The Rice Thresher, Vol. 88, No. 15, Ed. 1 Friday, December 8, 2000 Page: 4 of 24
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THE RICE THRESHER OPINION FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2000
Rice students and staff, community respond to KTRU incident
CHEERS, from Page 2
College cheers are little more
than playground threats and epi-
thets. Did your elementary school
allow you to freely call others names?
Did your high school sanction bias
based on gender and sexual orienta-
tion? Hopefully, we have all grown
up since then. I see no reason why
the university should be forced to
permit language that may be pro-
scribed in any other context — in a
classroom, in a sandbox, in the work-
place, wherever. We are adults now.
It's time that the student body in
general begins to behave as such.
As to those who require absolute
proof, do you really want rape statis-
tics on campus? There's more than
enough evidence to suggest that the
atmosphere of general disregard
promotes hostility toward women
and gays.
TTie argument that the words are
meaningless is flawed as well. If they
mean so little, and offend so many,
why say it? Words express ideas,
ideas are translated into realities.
When thousands congregate and
scream their perspective literally
from the rooftops, it is a stretch to
say that it is merely ironic.
If the university has every legal
basis for regulating such words, it
makes no sense to say that your
rights are being violated by a stu-
dent-led initiative for reform with-
out regulation.
The cheers were popular and
premised on the notion that the stu-
dent body approved. Well, the stu-
dents have spoken, and it appears
that they do so no longer.
From my time at Rice, I remem-
ber that the primary argument for
the cheers was basically "it's funny.
Laugh, damn you, laugh." Why ex-
actly should anyone have to find
amusement in this type of abusive
language?
Gays and women face enough
bias and ridicule in their daily life —
you need only to look to military
policy or the Internet to see evi-
dence of this social fact. Why, on top
of all of this, do members of the
colleges insist that all students must
have their sense of humor, and find
entertaining their own degradation
in their homes and educational insti-
tutions?
There's nothing sorrier than be-
ing forced to remain silent or to take
pleasure in your own relegation to
second-class citizenship.
Anita Raman
Jones '99
NYU School of Imw '02
Virtual KTRU would
not be a solution
To the editor:
I am writing in response to
Dagobert L. Brito's letter in the re-
cent Thresher extra on KTRU events
("KTRU's reincarnation belongs in
cyberspace," Dec. 5).
In it, he offers a proposal to es-
sentially give the FM portion of
KTRU to the Athletics Department
and bestow upon the students facili-
ties and equipment to provide a "truly
innovative digital Web broadcast-
ing system."
What a horrible idea.
I assume that Brito's proposal
was meant to be taken realistically
and implemented realistically. But
his proposal stops short of anything
resembling reality. A virtual KTRU
station would essentially be a sta-
tion that does not exist. In the name
of the "tradition of mutual respect,
tolerance and civility," Dr. Britodoes
away with a stronger tradition —
that of KTRU as a radio station that
can be accessed by all, not simply
those who are cruising the Internet.
Most people in Houston, or in the
United States for that matter, do not
have unfettered access to the
Internet like we spoiled Rice stu-
dents do.
The cyber-revolution has not
reached the masses but FM radio
still does.
Brito's cyber-proposal also
misses another point—the concept
of student autonomy. By giving the
Athletics Department the FM com-
ponent, he is validating the actions
of the administration and undermin-
ing the student spirit that he talks
about preserving. His theory-laden
proposal is not a compromise, but
would actually undo 30 years of hard,
student work.
And sticking KTRU on the
Internet would break the bonds to
the Houston community. As we have
seen in the last few days, many com-
munity members are concerned,
angry and just plain pissed about the
way KTRU was shut down. Many
are showing their voices because of
the way the administration shut it
down, but many are shouting be-
cause of the music they love to listen
to at home or at work, away from
their computers. I mean, who really
listens to music on their computers
except us?
Most integral to KTRU is the
notion of the community that com-
prises KTRU. Brito seems to forget
that KTRU is not simply a tower
attached to a station, but rather a
group of dedicated students trying
to educate the Wee and Houston
community about music that is in-
creasingly marginalized by corpo-
rate radio and needs crucial expo-
sure.
Putting a student-run KTRU on
real air, not cyber-air, gives access
to the Houston community and vali-
dates KTRU as a real radio station, a
creative work of art, not a techno-
logical toy they use to crank out
some music.
By putting the real KTRU only on
the Web, Brito negates its impor-
tance as a cultural production for
both the Rice and Houston commu-
nity. KTRU should be one station
with one mission statement. Split-
ting it this way would result in the
breaking-up of a vital community
spirit that has been around for a
long time. If it's been working for
this long, why do we need to change
it?
Vivek Mittal
Jones senior
KTRU's impact felt
across oceans
To the editor:
I returned to Rice this year after
seven years in the U.S. Navy. I>ast
year, I saw a KTRU bumper sticker
on a car in Misawa, Japan! KTRU
has a voice that is heard across
oceans and years. It found this voice
on its own. I^ave it be.
Mason Hart
Baker senior
KTRU incident seen
as a business matter
To the editor:
I just got through sending a let-
ter to Vice President for Public Af-
fairs Terry Shepard, President
Malcolm Gillis and other press or-
ganizations of my intention to en-
courage Rice graduates in the arts
and entertainment industry to boy-
cott sending donations to Rice until
the situation with KTRU is resolved
to the student's satisfaction.
I find it highly suspicious that the
events leading up to the takeover of
the station by the administration
occurred only after the university
couldn't find a sports broadcasting
affiliate in Houston and suddenly
needed KTRU for financial and pub-
licity purposes. The high-handed
tactic by Gillis and Vice President
for Student Affairs ZenaidoCamacho
in shutting down the station the day
after two DJs arguably displayed
great lack of taste and judgment
seems to be an extreme overreac-
tion ... unless a person were to place
it into the context of the new corpo-
rate ideology that seems to be rul-
ing Rice.
Shepard's quote in the Houston
Chronicle that "anyone who has a
job knows you do not have complete
autonomy, you have responsibilities
to your employer," seems to vali-
date this assumption that they now
consider the student body as con-
sumers and employees instead of
active citizens. This dispute strikes
at the heart of an ideological battle
that is taking place on college cam-
puses across the nation: For whom
and for what does a university exist?
If it exists for its students and faculty
(and what is the point if it does not?)
then these are the ultimate citizens,
and power should reside with them
and not the permanent oligarchy of
the administration and its business
interests.
Having toured over 30 college
campuses over the last year with my
recent documentary, University Inc.
(including Rice in the fall of 1999), I
have heard firsthand accounts at
both large public universities and
small private colleges of the new
corporate order that is consolidat-
ing power within academia, strip-
ping students, staff and faculty of
the powers of self-determination that
they struggled throughout the
greater part of the last century to
gain. 'Hie only thing that allowed
them to gain this power was direct
action and civil disobedience against
the oligarchic power of the elite few
who think they are the complete and
only legitimate citizens of the uni-
versity.
Earlier this year at the University
of Oregon, the only way students
and faculty could force the adminis-
tration to divest from sweatshop la-
bor plants manufacturing the
university's apparel (made by Nike)
was to take over the president's of-
fice until the administration finally
would negotiate as an equal partner
instead of imposing its dictates ac-
cording to the top-down manage-
ment style of the hierarchical corpo-
ration.
So, although I am no longer a
student and will not "pay the price"
of such action, I would fully support
faculty, students and staff in con-
ducting such a direct action to re-
mind Gillisand Camacho who Rice's
real citizenry is and equalize the
imbalance of power that currently
exists on campus.
Kyle Henry
Baker '94
Mee's attack on SA<
Botsford unjustified
To the editor:
I am writing to respond to what I
feel are unfair assessments of the
Student Association in your Tues-
day extra edition. Daniel Mee, in
"SA needs to determine role in KTRU
conflict," accuses SA President I ,ind-
say Botsford of being "either a fool
or a shill for the administration" and
suggests that the remaining mem-
bers of the SA are "siding with the
Vice President for Student Affairs
Zenaido Camacho on the matter of
KTRU 'reorganization.'" Neither are
fair assessments.
Mee's letter, through sugges-
tions of how a compromise might
read, infers that through trying to
negotiate with the administration to
put KTRU back on the air, the SA
Senate is kowtowing to some insidi-
ous master plan that the administra-
tion has for KTRU.
Hiserrors are twofold. First, Lind-
say and the SA Senate (especially
the college presidents) have been
working tirelessly almost without
sleep to bring this insane situation
to a conclusion that maintains stu-
dent interest in running KTRU as a
student organization while address-
ing university concerns of account-
ability of the station to some other
authority.
Second, Mee fails to understand
that the administration is perfectly
content to let KTRU manage its con-
tent policy and to let the SA Senate
be the supervisory body of KTRU.
Their request is to have an operat-
ing policy that makes explicit lines
of authority so that when KTRU staff
requires disciplinary action, appro-
priate measures are ensured.
I would also like to respond to
the accusations of incompetence by
Daniel Conway in "Sunday night
meeting exposes SA faults." Conway
suggests that because the senate
often consulted the actual text of the
SA Constitution that they are igno-
rant of it. Additionally, he expresses
dismay at Botsford's questioning of
how much value should be placed in
the passages referring to KTRU.
Furthermore, he indicts Botsford
for holding a "very chaotic" meet-
ing. And finally he accuses the sen-
ate of "not takling] the forum seri-
ously."
I would imagine that this was
Conway's first SA meeting. Had he
been familiar with SA operations, he
would know that the SA Constitu-
tion is a 30-plus page juggernaut of
disorganization. The SA members
are very familiar with the constitu-
tion and refer to it for accuracy. Fur-
thermore, he would know that since
last spring, the Student Association
has been undertaking the task that
previous senates have not attempted:
reorganizing and clarifying the con-
stitution.
The senate knows full well that it
is out of date and ineffective. That is
why on next spring's ballot, there
will be an item to ratify the new
constitution that Botsford, Rudy
Fink and other members of the Sen-
ate are working on.
Additionally, he would know that
SA meetings are often poorly at-
tended and rather informal. Botsford
did her best to try to keep outbursts
to a minimum, and after the amount
of work and stress this issue has
placed on her, I feel she did a fine
job. Conway's assessment of her
performance is completely unfair.
And as far as the senate's failure
to take the forum seriously, every
major point that was addressed by
Dan West after the forum was taken
into consideration by the presidents,
who, distraught over being accused
by the Thresher editorial staff of go-
ing behind their constituents' backs,
sat and listened to every comment
made during the forum before ap-
plying those ideas to the resolution
that was passed Monday night.
I doubt Conway attended the
Monday meeting, but the SA did
listen and did lead with the passage
of the resolution.
Perhaps what they really need is
more support and more communi-
cation with their constituents so that
unfair and uninformed assessments
of their performance based on
quotes in the Thresher and single SA
meetings don't cloud the judgment
of the student body.
Joshua Ginsberg
Wiess junior
KTRU simulcast was
justified, appropriate
To the editor:
I applaud the student DJs who
simulcast music with the tail end of
the Rice women's basketball game.
They were standing up for what they
believe in: KTRU's mission to edu-
cate its staff and listeners about
music through the broadcast of un-
derexposed genres and artists.
Given KfRU's mission, sports broad-
casts have no place on KTRU.
I understand that some student
athletes felt insulted by the move.
Had the DJs wished to insult the
athletes, they would have ceased
the sports broadcast altogether.
'ITiose who think that KTRU means
disrespect to Rice student athletes
misunderstand KTRU's position.
I also applaud Johnny So for re-
fusing to ask the DJs to refrain from
further protests. Doing so took guts,
and it was a fair response to the
administration's decree from on high
that the student organization that is
KTRU had no say in the matter. 'I"he
staff of KTRU has long held that
they did not have fair representation
in the oversight committee.
I do not know whether Zen
Camacho was unaware of KTRU's
plight or just unsympathetic to it. I
do know that, for a vice president for
Student Affairs, his actions have
conveyed a great deal of disrespect
to a student organization. His deci-
sion to allow the Athletics Depart-
ment to dictate the actions of an
unrelated student organization sets
a dangerous precedent.
Malcolm Gillis has not handled
the situation well either. Although
he (finally) took responsibility for
the shutdown of the station in his
interview with the Thresher ("Presi-
dent Gillis comments on KTRU situ-
ation," Dec. 5), his justification for
doing so is ludicrous. President Gillis
says, "I tell everybody the truth. No
one on this campus can say any dif-
ferent," but in the same interview,
he says he shut down the station
because he feared that music would
be simulcast with sports again. Noth-
ing could be further from the truth.
There was no sports broadcast
scheduled at the time KTRU went
off the air. 'Hie fact is that Gillis
wants control over programming.
He understands the value of the ra-
dio equipment on which KTRU op-
erates, but he has no appreciation
for the cultural value created by the
KTRU organization and its mission.
He did not act as a supervisor and
warn the staff of KTRU that KTRU
would be taken off the air if the event
reoccurred.
Instead, he acted like a child and
threw a fit. If not so tragic, it might
be funny, considering Gillis, in his
interview, more or less accuses the
students of KTRU of acting like chil-
dren.
Malcolm Gillis tells us that, after
30 years of uninterrupted KTRU
broadcasting, there is suddenly a
problem with accountability and le-
gal liability. I firmly believe that Rice
students are smart enough shop-
pers to refrain from buying that.
Jeff Greer
Ij)vett '95
KTRU's independence
set it apart from others
To the editor:
One of the main reasons I choose
to attend Rice University was that an
institution like KTRU existed. Al-
most all major radio stations in the
United States today are solely profit-
driven; in this age of media consoli-
dation, in which ownership of widely
distributed newspapers, radio sta-
tions, television stations and even
Internet portals is increasingly con-
centrated, K TRU is one of the few
remaining bastions of independent
thought. KTRU's specialty shows,
general shifts and special broadcasts
are not intended to make buckets of
money; instead, they are driven by
student passion and the desire to
educate Rice (and the greater Hous-
ton community) about music and
culture.
I agree that KTRU is not perfect;
for instance, up until now, KTRU's
station manager has not been elected
by the student body. I think that
probably the station manager should
be, provided that all candidates have
at least a couple of semesters expe-
rience at KTRU.
But it is an utter falsehood that
KTRU has not made attempts to
reach out to Rice — in my four years
as l)J and assistant music director, I
witnessed the efforts of many dedi-
cated volunteers to try to expand
KTRU's scope.
Repeated efforts to broadcast
concerts from the school of music,
for instance, were thwarted by indif-
ferent Shepherd School representa-
tives who saw no reason to go out of
their way to help KTRU. Sports
games were broadcast on a regular
basis, but those at the Athletics De-
partment who were pressing for
much more saw no reason to bar-
gain with students (who were, after
all, merely students) when they
could bypass us entirely through
mandates from above.
'Die administration's reaction to
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Stoler, Brian. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 88, No. 15, Ed. 1 Friday, December 8, 2000, newspaper, December 8, 2000; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443216/m1/4/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.