The Rice Thresher, Vol. 88, No. 15, Ed. 1 Tuesday, December 5, 2000 Page: 6 of 12
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[
THE RICE THRESHER OPINION TUESDAY. DECEMBER 5,2000
'
Guest column
Money can grab Rice's attention
Money talks. We've all heard
the maxim, and in this age of free
enterprise and entrepreneurial en-
deavors, we can surely see its truth,
especially when it comes
to Rice.
Our current president
may not have much inter-
action with the students,
but I've always heard ar-
guments in President
Malcolm Gillis' defense
becau seofhisgift for pub-
lic relations and bringing
the university money. Just
this year, the university
launched a massive capi-
tal campaign (remember
all those ugly banners and the dead
splotch of grass in front of the
Sallyport?) with the hopes of raising
between $50 million and $70 million
per year—more than most of us will
ever encounter in a lifetime.
And honestly, didn't this whole
KTRU saga start out as an issue of
money? The university lost its cur-
rent venue for sports radio and
wanted to use a resource it already
owned instead of spending money
on a newlicense. Unfortunately, this
"university asset" was created and
has been operated by students for
30 years.
However, instead of working co-
operatively with KTRU from the be-
ginning and developing other op-
tions in case the station and stu-
dents disapproved, the administra-
tion in charge of this issue assumed
that its power was great enough to
enact whatever decisions it wished.
There is certainly no way of point-
ing fingers at only one side of this
issue — 1 believe that both KTRU
and the administration have been
very stubborn and immature in their
recent dealings.
But something special about Rice
is being seriously threatened here
— its unique atmosphere of per-
sonal responsibility and freedom
may soon disappear.
Lynlee
Tanner
If I had come to Rice purely for its
academics, I might have seriously
considered transferring after my
major changed from biochemistry
to psychology. Trust me
— the Psychology De-
partment is truly wonder-
ful and has given me a
great education, but it is
certainly not what Rice is
acclaimed for.
Hut I resisted chang-
ing schools because there
was something truly dif-
ferent and wonderful
about living at Rice. It
taught me how to grow
up and learn to live life on
my own terms.
Recently, though, this atmo-
sphere has been changing. The ad-
ministration has become much more
involved in traditionally student af-
fairs, and I feel that all those who
should be our equals in decision-
making processes are reverting to
parental and authoritarian-type
roles.
Take, for instance, the changes
to matriculation, Night of Decadence
and the alcohol policy during the
last four years. Rice students are
obviously intelligent and competent
(How many people with perfect SAT
scores did we turn away this year?)
and should be treated as such when
it comes to determining our social
environment.
I am very concerned that the re-
cent decision to shut down KTRU
will set a verv dangerous precedent
of blatantly denying students their
voice and power.
Many students feel powerless al-
ready, that we have no effective
means of making the administration
listen to our views.
Protests and petitions are fine,
but they cannot force action if the
university does not wish to relin-
quish its power. Money can, how-
ever.
Obviously, it takes capital to run
a private university, and Rice de-
pends largely on contributions from
alumni to fund its projects. Gradu-
ates are often very successful and
give back in order to secure the
same environment for future Rice
generations that fostered their own
success.
However, if the trend of disre-
specting student opinions and by-
passing proper venues of enacting
change continues, there will no
longer be anything special about
Rice. What would we be supporting
by donating our hard-earned money
to this institution?
Upon graduation this May, I in-
tend to closely scrutinize the state of
the university and where it is headed
before even considering contribut-
ing back to it.
Also, is this the kind of environ-
ment we want to encourage prospec-
tive students to enter? Many high
school seniors will be visiting Rice
as well as many other top-notch uni-
versities soon. I feel obliged as a
current student to give them the
most accurate view of the university
possible, even if it is not all glowing
praise.
Choosing a college is a big deci-
sion and incoming students should
realize the environment they may
be forced to deal with.
I am not advocating by any means
the type of hasty decision-making
that has occurred in the last several
days. We should not immediately
turn our back on the entire institu-
tion because of a few bad decisions.
However, it is now up to the uni-
versity to decide whether it will learn
to work constructively and openly
with the entire student body again
(not just its appointees) or risk los-
ing a large portion of the support
that has made it the respected insti-
tution it is today.
Lynlee Tanner is advertising
manager and a Will Rice College
senior.
Are they laughing with me or at me?
Passing the blame doesn't solve problems
I'm not going to beat around the
bush on this one. We all fucked up.
Everyone involved in the KTRU
fiasco, from DJs to administrators,
from the student body to
the Athletics Department,
had a part in totally screw-
ing things up.
What happened last
Thursday was inevitable.
'I"he only thing that was
really surprising was the
manner in which the shut-
down (or takeover, de-
pending on your point of
view) took place. The
strong-arm tactic used by
the administration would
be one of the places where they
messed up. Along the road, they
also managed to breach student
trust, to change the rules for nego-
tiations with the station so they
played in their favor (the "oversight
committee") and to generally treat
the members of KTRU like children.
And KTRU was happy to play the
part. 'I~hroughout the entire year,
KTRU has victimized itself. They've
whined about the administration tak-
ing advantage of them, their educa-
tional mission being corrupted, the
amount of athletics on the station
and the sanctity of student-run radio
stations. And in doing all this, they
made themselves perfectly vulner-
able to the administration.
KTRU did not take a proactive
role in deciding its future, and merely
played defense. If they would have
stopped and thought about the situ-
ation, they would have realized that
they were not being taken advan-
tage of, but instead they were being
presented with a business opportu-
nity. K TRU could easily have told
Athletics Director Bobby May,
"Sure, we'll play your games on our
Michael
Nalepa
station, but we're going to need
something in return."
KTRU also failed to have an iden-
tity crisis when it should have. Dur-
ing all of the negotiations,
they should have exam-
ined their allies. If they
had done this, they would
have realized that few Rice
students listen to KTRU.
Rice students pay for
KTRU. (Or paid. Hey
Malcolm, do we get three
of our six bucks back
since you pulled the plug
halfway through the
year?) Unfortunately,
KTRU does not support
the student body. If they did, they
would have at least attempted to
make themselves visible on cam-
pus. They would have supported the
thought of covering Rice athletic-
events where Rice students, who
are also paying for KTRU, were per-
forming. And they would have at-
tempted to represent the student
body more. If they wanted to edu-
cate us. fine. But playing a mixture
of a screeching violin, a howling dog
and a blender is not education un-
less you tell us what the hell we're
listening to.
KTRU also should have had a
station manager elected by the stu-
dent body. "No taxation without rep-
resentation" is a principle that
this country is founded on. This is
something that the student body,
and especially the Student Associa-
tion, should have pushed for.
But it wasn't all our fault — the
administration shares equal blame
in this whole mess. The administra-
tion has been about as slippery and
sneaky as K TRU has been passive
and out-of-touch. The Athletics De-
partment should have come to the
station instead of using the adminis-
tration as its middle man. The ad-
ministration should have negotiated
with the KTRU and the SA, and
treated them like the enlightened
adults that Rice claims to bring to
this university. By cutting our stu-
dent government out of the process,
the administration turned the SA
into puppets.
The administration disrespected
KTRU and the student body a great
deal by shutting down the station,
but, again, we returned the favor. It
took a great deal of courage for Vice
President for Student Affairs Zenaido
Camacho to come to Thursday's
meeting to address students. He
knew he was walking into a firing
squad, but he also wanted to hear
what the students were feeling.
And he was interrupted, insulted,
shouted at and called names. Maybe
he deserved it, but I really don't
think so. Dr. Camacho is not out to
get us. He has the difficult and often
unpleasant job of being a line of
communication between the admin-
istration and its students.
And when he came to talk to us
on Thursday, we should have been
civil. We should have calmly and
forcefully presented our argument,
and tried to develop a way for the
university and the students to come
to a consensus about KTRU. But
instead, we acted hurt. We
screamed. We shouted about the
injustices done to us. Now some
people are calling for resolutions
telling the university that they were
out of line, and that wt- demand an
explanation. But we were also out of
line. And we're still nowhere near
solving the problem.
Michael Nalepa is opinion editor and
a IjOvett College senior
Guest column
Students do not have a
place in Rice's future
Over the past week, a lot of
conspiracy theorists seem to have
popped out of the woodwork.
There are a lot of people who are
saying the heavy-
handed tactics we saw
last week weren't
about KTRU at all, but
about something
larger and perhaps
more sinister. I hate to
say it, but you guys are
exactly right.
We don't belong
here. President
Malcolm Gillis has a
very specific and de-
tailed plan for the fu-
ture of this university, and 20
years down the line, the under-
graduates won't matter a damn
bit. So we might as well get used
to submitting now, because we
have absolutely no value in the
official vision of the school's fu-
ture.
About nine months ago, I
wrote an article for the Thresher
about newly hired Provost Eu-
gene I.evy. President Malcolm
Gillis had pried I^vy away from
the University of Arizona, and it
was my job to find out why Rice
wanted I>evy specifically and what
he would bring to Rice. As I re-
searched the article and inter-
viewed Gillis, I.evy and other ad-
ministrators, I realized some-
thing was rotten. Of course, I
couldn't write anything about it
in a news article, so I put my
opinions on the back burner,
wrote a few hundred words and
forgot all about it.
For the Rice administration,
I>evy had one outstanding qual-
ity — "A vision for the future that
fit in with our plans," as interim
Provost David Minter said.
"An emphasis that we're look-
ing at perhaps in the next few
years is to increase the research
capacity and reputation of the uni-
versity. I think he brings a vision
in that area that is going to be
very powerful," Minter explained
to me.
Think about that in the con-
text of what we've seen recently.
Gillis wants us to become an in-
ternationally acclaimed research
institution. "In several fields ...
we intend to have programs that
rank among the top five in the
world," Gillis said. "And I would
hope that by the end of five years
we will have moved a long way in
that direction."
We undergraduates are not
part of that. We don't do research.
Ben
Weston
We don't bring Rice international
acclaim. Instead, we tie up the
university's beautiful f>0,000-watt
transmitter with crap like "Free
Guitar Lessons for
Animals." We drive
huge trucks around
the Inner Loop and
chuck water balloons
at each other, causing
a dozen injuries and a
liability nightmare
each year. We get
drunk as hell and have
to be taken to the
emergency room. All
of this is just plain un-
acceptable. Rice
needs to become a quality insti-
tution, and an undergraduate
population that won't behave is
just in the way.
Remember the kickoff for
Rice: The Next Century campaign
a couple months ago when the
campus was basically shut down
for the big donors, and we got
cake? Remember the opening of
the Humanities Building, where
we were allowed to attend one
performance and the other three
were for big-wigs only?
We just don't matter. We are
only here for four years a pop. So
maybe we make a little fuss ev-
ery once in a while. But who
cares?The next bunch will come
in next year and have no idea
about KTRU, and within five
years, no one on campus will care
whether they broadcast all-sports
all the time or Britney Spears.
Ijook at the freshman class
this year—they have flatly failed
to care about the big issues this
semester. Why? Because their
friends haven't worked red-eye
shifts at KTRU. Because they
never went to Hanszen Tequila
Night. Because they've never
seen a Beer-Bike parade, and re-
ally don't care whether it's held
on flatbed trucks or tricycles.
They just don't know any better.
And so we fade into the past as
Gillis' master plan marches in-
exorably on.
But I can't do that. I can't roll
over and play dead. Maybe we
won't win. Maybe we can't win.
But at least we can fight. We can
make the administration look like
fascists to the world beyond the
hedges, if just for a week or two.
And then, just maybe, we'll be
able to tell our kids we gave a
damn in college.
Hen Weston is a Will Rice College
junior.
Gillis taught us all a bad lesson
(ill.l.lS, from Page 15
who have historically cared about
their constituents — to carry out the
order. Then, hang them out to dry.
That is an important lesson. I do
not have to be accountable for my
decisions if I get someone other than
myself to act on them in my place
and stead.
I Jntil now, the President's ()ffice
has been silent.
1 )r. Gillis was right. Il is all about
accountability.
Lizzie Taishoff is features editor and
a Wiess College senior.
KTRU should return with sports
ATHLETES, from Page:!
"Rice Radio," it would be represen-
tative of all of Rice. It would support
Rice students by broadcasting some
of their games, especially when
other media outlets are not avail-
able. If the administration tells KTRU
which games to broadcast at which
times, it is only in order to be equi-
table to our different sports teams.
I know how upset the KTRt 1 vol-
unteers are because the thing they
believe in is now gone. I see them
crying and furiously banging their
fists on the podium in my New Ger-
man Cinema class. I want K TRU
back on the air, too The administra-
tion may have been too extreme in
shutting it down. But so was KTRU
in shutting down the women's bas-
ketball game.
I empathize with the battle
against university control, but KTRU
simply picked the wrong battle.
The fact is that KTRU as "Rice
Radio" will never be able to exist
without Rice sports. Good.
Macy Mclieth is a Jones College
senior.
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Stoler, Brian. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 88, No. 15, Ed. 1 Tuesday, December 5, 2000, newspaper, December 5, 2000; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443151/m1/6/: accessed June 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.