The Rice Thresher, Vol. 90, No. 21, Ed. 1 Friday, February 28, 2003 Page: 2 of 24
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THE RICE THRESHER OPINIOW FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28,2003
the Rice Thresher
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An election mess is over, and we hope the Student Association
Elections Committee will make sure it does not happen again. -
Last week, two candidates in the SA General Election inadvertently
violated the Election Code by sending an e-mail to all varsity athletes
encouraging them to "vote andgetathletesinstudentgovernment... or
just plain vote." While encouraging students to vote for certain candi-
dates through unsolicited e-mail is against the code, the two candidates
were unaware of the problem because the instructional e-mail they
received about the code was unclear. Neither of the candidates was
punished for the incident (See Story, Page 1.)
The legitimacy of the election was threatened by this incident.
The Elections Committee did the right thing when it subsequently
decided to ban candidates from sending unsolicited e-mails regard-
ing the elections.
It was, at one point, stated that candidates could send unsolicited
e-mails if they encouraged students to vote, not to vote for someone.
But obviously there is a great deal of gray area and room for
unintended violations. Allowing only certain SA officials to send e-
mails will decrease the likelihood that this issue will be raised again.
Furthermore, we hope the committee will keep its policy consis-
tent and that it will work to make that policy perfectly clear to
candidates. A meeting with all candidates as opposed to a mass
e-mail might be more effective. By taking these steps, the committee
should be able to avert this year's problem.
Talking about drinking
The recent discussions about the alcohol policy are progressing in
the right direction. The meetings are conducted primarily by students
— college chief justices and presidents — so although administrators
usually call the meetings, students are deciding how to make our
already-good policy better enforced (See Story, Page 1.).
Although the increase in the proportion of Rice Emergency Medi-
cal Service calls that are alcohol-related this year is worrisome, we are
glad the administration hasn't overreacted. Letting students evaluate
the policy is the best way to ensure they take those rules seriously.
Chief justices are the most important link in the alcohol policy, so
they should not have to feel like they are alone in enforcing the policy.
One critical improvement would be for the chief justices to form a
meeting group where they can discuss problems in their own col-
leges from a campus-wide perspective. This would also ensure that
justices are held responsible to the entire campus for their policy
enforcement. And it will make students more safe by ensuring policy
enforcements are standardized across campus.
As alcoho1 violations seem to increase, it is clear that underclass-
men do not understand the philosophy behind alcohol policy rules.
These students should drink more responsibly, and upperclassmen
should work to educate them on what the rules are.
Wasting paper plates
The waste of disposable dishware at serveries and kitchens must
be curbed to save both money and the environment.
Every week, the Wiess/Hanszen servery goes through more than
2,000 paper plates, 4,500 paper cups and 3,000 Styrofoam bowls. The
cost of these, and other disposable wares, is about $1,800 a week (See
Story, Page 6.).
While students sometimes need a paper plate, many of these
paper plates are unnecessarily used. Housing and Dining should
take steps to discourage this behavior.
At some kitchens, students must ask for a paper plate. All kitchens
should make students ask for paper plates to discourage the casual
use of disposable dishware.
In addition, some of the dish deposit areas close shortly after dinner.
This makes it harder for students to return dishes late at night. Were
H&D to provide an always-accessible dish rack in a location near the
dish deposit, students wouldn't have to worry about what to do with their
dishware and would be less inclined to use disposable dishware.
Students must return reusable dishware and silverware in a more
timely fashion. Though it is nice to have dining ware for take-out dorm-
room meals, the existence of stacks of dishes in rooms shows a lack of
responsibility by students. H&D should have days when fines for
leaving dishes outside rooms do not apply. Another possibility would be
if students could place dishware outside rooms weekly, when members
of the college could collect them and bring them to the kitchen.
While there are various steps that students and H&D can take to
encourage students to be more responsible, H&D should also en-
sure that students are never forced to use disposable dishware by
always having reusable dishes available, even on Friday nights.
By taking steps to reduce the cost on non-food items, our room
and board fees can be spent on high quality food, not dishware.
Dude, I don't get why Wiess is using the
paper and plastic at the se^very.- it's not like they
should run out of the olid c
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the ' Thresher'
editorial staff.
Lack of religion is not
a bane to humanity
To the editor:
I was truly appalled by many of
the statements that Mary Kamel
made in her guest column, "Recent
woes do not discredit all religions"
(Feb. 21). Her opening line is "One
of the most awkward mistakes one
can make is an unverifiable gener-
alization about society," yet she goes
on to make a number of these un-
verifiable generalizations about athe-
ists and Christian humanitarianism.
Kamel has the audacity to
downplay such tragic historical
events as the Spanish Inquisition
and the Crusades, while blaming
the deaths incurred in the U.S.S.R.
on Communists' lack of religion as
opposed to their faulty political phi-
losophy. Moreover, she claims that
"Christians led to the great majority
of humanitarian causes," which is a
very one-sided and narrow-minded
view. Such assertions are not only
untrue and unsubstantiated but also
extremely offensive.
Although I consider myself an
atheist, all of my (Christian) friends
were shocked by Kamel's article as
well. By implying that all nonreli-
gious people are hard-hearted,
amoral and even murderous, Kamel
has violated her own prescription
against making "unverifiable gener-
alizations" and has also outraged a
good number of her peers here at
Rice. It is perfectly understan lable
if she wants to defend her relit ^ous
beliefs, but she has no right to at-
tack other groups of people in the
process.
iMura C. Bornstein
Brown freshman
Cast had the right of
vaginal free expression
To the editor:
Along with more than 600 other
V-Day college campaign coordina-
tors from across the country, I had
access to information about produc-
tions of The Vagina Monologues na-
tionwide. This year's production at
Rice certainly did not miss the point.
Neither did last year's. There is an
infinite number of variations of the
show, all of which are appropriate.
Eve Enslerplacesfewrestrictions
on the productions, asking only that
money be donated to charities sup-
porting women. Contrary to Brooke
Lathram's claims ("*Vagina Mono-
logues' lose original intentions,"
Feb. 21), the chosen charity this
year (the Houston Area Women's
Center) was mentioned and de-
scribed in the directors' note.
I am surprised by Lathram's criti-
cism of the stories in the back of the
program. What are the monologues
but women's stories? Why should
the stories of the women Ensler in-
terviewed be acceptable if the sto-
ries of the women in the cast are
not?
Furthermore, the vaginal art dis-
play was very much in keeping with
the activities suggested by Ensler's
foundation. If you don't believe me,
check the Web site, www.vday.org,
which features similar works of art.
To Lathram's question — is the
show (and more broadly, feminism)
about being able to shout the f-word
orgasmically on stage or a celebra-
tion of women's stories — I would
like to answer: both. As a feminist, I
claim the right to live a life where I
am not raped, abused or otherwise
violated for being a woman. I also
claim the right to use my voice in
whatever way I find appropriate with-
out being chided for behaving like a
"bad girl."
Carly Kocurek
Will Rice junior
The Vagina Monologues'
Cast member 2002, 2003
Producer 2003
Thresher arts and
entertainment editor
Interpretations gave
life to 'Monologues'
To the editor:
I was worried. Like Brooke
Lathram ('"Vagina Monologues'lose
original intentions," Feb. 21), I was
a part of last year's production of The
Vagina Monologues, directed by Elisa
Silva (Wiess '02). After reading off
cards and specifically making a point
in last year's production of not act-
ing but interpreting, this year's set-
ting and production seemed to be
wrong.
It turned out in the end that I was
wrong. The Vagina Monologues is a
collection of stories — not from one
woman but from hundreds of
women. Given the background of
the piece, it is not possible to have
only one interpretation or way of
directing. Each individual director
will feel a certain way or have a
different vision. Different does not
necessarily mean wrong. Every year
there will be some people that love
the direction and others that do not.
In the four times that I have seen the
show, the one that was my least
favorite performance was Eve
Ensler's own!
I can understand that some would
think the orgasms were outrageous
(they were) or the vignettes were
shocking (they were), but isn't The
Vagina Monologues as a theatrical
production outrageous and shock-
ing? Whether you love the produc-
tion or hate it, everyone has to admit
it is both shocking and surprising
the first time around.
It causes you to say words you
would never use, share things that
you would never admit before and
for the first time in many cases, talk
about female bodies, sexuality,
safety and progress. Violence
against women doesn't decrease or
increase based on whether one cast
reads from cards or another moans
on stage. The violence will only de-
crease as more and more people
begin to talk, to become outraged
and to take a stand. If one's outrage
at the way in which the production
was performed gets people talking
CONTACTING THE
THRESHER
Letters
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should be sent via e-mail to
thresher@rice.edu. Letters
must be received by 5 p.m. on
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phone number.
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longer than 250 words in
length. The Thresher reserves
the right to edit letters for
both content and length.
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f)
about these issues, then the show
did its job after all.
i
Jessie Pena
Wiess Senior
The Vagina Monologues'
Cast Member 2002, 2003
Cartoon was unfunny,
unclear, dehumanizing
To the editor:
I am very disappointed in the
cartoon on the second page of the
Feb. 14 edition of the Thresher. It
depicted maintenance workers get-
ting a kick out of peeping into some
student's window. I find what this
implies scary and offensive.
Either the cartoonist was mak-
ing a statement about the two guilty
individuals, in which case the car-
toon recreates a scary moment in
which a Rice student was personally
violated. This is not at all funny but
a disturbing scene. Or the cartoon-
ist was making a blanket statement
about maintenance workers, imply-
ing that they are immoral and base
humans, which is not only uncalled
for and unfair but very offensive.
The fact that two maintenance
workers were guilty of the offense
does not imply that all maintenance
workers are as low as those two. The
cartoon dehumanizesan entire class
of people. I hope that the Thresher
cartoonist reconsiders what he
meant by that cartoon and that he is
compelled to apologize for his offen-
sive cartoon.
Josef Sifuentes
Martel junior
€
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Rustin, Rachel. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 90, No. 21, Ed. 1 Friday, February 28, 2003, newspaper, February 28, 2003; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443200/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.