The Rice Thresher, Vol. 95, No. 5, Ed. 1 Friday, September 21, 2007 Page: 2 of 24
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Fac Sen: Vote for longer
winter break
On the agenda for the Faculty Senate this Wednesday is a vote to
set the academic calendar for upcoming years. We encourage them to
undo the current calendar and return Rice to a longer winter break.
The current calendar was set in Sept. 2005, when faculty cut win-
ter break and extended summer break with the intention of helping
students with summer internships. Unfortunately, the gain of one
week during the summer was nowhere near worth the loss of one
week during the winter.
Winter break is supposed to be a time of relaxation after the
stress of finals. While an extra week of summer fades into the rest
of the dog days, every hour during the winter reprieve is precious
recovery time, and that extra week can do wonders.
For students who want to travel, two weeks may be too short a
time to truly settle and explore before having to come back to cam-
pus — especially for those who want to travel abroad. Rome was not
built in a day, and Europe cannot be explored in two weeks.
Winter break is also an important time for students to go home
and spend the holidays with family. But for students who do not live
in Houston, or even worse, live abroad, the current winter break is
much too short. In contrast, summer breaks are usually spent work-
ing — not to mention that familial nagging can get a little tiresome
after three months. A longer winter break would provide a perfect
window of time to settle down at home.
Even the original argument for extending summer break — job
opportunities — can be applied to why it should be undone. While
an extra week during summer may help with summer internships,
cutting down winter break makes getting a job during the break
all but impossible. Adding back the week would help students who
work gain some extra cash for the upcoming semester.
Rice has tried out this new calendar, and it has not worked. The
Faculty Senate should give campus back a real winter break, and
as soon as possible.
SA: Vote no on
by-law change
At Monday's Student Association meeting, Brown College Sena-
tor Patrick McAnaney proposed an amendment to the to the by-
laws of the SA requiring two weeks prior notice on all resolutions
(see SA box, page 11). Given the haste with which the SA passed
the resolution concerning construction, and slow communication
between the SA and the rest of the student body, this amendment
is quite understandable. However, an amendment is not the way to
fix the problem.
If there needs to be more conversation about SA matters within
the general student body, then the problem is with the senators and
presidents, not the by-laws. These representatives should take it upon
themselves to bring SA issues outside Farnsworth Pavilion, whether
to college cabinets, servery tables or Thresher letters to the editor.
However, SA by-laws cannot regulate conversation at college cabi-
nets or servery tables. The change must come from the members
of the SA. After all, even if the by-laws required two weeks before
the SA could pass a resolution, those two weeks could be filled with
silence on the topic, whether due to poor communication or the sheer
fact that the topic does not need any more discussion.
Furthermore, a required two-week stall in resolutions could
potentially hurt the SA in the long run, preventing it from taking
immediate stances if the need should ever arise. Campus emergen-
cies do occur, and if another KTRU crisis or lacrosse crisis should
ever arise, the SA would only find its hands tied and key mode of
formal influence cut off for at least two weeks.
So tell your SA representatives to keep you updated on SA events,
but also tell them to vote no on By-Law Amendment #1.—
Socials: Party on Purim
While the topic of Sid Richardson College's '80s Party fallingon Yom
Kippur has already been addressed in a column, the honest mistake
of party misplanning will hopefully stand as a lesson for other college
socials (see column, page 3). Parties are supposed to unite campus, but
this is already difficult given the divisive nature of the role of alcohol
in parties. The last thing a public party needs is a date that instantly
excludes a specific demographic on campus, and socials should keep
an eye on their calendars when planning parties.
However, watching the calendar will help find not just days to avoid,
but cultural holidays that would be great timing for parties. Our recom-
mendation: A public party on Friday, March 21 — Purim — a Jewish
holiday celebrated by dancing, costumes and especially drinking.
Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Thresher
editorial staff.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21,2007
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Bush leaves legacy
fit for conservatives
To the editor:
Despite Caroline May's dour
prediction, President Bush will most
definitely leave behind a strong
conservative legacy ("Bush leaves
no great conservative legacy,"
Sept. 14). But it will be the one most
characteristic of American conser-
vatives: heedless greed, hypocrisy
and moral and political corruption;
money and sexual scandals, no-bid
contracts to political cronies and
$12 billion dollars unaccounted for
in Iraq.
K.T. Castleberry
Rice Staff, Purchasing Agent
Common reading
rebuff unproductive
To the editor:
I was disheartened to read Karen
Gerken's rather petulant remarks on
the first choice for the Rice common
reading ("Give students choice in
common reading plan," Sept. 14).
She offers no substantive critique
of the content or style of Elizabeth
Kolbert's Field Notes from a Ca-
tastrophe beyond the most prosaic
and tiresome student refrain: It was
boring. Nor does Gerken provide any
hint about what would classify, in her
mind, as an "interesting topic," other
than to imply that nonfiction books
simply cannot connect with today's
college students.
Acommon reading is not meant to
serve as the final word on a subject.
Rather, it is intended as a jumping-
off point for precisely what Gerken
advocates: "various avenues" for
students to "research and exchange
ideas about [theirl new knowledge."
Had Gerken sought out additional in-
formation on global warming through
podcasts or YouTube clips, she might
have been able to enumerate more
clearly why, in her estimation, Kol-
bert's book was so inadequate.
The Rice students I have long
known and respected are set apart
from their peers by an unusual degree
of intellectual maturity, curiosity and
a willingness to move past what they
are "accustomed" to doing. How
disappointing, then, to see Gerken
proudly proclaim that the class of
2011 has bonded through disdain for
a laudable, if imperfect, effort to en-
hance Rice's academic experience.
Ann Ziker
Wiess '98
McCarthyism rears
head at UC-Irvine
To the editor:
The University of California at
Irvine has withdrawn a job offer
from a "liberal professor." Anyone
who has been at a university for a
while as faculty or an administrator
knows that the lame explanations
by Chancellor Drake are nonsense.
What Drake is really worried about
is the potential loss of funding. Yes
folks, McCarthyism is back! At least
at Irvine.
Dieter Heymann
Earth Science Emeritus Professor
(Editor's Note: Heymann was eventu-
ally offered the aforementioned job.)
Student action earns
parental gratitude
To the editor:
We are the parents of a junior
student at Will Rice College. Our
daughter Katelyn Willis recently
suffered severe painsin herabdomen
and called the "clinic" on campus. She
was then persuaded to pursue help at
St. I Aike's emergency room. She was
without transportation but two Rice
students, Marc Kashiwagi and Jason
Ryan, came to her rescue. They liter-
ally carried my daughter t o St. I Aike's.
She couldn't walk, t he pain was so bad.
They, Jason and Marc, stayed with her
through the whole ordeal, standing
shifts, so she wouldn't be alone, even
though it lasted until 3 a.m. We just
think your student body deserves
the highest accolades for their caring
camaraderie.
Gerald K. and Juanette Willis
Parents
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Whitfield, Stephen. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 95, No. 5, Ed. 1 Friday, September 21, 2007, newspaper, September 21, 2007; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443102/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.