The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 57, No. 16, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 29, 1970 Page: 1 of 6
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Supports youthful radicals
Ballew calls for emotional involvement in today's problems
by CHARLES SZALKOWSKI
Thresher Co-Editor
"The thrust for real reform in the
future will come from those students . . .
■who have been radicalized by personal
experiences."
No, not just the usual left wing rhetor-
ic, these words were the gist of an ad-
dress delivered by William Ballew last
night to the men and guests of Baker
College. Ballew is incumbent president
of the Texas Bill of Rights Association,
president-elect of the Rice Alumni As-
sociation, a community associate of Bak-
er, and a member of the prominent
Houston law firm of Baker, Botts,
Shepher and Coates.
Ballew cited evidence to support the
idea that perhaps college students of
today were born into "an insane world
run by lunatics," including such ominous
statistics as the stockpile of the destruc-
tive power of 15 tons of TNT for every
human being alive, and the prediction
that the population and pollution explo-
sion will make the planet uninhabitable
within 34 years.
He called himself an optimist, howev-
er, claiming that today's young genera-
tion, "the most honest and knowledge-
able critics of our system," can (and
must) solve the problems of the future,
but not unless they "become emotion-
ally involved with our most serious
problems."
Four Classes
Ballew described this involvement as
the radicalization of the now generation
by personal experience. He named four
classes of students: the dropout hippies
who have had enormous influence in
revolutionizing the culture's dress, art
manners, music, literature and style, but
who will not be very useful in political
power struggles; second, the liberals who
would work within the system, of whom
there are quite a few as "it takes less
courage and commitment to assume this
role;" third, the radicals, who are wil-
ling to work without the system to
change the system, "the ones but for
whom we would probably still be living
in caves;" and fourth, those who can
barely wait to enter the system, as is,
and "make a killing."
The difference today is the increasing
number who have had radicalizing ex-
periences, in civil rights activities, peace
march activities, and college campus
confrontations.
Ballew made observations about the
effectivenesss of such a radicalized min-
ority. He described power, in our society,
as being exercised by only a few, a few
who are not generally held accountable
to the people whose lives their exercise
of that power effects, and that people
with power do not voluntarily share it
merely because that is the right, just and
decent thing to do. "Such power, un-
fortunately, is only shared when it is
forced to be shared by ballot, disruption
or bullett."
Ballew called for redistribution of
power, to return government by consent
of the governed. Changes in power, he
claimed, have come about in the past
largely because of face-to-face confron-
tations. "The squeaky wheel gets the
grease.
Apple Pie
He defended dissent, "if there is any-
thing as American as apple pie, it is
dissent," but he emphasized that should
moral beliefs force individuals to express
their convictions in the form of civil dis-
obedience, they must be prepared "to
accept Caesar's penalty." Such are the
risks which must be taken to maintain
a free society.
He expressed the feeling that the
emerging student youth class in this
country should be heard from, because
he believes it has much to offer: "can-
dor, courage, and commitment, ingredi-
ents which are always in short supply."
He called for youth to become the ac-
tion generation in the 1970's, as a sequel
to the demonstration generation of the
60's.
"Your emerging tasks are to investi-
gate and separate the truth from the
phoniness and myths which surround us
and then help inform and educate our
people because we are all crippled by
too much ignorance. You must organ-
ize our college campuses for change, for
change that will improve the quality
of our lives and institutions."
Ballew fielded questions from the floor
after concluding his address. He stated
that he believed students should have a
greater voice* in decisions which effect
their lives, such as on the campuses. He
commented on the prospects for lower
voting ages and the increasing student
voting $loc as a powerful force in the
hear future.
Ballew said he favors the removal of
corporate recruiting and ROTC from the
campuses of Rice and other universities.
While admitting that they may benefit
some students and that they might be
housed across the street, he acknowl-
edged that theprimary recipients of the
benefits were the existing power struc-
ture, the military-industrial complex.
Greater Participation
He envisioned increased influence for
the alumni as a group and encouraged
Rice students to become active in their
alumni association to make it into some-
thing other than a futile paper tiger in-
terested only in homecoming events. He
proposed a greater voice for alumni,
faculty, and students as voting members
of the Board of Governors.
Some of the changes might take some
time, he admitted, but progress is being
made, and is accelerating.
He envisioned the loss of influence of
traditional institutions in the society as
a result of the corruption of a good idea
by its eventual loss of sense of purpose
to the depersonalization of their bureau-
cratic institutionalization. Organized re-
ligion, for example, is rapidly losing in-
fluence because of its bureaucratic na-
ture.
He closed by recommending that youth
critically evaluate its surroundings, much
as Nader's Raiders have investigated
even his own profession, to change and
realign the power in America.
"Solutions must come now or never."
pay
your
the rice thresher
parking
fines
volume 57, number 16
rice university, houston, texas
thursday, January 29, 1970
J <- ■
Vandiver, Horstman offer new recruiting policy
Acting Rice President Frank and the Thresher from Vandi- erly recognized group from the The conferences are:
Vandiver and SA President Lee
Horstman have jointly recom-
mended the formulation of a
university policy which obli-
gates companies planning on-
campus recruiting to discuss
their organizations in a public
meeting "if a properly recog-
nized group from the university
community requests this."
According to the proposal,
any company which refused to
do this would not be permitted
to recruit at Rice.
The proposal, in the form of
a joint letter to the SA Senate
Honor Council
A student has incurred the
following penalty for a violation
of the Honor System: Discipli-
nary probation for the remain-
der of his career at Rice as well
as loss of credit for all courses
taken during the 1969-70 first
semester.
ver, Horstman, and Graduate
Student Association President
Tom Nichols, said:
"It is our belief that Rice
University should adopt a policy
toward job recruiting in the
spirit of that suggested by
Chandler Davidson in his No-
vember 20th letter to the
Thresher (page 3). Namely,
that any recruiting company be
obliged to have its representa-
tives discuss their organization
in a public meeting, if a ^rop-
Interviews
Interviews for the two
freshman positions on the
Honor Council will be held
this Sunday afternoon in the
Brown College Library. In-
terested freshmen should
sign the list on the door of
the Honor Council office on
the second floor of the RMC,
or contact a member of the
Council by tomorrow.
Mueller given meteor study award
Paul Mueller, Rice geology
grad student, is one of two win-
ners of the Ninenger Meteorite
Prize awarded annually by the
Arizona State University Cen-
ter for Meteorite Studies for
original contributions to me-
teorite research. Mueller's share
of the prize is $500.
Mueller, the second Rice stu-
dent to win the award in two
years, studied the distribution
of iron in pyroxene, a mineral
found in meteorites and on the
Moon. He theft used this infor-
mation to shed light on the
thermal history of meteorites.
Mueller is a graduate of
Washington University at St.
Louis.
university community requests
this. Any company which de-
clines to engage in such a dis-
cussion when it is so requested,
would not be allowed to make
use of the Rice facilities.
"We suggest that the work-
ing details of such a policy, and
other interview problems, be
discussed by a five-member
joint committee of three mem-
bers chosen by the Student As-
sociation and the Graduate Stu-
dent Council, and two adminis-
trative representatives who are
on the Rice faculty."
Conferences
The Senate also announced
that funds ax-e available to send
Rice representatives to seven
conferences this spring. Any
attending the conferences should
attending the conference should
leave their names with Mrs. At-
kinson in the office of the Dean
of Students.
World Affairs Conference,
"Australia: A Modern Happen-
ing", .Feb. 5-6, Texas Tech.
New Democratic Coalition,
"People and Politics", Feb. 18-
15, Chicago.
Southern Area USNSA Con-
ference, "Education and Society:
Reform or Revolution", Feb. 26-
March 1, Atlanta.
Eighth Annual Intercollegiate
Conference on Urban Affairs,
"The City and the Deprived:
Has Anything Really
Changed?", Feb. 26-March 1,
Long Island U., Brooklyn, N.Y.
Auburn Conference on Inter-
national Affairs, "Communica-
tions", Feb. 19 and 26, March
5-6, (dates tentative), Auburn
U., Auburn, Ala.
Model US Senate, March 4-7,
Univ. of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio.
Model United Nations, April
17-19, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madi-
son, Wis.
Of love affairs
and counterplots
The Third Annual Jones Audi-
torium Melodran\a will bp pre-
sented February 6-8. "Dirty
Work At The Crossroads: or
Tempted, Tried and True" stars
Debra Moore as Nellie Lovelace
and Lance Bateman in the role
of Adam Oakhart. The villain-
ous Munro M u rgat r o v d is
played by Mac Lankford.
The melodrama, filled with
plots, counterplots, love affairs
and villainy, is sure to incense
the audience to such a degree
that the miscreants will be
hounded off the stage by a bar-
rage of shouts, jeers, and flying
projectiles.
The site for this old-fashioned
deviltry will be the Jones Com-
mons. Co-directors Kathy Mack
and Lois Ivincheloe say that
there will be advance ticket
sales at the colleges. Tickets
will also be available at the
door.
SLC planning off-campus co-op
Many readers will recall an
article published last November
concei'ning an off-campus co-
operative. This idea, which may
soon become a reality, has been
given the more prestigious title
of Student Learning Committee.
The need for such a facility is
plain. Many undergraduates are
dissatisfied with college resi-
dency, and would prefer to live
off-campus. However, these peo-
ple (and graduate students for
whom there is no place in the
Colleges) often find themselves
separated from social and in-
tellectual life on campus to a
greater extent than they might
wish. In addition, rents in the
Rice area are high, and "other
expenses, including furniture
and food, make it difficult to
take an apartment.
The Student Learning Com-
mittee was conceived as an al-
ternative to this situation. If it
receives adequate support in
getting started, it will provide
attractive, low-cost housing for
Rice students and faculty, a co-
operative kitchen for those
wishing to support it, and an
intellectual center for Rice and
ultimately all of Houston.
The optimum facility would
be an apartment building, or
several roomy houses, probably
costing (including renovation),
between $100 thousand and $400
thousand. This would require a
down payment of $30 thousand
to $60 thousand, the remainder
being supplied by an FHA-
guaranteed mortgage. The down
payment could be secured in the
for mof low-interest, loans from
interested parties, possibly sup-
plemented by grants and dona-
tions.
As now planned, a corpora-
tion would be the legal owner
of the facility. Its board could
be chosen by the tenants, includ-
ing faculty and alumni, with
students in the majority.
Anyone interested in becom-
ing a part of the Student Learn-
ing Committee, either as a mem-
ber of the founding committee
or as a future tenant, should
contact Bob Steinberg, 22 Wiess,
at 522-3222.
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Murray, Jack. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 57, No. 16, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 29, 1970, newspaper, January 29, 1970; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245073/m1/1/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.