The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 85, No. 1, Ed. 1 Friday, August 29, 1997 Page: 1 of 16
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SPORTS
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SINCE 19X9
VOLUME 85, NUMBER 1
PRESIDENT SHUNS BUNS
AUGUST 29, 1997
The Devil running free
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Faculty members watch as a Club 13
Masters Arthur and Joan Few and Will
participant streaks at. matriculation Among the onlooker
Rice College Masters Dale and Eiise Sawyer
Baker <
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An incensed Gillis decries ex-
treme matriculation jacks
Angdlique Siy
Edam in Chief
It's hard to say what happened
this week: Not many advisers, mas-
ters or coordinators will talk about it
on the record.
What did happen is that Orienta-
tion Week coordinators decided to
ban jacks following a matriculation
that was interrupted by a series of
jacks in which students presented
bare buttocks to the other students,
faculty and staff at the ceremony.
In one of five jacks, all of which
had been approved in principle by ,
Vice President for Student Affairs
Zenaido Camaeho, Jones College
students hopped between the fac-
ulty and administration's seating
area and the main audience with
only grass skirts to cover their lower
halves; they turned their backs to
the faculty and administration on
their way across. They paused in
front of the stage, turned and
mooned the audience, which in-
cluded the wives of Camaeho and
President Malcolm Gillis in the front
row,
'Some were outraged.
Some felt a deep sense
of shame. Some found
it incredible. No one
thought that it was
even remotely S
amusing. If that was
the purpose, it was a
complete and utter
failure.'
— President Malcolm Gillis
As the "Beatles," in part of a jack
organized by Brown College mem-
bers, began exposing themselves
by lowering their pants, President
Gillis who onlookers describe as
angry stopped them.
"Some [of those present] were
outraged. Some felt a dee^ense of
shame. Some found it incredible.
No one thought that it was even
remotely amusing," Gillis said. "If
that was the purpose, it was a com-
plete and utter failure."
The next day, Camaeho held a
meeting with college masters which
student 0-Week coordinators joined
mid-way through. The coordinators
then decided in a closed meeting on
the same day that there would be no
more jacks for the week. Each coor-
dinator also promised not to com-
ment on any of the events or ill e .
group's decisions since Monday's
matriculation and made plans not to
approve any jacks for next year's
matriculation. Coordinators seen
leaving the meeting were emotion-
ally charged, and at least one was in
tears.
At Baker College, coordinators
told mostly indifferent freshmen that
other activities would replace jacks
and that inter-college activities were
being planned.
Will Rice College Master Dale
Sawyer said, "I think the new stu-
dents passed [the banning of jacks)
off in a matter of seconds as'oh, too
bad, that would've been fun. No big
deal.' Of the perhaps 20 or so stu-
dents I spoke to specifically about
the subject — they had no real ex
pectationsof jacks.They didn't know
what they were. They didn't neces-
sarily feel that anything would be
lost."
Vice President for Student Af-
fairs Zenaido Camaeho and Student
Director for Orientation Brooke
Cooper had joint responsibility for
approving jacks before airffould be
"officially" carried out during 0-
Week.
All Camaeho would allow on the
record was, "1 love and respect and
trust Rice students. I always have,
and 1 always will." Cooper declined
to speak on tin" record.
Historically, matriculation has
been more lighthearted than com-
mencement and often featured jacks.
Gillis said, however, that "there's
such a thing as aggressive vulgarity
... It seems to be deliberately in-
tended to offend people who think
SEE JACKS. PAGE 4
strain housing
Rice overadmits 42 students, leading to residential overcrowding
Packy Saunders
Hufkinii>r
When the Office of Student Af-
fairs announced in early July that
there was a shortage -of rooms for
1997-'98, mild panic hit the campus.
'ITie announcement was delivered
via e-mail in a message to all upper-
classmen holding on-campus hous-
ing leases for the 1997 "98 academic
year.
Vice President of Student Affairs
Zenaido Camaeho wrote to the stu-
dents that the Rice "airplane" was
overbooked by "about 42 seats."
All new students that desired
housing eventually received it.
Camaeho offered an incentive
package along with his e-mail mes-
sage. Any upperelassman willing to
give up his bed space on campus to
an incoming student would receive
the Plan V off-campus meal plan for
half-price, $250 per semester. Addi-
tionally, a parking sticker for the
Herring Lot was offered along with
one year's seniority in the next col-
lege room draw. Camaeho took the
deal further by not only waiving the
$600 charge for breaking the^ on-
campus lease agreement, but prom-
ising a free lunch with him at the
Faculty Club
Dean of Admission Dick Stabell
confirmed that the number of in-
coming students had increased.
Stabell explained the difficulty of
"precision guesswork" — a tech-
nique borrowed from the Office of
Admission at Princeton University.
Each year Rice targets the un
dergraduate population at about
2,600 students over two semesters,
a number determined a decade ago
during the administration of Presi-
dent George Rupp. In order to main-
tain this population, the Admission
Office closely follows long-term
trends in size fluctuation.
Director of Admission Julie
Browning explained that there wens'
nearly 6,500 applicants for admis-
sion for 1997-'98. "This year's yield
was accurate within one percent of
the target class size," Browning said.
( Mfers of admission were extended
to "just over 1,700 students." accord- -
ing to Browning; a number equiva-
lent to the 1,733 offers in 1996.
An increase in the 1996 yield —
or number of students accepting
admission — accounts fortlie larger
class. Browning attributes this in-
crease to the "Nobel Prize effect"!:
publicity from Robert Curl's and Ri
chard Smalley's 1996 Nobe), Prize.
Stabell insisted that tin- process
had been "as accurate as possible."
He added that no future changes are
planned to avoid the overcrowding
because all students requesting
housing ultimately found a bed on
campus.
On Wednesday, sources in Food
and Housing confirmed that all re-
quests for new student housing had
been filled. However, ihesoun e did
not define the situation as oVfpgL
crowding since only two rooms, /'.V'
triples at Sid Richardson College,
are currently exceeding capacity ■!; 1
SEE HOUSING PAGE 5 f;{
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Career Services changes format of job-search programs
Kay Chang
Awl Scuijultliii
In what Career Services Director
Cheryl Matherly calls the "first ma-
jor change in 11 years," Career Ser-
vices has implemented modifica-
tions in two areas of its program: on-
campus recruiting arid the job data
base.
The on-campus recruiting pro-
gram is designed to help senior stu-
take place.
Traditionally, students in the pro-
gram depended on a system based
on job postings that stayed up for
only a limited amount of time. An
applicant registered and spent hours
searching and vying with other ap-
plicants for material. According to
Matfierly, the process was "chaotic,
and information was difficult to find."
This past summer. Career Ser-
vices staff redesigned the on-cam-
pus recruiting program to make the
process easier by creating a data-
dents find post-graduation jobs. Ap*
,3,00companies come base-students e.au use. to ..obtain job,
each year to the Rice campus to informationviacomputerratherthan
interview prospective employees, paper.
and, typically, over 1.2(H) interviews Students can now register-
through and submit resumes to the
Career Services web page, which
wilt make job hunting both faster
and more efficient. In addition, stu-
dents can view an entire semester's
worth of job listings rather than de-
pending on impermanent wall
postings during Career Services'
business hours.
A]so, job listings on the database
have been reclassified, jobs were
formerly categorized as either "tech-
nical" or "non technical," according
to tin1 type of company offering em
ployment.
The lack of more specific catego-
ries inaccurately represented the
jobs being offered. Now students
i speci-
fications, such as geographical loca-
tion, skills needed or salary bracket
"The jobs were of a narrow
range," Lovett College sophomore
Kara Hackwith said. "The people at
Career Services were very friendly,
but they were not helpful with my
goals in finding a summer job in
Southern California," Hackwith re-
marked.
A number of students fell that
the "career services" provided at
Rice are less than sufficient. "They
.mirct.the.necds.joi^ engineexingstu.
dents well, but they have quite a
ways to go in terms of meeting the
needs of social science and hum,mi
>4
.'-.J.: fis ■■ %
ties students," Lovett President and
senior Brandon Bidlack said
The Career Services office was
born in 1988 when a concerned
group of Rice*students petitioned
for a career guidance program pro-
viding assistance beyond the fist-
ing Placement Office's services'
matching students and jobs
Matherly said that Careei Ser-
vices staff wishes to respond to stu-
dent feedback by "making tin ser-
vices we provide match up better
with how people are going to use
them. .....
She credits the recent changes
to "new personalities" in the Career
Services staff.
j'le
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Hardi, Joel & Siy, Angelique. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 85, No. 1, Ed. 1 Friday, August 29, 1997, newspaper, August 29, 1997; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth246570/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.