The Rice Thresher, Vol. 93, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, October 28, 2005 Page: 2 of 16
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THE RICE THRESHER OPINION FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28,2005
It's hip to have a quad
The proposed quadrangle between Fondren Library, the Student
Center and Herring Hall is a great idea in many respects. (See
story, page 1.) Most prominently, the quad and the accompany-
ing pavilion will give students a needed extra place to be social.
Undergraduates will have a place to hang out in addition to their
colleges, and graduate students — whose lives outside of their
respective academic buildings tend to revolve around the Student
Center — will have a more appealing social space as well. Indeed,
the graduate-undergraduate collaboration called for by President
David Leebron may happen in this quad long before it happens in
the colleges.
On a more academic note, the social sciences building proposed
to occupy part of one side of the quad will provide critical cohe-
sion to the school, which is currently scattered across campus.
And moving the economics and political science departments
to the new building will give the Baker Institute needed room
for expansion.
As this exciting capital project gets underway, we hope these
suggestions will be considered:
■ Now is the perfect time to consider expanding the dining op-
tions in what will be the north side of the quad, the Student
Center. We have liked 13th Street so far, but more options
like it will be needed if this part of campus is truly to become
more of a social hub than it is now. Along the same lines,
the building should be expanded or altered to include more
places to sit and eat.
■ All buildings should be "Leadership in Energy and Environmen-
tal Design "-certified. Green buildings are the only appropriate
choice for a 21st-century project.
■ Architecture students should be involved in the design of the
space — the experience would be educational for them and
would ensure the quad is student-friendly for the rest of us.
■ The quad should not be lacking in any of the following: benches,
flowers, open space and tables — we're not so naive to believe
Rice students won't do homework there.
We are thrilled the quad idea and those improvements associated
with it — the social sciences building, the new Recreation Center
— are moving forward. Current undergraduates will probably never
see the finished product before graduating, but they should appreciate
that the quad will make Rice a friendlier and more attractive place
for generations of students to come.
Set registration priority
by class, not credits
Spring 2006 registration is about two weeks away, meaning
registration policies can still be changed to make registration more
fair to students who went to less prestigious high schools. This fall,
how soon an undergraduate can register should be determined by
how many semesters he has been an undergraduate, not how many
credit hours he has.
The current system, which gives descending registration priority
to students with 90,60 and 30 credit hours, gives students from high
schools that did not have strong Advanced Placement or International
Baccalaureate programs — typically schools with less money — a
disadvantage. The fact that some freshmen can register before some
sophomores, and so on, is unfair — older students with fewer pre-
Rice credit hours are losing spots in the classes they want to take
to younger students.
We are all Rice students, no matter where we went to high
school, and we should be viewed as equals when we register.
Basing the registration order solely on seniority would provide a
fairer system.
Students who plan to graduate in fewer than eight semesters
could still be allowed to claim accelerated status, so the change
from a credit-hour-based system to a seniority-based system would
not affect their ability to register as a member of their intended
graduation class.
Erratum
ATTENTION
NOD-GOERS:
No matter how
clever you think
your costume is,
don't use it for
Halloween.
» I
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Last week's staff editorial ("How IT should spend $10 million on
students," Oct. 21) should have stated that the Board of Trustees
gave the Information Technology department $22 million to improve
overall campus IT infrastructure.
The Thresher regrets the error.
Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Thresher
editorial staff.
Thresher misstates
IT budget situation
To the editor:
In response to the unsigned edito-
rial in last week's Thresher ("How IT
should spend $ 10 million on students,"
Oct. 21): There may be some factual
clarifications that would ensure a
productive conversation about how
Information Technology can be most
responsive to student needs.
At present, the entire IT division's
operating budget for the current
fiscal year is just over $10 million.
These funds are used to support the
computing needs of students, faculty
and staff throughout the campus.
This budget also supports all major
computing expenses such as network
connections, hardware and software
for departments, college labs and
classrooms and funding replacement
costs of new equipment as well as
maintenance and support expenses.
Last year, IT upgraded the instruc-
tional technology in 52 classrooms,
9 colleges and 10 labs in addition
to upgrading projectors in 17 class-
rooms. Currently, IT is leading a
$22-million capital project to upgrade
and replace the computing network
infrastructure campus-wide. This
project includes rewiring the campus,
enhancing the wirel^s capabilities,
replacing the computing core and sig-
nificantly upgrading the university's
data backup and storage capabili-
ties. Expected to be completed in 18
months, the new network will allevi-
ate the access and speed issues raised
in the editorial.
Work is also underway on building
a new data center facility to meet the
growing needs of the campus.
We invite any inquiries, discus-
sions and suggestions concerning
IT projects and activities. No one
from the Thresher staff spoke with
IT management to verify what $10
million was being referred to in the
editorial. To continue the dialogue
with the student body on campus,
representatives from IT attended a
Student Association forum Oct. 24.
Kamran Khan
Vice Provost for Information
Technology
Editor's note: See erratum, left.
Faulty faith columns
should not be printed
To the editor:
It's been years since words on a
page have raised my blood pressure
the way Daniel Wang's guest column
did last week ("God's love, forgive-
ness provide absolute truth," Oct. 21).
This, however, is the only praise I can
attribute to his article.
The overarching absolutism of
his claims was appalling. Upon read-
ing his assertion that the Bible is a
"source of absolute truth," I uttered
a cry of disbelief. Whose Bible is the
writer talking about?
Considering they are not written
in English and that translations are
often constested, he could not have
been referring to the Torah or the
Koran—and nor could he have been
referring to my own Bible. Basing
one's opinions solely on the Bible
has become taboo precisely because
it is not a universal source of truth.
Almost every denomination has a
different form of the Bible and to
deem one's own as "God's word and
absolute truth" is precisely what he
protests being labeled as: "intolerant
and arrogant."
People are entitled to believe
what they like, but to claim their
own religious view as infallible
and proceed to push their religious
beliefs upon others — more spe-
cifically, to use the medium of the
student newspaper — is completely
uncalled for.
The intention of this article was to
make readers feel uncomfortable for
their sins. Perhaps my view of a sin is
different from Wang's. I'm assuming
he doesn't keep kosher. I wouldn't
expect him to feel ashamed, just as I
shouldn't be expected to feel guilty for
that which I don't view as a sin.
Religion, or lack thereof, is a
personal choice and should be kept
as such. I fear a prospective student
may have chanced upon a copy of
last week's paper. What image are
we sending by broadcasting one
student's (in my opinion, extrem-
ist) religious views in our secular
newspaper? I kindly request that
t.'i the tuture the Thresher keep
articles grounded in faith out of
our student periodical.
Laura Shepard
Sid freshman
Prop. 2 text could
affect all marriages
To the editor:
I>ast week, Katy Mulvaney gave
one reason why all religious Texans
should vote against Proposition 2
("Catholics must oppose secular
Amendment 2," Oct. 21). Here is
another: The very language of the bill
itself would jeopardize all marriages
in Texas, whether straight or gay.
You see, the legislators who
wrote the bill left out a few important
words. They wrote that (a) "mar-
riage in this state shall consist only
of the union of one man and one
woman," and 0)) "this state or a politi-
cal subd^sion of this state may not
create fl^^ognize any legal status
identical or similar to marriage."
Since (b) prohibits recognition of
anything identical to (a), that means
heterosexual marriage could not be
recognized in Texas.
Other states have carefully word-
ed their anti-gay marriage amend-
ments to speak of not recognizing
"other" unions, or denying marriage
rights to "unmarried couples." The
Texas legislature is apparently so
inept that they can't even screw gay
people correctly.
Of course, I'm sure our legisla-
tors wrote it that way unwittingly,
but that doesn't mean a nasty di-
vorce lawyer, a greedy insurance
company or one of those infamous
liberal activist judges won't try
to interpret the law that way. No
matter how people vote on the
amendment, gay couples still won't
have marriage rights, so voters can
rest easy knowing they're not also
risking straight marriage if they
vote "no" on Proposition 2.
Max Starkenburg
Hanszen '03
Kudos, students for
not stopping at sunset
To the editor:
I would like to applaud all of the
night owls at Rice who press on well
into the evening, be it for work or play.
()n a trip from a class in the Rice Media
Center to Fondren Library Oct. 18,1
saw a powderpuff practice, a group
of six students on the Wiess College
trampoline, a student doing laundry,
a game of frisbee catch at Hanszen
College, several large groups of stu-
dents walking between the colleges,
two different dance practices, a dozen
students lounging around outside,
one group of four students headed
to the racquetball courts, students
watching a movie in a Humanities
Building classroom, a Bible-study
group and at least twr dozen students
working on the first iloor oi Fondren
— all at 10:30 p.m.
Viva la noche.
Jack Hardcastle
IMVss senior
Mess president
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I
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Obermeyer, Amber. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 93, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, October 28, 2005, newspaper, October 28, 2005; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443098/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.