The Rice Thresher, Vol. 91, No. 24, Ed. 1 Friday, March 26, 2004 Page: 2 of 32
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The most important part of staying safe from crime is being
informed. Unfortunately, students are all too often left in the
dark. This weekend's fatal shooting at the corner of Kirby Drive
and Bissonnet Street highlights dangerous communication
breakdowns on campus. We are concerned that for too many
students, the article in this issue of the Thresher will be the first
time they hear of the shooting. (See Story, Page 1.)
The Rice University Police Department issued an e-mail warning
early Wednesday afternoon to several listservs including the UStudents
listserv, which is sent to the colleges to be forwarded to their respec-
tive listservs. However, the alert did not make it to some colleges'
listservs by late Wednesday night, so many students were in the dark.
E-mail is the best way to communicate with the student body, and we
appreciate RUPD's attempt to keep students informed as well as the
college secretaries or coordinators that did forward the alert to students.
Those who did not forward the alert should do so in the future.
However, a better solution to avoid these communication break-
downs in the future is to give RUPD the capacity to e-mail important
information to all students directly through Vice President for
Student Affairs Zenaido Camacho or another administrator. This
information is too important to be kept from students.
Not raining on Beer-Bike
parade the right choice
We applaud the decision of Vice President for Student Affairs
Zenaido Camacho not to cancel the parade in light of the "jack" on
Martel College early in the morning of March 19, and thank the college
presidents for their role in helping Camacho reach the decision.
The jack raised serious safety concerns, but running the parade as
scheduled was the safest decision for all involved. Canceling the
parade would have likely been far more dangerous than the parade
itself: Without a parade, scores of frustrated and intoxicated students
would have been left with tens of thousands of water balloons and no
way to dispose of them except an impromptu, unorganized and
unpatrolled free-for-all. The parade, in addition to whatever entertain-
ment value it has, serves an important function as an organized means
of transporting less-than-sober people to the Beer-Bike track.
As it happened, the parade ran smoothly. This was partly because
many students felt under pressure to behave after a brush with cancel-
lation, as many e-mails sent to college listservs suggested. But the hard
work of the student organizers, scores of student security volunteers,
the Rice Emergency Medical Service and the Rice University Police
Department is the real reason why the parade was a success.
The administration lets students get away with much that would
not be tolerated in the real world—the alcohol policy, jacks, Baker 13.
Jacks should be fun and quirky—not excessively expensive. After all,
the success of the Beer-Bike parade proves that students can be
trusted to plan, organize and run an event safely and responsibly.
Split GSA would increase
college sports parity
We do not mind when the Graduate Student Association wins a
college sports event — as they did when they won the men's Beer-
Bike race last Saturday — so long as it is every now and then. But
given their fairly disproportionate run of success over the colleges
in recent years — the GSA is on its way to its second consecutive
President's Cup victory — we are growing concerned that it may
hold an unfair advantage over undergraduates.
The inclusion of the GSA as a 10th competitor in college sports has
been justified by arguing that the graduate student population, while
more than five times as large as that of any college, has a lower
participation rate in athletics. Perhaps this was once true, but in recent
years the GSA has done a remarkable job of mobilizing. The result is a
body of nearly 2,0()0 students that can recruit enough talent to regularly
defeat each of the nine colleges (with roughly 300 students each).
We believe these sports would be more fair — and thus more fun
for both players and spectators—if the GSA were divided. We suggest
dividing the GSA into those enrolled in the Jesse H. Jones Graduate
School of Management and those enrolled in other departments.
We value graduate student participation in college sports; often it
is the only casual interaction undergraduates have with them. Split-
ting up the GSA would retain this participation and would also allow
more parity in Rice college sports. Ironically, with parity, we all win.
Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Thresher
editorial staff.
71; ■' ■" - ..I .. ?:?
.
THE RICE THRESHER OPINION FRIDAY, MARCH 26, 2004
7
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Call to name alleged
rape victim misguided
To the editor:
Rene Javier Aninao and Akilah
Mance made two valid points regard-
ing the alleged sexual assault at Wiess
College last semester ("Public un-
fairly judges student-athletes" and
"Portrayal of student-athletes
biased," March 12): The Rice com-
munity has focused excessively on
the accused students' athletic status
and the Thresher exercised poor
judgment in printing their names.
While these points are well-
taken, Aninao's argument that
alleged victims' names should be
published to ensure that an accuser
"would be ... sure that a sexual
assault occurred before she re-
ported it" is misguided at best and
ignorant at worst. Because of the
hostility with which rape victims
are typically treated, sexual assault
was, according to a 1992 report, the
most underreported violent crime
in the nation. The prospect of hav-
ing one's name "plastered all over
the newspapers" upon making a
rape accusation would drive report-
ing down even further.
Equally problematic is Aninao's
assertion that the accused indi-
viduals "did not do what they were
accused of doing." Only the people
involved know what happened,
and the grand jury's determina-
tion that there was insufficient
evidence to try the case does not
necessarily mean the female made
a false, malicious or knee-jerk
accusation.
Lastly, we are concerned that
Aninao's and Mance's letters could
precipitate divisive, ill-focused ar-
guments in which the issue of sexual
assault is all but forgotten. Mance
focuses on the problem of athletic
stereotypes, while Aninao reduces
the issue of rape to a battle of the
sexes by emphasizing the fragility
of "a man's reputation" in a "femi-
nized society."
Rape is a crime in which anyone
can be a victim or perpetrator. This
is not about athletes versus non-
athletes or men versus women. It is
about whether someone said "no."
Raj Wahi, Jessie Vena, Rob Lentz
Officers, Students Organized
Against Rape
This year's cartoons:
topical, but pointless
To the editor:
I think I speak for many mem-
bers of the Rice community when I
ask: What gives with the Threshers
recent editorial cartoons? From
"Wally Gazawall" last semester
(Oct. 24) to last week's Passion of
the Christ parody (March 19), the
cartoons have been topical, sure,
but also about as pointless as a bas-
ketball at the beach. I'm not saying
I could do better. I'm just saying.
Derek Schwede
Sid Rich senior
Students lacking in
personal responsibility
To the editor:
Flyers have been posted asking
people to buy T-shirts for the police-
evading students: they must pay
$5,200 in legal fees and are trying to
raise money by selling shirts. What
seems most absurd to me is that
these students feel they were un-
fairly treated: that they didn't do
much wrong.
First, they stole Rice property,
which is illegal enough, but they also
ran away from the police. Rice Uni-
versity Police Department officers
are real police, and running from the
police is a big deal. For anyone in the
real world, the repercussions of these
actions would have been much worse.
However, these students had RUPD
cutting them slack (even though they
would disagree) as well as the col-
lege system helping them out.
But are these students grateful
for the light treatment? No, they
still feel they were treated unfairly.
While the college system is a great
support system, these students
abused it. Not only did they get off
lightly, they are taking no responsi-
bility for their actions.
Selling T-shirts is an inappropri-
ate way to raise money. They should
take responsibility and pay their bill
with their own money. Please give
these students a dose of the real
world and real-world responsibility:
Don't give them your money to pay
for their mistakes. We are all adults
here. Adults, even when they are
having a good time, should be re-
sponsible for their actions and re-
spect other people's property. When
people's property is harmed, adults
should have the integrity to be re-
sponsible for their actions.
Alex Kipp
Jones senior
Advertisement, while
hateful, did state facts
To the editor:
Guinevere Casey-Ford is cor-
rect in her assertion that David
Horowitz's paid advertisement in
the March 12 issue of the Thresher
is racist and degrading ("Adver-
tisement hateful and offensive,"
March 19), but this does not
change that it also included a good
number of facts.
Casey-Ford cites specifically the
charge that Palestinians encour-
Seo AI), Page 4
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Berenson, Mark. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 91, No. 24, Ed. 1 Friday, March 26, 2004, newspaper, March 26, 2004; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth398517/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.