The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 87, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, November 12, 1999 Page: 6 of 24
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THE RICE THRESHER NEWS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12. 1999
Culture Quest encourages
exploration of Houston
by Lisa Law
THRESHER STAFF
As part of Advance's Culture
Quest '99, about 150 Rice com-
munity members found them-
selves searching Saturday for the
poison dart frog's favorite meal at
the Cockrell Butterfly Center and
"Vit Quay" at the Cho Que Huong
Supermarket.
Advance — Advocating Diver-
sity and Assisting Career Explo-
ration — designed the scaven-
ger hunt to expose participants
to various landmarks, museums
and restaurants representative
of different cultures within
Houston.
Each team of four or five
people received a clue list of 30
culturally diverse locations to
visit in search of trivia or souve-
nirs.
"We tried to get a good mix of
different cultures," Advance Stu-
dent Coordinator Kamakshi
Raimondo said.
"The object of it is to get people
in groups to go to places they
wouldn't normally go to. The
whole point is to spark interest
and to have them go back to the
places," Raimondo said.
"We feel it is so important be-
cause Rice is so devoted to diver-
sity and Houston is a diverse place
that students should be able to
lap into."
Prizes for the winning teams
included restaurant gift certifi-
cates, private tennis lessons,
Esperanza tickets and tickets to
the Houston Rockets vs. New
York Knicks game.
According to Raimondo, turn-
out exceeded Advance's expecta-
tions.
Raimondo attributed the suc-
cess of this year's event to the
organization's publicity cam-
paign, which included recruit-
ment by Advance members,
online registration, fliers and ad-
vertisements, and tables in the
Rice Memorial Center.
"We had a really good num-
ber of students who participated
and had a great time or friends
who have heard about people who
participated and had a great time,"
Student Center Assistant Direc-
tor Paul Sutera said.
large majority of our adver-
tising is done through word
of mouth and we just really
have to cultivate it some more.
I think we're on our way — this
has the makeup of being an ex-
ceptional annual event," Sutera
said.
For next year's Culture Quest,
Advance plans to modify the or-
ganization of the activities and
registration, and use an earlier
publicity campaign.
"Things would have gone
smoother if we had a cutoff date
for Wednesday and a confirma-
tion date on Thursday,"
Raimondo said.
Many groups cancelled on
Saturday morning because of late
registration, causing some con-
fusion, he said.
Overall, though, the event
went smoothly.
"Going to different parts of
Houston, doing things that I
wouldn't have done gives us
exposure beyond our small'
realm," Iara Palacios, a Sid Ri-
chardson College sophomore,
said.
"Even though we got to see
little tidbits of culture, we didn't
get to experience everything. It
does demonstrate that there is
a lot of culture around us,
though."
Other Advance events include
the Multicultural Music Festival,
held in early February, and the
annual Cultural Fair, which fea-
tures a cultural banquet and a
multicultural talent show.
Groups discuss funding for assistant
SA, RPC, 'Campanile' agree that university should pay adviser's salary
by Leslie Liu
THKKSHER EDITORIAL STAFF
Funding for the salary and ben-
efits of the Student Organizations
assistant director position is under-
going scrutiny as needs within Stu-
dent Affairs evolve.
Blanket tax organizations (the
Student Association, Rice Program
Council, the Campanile, the Thresher
and KTRU) currently contribute 40
percent of the salary while the rest is
paid by the university.
This is th(> only case in which
students directly contribute to the
salary of a member of the staff, fac-
ulty or administration.
'This person no longer
does a specific task for
a specific organization,
so that's why [the
university] should be
contributing.'
— Anne Countiss
Student Association President
"Basically, the nature of the posi-
tion has evolved to where it's now
equal to other Student Affairs posi-
tions and should be funded the same
way," Associate Director of Student
Activities Mona Hicks said.
The SA Executive Committee
sent a memo to Vice President for
Student Affairs Zenaido Camacho
Monday recommending that the
blanket tax organizations no longer
contribute to the salary of this posi-
tion.
According to SA President Anne
Countiss, Camacho has submitted
the proposal to the Budget Office.
"The argument now is that while
this is an essential position for stu-
dents because [the number of] stu-
dent organizations has tripled, you
also have the additional tasks of
managing the President's Program-
ming Fund and also all the Web
stuff," Countiss said.
"This person no longer does a
specific task for a specific organiza-
tion, so that's why [the university]
should be contributing," Countiss
said.
Vicki Seefeldt West left her posi-
tion as Student Organizations staff
assistant last month 'to become a
Study Abroad adviser.
During West's tenure in Student
Organizations, her position changed
to become integral to the groups,
Campanile Editor in .Chief Jamie
Bartling said.
Because of the increased respon-
sibility of the job, the Campanile
supports the upgrade of the position
to assistant director, with its corre-
sponding raise in salary.
"It would attract a more qualified
person," Bartling said. "Vicki
changed the position a whole lot.
It's become above and beyond
what it was. It's not just doing little
jobs."
Assistant Dean for Student Life
Cathi Clack said the job posting went
up just recently since the job de-
scription had to be upgraded to that
of assistant director.
"We've changed this position so
much over the years," Clack said.
"I can understand why the SA [Ex-
ecutive Committee] wants the
change."
Clack said the job description now
includes duties such as serving on
committees like the President's Pro-
gramming Fund and training stu-
dent organization leaders.
West voluntarily took on these
responsibilities as her position
evolved.
Student Affairs hopes to fill the
position by early spring, Clack
said. Currently, Student Activities
Department Coordinator Philippa
Angelides and two student assistants
are covering the duties of the job.
In 1997, the blanket tax organiza-
tions supported an upgrade of the
position from office assistant to staff
assistant, along with an increase in
salary. At that time, the university
agreed to pay 6Q percent of the sal-
ary, instead of the original 50 per-
cent.
Ofthe 40 percent of the positions'
salary that comes from blanket tax
organizations, 42 percent comes
from the SA, 32 percent from RPC,
21 percent from Campanile and 2.5
percent from each the Thresher and
KTRU.
RPC President Lindsay Germano
said blanket tax organizations
could use the money for other pur-
poses.
'Basically, the nature of
the position has evolved
to where it's now equal
to other Student Affairs
positions and should be
funded the same way.'
— Mona Hicks
Associate Director
Student Activities
"There's the possibility of lower-
ing ticket prices, there's the possi-1
bility of trying to bring in larger-
scale events, like bringing in speak-
ers, and of giving away more things
at RPC events, like giving away T-
shirts for Homecoming [since] the
SA chose not to db that," Germano
said.
The heads of blanket tax organi-
zations have not formally met to dis-
cuss their opinions on this issue, but
the general consensus is that the
university needs to pay for the posi-
tion, Germano said.
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McAlister, Jett & Tam, Mariel. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 87, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, November 12, 1999, newspaper, November 12, 1999; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth246661/m1/6/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.