The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 77, No. 12, Ed. 1 Friday, November 17, 1989 Page: 1 of 16
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Rice Thresher
VOLUME 77, NO. 12
TEAR DOWN THE WALL!
NOVEMBER 17,1989
Kozol delivers lecture
on homelessness
by Tr6 Fischer
Jonathan Kozol, an advocate for
the homeless, spoke Monday for the
second in this year's Presidential
Lecture Series. The lecture coin-
cided with National Homelessness
Week. Kozol is the author of several
books, including Death at an Early
Age and the recently published Ra-
chel and Her Children.
Death at an Early Age describes
Kozol's experience substitute teach-
ing at a Boston "slum school." The
book speaks to inequality in educa-
tion and its consequences. Kozol
said that, for example, his students
had never had a permanent teacher
and that he was the thirteenth substi-
tute that year alone. Kozol was fired
from the school for "curriculum
deviation"—using the poetry of
Robert Frost and Langston Hughes
to supplement the approved texts.
"[The book] is about Boston twenty
years ago, but it could be applied
without altercation to Chicago and
New York schools today," Kozol
said.
Four years ago, Kozol read a story
in a newspaper about the death of a
little boy in a large New York City
homeless shelter. Moved by the
tragedy, Kozol traveled to the shelter
from Boston and found the boy's
mother. Rachel and Her Children,
Kozol's most recent book, docu-
ments his experience closely observ-
ing and living with the homeless in
this shelter over the past four years.
"They poured their hearts out to
me. The book is not just good repar-
tee, accurate quotes. It is the distilla-
tion of years of grief, it is almost
biblical—not my writing, their
words. Its beautiful. These people
wept in front of me," Kozol said.
"None of the homeless fit any of
the stereotypes," he said. "It is a
world of people who are frequently
poorly educated or illiterate, but
mainly just lack the funds to feed and
clothe themselves.
"It is very important to me that we
make connections between the
homeless and all the other poor.
There is a tendency in the United
States to isolate each issue," said
Kozol.
Kozol targets the cuts made dur-
ing former President Ronald Re-
agan 's administration as the reason
why people are homeless. In 1980,
the government spent 12 cents on
public housing supports for every
dollar spent on defense. Today, it is 3
cents for every defense dollar, said
Kozol. This is an eighty percent
decrease since 1981.
In 1981, the Federal Government
stopped building public housing.
Currently, the waiting list for public
housing in New York City is 18years,
in Boston it is 12, and in Miami it is
20, Kozol said.
"That eighty percent cut in in
SEE LECTURE, PAGE 6
Jonathan Kozol speaks to student activists in the Miner Lounge Monday before the President's Lecture
Kozol encourages students to become
politically active to help the homeless
by Amy Keener
Before speaking in the Grand
Hall Monday night as part of the
President's Lecture Series, Jonathan
Kozol discussed the issues of home-
lessness, poverty and social welfare
with students and faculty. Kozol
Rice promotes AIDS awareness
by Tania van den Houten
The AIDS Task Force at Rice, in
conjunction with several organiza-
tions including the University of
Houston, Texas Women's Univer-
sity, and the AIDS Foundation of
Houston, has officially declared the
week of Nov. 13-19 AIDS Awareness
Week in Houston.
The purpose is to increase aware-
ness of AIDS on campuses and to
prevent the further spread of Human
Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), said
Health Educator Cynthia Lanier.
The week, organized by Lanier,
began at Rice Monday with "AIDS
Awareness" packages distributed in
front of Fondren Library from 11
a.m. to 1 p.m. The packages included
various condoms, information about
AIDS, and condom rating surveys.
The condom distribution acted as
a gimmick to get students' attention
and to de-sensitize people to talking
about condoms, according to Lanier.
Above all, the distribution was meant
to make students realize that AIDS
does exist and is a potential problem
for everyone, Lanier said.
Cynthia Lanier said, "As an edu-
cator, I am not trying to tell students
what to do. I am giving out informa-
tion on how students can reduce
their risk.
"This includes abstinence, avoid-
ing i.v. drugs, and, for persons who
choose to have a sexual relationship,
the use of a condom Hopefully stu-
dents will make informed decisions
and ones that will be safe."
Sociology professor Chad Gor-
don added, "Making choices based
upon safety is cheonly way to go. You
can be intimate while using a con-
dom because it is taking love and
care for the other. The AIDS Aware-
ness Week will raise to the conscious
level that AIDS hits campuses like
everywhere else."
TTie condom distribution was just
a part of a comprehensive program
for the week.
On Wednesday from noon to 1
p.m., Michael Mizwa from the AIDS
Foundation lectured on "AIDS and
the Homeless" in the Miner Lounge
of the Rice Memorial Center, [see
story, p.6]
In Wiess Commons at 7 p.m. that
night, there was a workshop entitled
"AIDS and Safe Sex" given by Bart
Loeser from AIDS of Houston, Inc.
Randall Shields spoke on "The Econ-
omiclmpact of AIDS on Houston."
Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. there
will be a street dance and live reggae
SEE AIDS, PAGE 6
encouraged political activism to
remedy what he called a deteriorat-
ing society created in the 1980's.
Kozol said many of the homeless
are women and children, innocent
victims of an unjust society created
during the Reagan administration.
He remarked that popular miscon-
ceptions are perpetuated by the
press which portrays homeless
people as destitute with pathological
problems.
"My book [Rachel and Her Chil-
dren) is about people who have suf-
fered from unfair policy initiated
mainly during the Reagan years,"
Kozol said. He added, "Ronald Re-
agan was the Great Depression in
the '80s for the homeless."
He followed by explaining that
the number of homeless people is
h igher now than at any time since the
Great Depression of the 1930s.
Kozol blamed the right-wing
"think tanks"—large corporations
and mass meilia—for creating what
perception of economic prosperity
amidst what he said was declining
social responsibility. He called for
higher taxes for corporations and for
a reevaluation of the loopholes avail-
able to the wealthy.
"For me the most important part
of the issue is the economic injus-
tice," said Kozol. He explained, "a
just society would put limits on ex-
treme wealth and poverty."
SEE STUDENTS. PAGE 7
Sleepout draws support
from Houston community
by Elise Perachio
Student RPC representatives pass out AIDS awareness packets to students in front of Fondren Library.
About 20 students and faculty
gathered on the lawn between the
Rice Memorial Center and Herring
Hall, Monday at 10 p.m., to discuss
strategies for combating the prob-
lem of the homeless. Jonathan
Kozol, who spoke earlier that eve-
ning as part of the President's Lec-
ture Series, [see related story this
page] talked informally with those
present and stayed until midnight.
Rather than speaking about the
homeless, Kozol talked almost ex-
clusively about the continuing prob-
lem of stratification and segregation
in American schools. Kozol dis-
cussed methods for helping the
homeless earlier in the afternoon at
an informal meeting with student
activists.
He reminded students that the
housing situation was not always as
bad as it is now. He claimed that
public housing has been cut continu-
ously since 1982. These cuts have
lead to the development of a new
kind of homeless, families, he said.
He wrote about these families and
how they came to be homeless in his
book, Rachel and Her Children.
After Kozol left at midnight, 15
students remained for the sleepout.
Ten of the students were from Rice,
rejirekenting all of the colleges ex-
cept Jones. Other people attending
were a Rice class III student, a Uni-
versity of Houston student, two high
school students (one from Westbury
and one from Bellaire) and Paui
Winkler, Director of the Rice Stu-
dent Volunteer Program which
sponsored the event
For the next several hours, stu-
dents discussed many ideas about
what could be done by the Rice
community for the homeless. They
decided the biggest obstacle to be
overcome was to commit people to
working on the problem for the long-
term. Sleepout coordinator Becky
Evans said, "It is difficult to keep
people motivated when there's no in-
stantaneous change."
Students took Kozol's advice seri-
ously about needing work from both
a service and a political angle. The
problem with just acting is that you
don't do anything new; the problem
with thinking is you don't do, any-
thing," Bill Burge, the class III stu-
SEE SLEEPOUT, PAGE 5
FINt ARTS
Lorie List reviews
Rice Players' suc-
cess with Cloud
Nine
See page 9
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Kahn, Greg & Leedy, Sarah J. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 77, No. 12, Ed. 1 Friday, November 17, 1989, newspaper, November 17, 1989; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245735/m1/1/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.