The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 86, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, January 29, 1999 Page: 2 of 24
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THE RICE THRESHER OPINION FRIDAY, JANUARY 29,1999
the Rice Thresher
Brian Stoler
Editor in Chief
Joseph Blocher, Michael Sew Hoy
Opinion Editors
dr. Ra-nonaLg...
oaviD chien
Distribution requirements
benefit students
Some faculty members and students in the Shepherd
School of Music are working to reduce the number of
courses required for music majors to satisfy university
distribution.
That might make life easier for Shepherd School stu-
dents. But it would be very bad for the university, and, in the
end, it would prove bad for the music majors as well.
Rice at its best is a combination of rigorous and well-
respected specialized programs with the breadth of a liberal
arts education. This is the university for engineers who want
to act, physicists who are interested in journalism and, yes,
music majors who might happen to like political science.
That's the point of distribution: It makes students pursue
wider interests.
The hard truth is that, while students might know what
they want to do now, no one can say for sure whether their
interests will last. This is another main purpose of distribu-
tion: It forces students to diversify their educations (and
thus themselves), even if at the expense of free will.
Say 10 years down the road, a music major decides to put
down her viola for good — those economics classes she had
to take for distribution might really come in handy.
And what if somebody isn't interested in that? Well, there
are plenty of excellent music conservatories without such
requirements. ■-->
So we say: no special treatment. Not for music majors.
Nor for chemical engineering majors, or athletes, Or archi-
tecture majors, or any of the other overworked groups that
aren't asking for it. That's not the point of coming to this
university.
excuse me...
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colorful. PHRascs.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Too many elections,
too much democracy
Last February, we wrote in this space that there were too
many elected student positions at Rice. Nothing has changed
since then. Now, we know that no change now could affect
what officers are elected this year. But we fear that if the
Student Association Senate does not-act soon, these valu-
able changes will not able to take effect in time for the 2000
elections. Because of that, we decided to raise the issue
again.
This campus suffers from a glut of democracy. Between
Feb. 19 and Feb. 24, the student body will have the privilege
of electing no fewer than 34 positions across campus, includ-
ing Student Association president, University Court sopho-
more representative, even Rice Program Council treasurer.
In theory, the logic for this mass of elections is sound-—
if an organization receives student blanket tax money, then
students should be able to maintain control over those
organizations. In practice, however, this system compels
mostly indifferent students to vote in elections and to as-
sume an uninformed preference as to the winner.
The Thresher does not oppose democracy, but — as any
political science student can tell you — democracy only
functions correctly when the electorate is educated.
Blurbs are an insufficient method of informing the voting
public on who best can fill the job of Rice Student Volunteer
Program Secretary, and expecting any student to inform
herself about the candidates for this and 33 other positions
is expecting too much. It's not that positions such as these
are unimportant; they are, in fact, too important to be
determined by those whose only knowledge of the candi-
date comes from two paragraphs and an unflattering pic-
ture.
Vtie believe in electing each of the officers of the SA. Every
student is a member of the SA and has the right to determine
its representative officers. But the student body should elect
only the chairpersons of RSVP and RPC, not every officer.
Let the chair anjiihe other members of those organizations
decide who is the most qualified to staff their administra-
tions.
Levin disputes article
To the editor:
Houston Community Publishing
Lectures and Forums, a campus
group approved by the Student As-
sociation in October, has sponsored
two free educational lectures at Rice.
One was by an Ivy League professor
who is editor of the Oxford Encyclo-
pedia on the Enlightenment, and the
other was by a rabbi who was the
sole religious leader chosen to inau-
gurate the current session of Con-
gress. Remarkably, this commit-
ment to stimulating intellectual dis-
cussion on campus evoked the ire of
some at the Thresher.
Marisa Levy, Arts and Entertain-
ment editor for the Thresher, said in
an article in last week's Thresher
("Club's eligibility, origin ques-
tioned," Jan. 22) that she did not
consent to be signed up as a mem-
ber of HCPLF. In fact, she sent me
an e-mail of undisputed authenticity
on Oct. 13, 1998, saying "sure, it is
fine if you sign me up" in response to
my message asking her if she would
be willing to be an officially listed
member for the campus group at
Rice. By denying her own words,
Levy lied to the Thresher and misled
the Rice community.
In fact, Levy could have simply
walked in to the Student Organiza-
tions Office and removed herself
from the group once she changed
her mind. No student was forced, or
could be forced, to be part of this
campus group.
When I spoke to Thresher Editor
in Chief Brian Stoler before the is-
sue went to press, he mentioned
nothing of Levy's accusation. He
asked only a few trivial questions
about the dates of lectures and did
not even tell me he was writing a
story, let alone one that included
such serious allegations. This vio-
lates basic fairness and journalistic
ethics, both of which require giving
the accused a chance to respond. In
this case, doing so would have al-
lowed the Thresher to avoid promi-
nently printing false and potentially
libelous allegations.
Having said that, I am gratified
that Stoler agreed to meet with me,
recognized the Threher's error and
is running a correction in addition to
this letter.
I cannot understand why anyone
would resent the fact that, in addi-
tion to sponsoring educational
speeches at Rice, HCPLF informs
students about opportunities avail-
able at the Houston Review, a non-
profit newspaper which enables stu-
dents to have their work read by not
just the Rice campus, but the entire
Houston community.
I have already heard from many
genuinely interested Rice students
in just the past few days, so we are
not going to let a scurrilous attack
stop us from our mission of enrich-
ing the intellectual discussion on
campus.
Marc Levin
Publisher, Houston Review
Column misses issue
To the editor:
I disagree with Zach Bonig's po-
sition on tenure ('Tenure for profes-
sors no necessary," Jan. 22). In ar-
guing against it, he neglects one of
the greatest advantages to the ten-
ure system — the attraction of intel-
lectuals to the profession itself.
Bonig draws a direct comparison
between academia and the real
world. In the real world, he argues,
''■an employer can fire an employee
for any reason and is not required to
even give a reason." This is not le-
gally true, but even if it were, it
would not justify a similar treatment
of professors in academia.
Professors are some of the great-
est minds in the world. The amount
of study and dedication required to
reach such a point in education is
beyond admirable. Such intellectu-
als would have little problem suc-
ceeding in a "real world" career and
making much more money than they
do now. What, then, could possibly
influence a person to pursue such a
competitive job with so little eco-
nomic rewards? Certainly intrinsic
considerations, such as the satisfac-
tion of teaching or research, play a
part. Surely, though, the prospect of
tenure could be a deciding factor to
the young Rice student questioning
the road of the corporate environ-
ment, where a man who has given
30 years to a company has no guar-
antee of employment tomorrow.
A university is not "first and fore-
most, a business." Ex-employees do
not donate millions to their old busi-
nesses; businesses do not give their
customers 70-percent discounts to
reflect financial need. Not all acts of
a university are sound practices for
a business. Tenure is a necessary
institution to keep the quality of edu-
cators in all universities as high as
possible.
Aaron Martz
Brown freshmen
In defense of tenure
To the editor:
I would like to thank the Thresher
for another inflammatory column
based on irrelevant information and
incorrect assumptions.
Zach Bonig's argument that ten-
ure "no longer has any purpose" is
flawed in principle and reason ('Ten-
ure for professors not necessary,"
Jan. 22). Most obviously, there is no
guarantee that present attitudes dis-
daining termination of a professor
for unpopular opinions will continue.
Protective measures do not lose
value because threats are in submis-
sion.
Furthermore, Bonig's statement
that any given professor is "only the
best at the time he is granted ten-
ure" is simply incorrect. The vol-
ume of material and experience re-
quired by their disciplines ensure
that humanities and social science
professors improve with age. As for
math and science professors, it is
conceivable that they may make
their most revolutionary discover-
ies in their early years, but their
teaching value increases with age.
By nature, a "threat of job loss"
will not improve performance;
rather, it will coerce professors into
producing quick "results," whether
they are worthwhile or not. More-
over, an impending threat will foster
infighting and backstabbing among
professors to make sure that some-
one else gets fired first.
All these flawed arguments pale,
however, in comparison with the
assertion that "the university is, first
and foremost, a.business."
The last thing that any institute
See POLICY, Page 4
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Stoler, Brian. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 86, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, January 29, 1999, newspaper, January 29, 1999; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth246637/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.