20 hindsight—which doesn't
exactly do us a lot of good.
We go to Rice; we must be
smart, right? Yet the sort of book
learning, test-passing and general
over-achievement that tends to
mark new Rice folks often falls a
bit short when it comes to the
social category. We're supposed to
learn the things that will make us
educated men and women, ready
to assert our places in the job
market—yet the simple decision to
ask someone out for a cheap
dinner/movie/whatever date can
get the better of us. At least, some
of us.
It is written that Rice is the only
place where you have to bring a
date to the mixers. And the
situation isn't helped by a 60/40
ratio, or by a Carmelite policy of
locating half the women in a pair of
nunneries guarded by thousands of
vigilant grackles, or by the
mysterious and fierce urge to
inbreed that seems to exist among
the residents of the three coed
colleges.
Or so the local myths go. Life is
unfair, as Jimmy says. But Rice
folks obviously aren't the only
ones in the Young,Lonely Hearts
Club. The Ivy League schools have
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SPANNING THE HEDGES/by David Dow
only had women undergrads for
ten years, and they're still Learning
to Cope. Conventional wisdom at
Yale has it that the average
"intense relationship"—"affair"
sounds so tacky—is at least as
grueling as an extra course or two,
and there aren't any defined hours
or exams. As a result, a fair
number of folks, fearing that great
killer of young GPA's—hours
overload—stay in their shells,
timid and celibate.
Pity, that. Done the right way, a
relationship can—should—benefit
everybody involved, and keep your
psyche in good enough shape to
avoid the midterm gibble-gabbles.
But then, if cows could fly, Joyce
could save on freight costs and we
might still have steaks for dinner.
Right. And where does that
leave me at three in the morning?
Editorials are supposed to set up
neat and tidy problems, and pull
the solutions out of the
appropriate cubbyholes. But if I
could offer the Answers on Rice
relationships, I'd be writing a
syndicated advice column—or at
least, I'd have better company than
the office Selectric.
However, this is Valentine's
Day, and some kind words are in
order. The best advice I can offer is
one word: listen. It is also written
that people at Rice don't converse;
they have intersecting mono-
logues. That's one myth we could
stand to devalue. Love doesn't pop
out of the woodwork—but it's
probably there, somewhere, if you
take the time to listen for it.
Whoops, the saccharine alarm
just went off. You take over, boss;
I'll drop back a page before the
violins kick in. Good nifiht.
The Rice Thresher, February 14, 1980, page 2
Depressing tidbits of news
amass continuously. We come to
expect and don't really notice
them. Step back; look over the
world's mundane affairs: it is
depressing.
Garth Bates, a crook who once
judged crooks, applied for shock
probation last week. That means
prison scared him, and further
confinement is unnecessary.
Prison may not rehabilitate Bates;
it does protect society. Oh, he's not
much of a violent threat, but lots of
people familiar with Bates' name
might elect him to some important
office.
Speaking of high level crooks,
the FBI sting operations provide
the best ammunition I've ever
heard of to the folks who believe
politicians and dishonesty are one
in the same. National re-
presentatives, state officials, and
even the locals all got caught with
their hands where they do not
belong. The ACLU may harp
about entrapment, but for some
reason, the public officials'
unscrupulousness irks and
disillusions me a bit more than the
FBI's way of proving it. You do
have to admire the glibness of the
representative who claims that
actually he was investigating the
generous undercover FBI agents.
Ingenious, if it's not true.
Moving from the sophisticated
to the banal criminals, the New
Mexico prison uprising
emphasizes, once again, the need to
do something to reform the prison
system, even if it means just hiring
lots of guards like the New York
prisoner called "Tiny"; six foot
three, 375 pounds. The guy snaps
handcuffs, breaks leg irons, and
requires six helmeted guards to
transport him. He could keep
order. Too bad he's on evil's side.
So far, no concrete suggestions
on how to build prison guards into
Tinies. I do have some other
recommendations. Read The
Brethren. It tells the story of a
somewhat obtuse fellow
characterized by some scholars as
having a mediocre legal mind.
Unfortunately, the man is Chief
Justice Warren Burger. Bear in
mind that Burger once complained
that 50 percent of America's
lawyers are inept. If even Burger
thinks they are bad, pre-laws have
to worry about the quantity of
their competition, but certainly
not the quality.
Anyway, the draft may
interrupt some legal (among other)
careers. If you are serious about
resisting, and if you have not yet
called your travel agent*, there is a
national organization for you called
the Central Committee for
Conscientious Objectors. The
group registers draftable
Americans who morally oppose
serving in the armed forces. If you
are interested in contacting them,
drop a line to the Thresher.
George Kennan thinks our
energy problems cause, in large
part, the war atmosphere in
Washington. Maybe he is right, so
(it is appropriate I ask this on the
day of the Rice Energy
Conference) why don't we use an
infinite power source, solar
energy? Perhaps the reason
companies like Mobil label solar
advocates as idealistic dreamers
and lambast them for their
perverse affinity for the sun is that
oil companies do not — and
cannot — own the sun. Nobody
could rip-off the consumer.
Finally, I want to clarify a
couple of pestering issues. First,
women do not fight in the Israeli
army, but they may operate
technical equipment in the combat
zones, so they receive weapons
training just in case. Second, and
this has merited a response for
quite some time, despite Coach
Alborn's unilateral modification
of the admissions policy, Rice can
tell a boy "he's not smart enough to
go to Rice." Most students here
have chosen to go to an institution
which stresses academics. Those
not intelligent enough go
somewhere else. That's the way it
should be.
ib MATTHEW MULLER
^ Editor
lTW\rAl |Ff% JAY OLIPHANT
1EJDE.WUCD Business Manager
' Richard Dees Managing Editof
Carole Valentine Advertising Manager
Rolf Asphaug News Editor
Wayne Derrick Photography Editor
Franz Brotzen Fine Arts Editor
Steve Bailey Sports Editor
Bob Schwartz Back Page Editor
David Butler Senior Associate Editor.
Assistant Editors Geri Snider, Amy Grossman
News Staff Anita Gonzalez, Allison Foil.
Kathy Mitchell, Michael Trachtenberg, Bill Bonner, Sarah Herbert, R.B. Johnson,
Lela Smith, Adrienne Clark, Laura Rohwer, J.C. Puckett, Pat Campbell,
Eugene Domack, Ron Stutes, Rawslyn Ruffin, Augusta Barone, Russ Coleman.
Ken Klein, Tom McAlister, Robin Bannger
Fine Arts Staff Steve Sailer, Gary Cole,
Jim Fowler, Thomas Peck, Nicole Van Den Heuvel, Scott Solis, Carol Owen.
Thom Glidden, Gaye Gilbert, Amanda Lewis, Mehran Gouran. M. Bradford Moody,
Andy Hathcock. John Heaner
Sports Staff Donald Buckholt, Michelle Gillespie,
Norma Gonzales. Jean Hobart, Ken Klein, Cindy McCabe, Tami Ragosin.
Laura Rohwer, Byron Welch, Rich Whitney, Alison F. Whittemore
Science Staff Sue Taylor, Joel Breazeale.
Bob Skocpol, Debbie Wenkert, Margaret Schauerte, Greg Greenwell, Owen Wilson
Photography Staff Jay Bauerle, Robert Bohrer,
Buster Brown, T.W. Cook, Bruce Davies, Dingbat, Janie Harrison,
Bruce Kessler, Jeff McGee, Laura Rohwer, Wunderwood
Advertising Staff John Szalkowski
Production Staff John VanderPut, Gaye Gilbert.
Ann Betlcy, Laura Rohwer, Kelvin Thompson, Anita Gonzalez,Ruth Hillhouse,
Vikki Kaplan, Allison Foil, Dianne Fromc
Circulation Rob Rogers. Vikki Kaplan, Charjean Heard
The Rice Thresher, the official student newspaper at Rice University since 1916, is published
weekly on Thursdays during the school year, except during examination periods and holidays,
by the students of Rice University. Editorial and business offices are loeated on the second floor
of the Rice Memorial Center, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, TX 77001. Phone 527-4801 or 527-4802
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opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of anyone except the writer.
Obviously.
e Copyright 1980, The Rice Thresher. All rights reserved.
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Muller, Matthew. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 67, No. 24, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 14, 1980, newspaper, February 14, 1980; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245430/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.