The Rice Thresher, Vol. 90, No. 23, Ed. 1 Friday, March 21, 2003 Page: 2 of 28
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THE RICE THRESHER OPINION FRIDAY, MARCH 21,2003
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the Rice Thresher
Changing distribtuion
We are pleased that the University Standing Committee on
Undergraduate Curriculum will now have the power to determine
which courses satisfy university distribution requirements.
Previously, courses that counted for distribution were set by the
dean of each individual school—after each had gathered input from
professors. But the CUC is composed of faculty, alumni and students
as well as administrators. Together, this group has a much broader
perspective on academic life at Rice than any individual dean (or
person) could have.
Under the new system, the CUC should be more effective in
dealing with recent concerns, such as distribution requirements for
music and architecture students.
We are confident that this group has the diversity to accurately
express and address student and faculty academic needs, and we are
glad they now have an increased ability to do so.
Voting matters
Vote in the new junior Honor Council representative and sopho-
more University Court representative elections, which begin today,
so the student body will be able to get accurate results.
The two contested positions — as well as all other positions with
multiple students — will not be determined by preferential voting,
according to the Student Association Election code. The code was
followed for the counting of the votes in the original election, but the
instructions to voters during the election indicated that preferential
tallying would be used. The final vote counts were determined to
have been impacted by this confusion, so U. Court decided to order
a new election.
Now that the confusion has been cleared up, a fair contest can be
held, but it will only be truly fair if voter turnout is high.
Keeping athletes from
Beer-Bike
That students on four athletic teams will be unable to participate
in the biggest event on campus all year — Beer-Bike — is unaccept-
able. This represents coaches' poor planning and a lack of under-
standing of student life.
Both the men's and women's tennis teams, as well as the men's
and women's track and field teams compete tomorrow. While coaches
have good reason to be concerned about injuries that happen on the
bike track, keeping the entire team from attending the event has no
justification. Regardless of whether the athletes are able to compete
in the race, they should be able to attend the event that means so
much to their college identity. Coaches should trust their athletes to
make the best decisions all year long, and this trust should extend
to the day of Beer-Bike.
Since the relationship between athletes and nonathletes is being
re-examined, this is one area that offers immediate improvement.
Competitions should not be scheduled on the morning of Beer-Bike.
Student athletes should be able to be Rice students as much as they
are Rice athletes, and nothing is more consummate to being a Rice
student than cheering on your college at Beer-Bike.
Showing, not telling
With recent construction in the West Lot, students, faculty and
staff have frequently received e-mail alerts advising them of partial
lot closures or temporary parking instructions. Unfortunately, the
alerts are confusing and not beneficial.
Shortly before spring break, students received an e-mail advising
them to park in the L-shaped section of the West Lot We've studied a
campus map and still aren't sure where that lot is. Thus, even students
who attempted to move out of the way of the construction might have
failed or even accidentally moved their car into the construction area.
Similarly, other e-mail alerts that included directional descrip-
tions based on campus roads, fields and various landmarks were
confusing because members of the Rice community are not always
familiar with the official names of these sites.
Instead, future alerts of closures in any campus lot should be
accompanied by a map of the lot which could clearly showing where
students, faculty and staff should and should not park.
Such actions benefit all parties. Students, faculty and staff would
be able to easily comply with instructions, and the project would
proceed more successfully without cars in the way.
Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the 'Threshe/
editorial staff.
WHAT NOT TO DO FOR BEER BIKE '03!
BALLOONS FILLED IN SUCH A MANNER MIGHT BE CONSIDERED
CHEMICAL OR BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Walkout was more
than a reason to ditch
To the editor:
On March 5, nearly 400 mem-
bers of the Houston and Rice com-
munity participated in an interna-
tional anti-war movement in the aca-
demic quad to rally and raise aware-
ness about worldwide concerns sur-
rounding the war on Iraq. Standing
in the rain during lunch hour, pro-
testers sang, chanted and listened
as experts spoke about the eco-
nomic, political and moral issues
posed by the Bush administration's
current objectives.
The walk-out was not a means of
skipping class; students left the last
10 minutes of lecture as a symbolic
gesture demonstrating that life can-
not continue as usual when people
are dying needlessly. As a forum for
student activism and social change,
the rally offered Rice students, fac-
ulty and staff the chance to voice
their concerns. This is just as impor-
tant an education as that offered in
the classroom.
In his letter to the editor ("Walk-
out was an excuse, not a statement,"
March 7), Jack Hardcastle ex-
pressed apprehension about the ef-
fectiveness of a walk-out and rally.
However, the local and national cov-
erage (CNN, CBS, ABC, for ex-
ample) Rice received as a result of
this anti-war protest reached an au-
dience of millions. The educational
benefits of the rally demonstrate its
value in communities both local and
national.
We encourage those interested
in effecting change to write letters
to their local and national represen-
tatives. Many student protesters
have already done so, but we also
urge them to explore new options
for protesting and for informing
themselves and others about the
threat of war on Iraq.
Arwen Johnson
Sid senior
Member, Rice for Peace
Haynie right to call for
end of co-presidencies
To the editor:
I was very pleased to read former
Student Association President Matt
Haynie's column regarding the re-
cent election of SA co-presidents
("Co-presidents are a nightmare for
everyone," March 1). It was espe-
cially encouraging to see someone
speak out against the thoroughly
unsound idea of an SA co-presidency
after the Thresher declined to edito-
rialize about the practice in the weeks
before the election. In his opinion
piece, Haynie made clear why elect-
ing two people to fill the single role
of representing the interests of the
student body is a bad idea.
The first Rice SA co-presidency
(2001-'02) ran its course without
problems; I hope the new presidents
will serve their term without any
major crises and that the student
body will vote to disallow future co-
presidencies.
Robert Reichle
Mess '02
Thresher editor in chief2001-02
Drivers need caution
around Rice entrances
To the editor.
I, like many others of the Rice
Community, enjoy my attempts of
maintaining a level of physical fit-
ness through my periodic "jogging
tours" around the perimeter of the
campus. Over the years of doing so,
I have witnessed a good number of
close calls of cars conducting roll-
ing exits through the entrances of
the campus and nearly hitting those
who are walking or jogging.
While it is the responsibility of
the pedestrian to watch for inatten-
tive or preoccupied drivers, it is also
the responsibility of car and bicycle
operators to watch out for those of
us crossing those areas which are
properly marked.
Such was the case one Wednes-
day afternoon a little after 5 p.m. I
was approaching Entrance 8 and saw
that I had three green lights and the
"walk" signal, which, according to
state law, allowed me to cross the
controlled intersection. As I entered
the crosswalk, a new model BMW
sedan also entered the crosswalk
but rather than stop for the red light,
the operator was more focused on
"right turn on red" rather than stop-
ping and looking for pedestrians.
According to the traffic law, a
right turn on a red light can be per-
formed after coming to a complete
stop then proceeding once vehicle
and pedestrian traffic is clear.
1 was directly in front of the ve-
hicle when the driver continued
through the crosswalk. I was forced
to push off of the hood of the car not
once, but three times, each time
pushing me further into University
Boulevard. On the third "hood
bump," the driver looked at me and
waved with a sheepish "I'm sorry"
grin.
My plea is that all car and bicycle
operators, myself included, please
try to pay more attention when en-
tering the crosswalk areas not only
on the perimeter of the campus, but
also within the hedges.
My options in this incident were
to hit the vehicle with such force as
to dent the hood, not do anything
and get knocked down by the car, or
stop the driver and request his
driver's license and proof of insur-
ance in order to issue a traffic cita-
tion.
I opted to finish my jog with the
sincere hopes that the driver re-
ceived a form of "shock probation"
and will be more cautious in the
future.
Let's all be safe out there.
Sgt. Jim Baylor
Rice University Police Department
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THRESHER
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Rustin, Rachel. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 90, No. 23, Ed. 1 Friday, March 21, 2003, newspaper, March 21, 2003; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443108/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.