The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 73, No. 12, Ed. 1 Friday, October 25, 1985 Page: 4 of 32
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THRESHING IT OUT
Thresher should block
illegal advertisement
To the editor:
Apart from the question of whether the
Honor Council ought or ought not to have
any special power to censor anything from
the pages of the Thresher (we think it ought
not), we see sufficient and compelling
reasons why the Thresher should decline to
run any further advertisements for Authors'
Research Services, Inc.
In the September 27 issue of the
Thresher, in response to a letter from George
Hampton, the paper stated its advertising
policy as follows: "The ethics of advertising
dictate that we can accept or reject any ad we
receive; however, only advertisements for
illegal practices are ethically improper."
This was reiterated in the October 11 issue
with "advertisements which promote illegal
practices" being deemed not proper for
publication. Given that this is the policy
under which the Thresher intends to
operate, we can see no justification for the
continued appearance of the"Writer's Block
Cured" ad, for adherence to your stated
policy would demand cancellation of the
contract with Authors' Research Services,
Inc.
The Thresher contends that the practices
promoted by Authors' Research Services,
Inc. are legal. This stand seems to reflect a
fundamental misunderstanding of the
nature of law and of legality. Surely if law is
anything, it is the set of restrictions on
absolute liberty that are placed upon
members of a given community by that
community. In all relevant respects, then,
the Honor System is as much a law for Rice
students as is an act of the Texas legislature
when one finds oneself within the borders of
this state. Indeed, a strong argument may
be made that the Honor System is actually
the more binding of the two because it exists
as an explicit social contract into which each
person at Rice has entered willingly. It
certainly is the case, therefore, that any
practices contrary to the Honor System will
be illegal within the context of the Rice
community and that ads promoting such
practices cannot within the realm of the
stated ethics be printed by an official
medium of this community.
The only argument open to the Thresher
then is that the practices promoted by the ad
in question are not contrary to the Honor
System. This is demonstrably false,
however. While the ad itself is fairly
innocuous, even a cursory look at the
catalog of Authors' Research Services, Inc.
reveals that the service's cure for writer's
block is to provide its client with a term
paper. The catalog describes the business of
the company as "research, analysis, writing,
thinking, composing. . . ."Does this sound
like a practice compatible with academic
honor? We think not.
We realize that the Thresher cannot
become fully knowlegeable about the
products and services of its potential
sponsors. We therefore do not condemn the
initial decision to accept the ad, even though
we have serious doubts about the propriety
of selecting from an external source even the
topic for one's research paper. What we do
protest is the reluctance to pull the ad after it
has been brought to the attention of the
Thresher that the business of the company is
the sale of papers, not merely lists of possible
topics. There is no doubt that Authors'
Research Services, Inc. exists through
trade in a practice opposed in every way to
the ethical standards of Rice. We urge the
Doonesbury
sal, have you con-
siperep the church
asa way of coming
to terms wtth some
of your problems?
-s f""V
Thresher to act in accordance with its stated
advertisement policy, for we find it
indefensible and most objectionable that the
student newspaper support itself through an
association with this firm.
Bradley W. Crook
Wiess '87
John L. Moses
Wiess '87
Kevin Redding
Wiess '87
Disinvesters should be
forced to pay for policy
To the editor:
In the past few weeks we have heard a
great deal about the issue of disinvestment,
especially from those students that believe
that Rice should not own stock in companies
that do business in South Africa. Before
trying to resolve this issue let's keep in mind
two very important issues:
1) The purpose of investing Rice's
endowment is to make it grow (or at least
keep up with inflation), so that Rice can
continue to provide a quality education for
relatively little money, and maintain the
university as financially viable.
2) Not every Rice student believes that
the present regime in South Africa is
necessarily worse than what would follow it
if, for example, a black or white marxist
dictatorship were to come next. Blacks
could turn out to be repressed even more
than they now are, not to mention the plight
that whites would have to endure. The point
is that there is no guarantee that U.S.
pressure on South Africa will necessarily
BY GARRY TRUDEAU
the 60p thing poesnt make it
for me, okay? look at what
religion's given us-inquisi-
tions, persecutions, "holy"
i just can't get into some:
macho gop wtth his own pri-
vate sense of justice that
permits him to slaughter the
you make him i just think
sound like heshoulp
pirty harry.
lighten up,
y'knoui?
/
pupe!
(fm
yeah, well, onp
of them sure
has seen stink-
ing upthe world.
who cares which
one? / cf
history is one long horror
show of wars, persecution,
anp human suffering in -
flictep by those acting in
the name of gop!
WHICH IS Evi
PENCE OF THE
FALLIBILITY OF
MAN, SAL, NOT
GOP
sal,the
church poesnt
claim to be
a perfect
institution.
uh-huh. have
him get in
touch when
he's ready
to part/.
\
sal,the
goop
thing,
man..
LORP WORKS
^TriiliSSL
my pews usep tv be
fill£p with kips like
you who askeq ques-
tions, who grappled
with their faith, who
leapexaminep
/ lives!
the campus today seems
to be fillep with either
buppin6 nihilists like
your brother or little
proips who just want
( tobefepthe
answers.
uh-huh. look,
rev, tm sorry,
but the car
pooes waiting-
oh, hey,
no problem
we'lltalk
later.
i gotta level with
you, mike, it's very,
very p/sheartening..
/
PI
lead to a more equitable government there if
the present regime is overturned.
In fact, the cruelty and repression
endured by blacks at the hands of blacks in
some other African nations indicates danger
in assuming that all will be great for blacks in
South Africa if they are allowed to rule
themselves.
The second point is very difficult to come
to agreement on, so 1 will try to ignore it in
the following discussion. The first point can
be solved very easily, though. Disinvestment
will presumably cost the university a certain
amount of money which may get passed on
to the students as an increase in tuition. If
those students who favor disinvestment are
willing to carry that extra burden by
themselves then I believe that they have the
right to ask for such a policy.
I object, however, to forcing others to
carry the financial burden of a policy in
which they do not believe. If the 10 percent,
50 percent, or 90 percent of students who are
so outraged by Rice's non-disinvestment
posture are not willing to put their money
where their mouth is, maybe they really are
not that outraged after all. A recent letter in
this newspaper claimed that the university's
decision came from a love of money, etc. If
money is so unimportant to those that favor
disinvestment, then let them show us.
This group might claim that it would be
"practically unworkable," or something like
that, only to hide their deep dislike of any
idea that does not force others to pay for
their world view. It is interesting to note
how this situation closely paralles the
"redistributionist paradox." Redistribution-
ists are always ready to give up some of their
wealth by taxation, increased transfer
payments, and so on, but not until everyone
is forced to do so. The paradox is that there
shouldn't be any wealthy redistributionists,
but there are (Teddy Kennedy, Jane Fonda
and a frightcningly long list of others). I
claim that it is not a fight for morality that is
being waged here, but a fight for control; a
simple power struggle in which a small
vociferous group tries to control a large,
relatively silent majority.
Putting everything that I have said aside,
it doesn't cease to amaze me how outraged
these students are at South Africa, while
leaving the Soviet Union untouched. A
black man in South Africa can practice his
religion with relative freedom. Not the right
of any man in the USSR. In the USSR, one
can get killed for attempting to escape (if one
is lucky), or sent to a psychological training
camp where after enough beatings and drug
treatments one is convinced of one's "love of
the state." Blacks in South Africa can own
property in some places, but no one can own
anything in the USSR. In South Africa a
minority of five million whites rules a
majority of 20 million blacks. In the USSR,
a minority of two million communist party
members rules a majority of 270 million.
I don't know about you, but I would
rather have the few rights of a black man in
South Africa than the nonexistent rights of a
Soviet citizen. In addition, South Africa is
making progress (albeit slowly perhaps) in
the right direction. The USSR is more
tyrannical with the passing of every year.
The Coca-Cola Company has a large
plant in the USSR. My outrage at the
Soviet's violations of human rights forces
me to propose that all Coke machines be
banned from the Rice campus.
Eduardo Guerra
Graduate Student
Rice is becoming boring
by losing its uniqueness
To the editor:
I've been a member of the Rice world for
over three years now. And, as all seniors
probably do at some time during their stay
here, I have lately spent some time
reflecting on what my Rice education
means. In doing this, I have become
aware of a trend at Rice over these three
years, and it is one which is disturbing. We
see Threshing it out, page 5
The Rice Thresher, October 25, 1985, page 4
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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/m1/4/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.