The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 29, Ed. 1 Friday, March 22, 1991 Page: 5 of 20
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THE RICE THRESHER FRIDAY, MARCH 22. 1991 5
Administration to clarify rules for student expression in quad
by Heidi Huettner
The Rice Administration may
implement a more uniform policy
regarding demonstrations and
displays on the main academic
quadrangle.
Dean of Students Sarah Burnett
said, "Because of the misun-
derstanding that arose after the
yellowribbonincident, several people
in the administration agreed it would
be helpful ifwe had clearer guidelines
[regarding student use of the quad]."
She sad, "There was not a firm policy
nor strict guidelines as to what would
or would not be permitted in the
quad."
Director of Student Activities
Sarah Nelson Crawford said, "You
want to give people the freedom to do
a multitude of possibilities.... When
things are perceived to be out of
hand, then you make a policy."
Burnett said, "We certainly had
already planned to revise [the policy].
That's in the works. It's something
that needs to be clarified and spelled
out in greater detail. "She also said," I
don't think there's any desperate
need to dash out a policy real fast."
If higher-ups in the administration
deemed it necessary, Burnett said, a
committee could be appointed to
review the policy (or absence
thereof). She said that this committee
would include students and faculty
members as well as administration
officials, and would probably meet
during the summer, before
publication of next year's student
handbook.
The committee would make a
recommendation to President Rupp.
"We wouldn't do something like this
without student input, both graduate
and undergraduate," she said. "I think
it just hasn't been viewed as a high
priority [bytheadministratk>n]."She
added that if any student had a
suggestion to make, he or she should
let Burnett know.
Frank Schubert, a lecturer in the
department of religious studies,
wrote, in a statement to the Thresher,
"The bottom line is that the
administration, through the
president, was well within its
authoritative position to allow the
day-long display of ribbons in the
main quadrangle, and in fact, they
did not allow it The new policies
regarding the quadrangle nowunder
consideration by the administration
would even prohibit the Martin
Luther King wreath from remaining
in the quadrangle after the King
ceremony next January. In the end,
the policy serves only to confirm the
suspicion that this university is
uncomfortable with any association
having to do with decisive moral
stands, and thus the university itself
appears, in the eyes of students,
parents and alumni, value-free."
Schubert included an outline for
a proposal which could possibly
bridge the gap between
administration and students on the
issue. The plan proposes:
Every group should have the
ability to request the quadrangle for
one day per year.
The symbols of that group should
be allowed to remain in the quad
from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The approval of the request
should be by:
1. The Student Association
2.The Director of Student
Activities, and
3. The Dean of Students
When asked to respond to the
proposal, Burnett said she had not
discussed it with Schubert
previously but said, "I think all
reasonable suggestions ought to be
considered." She said she had
suggested a two-hour time limit on
demonstrations in the quad, with
immediate removal of foreign
objects, but added, "I think it should
be worked through the system."
Burnett said, "In the past we have
not used the quad except for very
special events. There are very few
things approved for the quad." She
Students form group for
on-campusconservation
by Sinem Eryilmaz
A group concerned about
conservation of energy on the Rice
campus was formed after the SA
leadership retreat on January 19 and
20. The main function of the group
will be to inform the student body
and to improve awareness of the issue.
"We are not as energy conscious
as we are at home," said Audrey
Chang, Hanzsen junior and member
of the group. According to Chang,
students are not very cautious in the
way they use water or electricity at
school since they do not pay for them.
In cooperation with Food and
Housing, the group aims to print
informative posters and stickers.
"Our main focus will be on the water
because it's such a Rice issue and
then, our second focus will be the
energy conservation," said Chang.
Food and Housing will try
installing water-saving shower heads
in a few weeks, after the system is
fixed to prevent the entry of too much
sand into the water, which might
clog the showers.
Another problem the group is
concentratingonisthewasteofwater
in using the sprinklers in watering
the grass and bushes on campus.
Chang stated students and faculty
had frequently observed hoses or
sprinklers working in the rain or
watering the pavement
Director of Facilities and
Engineering Bill Mack sad that even
with seven workers responsible for
taking care of the garden, it was
impossible to keep track of the
placement of all the hoses and to turn
off every sprinkler at the same time
once the rain had started. Bob Mathis,
the manager of the residential
colleges, suggested the usage of drip
irrrigation near the buildings so the
water will be slowly distributed and
the puddles created by the present
method avoided.
This new method has already
been put in practice around Hanzsen.
Mathis added that drip irrigation
will at least take care of the watering
of the bushes.
Presently, 100 percent of Rice's
water supply is provided by the city
water system. However, starting J uly
1, the percentage will drop down to
80, while the remaining 20 percent
will be supplied from the school's
own resources.
"This will cause the water bill to
go up by a few hundred thousand
dollars," Mack said. According to
Mack, the increase in the utility cost
will be reflected in the tuition. Rice
pays about four million dollars a
yearforutilities, including electricity,
water, and natural gas.
On the other hand, Mack added
that the university owned two gas-
turbine generators producing seven
megawatts, of an estimate daily
usage of ten megawatts. The
difference; will increase with the
addition of Alice Pratt Brown and
George R Brown Halls, the latter
consuming more electrical energy
than any other complex on campus.
Mack said the addition of a third
generatorwould be too costly. When
asked about the air-conditioning
system which currently uses a large
amount of energy cooling off the hot
water already processed, he
answered that they are planning to
replace one of the main air
conditioners in the central plant
Despite the cost "the replacing has
to be done in one piece," he added.
Earlier this year Food and
Housing cleaned the coils in the air
conditioning units, a process which
has to be repeated every five years
for more efficient energy use.
also said, "My impression is that
students are very proud of the way the
quad looks."
"We try to have only very special
things in the quad and we try to keep
it pretty....If people want that to
change, there's nothing written in
stone. We just want to make sure that
the whole Rice community feels that
way about it if we're going to do it"
said Burnett "If faculty, students, staff
and administration would like to use
the quad for those kind of events and
leave things there... I think we would
need to know that"
Crawford emphasized the use of
the Rice Memorial Center as an
alternative for display of student
opinion. "[The RMC] is a place for
people to be able to express
themselves." She noted that even the
RMC is not a free-for-all. "We hate to
say, 'No, you can't put sculptures out
there,' but if [the RMC courtyard]
becomes a junkyard then the
university may need to look at it again."
Crawford said, "Our students are
so wonderfully creative that we're
amazed at what they want to do
next.... We want to support all
that...I've only said no once, and
that was with the ribbons on the
quad."
Some students are dissatisfied
with the RMC as an alternative place
for student expression. Baker junior
Ross Grady said, "There's no place
on campus for students except the
colleges, and even that's under
control of college cabinets. The
student center is a place to bring
alumni and visitors.... They're always
running students out of there and
you cant hang anything up without
prior permission."
Burnett agreed that students may
not feel particularly drawn to the
RMC. "The students don't use that
facility because it's not that attractive
a place for students to be," she said.
"I hope to see the RMC being used
more and more for student activities.
I'd like to see the facility more as a
place for students to gather and put
up their 'expressions,'" she
continued. "If there are not enough
places in the RMC...then we need to
figure out more places where people
can do that"
Burnett said she would like to see
a theater, a remodelled Sammy's as a
place to eat a convenience store, and
a game room "down the line" at the
RMC. "I would really like to see the
center be a more attractive place for
students to gather," she said.
Burnett said that administration
of the RMC has been switched this
year, from the office of finance to the
office of student affairs (except for
the Campus Store, which will remain
under office of finance control).
Burnett said this move takes away
the emphasis on money that may
have pervaded former management
of the complex, and places it on
students. "We think about students
and what students would like to do."
Goodall
FROM PAGE 1
fearwas a male, whom Goodall named
David Graybeard for the long, gray
hair on his chin. He came into her
camp and took some bananas she
had left on a table. Goodall began to
leave bananas out for David, who
grew to accept her and pay regular
visits to the camp. "I'll never forget
the day when he accepted fruit from
my hand," she said.
Goodall mentioned her mother,
who had served in the beginning as
her chaperone, since Goodall, being
a young English girl, was not allowed
to go into the forest alone. Her mother
was invaluable to her in helping to
foster good relations with the local
Tanzanians.
It was David Graybeard who first
showed Goodall that chimpanzees
were capable of making tools and
using them - a supremely surprising
discovery which prompted Dr. Louis
Leakey, the anthropologist who had
sent her to study the chimpanzees, to
make the following comment "Now
we must redefine man, redefine a
tool, or accept chimpanzees as
human."
Goodall soon discovered other
surprisingly human attributes of the
chimpanzees, including the ability to
hunt small animals and share the
meat The chimpanzees in Gombe
communicated over long distances
with the "pant hoot," a loud,
protracted cry ending in a sort of
screech. Much to the enjoyment of
the audience, Goodall gave a stunning
rendition of this pant hoot
The chimpanzees relied on
physical contact for communicating
across short distances, using many
of the same gestures - kissing,
hugging, and backslaps - as humans
do.
Chimpanzee communities are
hierarchical and male-dominated,
Goodall discovered.The males assert
their position over one another by a
threatening set of gestures and
charges. One particularly intelligent
chimpanzee named Mike came up
with the idea of pushing empty
kerosene cans before him as he
carried out his aggressive charges.
The resulting noise was so terrifying
that he quickly rose to the position of
alpha-chimp, or the head dominant
male.
Goodall traced this group of
chimpanzees through many leader
changes, through a polio epidemic
where some of the chimpanzees lost
the use of their limbs, and even
through a four-year "war."
Small bands of males would "make
raids into neighbors' territory,"
assaulting stranger chimpanzees
from other communities and often
beating them to death.
Goodall studied the role of mother
chimps extensively. "Mostly, the
mothers are perfectly adequate in
child-rasing," she noted. She cited
one feiriale, an especially good
mother, -who gave birth every five
years. Invariably, the newest baby
was of the greatest interest to the
next youngest sibling, who took it on
himself or herself to take care of and
amuse the infant
Goodall was particularly fond of
her Tanzanian field staff, who were
instrumental in protecting the
chimpanzees from poachers.
There's no way that anyone can
come in and poach the chimps
because these men are so proud of
their work," she asserted.
Unfortunately, chimpanzees in
other places do not fare as well. The
formerly numerous communities in
western Africa are decreasing in
number and becoming fragmented.
Goodall explains that the
chimpanzees are disappearing
because of "habitat destruction"
brought about in part by "greedy
merchants in timber trucks that go
deeper and deeper into the forest"
Another major cause for the
destruction of chimpanzee
populations is that in many African
countries they are hunted for food,
or captured and sold as pets or
subjects for scientific experiments.
They are also put in zoos, where
they are not well fed or kept The
blame for their mistreatment is not
wholly their keepers', however. "The
economy is so bad and the wages are
so low," Goodall states. "Are we to
blame [the zookeepers] if they take
some of the food destined to the
chimps and give it to their own
starving children?"
Goodall believes that it is "a little
humbling" to know that these
creatures can reason, to some extent,
plan for the immediate future, and
build communities. "All these things
serve to blur the iioe, once thought
so sharp, between man on one hand,
and the rest of the animal kingdom,"
she posited.
Goodall exhorts us "to cross the
imaginary chasm between us and
them [the chimpanzees]." Once we
accomplish this, "we will have
everlasting respect for the other life
forms with whom we share the earth."
The governments of Africa need
to establish more national parks. New
legislation is needed to require the
humane treatment of chimpanzees.
We all need to work on conservation
of the environment Goodall gave
these conditions for improving the
lives of chimpanzees and of the rest
of the animal kingdom. "I do know
one thing," Goodall continued,
"anybody who really wants to help
can join the Jane Goodall Institute,"
whose telephone number is 1-800-
99CHIMP.
Goodall concluded with an
anecdote about a chimpanzee named
Jojo in an exhibit in Detroit. Jo jo had
been threatened by another male,
and in his fright, Jojo ran over the
protective barrier and fell into the
moat around the chimp exhibit As
chimpanzees cannot swim, he was
about to drown.
The zoo workers, knowing how
dangerous a frightened, 130-pound
chimpanzee could be, stood by
helplessly. One brave man, however,
jumped into the water, against the
warnings of the zookeepers, groped
around in the muddy water, and saved
the chimpanzee.
When asked why he so rashly
risked his life, Jojo's rescuer
answered, "I looked into Jojo's
eyes...and it was almost like bo king
into the eyes of a man."
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Moeller, Kurt & Yates, Jay. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 29, Ed. 1 Friday, March 22, 1991, newspaper, March 22, 1991; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245780/m1/5/: accessed June 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.