The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 18, Ed. 1 Friday, February 4, 1994 Page: 1 of 16
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SINCE 1916
VOLUME 81, NUMBER 18
I WATCHED THE SIMPSONS WITH BOB TRUSCOTT
FEBRUARY 4, 1994
Just for the taste of it
Y;
• : . ,
' > ' *
Stephen Bepko, Wiess '93, and seniors Amber Dunten, Niescja Turner and Nancy Chabot brave the cold on
Tuesday to get a taste — and a picture — of Houston's first snowfall in about four years.
Owlnet investigation still pending
Panel to find big-name
graduation speakers
by Patricia Lin
After being shut down because of
a major security breach,-the campus
network system went back on line
Jan. 28 with new security measures.
But the investigation of the intruder's
identity continues.
Systems administrators and staff
worked long hours, often late into the
night, to reload the Sun operating sys-
tem and clear it of any viruses that
may have been planted by the intruder.
, Owlnet was available to users last
Friday, butwent down again this week
because of a hard-drive failure unre-
lated to the break-in. The system
should be up again by today.
Changes that increase security in-
clude mandatory accounts for users
dialing in my telephone from outside
Rice — no accounts were required
before—and removal of all .rhost files
The .rhost function allowed users
to log in to their accounts on other
networks without providing a pass-
word. But Joseph Watters, deputy di-
rector of Owlnet, said this change will
not affect very many users.
"Really, the only noticeable change
is the charon change," he said.
Users logging in by modem must
now obtain a separate account in or-
der to use charon, the network dial-in
server for users outside of the labs.
The facts are thai an
intruder got into the
system, and that we
decided to take it down as
a precaution.'
— Joseph Watters
Owlnet deputy director
"Users will need an account and a
password to get into charon before
they can access their system ac-
counts," Watters said.
Watters declined to comment on
the pending investigation by the FBI.
But he emphasized that the rumors
involving a local defense contractor,
the CIA and a Rice systems adminis-
trator are "purely rumor and specula-
tion."
"It wasn't very clear to the public
that these stories were just stories,
and especially we want to emphasize
that the story that any systems admin-
istrator was involved is wrong,"
Watters said.
"The facts are that an intruder got
into the system, and that we decided
to take it down as a precaution. Inves-
tigations are still going on," he said.
Sgt Terry Ryals of the campus
police said the security breach was
not as widespread as some may be-
lieve. "It's a big deal to us here be-
cause it's happening at Rice and it's
affecting everybody, but it wasn't that
big a deal overall," he said.
The FBI regularly updates the cam-
pus police on its findings. "The agents
are keeping us abreast of things here,"
Ryals said.
"It's definite that the CIA was not
involved and that no defense contrac-
tor was involved. As soon as the inves-
tigation is over, we'll be sure to inform
the Rice community about what hap-
pened," Ryals said.
by Melissa Williams
The Student Association Senate
this week reaffirmed student support
for outside graduation speakers by
agreeing to form a committee to assist
the president's office with the search
process.
"Since the Student Association
believes that an outside commence-
ment speaker is desired for gradua-
tion ceremonies, we propose that the
process of selecting and acquiring a
speaker be shared with the students,"
wrote Secretary Randy Block in an
internal memo.
President Malcolm Gillis said at a
Senate meeting Monday that since
the issue is important to students, he
is willing to work with a student com-
mittee to continue the trend of outside
speakers. He also said paying for
speakers is not out of the question,
nor are non-political figures.
Gillis had suggested the possibil-
ity to SA President Julia Farnham of
having external speakersonly when it
is mutually convenient for the speaker
andtheuniversity. Hepointed out that
1994 is only the fourth year Rice has
had an outside speaker for commence-
ment.
The tradition at Rice has been to
have no outside speaker," he said.
Red Cross President Elizabeth
Dole has agreed to speak at this year's
graduation. Previous speakers were
Jimmy Carter in 1993, German Presi-
dent Richard von Weizsacker in 1992
and James A. Baker III in 1991.
Because Rice—unlike many other
universities—doesnotgive honorary
degrees and has not traditionally paid
its speakers, the administration must
rely on acquaintances to secure such
engagements, Gillis said.
"It is entirely a matter of network-
ing," he said.
At a closed meeting on Monday,
Gillis expressed these concerns to the
Senate, emphasizing that if the issue
is of great importance to students he
would be willing to let it drop.
"If it's very important that you have
a commencement speaker that's of
very high visibility... then we will go to
the trouble to do it But it is a good bit
of difficulty," he said.
Section Notes
Junior Micah Bennett was voted
president of Brown College last
week in a three-way runoff.
General election petitions can
be picked up in the Student
Organizations office and are
due back Feb. 15 at 3, p.m.
Petitions are available for the
Student Association Senate,
Rice Program Council, Rice
Thresher editor, Campanile
editor, Honor Council class
representatives, University
Court representatives and Rice
Student Volunteer Program
officers.
Willy's Pub appeals to president for help
by Sanjit Ganguli
Two proposals aimed to rescue
Willy's Pub from serious financial
troubles have been presented to Presi-
dent Malcolm Gillis, who is expected
to make a decision within a week.
The first proposal drafted by the
Willy's Pub Committee, asks Rice to
waive all distributive charges. The Pub
would likely be forced to close if it
must pay the fees at the current rate.
Distributive charges, which are
based roughly on the amount of Pub
floor space, cover expenses incurred
for utilities, personnel, accounting, gar-
bage, police and other miscellaneous
services. The Pub's total distributive
fee for the current year is $13,221.
Last year, the Pub couldn't pay the
$13,230 due in distributive charges.
The university waived $7,000 owed
from last year so the Pub could oper-
ate this year.
The second proposal calls for re-
structuring the Pub's facilities to
shrink floor space, and thus reduce
distributive charges by 80 percent
Under this plan, the bar and stor-
age areas would be closed off when
the Pub was closed, and the remain-
ing area would become an lounge.
The university would then charge
thePubonly$4,080 for the bar, coo ler,
storage room and office portion of the
We are confident that
Resident Gillis supports
the students in a decision
to save the Pub.*
— Bob Sanborn
Associate student affairs dean
area. Remodeling the area with better
lighting and other facilities is also in
the plan.
A number of factors have led to the
Pub's financial problems. The change
in the Texas legal drinking age from
19 to 21 in 1986 caused the Pub to lose
many customers.
Also, the Pub used to have a sur-
plus of money that allowed it to oper-
ate without a profit for several years.
But now it no longer has this cushion.
In addition to the decrease in alco-
hol sales caused by the change in age
limit, university enforcement of the
alcohol policy has also influenced the
profit
"The university is becoming in-
creasingly serious about the alcohol
policy and is making it harder for
people to drink. More clientelcare not
being able to go to the Pub," said
committee member Michael
Woodbury.
Woodbury said he thinks the Pub
is being treated unfairly in compari-
son to other student organizations that
use on-campus facilities. Currently,
the Rice Thresher, Marching Owl Band
and the CoffeeHouse do not pay dis-
tributive charges. All three groups are
in the Rice Memorial Center.
The university assessed about$800
for the CoffeeHouse last year but
waived the amount after several people
including Bob Sanborn, associate dean
of student affairs and a committee
SEE PUB PAGE 6
But senators said students aregen-
erally opposed to ending the short
tradition of outside speakers, espe-
cially if the alternative would be
speeches from faculty members.
"Matriculation was a time when
[students] heard the faculty speech,"
said Hanszen College President Kara
Kane. She said students want some-
thing different for their official exit
from the university.
Sid Richardson College Sen. Linda
Kaiser said students think ending the
outside-speaker practice would be a
move in the wrong direction for the
university. "They would look at it as
going backwards rather than going
forwards," she said.
To ensure that the trend will con-
tinue, the SA agreed to form a commit-
tee comprised of three juniors, one
sophomore, one Alumni Association
representative and a faculty member.
Chaired by Block, the committee
will assist the president with the task
of finding an outside speaker.
The plans are for the committee to
come up with a list of people who
might be willing to come to Rice or
who have some connection to the u ni-
versity. That list will then be given to
students for their vote.
The four or five most popular-
names will be given to Gillis so he can
try to contact Lhem.
"If you can get me a list by April 2
every year, we'll do what we can,"
Gillis said.
The committee will also help the
president's office with funding and
contacting speakers, Block said.
Gillis said the administration would
be able to give about $7,500 toward
speaker fees, if necessary, or expenses
like hotel costs and air fare.
"You can generally find alumni who
are willing to put up part of the cost,"
he added.
Block said the committee will be
working with the Graduate Student
Association and Alumni Association
to raise funds. Those interested in
being on the committee should con-
tact Block.
He said one possibility is a dinner
with the speaker held the night before
graduation, which would raise money
and let students meet the speaker in a
more informal context
Gillis confirmed that neither the
administration nor the Board of Gov-
ernors is willing to change the policy
against honorary degrees.
"If you get a degree from Rice, you
will have earned it," he said.
Some students were also con-
cerned that Robin Williams, their first-
choice speaker for this year, had been
summarily dismissed as an option by
then-President George Rupp. But Gil-
lis said he wasn't concerned about
what type of speaker students want to
have.
"As far as show-biz people being
speakers, there's no problem with
that" he said.
Features
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Howley, Peter & Epperson, Kraettli. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 18, Ed. 1 Friday, February 4, 1994, newspaper, February 4, 1994; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245897/m1/1/?q=%22%22~1: accessed June 22, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.