The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 1, Ed. 1 Monday, July 9, 1990 Page: 4 of 8
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4 MONDAY, JULY 9, 1990 THE RICE THRESHER
Rice
FROM PAGE 1
BACKSTAGE
AT THE
the experience of being in the midst
of summit preparations "an eye
opener to see the type of activity that
precedes a conference of this kind."
He said, "In the past few weeks there
has been an astonishing amount of
work and an endless procession of
people. It's really mindboggling to
witness the detail that has gone into
the planning and preparation."
Changes made at Rice because of
the summit will be paid for by the
U.S. government The State Depart-
ment hired Planning Design Re-
search Corporation (PDR) to coordi-
nate and oversee the campus renova-
tion process.
Business Manager of the Rice
Physical PlantTom Moffetis serving
as the summit facilities coordinator.
Some of the major construction done
was redesigning the interiors of
buildings where the meetings would
be held.
Moffet said 32 holding rooms
have been designed to "create the at-
mosphere of a relaxed lounge" be-
fore or between meetings. Each
head of government has a holding
room in Herring Hall and Lovett Hall,
and each foreign minister and fi-
nance minister has one in Fondren
library.
In each of the rooms where the
heads of government will meet,
small soundproof translator booths
were constructed and walls were-
built to mask the booths. lighting
was rewired to create the perfect
light for television and photography.
Herring Hall, one of the most
modern buildings on campus, has
become the focal point for much of
the summit activity. In order to ob-
tain smaller, more intimate holding
rooms for government leaders, walls
were constructed to divide the large
classrooms in half. Additional walls
were built to cover up blackboards.
Because of the amphitheatre-style
seating in which the classrooms are
designed, platforms were built to
raise the floor to one level.
Fondren Library has gone
through dramatic changes, too. The
new walls were put in place by pres-
sure rather than nails or glue in order
to preserve the recent renovation of
Fondren. "We made sure to be very
careful not to disturb what had just
been created," Moffett said;
One of the more visible changes
on campus is the construction of
several platforms to be used in to-
day's opening ceremonies. An air-
conditioned platform has been con-
structed to combat the heat for Presi-
dent Bush's address at the opening
ceremonies in the academic quad-
rangle. The platform will be dis-
mantled just hours later for the class
photo which will be taken in the after-
noon. Nametags have been placed
on the ground designating where
each leader should stand for photo-
graphs.
Along with the many other stu-
dents who have volunteered or been
hired to help with summit prepara-
tion, Candyce Diepraam, a senior art
and art history major at Rice, two
Texas A&M students, and one Uni-
versity of Houston student were
hired by PDRto help with the renova-
tion process.
Along with eight professionals,
the students have attended to much
of the detailed interior work on
campus, from creating new signs
and directories for relocated offices
to the design of summit rooms.
Diepraam said particulars such as
ordering indoor and outdoor flags
(indoor flags have a fringe while
outdoor flags do not), and finding the
right shade of red carpet for the arri-
val ceremony, were often compli-
cated by having to wait for the State
Department's final decision, which
was often subject to change. The
State Department was very coopera-
tive and nice," said Diepraam. "The
problem, however, was that there
were tonsof details to be attended to,
and as soon as one person with the
State Department would give an OK,
someone in a higher position would
change their mind."
According to Diepraam, one of
the more important aspects of the in-
terior redecorating has been to
cho se the art that would occupy each
building. She is also responsible for
recording all of PDR's changes to the
Rice campus in a project manual.
She said, "One of our goals was to
make the campus special and locally
filled with Texas and Houston artists
that are nationally and internation-
ally recognized."
She stressed that their job was
not to simply decorate the walls, but
to fill them with substance and con-
tent "Art is a very personal issue and
this is a government event We don't
want to offend anybody. We've tried
to be sensitive to country's individual
needs and tastes, as well as finding
furniture and art that accomrrjodates
the space that it's in." British Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher's office,
for example, was decorated with a
more feminine tone in mind.
An example of the time, effort and
thought that has gone into every
aspect of planning the summit are
the four tables that were specially
designed for each of the rooms in
which the leaders will meet Accord-
ing to PDR each of these tables will
"symbolically be The Bridge' which
will bring together ideas, philoso-
phies and peoples." The tables'
shapes and designs are intended to
reinforce the continuity of all ses-
sions of the summit
The offices for the various delega-
tions have also been filled with acces-
sories and a variety of items that the
designers hope they will find inter-
esting and take back with them as
souvenirs. These include baseballs,
books on Texas and the oil boom,
Texas stationery and children's
drawings of the summit
A broccoli summit?
By Noelle Vance
University of Michigan
President George Bush might
have changed his mind about broc-
coli if he could just have tasted Chef
Ewart Jones's lasagna.
"Disguised" with meat, cheese,
peppers and onions, the vegetable
Bush hates barely tasted like itself at
Houston's first Broccoli Summit at
Hermann Park on Friday.
More than 50 people attended the
summit which was designed to poke
fun at the president's dislike of broc-
' coli and provide fresh qi&ntities of
the vegetable for Houston's hungry.
Eighty thousand pounds of the
vegetable—donated through the
Houston Fresh Fruit & Vegetable
Association—were piled in a pyra-
mid and distributed to about 45 local
charities.
Eager Houstonians spruce up city
despite heat, time, cost of project
By Rebecca Deaton
University of Houston
In a city that has weathered al-
most a decade of financial difficul-
ties, Houstonians have commit-
ted a surprising amount of time
and money into presenting a
good image to the world during
the Economic Summit
The Summit Host Committee
has acted as a clearinghouse for
donations and other offers of
support By the time the summit
ends on July 11, the committee
will have used the services of over
12,000 volunteers.
Offers for donations of goods
and services from local busi-
nesses and individuals have
ranged from computer systems
to coffee makers, from legal serv-
ices to lawn maintenance.
The committee channelled
donations and volunteers into its
four subcommittee organiza-
tions: Houston Clean, Houston
Friendly, Media, and Special
Events.
The Houston Clean Commit-
tee has used an army of volun-
teers to clean over 300 sights
throughout the city. By the time
the summit begins, committee
workers will have collected 2,000
tons of refuse.
The Houston Friendly Commit-
tee has encouraged Houstonians to
become ambassadors for the city by
conducting training programs for
taxi drivers, hotel staff and others
who will come into contact with
summit visitors.
Members of the subcommittee
also helped coordinate the develop-
ment of the summit advertising
campaign, "Houston's Hot" The
campaign is an effort to convert the
negative aspect of Houston's tem-
perature into a positive.
The Media and Special Events
Subcommittees were responsible
fortheMediaFestonJuly7. Visiting
press were entertained at the Mu-
seum of Fine Arts, the Menil Collec-
tion , the Contemporary Arts Mu-
seum and the Museum of Natural
Science.
Smaller organizations have also
made special preparations for the
summit
Flags of the six summit nations
and the European Economic Com
munity have appeared at small busi-
nesses and homes all over town to
welcome summit visitors. Begonias
have been planted by a civic associa-
tion in Hermann Park, Rice Univer-
sity and the surrounding neighbor-
hoods.
The Garden Club of Houston has
renovated the entire south gar-
den ofthe Museum of Fine Arts in
preparation for media and dele-
gate events which are scheduled
to take place there.
Houston's three major law en-
forcement agencies have gone to
incredible lengths to provide se-
curity during the summit
The Houston Police Depart-
ment (HPD) has cancelled all
leaves and extended shift hours,
so that 2,000 officers will be free
to work summit-related events.
There are only 4,000 police offi-
cers on the entire Houston force.
The Harris County Sherjffs De-
partment and the Texas Depart-
ment of Public Safety will provide
over 600 officers.
The city of Houston has re-
routed several major traffic arter-
ies to accommodate Summit
motorcades and shuttles.
Major traffic arteries in the
Galleria, Memorial, Rice and
downtown areas, including 610,
Houston's major loop road, will
be closed for periods of one to
three hours as motorcades or
marchers move thrbugh.
By some estimates, individu-
als, groups and the corporate
community in Houston had con-
tributed more than $10 million
toward the summit
Both sides rally on abortion issue
By Klrsten Danis
Columbia University
Two opposing groups rallied
amid picnickers at Hermann Park
Sunday to demonstrate that the abor-
tion debate still thrives even when all
eyes are turned to the Economic
Summit
About 250 people visited a
"Cemetery of Innocents" that dis-
played 4,400 white crosses and Stars
of David to show the number of
abortions which occur each day in
the United States, said Eric Nielsen,
site manager for the display and a
Houston attorney.
"These crosses and stars repre-
sent one day's kill in America,"
Nielsen said, adding that the display
was sponsored by area churches and
the Coalition for life.
Later in the day at the opposite
end of the park, about 100 people
attended a pro-choice rally spon-
sored by the National Organization
for Women (NOW) where several
speakers called for political action in
maintaining legal abortions.
The intent of the NOW rally was
to remember women who died in
illegal abortion procedures prior to
the 1973 Supreme Court decision
which made abortion legal, accord-
ing to Texas NOW President Phyllis
Tucker.
"You are honoring the memory of
loved ones.... Let's not ever go back
to that time again," Tucker said,,
reading a statement from NOWs
national president Molly Yard.
Although both events occured
without major disruption, some
small counter-protests reminded
both groups of the opposition's pres-
ence.
Members of the AIDS Coalition
to Unleash Power (ACTUP) arrived
at the "Cemetery of Innocents" dur-
ing a prayer service shouting "Racist
sexist, anti-gay! Operation Rescue go
away!"
ACTUP came to counter the pro-
life demonstrators, according to
member Leslie Perez.
"I'm against these people who are
pro-control," Charlene Smith, an-
other ACTUP member, sad.
While ACTUP members demon-
strated against the people gathered
at the "cemetery," the pro-life group
continued praying.
"We're too deep in spiritual
prayer to have any interruptions,"
said Ray O'Connor, a Florida native
who came for the event
Another small group, the Ameri-
can Family Association, arrived to
counter ACTUP by carrying anti-
homosexuality signs intended to di-
vert ACTUP members' attention
away from the "cemetery," according
to American Family Association
Texas Director Mark Weaver.
"We pulled them away from [the
pro-life demonstration]," Weaver
told fellow demonstrators. "It
worked."
At the beginning of the NOW
rally, several people walked by chant-
ing, "pro-life," to which the as-
sembled demonstrators countered,
"pro-choice."
Although the people at the pro-
life demonstration chose to protest
in silence, those gathered at the
NOW rally chose action as their tac-
tic.
"Get in touch with your anger
right now," Tucker said after telling
the crowd that women will die if they
need to obtain illegal abortions.
Personal experiences with abor-
tion sparked demonstrators on both
sides of the debate.
Janet Doubet, a Houston resi-
dent at the NOW rally, said she had
an abortion several years ago, and
the experience caused her to think
about the importance ofcjegal abor-
tions.
" I was fortunate enough to have a
safe abortion," Doubet said, "but I
thought about all the other people
who didnt have that chance."
But Teresa Archer, a .Florida
native in Houston for the protest,
said her abortion ten years ago led
ho- to fight against abortions and
particpate in "rescues" where pro-
life demonstrators prevent women
from entering abortion clinics.
"One and a half years ago, the
Lord revealed what I had done.
That's why I'm involved," Archer
said.
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Moeller, Kurt & Yates, Jay. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 1, Ed. 1 Monday, July 9, 1990, newspaper, July 9, 1990; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245754/m1/4/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.