The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 82, No. 21, Ed. 1 Friday, March 3, 1995 Page: 2 of 20
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2 FRIDAY, MARCH 3, 1995 THE RICE THRESHER
OPINION
Reforms
Texas IDs round out policy
The Alcohol Beverage Policy Advisory Committee has made some
recent proposals to close several widely abused loopholes in the campus
alcohol policy. While these measures are called for and should ulti-
mately be to the benefit of the entire community, some additional
thought needs to be put into the implementation of these new policies.
Much confusion seems to reign over the proposal to strictly limit
alcohol consumption to those with a Texas ID or another form of
identification certified by the Campus Police. The question of whether
students will be forced to have a Texas ID made still has not been
completely resolved, as some sources cite the Campus Police validation
procedure as reserved for guests from out of state, while others felt it
would apply to students as well. While each has advantages and disad-
vantages, one additional segment of the plan should be implemented:
getting students Texas IDs.
Currently, the process of getting a Texas ID card is best described as
painful. Few students know where to go or what to do. It would be
relatively simple, on the other hand, to provide a Texas ID registration
for all students during Orientation Week, perhaps even going so far as
to require an ID card for all students. The provision could be either in the
form of transportation to the nearest Department of Public Safety office
or, even better, the addition of a station for Texas IDs right next to the
one for Rice IDs.
There are other uses for a Texas II) besides procuring alcohol for
those over 21 years old. Checks are much easier to write. Many clubs
require proof of age for their 18-year-old patrons. Most apartment
complexes in Houston will not even show an apartment to someone
without a Texas ID. The investment will pay for itself.
Elections should enter modern era
This week's debacle over disputed and contradictory election results
illustrates the fundamental need of our electoral system to enter the
modern age.
It is amazing that a campus as technologically advanced as this one
still counts ballots by hand, a process that is.both tedious and horribly
inaccurate. Even the smallest and most primitive of public elementary
schools uses Scantron™ sheets for the collection of mass amounts of
data. Several code-reading machines are already on campus; technology
acquisition serves as no barrier. The only change that needs to be made
is in the election code.
Freeing the elections committee from the toils of ballot counting
allows them to put more time into other aspects of the elections, from
promoting election participation to policing campaigns. The time to
enter the present is now.
¥ • The r | a| .1 since i9i6
Rice Thresher
David Hale
Editor in Chief
George E. Hatoun
Business Manager
Sei Chong
Chetan Kapoor
Frederick Wen
Vivek Rao
James Ling
Amy Jeter
Joanna Winters
Marty Beard
Tony Tran
Grant A. Flowers
Peter Stokes
Rachel Dornhelm
Christof Spieler
Amy Ferranti
Adam Richardson
Susan Galloway
Joel Hardi
Rakesh Agrawal
Charles Klein
Nina Olien
Drew Bagley
Lily Fu
Meredith Hamm
News Editor
Asst. News Editor
Asst. News Editor
Opinion Editor
Asst. Opinion Editor
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Asst. Arts & Entertainment Editor
Sports Editor
Asst. Sports Editor
Asst. Sports Editor
Features Editor
Features Editor
Backpage Editor
Backpage Editor
Copy Editor
Photography Editor
Asst. Photography Editor
Production Manager
Ads Production Manager
Asst. Business Manager
Asst. Business Manager
Staff Cartoonist
The Rice Thresher, the official student newspaper at Rice University
since 1916, is published each Friday during the school year, except
during examination periods and holidays, by the students of Rice
University.
Editorial and business offices are located on the second floor of the
I>ey Student Center, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, Texas, 77251. Phone
527-4801. Fax 285-5238. e-mail: thresher@owlnet.rice.edu. Advertising
information available on request. Mail subscription rate per semester:
$22.00 domestic, $40.00 international via first class mail. Non-
subscription rate: first copy free, second copy $2.00.
The 'Ihresher reserves the right to refuse any advertising for any
reason. Additionally, the Thresher does not take responsibility for the
factual content of any ad.
Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Thresher
editorial staff. All other pieces represent solely the opinion of the
author. Obviously. © COPYRIGHT 1995
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Honor Code cannot be enforced
Recent case shows Honor Council lacks ability to sense right from xvrong
To the editor:
I do not know how frequently or
infrequently the honor system is
really tested at Rice University. I
speak not of issues such as proper
footnoting or false citation, but inci-
dents of conscious and calculated
cheating. Examination cheating!
Examinations which count for 30
percent or more of a semester's
grade and, in reality, set the distri-
bution for the course.
. THE EDITOR
Letters
Incidents which affect hot only
the students directly involved but
the entire student body as well. How
many times a year do students and
faculty look closely at the honor code
and ask themselves "Does it really
work?"
This semester at the Jones
School, I had a chance to ask this
very question; sadly, I will graduate
this May with a feeling that there is
no functional honor code at Rice
University.
When I began study at the Jones
School in the fall of 1993, I was
charged with the responsibility of
upholding a code, a code not only to
act with honor but an obligation to
report incidents of misconduct —
arguably the most challenging facet
of the code.
During the past two months, I
have observed honor amongst my
peers and failure of the system at the
institutional level. The Honor Coun-
cil has failed to demonstrate a "keen
sense of right and wrong" and has,
instead, chosen the role of human
lie-detector.
As I understand the scenario, the
accused was seen by more than one
student with notes out during a
closed book, closed note examina-
tion — not just out on the desk, but
actually referring to the papers on at
least one occasion during the exam.
This snapshot is the abridged ver-
sion; the scuttlebutt in the hallways
of Herring Hall is much more scath-
ing.
But the purpose of this article is
not to determine the accused's guilt
or innocence; he is now innocent
and must be allowed to move on
with his life. My intent is to show
that those who stepped forward to
report this misconduct acted with
honor, and those who acquitted the
accused, in effect, looked each of my
honorable peers in the face and said,
"I am sorry, I think you are lying."
Why? Why? Why would my class-
mates come forward with such alle-
' If you see a student
cheating during an
exam, ... you must rip
the notes out of the
hands of the cheater and
run from the room. 9
gations if they were not 100 percent
certain of their validity?
My peers who are three short
months from graduation; my peers
who have given up an average of
$35,000 per year to pursue an MBA;
my peers who average 26 years of
SEE HONOR, PAGE 4
Meritocracy can exist only in ideal world
To the editor:
I take issue with Bert Gall's claim
that "our government forces poli-
cies upon us that make us suppress
our equal-opportunity instincts...."
This is quite possibly the most naive
statement I have ever heard — cer-
tainly the most naive statement I
have ever heard from someone
claiming to be politically knowledge-
able.
The unfortunate fact
is that human beings do
not viscerally
understand one another
to be essentially
alike. 9
1 agree with his statement that
affirmative action should not be nec-
essary. I disagree with his claim that
affirmative action is not only obso-
lete but feeds racism — and sexism
— instead of diminishing it.
The unfortunate fact is that hu-
man beings do not viscerally under-
stand one another to be essentially
alike.
The concept of "other" is too
deeply rooted within us. Whether
this concept is born within us or is a
product of our upbringings I cannot
judge; regardless, it exists.
We see ourselves first and fore-
most as members of a group, and
most of us base our perceptions of
ourselves on a particular ethnic heri-
tage rather than on the simple legacy
of humanity. Everyone else is rel-
egated to the unknown and some-
times frightening category of
"other." -
Affirmative action, the govern-
mental policy of actively encourag-
ing institutions to admit qualified
women and ethnic minorities into
white-male-dominated areas, was
created in part to counteract this
unfortunate tendency of ours.
Aside from any political motives
they had, its enactors hoped that the
presence of such minority groups in
fields which prejudice had previously
held closed to them would force rec-
ognition of these groups' equal ca-
pabilities.
So far, it hasn't worked. The po-
litical chicanery, myth, and outright
abuse inflicted upon affirmative ac-
tion, which Mr. Gall rightly deplores,
not only show up its inarguable short-
comings but highlight the very rea-
sons for its necessity.
Women and e.thnic minorities
have waited for centuries for white
men to recognize our equal capaci-
ties.
We waited in vain. Why? Because
human beings are essentially self-
interested.
Once we have power, we don't
want to share it with anyone— cer-
tainly not anyone who might be the
SEE MERITOCRACY, PAGE 7
To'W^.
Short letters (300 words or
less) may be sent in by
E-MAIL:
vivekrao@owlnet.rice.edu
or
lingjj@owlnet.rice.edu
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dish in the MS Word format.
Deadline for all letters is
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All letters must include
your name, college,
year of graduation and
phone number (names
may be withheld by
request in special
circumstances).
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Hale, David. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 82, No. 21, Ed. 1 Friday, March 3, 1995, newspaper, March 3, 1995; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth246506/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.