The Rice Thresher, Vol. 92, No. 23, Ed. 1 Friday, March 25, 2005 Page: 3 of 20
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THE RICE THRESHER
OPINION
FRIDAY, MARCH 25,2005
Guest column
Senior thesis could create student unity
It is 3 a.m. on a weeknight at Fon
dren library. Scattered throughout
the library, night owls (pun intended)
listen to iTunes and crank out papers
or finish problem sets. No
one talks, no one makes
eye contact. It is the station-
ary equivalent of walking
down a Rice sidewalk.
Of course libraries are
supposed to be quiet, but
why is everyone so distant?
Aren't we all in this to-
gether? Strangely enough,
it doesn't seem like it.
I feel a loose sense of
connection with fellow
English and Hispanic Stud-
ies majors, but on an academic level,
1 feel dissociated from students of all
other majors. In short, my diploma
will represent to me a journey I took
more or less alone (excepting the
involvement of professors). I doubt
I will look out across the crowd of
graduating seniors at our 2006 com-
mencement ceremony and feel any
sense of solidarity or any closure to
a collective experience.
I would love for Rice to strive for
some enhanced sense of academic
cohesion. We are fundamentally an
academic community, and I want
to feel that. Requiring a senior
thesis of all undergraduates would
provide campus-wide academic
harmony, stressful as it might be
for individuals.
Princeton University is one
university that requires a thesis of
every graduating senior. Its Web site
states, "Started in 1931, the senior
thesis required of all undergraduates
is unique to Princeton. Whether a
research paper or a collection of
poetry, the thesis is an original,
in-depth project that focuses on a
student's specific interests. Both
an academic requirement and a rite
Searcy
Milam
of passage, the senior thesis is an
independent work that typically runs
about 100 pages."
Sure, I can write one here at
Rice, but I would be one
of a few students doing
so. I cannot speak for
the entire undergraduate
population at Princeton,
but I imagine the senior
thesis is a project that be-
gets intense camaraderie
across the campus and, by
extension, commiseration
of the sweetest kind.
However, Rice only
offers the Rice Undergrad-
uate Scholars Program; its
Web site boasts, "Most Rice profes-
sors enjoy sponsoring undergraduate
research, whether in the form of
independent study or reading proj-
ects, departmental honors projects
or RUSP projects."
Does anyone else notice a little
wishful thinking on the university's
part? While some exceptional pro-
fessors are eager to assist students,
I get the feeling "most" are either
too busy or too lazy. The RUSP
objective is to have a "well-balanced
program in terms of areas of spe-
cialization," thereby exposing the
students, roughly 15-20 per year,
to a broad range of research topics
and methods. Only 15 to 20 students
per year — out of 2,700? RUSP is
hardly a campus-wide affair.
You could argue an honors the-
sis is the most isolating academic
endeavor a student can pursue.
Perhaps that is true. I suspect writ-
ing an honors thesis is a process of
intense self-discovery coupled with
academic exploration, an experience
shared intimately with a department
adviser but few others.
I do not propose we all sit in
a room and tell each other about
our projects. The journey can, and
would, remain an individual one
to a certain degree. But in those
moments of intense despair or
enlightened productivity, we would
know we were in this together.
Imagine the day when your graduat-
ing class turns in 700 or so theses.
There would be a sense of group
accomplishment stemming from
individual hard work. There would
be a sense of belonging, a sense of
having finally arrived. And imagine
the party afterward.
A heightened sense of academic
unity among the student body is not
the only reason to require a thesis. It
instills within the four-year process
of an undergraduate career a mo-
mentum that builds and builds, lead-
ing up to a culminating endeavor.
Many students are already doing
work that could easily be developed
into an honors thesis.
Requiring a senior thesis
of all undergraduates
would provide campus-
wide academic harmony,
stressful as it might be
for individuals.
We're just as smart as Princeton
undergrads. And I will venture to
say we are just as motivated, on
the whole. We copied the residen-
tial college program from similar
schools, so why not borrow one
more great idea? There's no shame
in that.
Searcy Milam is a Wiess College junior
and assistant opinion editor.
The S/E Dispatch
Freedom of speech protects the offensive, too
In the hit song "Another Brick in
the Wall," Pink Floyd opines, "We
don't need no education." Appar-
ently high school teachers have
relaxed their standards
accordingly — and not
just in grammar. A re-
cent survey indicates stu-
dents do not understand
their government.
The survey, conducted
by the John S. and James
L. Knight Foundation,
found that more than one
third of U.S. high school
students believe the First
Amendment goes "too
far" in granting basic
freedoms. More appallingly, only
half agree that newspapers should
be allowed to publish without gov-
ernment approval, and nearly one
in five think unpopular views should
be suppressed.
I suppose these results are not
entirely shocking in light of new-
found political correctness, but post-
Sept. 11, 2001 culture alone hardly
warrants neo-fascism. The main-
stream press must take responsibil-
ity for mischaracterizing unpopular
views and John Q. Public must stop
passively accepting the media spin.
After 9/11, politically correct
nationalism became a powerful
trump card, and media outlets from
the New York Times to Fox News
were not afraid to use it. In an essay
outlining his reaction to the 9/11
attacks. University of Colorado
Professor Ward Churchill compared
the victims to "little Eichmanns in-
habiting the sterile sanctuary of the
twin towers." I make no excuse for
Churchill's offensive words, but the
ensuing media backlash — accus-
ing him of equating 9/11 victims to
Nazis — was just as unwarranted.
Right-wing pundits and state gover-
nors deemed Churchill a traitor to the
country and called on the I 'niversity of
Colorado to fire the tenured professor.
Some even labeled him a terrorist.
Sadly, in the land of the free, few
dared to investigate the context of
Faraz
Sultan
Churchill's words and the purpose of
his essay. Churchill was reiterating the
implications of decades of U.S. imperial
arrogance, such as the deadly invasions
of El Salvador, Cambodia
and other nations. Attacks
on Lebanon i n the early '80s,
support for Israel at the cost
of Palestinian lives and a
military presence in Saudi
Arabia directly motivated
the 9/11 attacks.
The U.S. military relates
the deaths of innocent civil-
ians abroad to "collateral
damage." Churchill sees no
distinction between them
and the victims of 9/11
who were thought by the terrorists
to be partially responsible for feeding
global U.S. militarization and the ensu-
ing tragedies pressed on indigenous
people around the world.
The Eichmann allusion was
extreme, but Churchill had to get
people talking. We should pay atten-
tion to his message if we truly wish to
protect ourselves. As Churchill notes,
Israeli security is the most advanced
anywhere but is still vulnerable to
suicidal 14-year-olds.
Even Churchill would agree the so-
lution is not simply to abstain from all
military action. Instead, the media and
the American people should engage in
more objective discourse — without
a trump card. This discussion likely
would involve unpopular opinions,
like Churchill's, but suppressing free
speech is far more dangerous. I would
expect such censorship only from the
autocratic regimes in the Middle East
we are supposedly opposing.
More importantly, challenging free
speech disempowers a fundamental
tenet of the U.S. Constitution. I doubt
this would upset Osama Bin Laden.
When we hear controversial
rhetoric, we should not immediately
oppose it. We cannot expect the TV
news media to discuss it impartially;
instead we should evaluate it by our
own standards. Thankfully, political
correctness does not govern what
we discuss privately. Hopefully, such
notions will die out in the public
realm, too.
Love or hate their politics, we
must admit that people like Churchill,
Michael Moore, I^awrence Summers
;ind Bill O'Reilly at least started a dia-
logue — which is often their purpose.
If the trend uncovered by the
Knight Foundation continues, I fear
we will see the dawn of the "9/11
children" — a sycophantic breed
of little Eichmanns who are "just
obeying orders" and think dissent
is un patriotic. If that's what they're
taught, then Pink Floyd was right.
"We don't need no education."
Faraz Sultan
College junior.
Rice Voices
Face-to-face beats facebook
when it comes to dating
is a Sid Richardson \ nse
I can find your perfect match. No,
I promise, just take this test, and
this one. Fill out this survey, and
through the wonders of science
and analysis, I can find
you the perfect partner.
To many of us, this
claim seems comical
and even preposterous,
but all over the Internet
and television, dating
agencies and interest
sites are promising to
find someone's soul
mate — or at least a
good date.
The fun of these
gimmicks ends when
people start to think they can actu-
ally find a compatible human being
through an impersonal, electronic
process that rewards computer
savvy over face-to-face interaction.
Our society needs to recognize
these dating agencies for what they
are — meaningless fun — and
avoid taking them so seriously.
Individuals of all ages, races
and sexual orientations are turning
to science and technology in their
quest for love and romance. Even
Rice students — who, unlike the
general public, are surrounded
by thousands of similarly intel-
ligent people with an institutional
bond — have turned to the Internet
to meet and reunite with people.
Ihefacebook. com has become a force
of youth culture, connecting each
student with thousands of other
students in a vast social network.
Naturally, with thefacebook
firmly ensconced in everyone's
life, students use it as a dating
tool. Because people can search
by relationship statu s and interests,
finding new potential friends and
dates has become completely fea-
sible. Who hasn't gotten a "NAME
wants to add you as a friend" e-mail
from someone you don't even really
know or a poke from some random
person? It's the new flirting for a
generation wired into the wonders
of technology, and now you can
find someone who lives halfway
across the country who shares your
interests and with whom you could
maybe share your love.
But why would a reasonably
attractive person in his 20s turn
to television or the Internet when
he could use the "traditional"
methods of our generation — the
club, the bar, mutual friends or
classes? It seems the unfortunate
proliferation and success of
Veronica
Patton
these new dating services stems
from a media-produced and soci-
ety-influenced dating panic.
Both television and popular
literature, especially shows like the
ubiquitous and much-
loved "Sex in the City,"
tell us that no eligible
people exist — no man
cute or funny enough,
no woman beautiful or
smart enough—to meet
our standards. And we
all believe it. The media
fuels our collective sense
of loss and gives us an
easy way out.
Our culture also pro-
motes personal success
at any cost. Your life is
deemed incomplete without the
requisite degree, the position of
power and leisure, and perhaps
even the six-figure salary. To
accomplish all of this, we push
relationships further and further
down our list of priorities.
As many of us prepare for
graduation and that larger world
beyond the hedges, our jobs
will soon overtake our social
lives. Establishing one's career
involves long hours and compli-
cated office politics; it takes effort
and varying degrees of social
isolation. Your ability to meet
someone — anyone — suffers as
a result.
Amid all of these pressures, the
Internet and television dating agen-
cies are notthe solution. Rather, they
are quick fixes that allow us to feel
connected again, all the while further
distancing ourselves from reality.
When I watch television stations,
from MTV to BET, that are packed
with dating games, hookups and
commercials pledging to find the
right person for you, I realize face-
to-face romance is being replaced
by the ru shed and shor tened dating
period and the safe, non-confronta-
tional computer screen. A person
can forego the clumsiness of intro-
ductions, die searing embarrass-
ment of rejection and the nervous
anticipation of first dates... but isn't
that half the fun of dating?
The new dating agencies can
be fun to experiment with for a
while, but when we look for seri-
ous romance, we should stick
to the old-fashioned methods.
Face-to-face interaction makes us
work, and it makes the resulting
relationships work. too.
Veronica Patton is a Sid Richardson
College senior.
the Rice Thresher
Lindsey Gilbert & Jonathan Yardley
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Gilbert, Lindsey & Yardley, Jonathan. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 92, No. 23, Ed. 1 Friday, March 25, 2005, newspaper, March 25, 2005; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443036/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.