The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 25, Ed. 1 Friday, March 25, 1983 Page: 4 of 16
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THRESHING-IT-OUT
Davis differs on
South African racism
To the editor:
"Why pick on South Africa?"
Chris F.kren asks. Well, there are
several very good reasons; ones
that complacency has caused Mr.
Ekren to forget. The first is that in
a nation consisting of over 25
million, less than 20 percent are
guaranteed the right to vote, to
chose the political system under
which they are bound to live. Of
that 20 percent (consisting of
White English and Afrikaans
speakers and Coloreds), only the
Afrikaans have legislative and
executive control. English
speakers "westing power" from
the Afrikaaners is nothing more
than a myth, for the minimal,
superficial gains by the English
speakers are more, than balanced
by a strengthening and
enlargement of the Afrikanns
ultra-conservative party, outraged
that the government should make
any concessions at all.
As important to freedom as
suffrage is education, and here
again the government-controlled
system is, in varying degrees,
closed to Blacks. Without
education, there is little hope that
Blacks will have the intellectual
and administrative skills necessary
for successful revolution or
reconstruction. Repressive
education policies ensure that the
majority of Blacks are no more
qualified to govern than angry
children, and serve the double
purpose of eliciting such a
response as Mr. Ekren's that a
restrictive White government is
better than a free but unstable
Black one.
Although hardly humorous. I
hope Mr. Ekren was being
facetious in stating that "nobody is
starving in South Africa." He is
wrong. While rather simplistic, a
typical example of the abject"
poverty of the Blacks is the sight of
Black children, many Black
children, with distended stomachs
and rotting teeth begging in the
parking lots of fashionable
shopping malls.
Mr. Ekren, your complacency is
terrifying. Your attitude reflects
the growing sentiment that the
atrocities within the South African
system can be overlooked because
of its outward semblance of
stability. The list of horrors has
barely been touched on in this
letter. Indignity, police brutality,
injustice and corruption continue
the list, but by no means complete
it. As long as the Western world
continues to view South Africanas
a civilized ally rather than a
barbaric foe, the government will
implement its racist policies
unimpeded. It doesn't see the
inevitability of Black rule because
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it knows how "inconvenient" this
would be for the rest of the world.
And while racism is preferable to
equality, as reflected in your
attitude, White South Africa
stands strong.
Annette Davis, '86
South Africa, 1964-80
Trachtenberg ticked
over GPA editorial
To the editor:
Journalism at Rice has hit a new
low. Last week's editorial written
by Editor Jeanne Cooper is the
example. She blindly attacks
raising the minimum graduation
requirements from a 4 to a 3-, in
numbers on the 4.0 scale that is
from 1.17 to 1.67. This change
would have prevented four people
a year from graduating over the
last seven years.
Jeanne did you talk to anyone
on Examinations and Standing or
the University Council about it?
Dr. Walker chairman of EX and S
did not recall discussing it with
anyone from the Thresher. I asked
March 18. I think you saw what
looked like a threat to students and
cried, "Wolf." Jeanne that is not
journalism. Journalism is
informed reporting of events and
decisions and educated commen-
tary. The information regarding
the change came before the
University Council October 19. Ex
and S handled it before that. What
happened to the reports made at
the public Senate meetings? Did a
Thresher reporter miss something
or did an editor cut it out? Yes
Jeanne it appears the whole staff
blew this one.
I am surprised at the rapidly
deteriorating level of journalism
accepted by the Rice community.
Hopefully the future holds better
things. Jeanne, there is more to
being an editor than knowing how
to repair the typesetter.
Michael Trachtenberg
Undergraduate Member of
University Council
SRC *3
Honor Council asks for
constitution changes
Tolhe editor:
Tne Honor Council has
requested a referendum on
Tuesday, March 29, to make two
changes in the Honor System
Constitution which would help the
Council overafee our System more
efficiently. These proposed
changes are the result of a
realization within the Honor
Council that the Honor System
requires more attention than the
Council under the present
Constitution can give it.
We propose first a change to
Article VI of the Honor System
Constitution which would increase
the size of the Council by three
members. The Honor Council now
has 13 voting members — four
seniors, three juniors, two
sophomores, two fifth-year
Expert Typing
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students, and two graduate
students; the change we propose
would give the Council 16
members with the following class
representation: four seniors, three
juniors, three sophomores, one
fifth-year student, two graduate
students, and three at-large
members. In effect, the change
would increase sophomore
representation by one, and would
create three new "at-large"
positions. Any student, regardless
of classification, would be eligible
for these at-large positions.
This distribution of repre-
sentation seems the most effective,
for it allows the right mix of
continuity and change within the
Council. Also, it doesn't seem fair
to turn away candidates who
would make a contribution to the
System just on the basis of their
classification; the at-large
positions will provide a way for
these candidates to serve the
System. Moreover, the Council
must maintain representation
balance, and the proposed class
distribution would be more
realistic than the present
distribution. The number of fifth-
year students has been declining
steadily over the past few years, so
the representation on the Council
has become disproportionate to
their numbers. Finally, since few
seniors know they are returning as
fifth-year students until late in the
year,the Council always has a
problem recruiting candidates for
the two positions. The Council
feels the proposed distribution will
reflect the student body
composition more realistically
than the present distribution.
The most important point to
consider, though, is this: the
maintenance of the Honor System
has become a difficult task for a 13-
member Council. Through this
proposal, the Council is
responding to the findings of the
Ad Hoc Committee and to its own
realizations; to make the Honor
System more fair and and more
far-reaching will require more
extensive orientation, the ability to
handle cases more quickly, and the
capacity to handle a steadily
growing case-load. The proposed
increase in size will make these
improvements easier to achieve.
It is in this spirit of improvement
that the Honor Council makes a
second proposed change to its
constitution. Article IX provides
for four officers on the Honor
Council — chairman, vice-
chairman, secretary, and trial
clerk; the proposed change to
Article IX would create a new
office — internal vice-chairman.
The internal vice-chairman would
take over the organizational
responsibilities of the chairman
and the vice-chairman and would
allow those two officers to
concentrate on making long-range
improvements to the Honor
System. This proposal, and the
first one, will solve some of the
problems the Honor System has
now, and they will make it easier
for the Council to respond to
problems it will have in the future.
The Honor Council
Letters to the editor must be
submitted by 5 p.mf: the
preceding Monday to appearin
the Thresher on Friday. The
Thresher cannot guarantee
publication, and reserves the
right to edit letters. Suggested
length is 500 words.
The Rice Thresher, March 25, 1983, page 4
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Cooper, Jeanne. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 25, Ed. 1 Friday, March 25, 1983, newspaper, March 25, 1983; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245527/m1/4/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.