The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 76, No. 6, Ed. 1 Friday, October 7, 1988 Page: 2 of 16
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2 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1988 THE RICE THRESHER
Opinion
Rice ranks in top ten
despite low tuition
'Hie most striking result of the U.S. News college ratings feature is
the fact that while Rice is rated ninth* overall in the national
universities category, we are not even in the top twenty-five with
regard to reputation. In fact, excluding Rice, the top sixteen national
universities are all ranked in the top twenty in reputation. The fact
that reputation was one of the criteria on which the overall rankings
were based indicates that Rice must have had superior marks in all
other categories. What will it take to vault us into the top five or higher
in the rankings? Obviously, the answer is to improve Rice's
reputation.
U.S. News writes, "In a world where perception is everything, a
school's reputation or lack of it can make a crucial difference to job-
seeking graduates...prospective students need to know if the name at
the top of that diploma will open doors or whether it will prompt
puzzled interviewers to ask, 'where's that?'"
The problem is that relative to other schools ranked in the top
twenty-five, Rice is still a "where's that?" university. As long as this is
the case, do not expect Rice to ever gain a higher ranking than we
have now.
What can be done to improve Rice's reputation? Tripling the budget
of the Career Services Center was a step in the right direction. This
funding will enable Bob Sanborn and his staff to promote Rice
students to companies whose initial response is "where's that?" In the
event that new recruiters hire Rice graduates, it is certain that they
will wonder why they didn't recruit here earlier. Also, improved
funding for University Relations has helped.
There is also a line of reasoning that increased tuition will improve
Rice's reputation. (See 9/30/88 editorial) While this argument is
certainly debatable, any proponents of a tuition increase to better
Rice's reputation should be warned about the dangerous side effects
of such action. Rice has never been a haven for the young silver-spoon
fed elite, and those who look down on Rice because of this are better
off contained within stuffy, ivy-covered buildings in New England. If
the admission of these people is necessary to improve Rice's
nationwide reputation, then we are better off maintaining the
reputation we have.
Do students know how
blanket-taxes are spent?
The autonomous nature of most student organizations is one of the
u n ique aspects of this university. The sometimes blind trust extended
by students to these organizations, however, is dangerous.The major
blanket-tax organizations on campus, including the SA, the RPC,
KTRU, the Campanile, and the Thresher, are run entirely by students.
The student body elects students to run these organizations, and the
office-holders are entrusted with the confidence of the student body
to run their organization for the students' benefit.
Questions have arisen concerning the amount of freedom which
student organizations should enjoy. Since the student body provides
funding for all or part of the blanket-tax organizations' budgets, they
have a responsibility to know how their money is spent. The blanket-
tax funding we are referring to here is definitely not trivial. Students
pay more than $100,000 in blanket-taxes to the organizations each
year.
With organizations such as the Campanile, the Thresher, and KTRU,
the results of effort and funding are relatively tangible. With the RPC
and the SA, however, results are less obvious, yet no less significant.
The SA is directed to uphold the SA Constitution and represent the
student body. The RPC was founded to offer students an opportunity
"to participate in programs of social, cultural, recreational and
educational value." It is the duty of the students to hold blanket-tax
organizations and officers accountable for their actions and how they
allocate blanket-tax money, whether the product is a weekly
newspaper or a formal dance.
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Race a legitimate hiring criterion
To the editors:
Bill Bauer's categorical rejection of
race as a factor in hiring decisions
clarifies mistaken but common
assumptions about minority hiring. I
want to thank him as well as Anthony
Wills and Jeff Solochek for their
attention to this basic issue.
Bauer says that considerations of
race corrupt considerations of
"merit" I'm sure he intends no
racism here, but this argument has a
long history in the defense of
exclusion and inequality. And the
argument is itself racist when it
assumes that a search for, say, a
black professor is not also readily a
search for the best candidate, as
though being black implies a
candidate is less than best.
If arguments like Bauer's were
made by racists they would be far
less common and destructive than
they are. Instead, they are made by
persons with very idealized or self-
serving notions of "merit" In fact, no
search seeks someone with "merit"
in the abstract All consider merit not
in a vacuum, but merit in relation to
particular needs and interests. All
therefore consider many factors in
addition to merit. All by their very
nature refuse even to seperate
"merit" from these other factors
such as academic specialty, seniority
in the field, approach to teaching,
Tuition hike inconsistent
with ideals of University
To the editors:
I read with interest last week's
editorial regarding tuition increases
and their effect on the quality of Rice
University. Let us hope that the
administration can find better ways
to attract more able students and to
improve Rice's reputation than
raising the tuition to appeal to
"students from wealthy families"
who are "more likely to have
influential parents." America does
not need another quality university
that caters strictly to the wealthy and
upper middle classes.
Attempts to improve the quality of
education at Rice and improve the
university's status among potential
employers are commendable, but
these goals should not be pursued in
such a way that would make Rice a
scholarly haven for a socio-economic
elite. Not only would such action be
"inconsistent with the ideals set
forth by William Marsh Rice," it
would serve as evidence for anyone
who wished to argue that the
American university system
reinforces an existing social
hierarchy and impedes social
mobility.
Eric W. Davis
Wiess '90
research methodology, personal
vitality, and a huge range of
background issues. Abstract and
even unanswerable questions about
"quality of research" or "brilliance of
mind" are always answered in terms
of these mundane "externalities";
merit does not exist apart fromthem.
A candidate's race may affect his or
function at Rice as much as his or her
specialty and teaching style, and is
therefore as legitimate and routine a
hiring factor.
All searches favor some catagories
over others. If we need a Victorianist,
we consider specialty at least as
much as seniority or publication
record. If we have a chaired position
to fill, we consider publication
record at least as much as field. If we
need minority faculty we consider
race at least as much as specialty.
The last preference is as natural as
the previous two. Once Rice has
decided to seek minority candidates
in greater number, then a
candidate's race becomes a major
factor without changing the basic
logic of selection procedure.
Race, like gender and ethnicity, are
not negative but positive qualities.
They do not detract from but
constitute "merit"; their presence is
compatible with and essential to any
high level of faculty performance
that Rice could care to name. SQme
of Wee's present weaknesses are
attributable to the absence of
SEE RACE, PAGE 3
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SINCE 1816
Joel Sendek, Patrick McGarrity
Editors-in-Chief
Lee Finch Business Manager
NEWS Anu Bajaj, Sue Yom Editors
Ross Goldberg Assistant Editor
Ix>rraine Snyder, Andrew Li, Shelley Fuld,
Sam Hendren, Harlan Howe, Todd
Reichmann, Leslie Raneri, Elise Perachio,
Megan Dixon, Karl Kilborn, Paul
Maliszewski, Roy Huddle
FINE ARTS Jen Cooper Editor
Greg Kahn Assistant Editor
Sarah Leedy, George Langworthy, Pab
Schwendimann, Earl Ryan, Hung Nguyen,
Aaron Stambler, Dave Nathan,
Eric SaKturo, P. Kellach Waddle
SPORTS Wes Gere Editor
Valerie Heitshusen, Keith Couch, Jennifer
Krcjci, Hung Nguyen, Earl Drake, Alan
Rosen, David Cumberland
BACK PAGE Mary Elliott Editor
Laura O'Hara Assistant Editor
PRODUCTION HaroldTurner Manager
Wynn Martin Copy Editor
Santiago Meji'a, W. Lynn Gallagher,
IjesKe Raneri, Myra Rucker, Ed Warren,
Deborah Houk, Doug Straub, Harlan
Howe, Chris Hackerman
PHOTOGRAPHY James Yao Editor
Mike "Dingbat" Gladu, LawrenceCowsar
MISCELLANY Steve Lait Cartoonist
Michael Raphael Senior Editor
Michele Wucker Senior Editor
Jeff Solochek Opinionated Editor
BUSINESS Ray LetuUe Ad Mgr.
Mark Norman Asst. Business Mgr.
Peggy Dun Ads Production
Nguyet Vo Staff Asst.
© COPYRIGHT 1988
PHONE: 527-4801
llulHJ*,
The Rice Thresher, the official sudent newspaper at Rice University since 1916, Is published each Friday during the
school year, except during examination periods and holidays, by the students of Rice University. Editorial and business
offices are located on the second Hoot ol toe ley Student Center, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, Texas, 77251. Advertising
information available upon request. Mail subscription rate per semester: $15.00 domestic, $30 international via first dass
mail. Unsigned editorials represent tie majority opinion of fie Editorial Board All other articles represent the opinion of
the author. Obviously.
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McGarrity, Patrick & Sendek, Joel. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 76, No. 6, Ed. 1 Friday, October 7, 1988, newspaper, October 7, 1988; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245702/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.