The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 11, Ed. 1 Friday, November 5, 1993 Page: 7 of 20
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NEWS
THE RICE THRESHER FRIDAY. NOVEMBER 5, 1993 7
Inauguration
FROM PAGE 1
beyond our own borders,* he said.
He gave as examples of this move-
ment the formation of the James A
Baker III Institute for Public Policy
and a planned program in Latin Ameri-
can studies.
Gillis also discussed a scientific
revolution in electronic and informa-
tional technology and molecular sci-
ence.
"We face a future wherein knowl-
edge and information will displace land
and natural resources as capital," he
said.
He also called for new teaching
technologies, such as interactive "elec-
tronic studios" in classrooms, librar-
ies or even residential colleges.
Lastly, Gillis cited demographic
changes as a major influence on Rice
and other universities. He asked the
Rice community to display "uncom-
mon courtesy" on campus as the cam-
pus and the nation becomes more
diverse.
Keeping with tradition, a group of
wreath-bearers led by Baker placed a
wreath on the statue and tomb of uni-
A Rice student's younger brother carves a pumpkin for inauguration games Sunday.
F&H
FROM PAGE 5
to have the potential for being very
negative, even though they arent that
bad now," Marquardt said.
The major problems addressed in
Patterson's study were room over-
crowding, fines, inefficiency, commu-
nication and summer storage. Most
issues were policy-related.
The main complaint with room
overcrowding is insufficient compen-
sation to those inconvenienced. Stu-
dents in an overcrowded room are
given a rebate of 90 cents for every day
they live there.
But Patterson notes in his memo
that the university receives a substan-
tial profit from overcrowded rooms.
For example, five students living in a
four-student room for 140 days would
receive a rebate of $630. Butthe extra
student pays $1,480 for the room, re-
sulting in an $850 university profit
Patterson suggested charging by
the room instead of by the person,
taking into account the extra costs to
the university made by additional
people, such as utility costs.
"Some of the charges are justifi-
able, since more people will be using
the room," Patterson said.
Another major complaint involved
certain aspects of the fining policy,
which students consider unreason-
able. The example given in the memo
is the $250charge the college receives
when a fire alarm is pulled without
reason.
Patterson sad a lower fine, such as
$100, would be just as effective since
the fines only stimulate individual col-
lege courts to search for the respon-
sible individuals.
In response, Hicks said, "We don't
want to look like we're backing off
security and safety issues. These are
big items with all universities, not just
Rice. We want to ensure safe and se-
cure buildings."
Healso said the general policy is to
bill colleges for damages and allow
colleges to deal with the costs in then-
own way, which is usually by finding
and charging the person responsible.
"We are trying to deter students
from pulling the alarms as jokes. The
more people do this, the more it will
make people think that it's always a
prank. There are a whole lot of other
jokes to play," he said.
Perez feaid the new fire alarm sysr
tern is state of the art and won an
award as a model system
F&H places a protective covering
over alarms frequently pulled to dis-
courage pranks, but does not cover
them unless they have been falsely
pulled three times, which amounts to
$750 in fines.
Patterson suggested that F&H
place covers on alarms before a col-
lege incurs $750 in fines.
He said in the memorandum, how-
ever, that the overall drop in fire alarm
pranks in the residential colleges indi-
cates that fines are doing some good
in deterring pranks.
"The problem is not that there are
fines, but that the fines are unreason-
able," Patterson said. "They are noth-
ing more than punitive."
Students also complained of room
repair charges, especially when room
damages are penalized but not re-
paired. Perez and Hicks told Patterson
that errors occur every summer but
that a greater effort would be made to
reduce fines for unrepaired damages.
"The fine for damage is approxi-
mately 10 percent of the repair cost,
which means I'm bearing a large part
of the cost," Perez said.
One complaint claimed F&H was
inefficient in requiring students who
lost their keys last semester to pay a
lock recoring fee. Because the entire
campus had its locks recored in Au-
gust, there was no need to have these
students pay the fee last semester,
according to the complaint.
In response to this complaint, H icks
said that this year's campus-wide
recoring is extremely infrequent.
Perez also said that any recoring done
last semester was necessary to keep
people using the campus in the sum-
mer from entering the rooms.
Questionnaires showed concern
about poor communication between
the residential colleges and F&H.
According to the study, students feel
they have little influence with the de-
partment and that F&H is not very
concerned with students' housing
problems. Apossible explanation pro-
vided by the committee was that time-
tables and significant project reports
are not relayed effectively to the indi-
vidual colleges.
Perez said he has decided to work
on sending a monthly notice to each
college which describes scheduled
projects. He said, however, that
planned projects account for only 30
percent of F&H's work in the col-
leges. Much of F&H's work is
unscheduled maintenance.
The report praised student main-
tenance representativesand F&H staff,
especially ground crews, for the work
they do daily. '
The report also commended the
efforts by F&H to increase communi-
cation on all levels. "F&H's desire for
increased communication with the
colleges demonstrates openness and
a desire for maximum results," it con-
cludes.
versity founder William Marsh Rice.
Former Presidents George Rupp,
representing Columbia University,
and Norman Hackerman attended the
ceremony.
Sunday featured a campus-wide
barbecue, as well as various contests
and games. According to Julia Farn-
ham. Student Association president,
about 3,000 attended the barbecue
and 300 to 400 people attended or
participated in the games.
Farnham did not give an exact fig-
ure but sad the cost of the weekend
was proportional to the cost of Rupp's
inauguration in 1985, after adjusting
for inflation.
Oneofthese games wasTea-Trike,
where coliege teams raced Big Wheels
around Alumni Drive in front of the
Rice Memorial Center. Hanszen Col-
lege was the winner of the race
Wiess College won the Build-A-
Gillis contest, in which college teams
weregiven,among otherthings, feath-
ers, balloons, dowels and a photocopy
of Gillis' face to create whatever they
decided was Gillis. Farnham said
Wiess' creation was "an abstract rep-
lica of Dr. Gillis."
"Considering the weather and the
playful nature of Rice students, I feel
the attendance was good," Farnham
said. "It was mostly college competi-
tion but it worked out quite welL"
Gillis assumed the Rice presidency
July 1. He had been Faculty of Arts
andSciencesdeanatDukesince 1991.
Gillis received his bachelor's and
master's degrees in economics from
the University of Florida and earned
his doctorate in the same field from
the University of Illinois in 1968.
He accepted a teaching position at
Duke in 1967. Two years later he
moved to Harvard University as a lec-
turer of economics and research fel-
low, and then returned to Duke as a
professor of economics and public
policy.
In 1986, Gillis was named dean of
the graduate school at Duke and vice
provost for academic affairs.
9
MM
m
Here he is: Wiess College's winning entry in the Build-A-Gillis contest.
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Howley, Peter & Epperson, Kraettli. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 11, Ed. 1 Friday, November 5, 1993, newspaper, November 5, 1993; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245853/m1/7/?rotate=90: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.