The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 79, No. 26, Ed. 1 Friday, April 3, 1992 Page: 8 of 24
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FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 1992 THE RICE THRESHER
NEWS
The following students have
been named to Phi Beta Kappa,
the national honor society:
Baker
Kristen I). Adams
Raquel K. Arnold
Hubert L Bray
Robert T. Collier
Rebecca G. Kvans
Damla G. Karsan
Eugene Tong
Brown
Wendy S. Burk
Erik S. Daniel
Amy K Henninger
Kevin C. Irwin
Neva Phair
John D. Schwetman
Mark T. Swihart
Derrick E. Tate
Hanszen
Susan M. Can-
David S. Crawford
Sheila Dugger Griffith
Wendy W. Huang
Mark J. Permann
Karen E. Ruecker
Lisa M. Spiro
Neal J. Zondlo
Jones
Zanc A. Ball
Christopher R. Cowles
Eric L Dupre
Susan M. Elverson
Thomas A Earnen
Bcrnadette Gillece
Katherine M. Ho
Alexei M. Silverman
I^ovett
David C. Bayard
Henry W. Mahncke
Richard B. Menke
Lirrv L Nguyen
Peter K. Phillips
Kathv E. Russell
Joel H. Sauer
Kelly L Thomas
SRC
Alan M. Button
Pamela L Greene
Lyn Underwood Ragan
Grover T. Sims
Wiess
Sharon M. Discorfano
Brett 1). Granger
Scott A. Hareland
Will Rice
Telly C. Chang
Rachel E. Levitt
Elisa M. Macia
Noel M. McMahan
Carrie J. Wyatt
Geoffrey W. Evans
Mary K Holland
David S. Metzler
by Kristen Copeland
Jones junior Wendy Paul em-
barked on an experience last week
that she would never forget. She, like
all students in Education 311, must
spend at least 15 hours observing
classes in Houston public schools.
After having completed this course,
Pau 1 went to visit a school this semcs-
ter to continue observations in
preparation for her career in teach-
ing. Because Paul had a personal
friend teaching at Dowling Junior
'Becoming pregnant is
somewhat of a rite of
passage for them.'
—Wendy Paul
High School, she quickly took up an
invitation to observe the school. She
made this decision in spite of her
knowledge about the school's notori-
ous reputation of being plagued by
frequent race riots and confronta-
tions involving lethal weapons.
Paul found that 6()% of the stu-
dents were failing (this was true even
in some classes that graded on a
curve. In some classes up to 90% of
the students were failing). She said
this could probably be attributed to
the over-sized classes of 30 or more
and to the underprivileged back-
grounds of most of the students.
Paul described the student body
as "mostly black, with some Hispan-
ics, and very few whites," and "on the
edge of poverty."
Many of the students come from
abusive homes, single-parent homes,
and homes plagued by alcoholism or
other drug-related problems, ac-
cord ing to the journals they compose
for class.
Although the students were only
from ages eleven to fifteen, Paul de-
scribed almost all of them as sexually
active. In fact, when she later had a
chance to speak privately with the
students, she was somewhat stunned
by the sexual nature of their ques-
tions. She judged that "becoming
pregnant is somewhat a rite of pas-
sage for them."
While the students were un-
doubtedly poor, some had beepers
and inordinate amounts of jewelry,
presumably a sign that they were
drug dealers.
Paul also discovered that a many
carried weapons such as butterfly
knives and guns, and often threaten
teachers with them. In fact, she dis-
covered agun on one of the students
in the classes she was observing. It
turned out to be on ly a pellet gun, but
itclosely resembled a semi-automatic
Beretta. Although the student was
promptly removed from class at the
time of the discovery, he returned
later that period. Paul was unaware
of any disciplinary measures which
were taken against the student other
than confiscation of the gun.
That same day, Paul heard of two
other incidents involving guns. In
one incident, a sixth-grader actually
pulled a loaded gun on a teacher,
disrupting class until security offic-
ers could seize the gun. In the other
case a student tossed a gun out the
window before it could be confis-
cated.
Paul noted that to handle these
emergencies, the school had installed
a "panic- button" in each classroom
which teachers could press if they
felt the situation was beyond their
control. Paul was unsure of the ef-
fectiveness or responsiveness to
this panic button, however.
While not all classes are con-
sumed by disciplinary actions against
threats with a weapon, Paul observed
that little time was left for teaching.
According to Paul, some sort of disci-
pline was constantly required for stu-
dents who were writing obscene
words on the blackboard, running
around the classroom, and talking
amongst themselves.
She heard reports that teachers
had been bitten, trampled on, and
threatened numerous times by the
'I've got a real gun at
home and someday I'm
going to get you!'
—anonymous student
students. She overheard the student
whose pellet gun was confiscated
threaten his teacher, "I've got a real
gun at home and some day I'm going
to get you!"
Paul noted that teachers were al-
lowed to assign detentions after
school, but these detentions were
solely monitored by the teachers and
Paul felt that the teachers would be
in great danger if a student decided
to carry out a threat after school hours
when the security officers would be
difficult to reach.
Despite this somewhat horrific
setting, Paul maintained, "It did not
terrify me; it made me very sad for
the kids."
She also emphasized that all came
from dysfunctional families, with few
positive role models. Because the
only models they did have were often
abusive and violent, the students
claimed that they responded the best
to teachers who yelled and screamed
at them, and suggested that the
teachers should use more profanity
to win their respect. The students
insisted they had no respect for
teachers that tried to be nice to them,
or care for them.
Susan Poster, Paul's friend who
teaches at Dowling, however, felt that
"they still really needed to know that
someone cared," and suggested that
perhaps a 'big-brother/big-sister
program' could ameliorate the situa-
tion.
She had noticed remarkable
change after some students had spent
time with her individually. While
these students still had disciplinary
problems in other classes, they no
longer acted up in her class.
Paul said regretfully, "They turn
to drugs, weapons, and sex, because
it is the only, thing they can find in
their environment" to give them
power or pleasure.
While she was not turned away
from teaching by her experience, Paul
wished to relate her story because
she said, "I think it's important for us
here at Rice to know what's happen-
ing outside of our community."
She continued, "I think a lot of
times we are oblivious; we see the
nice houses around us, and we don't
think about what goes on in other
places. Sometimes we hear stories
about schools such as Dowling, but
they are only stories to us. I think it is
our responsibility to be aware that
these problems exist."
Speech Team sends record-setting number to nationals
by Sam Cole
Eifteen members of Rice's George
R. Brown Eorensic Society will com-
pete in the national speech tourna-
ment in St. Louis, Missouri, April 11
through 14, where they hope to im-
prove on last year's fifth place finish.
"I think we have a very good
chance of at least finishing as high as
we did last year, [and it] wouldn't
surprise me to move up," said Mike
Eain, head coach and faculty advisor
for the team.
The following promotions have been approved by the Board of Gov-
ernors, effective July 1, 1992:
To the Rank of Professor
Kathleen Beckingham Biochemistry & Cell Biology
Biochemistry & Cell Biology
Shepherd School of Music
Physics
English .
Human Performance & Health Sciences
Biochemistry & Cell Biology
Space Physics & Astronomy
English
George Bennett
Marcia Citron
Marjorie Corcoran
Linda Driskill
Nicholas Iammarino
George Phillips
Patricia Reiff
Susan Wood
To the Rank of Associate Professor with Tenure
Jonathan Bland-Hawthorn Space Physics & Astronomy
Matthias Eelleisen
Andre Droxler
Robin Eorman
Randall Hulet
Richard lavenda
Paula Sanders
Dennis Shirley
Joseph Warren
Harvey Yunis
Computer Science
Geology & Geophysics
Mathematics
Physics
Shepherd School of Music
History
Education
Computer Science
Spanish, Portuguese, & Classics
To Tenure at Present Rank of Associate Professor
Keith Cooper
Marek Kimmel
Albert Napier
Robert Roux
Philip Wood
James Young
Computer Science
Statistics
Jones Graduate School
Shepherd School of Music
French Studies
Electrical & Computer Engineering
To the Rank of Associate Professor
William Sherman Architecture
The following appointments of faculty fellows have also been ap-
proved:
Distinguished Facility Fellow
Robert H. Hauge Chemistry
Faculty Fellow
John Mellor-Crummey
Linda M. Torczon
Computer Science
Computer Science
Eain said the team's success at
nationals last year was surprising
because it was competing against
teams with far greater resources. Rice
was one of only two teams in the top
twenty that dictnot come from schools
with speech departments. Accord-
ing to Eain, Rice has one-seventh of
the funding that the Bradley Univer-
sity and George Mason University
speech teams have. "What we're do-
ing is unfathomable," he said.
The team going to nationals this
year has the advantage of being big-
7 think we have a very
good chance of at least
finishing as high as we
did last year, {and it}
wouldn't surprise me to
move up.'
—Mike Fain
ger than last year's, which only had
11 students.
Because students can qualify in
more than one event, the 15 mem-
bers ofthe Forensic Society will actu-
ally compete in 46 different events.
Only two schools, Bradley and
George Mason, are entered in more
Members of the George R. Brown Forensic Society will compete in the nationals.
events.
To qualify for the national tourna-
ment in an event, a student must
place in that event in three different
tournaments. According to Fain, the
team's strongest events are Extem-
poraneous Speaking, Impromptu
Speaking, and Communication
Analysis. There are, however, no in-
dividuals who dominate the team, he
said. "We are not a squad that is a
showcase of two or three people. It's
a whole team effort."
The team members are also un-
usually young. "We only have two
seniors land] the sophomore class is
unbelievable," Eain said.
The team has grown consider-
ably in the past few years. Two years
ago, there were only six students on
the team; this year there are over 30.
The team has participated in compe-
titions from Colorado to Washing-
ton, D.C. this year. Although only a
few of the members of the Forensic
Society compete in debate, Rice re-
cently sent four debaters to the na-
tional Cross-Examination Debate
Association tournament.
Peter Johnson, a sophomore at
Baker College, was one of only ten
students nation-wide chosen for the
Ail-American Debate Team, and
Baker sophomore Joseph Grinstein
was one of only ten students picked
for the Scholastic All-American De-
bate Team. Ncxtyear, Rice ishosting
the national tournament. Meredith
Weiss, a team member, said that be-
tween 600 and 700 competitors will
converge on Rice early next April for
the competition.
Student conservation saves on utilities
by Wendy Paul
Students looking, for good news
for next year's finances may be able
to find it in the almost ten percent
decrease in the utility budget for Fi-
nance and Engineering.
According to Bill Mack, director
of F&E, the utility costs for next year
are projected to decrease by close to
a half million dollars. The budget
decrease from $5 million to $4,618
million includes an additional
$141,000 in rate increases for water
and natural gas. Without the increase
in some utility costs, the budget would
have been $4,447 million, indicating
that conservation efforts have re-
sulted in over a half million dollars in
budget tuts.
Mack cited three areas of conser-
vation responsible for the savings.
The first is conservation by indi-
viduals. Although Mack emphasized
that "there is still room for improve-
ment Lin conservation efforts]," he
noted that "people have been more
attentive to conserving." The second
area is energy conservation projects
ranging from custod ial workers clos-
ing doors on air conditioned rooms
to improvements in the gas turbine
generators. These have also made
big differences in utility costs.
The third area of conservation will
not take effect until August. All three
of the university's air conditioning
units or absorption chillers will be
replaced by Aug. 1 of this year. Un-
like freon air conditioners, the ab-
sorption chillers convert steam to
co Id water for air co n d itio ni ng. M ack
calls the replacement "a big step to
improve the reliability and efficiency
ofthe [airconditioning] system."
Mack also emphasized that "it is
not routine for us to spend that much
money, but we expect [ the new u nits]
to operate for over twenty years."
The university will pay $200,000 in
installation fees for the first unit, but
the manufacturer is providing the
unit itself without charge as a re-
placement unit. The other two units
combined will cost $1.5 million, in-
cluding installation.
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Kim, Leezie & Carson, Chad. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 79, No. 26, Ed. 1 Friday, April 3, 1992, newspaper, April 3, 1992; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245811/m1/8/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.