The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 71, No. 20, Ed. 1 Friday, February 17, 1984 Page: 6 of 20
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Panel finds Rice's strong point still needs to improve
. , iv _ intpuritv hv a wcnnHnrv svctcm of whatever the standards have heen iiidee."
continued from page I
be more problematic, according to
the panel's findings. Declining
academic standards, coupled with
the passage of the baby boom
generation, will reduce the number
of exceptional students available
for the taking, and the competition
for the nation's best and brightest
students promises to grow keener
over the next few years as a result.
As a case in point, Grob
commented that the battle among
Texas schools for prospective
engineering students is becoming
fiercer, saying that the admissions
office "is very much afraid of
competition from A&M and UT."
He said that these schools have
gone to great lengths to snare
engineers. The University of Texas
at Austin, he pointed out, sends
letters to every National Merit
Scholar in the state and invites
these students to spend a weekend
at the Austin campus.
Texas A&M, Grob continued,
follows a current trend among
schools of offering hefty
scholarships to top students
regardless of need. While panel
members did not suggest
mimicking these efforts outright,
they did warn that getting good
engineering students may grow
more difficult.
The panel also found minorities
and liberal arts students in short
supply. When Lovett senior
Jeanne Cooper asked why the
panel's report failed to mention
minority recruiting, the panel
stated that a general consensus
existed that Rice was performing
satisfactorily in this area. The
panel admitted, however, that
there was considerable room for
improvement. Spraul explained
that "the competition is very tough
for top minority students" among
selective schools.
Grob said that the admission
staff is too small to target specific
groups of students. He added that
while a few universities, such as
Princeton, which have a relatively
high number of minorities, openly
state their commitment to
minority recruiting, some at Rice
felt that such a blatant statement
might smack of tokenism and
alienate some individuals.
The panel also believed that
Rice could stand a fresh infusion of
non-engineers. "I really do think
we need to have more breadth,"
said Grob. Professor of
Psychology Sarah Burnett
concurred, saying that Rice
remains science and engineering
oriented, which accounts for the
relatively small number of Rice
alumni making names for
themselves in government, writing,
and the arts. Buccheri attributed
this problem to a lack of publicity
aimed at potential liberal arts
students.
While insufficient resources are
simply a matter of dollars and
cents, the threat posed to Rice's
integrity by a secondary system of
admissions that caters to athletes is
a more deeply rooted problem that
can only be remedied by a change
in the present administration's
philosophy, many members
believed.
Spraul suggested that the
faculty's recent protest against the
present admissions system, in
which the applications of athletes
are not reviewed by the
Admissions Committee, resulted
from the feeling that a dual system
of admissions "had been
institutionalized without their
approval."
Grob said that there is no lack of
admissions standards; rather, he
said, "The problem is that
whatever the standards have been
there have been exceptions made."
The flaw in the present dual
system, he explained, is the
presence of an admissions policy
which is not conducive to future
academic success. Despite the
Athletic Department's protesta-
tions that it intends to find good
scholars, Grob said, they primarily
"want good athletes," whereas%e
Admissions Committee "wants
students who will succeed."
Grob conceded that Rice "really
wants to preserve a high degree of
subjectivity" in selecting students
with special talents. Still, Spraul
remarked, the panel "felt that the
admissions officer is in a better
position to look at the data and
judge.'
While the panel members did
not expect their reports to bring
about immediate changes, they
were hopeful that it might have
positive effects in the long run.
Said Buccheri, "External studies in
the end can apply some pressure. It
is a question of whether they think
the problem is of such a
magnitude," that they must act.
Grob predicted that the athletic
debate would remain a painful
thorn in the administration's side:
"In the end there is going to be a
continuing controversy, a lot of
finger-pointing, and the
administration is going to feel
uncomfortable because it is
wrong."
Morgan wins a year in France
by Dave Collins
Will Rice senior Tom Morgan,
notorious former editor of the
Thresher, has been named the first
recipient of the Clyde Ferguson
Bull Traveling Fellowship in
French. The annual award entitles
a French major graduating from
Rice to spend a year in France.
Morgan, who will graduate this
May with a Bachelor of Arts
degree in English, Spanish, and
French, will receive 57,500 to help
with traveling and living expenses.
The award stipulates that he spend
four to six months in Paris and the
remainder of the year in other
parts of France.
In fact, we'll even pay you more than $575 a month while you attend. That's
in addition to paying for your full tuition and required books and fees.
It's all part of the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program.
How does it work?
If you're selected for a Physician Scholarship-from the Army, Navy, or
Air Force-you're commissioned as an officer in the Reserve.
While you're in school, you'll serve 45 days a year on active duty, gaining
valuable medical experience. After graduation, you will serve three or more
years, the length depending on the requirements of the Sery je selected and
years of scholarship assistance received.
As an Armed Forces physician you'll receive officer's pay and benefits,
and enjoy the advantages of working regular hours. You'll also see a diversity
of patients and have opportunities to use sophisticated medical technology.
But most important, while you're in medical school we'll help pay the bills.
For more information, send in the coupon. There's no obligation whatsoever.
Yes, I am interested in receiving more information about an Armed Forces
Professions Scholarship. I understand there is no obligation.
Mail this coupon to:
Armed Forces Scholarships, PO. Box C1776, Huntington Station, NY 11746
Check up to three: □ ARMY □ NAVY □ AIR FORCE
Please Print All Information Clearly and Completely:
es Health^^J
9004
.□ Male L ] Female
Address .
City .
. State .
Area Code
College -
Date ol Graduation
| Field ot Study .
LThe information you voluntarily provide will be used tor recruiting purposes only. The more complete it is.
the better we can respond to your request (Authority; 10, USC 503)
The fellowship's foundation, in
the amount of 550,000, was
established last year by Miss Clyde
Bull, who graduated from Rice in
1923. '
To become a candidate for the
award, a student must submit an
Morgan has several projects
planned for the duration of his
sojourn. First, he intends to work
on the novel he currently has in
progress. "The novel is about the
Houston demimonde," he
explained carefully. "It fits best
with the concept of Bildungs-
roman — a young man, rather
bright, who grows up poor in
Houston and achieves fame and
fortune. It's a study in the rise to
and fall from grace." The central
character goes by the name
"Chicken," a satiric parallel to
John Updike's "Rabbit." Morgan
denied that the work has any
autobiographical significance.
In addition to writing, Morgan
hopes to study art history in
France for a semester. "I'm
investigating how I can enroll in a
university in Paris," he said.
Finally, as mandated by the
award, Morgan will send two
letters to the department of French
and Italian, due December 1,1984,
and March 1, 1985. According to
Morgan, these letters need not be
written in French, but they are
vital to his survival. The
department will give him half of
the $7,500 upon his departure,
deferring the other half until the
receipt of the December epistle.
Richardson College senior Greg
Smith was the first runner-up for
the scholarship.
id: a doc and a jock
A
Tom Morgan —P. Truziniki
application in essay form detailing
what he or she plans to do with the
money. "After living in Paris, I
plan particularly to travel to the
Loire valley, where all those big,
old houses are, and then the area
around Marseilles," Morgan
declared.
To augment the sum he will
receive from the department of
French and Italian, Morgan hopes
to find work as a fruit picker. Such
a job would satisfy his desire for
communion with laborers in other
lands.
continued from page I
that a dual standard for admission
is detrimental to the university,
Scheid responded that the action
represents a move away from the
dual standard.
"I'm pleased with the quality of
athletes being brought in," said
Scheid, referring in part to the
recruiting of high school football
players this year, as well as those
already at Rice. Scheid placed part
of the blame for the discrepancy
between the education of Rice's
scholarship athletes and the
remainder of its student body on
problems with advising. "It's not
that the advising has been
uniformly bad," he said, "but it has
been uneven. This is true of
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advising throughout the school,
not just for athletes."
Scheid received his Bachelor of
Arts in English in 1967 and his
doctorate in 1972, both from Rice.
Since then he has taught courses in
writing here and at TSU while
writing some on his own. His
experience with the athletic
program at Rice will aid him in his
tasks. Scheid played "lightweight
football" as an undergraduate, was
one of the founding members of
the Rice Rugby Club, and has
competed in many distance races.
He is best known as a co-author of
The Self-Coached Writer with
Australian Olympian runner A1
Lawrence and won an award for a
novel manuscript at a recent
Southwest Writers' Conference.
The Rice Thresher, February 17, 1984, page 6
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Mitchell, Mark M. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 71, No. 20, Ed. 1 Friday, February 17, 1984, newspaper, February 17, 1984; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245552/m1/6/?rotate=90: accessed July 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.