The Rice Thresher, Vol. 92, No. 20, Ed. 1 Friday, February 25, 2005 Page: 2 of 16
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THE RICE THRESHER OPINION FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25.2005
the Rice Thresher
Candidates should be
able to campaign online
If the Student Association General Elections proved any-
thing, they proved the outdated nature of the SA election
bylaws that restrict candidates' electronic campaigning.
On a campus where almost everyone has adequate ac-
cess to the Internet and can — or knows someone who can
— create a Web site, it seems silly to limit the candidates to
three megabytes of space on the SA's site. If the SA cannot
provide more space, it should allow students to create and
maintain personal Web sites for their campaigns, provided
their spending does not exceed the $30 campaign limit.
We do, however, support the current rule prohibiting mass
campaign e-mails. No one needs more junk mail to delete,
and unlimited e-mail campaigning would quickly become
annoying. The rule has not been strictly enforced in recent
years, and we think the SA should, in addition to the change
allowing Web sites, enforce the rule against e-mails and
disqualify candidates in violation to ensure compliance.
If the SA takes the elections code seriously, so will the
candidates. And if candidates are allowed to take advantage
of electronic campaigning options, such as personal Web
sites, students will have the opportunity to find out about
each candidate without feeling harassed by an overload of
e-mails and fliers.
And as an added bonus, future write-in candidates who
campaign using Web sites won't be disqualified before the
election even starts.
Referenda create
red tape
Once again, a blanket-tax organization attempting to
make constitutional changes has been thwarted by low voter
turnout in the Student Association General Elections. Two
years ago, University Blue's constitutional changes failed
twice due to low turnout before they finally passed. In these
elections, Rice Program Council's proposed constitutional
change failed — not because students voted against it, but
because not enough students voted on it. Of the quorum
needed — one-fifth of the student body, or 605 students
— 530 voted in the referendum. While the students who
did vote favored the referendum by an 89 percent margin,
easily above the two-thirds needed, the resolution failed
because the quorum was not met.
Students should not need to vote on blanket-tax orga-
nizations' constitutional changes. Blanket-tax organiza-
tions should be accountable to students, and they are
— we elect their leaders every year. But beyond that, we
should allow the organizations some flexibility. The lack
of turnout in referenda votes shows students do not care
about the minute operations of these organizations. The
organizations' inability to achieve a quorum discourages
them from updating their constitutions to reflect their
practices. Allowing blanket-tax organizations to change
their own constitutions would encourage them to maintain
up-to-date constitutions that truly reflect their operations,
making them more transparent to students.
Students should still vote on changes to the Honor Council
and University Court's constitutions. High turnout in the
Honor Council referenda of Spring 2003 proves that students
want to have a say in student judicial organizations. In addi-
tion, judicial organizations gain legitimacy by being owned
completely by students. But students have much less stake
in the practical operations of most blanket-tax organizations,
and allowing the members of these organizations to decide
how to run things would help them run better.
We should remove this bureaucratic blockade by
eliminating this step for blanket-tax organizations.
Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Hiresher
editorial staff.
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Custodial staff
appreciates satire
To the editor:
When we first read your satire on
die Backpage (Feb. 11), we were a
bit taken aback, momentarily believ-
ing the joke was a slam against the
custodial staff. It is clear to us now,
however, that die joke was intended
to defend our staff from thoughtiess
actions. For that, we sincerely thank
you. As you already know, the custo-
dial staffs of both Housing and Dining,
and Facilities, Engineering and Plan-
ning are important members of our
community and deserve the respect
of all those they happily support.
We are all here at Rice because we
believe in the teaching and research
mission of this university. The staff of
this university is content to bask only
in the reflection of the successes of its
students and faculty. Thank you for
pointedly reminding us all that this
doesn't mean that we should consider
any member of this community less
important than any other.
Barbara White Bryson
Associate Vice President, Facilities,
Engineering, and Planning
Mary Cronin
Associate Vice President, Human
Resources
Mark Ditman
Associate Vice President, Housing
and Dining
Writers ignore Rice
Cinema offerings
To the editor:
Evan Mintz describes a lack of a
real cultural scene on the Rice cam-
pus ("Let's live dangerously, 'sex up'
boring Rice," Feb. 18). While his
heart is certainly in the right place,
I think he demonstrates the same
type of ignorance that he claims
most other Rice students have.
Mintz, along with Julia Bursten
("Film 101: Location, location, loca-
tion," Feb. 18), forgets that Rice has
its very own movie theater, to which
Rice students never show up.
Rice Cinema projects actual
film prints (unlike the large video
screens at Sid Richardson College
that Bursten cites as indicative of
Rice's facilities in her "public service
announcement"), contains a state-of-
the-art Dolby surround sound system
and has the only silver screen in
Houston. Yet Rice students avoid the
Cinema like the plague. Hell, even
the Thresher arte and entertainment
section refuses to include our shows
in the PLditors' Picks (while invari-
ably including the corporate-owned
River Oaks' midnight show every
weekend).
I know that I have never seen
Mintz or Bursten come to anv
Rice Cinema screening that I have
worked. I guess the total exclusion
of Rice Cinema by Mintz is indicative
of the fact that he really is a Rice
student. While he complains about
the marginalization of the arts or the
cultural scene here (no Ayn Rands
or Vaclav Havels on the Thresher
opinion page, etc.), he himself con-
tinues to marginalize them by his
complete ignorance of some of Rice's
less-publicized offerings.
Danny Stuyck
Lovett senior
Backpage message
escapes some readers
To the editor:
I was thoroughly amused by
the now-controversial Backpage of
Feb. 4. It poked fun at the very things
I hate about what my religion has
become in this country. I was par-
ticularly amused by the Strawberry
Shortcake comic, whose meaning
seems to have escaped some read-
ers. President George W. Bush has
made it clear that he thinks making
the morning-after pill available over
the counter would send teenagers on
a never-ending sex spree. I le has also
insinuated that he feels women, when
they have the option of an abortion,
automatically choose that path rather
than using contraceptives or being
abstinent. Both of these assumptions
are extraordinarily frustrating.
Look — I'm a Christian. I also
happen to be pro-choice. Which
means I think that abortion should be
a last resort, though I don't think this
should be mandated by legislature. I
also think that the way to combat the
amount of abortions in this country
is to lower the number of unwanted
pregnancies in the first place. This
means providing family planning
services to low-income families,
teaching medically accurate sex
education courses, making emer-
gency contraception more available
and ensuring that the discriminatory
practice of health insurance compa-
nies covering Viagra but not birth
control be ended.
America has a funny relationship
with sex; we see it everywhere, yet
a stunning majority of us are afraid
that people might actually go out and
do it. Perhaps it has something to do
with the fact that it's one of the few
moments in life when we actually fully
lose control of ourselves.
Elizabeth Bakalyar
Graduate student
Shepherd School of Music
Students' basketball
support appreciated
To the editor:
I want to thank Rice students fur
the effort and energy they have dis-
played thus far this season. My staff
and the Rice Owls players have truly
appreciated the love and support you
have shown for the men's basketball
program. I know that our team has
faced some tough losses, but we have
had some major wins thanks in large
part to the one thing that has been a
constant—your team spirit. Through
good and bad, you have made this
an incredible journey, especially for
seniors Michael Harris, Jason McK-
rieth and Brock Gillespie, who have
carried our program to new heights
during their tenure. We felt the en-
ergy of the student body displayed
Feb. 5 at Autry Court against LTTEP,
and we hope you can find the time
to help the seniors go out in good
fashion in their final home games
tonight against San Jose State and
Sunday against Hawaii.
The team is playing with more
confidence as we enter the final
weeks of conference play — also,
remember that four of the last five
losses have been without our start-
ing point guard, sophomore Lorenzo
Williams, who will play this weekend.
We regained our momentum Monday
against Fresno State, and we need
your help to keep it and be a real
contender for the WAC tournament
championship, as well as in the NCAA
tournament. Good luck to all students
in the upcoming weeks, and thank
you again for your support of Rice
Owls basketball.
Willis Wilson
Will Pice '82
Head Men s Basketball Coach
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Gilbert, Lindsey & Yardley, Jonathan. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 92, No. 20, Ed. 1 Friday, February 25, 2005, newspaper, February 25, 2005; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443168/m1/2/: accessed June 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.