The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, November 19, 1982 Page: 1 of 16
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-3
N
z College course to provide environmental issue action
i T
* J\ by Jeanne Cooper
• The Rice chapter of TexPIRG
«■*-/J (Texas Public Interest Research
i imfm- Group) and Hanszen College will
offer a course called "Toxic
Substances and the Public" next
semester. The one-hour credit
course will provide students with
an opportunity to learn about and
act on an important environmental
issue.
Dr. Patricia Reiff, chairperson
of the local Citizens Environmental
Coalition, will teach the class,
which can be used to fill free
elective requirements. A research
scientist in the space physics and
astronomy department, Reiff may
also be assisted by Drs. Warren
Wagget and Phil Bedient of the
department of environmental
science and engineering.
The syllabus places an emphasis
on policy questions concerning
toxic substances. TexPIRG
Chairman Marlon Boarnet
commented, "I think the course is
for anyone interested in policy
studies, sociology, environmental
issues, or anyone bored with just
studying who wants to affect and
effect something as well."
In the first four weeks, the class
will read two texts, the Galveston
Toxic Primer and the Sierra
Club/Environmental Protection
Agency Training Materials on
Toxic Substances: Tools for
Effective Action, for a basic
introduction to the issue. Students
will then study the history of
Houston disposal sites and
techniques, including health
hazards, for the next few weeks.
Marlon Boarnet —M. Gladu
The class will follow up the study
with two tours of disposal sites in
the area, both operating and
abandoned.
The course will spend a week on
airborne pollutants and ground
water contamination, with guest
lecturers from the the Houston
Toxic Substances Task Force and
the Texas Department of Water
Resources. The final weeks will
focus on environmental law,
covering topics such as common
law, federal acts, super fund and
pesticides. Architecture Lecturer
Jim Blackburn, an environmental
law expert, will give four
presentations on the subject.
Possible class projects include
running a survey on public
awareness of toxic dumping in
Houston, attending public
hearings, and writing congressmen
on particular issues. Commented
Boarnet, "I think the real
difference between this and other
courses is that it not only informs
students on how they could make
an impact, but also in the last few
weeks provides them with an
opportunity to make an impact
through some coursework."
Boarnet noted that the class,
which will meet for an hour one
night a week, will require as much
work as most one-hour
laboratories, with an emphasis on
student participation.
Interested students should sign
up now for the course in either the
Student Association Office or
Hanszen College Office. The
course is listed as Hans 248b,
department number 0008. Non-
Rice students may take the course
by paying an auditing fee as well as
registering.
EE
1HRESHER
Volume 70, Number 14
Friday, November 19, 1982
INSIDE:
•The greatest delight is to mark
one's enemy, prepare everything,
avenge oneself thoroughly, and
then go to sleep.
—Joseph Stalin
•God looks after fools, drunkards,
and the United States.
'The Campos owe me an apology,' says vindicated Berk
Review Board returns Berk case to UC
by Jeanne Cooper
The University Review Board
upheld University Court
Chairman Jay Barksdale's appeal
in the Jonathan Berk case
Monday. Barksdale had filed an
appeal after Proctor E. C. Holt
removed jurisdiction from the
University Court and reversed its
decision, finding Berk guilty of
disorderly conduct and resisting
arrest on the night of August 21.
University Review Board
Chairman Dr. Joan Boorman
notified Barksdale in a letter
Tuesday of the Board's decision.
"In effect, it said the University
Review Board upholds your
appeal arid finds that original
jurisdiction was lodged in the
University Court on the case of
Jonathan Berk," stated Boorman.
The University Court had
dismissed the case on September
28, following a four-week
investigation of the case by
Barksdale. Holt asked Barksdale
to rewrite his report; nevertheless,
after Barksdale complied Holt
took the case back on the grounds
that the University Court had
failed to take action in a
responsible period of time.
Commented Berk, "The Board
felt that the proctor was accepting
Jay's decision by making him
rewrite his brief. They (the Review
Board) couldn't hold Jay's sloppy
procedure against me."
Berk noted, "The Board only
marginally touched on the
material part of the case, but most
of them agreed the facts pointed
toward the fact that I was
innocent."
Berk also had submitted an
appeal to the University Review
Board on grounds of procedural
error, erroneous decision in view
of evidence and the imposition of
unusual penalties in Holt's
decision of November 3. Holt fined
Berk $50 and placed him on
permanent disciplinary probation,
thus excluding him from his
Honor Council elective position.
Holt had found Berk guilty of
disorderly conduct in the lobby of
Jones North after a late night
Freshman Week prank had
attracted Campus Police officers
to the scene. Holt further found
Berk guilty of resisti ng arrest. Berk
contends that witnesses concur
that he did not behave
provocatively, and that all
witnesses but the officers involved
The Rice football team waits patiently for more football helmets to be laid by
chicken-coach at recent game —M. Gladu
Gezllcher users appeal proctor's penalty
by Patty Cleary
Four Baker College members
involved in a gezilching incident
earlier this semester have
submitted a letter of appeal to the
University Review Board,
protesting the penalties imposed
Woman abducted on morning campus jog
by Bob Terry
Houston Police have arrested
three suspects and are holding a
fourth who turned himself in for
the kidnapping of a woman near
the Rice campus Sunday morning.
The victim was jogging by
Entrance 10 near Central Kitchen
about 7:30 a.m. when three men
puller her thrugh the hedges and
forced her into their car waiting
just inside the entrance. Driven to
a motel near Northwest Mall, she
managed to escape uninjured when
her abductors were trying to check
in. The woman, whose name was
not released, contacted several
citizens who called the police.
Campus Police happened to be
driving on the road by the Physical
Plant power facility at the time
when they saw the men loading
something unidentifiable into the
car. The suspects fled when
. , "*<—~T:
Abduction site Entrance 10 on Rice Blvd
—C. Reining
approached. The police pursued
but lost them on Sunset
Boulevard, at which time HPD
was contacted.
This is the first case of a
kidnapping from the Rice campus
tin recent memory, said Assistant
Police Chief Mary Voswinkel,
"though there has always been the
problem of harassment while one
solicitation of joggers from passing
autos." She stated, "For a while
one guy would run around and pull
down women's jogging shorts."
A rape in Lot P by Allen Center
last spring was the first such
incident in four years. "At that
time," said Voswinkel, "we offered
a service to pair students who
wanted an escort for safety while
jogging, but got no response."
The campos are still willing to
match joggers if there is an interest.
Both they and the Student Excort
Service, which works out of
Fondren Library at extension
3737, provide some 50 escorts per
week for medical and safety
reasons.
on them by Proctor E.C. Holt..
Each has been fined $100 and
placed on disciplinary probation
for the remainder of their Rice
careers.
The four students, who wish to
remain unidentified, were
apprehenued October 23, when
they used a large sling-shot to
project some small rubber balls
from the top of Baker College.
Several of the balls landed in the
yard of Will Rice College Master
Robert Haymes, who contacted
Baker Master Jeffrey Kurtzman to
complain. One of the students
explained that they then gave
Kurtzman the gezilcher and were
informed that Haymes would file a
complaint.
Although the students do not
deny their participation in the
affair, they claim that the
punishment assigned to them is too
harsh and without precedent.
"We're being made an example
at a time when the university is
stiffening up its regulations," said
one. The students' appeal is based
on Article VI, Section C, numbers
1 and 7 of the University Judicial
Code which discuss procedural
errors and the imposition of
penalties which diverge
significantly from those described
by regulations or indicated by
precedent.
The students feel their case was
mishandled as they did not receive
a copy of the charges against them.
Furthermore, they state that no
one discussed their rights with
them before their meeting with
Holt. Although the four could
have gone through the student
court, they chose to waive that
right in order to *get it over with as
soon as posible," as one said.
Holt referred to the Committee
of Masters for advice on the
possible penalties before
exercising his jurisdiction.
According to the letter received by
the students, the proctor states:
"Because this type of projectile-
launching has a high potential for
causing personal injury and
property damage and has been a
continuing problem in the past, 1
asked the Committee of the
Masters to consider what penalty
would be most appropriate to
deter this kind of violation in the
future."
Kurtzman agrees that the fine
and probation form a severe
penalty but remarked, "In general,
the masters, including myself,
want to see that kind of behavior
stopped. Although we recom-
mended probation, no time was
specified. The length of probation
is the proctor's decision and he
may have felt that long-term
probation was in the spirit of our
recommendations."
Since the gezilching incident, the
Committee of Masters has issued a
resolution concerning the matter
see Masters, page 6
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Morgan, Tom. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, November 19, 1982, newspaper, November 19, 1982; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245516/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.