The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 77, No. 8, Ed. 1 Friday, October 13, 1989 Page: 1 of 24
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VOLUME 77, NO. 8
WE EXPOSE EVERYTHING
OCTOBER 13, 1989
Rice drops to 10th in annual survey for national universities
by Steven Dortch
U.S. News and World Report, in its
October 16 issue, ranked Rice Uni-
versity tenth among "national uni-
versities." The Mas ranking drops
Rice one spot from its ninth place
ranking of last year.
U.S. News based its selections on
five criteria: student selectivity, aca-
demic reputation, student retention
rate, faculty quality and financial
resources. Rice ranked 13th, 25th,
11th, 22nd and fifth in these areas
respectively.
According to the U.S. News re-
port, Rice is ranked as the third best
educational bargain, behind UNO
Chapel Hill and UCLA. Following
Rice were the University of Virginia
and Cal-Berkeley. Vice-President for
Student Affairs Ronald Stebbings
said top students across the country
will take notice of Rice because of its
low tuition and continued high aca-
demic standing.
Unlike last year, the U.S. News
did not list tuition at the top national
universities. Except for Rice, each of
last year's top 10 had tuition and fees
of more than $12,000.
Presidents and deans of the 204
universities returned questionnaires
about the five areas. TTiese universi-
ties, according to the report, "offer a
full range of baccalaureate pro-
grams, give a high priority to re-
search and award the most Ph.D's
each year."
The report ranked Yale, Prince-
ton, Harvard, Caltech, Duke, Stan-
ford, MIT, Dartmouth and the Uni-
versity of Chicago ahead of Rice, in
that order.
"Undergraduate education is
taken seriously here in away that it's
not at other first-rate universities,"
said President George Rupp in an
interview with the Houston Post.
"If you look at the top ten univer-
sities Rice is compared to, I think it
speaks very well for Rice to be
among that select group of universi-
ties," said Bill Noblitt, director of
University Relations. "We're very,
very happy'to be among the top
10...We're in good company."
Neither Sarah Burnett, Dean of
Student Affairs, nor Stebbings felt
that a drop of one rank was either
significant or negative. "I am very
pleased that Rice tends to be ranked
among the very best schools," Steb-
Rice students travel to
Washington for rally
by Bobby Kapur
In a strong show of support for
more affordable housing, nine Rice
students marched with more than
100,000 other people from around
the nation in front of the Capitol in
Washington, D.C., on Saturday,
October 7, for the "Housing Now!"
rally. Paul Winkler, Director of the
Rice Student Volunteer Program,
and Becky Evans headed the Rice
delegation which included Nicki
Britton, Ken Freiberg, Lynn Gal-
lagher, Balthazar Villegas, and Bran-
don Wallace.
The Rice students arrived in
Washington on October 6 at the
campus of the American University,
to join 450 college students for the
Third Annual Conference of the
National Student Campaign Against
Hunger and Homelessness. This
year's conference was specifically
planned to coincide with the "Hous-
ing Now!" rally.
Friday evening the conference
participants attended a panel discus-
sion titled "Tackling the Domestic
Hunger Problem: Exploring Differ-
ent Solutions." Representatives
from business, government, and
non-profit sectors presented various
approaches to solving the hunger
and homelessness crisis. Jeanne
Klug, Community Affairs represen-
tative from Bell Atlantic, said, "Blue
collar workers are entering the mar-
ketplace more uneducated and
poorer than ever before." However,
when directly asked what companies
are doing to change these problems,
she replied, "Well, we give millions
of dollars each year to the United
Way, and we have 'Discothons' to
raise money." She revealed much of
the shortsightedness prevalent to-
day in America's business commu-
nity in dealing with the issues involv-
ing the underprivileged and impov-
SEE HOMELESS, PAGE 8
bings said.
"I think there must be implica-
tions in the sense that this is a widely
read magazine, and it seems inevi-
table to me that people will... become
increasingly acquainted with us," he
added.
Burnett said, "I think it's wonder-
ful. We should all be very proud that
we're ranked that high. I think it will
help the university in many ways."
Stebbings said the rank was at
some level a matter ot chance, but
does not see Rice as having wors-
ened in academic quality. He feels it
is positive that Rice continues to be
ranked in the top twenty universities
nationwide.
The poll is somewhat unreliable
because some parts of the selection
process are subjective, Noblitt said.
"In some areas it's just according to
how you interpret the data." U.S.
News, however, claims the rankings
to be largely objective.
Noblitt said one factor in deter-
mining faculty quality was the per-
cent of the faculty holding doctor-
ates. While Rice responded that 90
percent of it's faculty hold Ph.D.'s ,
Columbia and UCLA reported 100
percent of theirs did. Noblitt did not
feel these institutions provided mis-
leading information, but he said the
question was ambiguous and could
therefore be interpreted in different
ways.
Burnett said, "If Columbia and
UCLA both reported 100 percent, I
think that's probably inaccurate
because in many fields a Ph.D. is not
the terminal degree." According to
Burnett, Ph.D.'s are not even
granted in some fields.
According to Burnett, surveys
such as this one are not helpful for
students considering selective col-
leges. She said more emphasis
should be placed on descriptive ac-
counts of colleges such as those
found in college reference guides
and on evaluations of specific depart-
ments within the university.
"I'mnotsure that it (the survey] is
that helpful for students trying to
SEE RANKING, PAGE S
Hispanic Heritage
>#" %
Two local dancers perform a traditional dance as part of the Hispanic
Heritage week celebration in the Grand Hall of the RMC Saturday evening.
Klineberg speaks at homeless rally
by Jim Kelly
About 200 people gathered on the
steps of City Hall Saturday to hear
local political and religious leaders
and Rice sociology professor
Stephen Klineberg call for an end to
homelessness in Houston.
The Houston Coalition for the
Homeless sponsored the rally,
which was planned in support of last
week's "Housing Now!" march on
the Capitol. The Coalition asked
Klineberg to provide an academic
perspective on the problem of home-
lessness.
"Homelessness is a national prob-
lem, a national disgrace," Klineberg
said. "The question is, why are we
facing it now, in the midst of prosper-
ity? The last time we had homeless-
ness on this scale was during the
Great Depression."
Klineberg identified three rea-
sons for the recent growth of home-
lessness. First, he said, in the last ten
years the gap between rich and poor
has increased, with the income of the
richest 10 percent of the population
up 27 percent since 1979, and the
income of the poorest 10 percent
down by 11 percent
Second, Klineberg said, there is
the problem of the scarcity of low-
income housing. "There's been a
major erosion in the commitment of
the federal government to low-cost
housing in the past eight years,"
Klineberg said, "and private industry
Huston accepts CASE
teaching award
by Leslie Raneri
J. Dennis Huston accepts the CASE "1989 Teacher of the Year" award.
J. Dennis Huston, Professor of
English at Rice University received a
plaque award and $5000 from the
Council for the Advancement and
Support of Education at a ceremony
and press conference Tuesday to
recognize him as the 1989Teacher of
the Year.
The final decision was made by
CASE in Washington. Out of more
than 500 teachers submitted for
consideration, only ten finalists were
chosen. Huston's selection was
based on his scholastc achieve-
ments, his involvement in many
aspects of the Rice community and
on recommendations written by Rice
students, alumni and colleagues oof
Huston.
"This year it was a walk-away
when Dennis was selected," Gary H.
Quail, President of CASE, said. "In
receiving this, Dennis joins the
ranks of teachers who have inspired
and continue to inspire students."
Rupp commended Huston for his
"intensity and limitless concern for
his students." He said Huston meets
with students at all hours and coun-
sels and inspires them to reach for
achievement He praised Huston for
demanding that students take risks
and explore meaning ceaselessly,
Rupp saw Huston's acheivement
as a sign of Rice's long-standing
emphasis on preserving quality
teaching, using comprehensive
evaluations for courses and the crite-
ria of good teaching as a prerequisite
for promotion.
A former student described him
as "ubiquitous," Rupp said. "Some-
times I have a difficult time believing
that there is only one of him," he
added.
The winner of George R Brown
teaching award on six occasions,
Huston teaches courses in
SEE HUSTON, PAGE 5
by definition isn't interested in that
kind of thing."
Finally, Klineberg said, social
spending has declined to the point
where welfare purchasing power is
half of what it was 20 years ago in real
dollars. "The result" he said, "is that
we have more low income people and
less low income housing."
Klineberg, who is participating in
a study of Houston's homeless
funded by the City of Houston, Har-
ris County and the United Way, esti-
mated that there are between eight
and ten thousand Houstonians with-
out housing. About 750 to 800 thou-
sand more, he warned, are living on
the edge of homelessness.
Those people, Klineberg said,
would be on the street in the event of
an economic slowdown.
"Houston is one of the very few
cities in the countiy that contributes
no public funding to housing," Klin-
eberg said.
Public support exists to change
that situation, Klineberg said. Re-
cent polls, he said, show that 68 per-
cent of Houstonians believe the city
does too little to meet the needs of
the hungry and the homeless.
FINE ARTS
Bunnimeister
reviews An
Innocent Man
See page 9
SPORTS
Victory over UT
slips through the
Owls' fingers
See page 12
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Kahn, Greg & Leedy, Sarah J. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 77, No. 8, Ed. 1 Friday, October 13, 1989, newspaper, October 13, 1989; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245731/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.