The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 61, No. 17, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 17, 1974 Page: 1 of 8
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by SHANNON VALE
'The Committee of Masters
voted last December to lock
all six balconies of Sid Richai'd-
son College in order to protect
Will Rice House and passers
by. The vote was unanimous;
Richardson's Dr. J. V. Leeds,
who was out of town at the
time, was the only Master not
present.
The decision was apparently
triggered by last Dead Week's
water balloon and bottle rocket
conflict which occupied the
men's colleges for several ev-
enings. According to one re-
port, approximately $5,000
worth of damage was done,
mostly to windows and roof
tiles.
Dr. James Sims, diretor of
the campus business office, said
he "did not have all the fig-
ures," but that damage had
been extensive.
The Thresher was informed
that the resolution was "not
addressed to or for students",
but it reportedly stated that
it the new locks were tam-
pered with or destx-oyed, the
large glass balcony dooi*s
would be replaced with plate
glass, rendering the balconies
completely inaccessible. If the
glass were removed or broken,
the space would be bricked
over.
The SRC Council members
called floor meetings last week
to inform the college members
of the Masters' decision. The
news was received on each floor
with a combination of bewilder-
ment and resentment. The rea-
son for SR being singled out
for "punishment" was unclear
to almost everyone; the com-
mon opinion was that SR had
nothing to do with any-
thing until Will Rice attacked
them after two days of war
with Lovett. Then and only
then did Richardson begin to
participate in any "significant
manner." This led one SR coun-
cil member to protest that "if
they (Will Rice) hadn't been
out on their roof drawing us
out onto our balconies, this
rs
V!
to close Sid Richardson balconies
whole thing would never have
started."
The feeling expressed was
that the "retribution" called
for by the Masters will not be
evenly applied and will affect
only a fraction of those in-
volved in excesses, as well as
many others who are guilty of
nothing. In any case, a physical
restriction such as locking stu-
dents off their balconies may
not necessarily accomplish any-
thing, especially at a school
like Rice—the resulting muta-
tions of finals week tension re-
leases would undoubtedly lead
to new heights of the bizarre.
Mass lobotomy is the only real
answer to Rice's problems any-
way.
Some possible alternatives
suggested in SRC floor meet-
ings and council session wei*e:
1) Abolish "dead week" al-
together. Expand the finals
period to two weeks and make
most exams self-scheduled.
This would theoretically al-
leviate much of the concen-
trated pressure which leads to
the mass insanity during finals.
A student night arrange to fin-
ish his exams sooner, or he
could plan them so as to get
the maximum amount of study
time. Proponents of this plan
say it would deal with the cause
of the whole problem of finals
week, rather than merely its
effects.
2) Stronger enforcement of
increased fines existing rules
and against fireworks and
various unlawful projectiles.
3) A huge all-campus party
during dead week.
4) A meeting wherein the
Sid Rich council members or
their representatives can dis-
cuss and work out possible al-
ternatives instead of just ac-
cepting the implementation of
a panicked decree passed in
closed session' with little or
no subsequent explanation.
5) Tear down Will Rice Col-
li
G) Brick the Masters into
their homes.
♦ * *
Due to the strategic location
of his home, Dr. Castaneda,
Master of Will Rice, has prob-
ably been bothered more than
anyone. Aside from being oc-
casionally subjected to verbal
(Continued on Page 3)
superb
the
owl
thresKef
supei
bowl
volume 61, number 17
thursday, january IT, 1974
Student hustlers profit from Super Bowl
by DANA BLANKENHORN
The Super Bowl isn't a
game: it's an event, like an
inauguration or a Hollywood
premiere, a time for the beau-
tiful people to feign the hokey
look and mingle with the beer
guzzlers. The true fans, who
can afford neither the trans-
portation or the ticket price
($15 ir you know someone, up
to $150 if you don't), get front-
line seats in front of the boob
tube. Unless they're outside,
living off their fellow-fan.
$ for you, $ for me
How was money made ? There
were many hardy entrepreneurs,
like those Wiess die-hands
pulling mud-stranded vehicles
out of the Rice parking quag-
mire. Some students picked up
extra change by conducting
campus tours for the crowd,
and at least a few rooms were
rented out for the night, the
usual occupants doubling up in
return for cash later on. There
was book made, and there were
thousands upon thousands of
programs sold. Cloth caips went
for $8.00 on Saturday and
$10.00 on game day, while many
Rice students peddled Lone
Star beer at 75c a pop.
The University itself got a
seven-figure lease, all right,
but two of those figures were
after the decimal point. There
were about 20-25 thousand cars
at least $2.00 per, and the
concessions turned a meager
profit.
There are some real fans who
see these affairs; the fortunate
faithful who hocked the family
jewels and trotted down like
Don Quixotes, yearning for the
victories of men they would
never know personally. Viking-
fans, particularly . . .
Two guys, one huge and one
of medium stature, with an eye
patch over his socket, were
swigging beer on a Saturday
afternoon, as helicopter hover-
ed over the field trying to dry
the paint. "We're going to beat
the hell out of Miami," said
the larger one. doing his fourth
Coors.
"Hell, yes," agreed Eye
Patch. "Hev va wanna come
mmmm *mmm
The Sid Richardson sidewalk, and the garden of Will Rice House, as seen from the 7th balcony. It's a long way down.
bill fulton
to the Viking pep rally? It's
at, ah . . .
"Texas an' Main (The Rice
Hotel > "
"Yeah, Texas an' Main. Costs
$5.00, but they'll be too drunk
to notice "ya."
"We're gonna beat the hell
outta Miami." They didn't have
tickets, and I saw them later
trying unsuccessfully to bar-
gain with a scalper.
Watching the VHIkings
The Minnesota faithful are
used to traveling. They live,
(Continued on Page 8)
Rice, T£U
establish joint
S-E program
Texas Southern University
and Rice have announced the
opening of a new dual-degree
|,r.-srram in Science-Engineer-
ing. The program consists of
three years of pre-Engineering
train it: g t Chemistry, Physics.
< r Math > at Texas Southern
followed bv two years at Rice
in one of the Engineering De-
partments, resulting in a B.S.
in Science from TSl" and a B.S.
in Engineering from Rice after
five years. A TSU press re-
lease predicted an eventual to-
tal of twenty students annually
in the program. However, some
doubts as to the program's via-
bility have already arisen.
Campus critics have pointed
ui) potential problems for the
new plan, having to do basi-
cally with the differences in
TSU's and Rice's ^undergradu-
ate curriculum. Their potential
incompatibility has caused at
least one professor to call the
program "just another exercise
. . . wasted effort." Others,
including Dr. Henry Bourne
' (the Rice eo-ordinator for the
project) are optimistic.
Rice in the past has co-or-
dinated mutual courses and even
degree programs with many
other institutions, such as the
new Baylor Medical six-year
program and a' new course
called "Land Development Eco-
nomics" drawn up by the Rice
Architecture department and
Houston's Bates College of
Law.
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Jackson, Steve. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 61, No. 17, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 17, 1974, newspaper, January 17, 1974; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245182/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.