The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 73, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, November 8, 1985 Page: 4 of 20
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THRESHING IT OUT
Violent deputies
should be banned
To the editor:
This letter is intended to be a
follow-up on the TCU goal-post
party for anyone who gives a
damn, probably not the Athletic
Department of this university.
The Athletic Department
expressed, in the October 25
Thresher, its "deep concern for
action which could result in injury
tp Rice students or spectators"and
stated, "we cannot codone actions
which could possible prove to be
injurious to persons attending our
games." Both of these statements
were made in the context of
students being clubbed by
goalposts. There is no mention of
concern for students being clubbed
by cops. Apparently, this is
because of the absence of such a
concern.
Anyone attending the Aggie or
Arkansas game could see Harris
County Deputy number 601
stationed on the sidelines. This is
the same deputy photographed in
the Thresher clubbing a student
and the same one who sent a
second student to the hospital. I
would imagine Deputy number
582, also identified in the Thresher
as a deputy who pummelled
students, is still employed by Rice
University.
If, as Mr. Moniaci of the
Athletic Departme; claims, the
policemen were given explicit
instructions to be only a visual
deterrent, to "back off if students
reached the goalposts, and
specifically not to use their clubs,
at least these two deputies should
be disciplined because they
followed none of these
instructions. In fact, they egged on
the students, jeering back at them
and daring them to come closer as
they gripped their nightsticks.
I am not asking that these
policemen have their badges taken
away. Not that I would complain.
But these cops, in flagrant
violation of the instructions of the
Athletic Department, battered the
very people the Athletic
Department is supposed to serve. I
think at the very least, if the
Athletic Department has any true
concern for the students, it would
no longer hire these two deputies
on the grounds that they "could
possibly prove injurious to persons
attending our games." They have
already proven themselves.
David M. Reitz
SRC '86
Sullivan censured
for moral viewpoint
To the editor:
Last week in the Thresher, Dan
Sullivan in effect morally
condemned the entire community
of Rice University in an
inconsiderate and irrelevant article
calling attention to our supposed
lack in ethical values. It is time that
we the 3,499 victims of such
slanderous insolence stood
PRUNING THE HEDGES
continued from page 2
must be made to appreciate the
urgency of abandoning apartheid
and entering negotiations with
black leaders, many of whom are
currently in jail or in exile. The
unwillingness of U.S. investors to
support, participate in, cooperate
with, or profit from that policy,
even indirectly, is a powerful tool
in making that point. ("Construct-
ive engagement," whatever it
entails, appears to have been
singularly ineffective in this
regard.) Whether Pretoria, in its
recalcitrance, will act in time, only
time itself will tell: however, we
would be remiss if we did not do
whatever we could to persuade
South African leaders of the
futility of delay.
Finally, among those who
oppose disinvestment and other
sanctions against South Africa, a
common refrain is that the
campaign is less than even-handed
in failing to target Soviet bloc
countries as well. The implication
is that supporters of these
measures are concerned only
about oppression from the right.
Nothing, however, could be
further from the truth. The fact is
that the U.S. already has hostile
relations with communist
countries; hence, there is little need
to discourage unseemly
friendliness toward those regimes.
The absence of disinvestment
campaigns and demonstrations at
Soviet consulates is simply a
reflection of the fact that the U.S.
public is sufficiently aware of the
nature of Soviet behavior and the
attendant atrocities. Nor is there
any prospect of reforming Soviet
behavior under the weight of
public opinion.
But with respect to South
Africa, the case is quite different.
Historically. U.S. relations with
The Rice Thresher, November
c?
South Africa have been extremely
cordial; indeed, prior to the Carter
administration, Pretoria received
precious little criticism from
Washington in spite of the
unconscionable oppression of 3 4
of its people. It is time for a
reassessment of that relationship
in light of current realities. Also,
although South Africa is only
putatively a democracy, public
opinion among the electorate does
play a role; hence, efforts to move
that opinion are not absurd, as
they are with respect to communist
nations. Perhaps the South
African government can be
pressured to accept peacefully
what is inevitable and just. At any
rate, it is certainly not the
proponents of such pressures who
lack even-handedness; rather, it is
those who, while heaping well-
deserved opprobrium upon
oppression from the left, are
chronically reluctant to hold their
own friends and allies to those
same standards of behavior.
In thinking about the question
of South Africa, finally, let us
recall the circumstances of the
birth of our own nation, and
remember the principles which
guided Thomas Jefferson's hand as
he drafted the instrument by which
the colonists declared themselves
free from the tyranny of another
unrepresentative government:
"We hold these Truths to be self-
evident, that all Men are created
equal, that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain
inalienable Rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty, and the
Pursuit of Happiness." We ought
never to become so pragmatic in
our politics as to lose sight of the
ideals embodied in these words.
Jack /.. Schriver is a graduate
student in the Philosophy
Department.
8, 1985, page 4
together and voiced our
annoyance with those who would
insult the integrity of so many fine
and upstanding young men and
women.
If we were to accept what
Sullivan claims as true, Rice
University, the bastion of
mediocrity and vice, will provide
an incredible challenge to our
poor, newly-inaugurated
President Rupp. In fact, the Board
of Governors must have had to
served by Rice University. Yet he is
quick to recognize that the
university should not require
students to take any "ethics
courses." I am relieved that we are
considered mature enough to
make this choice.
Sullivan then goes on to attack
an institution of which Rice
University is proud — the
residential colleges — for not
having the proper atmosphere for
instilling world-changing
"How does a top-notch university
devoted to academics and technical
learning go about filling the vital needs
of human morality and spirituality ?"
perform some miracle to attract
such an outstanding member of
society to guide such a sorry
collection of amoral intellectuals.
Dont you think that Dr. Rupp
accepted the presidency as a
position of honor and pride?
Sullivan would also have us
believe that a secular education
ought to provide more than this
great university already provides,
that moral and spiritual values are
key to makng a mark in this world,
and that our parents, churches,
and other institutions have been
unsuccessful in completing our
ethical education. This comple-
tion, insists Sullivan, must be
BLOOM COUNTY
morality, I assume, for he neglects
to explain what exactly is so
terrible about them.
The greatest oversight of all is
that in all his self-righteous
rhetoric, Sullivan never once offers
us our salvation. How does a top-
notch university devoted to
academics and technical learning
go about filling the vital needs of
human morality and spirituality?
(Rumors are that Shree Bagwan
Rajneesh is currently available,
among others.) What does he
suggest we do about our "horrible"
residential colleges? Are
fraternities a more wholesome
outlet for maturing adults? Should
single-sex living be reinstated
across the campus? Shall there be
curfews for the women once more?
If someone is going to rag about
the system, he ought to at least
point out workable solutions
instead of wandering around in the
realm of the abstract.
Furthermore, I am disheartened
to learn that man and society as a
whole, are, according to Sullivan,
being ripped into "useless shreds".
If this is true, then pessimistic
bitching in college newspapers will
obviously do no good. Perhaps
some positive support for stable
institutions in our society, like
Rice University, would be more
appropriate. But what person
could claim that evils are greater in
modern society than t hey have ever
been? Who could tell me what is
right and what is wrong? Who has
any right to label me as a person
lacking in values or spirit?
Granted, it is the right of anyone
to speak out in public forums
about anything they choose, yet I
am sick and tired of people who
continue to complain about the
immorality of society and suggest
that a certain set of values must be
used as a proper universal model.
While many conceptions of ethics
are universal and upheld by most
of humanity, morality is basically
an issue far too general and
unquantifiable for everyone to
agree upon one set of
characteristics. When there are so
see THRESHING IT OUT. page 18
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Snyder, Scott. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 73, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, November 8, 1985, newspaper, November 8, 1985; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245619/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.