The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 72, No. 1, Ed. 1 Monday, July 23, 1984 Page: 3 of 16
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THRESHING IT OUT
Alum says versatility
should be Rice's goal
To the Editor:
Watching the antics of members
in the Rice community this past
year has been a fascinating and
enlightening experience. The
debate over the direction to take in
the future has been hot, angry,
and, to an outsider, comical. Yes,
Texas and A&M are catching up
with us; they have already passed
us in many areas. However, the
defeatism running rampant behind
the hedges is more of a concern to
me than what our competition is
doing.
The Dallas Morning News
recently ran a feature story on Rice
concerning its transition. The
article quoted several students and
faculty members, the gist of which
is that Rice should concentrate on
academics and exit the athletic
arena (and the Southwest
Conference), and implied that we
should even more specifically
concentrate on the liberal arts (the
paper interviewed only liberal arts
professors — Klineberg and
Patten among others). Several
people agree with this course, even
though it means educational and
intellectual suicide.
The value of a total educational
program, one that is well versed in
liberal arts, engineering,
architecture, music, business, and
athletics is infinitely more valuable
to a student than any partial form
of education. One advantage Rice
has over Harvard and Yale is that a
liberal arts major gains experience
in dealing with engineers or
athletes, an advantage we would
lose without the other programs.
The resulting loss would drop us
into the second tier of good
universities, for try as we
might,Rice will never receive the
national attention that Harvard or
Yale receives, and we definitely
cannot match their intellectual
snobbery. Conversely, the athletes
and engineers find out what makes
a liberal arts major tick, something
they would never experience at a
Texas or an MIT. In addition, to
say that Rice does not want
athletes is to say to a Pat Hayden
[sic] (a Rhodes Scholar and former
quarterback of the Los Angeles
Rams, for those of you who don't
know), "No, we don't want your
kind." Rice would thus lose exactly
what it wants — the student-
athlete; an intelligent person who
is also gifted athletically —
because he or she could not gain
the recognition needed to insure
advancement in their chosen sport.
These are the negatives of
concentrating on one area and
letting the others wither. There are
also several positives in staying
with a multi-faceted program. Rice
adds an intellectual dimension to
the Southwest Conference, to
which the other schools try to
compete, some successfully.
Should we abandon the
Conference right when competi-
tion appears, or should we rise to
the challenge and strive to
maintain our lead over the other
schools? And furthermore, how
can we abandon some endeavors
when there is support within the
community for success in these
areas? To say that Rice cant
compete in the Southwest
Conference is to deny the success
of the job David Hall has done
with baseball and Tommy Suitts is
doing in basketball. Surely there
must be some support; otherwise
these coaches would not have had
any success. Should we not even let
Watson Brown have the same
chance to achieve success? Success
can only improve the stature of the
Conference overall, success which
would in turn reflect on Rice.
In closing, I can only reiterate
my stand that Rice should strive
for excellence in all areas of the
collegiate arena, not just one or
two narrow bands. And let us also
remember that while the stated
goal of higher education is to teach
people to think, thinking is only a
means to an end. The true end is in
solving a problem, and the
challenge now facing Rice is one
fraught with problems and stiff
competition. Let us tackle these
problems with the training given
us. The rewards make the
challenge all worthwhile.
Kal Silverberg
Wiess *3
Phillips still looks out
for fellow consumers
Dear Macintosh owners:
Please be informed that
upgrades of Macintosh software
will almost always be available
from outside dealers free of charge,
even if ICSA wants to bill us, as
with the MacWrite/Paint deal.
Upon hearing of updates, call these
people or even call me to see about
free updates. ... I got
MacWrite/Paint version l.lg
copied on free, three days before
my letter from ICSA arrived.
David Phillips
Wiess *85
ICSA should provide
free updates, he says
To the Director, ICSA:
The correspondence of 4 June
which I received from the "ICSA
Microcomputer Support Group"
was quite shocking, not because of
the announcement of upgraded
MacWrite/Paint software, but
rather due to your Ebeneezer
Scrooge approach to this
development in educational and
administrative computing. Why is
Rice charging students for
upgrading their disks while
traditional dealers are not?
It appears (both to me and to the
several Dallas area Apple dealers I
have called) either greedy or
absent-minded for the University
to seek a petty fee for this trivial
operation. Yes, the process will
involve labor cost, and I do believe
students should pay postage and
handling; however, it is very trite
to charge $2 for the basic act of
copying a disk — an act taking no
more than 3 minutes (30c at $6/ hr
wage) for a computer illiterate
(Disk Copy is totally self-
explanatory). Further, the number
of systems/students involved here
is so minor that the cost of free
copying could be underwritten in
your total budget.
In consideration of the software
lags we have had before, I feel that
few people will trust your offer
anyway. And once school starts, I
will offer to up-date free of charge
this and any other software in
student's possession that I have
had up-dated gratis myself.
David Phillips
Wiess 15
ICSA director Huston
explains $2 charge
Dear Mr. Phillips:
Because it is relevant to
answering your question, let me
briefly review the way sales of
microcomputers are handled at
Rice.
When Rice joined the Apple
University Consortium, significant
attention was given to selling the
available products to students,
faculty, and staff at the lowest
BLOOM COUNTY
possible price while protecting
Rice from all costs of sales. A
markup of 3.7% was adopted by
the Administration, possibly the
lowest among AUC members. This
markup is divided in some way
among the administrative offices
processing orders — President,
Administrative Supply, and
Cashier. The President's Office
arranged for Simtec to provide
warranty service (and other service
at an additional fee) for equipment
purchased under the agreement.
ICSA formed a Microcomputing
Support Group in anticipation of
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provide demonstrations,
consulting, and limited software
development projects for the
Macintosh and other computers,
although funding is still being
worked out at this time.
In May, Rice was informed by
Apple that an update to the
Macintosh Operating System*
and MacWrite®/MacPaint® was
available and would be distributed
by dealers, including AUC
members. Apple authorized
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The Rice Thresher, July 23, 1984, page 3
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Havlak, Paul. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 72, No. 1, Ed. 1 Monday, July 23, 1984, newspaper, July 23, 1984; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245563/m1/3/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.