The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 83, No. 19, Ed. 1 Friday, February 16, 1996 Page: 1 of 20
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requirements
P*asy Lai
Stuff Writer.
Faculty members decided in a
meeting on Monday that NSCI 101,
NSC I 102 and SOSC 102 will not'b<;
offered next year.
"NSCI and SOSC were a valiant
effort, but they didn't work ... there
is a lot of student resentment about
them," said Bill Wilson, Committee
on the Undergraduate Curriculum
chair.
However, the foundation require-
ments themselves will remain the
same for at least two more years.
Instead of taking the currently des-
Time for a Chat
ignafed courses, students may sub-
stitute classes from a list of social
science, science or engineering
courses.
According to Wilson, replace-
ment courses for NSCI 101 and 102
will include, among others, ELKC
20l.GEOL201.SPAC 201 and BIOS
201. EC ON 211. POU 209, POU 210
and a few history classes may be
substituted for SOSC,
The list of classes is still being
finalized and will be published in
next year's course announcements.
HUM A classes will still be of-
fered'" next year but only for Group
III students.
According to Wilson, when the
foundation courses were first estab-
lished in 1987, they were imple-
mented on the condition that the
courses be reviewed after five years.
In 1992, the Committee on the
Undergraduate Curriculum insti
gated a two-year study of the founda-
tion courses and requirements. Stu-
dents and faculty were surveyed and
the instructors of the foundation
courses were interviewed.
The conclusion was that tlx* hu-
manities program was on the whole
successful but NSCI 101, NSCI 102
and SOSC 102 were not effective as
introductory level classes in science
and engineering and the social sci
ences.
A new proposal was made which
suggested that instead of founda-
tion courses, all students would be
required to take two out of four des
ignated courses in each of the
groups.
The list of required classes will
be denoted as "Restricted I Mstribu-
lion Courses," being of a broad
based, introductory-level nature and
considered representative of that
particular discipline — humanities,
social sciences or science and engi
neering.
Distribution requirements w<"
remain the same. I-ast November,
this plan was .adopted "in principle"
by the faculty, and the cleans of each
division were asked to make the n<
essary preparations, such as design
ing new courses.
The "Restricted Distribution" pla
was to be instilled this year, but
changeover in the deans o! the H
inanities and Social Sciences depart-
ments caused a delay in the impl|||
mentation of this strategy.
Thus, the next two years will be a
proposed "Holding Pattern," in which
as few change's as possible will be
made in order to minimize confusiitti
and disruption for students
"This is really a change lor the
better because 1 think the |new)
courses will be more enjoyable to
the students," Wilson said
JfiJ
ittf M-Ji
Men's basketball Head Coach Willis Wilson talks to bis players during a
timeout in Saturday's game against the University of Houston. Rice tried to
stage a comeback late in the game but lost '63-59 (see story page 14).
Changes proposed to Honor Council
; r->
Anita Raman
Sta ff Wntei
Two amendments to the Honor
Council constitution are being pro-
posed in the upcoming general elec-
tions; the addit ion of college repre-
sentatives and the creat ion of a pool
of optional advisors to the accused.
The addition of college repre-
sentatives would enlarge the poten-
tial pool of voting members by nine,
one from each college and an addi-
tional graduate student representa-
tive.
The council currently consists of
16 members, elected by the under
graduate student body and the
Graduate Student Council, and two
freshman representatives, chosen
by the council.
The proposal, which failed in last
year's elections by a narrow mat-
gin, was introduced with the intent
of making it easier to call together
the full panel of voting members
necessary to hold a trial. The coun-
cil feels thai increasing the number
of voting members would be more
fair to the accused by expediting
trials,
The addition of college and
graduate student representatives
would also increase council interne
tion within the colleges and with the
student body. According to Honor
Council Secretary Heather
Morchauser, members could keep
their colleges informed of council
announcements and make the coun-
cil a more prominent presence
within the colleges.
Currently, the council has found
it difficult to call together a full panel
due to academic and extracurricu-
lar conflicts among members. Also,
members are required to excuse
themselves from cases which in-
volve acquaintances and are encour-
aged to do so if the accused is a
member of their college.
Student concerns regarding this
proposal last year included the pos-
sibility of compromising confidenli
ality and the chance that the panel
could be "stacked" toward a certain
decision.
While the council meets to (lis
cuss cases, only the panel members
on a given trial know the specifics of
the ease or the identity of the ac-
cused. Since the voting panel would
remain at nine, the council feels
confidentiality would not be com
promised.
"Stacking" the room would also
tx• rather difficult due to the process
of calling a trial panel, \1cmhers gen-
erally show no set volmg pattern on
a given issue, l he secretary, who
calls the panel, knows the identity of
the accused to ensure that a conflict
of interest dues not arise but is not
S77 COUNCIL PAGE 7-
Statements for university-wide
general election candidates
are due today in the Student
Organizations Office, second
floor, Ley Student Center, by
5 p.m. Complete rules on
blurbs were distributed-with
petitions and are posted
opposite the office door.
Photos for blurbs will be taken
on Mon., Feb. 19, from 1 to 5
p.m. in the Thresher office;
details are posted opposite
the S.O. office.
Pippa Eltringham was elected
president of Brown College,
ns up by 60%
Lindsey Schechter and
Charles Klein
Sniff Writers
The impact of last year's $25 ap-
plication fee on the number of Rice
applicants has apparently been re-
versed according to numbers re-
leased by the Admission Office on
early-decision and interim-decision
applicants for the Class of 2000.
Interim-decision applicants re-
mained at a constant level with 2,052
as opposed to 2,058 in 1994, but
early-decision applicants increased
a full 60 percent this year as 358 high
school seniors applied by the first
deadline, a significant increase over
the 215 in 1995.
"[The fee's) impact has come and
gone," said Barry McFarland, so
nior associate directorof admission.
"(The feel is still cheaper than virtu
ally everybody else,"
Director of Admission Julie
Browning agreed that the impact of
the lee has passed, but she attributes
the large jump in early-decision ap-
plications to other factors as well,
"Basically, the public is rinding it
more and more difficult to wait until
spring to make up their mind about
colleges," Browning said.
"Our most significant competi-
tion, Stanford, for the first lim^ insti-
tuted an early-decision Ibis year.
Both Princeton and Yale [imple-
mented] a binding early-decision
program."
While Browning cites that par-
ents and students need to have an
earlier decision, as proven by other
prominent universities' move toward
a more Rice-based admission sys-
tem, she also places emphasis on
Rice publicity for the increase.
Thenational media attention dur-
ing the Baker Institute Inaugural
Annual Conference, the national rec-
ognition received by other Rice de
partments like the music school and
the publicity work by her staff were
mentioned as significant contribu-
tions.
"Our admission staff is doing a
very good job of selling Rice," Brown
ing said. The increased number of
early-decision applications produced
an increase jn the number of eath
decision students accepted, but the
SEE ADMISSIONS PAGE ■
Admission statistics: 1994 - 1996
2500
j,05 2,052
2000
□ 14%
* 1000
.No.of Applicants Numbrr Accepted No. of Applicants ,Numbw V>ifiptoL
f^rly-de* ision Inlerim-deciMon
1
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Klein, Charles & Rao, Vivek. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 83, No. 19, Ed. 1 Friday, February 16, 1996, newspaper, February 16, 1996; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth246532/m1/1/: accessed June 22, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.