The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 76, No. 17, Ed. 1 Friday, February 10, 1989 Page: 2 of 16
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2 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1989 THE RICE THRESHER
Opinion
University unprepared
for emergency situations
This week's cold snap and Monday's power outage have raised
questions about the administration's ability to communicate to stu-
dents, faculty, and staff during an emergency.
The RUPD's lack of an emergency power generator could seri-
ously hinder their effectiveness if an emergency were to occur during
a blackout. What good are police officers if they are essentially
rendered ineffective due to an inability to communicate?
It is ludicrous to expect police officers to continuously punch
buttons to check if anyone is on the line. Having to do this would waste
precious time if someone had been seriously injured and needed
prompt assistance.
Communications between students and the administration during
an emergency could be vastly improved if there was one official
source that could provide all the neccessary information. Perhaps
KTRU could act as that official source and share a generator with
RUPD.
The lack of sufficient emergency lighting is another hazard which
the administration needs to repair immediately. It is extremely
dangerous to have stairwells without any emergency lighting, espe-
cially considering that it is during emergencies that stairwells are the
sole means of escape. This time the administration was lucky because
no one was hurt, but next time...
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Quality of life for Rice students declining while tuition rises
commentary
by Gregory Kahn
When President Rupp an-
nounced the recent tuition rise in an
open letter to the Rice community,
he stated that an increase in price
was necessary because "To compro-
mise the quality of the institution is
unacceptable...it shortchanges all
those...who have invested and are
investing their time, energy, and
resources to establish the distinction
that is here." Yet in recent weeks we
have learned that several aspects of
Rice are indeed being compromised,
and it is essential that these areas be
addressed by Rupp's administration
if it wants the full confidence of the
students and faculty.
Most notably, the limitations of
the course offerings is something
that offends both students and fac-
ulty alike. The problem has to do
with the advent of foundation
courses in the humanities and natu-
ral sciences, which deplete the re-
sources of every department that
contributes time to these endeavors.
But the problem runs much deeper
than this. Departments, particularly
those in the liberal arts, are being
forced to drastically limit course of-
ferings, the result of which is classes
with huge enrollments. Graduate
students are now being forced to
teach entry level classes such as
Economics 211.
It is true that in large, "top-flight"
institutions such as Harvard, de-
pleted course offerings and a high
level of graduate student teaching
are commonplace. But Rice is not
Harvard, and those of us who se-
lected to come here made that deci-
sion in large part because of the tre-
mendous reputation that Rice had
for low student-to-faculty ratios and a
large number of class offerings for a
school of this size. However, this
crucial aspect of our university is
now being comprimiscd by admini-
stration policy.
The problems with the library re-
serve room is another example of
how life has become more difficult
for students and faculty despite
Rice's rise to national prominence.
Why does the library staff need two
months notice to place books on the
shelves of the reserve room? The
problems of Dr. Newfield, who be-
cause of a huge enrollment sought to
place the readings for his class in the
room at the beginning of the semes-
ter, should not occur. The learning
process of educators and their stu-
dents should be facilitated, not hin-
dered, by the main campus library.
The relations between Food and
Housing and the students are also
strained. In addition to the petition
that the Will Rice College members
and Master presented to Marion
Hicks and Bill Boorom about the
deteriorating quality of food being
offered, student complaints have
been voiced all year about the unfair
nature of the food plans. The large
number of students who ran out of
money on their meal plans last fall
will undoubtedly occur again this
spring, for a "full meal plan" actually
only covers' 75% of the meals while
the reduced plan barely covers 50%.
Because of the tremendous base
costs of the meal plans, students are
purchasing smaller plans and re-
treating to off-campus locations to
eat No longer is the commons a
place for everyone in a college to see
each other; more and more it has
become a place to eat-and-run for
people who are either too busy to get
off-campus or for those of us who
don't own an automobile.
Rice's ascent to national recogni-
tion is something that we all applaud,
yet the problems that have grown
within the hedges in the past few
years are still matters of great con-
cern. Rupp's administration needs to
address these problems immedi-
ately, for the benefit of the students,
faculty and staff.
We have agreed, by approving of
the tuition rise without much of a
clamor, to take his word that the
increase was necessary for the finan-
cial well-being of the university, but
in exchange we ask that he look at
the problems within the school as
well as spending time and money
improving our image elsewhere.
Could the problems with course of-
ferings and overcrowding be
avoided if more money was made
available to departments to hire
more teaching faculty? Can the li-
brary staff be increased so the re-
serve room becomes a place to
study, not an arena filled with red
tape? Can the administration inter-
vene in the dispute between Food &
Housing and the students so that a
fair meal plan can be worked out?
After increasing our tuition, the
administration promised to keep the
level of education at Rice at its cur-
rent level. Yet if it ignores the prob-
lems that exist at Rice now, the next
time President Rupp seeks "coopera-
tion" through the imposition of
"higher charges," the reaction of the
Rice community may become quite
openly hostile.-
Professor attacks stance
of Athletic Director May
To the editors:
The Director of Athletics, Mr.
"Bobby" May, commits a fundamen-
tal error when he asks 'How much do
the other major departments on
campus cost?' I have heard this ir-
relevant question entirely too often.
The athletic program is simply NOT
a department we do NOT give de-
grees in athletics, but we do give
degrees in music and in art, two
fields which Mr. May lumps to-
gether with athletics, as requiring
'special skills'. Let us thus once and
for all stop calling the athletic pro-
gram a 'department;' it only fosters
confusion.
Once this pretty evident fact is
recognized, it immediately follows
that the athletic program has no
more claim on financial support from
the university than other programs
such as the Rice Players, the
Thresher, Rice Dance Theatre, etc.
All of these are also 'windows
through which the public views the
university,' and are thus equally
worthy of support Such an equitable
financial arrangement would, un-
doubtedly, have Mr. May's whole-
hearted endorsement; I might even
suggest that the amount of financial
support be prorated according to
attendance.
Finally, I would like to see reliable
statistics of the number of non-ath-
lete students who have come here
'because Rice has a full-fledged inter-
collegiate athletic program.'
On the other hand we could also
follow Mr. May's suggestion for 'a
correct balance of academic and
athletic opportunity', and change the
name of the institution to 'Rice Aca-
demic and Athletic University.' Now
THAT would make us a real flagship!
J.CI. De Bremaecker
Professor of Geology
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Richardson defends
Roe vs. Wade decision
To the editors:
My purpose here is to correct the
misstatements of "Rights of the
Unborn Ignored," (Thresher, Janu-
ary 27).
The fetus is a living human being
(of sorts), but that is not what the
case was about. The Justices were
deliberating whether the fetus is a
person with self-awareness and
emotionalbility. It becomes obvious
"human rights" arc reserved for
persons when one considers the
cases of brain dead or comotose
humans.
The word "baby" may sound bet-
ter than "fetus", but it is simply incor-
rect.
The Dred Scott decision did not
strip black people of personhood
(though it didn't give it to them ei-
ther) and the Supreme Court didn't
overturn the decision (Congress
passed an amendment).
Ms. Roe's claim of rape may have
helped her case get a hearing, but it
was not the basis of the Court's rul-
ing. Pretty irrelevant.
TheWade decision didn't
give the mother the right to kill the
fetus at any point until the day of
birth. In fact, it encouraged the
States to regulate or prohibit abor-
tion in the last trimester of preg-
nancy. Even the claim of medical
evidence's exclusion is fallacious.
The printed Majority Opinion of the
Court records, "In support of this,
they outline at length and in detail
the well known facts of fetal develop-
ment." So, you may be assured they
looked at the medical facts too.
The nine Justices went through a
great number of issues, experts and
files of evidence. They made a firm
decision (7-2) for the stronger argu-
ments. If public pressure reversed
the Roe vs. Wade decision now, it
wouldn't represent a triumph of in-
sight, but of heartfelt ignorance.
Jesse Richardson
SRC '92
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McGarrity, Patrick & Sendek, Joel. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 76, No. 17, Ed. 1 Friday, February 10, 1989, newspaper, February 10, 1989; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245713/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.