The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 71, No. 22, Ed. 1 Friday, March 2, 1984 Page: 3 of 24
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BEYOND THE HEDGES by Frances Egler
MIT decides to
limit EE population
The Massachusetts Institute of
Technology's faculty has decided
to limit enrollment to their
department of electrical
engineering and computer science
(EECS), MIT's school paper The
Tech reported early last month.
The faculty rejected a proposal
recommended by MIT's Commit-
tee on Education Policy (CEP)
which would have required all
freshmen to submit a special
application and take an extra test if
they were thinking of majoring in
EECS, also known there as a
Course VI major. The faculty
voted at a special meeting to accept
the proposal of Professor Joel
Moses, head of the EECS
department. He proposed simply a
straight, across-the-board limit of
about 100 to 200 incoming
freshmen to Course VI.
Although some faculty members
insisted that high school students
do not know enough about the
subjects of electrical engineering
and computer science to make an
intelligent decision on the matter,
Dr. Moses'amendment still passed
by the needed two-thirds majority.
The CEP's proposal had two
main problems. First, it would
force the school to move away
from free selections of majors. If a
student was qualified but did not
do well on the EECS test, he might
be accepted, but only on the
condition that he not major in
Course VI. Second, another part
of the CEP's proposal stipulated
that freshmen undergo evaluation
at the end of their first year to see
whether they should continue in
the Course VI program. Faculty
members feared that this would
increase academic pressure during
the already overloaded freshman
year at MIT.
One other concern with this
proposal was that it would have
created a "two-class" system at
MIT, one group eligible for an
EECS major, one not.
MIT's EECS faculty all heartily
supported the proposal of its
chairman. Many have complained
of the danger of overcrowding the
department for quite a while —
even more so now because of the
explosion in computer technology.
Gerald L. Wilson, dean of the
school of engineering, said that
EECS classes may have to be
limited anyway. He also
complained that Course VI faculty
have no time to research or write
textbooks, and that the thesis
requirement in the major may have
to be eliminated because the
faculty cannot supervise so many
students.
The fate of incoming students
interested in EECS at MIT is still
unsure. CEP Chairman Arthur
Smith said he would present a new
proposal to the faculty sometime
later this month.
Is that molarity,
molality or morality?
According to Texas Tech's
University Daily, a resolution
before the university's Student
Senate will require teachers who
speak English as a second language
to take an oral as well as a written
exam before being hired to teach at
the school.
The resolution, sponsored by
student senator Allison Bennett,
was to be considered by the senate
last week. "As a senator, I think
that it is my responsibility to listen
to the complaints and gripes of the
students, and this is one that I hear
the most,'' Bennett said. "Often the
topic of the class is hard enough;
and when you can't understand the
teacher, it is even worse."
According to John Darling,
vice-president for academic
affairs, an oral test is already in
effect. He explained that when the
university hires a foreign-born
graduate teaching assistant, he or
she is required to pass an English
exam designed for those .who
speak it as a second language. If he
passes this test, the applicant is
required to participate in an
English training program at the
university. "If they do not pass the
training program and are not
approved by the director of that
program, then we do not hire
them," Darling said.
Darling added that full-time
instructors are not subjected to the
same fairly rigorous program
before employment but are closely
examined for English proficiency
and performance.
SMU unearths early
black film treasure
Time magazine reported last
week that Southern Methodist
University has recently acquired a
collection of films that has many
film historians ecstatic. Archivist
G. William Jones of SMU's
Southwest Film/Video Archives
recently procured for the
university a collection of black
films, stored years ago in a Tyler,
Texas, warehouse and forgotten.
The prints of about 20 "race
movies," as they are known,
include several "lost" films and
PEPPER by Lynn Lytton
AGAIN
Y I PPft/'T &CLi£v£ Yav WDEECtaNC
Y f sec, I'M a cm studbut
i to come
Kw/fTri this is rue rcse«o*cficenMUVcr
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AfeE REAUY AUEXIJ1 IF YW LlK£
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7ou ztfiult lou
GET im CA600X
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excellent prints of other movies
that will give film historians a
chance to view them more
carefully. Many existing prints of
these films are in very poor shape.
"Race movies," or small-time,
usually non-Hollywood, black
films, were made on incredible
shoe-string budgets (average cost
of approximately $20,000)
between 1920 and 1950. Film
experts consider this genre a great
way to learn and watch the "styles
BLOOM COUNTY
and manners, aspirations and
attitudes of black America" at the
time in which the films were made,
as Time critic Richard Schickel put
it.
The one problem with this genre
was that it was usually escapist fare
and reflected many stereotypes
that white America held (the
financing of these films was still
controlled by Hollywood), so
offensive caricatures such as the
domineering matriarch and the
5 m whip like
to bag a 'coon.
luke. or possum
mybe A Woop-
chuck, how wut
you, luke ?
ujunic itulya,
S IT'S weH
shown' crhttrs,
mvs' abner'
u/KC ?/ T excuse
Me...
\\\ AvA"0W
P5SST
POMMYf
SAY, p0rtn0y...p0es
the morality of
HUNTING WILP
HUNTERS em
PI5TUR3 you?
I'M 50m. GLORIA...
1 MNT OUT.
OUT..OUT. OUT-
before we eon my rim,
i think m 5h0ulp
PISCUSS THINGS,
since marriage is ,
autwtf a possibility,
5AUY...
\
nope! it's A
say luke... "rep-beluep
is THAT a sapsucker
yeu.ovi-TAiL.ep anp them's
pheasant" GOOP eatin'.'
OVER THERC ^
2222l
after me ws shoot, 5KIN
ANP out the bow of you,
we'u. &e tying you to me
fehper of our truck anp
taking you home 10 EAT NOW
then. how p0 you prefer to
36 prepartp ?.
m
5£6 ANY
i'm surprisep at you'
you know parnep tootin'
that without us. these wilp
hunters w0ulp OVERfVPUlATE
meir ecosystem in ho time .
anp then starvation... anp
pi5a5tep.'
face it, baby...that early,
exciting, gippy phase of
our relationship 15 past .
anp i wasn't meant for
this long-term stuff... i
WA5 born tv RUN, mby
run/ \
okay...
i'p like to make
some arrangemmts
about kips.
drunken, good-for-nothing, lazy
father are often repeated
throughout the films. The
Hollywood involvement also
forced, according to black
filmmaker William Greaves,
"content restrictions and
expectations." The hero and
heroine were always lighter-
skinned, the buffoons and villains
always darker-skinned.
Phyllis Kloutman, director of
see Beyond, page 9
by Berke Breathed
WHAT
WAS 7m?
I mm I
/
C <.st (Tfi
mow personally iv
just LOVE a couplc of
nice, plump, juicy rump
ROASTS... but then
there's always stew'
v\\ T l i
PARNEP TIMIP
VARMINT5, TH05E TRY YOUR
HUNTEXS. HUNTER
CALL .
YEAH... I LIKE T THINK
I WORK FOR THE LOVE
OF ALL WILP THINGS
HERE ON OOP 'S GREEN
EARTH
fAY w biom...
I'M MfOCATlUb!
po you mm how
1Mb we've known
6ach other ?
kips ?
YEAH. IV LIKE GOOP'
LOOKING KIPS I HATE
UGLY KIPS. SO IV
UKE YOU TO SIGN IMS
NAPKIN ANP PRINT
ABOVE IT ' Will PR0PIXE
CUTE KIPS ONLY."
A "fat'beluep
stogie
ww sucker"'
gooo anp them's
shot' g00p6ktin':
\ \
mta
of...of...
mmt/f zssi
to'
wn,
mm
m
mi UT6
W"
clr
> -y HERE
THEY
■\ COME'
/
BUT THAT PON T
W£A/V 1 STIU- PON'T
RELISH BLOWIN' THUR
BRAINS OUT ! .
\ OH ME
ntlthfr
:GA5Pf-
" >ack!\
00!
WHY
ihat'5
7m —
\
DON'T YOU LOOK
5h0ckw/rrne..
r KNOW ITS JU51
a mnw of
mmn(>tneiti6ni]
wwhs ohm.
i
The Rice Thresher, March 2, 1984, page 3
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Mitchell, Mark M. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 71, No. 22, Ed. 1 Friday, March 2, 1984, newspaper, March 2, 1984; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245554/m1/3/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.