The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 71, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, October 28, 1983 Page: 2 of 24
twenty four pages : ill. ; page 20 x 14 in.View a full description of this newspaper.
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Rice: University or Sports Franchise?
Last Friday the Faculty Club held a forum at Cohen House.
The topic under consideration was the role of intercollegiate
athletics at Rice. Students and reporters from the Thresher were
not allowed to attend the meeting. The Thresher has obtained a
transcript of the meeting, the following excerpts of which are
more eloquent than any editorial I could write:
PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS HAROLD E. RORSCHACH, JR:
Participation by Rice in Southwest Conference athletics today is
humiliating, degrading and corruptive...Rice cannot and should
not try to be competitive in Southwest Conference athletics.
DAVID LANE OF THE PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT: As
a faculty member who has always whole-heartedly supported the
honor system at Rice, I am concerned that this system is being
threatened by the behavior of a number of scholarship athletes.
This concern stems from a number of incidents involving my
department and others. The incidents range from organized
copying of exams to offices being broken into and exams stolen.
Low admissions requirements and the honor system are clearly
incompatible. As a first step towards remedying this problem, I
would suggest that no student be admitted to Rice unless he or she
passed an average of four solid academic courses a semester while
in high school. I just can't see how we can expect someone to pass
five courses here if he can't pass four in high school.
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VAULTING THE HEDGES by Mark Mitchell
Hackerman admits "a few exceptions" to admissions policy for athletes.
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT CHAIRMAN ALAN GROB: It
seems imperative that curricular decisions are made by the faculty
and not by the 'R' Association. Curricular solutions (to the
football problem) are ad hoc solutions and they are simply sops
thrown by the administration to those who are beating at the door
and demanding changes.
And, in fact, the commerce program, which is so late lamented,
was instituted in 1961 and the first class that participated in the
commerce program was the first class that did not go to a bowl
game. The date of the decline of the program essentially comes
from about that point. We had a dozen years of the commerce
program. And those years were losing years.
DR. STEPHEN ZEFF OF THE JONES SCHOOL OF
BUSINESS: I am very much concerned about the attempt of the
administration or the attempt of the Board of Governors
specifically to establish a few so-called "practical" courses in what
is said to be "business administration". I think if a few practical
courses were launched, it would make no practical difference.
And to suggest that it would do so to a prospective coach, or to
prospective athletes or to people who are here would be a gross
deception.
If these courses were open to all students they would flood in
and would cause the athletes to be at the bottom of the curve
anyway. These are the kinds of courses that tend to be found in the
weaker state universities and state colleges. And indeed, in the
evening business colleges. And I think one has to ask the question,
does Rice want to place itself in this class. I, for one, would vote
NO.
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The Rice Thresher, October 28, 1983, page 2
The concerted booing of Dr.
Hackerman by the Rice students
during the Homecoming
presentation last Saturday was an
accurate expression of recent
student mood. The chant, "Sack
the Hack," is indicative of the
student body's disgust with the
adminstration's decision to
re-emphasize athletics, "particu-
larly football."
As recently as a month ago, it
seemed that a 15-game losing
streak and the realities of
preprofessional Division I
athletics had finally gotten the
message across: Given the relative
size of our university and our
(purported) academic standards,
Rice is no longer in a position to
compete in Southwest Conference
football.
If our atrocious record was not
persuasive enough, the financial
incentives have also turned sour;
Rice football is not nearly as
profitable as it used to be and
funds could be better spent on less
committal and less expensive
sports.
With these conditions
prevailing, the 'R' Association
decided to take the "bold" move of
rejuvenating the athletic program,
emphasizing football above all
else. Waving their "generous"
checkbooks, the 'R' association is
attempting to reverse this
university's dedication to quality
education and dilute the quality of
the student body.
The atrocities do not end there.
Dr. Hackerman continues to
emasculate the Honor Council by
overturning its decisions and yet,
in the face of overwhelming
statistics, refuses to acknowlege
the problem he exacerbates. By
paying lip-service to improving the
academic integrity of Rice, and
supporting possible curriculum
changes for "scholarship" athletes,
President Hackerman is advo-
cating a duplicitous standard .
we should not tolerate.
Two years ago, over one-third of
the students found guilty of honor
code violations were scholarship
athletes, a highly disproportionate
amount, given the percentage of
athletes at Rice. Last year that
figure climbed close to 50 percent
and the administration has
responded by shutting its eyes
tighter and continuing to allow the
athletic department —Rice's most
powerful fiefdom— virtually
unlimited admissions privileges;
some 'scholarship' athletes do not
even take the SATs, much less go
through normal admissions
procedures!
The explanation behind this
infuriating situation is clear. A
small clique of wealthy alumni
(representing a small percentage of
the alumni) has decided that their
school's image has been tarnished
for too long and that things have
got to change and change now. (It
is beyond me how football
standings can evoke such heedless
emotions.) Disregarding faculty
and student opinion, and
apparently oblivious to the
realities of today's SWC, they have
reached into their pockets without
a thought towards Rice's academic
standards.
Financial generosity seems a
natural reaction to try and
preserve a tradition, but it cannot
and will not work with football
here at Rice. This reality must be
faced.
There is nothing "bold" or
"generous" about compromising
Rice's integrity. The recent
contribution tactics of the 'R'
Association may be acceptable for
the New York Yankees
organization, but we are not now,
and should not intend to be, a
preprofessional training camp no
matter what amount of glory it
see Vaulting, page 9
Mr-TV Christopher Ekren
Bl LR-: Edl,or
WJQTCU^ Todd A. Cornett
rtCEOnCK Business Manager
Dave Collins, Paul Havlak News Editors
Ian Hersey Fine Arts Editor
A1 Mathiowetz, Tony Soltero Sports Editors
Jeanne Cooper, Tom Morgan Senior Editors
Jay Grob Senior Editor
Robert P. Stoy Managing Editor
Mark Mitchell Associate Editor
John Krueger, Hal Wiedeman Back Page Editors
Jason Binford Advertising Manager
Chip Clay, Conrad Reining Photography Editors
Jay Grob Copy Editor
Contributing Staff
Assistant Editors.Robert Adams (Fine Arts), Bob Terry (News), Steve
' Mollenkamp (Sports)
Graphics Ian Hersey, Lynn Lytton
Contributing Editors A1 Eynon, Jonathan Berk
John Cunyus
News Staff Patty Cleary, David Friesenhahn, Scott
Snyder, Katherine Sugg, Rebecca Monroy,
Cheryl Smith, Scheleen Johnson, Brock Wagner,
James Greenlee HI, Melissa Durbin
Fine Arts Staff Harry Wade, Devorah Knaff,
Geoff Spradley, Michael Manson, Kathryn Tomasek,
Greg Holies, Theresa Brown, Carrie Blum,
Karin Murphy, Cheryl Smith
Sports Staff Sheri Rieke, Lisa Widner, John Lane,
Art Rabeau
Production Staff Jeanne Cooper, Robyn Klahr
Business Staff
Assistant Business Manager Susan Brown
Assistant Advertising Manager David Koralek
Circulation Jay Grob, Tom Morgan
Secretary Mark Benningfield
Subscriptions David Steffens
The Rice Thresher, the official student newspaper at Rice University since 1916. is published
each Friday during the school year, except during examination periods and holidays, by the
students of Rice University. Editorial and business offices are located on the second floor of the
Rice Memorial Center. P.O. Box 1892, Houston, Texas 77251. Telephone (713) 527-4801 or
527-4802. Advertising information available upon request Mail subscription rate: $20 00
domestic. $40.00 international, (via first class mail) The opinions expressed herein are not
necessarily those of anyone except the writer Obviously <-• q
® 1983, The Rice Thresher. All rights re^rved.
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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/m1/2/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.