The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 79, No. 6, Ed. 1 Friday, September 27, 1991 Page: 2 of 20
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2 FRIDAY. SEPTEMBER 27. 1991 THE RICE THRESHER
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HRR
Nighttime lighting on
campus requires attention
A couple of years ago I called the campus police to turn off an errant fire
alarm, but was told that nobody at the Rice station could help me immediately—
there had just been a call about a prowler in one of the colleges, and the
campus police were more concerned with the students' safety than with the
facilities. As long as everybody had left the building safely, the dispatcher
said, they would get to it as soon as they could.
I liked that
So, as the alarm continued, 1 walked across the grass back to the people
I was with and explained things to them. We all agreed that putting the
student safety ahead of material goods was a pretty decent attitude for the
university to have.
This attitude is one that the university should maintain, and to a large
extent it does. I don't often have to think about crime, even though I am living
in a city suffering a purported "crime wave." I sleep at nights on campus
behind three locked doors, the campus police are always on patrol, and
students tend to look out for each other, whether on foot or in escort carts.
But between buildings I often wonder about the safety of those who
choose to walk alone. William Marsh Rice wanted his university to have a
country campus. But did he want a dark one? At what point do we sacrifice
aesthetics for security?
The area to which I specifically refer is between Jones and Brown
colleges—the "fairy fountain." This area has security problems, many of
which could easily be changed.
The paths around the fairy fountain are dark every night While there are
lights posted on Jones South and the Jones commons, they currently are
ineffective and, at times, annoying.
The light posted on the Jones commons is the closest source of light to the
fountain and the only one the trees do not obscure. It does not work, and has
not for at least a month.
The higher-powered halogen lamp on the roof of Jones South is aimed
poorly, illuminating the treetops above the paths. This certainly ensures that
nobody will be hiding in a tree, and it also makes anybody scaling the west
face of Brown immediately obvious, as the light shines in those windows all
night as well, bright enough to read by. Despite these obviously useful
functions, however, that lamp does not light up the paths properly.
The east side of the fountain is wooded by what have become known as the
"weeds," a wall of plants over 51/2' tall and thick enough that it is difficult to see
through them. This wall is taller than many students and it would be easy for
someone to hide behind it, especially while the fountain is drained.
Both of these problems could easily be fixed. Adjusting the halogen lamp
down, and perhaps relocating it, will help, as will fixing the light on the Jones
commons. And with all the landscaping that goes on around campus, another
40 square feet of thoughtful planting is not an unreasonable job.
The fairy fountain is certainly not the only spot that needs more attention
to nighttime safety. The area between the gym and the tennis courts by
Wiess, the walk to the stadium from the RMC, and the route to the commuter
lot by Space Sciences also need help. A walk around campus at night is sure
to reveal other dangerous areas.
Although there are lights on campus and the university is very good about
student safety in many ways, these placeaifire trouble spots and the university
should address them. In many cases, they require little effort to make a
dramatic difference. After all, people can do more in the dark than just turn
statues.
—Harlan Howe
Interested in writing for the Thresher
opinion section? Contact Darrell Speck
at the Thresher office at 527-4801.
Harlan Howe, Ann Zitterkopf
Editors-in-Chief
Chad Carson
Managing Editor
NEWS
Amy Keener Editor
Jill Salomon Assistant Editor
Jonathan Brigg SA Correspondent
Michelle Price, Kraettli Epperson, Sam
Cole, Mark Schoenhals, Henry Mahncke,
Kitt Kittebon, Arnaud KHneburg, Sei
Chong, Steven Jones
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Leezie Kim Editor
Shala Phillips Assistant Editor
Ross Grady Columnist
Richard Weiss, Chepe Lockett, Dorry
Segev, Patricia Iin, Brian Beeghly, Amy
Hemphill, Mimi Cho, Wilbur Lam
FEATURES
Shaila Dewan Editor
HACK PAGE
Heidi Hueltner Editor
Phone-S27-4801
Dave Mansfield
Business Manager
SPORTS
Peter Howley Editor
Joey Olivier, Erica Ijevine, Garrick
Mitchell, Jason Martinez
OPINION
Darrell Speck Editor
Mark Bennett, Steven Bryant Columnists
PHOTOGRAPHY
Chris Sonneborn Editor
Eric Hahn Assistant Editor
PRODUCTION
Josh Denk Manager
Thomas Anderson, Bryan Jones, John
McCoy, Jeremy Hart,
BUSINESS
Shane Speciale Ads Manager
Chris Cowles Assistant Business Manager
George Nickas Ads Production
Hector Avila Distribution
©COPYRIGHT 1991
The Rice Thresher, the official student newspaper at Rice University since
1916, is published each Friday during the school year, except during exami-
nation periods and holidays, by the students of Rice University. Editorial and
business offices are located on the second floor of the Ley Student Center,
P.O. Box 1892, Houston, Texas, 77251. Advertising information available
upon request. Mail subscription rate per semester: $15.00 domestic, $30
international via first class mail. Unsigned editorials represent the majority
opinion of the Thresher Editors. All other pieces represent the opinion of the
author. Obviously.
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Mistaken identity irks commuter student
To the editors,
I parked my car in lot SI, the
commuter lot by Sid Richardson
College, at approximately 5:30 p.m.
on September 17. As I left my car, a
young lady getting out of a car two
spaces away informed me I would be
ticketed (apparently by her) if I did
not move my car because the lot was
for Rice students only. I toldtheyoung
lady and her male companion that I
was, in fact, a Rice studenL Her
companio n o bserved that my car had
a valid Rice commuter parking
sticker. As I walked away I noticed
she began to write down some in-
formation.
About ten minutes later I returned
to my car to retrieve an item I had
forgotten. At this time several indi-
viduals (Rice students I assume)
walked past my car. They made a few
comments. 1 informed them I was a
Rice student and walked away.
Upon returning to my car about
one hour later, I found I had been
ticketed for parking in lot S (the Sid
Rich College lot) when, in fact, I was
parked in lot S-l.
The ticket indicated that it was
placed by an SRC undergraduate. I
find it hard to believe that a member
of SRC does not know the difference
between the SRC lot and the com-
muter lot. In addition, someone had
tried to scrape the parking decal
from the car's rear window.
At the time of the incident I was
wearing surgical scrubs (my research
in the Biomedical Engineering
Laboratory sometimes requires that
I wear scrubs). I assume the students
concluded that I must be a medical
student or a medical center employee
illegally parking at Rice.
However, neither group of stu-
dents asked to see my Rice ID. Thus,
I was judged to be illegally parked
based upon my appearance.
It seems someone decided to
take the law into their own hands by
trying to remove my parking decal. I
find this behavior very unethical
particularly if the individual who
ticketed by car was involved in try-
ing to remove the decal from my
window.
I understand the Rice Police De-
partment has more important tasks
than looking for illegally parked ve-
hicles, and I believe hiring under-
graduates to patrol the campus for
such vehicles is agood idea However,
I would prefer that the RUPD hire
individuals who display both com-
petence and integrity in performing
this duty in the future.
Nick Panaro
Graduate Student,
Biomedical Engineering
Laboratory
Apathy a product of Rice atmosphere
by Mark Bennett
Two weeks ago I spent an evening
in the coffee-house, the campus ref-
uge for those unwilling to do home-
work and eager to talk to their peers
about the issues of the day. I was
looking for a topic for last week's
column. In response to my query,
"What is the most controversial
subject on campus," I heard "abor-
tion," "athletics," and, many times, "I
dunno."
I had always heard that the Rice
student body is abnormally apathetic.
I had noticed that sports and home-
work were the staples of dinner table
conversation, but had been as cyn ical
about Rice's reputation for apathy as
about any generalization concerning
the campus.
Last week in this space I wrote on
an SE/academ schism, and so far the
Thresher has received seven or eight
responses to this column,. While the
editors consider this a heavy re-
sponse to a single article, it bodes ill
for the state of debate at Rice. I must
have offended many more people
than this, but few of them found it
worthwhile to correct my assump-
tions and view of SEs.
Why is it that Rice students are,
by and large, apathetic toward even
the issues that most directly affect
them? ^
Last year's editorial page debate
on PC never involved more than five
or six people. Mention abortion at
dinner and, unless you're very lucky,
no one bats an eyelash. Ask for your
Measured
classmates' politics, and you're as
likely to get blank stares as party
affiliations. Ask for an opinion on the
student-faculty dating policy and,
unless you're talking to a Thresher
editor, you probably won't get more
than a shrug.
On a superficial level, Rice stu-
dents resist subscribing to what Earl
Ryan described as the "cause of the
month club." Few of them jump on
the sensitivity bandwagon when the
rights of baby seals or spotted owls
are threatened.
They rationalize this by pointing
out that they just don't have the time
to waste on trite issues largely irrel-
evant to campus life. This is a valid
reason not to get involved in every
argument that comes oozing out of
Cambridge or Berkeley, but Rice
students carry this avoidance of con-
troversy too far.
Even topics on which opinions
are nearly unavoidable are unsuit-
able fodder for discussions at Rice.
There are valid arguments for and
against the core courses — SOSC
and NSCI — and everyone has to
take them, but once they have fin-
ished them, people seem to stop car-
ing about whether these courses are
taught well (or, for that matter, at
all).
Similarly, it is difficult to avoid
beingeither "pro-life" or "pro-choice,"
but there is little discussion of abor-
tion rights, even when the rest of the
country is nearly brawling over the
issue.
The problem is not that Rice stu-
dents are inarticulate or devoid of
ideas. Nor do they simply all hold the
same viewpoints; under pressure
they will confess a wide range of
opinions. In addition, when they do
decide to argue about something —
from vegetarianism to ACT-UP —
their arguments and logic are usu-
ally quite compelling.
There were even two other stu-
dent-run publications on campus last
year — Other Voices (a "non-hierar-
chical" feminist rag) and the Sentinel
(a hierarchical conservative rag).
These papers thrived on the brief
bursts of debate over political "cor-
rectness" on campus; they haven't
reared their heads yet this year.
Discarding lack of opinions or in-
ability to express them as explana-
tions ofthe apathy phenomenon, what
remains? Only the Rice atmosphere.
We came out of high school smarter
and more opinionated than most of
our peers, and stepped into an envi-
ronment full of people as smart and
opinionated as we were.
From day one we were steeped in
Rice culture. We heard the legend
that Rice students are apathetic, we
decided that it would not do to be
otherwise, and the legend fulfilled
itself.
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Zitterkopf, Ann & Howe, Harlan. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 79, No. 6, Ed. 1 Friday, September 27, 1991, newspaper, September 27, 1991; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245791/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.