The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 71, No. 16, Ed. 1 Friday, January 20, 1984 Page: 1 of 24
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Rice to consider sections of athlete recruiting proposal
by Dave Collins
In light of last semester's flucry
of discussion concerning athletics
at Rice, an informal proposal has
finally emerged aimed at solving
the athletic/academic dilemma.
Dr. Linda Driskill, an associate
professor of English, put into
writing a "Proposal to Attract
Academically Qualified Athletes
and Encourage Academic
Achievement."
The proposal, dated December
18, 1983, is a culmination of
several different attempts that
began last November. As Driskill
informed the Thresher, "This was
not meant to be an official
proposal, but a 'talking paper.'The
idea came from Mark Bockeloh,
Dean Stebbings, and others. I was
just the one who could use the
word processor and put it all
together." Bockeloh is the current
academic advisor to Rice's
Dr. Linda Driskill —C. Clay
athletes.
The 13-page paper enumerates
goals and objectives for the
proposed program, then lists its
features: scholar awards, a
program to identify academic
talents and needs, a tutorial
resources project, an academic
fundamentals program, a mentor
system, the coordination of
academic advising and career
counseling, the coordination of
internship programs, an academic
summer program for high school
athletes, and an incentives
program for professors.
Further sections of the work
describe the operation and
administration of the program and
a schedule for implementation.
The actual program would begin in
the fall of 1984 with the inception
of the new academic advising
program.
The goals for the program are
listed as follows:
1. Facilitate recruitment of
academically qualified athletes;
2. Improve academic advising
for both athletes and non-athletes;
3. Improve the quality of
academic achievement among
athletes and other undergraduate
students;
4. Improve academic prepara-
tion of students admitted under
special admissions criteria;
5. Reward academic achieve-
ment;
6. Increase the number of
students who win academic awards
and graduate fellowships or
admission to professional schools;
7. Increase faculty involvement
in academic counseling of
individual students;
8. Ensure proper preparation for
careers;
9. Increase coordination among
counseling, career planning, and
academic programs;
10. Increase faculty commit-
ment to athletic programs;
11. Improve the public image of
the university.
The first step toward realizing
these goals, according to the paper,
is a scholarship for athletes
intending to pursue post-graduate
study. The proposal suggests
awarding $10,000 each for five
outstanding new students per year.
The total of $200,000 could come
from interested alumni and would
provide "a highly visible addition"
to Rice's existing scholarship
program.
"Visible" was not the description
from President Norman
Hackerman and Dean of
Undergraduate Affairs Ronald
Stebbings. "Some sections of the
proposal would infringe on NCAA
regulations," said Stebbings, "and
some would not give us a
competitive edge over schools in
the conference. They could
possibly imitate and supercede us
with their own programs,
especially a school like Texas,
which has a lot more money."
Though providing a scholarship
of $10,000 a year, which exceeds
see Stebbings, page 23
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1HRESHER
Volume 71, Number 16
Friday, January 20, 1984
INSIDE:
• Village Weingarten gets groced
out of business, p. 7.
• Intramural net scores and varsity
cross country results, p. 21.
• Debbie does This Week, p. 15.
'No sheltered courses,' say 205 professors at meeting
by David Friesenhahn
The specter of deteriorating
academic standards caused by a
willingness to tailor programs to
the needs of athletes stood
prominently in the minds of Rice
professors as they assembled at
their faculty meeting Tuesday in
the Chemistry Lecture Hall. At the
gathering, a petition opposing the
creation of "sheltered" courses for
athletes received overwhelming
approval. The petition will travel
to the Board of Governors next.
The petition, which had
circulated during the lull between
semesters, sported 205 signatures
before Bill Martin, professor of
sociology, presented it at the
meeting.
Although not stating it
explicitly, the petition was a direct
response to a statement released by
the Board of Governors in
September regarding the state of
athletics at Rice. In the message,
the Board maintained that
athletics constituted an integral
and crucial part of the university as
a whole and stated that high
priority should be given to
problems found in the various
programs..
In response to complaints about
the academic performance of
athletes, particularly football and
men's basketball players, the
Board expressed their belief that
athletes should receive access to a
more "practical" curriculum in the
Lawyer Bass to advise
Rice's future attorneys
by Mark Benningfield
Patricia M. Bass has been hired
to replace Psychology Professor
John Brelsford as the new pre-law
advisor. A lawyer currently
working on her M.A. and Ph.D. in
archeology museum studies at
Patricia Ban —P. Truzlnski
Rice, Bass has practiced law in
Washington, D.C., and in
Houston.
While completing law
studies at the University of
Houston, where she was a Law
Review editor, Bass published
work on the Thirteenth
Amendment and received the
Matthew Bender Award for
contributions to the Law Review.
Bass has also served as pre-law
advisor at the University of St.
Thomas.
Brelsford will leave the pre-law
faculty advisory position, having
served two semesters, to pursue
more research and teaching. He
began serving as pre-law advisor
when former Dean of Under-
graduate Affairs and pre-law
advisor Dr. Michael McEnany
became ill.
"Katherine Brown asked me to
do pre-law advising as a favor, so 1
took over as a fill-in until someone
appropriate came along,"
Brelsford said.
"Patty's law experience will be
quite useful. It's good that we have
a graduate student who has both a
student's perspective and law
qualifications," Brelsford
continued. "It's a real advantage
see New, page 7
future. The petition represented an
objection to the Board's
contentions. Those who signed the
petition viewed participation in
football at the level of competition
in the Southwest Conference "to
be, at most, an ancillary function
of the university."
The faculty pointed out that it
respects the role of physical
education and sports in promoting
undergraduate health and spirit.
Still, the statement recalled that
"the basic function that the
university serves in society is to
create and to assimilate
knowledge." The signers
committed themselves to an
opinion that intercollegiate
athletics "does little or nothing to
further these functions."
In addition, the group perceived
the governors' move toward a
more "practical" curriculum as a
thinly-veiled attempt to lower
academic standards for athletes.
The petition took the Board to task
for trying to create special
privileges for a select few. The
petition stated, "We do not believe
that special curricula or courses
should be introduced, nor special
Dr. Bill Martin —C. Clay
admissions standards maintained
for the k sake of the athletic
program.
After the reading of the petition,
no discussion was offered on the
statement's merit. President
Norman Hackerman then
immediately put the question
before the faculty, who
resoundingly approved the
message by a voice vote.
The approval of the petition did
not terminate discussion on the
subiect of athletics, however.
Professor of Physics Stephen
Baker quickly rose to offer a
motion which would require the
university's Admissions Commit-
tee to review and evaluate the
applications ol all candidates for
admission to Rice, including
athletes. The committee would,
then submit a report to the faculty
at the beginning of each academic
year.
Baker, saying he was
"flabbergasted" at some of the
university's admissions practices,
noted that the applications for
admission of scholarship athletes
are not currently reviewed by the
Admissions Committee. A report,
see Faculty, page 11
Birds arrive early, find cold reception
by Scheleen Johnson
January at Rice University
brings a new year, a new semester,
and an old problem — the birds.
Each year millions of migratory
birds end their southern flight in
the Houston area. The bountiful
supply of trees and lack of
predators make Rice a favorite
vacationing spot for the winged
visitors. Consequently, the campus
is left with some rather fowl
problems.
Physical Plant officials were
unavailable this week to describe
the processes for reducing the bird
problem, perhaps due to the time-
consuming project of removing the
inner branches from trees to
discourage nesting. Vice President
for Administration William Akers
provided some information about
the precautions that have been
taken in order to discourage the
birds from feeling "at home" on
The birds
campus and producing "white
rain."
When asked what the best
method is for dealing with the
animals, Akers replied, "Nothing
—P. Truzinski
really works." Physical Plant
employees have tried placing "wire
fingers" (spike and wire netting) on
the buildings in order to make it
see Physics), page 11
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Mitchell, Mark M. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 71, No. 16, Ed. 1 Friday, January 20, 1984, newspaper, January 20, 1984; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245548/m1/1/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.