The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 75, No. 27, Ed. 1 Friday, April 22, 1988 Page: 2 of 20
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2 Friday. April 22,1988 THRESHER Opinion
Pay not only issue (
In the last year and a half, several events have begun to direct
attention toward the situation of women atRice, where men outnumber
women by an approximately 3:2 ratio. Last spring, the university
formed the Commission on Women. This spring, students have laid the
groundwork for the Rice Women's Alliance, a support group that will
apply for recognition by the Student Association next fall. Last Friday,
English Professor Jane Chance filed a suit alleging sex-based salary
discrimination. Whether or not it turns out that there are discrepancies
between pay for male and female faculty members, it is obvious that
women on campus are concerned about the way they are treated.
A few months ago, if someone asked me if I thought sex discrimina-
tion was a big problem at Rice, I probably would have laughed. Asked
the same question today, I might answer differently. Frequently, dis-
crimination does not show itself in obvious ways—and sometimes,
even the victims aren't even aware of it.
Before the issue of a minority affairs office was debated last fall, for
example, many students probably would not have said there was a racial
problem at Rice; few of them would have considered any of their
actions racist Assuming that a student is an athlete because he or she
is black may not seem racist, but it does reveal prejudice, and suggests
that a student is not capable of attending Rice for academic reasons.
Everybody frequently shows insensitivity toward others. Students
under pressure may feel that their peers are unsympathetic, that there is
not much worth living for. Others may retaliate for a* read bad inten-
tions into unintentional actions or remarks. Seemingly innocuous
actions may be sexist, or racist, or just plain unfeeling.
Intolerance often appears where it is least expected. An open-minded
evaluation of the way women are treated at Rice is long overdue. It is
unfortunate that it takes a lawsuit to wake the campus to its problems.
It would be more unfortunate if the Rice community does not take it
seriously and use the concerns raised to examine some of the attitudes
that seem commonplace but may be harmful.
—Michile Wucker
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Praise for the unsung
Committing to long hours once a week for low pay, little thanks, and
lots of headaches is what the Thresher staff calls "fun." Fun is waiting
for the New York Times to arrive at 4 a.m. so you can write an editorial
about a story you heard on the radio. Fun is making a donut run only to
discover that you got there after the good donuts ran out, and before the
next day's donuts are ready. Fun is discovering that donut shops make
a batch when bars close at 2 a.m. Fun is realizing that the buses aren't
running late—they've already started the next day's run. But we can't
complain this year, the editors have regularly gone to sleep before
sunrise. The long hours the staff puts in, despite some of their draw-
backs, really have been fun (most of the time).
The staff has made this year worth the frustration. Mike and Sue have
always been around to share gripes and good times with. Wynn, Bob,
Aron, and Pam are often around when we collect the pages to go to the
printer; even though everybody's nerves are on edge by the end of the
night, nobody has yet used the Exacto knives to silence an awful
punster. Anu and Mary have been patient in getting their pages just
right. Joel and Keith have shamelessly written painfully alliterative
sexist headlines. Jen, John, Jenny and Paul tried their best not to leave
any mistakes to the Wednesday proofreaders. Without Ray, Lee, and
Carlos, you might not be reading this. The rest of the staff—writers,
production staff, photographers, typesetters, business staff, and self-
appointed critics—has improved die paper.
Most of these people will be back next year, even though almost all
of them are older than I am, even though I have only one year left atRice.
As my 19th birthday approaches, I look forward to a long summer of
frolicking in the Caribbean (no Threshers).
Mike and Iwish luck to Joel Sendek and Pat McGarrity, next year's
editors, and their staff. We'll still be around, although maybe not at the
hour at which I'm writing this.
—Michile Wucker
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Medicare policy ignores needs
Thirty-one million aged or dis-
abled Americans receive Medicare
benefits. In 1983, the federal govern-
ment began a prospective payment
system (PPS) within die Medicare
system. But die PPS, by reimbursing
a hospital at a set fee per ailment, does
not take into account thi severity or
long-term needs of the patient, infla-
tion, local variations of the prices of
resources, and the need for improved
medical technology. Today, 40 per-
cent of hospitals are losing money on
Medicare and have negative patient
margins. A reformulated system is
necessary so that hospitals will not go
bankrupt or offer inadequate service.
The PPS pays hospitals per medi-
cal problem instead of taking into
account the severity of a patient's
ailment For example, a hospital re-
ceives the same payment for a simple
appendectomy with a short hospital
stay as for a complicated appendec-
tomy with a long stay.The PPS hopes
to discourage unnecessary hospital
stays and to force hospitals to be more
SPANNING THE HEDGES
by Signy Schou
efficient by discharging patients ear-
lier. A "quicker and sicker" phenome-
non has developed; senior citizens
voice resentment about inadequate
care. The PPS has not remedied this
by channeling benefits into outpatient
home-care or nursing homes for long-
term service.
Due to the reduced length of stays,
hospitals are facing higher costs
while the patients stay, at a reduced
patient load. Hospitals have seen the
operating costs of goods and. service
rise 22 percent from 1984 to 1988,
while Medicare (DRG rates) pay-
ments went up only 11 percent. The
growing gap will be exaggerated by
the increase in the number of Ameri-
cans over 65; the number will in-
crease 12 percent from 28.6 million in
1985 to 34.9 million in 2000. The gap
also does not take intcy account geo-
graphic variations of the prices of
resources. Additionally, the PPS does
not allow necessary funding for medi-
cal technology, much less buying
needed equipment, supplying impor-
tant services, or repairing deteriorat-
ing buildings. The result of Medicare
cuts will force hospitals to reduce care
and access for elderly and disabled
and force patients to pay higher out-
of-pocket costs and higher insurance
rates.
Medicare comprises nine percent
of die 1988 federal outiays, but expe-
rienced 36 percent of the budget cuts.
Under the Reagan Administration,
individual savings and private insur-
ance for long-term care has been
encouraged; however, only two per-
cent pf the elderly have bought such
insurance. Experts at the Brookings
Institute, such as Alice Rivlin, con-
clude "long-term care is a normal,
see We can't, page 3
Rubash discusses meat quality
To the editor:
At the request of the Food Commit-
tee Representatives, the students of
Rice University need to be informed
of the following information.
It appears that some specific facts
are in order as to the dinner meal on
Tuesday, April 12.
1) The age of the beef fajita meat
served at that dinner meal has been
brought into question.
I, too, was shocked to find that the
meat was 10 months old. As a result,
I called the FDA Office and spoke
with the Meat Inspection Division. I
asked "What is the FDA recommen-
dation on keeping meats frozen?" The
answer was, "For fish and seafoods, 3
months; for poultry, 6 months; for
meats, at least one year, depending on
the packaging." I then asked, "What
about cryvaced meats?" The answer
was, "considerably longer than one
year."
2) The price paid for this product
has also been questioned.
The price for fresh fajita skirt meat
ranges from $1.49 per point to $2.79
per pound depending on quality and
source. These prices do not include
the trimming of the fresh skirt in
preparation for the seasoning process,
the cooking procedures, the slicing,
packaging, and freezing processes.
The Sysco fajita meat is a ready-to-
serve frozen product that is cryvaced
and costs $3.90 per pound. This $3.90
includes choice fresh fajita skirt meat
that has already been through the
seasoning process, the cooking proc-
ess, the slicing process, packaging in
cryvac, flash frozen, then stored at
-10° F.
3) To go one step further, I con-
tacted Sysco and expressed my feel-
ings about this product, and requested
that they answer my concerns in writ-
ing. Here is the text of that letter.
"This is a follow-up letter to review
and document the events that occured
regarding the Quik-to-Fix Char
Broiled Beef Steak (Fajitas) at your
facility. We. appreciate and share the
concern of you regarding the May,
1987 manufacture date on the product
you received.
"As we discussed, Sysco Food
Services, Inc.—Houston took a mar-
ket position approximately one (1)
year ago on beef skirt meat. A quan-
tity of this hedged inventory was sold
to Quik-to-Fix for processing into
Quik-to-fix Char Broiled Beef Steak
THRESHING IT OUT
letters to the editor
(Fajitas). The Quik-to-Fix Char
Broiled Beef Steak (Fajitas) finished
product was sold and delivered back
to Sysco Food Services, Inc. with
final delivery in May, 1987.
"The size of the order versus the
fact that anticipated market demand
did not materialize as projected and
consequendy we found ourselves in
an inventory position stronger than
normal. We continued to promote the
sales of said product frequendy but
found after six (6) months we still had
several cases remaining.
"Approximately October, 1987,
we contacted Quik-to-Fix to inquire
about recommended shelf life. Quik-
to-Fix stated that this was a marinated
and full-cooked product and with
storage in our distribution facility at a
minus ten (10) degrees fahrenheit
there should be no problems, and we
continued to promote the product.
see Sysco, page 5
Please limit letters to two double-
spaced, typed or neatly written pages.
Letters must be signed; unsigned
submissions will be considered mis-
cless and may be run on the backpage.
Please include your telephone num-
ber, department or college affiliation
and year of graduation. We reserve
the right to edit for grammar, clarity,
and length, and to refuse to publish
any letter. Informal farewells to
Michile must be carefully hidden.
s
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Wucker, Michele. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 75, No. 27, Ed. 1 Friday, April 22, 1988, newspaper, April 22, 1988; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245694/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.