The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 71, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, October 28, 1983 Page: 1 of 24
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Concert deficits bring curtailment of RPC activities
by Scott Snyder
The Rice Program Council has
spent almost half of its $20,000
annual budget after losing $1497
on Sunday night's Kornog folk
concert, which around 30 people
attended. This has led the RPC to
cancel the third in its series of folk
concerts and renegotiate the
contract for the fourth.
After the first concert in the
series, featuring the band Silly
Wizard, lost over $1000, the RPC
administration began efforts to
cancel contracts with the last two
groups. RPC President Brian
Marek had signed the agreements
in violation of the Student
Association constitution, which
requires that three RPC members
sign such contracts.
However, cancelling both
concerts would still have cost the
RPC $2000. At its Tuesday
meeting the RPC reps voted
unanimously to cancel the third
concert, at an expense of $1000,
unless someone could be found to
take over the contract. The council
was split on the issue of the fourth
performance; they decided to go
ahead with the December 9 event
by an 8-6 margin.
Marek had told the council that
the University of Houston might
be interested in co-sponsoring the
appearance of Martin Carthy with
John Kirkpatrick and Howard
Evans on November 11. However,
RPC Secretary Randy Kirby told
the Thresher on Wednesday that
no such agreement was likely.
The November 11 event could
not be held in the RMC, said
Iwm
Sl#i
Randy Kirby
-Fox Photo
Kirby, because of a conflict with
Will Rice College Night. Staging
the performance in the WRC
commons as planned would attract
even fewer people and incur even
greater losses than the earlier
concerts, he estimated.
The RPC reached an agreement
with the fourth band, Dooglish,
Larsen and Sutherland, under
which they will receive $850
instead of the contracted $1000 fee.
The group will play as scheduled
on the last day of classes in the
RMC. This should enable the RPC
to avoid losing any more than the
$1000 it would take to cancel,
while having a concert to show for
the investment, Kirby explained.
The errors in planning have left
the RPC concert committee, with a
see Last page 8
1HRESHER
Volume 71, Number 10
Friday, October 28, 1983
Inside:
• Alborn claims new
curriculum needed, page 8.
• Thresher interviews
Bill Broyles, page 10.
• Owls crushed once
again, page 17.
Hackerman tries to calm faculty fears on sports
by Robert Ried
A vigorous discussion at the
monthly Rice faculty meeting
Tuesday centered on university
athletics, with President Norman
Hackerman responding to faculty
concerns about recently
announced program changes.
Hackerman attempted to clarify
changes announced two weeks ago
to the press, including his plan to
create certain "practicum" courses
— business lab courses — which
would be designed to teach basic
business knowledge. He claimed
that many students graduate from
Rice with "a clear lack of
understanding of how corpora-
tions function." The courses would
be open to all students.
Hackerman was vague as to the
distribution status of the courses
or which department might offer
them.
However, he was adamant in
stating that the courses would be
not be part of a "sheltered
program." "If anyone attempts to
introduce sheltered courses or
programs, I shall be dead set
against it," stated Hackerman.
Hackerman recalled the
commerce program, a special
business major phased out a
decade ago. He said that the
program was not "sequestered" —
that anyone could take the courses.
President Hackerman —C. Reining
However, Hackerman conceded
that no one but scholarship
athletes could get credit for the
classes.
Some faculty members have
expressed concern that the courses
in the "practicum" would be too
easy. Sociology Professor
Chandler Davidson requested, if a
proposal was made to change the
curriculum in order for athletes to
graduate in four years, that the
faculty vote on such a proposal.
According to Hackerman, that
would be normal procedure. It
would be up to the faculty to make
such a proposal to begin with, he
noted.
Hackerman announced that
staff changes would occur in
addition to the replacement of Ray
Alborn as head football coach.
The athletic advising staff "is a
place where considerable
improvement can be had," he said.
The university will hire a
development officer who will
actively solicit donations to the
athletic program. The university
currently has an athletic budget of
$3.5 million, operating at a deficit
of $850,000. The money to offset
this deficit comes, as usual, from
the general Rice budget.
This deficit is not due to
football, argued Hackerman. If
one does not take into account
tuition waivers, the program
brought in $100,000 over its cost
last year, he claimed.
Professor Neal Lane of physics
expressed concern that aggressive
fundraising explicitly for athletics
might reduce the amount of gifts
funding coming into Rice's general
fund. However, Vice President for
Administration William Akers
noted that programs such as one
with the Brown Foundation will
match even gifts restricted to a
specific department with an equal
amount of general purpose funds.
Faculty concerns about the
athletic program were numerous.
Dr. Albert Van Helden of the
history department announced,
"The faculty council decided to
write a formal letter to express its
concern over the athletic issue."
Physics Professor Stephen
Baker questioned Hackerman's
claim that no exceptions are made
for athletes in the admissions
process. Hackerman repeated his
assertion, only to be contradicted
by Dr. Alan Grob of English.
Students for whom English, core
science and other requirements are
waived must make up the courses.
This is not the case with
scholarship athletes, Grob said.
Hackerman admitted that there
are "a few exceptions" and added,
"There will be no diminution in
requirements for admission." He
cited grades of current athletes
which included approximately
equal numbers of Fs, 2's, and 3's.
with about a third as many 4's and
only a tenths as many 5's for
current seniors and somewhat
worse grades for current junior
and sophomore athletes.
Hackerman, however, was not
able to provide statistics from non-
athletes for comparison.
Concerning SAT scores,
Hackerman noted that there is no
minimum score required for
admission. He maintained that the
university makes only one or two
exceptions for scholarship athletes
with low scores.
One faculty member sharply
disagreed. Statistics show that 50
per cent of scholarship athletes
score below 900 on the SAT, he
claimed.
According to Grob, the Ricc
School of Architecture and the
see Hackerman. page 9
Literary review to provide new creative outlet for
by Bob Terry
An undergraduate group
describing itself as "a collection of
literary and visual arts enthusiasts"
has received a joint grant of $1600
from President Hackerman and
Dean of Humanities Allen
Matusow to establish a student
literary magazine. The magazine,
The University Blue, will begin
publication in spring 1984 and is
soliciting contributions from all
segments of the Rice community.
According to executive editor
Scott Flukinger, the magazine is
an idea whose time has come. "At a
university ranked with Harvard
and Stanford," he said, "it's
ridiculous not to have a strong
student literary publication."
Matusow agreed: "The need for
a literary magazine is self-evident.
The creative arts faculty has
expanded since I came here from
one sculptor to eight faculty
teaching in different areas,
including a poet and an author. I
see this as another opportunity for
the arts to flourish at Rice."
Flukinger emphasized that the
magazine is intended to add a
missing dimension to student life
by providing an outlet for cultural
activity. The newly-organized
editorial committee states in its
prospectus: "Except for the
readings of local authors and
poets, the semiannual Literary
Evenings sponsored by Richard-
son College, and the opinion pages
of the Thresher, Rice writers and
readers rarely encounter each
other or each other's works."
Five editors, a business manager
and a production manager,
working with their advisor.
English professor Alan Grob, hope
to present a successful free first
issue. They will then work to gain
permanent funding, either through
an endowment or a referendum for
SA blanket tax money. Ideally, the
publication will appear twice a
semester.
"It is our hope that The
University Blue will be an enduring
expression of the creative
imagination at Rice," Flukinger
said, "not merely a showcase for a
few 'elites,' but a reason to write,
an encouragement for literary
activity and a self-perpetuating
vehicle of thought, growth and
creative interaction."
The grant from the administra-
tion and the school of humanities,
according to Flukinger, was meant
to provide a financial base for a
trial period in which students may
Scott Flukinger
-C. Clay
secure sources of permanent
funding. The staff estimates that it
will take the entire initial budget to
produce one issue, based on
printers' estimates they have
received.
Several one-shot magazines
have gone by the way in the past
decade, noted Matusow, the last
one being in 1980. Also, the
colleges sporadically produce in-
house creative journals. Katherine
Eggert, associate editor of the
Blue, stated, "This is intended to
cut across college boundaries,
across 'SE-Academ' and other
divisions."
Eggert added, "We are very
idealistic, but for a reason. We
have talked for a year about all the
talent we see in need of this
opportunity."
Business manager Jeff Michel
observed, "It seems like an
especially good year for it with the
increase in student dramatic
productions."
"We're different from previous
attempts in that our whole
see The Blue, page 9
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Ekren, Christopher. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 71, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, October 28, 1983, newspaper, October 28, 1983; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245542/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.