The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 71, No. 18, Ed. 1 Friday, February 3, 1984 Page: 2 of 48
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Was Halcyon a prophet?
Eighteen months ago, in one of my first sports sections, Joe
Halcyon wrote an article which could be considered a
harbinger of this year's flood of controversy over football. We
had just dropped our first three football games to USL, Tulane,
and LSU and the future was looking bleak. Halcyon showed
considerable prescience by mentioning some of the topics
which would receive so much attention a vear later, including
considerable prescience by mentioning some of the topics
which would receive so much attention a year later, including
Rice's lame and limited recruiting, the impracticalities of
continued Southwest Conference competition and nonexistent
admissions standards.
In the past year and a half, the Superdome has been filled for
a basketball tournament, the University of Houston has found
its coffers 'Jama-ed' full of revenue, college basketball has
received increasing television coverage and, most recently, the
Rice men's team has upset a major basketball power. In short,
basketball has proved itself to be a low-investment, high-return
sport.
This comes as nothing new to members of the Atlantic Coast,
Big East, and other conferences. Schools such as Virginia,
Duke, Marquette, DePaul, Villanova, Syracuse, and many
others have long relied on basketball as their major source of
athletic income. The rise of Houston as a major college
basketball power shows that the Southwest conference is ripe
for conversion.
With just a minor increment in the basketball budget Rice
could make a considerable splash in the SWC and provide the
community with a consistent winner. In basketball, three or
five scholarships can turn a team around; in football it would
take closer to thirty or forty. When one adds in the higher
coaching, equipment, and travel costs for football, the only
logical choice is basketball.
Another cogent argument for basketball as the focus of our
athletic endeavors is fan participation. The audience is much
more involved in a game in Autry Court than in Rice Stadium.
Fan participation becomes a reality and this benefits the entire
school. Finally, the size of the student body makes it more
reasonable to play in an arena the size of Autry Court. It will be
many decades before Rice students and alumni can even boast
a majority in our own stadium, but at present we can dominate
the chatter at a home basketball game.
If, as so many people and statistics seem to indicate, the
athletics controversy is primarily a matter of economics, and
the administration is really out to re-emphasize athletics,
perhaps we should concentrate on basketball. With the
conditions as favorable as they are right now, we should be able
to turn basketball into a winning proposition. ■
Given the Rice student's habit of reading the Thresher
starting with the backpage, I feel it is necessary to clarify the
origins of each weeks misclasses. In the past, editorial misclass
policy has been criticized as immature and irresponsible. The
inclusion of personal attacks, unsigned letters, lewd poetry,
overheard and mistaken phrases, and other assorted quips is
seen as a betrayal of purpose and even an abuse of power.
Although often in poor taste, the submissions to the backpage
are an expression of sorts by the Rice community and so
deserve our attention. The misclasses were not originally meant
to be taken seriously but have evolved to an influential and
popular mode of communication. As in the past, my editorial
policy will be to leave the makeup of the backpage completely
to the whims of the backpage editor, Hal Wiedeman. He draws
upon the submissions he receives and, as in last week's issue, an
occasional unsigned letter to the editor. I trust Hal to do a fine
job with his section, but please keep in mind that the quality of
the backpage is a student responsibility. (Misclasses may be
turned in to the Thresher office; there is no charge.)
—Mark Mitchell
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THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE HEDGES by Tom Morgan
OF COURSE HES (JUALIFIEP FOR A JUSTICE JOB,,. HES AN 0Lt>
FRIEND OF THE PRESIPfAITSi..
Do you like bureaucracy? As a
rule, I dislike bureaucracy. While
reading the Reader's Digest one
Sunday afternoon at my
grandmother's house, I discovered
this clever aphorism: Bureaucracy
is the crabgrass of democracy. Isn't
that quaint?
Do you like the Rice
bureaucracy? While I think that
the Rice bureaucracy is largely
benevolent, I have found some
annoying practices during my
several years here as an
undergraduate. Maybe you can
empathize with my complaints.
The Registrar's Office: I really
like the registrar's office. The
people there are warm and
friendly, and I think that Dr.
Williamson has made the
registrar's office more efficient.
But let me ask you this: why must
we continue the charade of having
advisors sign our registration
forms? How many people do you
know who actually seek their
advisor for a meaningless
signature in the last few hours
before registration ends?
Personally, my dear friend
Richard M. Nixon has signed
every one of my forms since I
entered the University. It is
ridiculous to continue this silly
practice of forging signatures for
the registration of courses that can
be changed anyway. After all,
when was the last time your
advisor gave you some legitimate
advice?
The Bookstore: I like the
bookstore. They sell lots of nice
books and things. I understand the
difficulty in ordering books for
classes when there is no pre-
registration. I also understand how
fickle Rice students are about
taking courses, dropping courses,
and adding courses. Rice students
change textbooks the way most
people change clothes. What I do
not like, however, is a certain lack
of trust. I recently decided to drop
a course, and I perforce returned
the textbooks. Naturally I did not
retain my register receipts. (Show
me someone who retains all of
their register receipts, and 111 show
you someone who will have ulcers
by age thirty.) I was forced to
produce a dropslip to prove that I
really did not want to read
Nietzsche. Why should I have to
produce a piece of paper that
shows that I cannot understand
Nietzsche? All they would have
had to do is to ask me what
alienation means. I also bought
two ball point pens that didn't
work.
Student Loan Collections
Office: I really love the fact that.
Rice was at one time willing to loan
me money. Unfortunately, they
want it back. Now. With interest. I
have tried to explain that I am still
a student, and, no, the Thresher
does not pay me to see bad movies.
To prove my status as a bad credit
risk, I had to ask the Registrar's
office to tell the Loan Collections
office that I am still a student and
thus a burden to society. 1 mean, I
don't even pay taxes.
The basic problem with
bureaucracy lies in its
dehumanizing process. People do
not matter; paper does. In a
community as small as Rice, I
think that a bit more trust and
compassion between the
administration and the student
body might result in a more
comfortable and creative learning
environment.
P.S. You will note that I did not
say "Gentle Reader" once in the
course of this column. One of our
better customers has complained
that "Gentle Reader" is an
annoying mannerism that would
be better left in the nineteenth
century. I would appreciate your
attitudes, pro or con, on this
matter.
Mark M. Mitchell
Editor
Todd A. Cornett
Business Manager
Dave Collins News Editor
Ian Hersey Fine Arts Editor
Tony Soltero Sports Editor
Hal Wiedeman Back Page Editor
Jeanne Cooper, Jay Grob Senior Editors
Tom Morgan, Chris Ekren Senior Editors
Jason Binford Advertising Manager
Robyn Klahr, Sarah Jordan Production Managers
Chip Clay Photography Editor
Copy Editor J*y Grob
Associate Editors Deborah It naff (Fine Arts), Paul Havlak
Assistant Editors Melissa Cox, Frances Egler, David
Friesenhahn (News), Ian Neath (Fine Arts),
Bob Terry (Copy), Steve Mollenkamp (Sports),
Pam Truzinski (Photography)
Graphics Ian Hersey, Martin Zillman, Lynn Lytton, Margot Wasz
Contributing Editors John Cunyus, A1 Eynon
News Staff Patty Cleary, Scott Snyder, Rebecca Monroy
Becky Basch, Cheryl Smith, Scheleen Johnson
Mark Benningfield, Brock Wagner, James Greenlee III
Melissa Durbin, Earl Peterson, Shelina Shariff
Patty Baron, Ian Davidson, Paul Havlak
Fine Arts Staff Harry Wade, Geoff Spradley, Michael Manson
Kathryn Tomasek, Greg Holies, Theresa Brown
Carrie Blum, Vincent W. Uher, Karin Murphy
Cheryl Smith, Wiggy Martin, Albert Throckmorton
Jennifer Cooper, David S. Teager, Kathleen Robertson
R. Michael Hunt, Gene Spears, Jennifer Juday
Noel Millea, John Knapp
Sports Staff Sheri Rieke, Art Rabeau, Howard Gerwin
A1 Mathiowetz, Ben Giele, Paul deFigueiredo
Production Staff Jeanne Cooper
Susan Balagna, Melissa Durbin
Business Staff
Assistant Business Manager Susan Brown
Assistant Advertising Manager Bev Blackwood
Advertising Consultant Dave Koralek
Circulation Jay Grob, Tom Morgan
Student Staff Assistant Mark Benningfield
Subscription Manager David Steffens
Tke Rlct Tkrakir, the official student newipaper 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 772J1.
Telephone (713)327-4801 or 527-4802. Advertising information available upon request.
Mail subscrioption mte: $20.00 domestic, $40.00 international, (via first dass mail). The
opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of anyone except the writer. Obviously.
*1984, The Rice Thresher. All rights reserved.
The Rice Thresher, February 3, 1984, page 2
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Mitchell, Mark M. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 71, No. 18, Ed. 1 Friday, February 3, 1984, newspaper, February 3, 1984; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245550/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.