The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 72, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, October 26, 1984 Page: 1 of 28
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Provost forms committee to examine distribution
by Thomas Gonzalez
An ad hoc committee that will
review and recommend courses
acceptable for distribution is being
formed by the Provost's Office in
response to recommendations
made by the Self-Study Panel on
Undergraduate Education and
passed by the Rice faculty last
spring.
Evidence presented by the panel
shows that many students do not
receive a broad education. A
majority of Rice faculty (75
percent) and students (54 percent)
surveyed believe that current
distribution requirements are not
adequate.
When formed, the Distribution
Review Board Committee will take
lists of courses, prepared by the
departments and approved and
submitted by their deans, and
decide which courses offer
students a thorough understand-
ing of areas lying outside of their
respective majors. Their proposals
will be forwarded to the Provost's
Office for final approval.
This re-evaluation of the
distribution requirements and the
concern about the findings of the
Self-Study, Provost William
Gordon points out, stems from the
opinions voiced during a
University Council meeting of
May 11, 1984. The council passed a
resolution stating, "The purpose of
distribution is to expose students
to disciplines outside their major;
for this reason, such courses
should provide exposure to
fundamentals in the field, be
representative of the discipline, be
accessible to non-majors, and
provide some balance of breadth
and depth."
The resolution, which the
faculty also approved, also set
forth what the council expects
from such distribution classes.
"Courses acceptable for
distribution," they said, "should
present material [that] is
representative of knowledge and
methods in the designated area and
should be taught bv faculty."
Although the committee lacks
the power to put its recommen-
dations into effect, its
decisions could have far-reaching
consequences. Certain courses,
which many people now take
specifically for distribution, could
be deemed unacceptable to fulfill
graduation requirements on the
basis of this committee's
recommendation.
Moreover, the committee urged
that courses for distribution be
made available in departments
that do not already offer courses.
Says the resolution, "In areas
where no courses are offered
deemed suitable for distribution by
the ad hoc committee [The
Distribution Requirements
Committee] appointed by the
President to review distribution
requirements, the committee, in
consultation with the appropriate
Dean, may require courses
accessible to non-majors and
without prerequisites be instituted
and offered on a regular basis."
Gordon says striking such an
educational balance is essential.
One should, he says "know
something more than how to
conjugate a verb."that is. a student
should have more that a technical
and rote mastery of the particular
subject studied.
The Provost's Office is now
searching for committee members.
The appointments should be
announced later this week or early
next week. Originally, both the
departments' and the deans' final
recommendations and the
members' appointments were
scheduled for October !5, 1985.
The Student Association will
approve the single student member
who will serve on the committee.
The deadline for application was
October 17. Internal Vice-
President of the Student
Association Alex Crooker is
interviewing the two candidates
who applied for the position
Crooker says he is "looking for
someone with experience and who
is enthusiastic about Rice." The
SA will announce its decision later
this week.
The committee's recommenda-
tions on acceptable courses are
scheduled to be submitted to
President Norman Hackerman on
December 1. Later, an unspecified
standing committee will be
charged with the annual review of
the distribution requirements to
keep them up to par with the
administration's and faculty's
philosophy on distribution.
WRESHER
Volume 72, Number 10
Friday. October 26, 1984
INSIDE:
• Take a break from reality,
read the editorial pages
• Juniors are wimps, Sheridan
runs alone, see page 4.
• No room for flightless
birds, see pages 3-5.
Rice seeks role in economic growth
by David Friesenhahn
Fostering creative relationships
between companies and university
researchers was the chief topic of
discussion at the Rice Memorial
Center Grand Hall on October 16
as business executives from 238 of
Texas' leading high-technoiogy
firms gathered for Rice's first
Conference on Industrial
Innovation.
The conference focused on ways
in which companies can better
make innovations in their product
lines and how universities,
specifically Rice, can help promote
economic development.
Although the university has long
had ties with private companies
and has performed industry-
related research, the conference
marked the first time that Rice has
courted business on such a large
scale and in such a dramatic
fashion.
After a welcome and
introductory remarks by President
Norman Hackerman and Dean
Francis Tuggle of the Jones School
of Business Administration, the stress.
executives listened to a lecture
presented by B.K. Amini.
President of Gulf Applied
Research, who explained ways for
businesses to innovate and to
exploit the university as a resource.
There was then a panel discussion
in which the deans ol Rice science-
and business-related schools
outlined the types of commercially
oriented research at which Rice
excells. The conference concluded
with an address, "The University
as a Corporate Resource,"
delivered by Frank McBee,
chairman of Transco Inc. oi
Austin. Texas
According to Hackerman. one
motive behind staging the
conference is that businessmen are
often ignorant of the benefits to be
gained from the type of research
that institutions such as Rice
Jones College air conditioner needs Rx
by Sarah Jordan
Earlier this month, the air
conditioning unit in the Jones
private dining room (PDR) broke
down. Repairing the unit cost
several hundred dollars, and was
charged to Jones'account at Food
and Housing. The breakdown
could be traced to a lack of
lubricant in the oil reservoir, which
made the bearing seize up. The
shaft continued moving, wearing
away the bearing, the bearing
housing, and finally working its
way into the unit itself. Because the
lubricant in the reservoir should
have been sufficient for four
months, it appears that lack of
preventive maintenance could
have been the cause of the
breakdown.
Said one employee at Physical
Plant, "These things happen all the
time. We've had the same thing
happen in Bonner Lab, in the
Chemistry building, in the
President's house, and in the
Resident Associate's room at
Jones."
Another worker added, "These
things wouldn't happen if more
PM were done." However. James
Kerneckei, who coordinates the
preventive maintenance program,
disagrees. "Anytime you have two
things that rotate, with# a thin
lubrication between the two, it will
eventually fail. Preventive
maintenance will only prolong the
time between failures. The unit at
Jones is twenty-seven years old."
Carl Romero, who supervises the
Air Conditioning department at
Physical Plant, said,"We had
already increased the size of the
reservoir, so that we could do PM's
every four months. We don't know
what happened, all at once it
wasn't adequate. It's a gravity flow
and it's hard to get to. Maybe the
flow became too much."
Romero went on to explain that
the bearing is a sleeve bearing,
which encases the shaft. It has
grooves on the inside, in which the
lubricant Hows. "The bearing was
old. Maybe the grooves just wore
out, in which case the oil would
have just come out either end and
been wasted." When asked how
long it would take a bearing to eat
through half an inch of steel and a
half inch of brass, he refered to Joe
Nagy, the foreman of the unit.
Nagv said, "It depends. I've seen
units in houses that haven't been
lubricated in ten. twelve years. On
the other hand, I put a brass
bearing in a unit and it was worn
though in two weeks." There
used to be separate PM crews at
Rice until about four or five years
ago, according to Ed Samfield,
Director of Physical Facilities.
Now, each division is in charge of
its own PM. "We find it's much
better to have supervisors of these
men trained in the same
discipline," he said. "Specialized
equipment needs specialists
working on it."
Hackerman said Rice has
traditionally concentrated on basic
research that does not have
immediate commercial uses. Said
Hackerman, "We have people
doing research in science and
engineering areas which would be
of interest to businesses for their
future rather than for the next
quarter."
see Commercial, page 9
All undergraduates who plan
to return must register their
course selections from
Tuesday, November 13 through
Friday, November 16. Students
who do not preregister and
return in January will be
charged a $25 fee. Instructions,
forms, and changes to the
course schedule will be
available in the colleges the
week of November 5.
- v,<„. ,,UKl y ^
Student directories late
by Paul Buenaflor
The 6000 copies of the 1984 Rice
University directory have failed to
arrive by the projected October 12
date of delivery. Student
Association External Vice-
President Neal Quimby blamed
the delay mainly on publishing
delays, and he now expects
delivery around November 1.
Production problems first arose
before registration. Quimby, who
is in charge of producing the
directory, submitted all available
materia 1 to Data National
Publishers, who is printing the
directory, long before Rice's
opening day. However, he was
unable to obtain student and
faculty telephone numbers from
the Registrar and the Campus
Business Office until after
registration.
Telephone numbers were
finalized and submitted by
September 20, and from there,
Quimby states. "It was all theirs. I
assumed that, by September 20.
everything was ready except the
names, but apparently I was
wrong."
Questions over previously
submitted information continued
to come in from the printers even
after September 20. This situation
raised suspicions by October 1 that
the book would be late. At that
point. Quimby recalls, "October 12
was given to me as the finishing
date by my Houston contact (Ron
Hamilton)." Quimby, in turn.
submitted that date to both the SA
and the Thresher, where he
announced the arrival date in its
September 28 issue.
The shipment did not arrive on
October 12, and Quimby called
again. The company assured him
of delivery by the beginning of
November. He says "I've been
guaranteed November 1 by both
my city contact and the publisher's
Philadelphia office."
Despite the reassurances.
Quimby is now somewhat
skeptical, and he adds that the
shipment's delivery by truck may
prolong the wait. Furthermore,
faculty directory information was
unavailable in data tape form, and
Quimby believes that the book
listing he submitted may have
slowed typesetters down, though
certainly not to this extent.
Data National, a Philadelphia-
based company, is publishing the
Rice directory for the first time.
They have offered to publish
directories for both Rice and the
Baylor College of Medicine free of
charge as part of a promotional
effort in the Southwest, and on the
condition that the publisher
benefits from all advertising. The
arrangement relieves the SA.
which has incurred publishing
debts in the past despite its $4000
annual directory budget. Those
funds are now free for other
projects.
At first. Vice President for
see Directories, page X
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Havlak, Paul. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 72, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, October 26, 1984, newspaper, October 26, 1984; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245572/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.