The Rice Thresher, Vol. 93, No. 9, Ed. 1 Friday, October 21, 2005 Page: 2 of 20
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THE RICE THRESHER OPINION FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21,2005
the Rice Thresher
Broaden RA pool to
include grad students
Resident Associates are strange creatures—there is no typical
RA. Some are young, exuberant tenure-track assistant professors.
Some are grandfatherly, a source of institutional memory. Some
are staff members seeking interaction with students. And as of
now, two do not earn a Rice paycheck at all. (See story, page 1.)
We like this diversity — although we understand that legally
Rice cannot use non-Rice employees as RAs — and we think it
should expand.
The qualities undergraduates want in an RA — such as 24/7
availability, an outgoing personality and an appreciation for the
quirkiness of Rice and its students — are not possessed solely by
a certain class of people in the Rice community. Anyone affiliated
with Rice might have these qualities — or might not. So Rice will
have the best RAs when there are as few restrictions on the ap-
plicant pool as possible. This will allow search committees to find
the RAs who best fit their colleges, regardless of why they are on
the university payroll.
Therefore, graduate students should be allowed to be RAs. Besides
increasing the overall applicant pool, adding graduate students to
the list of possible populations from which RAs can be drawn would
have a number of advantages.
First, graduate students are generally younger than assistant
professors and most staff. They are closer to undergraduates in the
university pecking order and they might be even better able to relate
to undergraduates than current RAs.
Secondly, many Rice undergraduates want to go to graduate
school, and honest, helpful advice from someone who was in gradu-
ate school less than 15 years ago is sparse. Having an approachable
graduate student down the hall might help demystify the graduate
school application process — and, more importantly, the graduate
student experience.
Finally, including graduate students as RAs would integrate them
into the college system, bringing the system closer to President
Edgar Odell Lovett's original vision and forming a more cohesive
campus community.
The only roadblock is that turnover among graduate student RAs
might be high, because many are only here for a short time. But this
problem would be solved if college search committees prioritized ap-
plications from first-year Ph.D students — generally here for about
five years — who if accepted could start their term in their second
semester or year.
For too long, undergraduates have viewed graduate students
as just the "creepy" people who TA our classes, grade our home-
work and hang out at Valhalla. That need not be the case. Includ-
ing them in college life by considering them in RA searches will
strengthen ties between all Rice students, among numerous other
advantages.
How IT should spend
$10 million on students
The Information Technology department has about $10 mil-
lion to spend on improvements, and in anticipation of Monday's
Student Association forum on how to spend that money, we would
like to offer our thoughts.
The biggest IT problem at Rice that can be fixed with $10 mil-
lion is that too many vital academic activities are restricted to
computers in Owlnet labs. Students who want to buy MATIAB,
SAS or Mathematica for their own computers pay prices that are
subsidized but still prohibitively high for college students, and
VPN access from off-campus is tedious. The result: Many Owlnet
labs, where the necessary software can be expediently accessed,
are excessively crowded.
If IT spent some of its money on software subsidies and on im-
proving VPN speed, these problems would be somewhat alleviated.
Students' personal computers, whether on- or off-campus, would
become more viable places to do homework.
Another chunk of ITs $10 million should go toward subscriptions
to music downloading services. There is a market for such subscrip-
tions, so free and legal music downloading for students is possible,
especially at a university of Rice's size.
In addition, more electrical outlets should be added to Keck Lec-
ture Hall and Fondren Library, so students whose laptops have a less
than ideal battery life enioy as much convenience in these areas as
those who go wireless. This may fall under Facilities, Engineering
and Planning's purview, but perhaps IT could provide the funds
from its pot.
Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Thresher
editorial staff.
IT unveils its
master plan for a
campus wireless
system at the
SA forum.
So, we thought, what else is found|
campus-wide? And eureka! All
we have to do is attach these little
antennas to their heads ...
/
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Hurricane Rita jokes
hurtful, inappropriate
To the editor:
I have been biting my tongue
for the past two weeks, listening to
people say, "Hurricane Rita was such
a bummer" and "Hurricane Rita was
really nothing." I have barely kept
myself from shouting back, "The
storm that destroyed my hometown
was nothing?"
The closest I came to responding
was during the three days I spent at
Rice when my family and I still had
no idea whether the many trees sur-
rounding our house in Beaumont,
Texas had fallen and destroyed
it, which has happened to many
people 1 know. A newly-restored
cathedral had its dome ripped off
by the storm. A mall was completely
destroyed. The entire area where I
live has been compared to a war zone.
Power and water took two weeks to
even partially restore and have still
not reached my neighborhood. My
family is still displaced, relying on
the help of our relatives.
So the Backpage mocking Hur-
ricane Rita (Oct. 7), five weeks after
the Backpage mocked nothing in
light of Hurricane Katrina (Sept. 2),
infuriated me. I know that Hurricane
Katrina was a bigger storm and that
Beaumont will recover more quickly
than New Orleans, but it is still hardly
nothing. We haven't asked for shel-
ters or meals ready to eat or even a
concert in New York to benefit us.
Can we just have a little sensitivity
to our plight?
In short, I would appreciate it
greatly if everyone would give nie
some peace from the constant Hur-
ricane Rita jokes. If nothing else, do
it in the interest of being consistently
politically correct, rather than picking
and choosing who is worthy of having
you take care not to offend.
Katy Mulvaney
Baker freshman
Please, Backpage,
bring back misclass
To the editor:
"Wait? Where did it go? Why has
it disappeared? Can it come back? Oh
how I miss it."
This series of statements, ques-
tions and even pleas heard from
countless readers of the Thresher all
refer to one subject: the Backpage
misclass. Why did the Threshertake it
from us? Were we not funny enough?
Did we no longer entertain?
I remember the glory days of
the Backpage, during my freshman
year of 200.V04, when the misclass
was the absolute highlight of the
section. Reading hilarious quotes
submitted by students and staff,
and then guessing the identity of
the speaker of those quotes, was a
great joy come every Friday. What
could be funnier than reading hilari-
ous statements made by peers and
professors? From the profane to the
ignorant, the misclass quotes always
brought laughs to Rice.
So in this letter, I make a simple
request. Please bring back mis-
class. Thresher readers, e-mail your
funny quotes to the Backpage. Let's
bring back this once entertaining
and laugh-inducing tradition, be-
cause nothing is more entertaining
than reading dirty quotes made
by professors, stupid questions
asked by freshmen and drunken
conversations covering a myriad
of topics.
I will start misclass off with two
humble contributions, in the hopes
that it will inspire a flurry of future
submissions. Rice is full of amazingly
comical individuals, so allow misclass
to prove this. Let's read about all
the hilarity that goes on between
the hedges.
"Apparently, he likes to hang out
with his wang out" — anonymous
Martel junior about a wearer of
low-riding pants
"Ecstasy — not a word I write or
use very often."—anonymous MUSI
421 professor
iMuren Freeman
Martel junior
Creepy guys can find
date on RTV5 show
To the editor:
Andrew Sinclair's article fails to
offer real solutions — how many
guys are really going to "get off
[their asses] and go talk to some-
one?" ("Confessions of a creepy guy:
We're not that bad," Oct. 7) A new
show on RTV5 called "Screw-Yer-
Roommate — The TV Series" will
be an easy way to boost dating at
Rice, especially for the "creepy"
guys Andrew described. Instead
of the creepy guy asking a girl out
himself— and risking painful rejec-
tion — this 'IV show will do all the
work instead.
Creepy guys just need to relax,
albeit in front of the video camera,
and enjoy a fun date with a cute girl.
I recommend that all the creepy-
guys (and gals) follow Sinclair's
advice and get off of their butts
and do something about their
situation — apply for the show!
Catherine Keeney
Tiffany Truss
Mess seniors
Students urge Shell
to mind Texas gulf
To the editor:
1 would like to comment on an
activity that took place Sept. 14.
Students on campus working with
the Gulf Restoration Network
teamed up to call Shell U.S. (las and
Power CEO Jose Lima, with a very
simple message: Texas wants and
deserves closed-loop liquified natural
gas terminals. Over 300 calls were
made and several students spoke to
Lima himself.
The current Shell projects
propose using open-loop LNG
terminals for sites in the Gulf of
Mexico. These terminals would
use hundreds of millions of gallons
of the gulf's seawater every day to
process the LNG. This would kill
billions of fish eggs, larvae and
zooplankton, severely harming
the commercial and recreational
fishing industry as well as the
environment of the region.
Right now, oil and gas companies
like Shell are planning their next big
wave of energy projects, including
ones to import natural gas. One ques-
tion remains: Will these corporations
use safe and sustainable technol-
ogy, or will they continue to short-
change the Gulf Coast in search of
higher profits?
Rory Chambers
Lovett freshman
Viewers should urge
television choice
To the editor:
As producer of The Charles
Snider Show at Houston Media-
Source, I concede my thoughts may
be subjective, but 1 know there
are many fans of cable access at
and around Rice University who
would lament and grieve over the
loss of cable access in Houston. It
entertains but also informs.
The feedback viewers share with
me shows a vast majority approve
of and enjoy the vast majority of
programs on Houston MediaSource.
Individuals who disagree with or dis-
like a program may rightfully change
the channel.
I urge the Houston MediaSource
audience to write their respective
council member to urge them to
seek alternatives to the recent
contract vote failure and to find
ways to keep free speech alive and
to keep clever entertainment on
Houston television.
Charles Snider
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Obermeyer, Amber. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 93, No. 9, Ed. 1 Friday, October 21, 2005, newspaper, October 21, 2005; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443146/m1/2/?q=%22%22~1: accessed June 22, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.