The Rice Thresher, Vol. 96, No. 24, Ed. 1 Friday, March 27, 2009 Page: 3 of 24
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Current students deserve parking priority
If you're anything like me, getting a
parking spot along the first row of West
Lot can pretty much make your week.
One of my dreams, unlikely to be ful-
filled now that my time at Rice is com-
ing rapidly to a close, is to someday get
the spot right by the single gate.
Katy Mulvaney
However, this past week my goals
were not nearly so high, and they were
still dashed. With the parking gates
thrown open to the world at large, I
was lucky if I could find a spot be-
tween the first and second bus stop.
I understand that it's alumni week-
end and that all of the people who
come in for Beer Bike need a place to
park, but it galled me to see the Visi-
tors' Lots not only still clamped down
but echoingly empty as I circled West
Lot, desperate for any parking spot at
all. The administration risked booting
students out of West Lot despite the fact
that we are shelling out ever-increasing
premiums to park there. That resident
students lot is our space, and we've
paid handsomely for the privilege of
always having a spot to park.
The administration could have
thrown open the Visitors' Lots (you
know, for all the visitors on campus)
and eaten the money it could have
made charging for parking if it really
felt strongly about not gouging the
alumni. In fact, it would have looked
better to the alumni big spenders to
open up the closest lots. However,
the administration instead decided to
massively inconvenience the students
who had already put in their money.
This attitude toward students is the
very thing driving much of the alumni
to laugh in the faces of the Annual Fund
callers. Prioritizing prospective students
and alumni is, overall, a poor long-term
strategy. Every year I feel less endeared
to Rice's administration and thus less
likely to give in subsequent years.
The best way to build the alumni
base of support — especially among
recent alumni where the numbers are
abysmal — is to care for the students
when they are at Rice. If recent alumni
believe the administration will use their
funds to help the current students, they
are much more likely to donate.
However, if they look back on their
own time and see how food budgets
were slashed despite the fact that they
were prepaid for by students or if they
remember that we were the first to lose
our parking spaces to accommodate
visitors, no money will be returning to
Rice. If they think the administration
commandeered our funds for their own
money system or that Baker and Will
Rice Colleges' request for the remodel-
ing of their colleges were basically ig-
nored or the newspaper subscriptions
were summarily cut — well, let's just
say I won't be giving them a generous
percentage of my first pay heck.
I'm shocked that I need to point
this out, but the university should
prioritize its current students — over
anything else.
The economy may be taking some
hits, but if the university wants to sur-
vive the coming recession the best plan
is not full of partially-funded, multimil-
lion-dollar buildings; rather, it should
be to invest in what has always been
Rice's greatest resource: its students.
Dial back the highly-mocked and un-
inspired "Who Knew?" ad campaign,
put a "hiring freeze" on new construc-
tion and stop having a massive tailgate
for every single football game. Instead,
make students' needs your priority.
The worst part is that at this point,
we're just asking for the three basic
needs — ones we've already paid for,
no less — food, shelter and parking.
These could be paid for out of the
funds freed up by the cancellation of
an ad campaign that embarrasses us,
or a cessation of construction, or any
of the obvious things the administra-
tion lets continue.
It's time for a new call to conversa-
tion. How about another office hour
this semester, Leebron? That way I
won't have to ambush you on the In-
ner Loop again, at least.
Katy Mulvaney is a Baker
College senior.
Beer Bike safety depends on efficiency
It is said that Beer Bike security is the
most "sucky" on-campus volunteer-
ing experience that one could possibly
find. Yet for people who are "forced"
to do security, knowing how to outwit
all the rules and regulations is of vital
importance. After all, you don't want to
miss out on this annual festival consist-
ing of weeklong water balloon filling,
campus-wide underage drinking, spo-
radic cheer battles and, unofficially, the
largest water balloon fight in the world.
»
Wen Wen
Rule No. v. The Beer Bike coordi-
nators will tell you that you should
never show up drunk. Well, the truth
is that you just can't show up obvi-
ously drunk. And the best way to
avoid that is to start drinking as early
as possible, so that you can avoid any
hangovers or puking during security
hours. Early bird catches the worm.
Rule No. 2: They will make sure that
you are not assigned to work security
for your own college, partly because
you are not supposed to write down
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continued physical expansion dictate
serious budget cutting. But cuts could
be made without compromising student
education. As in the public schools, our
administrative bureaucracy is bloated.
In my own department, one efficient
administrator, upon retirement, was re-
placed by three people. Another boon-
doggle is the on-campus shuttle bus
system that ferries commuters a few
blocks to and from the stadium parking
lots. Why does this inefficient luxury
take precedence over education?
It feels like Rice has strayed from its
real mission. Education seems to have
taken a back seat to public relations,
building construction and employee
fines for your own college and partly
because they don't want you to be dis-
tracted from your security job. Well,
just keep in mind that college trucks are
aligned in founding order, so memorize
this order. Then manage to get assigned
to the trucks adjacent to your college.
Volunteer to work security for Brown
if you're from Jones. Be a spy for Jones
and steal water balloons from Brown —
you know they have tons of balloons.
Rule No. y. The coordinators will also
tell you that you are supposed to have
your Beer Bike Security shirt on all the
time. But when you are tired from doing
security and want to join your college in
the water balloon fight, the highlighter-
green security shirt becomes your great-
est burden. Take it off? Where are you
going to put it? Have it on? Well, your
lovely Beer Bike coordinator will always
be there to shout at you. Instead, learn
sewing from your grandma and turn
your college Beer Bike shirt into armor.
Now you can put it on within seconds
when it is time to fight the battle; you
can also easily put your security shirt
back on when the Beer Bike coordina-
tors come to check.
Rule No. 4: You will be given a board
and asked to write down fines. But you
should never take the board of fines —
don't even consider it. Think about all
the details you have to put down — type
of fine, name of college, where, when,
how, etc. It takes forever to write, so why
not just let others do it while you sneak
back to your own college and throw
water balloons at people you hate? Al-
though security personnel are not sup-
posed to fight, the joy of being able to
throw balloons at others while telling
your victims that they are incurring ri-
diculously high fines for their colleges if
they retaliate can never be surpassed.
Learn these rules, and you'll be
set for just as much fun as the rest of
your balloon-slinging college compa-
triots. Well, maybe not as much fun,
but at least it won't be "sucky."
On a more serious note, though,
Beer Bike has long been viewed as the
most exciting Rice event for all under-
grads, graduate students and alumni,
yet it is also the most dangerous event
due to its enormous scale. Without Beer
Bike security personnel, all Beer Bike
participants put their legs and arms at
risk. The emphasis on safety seems par-
ticularly important at this point, and
the understanding and cooperation of
the entire Rice community is needed to
make Beer Bike safe for everyone. Thus,
I must caution security to keep in mind
the importance of their role in keeping
the rest of the student body safe. As
long as you don't succumb to the temp-
tation to join in on the fun, you can help
make Beer Bike a pleasant experience
for everyone.
Wen Wen is a Lovett College freshman.
entitlements. Following the 2001 finan-
cial crisis in Argentina, many dedicated
professors continued teaching despite a
100 percent pay cut. In contrast, profes-
sors at Rice are collectively intolerant of
even slight pay cuts. In my work unit,
childish squabbles have crippled stu-
dent research and journal publication.
Persistent efforts to resolve this prob-
lem revealed an academic culture that
passively upholds the absolute power
of professors while implicitly tolerating
a fundamental breakdown of the edu-
cational process.
The financial crisis invites us to
return to the basics of education.
Restoring the newspaper subscrip-
tions would be a symbolic start.
Bill Wilson
Research Scientist
Thresher Calendar
format misleading
To the Editor;
I would like to recommend that the
Thresher Calendar be more profession-
ally written with fewer jokes. A joke
might be made at the expense of crucial
event information. The Calendar is not
the Backpage's Backpage. Please try to
keep the satire on the Backpage. I un-
Cult behavior from residential
college system crosses the line
More about the residential col-
lege system at Rice upsets me than I
could fit in a single article. Treason-
ous words, I know. But look, for a
moment, beyond the "just like Harry
Potter" nonsense.
Margie Diddams
Though dorm assignments are
arbitrary, students are immediately
encouraged to favor their college
above others. During 0-Week, in-
coming freshmen run around cam-
pus in hoards, chasing, insulting
and screaming at fellow students for
their new college identity. "Jacks "
midnight pranks determined by col-
lege leadership, inconvenience, hu-
miliate and often injure residents of
other colleges.
Cliques develop as students seek
grounding in their new, narrow social
environment. Room, floor, hall and
O-Week group placements often yield
exclusive social circles.
A heightened collective conscious-
ness stifles creativity and originality
in both social interaction and down-
time. Though college parties and
traditions can be absurd, repetitious
and offensive, they reaffirm group
identification and reinforce partici-
pants' social status in the college.
As a result, many students blindly
engage in such activities, despite
disinterest, in order to be social.
This minimizes recreational time for
personal hobbies and discourages
participation in club and Houston-
wide events, both notoriously under-
attended by Rice undergrads.
During college decision-making, a
majority of residents merely observe
the process. Thousands of dollars in
college funds are spent on beer and
party decorations, while students' gen-
uine financial needs, such as tuition,
travel, research and support for cam-
pus clubs go unnoticed or grossly un-
derrepresented in the college budget.
Unfortunately, many students pri-
vately express concern about college
activities but suppress these views in
order to maintain their image in the
system. Such behavior results from
the power of groupthink.
With rare exception, the college to
which you are assigned is the college
to which you will belong for the du-
ration of your stay at Rice. Most Rice
undergrads can expect to spend up
to four years of their lives working,
sleeping and eating with the same
group of students, whether they like
it or not. Memories of dinner conver-
sation and party bustle help peers
elect one another to a hierarchical
derstand that this would be very dry
and boring to write, but Calendar sub-
missions and formatting could poten-
tially be easier if the Thresher adopted
a more traditional format, such as date,
event name, description provided by in-
dividual submitting the event (abridged
for space if necessary), time, location
and event sponsor(s).
After submitting calendar events
before the Monday 5 p.m. deadline, I
have been disappointed when I reach
the Calendar page on Friday. Either my
event submission is not in the Calendar
or the event information has been so
butchered that no one could possibly
figure out where the event is occur
governing body that communicates
with the administration and over-
sees dorm policy.
Many university-wide studer.
positions filter through the collrge,
including Student Association Sena-
tors, RSVP representatives, Eco-Reps
and peer academic, social, health
and career advisers. With so much
hinging on acceptance within a small
group, it's no wonder students suc-
cumb to pressures to conform.
This Willy Week, Lovett, the college
that supposedly represents my inter-
ests, demonstrated exactly how far stu-
dents are willing to go for intercollegiate
pride. In the dark hours of the morning,
a group of Lovetteers dumped live gold-
fish into toilets at Jones College. As you
can imagine, only a few of the fish made
it out alive. In the past, pranks have
been obnoxious, dangerous and occa-
sionally racist, but now they are abusive
towaid animals.
u
Unfortunately, many
students privately ex-
press concern about
college activities but
suppress these views
in order to maintain
their image in the
system. Such behavior
results from the power
of groupthink.
99
When does the absurdity stop?
According to Rice University's of-
ficial student handbook, "Students
are expected to govern their con-
duct by standards of considerate
and ethical behavior." Let such ba-
sic principles be the minimum stan-
dard by which we live!
Thought-provokingsigns through-
out Wiess College remind students to
save energy: "Turn off the lights, do
it for Wiess!" While I encourage you
to reduce your energy consumption,
by golly, don't do it for Wiess, Lovett
or Martel, or any college for that
matter. Do it, whatever "it" may be,
because you believe in it. Stand up
against Willy and 0-Week shenani-
gans that go too far. Speak up when
college budgets don't match student
concerns. Don't be afraid to demand
of your peers respect and the right
to individuality.
This university educates over
3,000 unique undergraduates, indi-
viduals with their own opinions and
ideas. It's time we start acting like it.
Margie Diddams is a Lovett
College sophomore.
ring or what the event is about. Many
students have complained about not
knowing basic event information when
they miss events or guest lecturers. The
current Thresher Calendar format is a
barrier to valuable event information.
In my opinion, the Calendar was having
trouble with submissions earlier in the
semester because individuals who have
tried to submit Calendar events in the
past have been severely disappointed
at the way the Thresher handles die Cal-
endar submission. I hope you consider
making some changes. Thank you!
Connie Foo
Brown senior
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Michel, Casey. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 96, No. 24, Ed. 1 Friday, March 27, 2009, newspaper, March 27, 2009; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443031/m1/3/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.