The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 79, No. 20, Ed. 1 Friday, February 14, 1992 Page: 6 of 24
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6 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1992 THE RICE THRESHER
OPINION
Burnett and SNC misled, spied-on and insulted THE RACE coordinators
To the editors,
There are numerous problems
and challenges facing the United
States of America today. We are in
the midst of an apparent recession,
AIDS is a growing epidemic, our
public schools are languishing, and
we are facing a multi-trillion dollar
debt for which no one in Washington
seems to be willing to take responsi-
bility. Despite these monumental
problems, it often seems that this
country's greatest enemies are col-
lege students, and beer.
For several years now the drink-
ing age in the state ofTexas and the
nation as a whole has been 21 years
of age. Those who enacted and sup-
ported this law, many of whom grew
up during the 1960s and sought to
show the world that youth could
make a d ifference, are now dismayed
and offended that many adults be-
tween the ages of 18 and 21 have
sought to express one of the free-
doms that earlier generations were
able to enjoy. You can face criminal
charges as an adult, you can vote,
and you can die in a war, but you
cannot walk into a public place, be
sociable, and have a beer.
But the ramifications of the
change in the drinking age have not
merely affected those under the age
of 21 at the nation's colleges and
universities. With the majority of
college students being unable to
drink legally, university administra-
tors have been afforded the opportu-
nity to limit the freedom of those
students who are of legal drinking
age as well. We are often reminded
by the powers-that-be at Rice Uni-
versity that we have a particularly
liberal alcohol policy, and therefore
should consider ourselves to be quite
fortunate. By the recent events that
have unfolded regardingTH E RACE,
however, it has become quite clear
that following the rules of this alco hoi
policy is simply not enough.
According to Dean Sarah Burnett,
"Technically speaking, THE RACE,
(in its original form, using real beer]
is not a violation of the alcohol policy
if the participants are over-age." All
participants in the original form would
have been "over-age" 21, and we made
it clear to all colleges that eve n "really
good fake ID's" would not be ac-
cepted. The alcohol form for the event
was completed nearly a month ago,
on January 16. Both Director of Stu-
dent Activities Sarah Nelson
Crawford, and Dean Burnett knew at
that time that there would be two
kegs present on the bike track on
February 14.
Nine days before Dean Burnett's
decision to revoke the alcohol form
for THE RACE, Sarah Nelson
Crawford was present at the SA Sen-
ate meeting at which we handed out
the memorandum explaining that
"each team member will chug a 12
oz. beer out of a cup, ride a lap around
the bike track on a mountain bike,
chug another beer, and ride another
lap...."Twodays later, Mr. Ballengee
spoke with Ms. Crawford on the de-
tails of THE RACE. She said that she
wasnotagainstTHE RACEandwould
not bring it up to the administration,
but that she expected "higher-ups"
to contact her about its format
According to the February 7 issue
of the Thresher "...Crawford said she
called Burnett after reading the
Thresher ar\ic\e." Burnett herself said
that she had not read the article until
she received a call from Crawford.
Crawford also claimed in the Thresher
that when Ballengee presented the
idea to Burnett he said that it was
only for members of Marcus Aurelius
Latin and English Society (MALES).
This is simply not true. Mr. Ballengee
made it clear to Ms. Crawford on
January 15that the "mock" race would
be open to all and checked the box
corresponding to "open/free" on the
alcohol policy form that she signed.
Mr. Ballengee did not speak to Dean
Burnett when she signed the form,
because she was not in her office
eitherwhen hedropped it offorwhen
he went to pick it up.
Burnett said in last week's
Thresher,"... since we have now been
i nformed o f th e p lan s [ of TH E RAC E ]
and have the opinion of a physician,
we have an obligation to put a halt to
a potentially dangerous situation." In
the original article in the Thresher on
January 31, Dr. Dain Novak was
quoted as saying, "This event is po-
tentially dangerous, with people
chugging beer and then putting all of
their energy into riding, they will be
more likely to fall, and not because of
drunkenness (emphasis added)." We
were surprised to see a quote from a
health service official and shocked
that the quote had no reference to
"mono." Novak also made the mis-
guided comment that the format of
THE RACE was "suicidally stupid."
Some may wish to believe that we
somehow intend to maliciously en-
danger participants in THE RACE;
however, we have taken numerous
precautions to provide for the safety
of those who might willingly take
part. We have made it abundantly
clear throughout that no one intoxi-
cated will be allowed to ride. Addi-
tionally, we are requiring the use of
relatively slow and stable mountain
bikes, and all participants will still
wear helmets. Empirical evidence
provided by members of Will Rice
College have convinced us without a
doubt that Dr. Novak's concerns
about the dangers of chugging and
biking are unsubstantiated. Of the
seventeen riders from Will Rice who
have tried the format a total of more
than twenty-five times, none have
had any problems.
We wrongly believed that obey-
ing the alcohol policy would be
enough. It has been made clear to us
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that even if all participants are of
legal-drinking age, THE RACE can-
not use beer with a mere 5 percent
alcohol content We followed the
rules of Rice University, and we were
never intending to break any laws
passed by the federal, state, or local
government The fact that adults of
legal drinking age need to receive
permission to drink beer paid for
with their own money is completely
ludicrous.
It was made clear, in the first
paragraph of the front page story in
last week's Thresher, that the race
would use "non-alcoholic Near Beer."
Despite this fact, Mr. Ballengee re-
ceived a message on his answering
machine from one of Ms. Crawford's
student assistants the day that the
article appeared. The student said
that Ms. Crawford wanted to know if
Near Beer meant "non-alcoholic
beer" or "watered down beer." Mr.
Ballengee did not have an opportu-
nity to return the call.
On Monday of this week, both of
us received messages to call Dean
Burnett's secretary, Harriet. Mr.
Jaasma returned her call and was
informed that she "had been told to
look at [the Will Rice College] min-
utes" from the previous week's WRC
Diet meeting. She asked about a line
in the minutes which mentioned a
practice for THE RACE, held a week
ago, and attempted to gather infor-
mation as to its nature. We were both
shocked and dismayed when we
learned later that both WRC Presi-
dent Doug Fairy and WRC office
secretary Babs Willis had also been
called in an attempt discover any il-
licit details that might be available.
We are both adults, by any defini-
tion of the word. We have worked
with both Dean Burnett and Ms.
Crawford in several capacities dur-
ing the last two years. We respected
the rules and regulations of the uni-
versity, and the officials whose jobs
it is to uphold them enough to attempt
to abide by the alcohol policy. We
were not accorded the same respect.
Even though we were guilty of no
wrongdoing, we have been misled,
spied-on, and insulted.
To ask people of legal drinking
age to register alcohol that they wish
to consume in public is one thing,
whether or not you agree with the
policy. To deny the use of alcohol by
a well structured event which made
every effort to provide for the safety
of its participants is simply not right.
The university had used a pathetic
excuse, namely the comments of a
questionable authority printed in the
newspaper, to justify its altering of
THE RACE'S format. This action and
the corresponding harassment that
we have had to endure since have
severely jeopardized our faith in the
judgement of certain university offi-
cials. Unfortunately, this action is all
too symptomatic of our country's
misplaced priorities.
Keith Jaasma
(born October 15, 1969)
Todd B Ballengee
(born October 10, 1969)
Houston
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Zitterkopf, Ann & Howe, Harlan. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 79, No. 20, Ed. 1 Friday, February 14, 1992, newspaper, February 14, 1992; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245805/m1/6/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.