The Rice Thresher, Vol. 99, No. 7, Ed. 1 Friday, September 30, 2011 Page: 2 of 16
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EDITORIAL
Friday, September 30,2011
the Rice (Ihresher
National honor
reflects Rice professors'
commitment to education
Rice's own Richard Tapia was honored with the U.S. Na-
tional Medal of Science this past week (see story, pg. 1).
Tapia's work in the field of mathematics, paired with his
contributions outside the class room, make him extremely
deserving of the award. Tapia has been a member of the Rice
community for over 40 years, and his long-term association
with the university is a testament to Rice's ability to draw
and retain the best faculty in the country.
The additional aspect of Tapia's social influence makes
this recognition even more deserved. During his long tenure
at Rice, he has made a real impact on the community of un-
derrepresented minorities in local communities. In doing so,
Tapia represents exactly what Rice should continue to strive
for in the future. While the university my place importance
on rankings and national recognition, it must also continue
to be multifaceted. Rice must demonstrate academic excel-
lence while it connects with the local community, serve the
less priveleged, and maintain ties to its passionate issues.
Rice arguably has the most character of any college in the
country, and its important that we do not lose that as we
seek to improve our school's national standing.
Richard Tapia is a model of academic excellence and so-
cial consciousness, and the Thresher wishes to congratulate
him. We certainly hope that Rice will continue to seek fac-
ulty such a Tapia and follow his model of success.
Greater leadership and
initiative needed at
Rice University
Apathy is quite the buzzword at Rice; for every comment
about rigorous majors and extreme coursework, a reference
is made to Rice students' failure to get involved and effect
change. Whether discussing voting, college cabinets, envi-
ronmental consciousness or entrepreneurship, it seems that
too many students simply decide to stay out of the fray and
not participate. Of course, there are widespread exemptions
to all of the claims, but on the whole, Rice students could
certainly benefit from less apathy. It is precisely this lack of
initiative and leadership that the leadership committee has
been established to address (see story, pg. 1).
This committee will have to deal with both mental barri-
ers and information asymmetries that prevent students at
Rice from getting more involved in the university, local and
broader communities that they are a part of. Mental barri-
ers constitute each internal reason not to participate in an
activity: lack of time, lack of confidence, lack of desire, and
lack of motivation. While each person can not be persuaded
to act on passions and exhibit initiative, the committee can
overcome both the mental barriers and information asym-
metries by simply promoting the hundreds of opportunites
already available on campus. Despite the availability of so
many opportunities to get involved at Rice, many of them
are unknown or seem excessively distant. By efficiently pro-
moting existing organizations, programs, and grants, stu-
dents will be much more likely to take advantage oi ihem.
The more visible these opportunities are made, the easier
they seem to take advantage of; thus, even the portion of the
student body more reluctant to get involved may be swayed
to do so. This concept is not about coddling the student
body, it is simply about making existing opportunities seem
more viable and more visible. The fact is that students at
Rice are extremely busy with academics; this new commit-
tee and the university as a whole need to persuade students
to take more chances outside the classroom as well.
Centenni-Ale a huge hit
St. Arnold's Centenni-Ale was released at Valhalla
this past Friday and the volume of sales was extreme-
ly impressive. The Thresher would like to extend a sin-
cere thanks to Brock Wagner, Rice aulmnus and St.
Arnold's founder, for celebrating his alma mater's cen-
tenial anniversary in such a distinct way. It is these sorts
of small but unique happenings around Rice that make
us who we are.
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LETTERS TO TH E EDITOR thresheM)jgs@i^^
To the Editor:
With a great regard for Bianca and
much respect for her future plans with
the Marines, I'm dissapointed to read,
'Student works to become Marine (Sep.
23),' as it so minimizes other students
on campus pursuing the same com-
mission with other services — Navy,
Air Force, and Army. Rice has a close
connection with every branch of the
armed force's ROTC programs — all
of which also offer avenus for OCS or
OTS (Officer Training School) as other
branches call it. Why not take this
great opportunity to better inform the
Rice community by featuring several
Rice students seeking to serve their
country — all also struggling to balance
busy academic schedules with early
morning PT and a rigorous training
environment? It is refreshing to find
a piece on a subject seldom discussed
at Rice, millitary service, however un-
fortunately, the article portrays her as
the 'most special' and the marines as
the 'most elite'. The article could have
been a much stronger piece about a
community of students all working to-
wards a common goal, that of entering
and serving in the U.S. Military during
a time of great international instability
and insecurity - literally a time of war
in which everyone of us is knowingly
dedicating our lives to our nation. It just
seems like no one bothered to do the re-
search and look up other Rice students
who will join Bianca — also the scant
list of alumni who have gone through
OCS is glaringly incomplete, and that is
knowledge I've gained only through my
personal interactions over four years
here as a student. It is a great shame
because each service and every officer
commissioning program really deserve
the same recognition and respect,
we are one force, and I know Bianca
would agree.
NEWS
Hallie Jordan Editor
Brooke Bullock Asst. Editor
Ellen Liu Asst. Editor
OP-ED
Ryan Gupta Editor
Courtney Svatek Cartoonist
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Emily Nichol Editor
SPORTS
Dan Elledge Editor
CALENDAR
Devin Glick Editor
COPY
Johanna Ohm Editor
Gracelyn Tan Editor
FEATURES
Ruby Gee Editor
ART
Zach Castle Design Director
Rachel Marcus News Designer
Alexandra Moharam Sr. Photo Editor
Mathison Ingham \r. Photo Editor
BACKPAGE
Zach Casias Editor
Anthony Lauriello Editor
Alex Weinheimer Editor
WEB
Dennis Qian Web Editor
Tyler Siegert Asst. Web Editor
Veronica Rae Saron Social Media Dir.
BUSINESS
Julian Yao Manager
Sean Kim Distribution Manager
Murtuza Martani Distribution Manager
ADVERTISING
Rick Song Ads Manager
Heaven Chen Classified Ads Manager
The Rice Thresher, the official student news
paper at Rice University since 1916, is pub-
lished each Friday during the school year,
except during examination periods and holi
days, by the students of Rice University.
Letters to the Editor must be received by
5 p.m. the Monday prior to publication and
must be signed, including college and year if
the writer is a Rice student. Letters should riot
exceed 250 words in length. The Thresher re-
serves the rights to edit letters for content and
length and to place letters on our Web site.
Editorial and business offices are
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Phone (713) 348 4801
Fax (713) 348-5238
Email: thresher@rice.edu
Web site: www.ricethresher.org
Unsigned editorials represent the majority
opinion nf the Thresher editorial staff. All
other opinion pieces represent solely the
opinion of the piece's author.
The Thresher is a member of the ACP, TIPA
and CNBAM © SWAG 281
Copyright 2011
Last Week's Online Poll Results:
How often do you illegally pirate multimedia
on Rice internet servers? •
| I've never pirated anything in my life
□ just a song here and there
[H I pirate full albums or movies
| I've pirated more than I can remember ®
Total number of responses: 38
Josh Rutenberg
Editor in Chief
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Rutenberg, Josh. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 99, No. 7, Ed. 1 Friday, September 30, 2011, newspaper, September 30, 2011; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth398508/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.