The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 73, No. 12, Ed. 1 Friday, October 25, 1985 Page: 2 of 32
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Posts should stay up
Both the athletic department and some members of the
student body failed to act in order to avert a confrontation
between students and Harris County Sheriffs Deputies guarding
the goalposts after the team's October 12 win over TCU.
The athletic department neither outlined a clear policy
regarding student postgame celebrations nor exhibited trust in
the students when they asked Houston Police officers to guard
the goalposts after the Lamar and TCU games. The very fact that
the policemen were there created a challenge for students instead
of acting as a deterrent. Despite the failure of athletic
department policy to create a visual deterrent at the Lamar
game, they persisted in following an unpublicized and confusing
policy for the TCU game. In fact, according to Steve Moniaci of
the Athletic Department, the Houston Police were supposed to
act as a visual deterrent only — not to use force in defending the
goalposts.
So why did the Houston Police start to use clubs in defense of
the goalposts despite their instructions from the athletic
department? Partly because that's the way they have been
trained to react when they are faced with large mobs of people.
And this is where some students failed to exercise responsibility.
Many Rice students tenaciously defend their freedoms, even
against large, armed policemen, but refuse to take the
responsibilities that come with these freedoms. This attitude is
destructive to Rice and to the students themselves because 1) we
can actually destroy those freedoms by forcing the
administration to take disciplinary actions that curtail those
same freedoms and 2) we infringe upon the freedoms of non-
offending students by failing to act with responsibility.
The athletic department met last Wednesday with members of
the Student Advisory Committee to discuss the goalpost
situation, and promised not to have policemen guarding the
goalposts. They also asked that students celebrate wins in non-
destructive ways and promised to try to have the players stay out
on the field for a short time after the game to receive
congratulations from the student body.
Of course, in return, the athletic department has requested
that we act responsibly after our next win, and because of
liability to the university and a concern for student safety, that
we not tear down the goalposts. If we enjoy the freedoms we
have, we should act responsibly to protect them.
—Scott Snyder
We need more money
Both the two dollar blanket tax increase for the Thresher and
the one dollar allotment for the University Blue should be
approved in Tuesday's election referendum.
The University Blue, the school literary magazine, has
survived for two years by scratching around for loans and
advertisements, and, because it is a useful creative outlet for Rice
students to display their literary abilities, deserves the support of
the student body. At this point, though it serves Rice's need for
such a publication the University Blue receives no financial
support from the student body.
The Thresher is asking tomorrow for a two dollar blanket tax
increase to insure the financial stability of the paper, to continue
to provide consistent features and coverage of events, and to
provide for future needs.
The current blanket tax has contributed in recent years to a
decreasing percentage of the Thresher's total budget, and this
has put extra pressure on our advertising revenue to meet those
financial needs. This means that we have to reserve more space in
each week's newspaper for advertising in order to make ends
meet.
And the more advertisements we are forced have in the paper
the fewer services we are able to provide. Our comic strips cost
money and take up advertising space, making them a double
liability financially. We were unable to have two comic strips
until we decided to have two issues per week, and even then we
lost almost $6000 on that experiment. Without a blanket tax
increase, we will be able to run only one comic strip.
Finally, the blanket tax increase is important to insure that the
Thresher is able to buy a new typesetting system within two
years. Our current system is already almost obsolete now. A new
system that would meet our basic needs would cost at least
$30,000 today, and after losing $11,000 last year, we have some
catching up to do.
All in all, both the blanket tax increase for the University Blue
and for the Thresher will be good investments which will yield
both immediate and long-term returns to the student body.
If anyone has further question on the Thresher blanket tax
increase or on current Thresher policy, the SA publications
committee and the Thresher are having a public forum Monday
night in Lovett commons at 7 pm to answer your questions.
— Scott Snyder
The Rice Thresher, October 25, 1985, page 2
GOT NTCAt. KNACK
FOR GENERMW6
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OPINION/by John Kriapp
No more experimentation needed
In the last two weeks our
football team has defeated two
Southwest Conference opponents,
broken two losing streaks and set
more than a few records. It was
unfortunate that more of us
couldn't be there to watch the Rice
Owls beat Texas Christian and
Texas Tech, because the two
victories could not have come at a
better time. They prove to
ourselves and to the rest of the
Conference that yes, Rice can
indeed.
Even those who felt that the win
over TCU was less than complete,
because that team had had seven
players suspended, would have a
hard time discounting the win over
Tech, who were favored over us by
fourteen points. In both games our
team played admirably. The daily
newspapers have enjoyed
mentioning the remarkable
defensive stand that held TCU at
our own three-yard line and left
our lead intact. And even though
Mark Comalander, who was
named Offensive Player of the
Week by the Associated Press for
his performance against TCU, was
injured early in last Saturday's
game against Tech, the Owls, with
Quentis Roper and Kerry Overton
as quarterbacks, overcame the
nation's third best passing defense
and, after James Hamrick's
breathtaking 57-yard field goal,
won a game that had Rice fans
back home jumping and yelling in
front of their television sets.
The team's success has been
aided by the unflagging support
that Rice students have been
showing for weeks. The short,
simple slogan that the Athletic
Department began using this
season has turned into a battle cry,
and the enthusiasm sparked by a
surging crowd of loyal fans roaring
"Yes Rice Can" is overwhelming.
Even following a disappointing
loss to the University of Texas, the
Rice student section maintained its
strong show of support, and the
spirits of the football team were
given a vital boost.
With the spectators demonstrat-
ing so much support, it is shameful
that the University administration
refuses to lend its share. It still
considers experimental not only
football but every sport at Rice,
and thus it harbors an attitude that
is both unwarranted and
detrimental to the University.
Recently, President George
Rupp was interviewed on KTRU
by staff members of the Thresher
and KTRU. When asked whether
he anticipated "a reevaluation of
Rice's participation in Division I
football," Dr. Rupp said, "We are
now in the midst of a multi-year
period that is governed by
commitments made before my
arrival. . . . The purpose of those
commitments is to test the
proposition whether a school like
Rice can maintain its academic
standards and also be competitive
in athletics in a conference like the
Southwest Conference, in
particular in football in the
Southwest Conference."
Dr. Rupp, like his predecessor,
Norman Hackerman, doubts that
our athletic program is compatible
with the academic goals of the
university. He therefore thinks it
necessary to place the program on
what is effectively a kind of
probation, whereby it must
succeed competitively or else be
eliminated. He is essentially
prolonging the frustration
initiated by Dr. Hackerman in
1971, when the latter declared the
entire athletic program
"experimental." Dr. Rupp himself
betrayed that fact when he equated
his nebulous "set of agreements"
with an "experiment" and when he
said, "It seems to me important
that we allow that test to run its
course."
To continue the experiment,
however, would only hinder
athletic success. The athletic
program must be taken seriously if
it is ever to be consistently good,
yet Dr. Rupp, by calling it an
experiment, is saying, in effect,
that he doubts its potential and,
consequently, that support for the
program is not forthcoming from
his administration. There is, after
all, a contradiction in terms
between the words "commitment"
and "experiment."There may have
been a set of agreements
concerning the athletic program,
but since they only confirmed its
experimental status, there were
never any commitments.
Furthermore, the proposition
questioning whether or not Rice
can compete athletically and still
strive for academic excellence has
an obvious answer: yes, Rice can.
Athletic Director Watson Brown
has said that better academic
performance leads directly to
better athletic performance. On
the other hand, Alan Grob, who is
Chairman of the Department of
English, once said, "Athletics has
virtually no academic returns."
But surely Dr. Grob will
remember, mens sana in corpore
sano: a sound mind in a sound
body. More of us ought to be
athletes.
In fact, Rice is now and always
has been athletically competitive
as well as academically superb.
Our basketball, volleyball, soccer,
tennis, track, cross country and
baseball teams are all on very good
footing both inside and outside the
Conference. The backbreaking
woes of the football team,
moreover, are only relatively
recent. Twenty years ago, the
"perennial doormat" of the
Southwest Conference was
Southern Methodist! Before 1971
there were 59 years in which Rice
played good ball; we have six
Conference championships to our
name, which is nothing less than
our fair share. It has been the
fourteen years since Dr.
Hackerman's rash proclamation
that have seen the Owls so often
stuffed into the cellar.
Our overall achievements,
though, are proof that the term
"student athlete" is not an
oxymoron. The football team has
emerged victorious three times this
season, thanks to the coaches, the
student athletes and the strong
support of many proud student
fans. The proposition that Rice
can be both athletically
competitive and academically
demanding has already been
proven for a long time. Further
see OPINION, page 6
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Snyder, Scott. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 73, No. 12, Ed. 1 Friday, October 25, 1985, newspaper, October 25, 1985; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245617/m1/2/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.