The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 84, No. 13, Ed. 1 Friday, December 6, 1996 Page: 3 of 20
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The Honor code is oik* of the
unique and special institutions of
Rice University. It is a tool that al
lows students academic freedom and
implies a remarkable trust
between students and fac-
ulty. As a means of up-
holding trust, studentsare
required to pledge assign-
ments, papers and tests
by writing the Honor Codt*
and signing their name.
Another means of giving
the Honor Code clout is
the Honor Council, a body
of elected students that in-
vestigates accusations of
Honor Code infractions.
An essential-requirement for the
validity and continuation of the
Honor Code is that trust between
the Honor Council, faculty and stu-
dents be mutual and authentic. "
I strongly support the
Honor Code.
Unfortunately, events have oc-
curred this semester that lead me to
doubt such a trust exists. In a class
that the professor initially planned
to give a take-home final, the regis-
trar and Honor Council stepped in
and required the test to be sched-
uled. This has been a great inconve-
nience to many students in the class
who had already made plans to go
home before the Dec. 19 date of the
final.
Why did the Honor Council and
Registrar's Office intervene? Why
Nate Blair
BACKPAGE
EDITOR
does the Registrar's Office require
classes with an enrollment over 40
to have self-scheduled or scheduled
finals and Enrollment over 50 to have
scheduled finals? It is not
as if the Registrar's Office
is inconvenienced by take-
home exams; its role in
the matter exists only
when rooms must be re-
served. Why does the
Honor Council support
such requirements? The
only reason I can see is a
fear of cheating. Such a
fear implies mistrust.
It is my belief that if
the Honor Code were applied in its
purest sense, all exams Would be
take-home. There would be no
hassle of the registrar reserving
rooms or the Student Association
finding proctors for self-scheduled
exams. The responsibility would fall
on the students and the professors,
just as it does for {ill the tests that are
taken during the semester. Why arc
finals different? To tell a professor
how to test his/her class is ridicu-
lous and inappropriate and results
only in more red tape and problems.
I strongly support the Honor
Code. I cannot imagine Rice without
it. However, 1 fear that the spirit of
the Honor Code is being violated by
an imbalance of trust. 1 am not
trying to say that we should have
only take-home exams. What I would
like to see is professors having con-
trol over how they run their own
classes.
Nate Blair is a Wicss College junior
and one of two Backpage editors.
'Thresher' should have
covered sexism forum
To the editor:
By failing to print a news article
concerning the Forum on Rice's
Campus Climate for Wofrien, the
Thrasher committed a disservice to
the Rice community.
Die Nov. 18'forum successfully
brought together nearly 200 people
of different persuasions to discuss
sexual harassment and sexism at
Rice. .,
Several relevant comments and
provocative questions were directed
at the Thresher and the Backpage;
by no means, however, did the en-
tire forum focus on the Backpage,
Despite the image portrayed in
the Thresher's editorial column, the
forum provided,a great and neces-
sary opportunity for discussion. If
the Houston Chronicle found the to-
rum worthy of an unbiased news
article (Saturday, Nov. 30), should
not the 'Thresher?
*
Allison Fine
Hanszen '97
Editor's note: We had originally in-
tended to run a story about the forum.
However, because much of the discus
sion focused on the Backpage, we
decided that it was impossible for us to
cover the event without appearing to
be biased. For that reason, we wrote
about the forum in the opinion sec-
tion rather than the news section. The
Thresher Editorial Board supported
the decision at the time and still stands
behind the decision.
Christianity receives bad
rap from many students
To the editor:
One of the things I like about
Rice as opposed to many other uni-
versities in this area of the country is
its liberal character. I strongly agree
with its attempt to be representative
of people from all walks of life and to
be tolerant and inclusive.
However, I have noticed a great
polarization between Christians and
non-Christians on campus and a
strong anti-Christian sentiment as
reflected in the Nov. 1 Backpage:
"For Lovers of Christ." 1 don't be-
lieve such a Section would have been
written about any other collection of
people on campus. However, the lat-
est slam on women could disprove
my point.
I regret that there is such a gulf
between Christians and non-Chris-
tians, and that Christianity is so of-
ten misrepresented. The passage
quoted on the Backpage about
women not being allowed to teach
and basically being unequal with
respect to men is not characteristic
of Christ's teaching about the rela-
tionship between the sexes, but
needs to be looked at in its historical
context to be understood.
Jesus' teaching does
not embrace
inequality or condone
sexism.
Jesus' teaching does not embrace
inequality or condone sexism. I have
posted an explanation of this pas
sage on the World Wide Web at
http://www.owlnet.rice.edu: 80
-emoore for anyone who is inter
ested in what the Bible really says
about male-female relationships.
EUsa Moore
Brown '98
s/lover/
companion (it gets
hazy in Europe) with
an outlan-
dish theory that has
bugged me ever since.
"Did you know that
Hungary has the high-
est suicidft rate in die
world?" hebegan inno-
cently. "Ahhh," fixing me with a
triumphant smile when 1
shrugged, "then you probably
don't know who's second, either."
Another blank expression on my
face prompted one of his friends,
a pipsqueak American journalist,
to pipe up, "It's Finland.''
"It is well-known that these two
nations share membership in the
Finno-Ugric family of languages,"
he told the table and went on to
elaborate on the usage of a cer-
tain triple-negative which conclu-
sively linked the Finns and
Magyars in a linguistic death trap.
His companion, previously dis-
tracted, caught wind of the con-
versation and jumped in immedi-
ately. The ensuing uproar saw ar-
guments and counter-arguments,
threats, derisive catcalls and ges-
tures of contempt exchanged
among the participants, Another
round of drinks quieted them
down, but the expat's curious
theory had made its mark on me.
First, a comparison of suicide
rates. Recent figures show Hun-
gary and Finland, with rates of 37
and 29 suicides per 100,000 in-
habitants, ^re numbers one and
two in the world, respectively. For
the sake of comparison, the
United States has 12 suicides per
100,000 citizens.
Statistics show that post-Soviet
Russia, the Baltic states, Sweden
and Denmark all have levels of
suicide considerably higher than
hm I m \
if*.# A
Si' 4
Massoud
COLUMNIST
us to
consider climate and
more specifically, avail-
ability of sunlight as a
factor. Anyone who has
endured a week of thun-
derstorms and has been
greeted on the. eighth
day by warm morning
sunshine does not need
to be reminded what a
powerful force sunlight
can be,
The discovery in this
past decade of Seasonal Affective
Disorder, or SAD, was an impor-
tant first step in piecing together
our scattered puzzle. SAD is a form
of mental depression that strikes
individuals in the winter months,
hitting those in northern latitudes
especially hard.
It affects even those who do not
normally feel depressed and usu-
ally manifests itself in overall slug-
gishness, a diminished sex drive
and overconsumption of food, The
consensus that lack of light can
cause this form of depression gives
powerful support to climate-linked
suicide in Hungary and Finland.
Evolutionary theorists have
proposed that SAD is a vestigial
trait of humans which originally
induced a semi-hibernation among
humans in high latitudes. They
point out that low levels of seroto-
nin can have a hibernation-induc-
ing effect on the Central Nervous
System; _ - . *
Thus, little food and light would
have signaled wintertime and a
curtailment of energy expenditure
(the noted sluggishness), while
the increased amount of food and
light of springtime would corre
spond with higher levels of seroto-
nin, sparking the vernal appetites
for food and sex. In modern times,
because humans cannot afford to
slow down in the Wintertime, SAD
serves as a hindrance and not as
the benefit it once was.
We can now apply our knowl-
iiVK*-;;..,?..-:m- 'mif.
edge of SAD to our original ques-
tion. Finns and Hungarians do
indeed live at high latitudes, and
undergo long and often sunless
winters, and undoubtedly some
of them suffer from SAD.
Yet the English, Norwegians
and Icelanders are at comparable
distances from the equator and
experience far fewer suicides per
capita. Sunlight is not linked ex-
clusively to latitude, but we see
nonetheless that other factors
should be considered.
The father of sociology, Emile
Durkheim, pointed out long ago
that suicide could not be studied
apart from its surroundings. A
lack of societal cohesion, termed
anomie, often precipitates sui-
cide.
For Finland, Russia and Hun-
gary, this theory applies to a cer-
tain degree. Hungary and Russia
are both experiencing problems
related to the new economic, so-
cial and political changes wrench
ing them out of their Communist
past.
Finland, experiencing an eco-
nomic recession, is also a nation
in flux. But recent events do not
explain the high suicide rates
back when Hungary was firmly
communist and Finland was the
"Japan of Europe," enjoying a
booming economy through the
1980s.
Digging further into these two
societies, we find a strong tradi-
tion of alcohol consumption on a
grand scale; statistically, alcohol-
ism is the single best indicator of
suicidal tendencies.
In Finland, binge drinking is
common and tradition among the
older generation demands that
once drinking begins, it can only
end with all participan tasmashed.
In Hungary, the level of drinking
is such that liver disease is the
No- 1 killer of adult males. Rus-
sia, too, is famed for its citizens'
SEE SUICIDE, PAGE 4
Massoud Javadi is a Wiess
College senior.
a
■m
4
Fcfrmer MOB member upsets A&M
To the editor:
As a former student from Texas
A&M University, I'd like to say con-
gratulations to the .Rice MOB for
making it to the semifinals of the
Batt le of the Marching Bands, spon-
sored by ESPN.
And I had planned on voting for
my fellow Texas band and former
Southwest Conference opponent.
But in light of recent events, I will
not vote for the MOB.
As stated in ESPN Sportszone, "a
member of the Rice MOB posted a
letter to University of Texas stu-
dents, urging Longhorn fans to join
them in voting against their mutual
rivals, the Aggies. Unsportsmanlike,
maybe, but effective... ."It's too bad
that this student felt they had to rely
on "rivals" to eliminate the Aggie
Band, although it was clear that
A& M had the support (16,000 votes)
to win the contest. 1 was looking
forward to having two Texas Bands
in the finals, showcasing Texas' best.
Good luck to the MOB in their
matchup against Princeton (without
my vote, of course).
Sandra Medina
Texas A&M *91
Editor's note: The MOB lost to
Princeton in ESPN's Battle of the
Bands on Nov. 21
1
SINCE 1916
Marty Beard, Vivck Rao
Editors in Chief
Packy Saunders
Managing Editor
(■rare Ho
Husiness Manager
Blake Cotmnagere
Advertising Manager
NEWS
Angelique Siy, Editor
Feltsa Yang, Editor
Chris Strathmann, Asst Editor
OPINION
Nick Weller, Editor
Jeff Zinsmeister. Asst Editor
FEATURES
Vikki Otero, Editor
1 tavid Gordon. Assoc. Editor
Shay Gilmorc, Asst Editor
Peter Debrttge. Am Editor
ARTS A ENTERTAINMENT
David Gaskey, Editor
Noelle Berryman, Asst. Editor
Elizabeth Egle, Asst Editor
SPORTS
Jeff Mercer, Editor
Anders Ryerson, Asst Editor
BACKPAGE
Nate Ulair, Editor
t trackWtiiltm; Editrrr
CALENDAR
Summer Durham, E4ttor
PHOTOGRAPHY
Jaime Beers, Editor
Stephen Benning, /tss/ Editor
Dave Herman, Asst. Editor
GRAPHICS
Christof Spieler, Editor
COPY
Kathy Fisher, Editor
Joe Bullard, Asst Editor
Rose Wilde. Asst Editor
ONLINE
Jace Frey, Editor
I'acky Saunders,/W Production Manager
David Lyons, Asst Ad Manager
(linger Mills, Asst "Hhsih^ss Manager
David Gordon, Distribution Manager
George Hatoun. Projects Manager
Eric Muflosf, Macintosh Manager
4'harte# Klein, Se,nm Edi tor
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© COPYRIGHT 1996
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Beard, Marty & Rao, Vivek. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 84, No. 13, Ed. 1 Friday, December 6, 1996, newspaper, December 6, 1996; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth246555/m1/3/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.