The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 85, No. 16, Ed. 1 Friday, January 30, 1998 Page: 2 of 16
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THK RICE THRESHER
FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 1998
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
It lies virtually ignored for most of the year, home for the Rice
University Cycling Team and the handful of recreational bikers who
prefer to ride in endless circles. Rice's bike track also stoiely bares
the ignominious burden of providing overflow parking for important
football games and various non-university events.
For most of us, though, t he track's reason for existing comes just
once a year, on the occasion of Beer-Bike, our 40 year-old combina-
tion of paraole, festival and sporting event centered on humanity's
universal longing to celebrate the near-instantaneous consumption
of warm alcohol and to tie it to some kind of bike race.
The track's schizophrenic role as parking lot leaves it battered by
ci acks and potholes, conditions which are hardly good for cycling.
Beer Bike, despite its premise, is serious business, and in many
years a biker is rushed to the hospital after taking a bad fall. Nothing
so mars such a festive event as seeing a fellow student: seriously hurt.
Facilities and Engineering deserves thanks for rebuilding the
track at a cost of $70,000. Their work means that Beer Bike '98 will
be as sale as it can be.
In the past, the administration has repaired the bike track and
even resurfaced it in an effort to increase safety, but such superficial
repair never left the track entirely free of problems. This time, F&F
completely gutted and restabilized the track's groundwork, at sig-
nificant cost.
The university almost certainly has no plans to discontinue
renting the parking lot behind Rice Stadium. Renting the track is a
way to raise money and to strengthen our relationship with the
greater community. We hope that F&F will continue its vigilance
and maintain the brand new track in top condition. At least until two
more lanes have to be added ...
Bidding farewell to Hicks
and Martin
Two of Rice's best known administrators recently announced
their plans to retire at the end of the academic year: Marion Hicks,
for 28 years the only leader Food and Housing has ever had, and
Patricia Martin, now Associate Vice President of Student Affairs and
Director of International Education, under whose leadership the
number of students studying abroad increased from 3 to 120.-
1 licks, who presided over a virtual revolution in food service,
sj/ent his career trying 4o improve the on-carnpus lives of Rice
students. Martin will be best remembered for -helping to make it
possible for students to spend time far away from campus. While the
day-to-day details of their jobs were very different, they share an
earnest commitment to doing the best they could to improve the lot
of students at Rice University.
Flicks' career at the head .of HKtH began with the complete
renovation of Will Rice, Baker and Hanszen Colleges, and it will end
.after plans have been cemented to build two more colleges and
rebuild Wiess College, the last of the colleges to be renovated.
In recent years, the colleges have added cable and computer
networking. Food has markedly improved since the early 1990s. The
days when the vegetarian entree was fish or broccoli sprinkled with
bacon bits are long past. Just a few years ago, students toasted the
end of the academic year with a case of orange juice or Ritz crackers,
because meal plan funds didn't roll over from spring to fall. That
anachronism will likewise soon be forgotten.
Martin served as master of Sid Richardson College from 197(>'81
and as director of the School of "Continuing Studies before she
moved to Student Affairs and took over Rice's fledgling study abroad
program.
In those early years, Martin has said she was'basically "shooting
from.the hip," but during her tenure study abroad has become self-
sustained. The commitment of presidents George Rupp and Malcolm
Gillis to expanding opportunities for study abroad has meant Rice
students can continue to receive their Rice financial aid even while
studying in another country.
Martin, too. has laid groundwork for the future. The strategic plan
foresees a campus abroad, ryost likely in Europe, and sites are
already being scouted. A campus abroad would benefit science and
engineering majors in particular, since they could study abroad
without falling behind on graduation requirements. ~
Hicks and Martin will be sorely missed by the faculty, staff and
students who have known them at Rice. They made the kind of
lasting institutional contribution that will benefit all Rice students,
present and fuf ure,1 n immeasurable ways
Wu presented only one
side of China situation
To the editor:
We are used to looking at history
as if it were a book, cold and objec-
tive. We know what happened.
Or do we?
We have all read and heard about
the atrocities Committed in China in
the name of communism and
Maoism, the Cultural Revolution of
the l9G0s-'70s, and other gross hu
man rights violations, Then, just as
we thought things were improving,
we saw the events that took place in
Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Utsl week, we sawChinese gradu-
ate students surrounding the Rice
Memorial Center, holding signs of
protest and handing out flyers loudly
proclaiming "Harry Wu: Not a Hero
for Us." Despite being handicapped
by their EngJjsh abilities, despite
the standing ovation Harry Wu had
just received, they fearlessly stood
up against the opinions of the rest.oj,
the crowd, delivering piercing ques-
tion after question. Their voices
shook as they told their stories.
China suffered many catastro-
phes in the past century, which led
to the rise of Chinese communism.
People flocked to the notion of a
strong government able to carle for
its people Jn this spirit, Mao Zedong
proudly proclaimed, on the (lay of
the founding of the People's Repub-
lic of China, 'The Chinese people
have stood up!" The dreams of half a
billion people rode on that hope.
But those dreams quickly loured.
Wu's story of his suffering during
the Hundred Flowers and the Cul-
tural Revolution is certainly neither-
isolated nor unique. The horrible
atrocities the Communist govern-
tncnj committed were all the more
terrible because they were commit-
ted against their own countrymen
— the "people" for whom their re-
public had been conceived.
The graduate students, however,
have seen a different picture of
China. Born in the aftermath of the
chaos of the Cultural Revolution,
they do not remember the horrors
the country experienced during the
reign of Mao. They lived under the
freer economic policies of Deng
Xiaoping that have brought previ-
ously unimaginable wealth to their
country and families. Imagine --
color TVs and air conditioning!
The state tells them that to en-
sure stability and further economic
growth, some human*rights, such
as freedom of press and s|>eech, have
to be restricted until some future
date. Why should they be coiC^
cerned? The government is a neces-
sary evil at worst, because no one
can deny the progress that their
country has made in the past .
decade.
iven when the events at
Tiananmen Square transpired, the
new generation Held faith in its gov-
ernment. What the Chinese people
have learned is that the Communist
Party is going to retain political
power, but they are more or less
free to carry on their lives without
concern about the stability of their
country and their own personal well:
b ing.
Phis -freedom from uncertainty"
is a freedom that we in America take
for granted but which much of the
world — and especially China —
has not known for decades. Jiang
Zemin, the new president of China,
argues that freedom Of speech and
other freedoms (hat die goverfifneri I
has taken flak for are trivial com-
pared with this freedom. Is it not the
greatest human right to be secure
and free from uncertainty?
I am not denying the truth of
Wu's allegations. What he said re-
ally happened.The suffering he went
through was real, and, most likely,
labor camps still exist, in China. But
what the Chinese graduate students
have said is equally true, and the
benefits that the current regime has
brought to their country are undeni-
able. We observers need to learn to
see both sides of the situation. It
would be foolish to ignore the steps
China has already taken. Similarly,
as people like Wu point out, there is
still along road ahead, and we should
not be satisfied until the Chinese
people live in freedom.
Kai-Hou! Farh
Jones freshman
Vandalism undermined
cause of Wu protesters
To the editor:
Two weeks ago, the Computer
Science colloquium board in Duncan
Hall featured a poster announcing
Harry Wu's visit to Rice. loiter, I
found the poster largely obscured
by a carefully positioned letter of
protest. The letter, published alleg
edly by the Rice Chinese Students
and Scholars' Club, questioned
Harry Wu's integrity, cited several
references and claimed that his vio-
lations of the spirit of democracy
made him unsuitable as the Martin
Luther King lecturer.
I foil' that ,the letter unfairly
blocked information that I had a right
to access. Hence, without comment,
I moved the letter so that it was
adjacent to the poster, leaving both
the poster and the letter in full view.
Last week, I returned from a con-
ference to find that the poster had
disappeared I learned that it had
been removed by the departmental
staff after it was defaced. It bore, in
large Tetters, the wofdswB gtjaf ttTi
along with a large circle and "X".
The damage was visually heightened
by the strategic placement of a pin in
each of the eyes in Wu's picture.
I naturally assume that none of
these actions were sanctioned by
the RCSSC, an organization which
had just issued a three-page letter
containing pronouncements on the
nature of a democratic society. Nev-
ertheless, it would be reassuring if
the RCSSC were to explicitly dis-
own and deplore these events.
1 sympathize with the efforts of
the RCSSC and its supporters to
present a more complex version of
events than the one given by the
university's well-oiled publicity ma-
chine. However, commonly held bias
toward Wu's position does not ex-
cuse acts of vandalism. Future de-
facers may also want to consider the
irony of their actions, which give the
lie to the democratic words they
proclaim and strengthen Harry Wu's
claims of persecution.
Shriram Krishnamurthi
Graduate student
Computer Science
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Hardi, Joel. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 85, No. 16, Ed. 1 Friday, January 30, 1998, newspaper, January 30, 1998; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth246612/m1/2/: accessed June 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.