The Rice Thresher, Vol. 88, No. 15, Ed. 1 Friday, December 8, 2000 Page: 9 of 24
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THE RICE THRESHER NEWS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2000
KTRU athletics decision still valid
KTRl), from Page 1
rent policy consists of three under-
graduate students appointed by the
SA, the station manager, three fac-
ulty members nominated by the Fac-
uity Committee on Committees and
appointed by the president, one staff
member appointed by the president
and one alumni member, who is re-
quired to have KTRU I)J experience.
(See Policy, Page 8.)
Home said he was satisfied with
the composition of the committee
because any changes must be ap-
proved by at least six of the nine
committee members. "Students have
basically veto power," Home said.
"Anything that goes to the commit-
tee, if students vote against it, it
won't pass."
7 think people
recognize that, in some
ways, this wasn Y the
ideal. This is what we
have to go with, and I
feel like we really
bargained with the
administration well'
— Ben Home
KTRU DJ director
President Malcolm Gillis said the
change was a result of cooperative
efforts between students and the ad-
ministration. "In the process of nego-
tiations [the committee makeup!
changed," he said. "That's not impor-
tant — we're talking about a process
of negotiation that was done in good
faith between many different people."
After the two-year agreement be-
tween the Athletics Department and
KTRU is over, athletics will need to
present a request for programming to
the committee through the procedure
outlined in the proposal, Pitre said.
However, she said some KTRU
DJs continue to resent the agree-
ment because they feel it is unfair.
"It was never about some sort of
dislike for sports or dislike for ath-
letes or anything like that — the
main reason people weren't happy
was that they felt it was kind of forced
on them," Pitre, a Wiesssenior, said.
Pitre added, however, that the
athletics agreement was not an is-
sue at this point. "We did not want
that to drown out this policy," she
said. "I feel talking about that now is
just people not knowing when to
celebrate. I think we should cel-
ebrate this proposal."
K TRl) Operations Manager I )en-
nis I>ee said he was impressed with
the student body's response to the
KTRU shutdown and with the way
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KATIE STREIT/THRESHER
Although bumper stickers on the door to the KTRU office were removed when
the station was taken off the air last week, decorations have reappeared.
the KTRU leaders conducted them-
selves in this week's negotiations.
"I am really proud of the student
body coming together and making it
possible for this proposal, which
gives a lot of power to the students,
to happen," I>ee, a biochemistry and
cell biology graduate student, said.
"I think (the administration) was re-
ally caught off-guard by the speed ...
that this thing moved, and I don't
think the administration had much
ground to stand on.
"Essentially what happened was
that we came with what we thought
was perfect, and they got the few things
they absolutely had to get," he said
Botsford said she believes the
proposal will prevent a situation like
the KTRU shutdown from occurring
again. "1 don't think it can ever hap-
pen again, quite honestly," Botsford,
a Wiess junior, said. "Certainly the
administration can do whatever they
want technically, but this document
puts the backing behind the stu-
dents and holds the university ac-
countable to certain standards,
which they weren't before."
Botsford said she is not com-
pletely happy about the name of the
committee because its acronym is
the name of a fast-food chain. "1 think
the word 'friendly' does reflect what
the committee's trying to accom-
plish," Botsford said. "I've gotten e-
mails reflecting that the committee's
supposed to be the powerful, end-all
committee, and they have an acro-
nym that is somewhat like a joke."
However, Home said he believes
the committee's name reflects the
fact that students created and will be
heavily involved in it. "I think it's
important to note that this is a com-
mittee that is here for students," he
said. "It's not an official-sounding
name, and we want to make it clear
that this is not like any faculty com-
mittee. ... 'ITiat's why we felt it was
appropriate to have a name which
doesn't sound so official."
The station was taken out of stu-
dent control Nov. 30 after two DJs
broadcast music along with a
women's basketball game Nov. 28.
Their on-air protest followed months
of negotiations and meetings of the
KTRU Oversight Committee after
the Athletics Department requested
that KTRU play twice as many sports
games as were played last year.
KTRU scheduled a TG at 4 p.m.
today in the Ray Courtyard and the
Grand Hall of the Student Center to
thank the student body.
Post-shutdown 91.7 broadcast news, sports
by Mark Berenson
THHKSHKHSTAFF
91.7 FM has been an international
news junkie's paradise for the last
week.
Since KTRU was taken off the
air Nov. 30, 91.7 FM, KTRlJ's fre-
quency, has been broadcasting the
World Radio Network almost con-
stantly.
The only break in WRN broad-
casting was during a women's bas-
ketball game last Saturday. The
game was against the University of
Memphis, and it was the champion-
ship game in the Rice Invitational
Tournament.
Assistant Athletics Director for
Marketing Mike Pedesaid Friday's
women's basketball home game
against Iona College, which the
Athletics Department had planned
to broadcast based on a tentative
agreement formed with K I RU in
October, was cancelled because of
the KTRU shutdown.
Pedesaid the decision to not carry
that game was made by Vice Presi-
dent for Student Affairs Zenaido
Camacho in conjunction with the
Athletics Department.
Women's basketball games have
been scheduled to air on KTRU
through the end of the month. Pede
said the Athletics Department is
waiting to hear from Camacho about
what will happen in January and be-
yond.
WRN broadcasts newscasts in
English from 25 public and interna-
tional broadcasters, including Voice
of Russia, Israel Radio and ABC Ra-
dio Australia.
According to KTRU General
Manager Will Robedee, the only
time when 91.7 FM is not playing
WRN is the four hours a day when
the broadcast contains commer-
cials. The station is dead air during
7-8 a.m., 4-6 p.m., and 11 p.m.-mid-
night because KTRU's operating
agreement does not allow commer-
cials to be broadcast.
Robedee said that during its nor-
mal operation, KTRU occasionally
broadcasts WRN.
"It was set up to try to keep the
station operating 24-7. So during
school breaks or finals, ifa DJ could
not make a shift or could not find a
sub, they could put WRN on to keep
the station on the air," Robedee
said.
The amount of time WRN is
broadcast fluctuates during the
school year. In October, WRN was
broadcast for six total hours. How-
ever, in September, when new DJs
were still being recruited for the
overnight time slots, WRN was
broadcast for 64 hours.
Robedee said broadcasting WRN
is free. Rice receives the signal by
means of a satellite, and the equip-
ment to receive the signal was do-
nated by a local engineer.
KTRU will next broadcast
women's basketball on Dec. 21, when
the team takes on New Mexico State
University.
Gillis, others react
to S A resolution
by Olivia Allison
THKF.SHKR KDITOKIAI. STAFF
President Malcolm Gillis said
the university had "no strong re-
action" to a resolution passed at
Monday's Student Association
meeting condemning the
university's shutdown of KTRU
last week.
'Running a university
involves a lot of
things, and we have
got to get back to
trying to do those
things.'
— Malcolm Gillis
President
"We read it with interest and
we had no strong reaction to it,"
Ciillis said. "We understood the
reasons for the way it was ex-
pressed."
The resolution also expresses
unhappiness with the KTRU man-
agement in dealing with the two
student DJs who simultaneously
broadcast music and a women's
basketball game. "We are disap-
pointed by the conduct of the
student management of KTRU
and we regret that more decisive
action was not taken," the resolu-
tion stated.
DJ Director Sarah Pitre said
she believes the resolution was
fairly presented and represented
the wide range of student opin-
ions.
"1 think if the SA hadn't ac-
knowledged some role for
KTRU in what happened, it
would have been a lot more bi-
ased. personally," Pitre, a Wiess
College senior, said. "I know a
lot of DJs that were there [at the
SA meeting Monday] were just
concerned that the voices ex-
pressed at [Sunday's] student
forum would be taken into ac-
count, and I feel like they were."
SA President Lindsay Bots-
ford said she, too, felt the reso-
lution represented most stu-
dents' feelings.
"It reflected some concerns
that KTRU didn't act in a profes-
sional manner, and other con-
cerns that the administration
went further than they should
have," she said. "The senate
needs to reflect how everyone
feels, and it seemed to be the
only thing we could say and it
turned out to be a really strong
statement."
Pitre added that she was glad
the SA Senate was so willing to
pass a resolution in reaction to
the shutdown. "KTRU was really
glad the SA wanted to pass a reso-
lution," Pitre said. "I think every-
one was satisfied that the SA even
put out a resolution about this."
Gillissaid the university plans
to respond to the resolution's
demand for an explanation "of
the manner in which the shut-
down was handled and why the
Student Senate was bypassed in
the process."
'The senate needs to
reflect how everyone
feels, and it seemed
to be the only thing
we could say and it
turned out to be a
really strong
statement.'
— Lindsay Botsford
Student Association
president
However, Gillis said there
were other issues on the campus
which were also important. "Run-
ning a university involves a lot of
things, and we have got to get
back to trying to do those things,"
he said.
Botsford said she expects the
administration to respond to the
demand. "I haven't heard any-
thing yet, and I'll be checking
into that," she said. "But we have
the backing of the student body
in this."
WILLYS PUB
I St. 1975
Have fun over the break.
Be merry. He safe.
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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/m1/9/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.