The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 76, No. 21, Ed. 1 Friday, March 17, 1989 Page: 4 of 20
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4 FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 1989 THE RICE THRESHER
30 SECOND FREEFALL
$125
SKYDIVE TEXAS
(713) 334-3311
Alcohol policy enforcement questioned
"Bourbon and Blues" organizers find it easier to keep party private
Ava G. Miedzinski, D.D.S.
1722 Sunset Boulevard
Houston, Texas 77005
General Dentistry for the Whole Family
(713)522-4096
The Rice Computer store Presents...
The Apple Scanner and
OmniPage
A demonstration of scanning and optical
character recognition on the Macintosh.
Friday, March 17 at 2:00 PM
Computer Section
Rice Campus Store
RICE
CATHOLIC STUDENT CENTER
STAFF
Rev. Brian Donovan, O.P.
Rev. Bryan Fontenot, O.P.
MASSES
Mon. - Thurs.: 5:00 p.m.
Sat.: 5.00 p.m.
Sun.: 9:00 and 11:00
Confessions, Marriages and
Baptisms by Appointment
526 - 6010 526 - 3809
Chapel- 1714 Rice Boulevard
(opposite entrance #10)
Center Offices- 1703 Bolsover (behind chapel)
1703 Bolsover
Houston, Texas 77005
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To the editors:
Last Saturday night, a few of us at
Baker College conducted an experi-
ment. For the first time, we threw a
public "Bourbon and Blues" party
that was registered as such with the
administration and in accordance
with the Rice Alcohol Policy.
In years past, the party has always
been considered "private," using
private funds to conduct a private
gathering of fifty or so people to re-
lax, sip drinks, smoke cigars, and
listen to the blues.
This weekend's party was essen-
tially a test to see what the negative
effects of abiding by our Alcohol
Policy would be, and if the advan-
tages of "law-abiding" merited the
"making public" of other, similar
events in the future.
Unfortunately, it seems that our
experiment has shown that while it's
not that much trouble to get the vari-
ous signatures on an Alcohol Policy
form, the secondary effects of regis-
tering a small party with the admini-
stration incurs more trouble than it's
worth.
I am specifically referring to the
efforts of our Campus Police, who
felt the need to cause trouble almost
as soon as the music started playing
and the people began to gather.
We registered the party as public,
but since our crowd was not ex-
pected to grow much beyond fifty
people at a time, neither we nor the
officials who approved the party saw
a need to have the constant supervi-
sion of Campus Police officers re-
quired for parties with a crowd
greater than two-hundred people.
However, the officers on duty Satur-
day night seemed to feel otherwise,
and they made sure that their pres-
ence was known by making three
separate visits to the party.
Their first visit seemed to be es-
sentially an intimidation attempt.
They drove their car through the
groups of people gathered along the
sidewalk in the Baker quadrangle.
When asked, the officers denied
having any problems, and they soon
left.
On the second visit, they again
drove their car into the core of the
party, but this time they had come to
stay for awhile. As the official "host"
of the party, I was subjected to what
seemed to be more of an interroga-
tion than simple questions, for the
senior officer instantly assumed a pa-
tronizing, condescending attitude
towards me.
Subsequently, he spent several
minutes surveying the small gather-
ing looking for violations, as was
within his right. However, when he
could find no significant problems,
he recited a little-known portion of
the Rice Alcohol Policy that states
that "for parties of estimated atten-
dance of greater than two-hundred
or lasting longer than two hours, at
least two Campus Police officers in
uniform must be hired."
Due to my lack of familiarity with
the exact use of conjunctions in that
phrase, I was not able to directly
refute his claim, and so he kindly
informed us that since our party had
started at around nine o'clock, it
would be shut down by eleven, or "it
will become illegal."
After several more minutes of
somewhat heated discussion with
this officer (and considerable distur-
bance to the party), he informed me
that he would check to see what my
options were and return later. But in
the meantime, he said that we should
start making arrangements to shut
our party down.
In another half-hour the officers
returned, to benevolently inform us
that even though we were in violation
of the two-hour limit stated in the
Alcohol Policy, he would "let it slide
this time." But he also warned us to
be careful, because his comrades
might not "let it slide" next time.
These then are the results of our
experiment to throw a small, relax-
ing party in accordance with the
Alcohol Policy.
As we discovered later, the true
wording of the rule in question is "for
parties of estimated attendance of
greater than two-hundred and last-
ing longer than two hours, at least
two Campus Police officers in uni-
form must be hired." I suppose that
upon discovering the nature of his
mistake, the officer, not wanting to
lose face, or more importantly, the
necessary intimidation factor, de-
cided to cover his mistake by "letting
us slide" rather than reveal that he
had indeed erred.
We still had a good time, but the
constant interference and use of
deception by the Campus Police
detracted from the spirit of the party
and is a significant indication that it
may be worth our while to stay "pri-
vate" with similar events in the fu-
ture.
Also, it seems that our Campus
Police might have their priorities
slightly askew pertaining to what
constitutes aconstructive use oftime
on a Saturday night patrol.
One half of the entire Campus
Police force on duty that night (two
of four) spent a total of almost two
hours either haggling us over non-
existent policies or researching
those policies back at the station.
These were a seemingly useless two
hours spent second-guessing the
judgement of Lois Waldron, Dr.
Holt, and the Masters of Baker Col-
lege, all of whom approved the
(adhered to) details of the gathering
well in advance.
Maybe this was nothing more
than an isolated case of harassment
and deception, but regardless of the
circumstances, it is a shame that
small parties registered with the
administration must be subject to
constant distraction by Campus Po-
lice demanding to see completed
forms and assuming adversarial
roles.
Somehow I don't think that this
was the original intent of the design-
ers of the Rice Alcohol Policy, but I
can guarantee that we will think
twice before going "public" again.
Kenneth Robinson
Baker '90
Grad House resident
defends management
To the editors:
In the last Thresher Dusty Capis-
tran and Susan Hult suggested that
the management of The Graduate
Call 688-5500.
RICE PROGRAM COUNCIL
1989
RONDELET
AN APRIL FOOLS DANCE
Music Provided by Band and D.J.
Saturday, April 1,10-2AM
THE HOUSTON DECORATIVE CENTER
5120 Woodway
DESSERT BUFFET
CASH BAR
Formal attire requested.
$15.00 per person in advance
$20.00 per person at the door.
For more information (713)527-4839
House (TGH) is inept and remiss in
its mission to foster a coherent social
atmosphere among TGH residents.
I too lived in TGH during the
same time Susan and Dusty did, and
my experiences with TGH manage-
ment were more positive than theirs.
I believe that TGH management
has been dealt a tough hand by dint
of its clientele and its own superiors
within the University.
Many TGH residents are new
graduate students who need shelter
until they can move out
Lumping freshmen into TGH only
adds to this transiency problem and
reflects a lack of sensitivity on the
part of the University administration,
not TGH management.
As for developing regular TGH
activities, Susan and Dusty were
more involved with that than I during
our stay in TGH, although all three of
us can speak with authority that in-
volving more than a few graduate
students in social activities is difficult
at best.
At TGH I was more concerned
with finding a parking space, mainte-
nance, the shuttle bus, etc. than with
parties, as were most others I knew
there.
In working with TGH personnel as
an officer of the Graduate Student
Association (GSA) I found them to
be consistent and competent in their
support of graduate student acitiv-
ites.
I hope the GSA and TGH can work
together further.
Let's lay the blame for bad policy
on those who make it, not those who
have little latitude in following it
Ted Hayes
Department of Psychology
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McGarrity, Patrick & Sendek, Joel. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 76, No. 21, Ed. 1 Friday, March 17, 1989, newspaper, March 17, 1989; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245717/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.