The Rice Thresher, Vol. 94, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, December 8, 2006 Page: 2 of 24
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TIIE RICE THRESHER OPINION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8,2006
the Rice Thresher
What Rice has is a
failure to communicate
Currently, the Committee on the Rice Undergraduate Program is
asking the Rice community to gauge the status of the undergraduate
experience and provide goals for its future. To gain an understanding
of the opinion of the undergraduates themselves, the committee held
a forum with the Student Association on Nov. 20 and Nov. 27.
Of the many topics the committee has discussed, two in particular
caught our attention — the status of interdisciplinary studies and the
lack of an intellectual environment outside of classes. We believe these
two seemingly disconnected subjects point to the same root problem.
What makes Rice unique is its strengths in both science and engineer-
ing, as well as the humanities and the social sciences. But the rigorous
demands Rice requires for all these disciplines makes it difficult for many
students to venture into disparate fields. Academs often find it overly
difficultto take science classes, and vice versaforS/Es. Intro-level courses
designed to weed out students only exacerbate the situation. Without a
core level of understanding—and given a steep learning curve in many
academic areas — students often simply cannot engage in intellectual
conversation with peers across the S/E and acadein divide.
Rice's required distribution should hypothetically solve this
problem. But many students simply seek — and classes often
provide — safe haven rather than academic exploration. ESCI
101: The Earth is infamous for this. What Rice needs are medium
intensity, but intellectually engaging, classes that allow students to
gain workable knowledge in fields outside their major. HIST 101:
Modern Europe and HUMA101: Ancient Greece to Medieval Islam
do this well for S/Es, but Rice must provide better offerings for
academs pursuing S/E knowledge — there needs to be something
between BIOS 122: Fundamental Concepts in Biology and BIOS
201: Introductory Biology.
In addition to openly available classes of fering base level knowledge,
interdisciplinary courses allow students to explore outside their majors
and interact with students who have different academic interests.
We have previously said that interdisciplinary is a dish Rice does not
serve well. But that is often because it tries to force together areas and
classes without recognizing the subtleties of the topics, faculty and
students involved. However, interdisciplinary studies often have a way
of arising naturally, with classes of different departments overlapping
and complementing each other without any active planning. This is
the sort of interdisciplinary studies that Rice does best — professors,
students and academic advisors can help foster interdisciplinary studies
by recognizing those classes that work together well. For example,
physics, philosophy and intellectual history have obvious bridges that
need to be strengthened and that students need to know they can
cross. Increased inter-faculty interaction and new questions on class
evaluations can help with this academic engineering.
There are a few independent interdisciplinary classes that do
their jobs very well — CHEM 176: The Chemistry of Art, PHIL 205:
Science and Technology Studies, and POLI 420: Election Systems,
Technologies and Administration are excellent examples. Classes
like these bring together students from diverse fields and foster that
intellectual environment that the committee seeks.
In the end, a weak intellectual environment outside classes does
not point to a lack to student interest, but rather an inability of stu-
dents to communicate. If Rice wants to change this, it needs to teach
students the academic languages of their peers.
Subsidize Bowl tickets
For the first time in more than 40 years, Wee football is going to a bowl
game. And for the first time in our memory, students lent their support to
the team in impressive numbers throughout the year. The Rice Athletic
Department could return that support by helping to cover the $40 cost
of tickets to the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl Dec. 22.
Subsidizing tickets is not something new to Athletics. Tickets to this
year's Rice vs. Texas game at Reliant Stadium, a $52 face value, were
provided free to Rice students. And the year before, when the game was
played in Austin, the tickets were reduced to $20 for students. There
is certainly precedent for subsidized tickets to offsite sporting events,
and given the rarity of an Owl bowl appearance, Athletics should help
cover the price of tickets to the New Orleans Bowl.
While $40 may not seem like a hefty sum in comparison to traveling
expenses and lodging costs, it would be nice to have some leftover
cash for the victory party on Bourbon Street. Besides, students
have stood alongside the Owls through this roller coaster year, and
getting a quarter back — or fifty percent back — on their tickets
would bolster fans through the finish.
We constantly hear that fan support can make or break a game.
Well, Rice Athletics, send a message to fans that you want them at
the Superdome cheering their hearts out, and subsidize tickets.
Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Thresher
editorial staff.
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Reporter Amy Davis:
Editorial inaccurate
To the editor:
Our investigation into how alco-
hol-related offenses are handled at
Rice University has garnered much
attention. We think that's a good
thing. We encourage feedback
from our viewers at KPRC Local
2, even if it's negative. However,
your Dec. 1. 2006 staff editorial
titled "KPRC distorts truth," is not
just critical of our investigation, it
is inaccurate.
The editorial questions the way
Local 2 Investigates presented the
arrest numbers of non-Rice students
versus Rice students. While not all
of the non-Wee students arrested by
Rice University Police were charged
with alcohol-related crimes, even
when we break the numbers out,
the results are the same.
For example, from January to
October 2006, Rice Police arrested
more than 80 percent of all non-Rice
individuals stopped for alcohol-
related offenses. Compare that with
the 5 percent of Rice students who
were stopped and arrested for the
same alcohol-related crimes.
Not all of the students Rice
police stopped for alcohol-
related crimes were for drinking
and driving offenses — six were
for drunken driving. The other
instances were for public intoxica-
tion, minor in consumption, minor
in possession and providing alco-
hol to a minor. The Harris County
District Attorney's office says it is
concerned about the drinking and
driving offenses. We showed all
alcohol-related offenses to show
the arrest disparity between Rice
and non-Rice individuals in all
alcohol-related crimes.
Assistant District Attorney Warren
Diepraain says if Wee wants to send
its students to University Court orStu-
dent Judicial Affairs, it should be in
addition to a court of law. He ques-
tions the fairness of a situation where
two people could break the same state
law, but one must face a jury in a court
of law, while the other is remanded
to a private university court.
Your assertion that I "had a thor-
oughly developed picture of Rice's
alcohol-related conduct infraction
procedures" but "just chose not to
present it," is entirely inaccurate. The
information gleaned from the Thresher
article by News Editor Risa Gordon
was presented in the story. Our report
mentioned U. Court is made up of
"a group of student representatives
whose punishments range from uni-
versity fines to expulsion." Local 2
Investigates requested on-camera
interviews with Gordon, U. Court
Chair Ting Wang and former chair
Nate Shaw. All refused our requests.
Lastly, we attended the Night of
Decadence party simply by walking
inside. We were never asked for
identification, and our camera was
in full view at all times. All students'
identities were concealed during our
broadcast. According to the Harris
County District Attorney's office, the
event and the campus are both public
if anyone can walk in from off the
street. That is exactly what we did.
We realize Rice University is
an exceptional school and one of
Houston's great treasures. Our
investigation in no way sought to
discredit those facts. We stand by
our investigation and the methods
we used for researching and telling
the story
Amy Davis, Investigative Reporter
KPRC-TV Local 2
Reverse online class
evaluation inflation
To the editor:
I was excited to discover that
the results of past numerical course
evaluations by the registrar are posted
online. Student oversight — what a
great idea! Maintenance of a first-rate
faculty is in our best interest, and so
we have a hand in it. Gleefully, 1 went
down the list looking for my worst
teachers to see their abysmal ratings.
1 was shocked. Grade inflation is
rampant at Rice University: Virtually
every class receives better-than-aver-
age ratings. Come on, math geniuses,
you know what "average" means. We
are doing ourselves a disservice by
not taking this seriously. This semes-
ter, tell the truth. Let's get our curve
back where it belongs.
Elliot Cole
Baker senior
MOB embarrasses
Rice teams, fans
To the editor:
The Marching Owl Band is an
unquestionable facet of Rice life. It
is visible at many Rice events. Unfor-
tunately, I, along with many of Rice's
sports fans, am sick of the MOB's
behavior at our sporting events.
The men's basketball game
against the University of North Texas
is a prime example of the careless-
ness and ignorance of the group. We
were facing a difficult game and had
just given up two points to UNT. As
Rice called a timeout, what do we
hear? The MOB, playing "Yeah" by
Usher. It was completely inappropri-
ate at such a pivotal moment in the
game, causing fans to groan and the
opposing team, players and fans to
laugh at us. If the MOB had paid
any attention to the game, it would
have been obvious that we needed,
if anything, something evoking
school spirit.
Football halftime shows have
long been a source of embarrass-
ment for Rice fans, and as I watched
the football game against University
of Houston halftime with some Cou-
gar friends, I had no explanation for
the show we were watching. There
is no plot, the jokes are not funny
and the music is often off-key. The
shows are not entertaining. They
are humiliating.
As Rice transitions into a new era
ofvictories, it is time to reevaluate the
Rice band as a source of pride, tradi-
tion and school spirit — and leave
behind the awkward days of obtuse
references and obscure jokes.
Jar hi Craig
Lovett senior
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Brown, David. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 94, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, December 8, 2006, newspaper, December 8, 2006; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443089/m1/2/?rotate=270: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.