The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 73, No. 16, Ed. 1 Friday, November 22, 1985 Page: 2 of 20
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Time for decisions
Last Monday's Student Association Forum on South Africa
seemed to confuse and paralyze the SA Senate instead of helping
them to make a decision regarding disinvestment from
companies who do business in South Africa.
Since the Board has made a statement regarding the school's
investments in these companies, the S A has an obligation at least
to review that statement and to insure that it represents the
interests of the majority of students. But the SA has taken more
than a month to decide how it feels and has come near to
destroying itself in the process of trying to perform its duties.
Members of the SA have tried to ignore the issue and to pass
the buck during the past month but have succeeded only in
weakening an already inefficient student government. The SA
effectively destroys any sort of decision-making ability it has if it
decides to have a referendum on the issue, turning the group into
a custodial service that simply takes care of mindless paperwork
and a few student services.
Threats by Richardson College to pull out of the SA if a
decision is made on this issue are equally ludicrous. Regardless
of what individual colleges do or think, they are still a part of the
Rice student body — to pull out of the Student Association
means to withdraw from Rice, not an option for entire colleges,
some of whose members might not desire to make such a costly
apolitical statement.
Charles Duncan offered to speak to the Student Association
after the Board's statement was released, but only now has he
been asked to explain the Board's decision. Certainly, he
deserves that opportunity as what he says about the Board's
statement should be integral to an SA decision regardless of
whether it supports the Board; however, if the SA is truly a
governing body for Rice students, it must learn to act on, not
react to, the problems at hand.
— Scott Snyder
Raining on the parade
The Athletic Department has shown insensitivity towards the
choice of the student body in its decision concerning who will
represent Rice in the New Year's Day Cotton Bowl Parade,
though they felt they were acting in the best interest of the
university.
Thinking that Rice Homecoming elections are usually jokes.
Director of Operations Steve Moniaci invited a senior
cheerleader, Patty Nghiem, to represent Rice instead of
choosing the traditional Homecoming Queen that most other
SWC schools send to the parade. However, this year's winner of
the election, Mary Ann Leonard, is a serious representative, not
a refrigerator, a snake, or a college co-master, and she wants to
go to the Cotton Bowl.
All this puts the Athletic Department in a no-win situation.
Either they face the ire of many angry members of the student
body and uphold the commitment which they have already made
to Patty Nghiem or they break their word in order to appease
angry students and please Marv Ann Leonard.
In the future, the Athletic Department should honor the
student body's choice of a representative to the Cotton Bowl
Parade; however, if the election for Homecoming Queen is to be
taken seriously, it should be an SA election in which candidates
are nominated by turning in petitions, in which preferential
balloting is used to determine the candidate with a true majority,
in which ballot-stuffing is guarded against by SA election rules,
and in which the election does not degenerate into a petty inter-
college rivalry to see who can get the most students to vote.
This way, whether a refrigerator or a serious candidate wins,
he/she/it will be a legitimate representative of Rice — no
questions asked — and he/she/it can make us proud to be here.
— Scott Snyder
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NO MORE HEDGES/by David Friesenhahn
Republicans versus democracy
Conservative activist Grady
Gibbs, Richardson College
President Steve McLaughlin and
others like them have shown in
recent weeks that they love
democracy at Rice University so
much they are willing to destroy it
in order to protect it from itself.
The Student Association Senate
over the past month finally ended
years of dormancy by passing two
controversial items. It passed a
preliminary motion in October
which condemned the Rice Board
of Governors for investing in
companies doing business in South
Africa, a country which practices
apartheid. The Senate then
approved funding for the Central
American Peace Forum, a group
The attitudes and
actions McLaughlin
and Gibbs display
have placed the
existence of a
democratic
atmosphere at Rice
in jeopardy.
whose aim is to bring speakers to
campus to lecture on the political
problems of Latin America.
Both decisions brought strong
protests from the likes of
McLaughlin and Gibbs, as well as
their followers. McLaughlin,
speaking at the Senate meeting
prior to the passage of the South
African resolution, briefly
threatened to pull Richardson
College out of the Student
Association if a majority of the
senators agreed to condemn the
Board for its actions. And he has in
the weeks after the Senate's
decision openly questioned the
right of that governing body, of
which he is a member, to speak on
political issues for the student
body who elected them. Gibbs,
upset by the Senate's decision to
fund the Central American Peace
Forum, went to the forum's
see No more hedges, page 3
ON HONOR/by Greg LaBorde and Susan Lenamon
Full slate keeps Honor Council busy
As of November 18, the Honor
Council has dealt with eighteen
accusations. Five were dropped
and four are pending, three of
these indefinitely because the
accused are not presently
attending Rice university. The
following is a brief summary, by
case, of hearings and trials
conducted by the Honor Council
this semester.
Case number one: The professor
of a low level COMP class
submitted labs containing
identical code. The accused plead
guilty and received loss of credit
for the course and a one semester
suspension. His appeals to the
Honor Council and the Proctor
were denied.
Case number two: Four students
witnessed the accused copying
another student's paper during a
science exam last semester. The
accused was found guilty and
received loss of credit for the
course and a one semester
suspension. His appeals on the
verdict to the Honor Council, the
Proctor, and the President were
denied. His appeals on the penalty
to the Honor Council and the
Proctor were denied. He is
currently appealing to the
President.
Case number three: The
professor of a MASC course
submitted two similar tests from
last semester. Both students
entered pleas of not guilty. One
student was found guilty and
received loss of credit for the
course and a two semester
suspension. His appeals on the
verdict and the penalty to the
Honor Council and the Proctor
were denied.
Case number four: The
professor of a MASC course
submitted three similar tests last
semester. Two of the students were
tried at the end of last semester.
The third was tried this semester
and found not guilty.
Case number five: The grader of
a physics course submitted two
similar homework papers. Both
accused were found not guilty.
Case number six: A student
observed the accused copying
another student's math home-
work. The accused was found
guilty and received loss of credit
for the course. His appeal on the
penalty to the Honor Council was
denied.
Case number seven: The grader
of an engineering course turned in
a lab containing sections copied
from another student. The accused
plead guilty and received loss of
credit for the course and a one
semester suspension. His appeal of
the penalty to the Honor Council
was denied. He is presently
appealing to the Proctor.
Case number eight: The
professor of a PHED course found
similarities in the test papers and
pledged homeworks of five
students. Two are not enrolled this
semester. Two were tried and
found guilty, both receiving loss of
credit for the course and two
semesters of suspension. Both are
presently appealing to the Honor
Council.
Case number nine: A third
student in the accusation of case
number eight was found not guilty.
More detailed information
concerning these cases is on file in
the reserve room, in the upper left
hand corner of the bookshelf
behind the desk. Anyone may read
them.
As your elected representatives,
it is our responsibility to listen to
your suggestions, answer your
questions, consider your concerns,
and present them to the attention
of the entire Council if necessary.
If you have any questions, contact
an Honor Council member.
The Rice Thresher, November 22, 1985, page 2
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Snyder, Scott. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 73, No. 16, Ed. 1 Friday, November 22, 1985, newspaper, November 22, 1985; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245621/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.