The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 47, No. 5, Ed. 1 Friday, October 16, 1959 Page: 3 of 10
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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1959
THE THRESHER
Three
■THRESHING IT OUT
More Views On Censorship;
Senate Stand Is Defended
To the Editor:
We would like to attempt to
repudiate the accusations made
«gainst the Student Senate in
last week's editorial concerning
the Campanile advisory com-
mittee. We feel that we can do
this by presenting the Senate
view and the facts concerning
the proposed committee.
The Senate committee met with
Dr. Houston, Dean Richter, and
Dr. Sims on Oct. 6, and was in-
formed by them at that time
that under no circumstances could
the administration relinquish
final control of any Institute
publication. They feel that this
stand is justified by the fact
that they are finally responsible
to the Trustees and Alumni for
maintaining the reputation of
The Rice Institute.
Veto 'Must' For Aproval
The original Senate commit-
tee proposal concerning the Ad-
visory Board contained no pro-
vision for administration veto
power; this was added as a con-
dition necessary for administra-
tion approval.
The alternatives were clearly
defined as: Dr. Sims working
with an advisory board, or Dr.
Sims working alone as a cen-
sor. The committee, and later
the Senate, felt that the former
would at least insure that Dr.
Sims was informed on student
and faculty opinion on. Campanile
policy.
Personal Contact Necessary
Despite the Thresher's valiant
efforts, it is true that personal
contact in a meeting is more
effective for exchange of ideas
than any editorial. Anyone who
has ever taken a fixed idea to
committee meeting can testify to
this.
—MIKE LOCKERD
—WAYNE HANSON
A Call For Tact
To the Editor:
I don't feel that Dr. Sims has
made any attempt to understand
or feel out the students' point
of view on the Campanile situa-
tion. He doesn't seem to have any
idea of how the students feel or
what they want.
This action of censorship goes
right along with the previous
practices of Dr. Sim's office and
the Administration. Just because
one editor chooses to print the
book in his own way doesn't nec-
essarily mean that it will be done
in the same manner the follow-
ing year.
'A Little More Tact'
I hope that one of these days
the Dean and the Administration
will stop treating Rice students
like high school people and use
a little more tact and reason in
what they do.
Perhaps one of these days we
will get a dean who knows some-
thing about students and how to
treat them fairly and correctly.
"Ours is not to reason why,
Ours is but to do and die."
—NORMAN REYNOLDS
Apathy Blasted
To the Editor:
Rice is dead, long live the
Administration!
Through the cooperation of the
Rice student body the administra-
tion is fast approaching its ulti-
mate goal—the complete servi-
ture of student spirit and opinion.
The latest step they took was
one of open flaunting of student
freedom—that of regulating the
Campanile.
In the past few years, the
Campanile and The Thresher
have remained the last outposts
of student expression.
The Scarlet Letters
Because of 50 letters to the
Administration from the al-
mighty Alumni and Trustees
(they give us our glorious annual
gift of $2,000—a fact we are re-
minded of at every opportunity),
who could not stand to read
ironical, tongue-in-cheek com-
ments about the administration
and the Institute, the students'
rights have been severely cur-
tailed.
Unfortunately this does n<Jt
seem to bother the students, or
perhaps they are too far off in
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their clouds of engineering
symbols and the lite of Defoe to
even notice what is being done.
Rubber-Stamp Senate
Our rubber-stamp Senate has
gracefully approved the edicts of
the Administration — against
what little student opinion was
offered on the subject.
But the real fault lies with
the students. If once they would
offer unified opposition to the
administration — and to their
elected leaders — perhaps they
would come out ahead. Petitions,
boycotts, anything, just so long
as the Administration knows
there is still some student spirit
left—realizes that they can't have
obedience for every action they
take.
The students have long enough
let them usurp our privileges—
isn't it time to get off our tails
and get something done? ! !
—Name withheld by request
More
'Meatballism'
To the Editor:
This last Saturday night we
were a.t the Florida game. We had
seats in the student section right
on the forty yard line. These seats
were also about two seats down
from the aisle that marks the
edge of the student section.
At half time we got up to go
out and buy something to drink,
but the ushers said we could not
use the aisle three seats away.
Oh no, we have to go all the way
back to the aisle for students.
It seems that Rice students are
not allowed beyond their little
rope boundarys. Nobody was
handing out and taking student
section tickets at the entrance to
the section, so that reason was
out.
Maybe we are not fit to asso-
ciate with white people or some-
thing and have fo be k<?pt in our
own segregated section. Or is this
just another example of catering
to the dollar of the man who pays
a full general admission ticket.
Personally, I think it is just
another example of the creeping
meatballism that seems to dom-
inate so much of the scene around
here.
LESLIE ARNOLD
On Student Government.. .
The Bell Tolls
Ed. Note: ThU U the first of a aerie*
of articles on student government at
Hice. Beginning with a problem which
brings many basic question* to a focal
point, the columnist will proceed to
explore such realms as student apathy
and student rights in future commen-
taries.
* * *
By SYD NATHANS
Senator, Hanszen College
A problem exists — the Cam-
panile. Agreed.
Has the problem ever been
approached or broached before?
No.
Then why was administration
censorship selected as the first
and only way?
Why not:
A general directive to the edi-
tor: Clean up the yearbook.
or:
A presentation before the Stu-
dent Senate of the neces-
sity for a clean-up of the book
—and a proposal for a student-
faculty censorship board.
If these things had been done
and had failed, then justification
would have been obvious and in-
disputable. But since they were
not done, the student body asks
but one question: Will there be
justification ?
It Tolls For Thee
Or is the intensifying, under-
mining tradition of the Immov-
able Absolute Administration to
become permanently codified in
this royal decree and irrevocably
branded in the minds of students,
dooming student government, stu-
dent spirit, student independ-
ence ?
Of course the administrators
of the Institute have heard stu-
dents get fired-up before and
make great statements about the
fall of government, the demise
of spirit, and the trampling un-
der of the great intellectual
catalyst, student independence.
And why should this time be dif-
ferent from any other . . . an-
other student . . . another Grand
(but we know temporal) issue
. . . another day . . .
But not so. Never before has
administration action been so
arbitrary, so sudden, and so close
t<£.home (that is, out of mother's
sight) in its effect.
"Students Can't Be Trusted"
Was it the need to guarantee
no repetition of such a yearbook
that prompted such action? But
this rests on the assumption that
Students can't be trusted: no one
student editor, working independ-
ently of the student body — but
student government — Better: A
student-faculty government with
faculty having two votes to one.
Still No! But Why? We still
can take on chances . . on stu-
dents, on student responsibility,
on student maturity ... on stu-
dent emulation and practice of
the Grand Principles they learn
through education . . . and cen-
sorship clearly implies no faith in
the people; no faith in the people
produces apathy; and apathy is
what we need more of? ! !
Progress?
No empassioned cry, no brazen
denouncement is found in the
Student Quest for justification
. . . just a skeptical but more
than slightly wistful wondering
about how far we've come since
the opening day of the Institute,
when Dr. Edgar Odell Lovett said
of the student body:
"It owns the college, loves the
college, runs the college . . ."
"Let this be the spirit of Rice."
Next Week: The Facade of
"Spirit:" Faulty Fundamentals.
Ambassadors . . .
(Continued from Page 2)
esting examples of the follies of
our ambassadorial system. He
discusses the methods of "buy-
ing" ambassadorial posts through
the patronage system. His article
concludes with the following in-
teresting parellel. "Up to the
Crimean War the British Army
was officered almost exclusively
by sale of commissions. One of
the most vigorourous defendants
of the present system, Mrs. Clare
Booth Luce, who has herself
served as ambassador to Italy,
has pointed out that despite oc-
casional lapses the United States
has not done too badly with it."
He Goes On To Say
"In 181 years of our diploma-
tic history," he has said, 'America
has not yet made the irrevocable
diplomatic blunder.' Could Lord
Ragden, the British commander
in the Crimea, have put the case
for his officers more strongly
as the Light Brigade charged
into the Valley of Death?"
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The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 47, No. 5, Ed. 1 Friday, October 16, 1959, newspaper, October 16, 1959; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth231126/m1/3/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.