The Rice Thresher, Vol. 91, No. 15, Ed. 1 Friday, January 16, 2004 Page: 2 of 24
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THE RICE THRESHER OPINION FRIDAY, JANUARY 16,2004
—
the
A pre-emptive laundry
list for Leebron
We welcome President-elect David Leebron to Rice and are
excited about his upcoming tenure as university president. (See
Story, Page 1.) We think he will find that Rice students are a special
breed — much more fun than those Columbia kids.
As Leebron acquaints himself with our school in the coming
months, we hope he will be able to correctly ascertain what is
currently good about Rice and what could be made better. Of course,
we have a few ideas of our own on the subject, including the
following:
■ Make sure Rice's focus lies squarely on undergraduate educa-
tion. The undergraduate experience here is what makes this school
unique, but in recent years it has been somewhat obscured by
President Gillis' focus on graduate education and research. Return-
ing the university's mindset to undergraduate education — or at
least to a situation in which the interests of graduates and under-
graduates are equally weighted — will likely be Leebron's biggest
challenge, since he is currently the dean of a graduate school.
■ Resist temptation and keep Rice small — its size is another
quality that makes it unique.
■ Keep Rice a relatively inexpensive school to attend.
■ Work to expand and improve student spaces on campus. More
meeting space in the Student Center is needed, as well as space
reserved exclusively for students in Fondren Library.
■ Improve living conditions in the older residential
colleges.
■ Consider a significant change to the degree requirements.
There has been much grumbling in recent years about the distribu-
tion system, but no solutions have surfaced, so this is an area in
which new insight is needed.
■ Support the continued assessment of the positive and negative
roles played by Division I athletics at this school.
■ Keep as connected to the students as Gillis is (if not more so).
This may require a more deliberate effort for Leebron than for Gillis,
since Leebron will be living off-campus. For example, naked people
will not be running by his house — or so, at least, we hope.
■ Finally, Leebron should make a habit of doing nothing important
at this university without consulting the students beforehand. We may
only spend a few years here, but students, both graduate and under-
graduate, are too integral to Rice to ignore.
We are looking forward to the Leebron years and the many
benefits they will bring to our school.
Books still on vacation;
earlier notice needed
The state of the books at the Campus Store this semester
concerns us. (See Story, Page 1). Students come back ready to
learn, but it is difficult for many classes to get underway when so
many books are missing.
Predictably, the bookstore is blaming the professors, and the profes-
sors are blaming the bookstore. But whoever is at fault, it is inexcusable
that the problems were not worked out before students arrived.
We suggest the bookstore list required books online as profes-
sors request them — which happens by Oct. 31 for spring courses.
Some of the problems are probably systematic, so it would be
beneficial if some students can purchase books elsewhere and have
them in time for the first week of classes.
Professors: Please go easy on students. We're not lazy — we
really don't have the books.
Tests might have
prevented ESTHER glitch
The Registrar's Office has handled the recent Esther glitches
well, but better preparation might have prevented the glitches from
happening in the first place. (See Story, Page 1.)
ESTHER is failing because she is overloaded and has internal
difficulties, but the Registrar could probably have more exhaustively
tested the software — which is not customized for Rice and which
works just fine at many larger universities — and rectified the
problems over the break.
We hope in the future that the office will plan ahead and test
Esther in as realistic a manner as possible, so that students are not
again inconvenienced at a time in the semester that is already
stressful enough.
Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Thresher
editorial staff.
The real reason the Rice Campus Store
doesn't have your textbooks:
More room for 2003 College World Series
Championship Rice Owls Baseball
merchandise and souvenirs
(available while supplies lasf)\
U
A bear holding a shark
Drinking with family — and enjoying it
Families should drink together
I'm not endorsing keg-
stand-laden, binge-type
drinking here, but enough
to get your aunt to sing to a
yam strategically fkinked by
two lemons should do.
Alcohol is a social beast
in this country, simulta-
neously frowned upon and
enjoyed to points of ex-
treme lasciviousness by
the same people. Drinking
with your family, rather
than something to be con-
demned, is a celebration of
the times you're lucky enough to be
together. But on the more functional
side, alcohol can make familial ten-
sion bearable and might even help
you to enjoy the company of your
asinine sibling (if you have one).
Catherine
Adeock
There should be no
revealing of sexual
exploits, experiments
with drugs, or forays
into atheism.
As a youngun' only two years into
the realm of legal drinking, I am aware
of— and cherish — my reputation as
the innocent sibling. I might be a pro at
drinking, but I'm not particularly inter-
ested in losing any respect my family
has for me over a bottle of wine. With
quite a few alcohol infused holiday's
under my belt, I concocted a short
guide to familial drinking, complete
with tips and tricks.
I entered the realm of family
drinking with paranoid drinking.
This involves a single glass of wine
offered to you over Christmas din-
ner generally before you turn 21.
The wine makes you giddy and
self-conscious about your nervous
laughter. "Everyone thinks I'm
drunk," you think to yourself.
After this, you come to the "Not a
lush" stage in which you welcome,
with confidence, two — possibly
three — glasses of wine and a glass
of champagne. The entrance into this
stage of family drinking might corre-
late with increased drinking outside
home — for instance, at college. As
you learn to handle your alcohol bet-
ter and mature some, you
become less self-con-
scious about drinking with
your family, which might
also involve you not gig-
gling so goddamn much
at the dinner table.
You might reach the
next stage that some of
us— like me — luckily
avoided. It's the wasted
stage. Your head grows
with the first two glasses of
wine your uncle offers you
and you don't stop. You
keep drinking until five, six, seven
glasses go down and all of the sudden
you're not making sense and your dad
has to put you to bed. This stage is
bad; it should be avoided at all costs.
Finally, you reach the stage of
mature drunkenness with your fam-
ily. You're wiser in the waysand whims
of alcohol. You're goal isn't to be drunk,
but you end up there just the same.
Thanksgiving is more fun than ever
before all because you've learned
these important rules:
1. Getting drunk isn't a goal.
However, it can be the result of a
night of mirth and merriment. En-
joy your family more than you
enjoy the wine.
2. Remember what type of
drunk you are. If you are a sad or
belligerent drunk, you might want
to rethink the prospect of drinking
more than a glass of wine an hour
with your family. I've never been
witness to a drunken brawl over the
holidays, but I bet it'd ruin the spirit
of the occasion.
3. Know your secrets and for-
get about them. There should be
no revealing of sexual exploits, ex-
periments with drugs, or forays into
atheism. My uncle said to me over
break, "You're the wild child, I know
it. You just hide it better." Damn
straight I do.
4. Don't use being drunk as
an opportunity to talk about the
time you and your friends got
wasted and hedge jumped at
2:36 a.m. Anyone who doesn't go
to Rice will not think this story is
entertaining. Yes, we all want our
family to understand what we are
like when we're with our friends,
and if they do, that's great. But if
they don't, you can't force it upon
them with inane stories about Rice
traditions.
5. Know your limits. This is
the most important rule. The last
thing you want is your dad (or any-
one else) holding your hair as you
pray to the porcelain goddess.
I told a friend I was writing a
column about drinking with your
family and she said, "I don't think
that's something to be proud of."
My family handles its liquor with-
out problems. It enhances our holi-
days, which isn't to say we couldn't
enjoy each other without it.
Sure, drinking comes with its own
set of problems — a beer gut, for
instance — but before you condemn
it, consider that, on the other side of
the wine glass, drinking (with or
without your family) has its own set
of benefits that can be enjoyed with-
out losing all morality to which
you've ever laid claim.
Catherine Adrock is a Martel College
senior and features editor.
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Berenson, Mark. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 91, No. 15, Ed. 1 Friday, January 16, 2004, newspaper, January 16, 2004; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth398454/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.