The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 72, No. 19, Ed. 1 Friday, January 25, 1985 Page: 1 of 12
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Stebbings attempts to censor Will Rice porno flick
by Jana Sanchez
,aLate Tuesday afternoon.
Professor of Space Physics Robert
Haynes, master of Will Rice
College, informed Geoff Orsak,
president of Will Rice, that the
scheduled Thursday night showing
of the film Insatiable had been
banned by Vice President for
Undergraduate Affairs Ronald
Stebbings. Stebbings reversed this
decision on Wednesday.
Stebbings issued the order to
cancel the movie after receiving
complaints from two students of
Will Rice and under the
recommendation of an unnamed
Rice administrator.
The Will Rice Diet almost
unanimously approved the
showing of the film to raise money
to pay for a stolen college bicycle
for which Mike Scott had been
Ronald Stebbings —P. Truzinski
responsible.
Shortly after Orsak and Scott,
organizers of the presentation,
learned of its censorship, they
distributed two petitions to six of
the colleges.
Scott said that time limitations
prevented students from reaching
Brown and Jones before dinner
announcements that night.
One of the petitions circulated
said "we the undersigned disagree
with the university's action
concerning Will Rice College's
showing of Insatiable and wish to
have the film shown as scheduled."
The opposing petition stated
"we the undersigned agree with the
univesity's action concerning Will
Rice College's showing of
Insatiable."
Bill Braxton and another
student who declined to be
identified went to Stebbings to
explain why they felt the film
should not be shown at WRC.
They said that the views they
represented were only their own,
rather than the opinions of an
organized group.
Braxton cited ten reasons, which
were presented to Stebbings on
Tuesday, why Insatiable should be
censored.
He said that the movie would be
presented by his college, and
therefore he would be represented
by something he was morally
opposed to.
Another major complaint was
that this film would be degrading
to women, who make up over one-
third of Rice's student population.
Braxton also felt that the
presence of pornography on
campus might harm the
university's fund-raising activities.
Orsak stated that the complaints
of opponents were unfounded.
He claimed that the film should
not be offensive to opponents
because "they don't have to come"
to the showing.
Orsak, Scott and Braxton all
agreed that the Diet's only
consideration was that the film
would produce the money needed
to replace the stolen bicycle in a
quick and easy manner.
Carlos Herrera-Reyes, the
only member of the Diet
who dissented, stated that in his
opinion, members of the Diet did
not consider how showing the film
might tarnish the image of Will
Rice.
Herrera said that a porno-
graphic film was chosen because ot'
the possibility of great revenue.
According to Herrera the
college could charge persons $2 to
see the film. Because of the lou
cost of the film, the college would
make a net profit of approximately
seventy-five percent.
see Stebbings, page 4
1HRESHER
Volume 72, Number 19
Friday, January 25, 1985
INSIDE:
• Cwlnet to offer electronic
bulletin board, see page 5
• Big writing from a big Asian
subcontinent, see page 6.
• Owtook offers advice to
coaches, see page 8.
Fourth Ward decays without economic growth
by David Friesenhahn
The City of Houston must serve
as a catalyst for the commercial
development of Allen Parkway
Village if the area's decay is to be
halted. That was the consensus of a
panel of business and political
leaders who met to discuss the
future of the Fourth Ward on
Wednesday night.
Assembled by the Rice Design
Alliance, panel members included
Dick Bryant, senior vice president
of Cadillac Fairview Urban
Development, Robert Eurv,
president of Central Houston
Incorporated, George Greanias, a
Houston city councilman, and
John Hansen, president of John
Hansen Investment Builder.
The future of Allen Parkway
Village, the northern section of the
Fourth Ward, has generated much
controversy in recent years. Its
location near Houston's central
business district makes it a logical
area for further downtown
economic development. Yet,
opponents of such development
argue that it might displace the
ward's current residents, who are
predominantly lower-class blacks.
However, the panel members
agreed that, contrary to popular
opinion, the commercial
Admissions increase
by Tibor Roberts
The number of students
applying for admission to Rice
University has increased
significantly from last year, the
Office of Admissions announced.
The Office of Admissions
ordered what was expected to be
enough applications to last until
April (the transfer deadline), but
ran out by early December.
Director of Admissions Ron Moss
and his staff expect a bumper crop
of prospective freshmen to apply.
"We have an unofficial goal to
break three thousand this year,"
Moss said.
Early figures indicate that the
"goal" will be achieved with room
to spare. 2985 students applied last
year, so an increase of less than one
percent would put them over the
mark.
The admissions staff says that
early and interim applications are
up by forty to fifty applications
this year, a jump of between 6.5
and 8.2 percent above the 1984
figures.
However, Moss emphasized
that these figures could be
misleading, because regular-
decision applicants, as yet
uncounted, make up more than
three-quarters of the prospective
freshman pool.
In addition, applications
coming from students living in
states outside of Texas have once
again shown an increase in
number.
"About two-thirds [two
thousand] of our applicants were
from out-of-state last year,"
claimed one staffer, who further
stated that about the same
proportion was admitted. "In the
end, though, only 53 percent of our
enrolling applicants were out-of-
staters," she said.
Members of the staff noted the
difficulty in attracting as many
minority students to Rice as they
would like to.
They claim that Rice does not
use quotas. Since some schools do,
and furthermore, since they set
aside special financial aid packages
for minority students, "We don't
matriculate as many as we'd like
to," one staff member said.
Moss noted no major difference
in the staff's recruitment tactics
this year from last year.
"We will not sacrifice a personal
appeal," he said. He did point out
that mass mailings had become
increasingly important to all
schools in the last decade.
Despite the increase in the
number of applicants, the
see Academic, page 5
The Fourth Ward: still untouched by economic development. -P. Truzinski
development of the Fourth Ward not purchasing tracts of land. The
is not imminent.
According to Hansen, the
Houston real estate market is now
in the midst of a depression, a sign
that commercial developers are
Fourth Ward is no exception to
this trend, he said. Rapid business
growth in the area is therefore not
likely.
"What 1 find right now in the
real estate market is that there is
very little pressure to do anything,"
he said. "When you look at the
Fourth Ward there are an awful lot
of things which would have to
happen before opportunities
would present itself."
In addition, Eury rioted that the
fact that building in the area is
controversial also makes the
Fourth Ward less attractive to
potential developers.
Ironically, the absence ol
Fourth W a r d c o m m e r c i a 1
development in the near future will
cause the ward to evolve in ways
w hich are detrimental to the area's
current residents, the panel
members said.
According to Greanias. the
general poverty of ward residents
prevents them from maintaining
the area without outside capital
and leaves them at the mercy ot
absentee landlords who have no
interest in enhancing the ward's
quality of life.
Said Greanias, "The property in
the Fourth Ward is 95 percent
owned by people who do not live
there. The property is owned by
people who have no direct stake in
maintaining any commercial
activity in the Fourth Ward
Property owners are developing in
a negative sense they are
removing the buildings and
creating parking lots."
If this type of development
see City, page 5
Hoskins named Marshall scholar
by Cathy Shin
Roger Hoskins, an undergradu-
ate biochemistry major at Rice,
has been awarded a Marshall
Scholarship.
The grant will provide the Will
Rice College senior an opportunity
to study at the Medical Research
Council Laboratory of Molecular
Biology at Hill's Road for
Cambridge University in England
for two years.
Hoskins will be studying the
genes of nematode worms along
with John Sulston.
Funds for travel costs, tuition,
and a living allowance are included
in the scholarship.
These scholarships are offered
each year by the Marshall
Foundation to certain academical-
ly and intellectually outstanding
students in honor of former
Secretary of State. General George
Marshall.
The selection process for the
awards is extensive on both
university and national levels.
Hoskins and finalist David Park
(Baker) were selected from the
initial pool of applicants by a
committee of twelve Rice
professors who represented diverse
disciplines.
The two candidates participated
in several practice interviews
conducted by Directors of Student
Advising Susan Clark and Mark
Schied and Dean Ronald
Stebbings. They then were
see Marshall, page II
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Havlak, Paul. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 72, No. 19, Ed. 1 Friday, January 25, 1985, newspaper, January 25, 1985; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245581/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.