The Rice Thresher, Vol. 88, No. 20, Ed. 1 Friday, February 9, 2001 Page: 2 of 28
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Brian Stoler
Editor in Chief
*
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THE RICE THRESHER OPINION FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2001
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Michael Nalepa
Opinion Editor
Jose Luis Cubna,
Mariel Tam
Managing Editors
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Cheering ourselves hoarse
We hate to discourage intelligent discourse about the con-
tentious issue of college cheers. But we're tired of talking
about it.
With all of the forums and discussions going on these days,
we seem to have lost sight of some basic issues. First, cheers
that involve sexual situations are tasteless and unnecessary.
Second, inappropriate cheers can be changed. Orientation
Week advisers and coordinators shouldn't teach cheers that
involve sexual acts. Once they're not a part of golden O-Week
memories, they won't have sentimental value and will fade
away.
Third, getting paranoid about what's acceptable and what's
not blurs the issue. We don't need a list of "dirty words" we
can't say, but we do need to show some common sense.
Furthermore, we're dismayed by the idea of sitting the fresh-
men down to scare them about the sexual harassment policy
during O-Week. Common courtesy and being sensitive to
those around you probably means that students won't inad-
vertently violate the policy.
We also want to reiterate the distinction between profane
and sexual cheers. We don't believe that adding a curse word
in here and there is harmful — and we don't think that saying
'Team Wiess sucks!" is sexual in nature.
The issues of college cheers — and the comfort level of our
fellow students — are important. But we're not sure that two-
hour forums are the right way to deal with them.
Lines of accountability
We're appalled that at Monday's Student Association meet-
ing, no one objected to the idea SA that officials shouldn't be
publicly accountable for things they do as part of their office.
University Court Chair Alisa De Luna came to talk about
proposed changes to the Election Code. At a previous meeting,
a debate about accountability led to an agreement: If a student
running for office were to violate the Election Code, say, by
campaigning early, the details and result of his or her hearing
before U. Court would be made public. Likewise, according to
the previous agreement, if SA officers were to misbehave in
office, the details and results of that trial would be made public.
De Luna made it clear that U. Court felt that it could not
make such a trial public unless the SA, the accused student
and the U. Court chair agreed.
There seems to be misunderstanding what it means to be a
public official. Being a public official means that the under-
graduate students at Rice have charged you with their trust. It
means the student body thinks you should have a certain
amount of power and influence. It means that in difficult
situations, you negotiate for the best interests of the students.
It means that you can handle our money.
It means you should do the right thing when you're acting
in your public capacity — both while in office and while
campaigning.
The reason that U. Court cases are confidential is the Family
Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which says schools that
get federal money, including Rice, can't release students'
educational records — including disciplinary records.
That's why whenever the Thresher writes a story about
somebody getting suspended or expelled, no one from the
administration will comment. They're not being intentionally
cagey — they're just trying to stay out of trouble.
However, a student can waive his or her FERPA rights at
any time, and we think that for the specific case of candidates
for office and elected leaders misbehaving in their campaigns
or offices, students should be required to waivf their rights.
For example, if somebody gets in trouble for underage
drinking and goes to U. Court while she's serving on the SA
executive council, there's no reason to make that offense
public — it has nothing to do with her job.
But if the treasurer is stealing money, the public has a right
to know. Likewise, if a candidate sends out an illegal campaign
e-mail, shrouding that in confidentiality is absurd.
Becoming a public official must mean being subject to
scrutiny. What our officials do while serving in their jobs is
everybody's business.
suRveys aRe now
OR
'a) H\oRe ermcirKx (b) sarf\e old sacf\e old
) <rive rt\e a new prof, now!
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
'Thresher' should not
run offensive ad
To the editor:
I am writing to express my dis-
may at your decision to publish an ad
in the miscellaneous section of the
paper asking for an egg donor of
specific racial features and of accept-
able IQ range: a blue-eyed and blonde
donor. 1 hope that the Thresher does
not accept this ad in the future, as it is
offensive to the rest of us who imag-
ine that children, and people for that
matter, are to be valued regardless of
their racial markers and scores on
intelligence tests. Even in the ad sec-
tion, the paper must exercise judg-
ment about what isacceptable to print.
It seems to me that the Thresher made
a poor decision to publish an ad that
echoes disturbingly of the eugenics
movement.
Jae Chung
Anthropology graduate student
Abortion letter ignores
rights of unborn child
To the editor:
Kristin Necessary's letter ("Abor-
tion column contains faulty logic,"
Feb. 2) has hit on the central ques-
tion of the abortion debate — one
that often gets submerged in side
issues and tangents. 'Hiere are many
statements I disagree with in her
letter. However, I will restrict myself
to the one I feel is most important.
N ecessary's letter states that "We
don't allow children legal choice (in
contracts, voting, etc.) until age 18.
The choice being protected is the
mother's." If we deny that children
have rights in deciding whether to
live or die simply because they don't
have legal rights "in contracts, vot-
ing, etc.," then we have fallen far
from our calling as a humanitarian
nation. What kind of nation doesn't
protect its weakest citizens?
Necessary has reached the un-
fortunate conclusion of the pro-
choice movement, which is to pro-
pose that, as a people, we should
have the choice to rid ourselves of
inhibitions, whether those be hu-
man or not. We see evidence of our
nation's desire for such a horren-
dous freedom not only in the case of
abortion, but also in the increasing
instances of infant icide, legal execu-
tions and the push for euthanasia,
not to mention other social ills which
should be considered life issues.
These include the relegation of the
elderly to nursing homes, the
marginalization of the mentally dis-
abled and, perhaps most obviously,
the degradation of the poor.
While I appreciate the pro-choice
movement's strong humanitarian
stand for women's rights, I challenge
those within it to consider abortion
in the light of global humanism
rather than as an exclusively
woman's issue. As a society, we ab-
solutely must protect those who can-
not protect themselves.
Thus, the central question — the
only question the abortion debate
can truly be distilled to — is, "Is the
fetus a human life?" If so, a humani-
tarian society must protect that life as
the most vulnerable of its citizens. I
am convinced that both science and
the common sense of a three-year-
old demonstrate that the fetus is in-
deed a human being. If anyone can
prove the error of that conviction, I
will gladly fight for the rights of any
woman to choose an abortion.
Julia Ebner
Hanszen '98
Drilling in Alaska will
not solve oil problems
To the editor:
Many years ago, when I was still
teaching Geology 101, a student
asked me: "Dieter, give me one good
reason why I might take this course."
I answered, 'To become a better
voter."The student asked, "How so?"
My answer was, "Because you will
then begin to understand when poli-
ticians are trying to BSyou on min-
eral resources." So, here is yet an-
other administration (George W.
Bush) which posits that more explo-
ration and drilling will alleviate our
dependence on foreign crude.
I remember that this was the
mantra when the drilling in Alaska
began, yet all of the oil from that
state has not stopped our depen-
dence on foreign crude. Listen care-
fully. The only way to erase our de-
pendence on foreign crude, at least
transiently, is to wage war against
some or all OPEC states, occupy
these, then pump and export their
oil ourselves. Of course, I do not
advocate that policy.
Dieter Heymann
Professor emeritus
Geology and Geophysics
Registrar discusses
future goals, changes
To the editor:
Thank you for the interview this
past week with Olivia Allison and
theopport unity to share my thoughts
and ideas with members of the Rice
community. I do need to clarify some
of the statements indicated as to my
ideas and suggestions for enhance-
ments of the registration process.
While I do think priority registra-
tion is a good idea to help the regis-
tration procedure at Rice, I also want
to think about continuous registra-
tion and add/drop. These are ideas
I would like the university to con-
sider in future long-range planning.
Much input is needed from students,
faculty and staff to determine if there
is an interest for me to pursue this
on behalf of the university.
The current procedure for pre-
registration for the following semes-
ter is for students to drop off their
registration forms in the Registrar's
Office at any time during a one-week
period. It is a first come, first served
type of procedure.
One of my ideas for improvement
is to increase the number of days to
preregister from one week to "con-
tinuously" up until the deadline for
adding courses (this is currently at
the end of the second week of the
semester). Iliis will give the students
more time to think about the courses
they want to take, have adequate time
to meet with their advisers and make
changes, additions, deletions, etc., if
necessary.
The current system does not pro-
vide that capability. Once you sub-
mit your registration form to the
Registrar's Office, you cannot make
any changes until the first week of
See REGISTRAR, I'age 4
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Stoler, Brian. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 88, No. 20, Ed. 1 Friday, February 9, 2001, newspaper, February 9, 2001; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443039/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.