The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 87, No. 8, Ed. 1 Friday, October 29, 1999 Page: 2 of 24
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THE RICE THRESHER
OPINION
ERIDAY, OCTOBER 29. 1999
the Rice Thresher
Rarionaue
by DaviP
Jett McAlister,
Mariel Tarn
Editors in Chief
Brian Stoler
Senior Editor
James Dallal,
Gordon Wittick
Opinion Editors
Working for equality
We applaud the organizers of a petition calling for domestic
partner benefits for gay and lesbian faculty and staff. The petition
gained more than 300 signatures in a short three hours Oct. 11. We
hope that this fervent support will translate itself into action on the
part of the'university.
That Rice doesn't offer benefits to the partners of its gay and
lesbian faculty and staff is disturbing, especially considering that we
pride ourselves on being among the most progressive and presti-
gious schools in the nation — almost all of which offer such benefits.
Of the top 20 U.S. colleges and universities as ranked by U.S.
News and World Report in 1999, only two do not offer domestic
partner benefits: Rice and Notre Dame University.
That 300 signatures to a petition calling for domestic partner
benefits could be collected in three hours is telling of what kind of
place Rice is — one whose people want to walk the walk of nondis-
crimination, rather than just talking the talk with nicely worded
policies.
Offering domestic partner benefits would greatly benefit Rice.
Current faculty and staff would be in a much more financially secure
position. And we won't see prospective faculty choose not to accept
teaching positions at Rice because of the lack of benefit.
But the most powerful gain would be a symbolic one — Rice
would actually mean it when it says that it doesn't discriminate
against any group of people.
Thanking the
Baker Institute
With former South African President Nelson Mandela's speech
on Tuesday, the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
continued its trend of welcoming to. Rice major figures in world
politics. The Baker Institute's ability to bring figures like Mandela to
campus emphasizes that Rice should not be known as just an
engineering school anymore — we are a major national center of
learning with a growing reputation for excellence in many fields.
But what is most impressive about the Baker Institute and its
string of high-profile speakers, which includes Mikhail Gorbachev
and Kofi Annan as well as Mandela, is that the institute has made it
possible for students to attend these presentations.
We extend a warm thanks to the Baker Institute for truly playing
a role in the education of Rice students by giving us access to such
immense resources. Ix>ok forward to seeing the trend continue.
Trying too hard
to expose NOD
This week's Houston Press article on Night of Decadence doesn't
paint the full picture.
"NOD So Naughty" by Wendy Grossman, in the Oct. 28 issue of
the Press, does not reflect mainstream student opinion. Instead,
Grossman appeared to seek out only the most titillating quotes and
details from the two extremes on the issi^.
Most prominently featured were quotes from a casually imbibing
resident of the Wiess College "Five Man" and from a member of the
Intervarsity Christian Fellowship (who will pray for people attending
NOD).
Both are cast in lights that make them appear stupid. The party
supporter, the story notes, "talks while sipping a beer."
The article seems to mock the IV student concerned about her
classmates' physical and mental safety; of her, Grossman writes,
"She's totally serious." The flippant commentary undermines the
student's honest intentions.
The.story begins with a tale from 1998-'99 Wiess College Presi-
dent Ethan Schultz, centered around the kind of alcohol-glorifica-
tion that should be left behind in high school. The first paragraph
evokes feelings of embarrassment by association usually reserved
for those inevitable moments during Owl Weekend when prospec-
tive students choose to talk about their SAT scores at the dinner
table.
(WTiile Grossman's ability to tell NOD's complicated-story in a
small space is excellent, the article fails to get across to a wider
audience what NOD and Rice are all about. We trust that, in its future
reporting on Rice-related news, the Press will take greater pajns to
accurately gauge student opinion on issues.
w anna
OIL
Me up
&aBY?
seems THe Tin Man's tavincr out thst new H&3RT
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Fondren Library
must learn to share
To the editor:
I graduated from Rice almost 30
years ago, and since that time, 1
have always been proud of my alma
mater. However, last summer 1 dis-
covered a policy of Fondren Library
that has caused me to remove my
Rice ring because I am embarrassed
to be associated with the school.
Texas academic libraries partici-
pate in aconsortiumcalledTexShare
to provide their users with a broader
range of materials and services than
any single library can provide on its
own. Rice has chosen to accept the
benefits of reduced costs for online
databases and courier services pro-
vided by TexShare, but has declined
to offer the reciprocal borrowing
card that permits students and fac-
ulty to borrow materials from librar-
ies across Texas.
I cringed when I had to tell stu-
dents a] library orientation classes
at Houston Community College that
|hey could get a TexShare card that
would allow them to use library re-
sources at any Houston area aca-
demic library except Rice. A world-
class university would not hide be-
hind the hedges and refuse to share
resources with the surrounding com-
munity.
- In the original charter, William
Marsh Rice allotted $200,000 to six
prominent Houston businessmen in
1891 to establish a "Public Library
and Institute for the Advancement
of Literature, Science and Art."
Fondren's policy decision is obvi-
ously in opposition to the founder's
vision. Furthermore, the public re-
lations effect of Fondren's isolation-
ism and lack of cooperation is ex-
tremely negative within the library
community as well as within the
greater Houston area.
Full participation in TexShare
would benefit current Rice students
as well as the larger community. My
son, who is currently a sophomore
at Rice, needed a bookThat the Uni-
versity of Houston has in its collec-
tion and was told that he could not
have it "since Rice does not partici-
pate in the TexShare program." Stu-
dents (even Rice students) rarely
plan far enough ahead to utilize in-
terlibrary loan programs, which can
take weeks to locate needed materi-
als. If Rice participated in TexShare,
Rice students would be able to use
not only Houston area libraries, but
also other state academic libraries.
Other participating libraries have
been very pleased with the program
and have not had the huge increases
in demand on their resources that
Rice seems to fear. Any lost books
would be replaced by the borrowing
student's institution, although loss
has not historically been a problem.
I hopp that Rice will reconsider
its decision and move to full partici-
pation in TexShare as the Univer-
sity of Te*K5, Texas A&M Univer-
sity and other truly world-class re-
search libraries in the stale have
done. Beautiful new buildings will
only go so far in making Fondren
Library a great research facility.
Changes must also-come in the phi-
losophy of its leaders. Until that time,
my Rice ring will remain in a drawer.
Dorian St. Clair Myers
Jones '71
Jones School teaches
the wrong lessons
To the editor:
I'd like to raise a few issues for
students and faculty of the Jesse H.
Jones Graduate School of Manage-
ment to consider as they pour their
prodigious energies and talents into
ever'more complex projects. The
rest of the engineers and scientists,
and even the humanists, might give
a listen too.
I want to suggest that many of
the basic assumptions of the mod-
ern business world are fundamen-
tally flawed. Acted upon, using the
techniques developed by modern,
Western-style business manage-
ment, those assumptions very
clearly produce amazing short-term
gain for the few. But the costs are
enormous for the many. I propose
that the Jones School would make
its greatest possible contribution to
the world if it would devote itself to
finding new approaches that slow
the world down, approaches that do
not accept the drive for ever-greater
speed, and that do accept the impos-
sibility of continuous material
growth in a finite world.
Speed and growth are not good
in and of themselves. Far more valu-
able to a person's life are things
done well, loving and lasting rela-
tionships and long-term
sustainability. Modern business
techniques by and large ignore the
best things in life. Why does that
have to be? Have any of you read and
thought about E.F. Schumacher's
chapter on Buddhist economics in
his famous book, Small is Beautiful?
In that chjjpler he discusses the con-
cept of "right livelihood," by which
he means making a living by means
that actually grace your life. Can you
just imagine that concept, in the
midst of all your PowerPoint presen-
tations on international finance?-
The fundamental problem is very
similar to what I learned about in
English history 40 years ago at Rice.
It's called "absentee landlords," to-
day dressed up in the guise of stock-
holders. Public ownership appar-
ently has been taken to require
"maximum return on investment"
for the shareholders, whatever cost
that has to the community, the em-
ployees, the world's resources ...
whatever. The absentee landlords
don't give a tinker's dam for the
employees who produce their in-
come, the communities that sur-
round their plants or anything else
except the price of their stock. It is a
foul, unfair, wasteful system.
■ So, my challenge to the Jones
School is to develop a business value'
system that includes the people who
do the work — all of them — and the
earth that supplies the resources.
As it is now, business is the prime
mover in the destruction of our soci-
ety. Our major export is weapons,
closely followed by "American cul-
ture." What does that say about
American business? If we're trying
to Americanize the world, it looks to
me as if we're trying to destroy it in
the process.
The Jones School could take a
serious leadership role in changing
this. Surely American business
doesn't have to be, so shallow, so
destructive. It's only so because we
don't honestly check out our values.
We allow short-term gain to over-
ride our deeper principles — prin-
ciples we have almost forgotten how
to live by. We just don't seem to care
anymore.
Donald L. Gibbon
Will Rice '58
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THRESHER
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McAlister, Jett & Tam, Mariel. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 87, No. 8, Ed. 1 Friday, October 29, 1999, newspaper, October 29, 1999; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth246659/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.