The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 36, No. 22, Ed. 1 Wednesday, December 8, 1948 Page: 1 of 4
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VOLUME THIRTY SIX — NO. TWENTY-TWO
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HOUSTON, TEXAS, WEDNESDAY, DEC. 8, 1948
iMalady' Breaks Out in Dorms Again
Invitation Societies May Standardize "Drawing" Procedure
Meyers Appoints Committee;
Petitions Being Circulated
Constitutional Committee Considers
Compromises Offered by lit Girls
by Finis owan
Tuesday the constitutional committee of the Student Coun-
cil met at noon with the four presidents of the Literary So-
cieties and the president of the Rally Club to consider proce-
dures used in selecting members. Tom Eubank is the chairman
of the committee. The other members are Martel Bryant, J. D.
Sugg, and Jimmy Meyers, mem-
ber ex officio.
Eubank started the meeting by
explaining the plan of action to be
used by the committee, and by out-
lining the circumstances leading up
to the committee meeting. A ques-
tion involving the invitation proce-
dures of one of the literary socie-
ties was brought before the council
and in order to get discussion and
agreement between all the clubs, a
committee meeting was called. Eu-
bank emphasized the point that the
committee was not trying to dic-
tate terms but was merely attempt-
ing to represent the opinion of the
student body.
Nancy White, President of the
PALS then outlined the method by
which her literary society selects
its members, a system which they
somewhat inaccurately term the
"black-ball system". A member of
the club can cast a "blackball" vote
only on the basis of questionable
moral character of the girl under
question. Three "blackball" votes
are sufficient to exclude a girl from
membership. If a member does not
wish to cast a black-ball vote she
may cast a sample "no" vote. It
takes six "no" votes to exclude a
girl from membership.
The chairman asked Miss White
to explain the legitimate grounds
which a girl might have for casting
a "no" vote. She replied, "Each
girl is considered upon the basis
of the whether or not the group is
congenial with the girl and whether
the girl is congenial with the group.'
Nancy Walters, President of the
SL Literary Society, outlined the
procedure which her club uses by
stating that a straight % vote had
usually been used in the past but
that at the last vote they had adopt-
ed the mechanism used by the
PALS. She stated further, "On some
voting it's been sort of hodge podge.
Some of the members were dissat-
isfied because their friends didn't
get in."
Tempe Howze said that at their
Monday meeting the EBs had de-
cided to stand in favor of a straight
5/6 vote.
At this point in the discussion,
the question arose as to the posi-
tion of the Rally Clu&" constitution
upon selection of members. The
condition of the Rally Club con-
stitution seemed extremely vague
and Meyers seemed to sum the
situation up concisely when he
said in relation to the Rally Club
constitution, "It is, then, virtu-
ally, non-existent."
Caldwell pointed out however
that the Rally Club had a commit-
tee which had been working on a
new constitution for several months
and assured the committee that the
constitution would be ready in a
"short time".
Eubank then entered the discus-
sion with a further statement of the
position of the committee. He said,
"The committee at its last meeting
decided that a simple % vote would
be superior to any of the other pro-
posals which had been brought be-
fore us. We felt that the EB propo^
sal of a 9/10 vote was too strict
because it would be possible to keep
a girl out because of petty dislikes."
This statement brought some dis-
pute from Tempe Howze, President
of the EBs. She thought that the
committee had decided to recom-
mend a 5/6 vote rather than a %
vote.
Eubank then made it clear that
the % limitation would definitely be
be a maximum and that any group
would be privileged to lowe.r its
requirements as much as it saw
fit.
Brady Tyson, editor of the
Thresher, then questioned the ex-
pediency of forcing the literary
societies to conform to the exact
fraction of voting which the stu-1
dent council approved. He stated
further that he personally did not
believe in the undemocratic and
exclusive practices employed by
the literary societies and that if
the Student Council actually de-
sired to make the selection pro-
cedures of the societies more
democratic, it was sheer hypo-
crisy for the Student Council to
approve any constitution employ-
the principles of selective member-
ship. Therefore, the Student
Council should either forbid selec-
tive membership or else leave the
societies alone.
Jimmy Meyers, President of
the Student Association, then said,
"I think so too, and if I am not
mistaken two members of this
committee also expressed support
of that idea in theory."
J. D. Sugg, Junior representative
to the Student Council, said, "Per-
haps it would be well to welcome a
group of girls on the campus who
did not employ exclusive practices.
It would be interesting and instruc-
tive to see how such a group would
operate and whether or not it would
better carry out the stated purposes
of the societies on the campus. Such
a plan might not now be practical."
Tempe Howze pointed out the ex-
istence of the Girl's Club.
Jimmy 'Meyers then stated, "The
slight malfunction of the Girl's
Club can probably be explained by
the fact that it is the ONLY club
on the campus which does not em-
ploy undemocratic and exclusive
practices."
Tom Eubank then asked the four
club presidents and the president of
(Continued on Page 4)
Dramatic Club to
Continue Tryouts
For One Act Plays
First tryouts for three one act
plays to be given by the Rice Dra-.
matic club were held Saturday at 2
o'clock. The directors, Mr. Richard
Warren, Henry Lane Walters Jr.,
and Calvin Clausel Jr. acted as
judges. No definite assignments of
parts was made at this time. Those
people who tried out were Johri
Lawyer, Pierre Campbell, Harpy
Clampett, Raymond Lankford, Bev1
Hawkins, Ruey Boone, Georgia
Hinks, Arthur Cole, and Pat Cun-
ningham.
The three one plays which wit
be given are "The Bore" by Chekov,
"Ways and Means" by Noel Coward,
and "TKe Woman Who Was Ac-
quitted" by DeLord.
The directors stated that they
were satisfied with the ti-yout, and
that one more will be held. This
tryout is to be Thursday at 12:30
in" room 110, Anderson Hall. All
those people, experienced or not,
who are interested in taking part
in these plays, may attend this try-
out, according to Clausel.
0
NOTICE:
String ensemble players will
meet tonight with instruments at the
home of Etta Colish, 2929 Rice
Boulevard at 7:30 p.m.
Campbell Appointed
Woods Martin of the Student
Lounge Committee announced to-
day that Jeff Campbell has been
selected to fill the position of Stu-
dent Lounge Manager. Mr. Martin
said that the Committee appreci-
ated all of the applications submit-
ted and. regrets that only one po-
sition was available.
An outbreak of the "malady" in the dormitories Monday
brought about 160 students to the infirmary for treatment.
However, estimates as to the actual number of students sick
run as high as 50%. According to information made available,
this is the most severe outbreak this year.
The first attack came the
weekend of the A & M game
when some 40-50 students re-
ported to the infirmary. Almost
the entire football team was
sick that weekend and had to be
doctored on the way to the game.
Water samples were taken to Bay-
lor Medical school for analysis, but
because they were sent to the wrong
Rice Engineers to
Hear T. Hockaday
The Engineering Society will hold
its regular bi-weekly meeting to-
night at 7:30 p.m. in room 110 An-
derson Hall.
Mr. Hockaday, a sales engineer,
will speak on the aspects of sales
engineering. Mr. Hockaday will
have two other engineers from his
firm with him. They will present a
skit as well as a talk.
Plans for an Engineering Society
Picnic will also be discussed at the
meeting.
Orville Gaither, president of the
Engineering Society, has extended
a special invitation to Freshmen
and Sophomores to attend the meet-
ing.
All persons desiring to have their
pictures on the Engineering Society
page in the year book and who have
not paid their dues are urged to
do so tonight since a list of paid-up
members must be presented to the
Campanile staff this week.
For How Long?
A member of the faculty was overheard last week: "Well 1
guess the students don't appreciate their new lounge."
The following are rules; rules that should be self-evident to
any decent person. They are rules of conduct, rules of personal
behavior. They should not Have to be enforced, they cannot be
enforced well except by the individual. They should not even have
to be publicized. Here they are:
RETURN COKE BOTTLES TO THE RECEPTACLES PROVIDED.
This is easy—just return the coke bottle as soon as you have
finished drinking your coke. Don't wait and forget.
PICK UP YOUR TRASH AND PUT IT IN THE WASTEBASKET.
All of it, the little bits of scrap paper, the empty cigarette
packages, the paper bags, newspapers, etc.
KEEP YOUR CIGARETTES IN THE ASH TRAYS.
Don't crush them out on the floor, don't flick them across the
room.
IF YOU TAKE YOUR FOOD OUTSIDE THE ROOST, TAKE YOUR
DISHES AND SILVERWARE BACK!
It's as easy to carry it back as it is to carry it out. "If you
don't carry your dishes back the Co-o will have to hire extra help
to do that, and that will increase the cost of your food.
DON'T SIT ON THE TABLES.
Take care of them, they have to last for more than your stay
at Rice.
RETURN FURNITURE TO ITS ORIGINAL POSITIONS.
After that card game, put—don't kick or throw—the furniture
back to its original positions.
department they were not tested
until some two weeks later.
Both of the recent attacks in the
dorms seem to be different from the
dysentery which hit there before
final exams last year. Tests were
made at that time and the infection
was definitely proved to be organic.
However, the characteristic symp-
toms which included chills, fever
and nausea are not found in the
present disturbances.
This attack reached its peak be-
tween midnight and six o'clock
Monday morning. Many students
missed classes that morning, but
the symptoms lasted generally about
24 hours. There have been scattered
cases since the- weekend of Nov. 13,
and there was a flare-up Friday and
Saturday when about 30-40 cases
were treated. These cases, however,
were of a generally different type
than those Monday morning.
Some action has already been
taken to find the source of the
"malady" but results will riot be
known, until the end of the week.
Specimens have been sent to Baylor
for examination, including some
from the kitchen help who were
also slightly affected. Mr. Her-
mance, - a member of the Health
Committee, has requested samples
of the food from the mess hall, and
Dr. Welsh, school physician, sug-
gested a monthly check on the wa-
ter.
Dormitory students are quite
concerned with the recurrence ot the
"malady," and several petitions and
letters are being circulated. Arthur
Beck said that he knew of one
which was being directed to the city
health department. Jimmy Meyers,
president of the Student Associaj
tion, has appointed a committee of
students to report action taken and
findings to the Student Council. In-
cluded on the committee are Earl
Yancey, Jim Kelly, and Jack Coo-
per.
Miss Werner, school nurse, said
that the cause had not been deter-
mined, and withheld an opinion as
to the type of affliction until re-
sults of the tests were known.
However,* she stated that the spread
of the infection last year could
largely be due to a lack of clean-
liness on the part of the dorm resi-
dents. She said that faucets and
telephones as well as toilets were
excellent means of transmission.
There is a general lack of coordi-
nation in the efforts to get at the
root of the problem. With the stu-
dents writing petitions, the Student
Council and the Health committee
conducting investigations, and the
students taking it upon themselves
to make statements to the local
papers, a general confusion prevails
which may well prevent the rapid
action being taken.
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The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 36, No. 22, Ed. 1 Wednesday, December 8, 1948, newspaper, December 8, 1948; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth230777/m1/1/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.