The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 7, Ed. 1 Friday, August 31, 1990 Page: 1 of 20
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Rice Thresher
VOLUME 78, NO. 7
"THE CHECK IS IN THE MAIL"
AUGUST 31,1990
Unprecedented jacking disrupts Orientation Week for colleges
by Alicia Butler
Enthusiasm caused trouble dur-
ing Orientation Week as students ex-
cited about "jacking" turned from
the innocuous activities of past years
such as water fights and commons
stacking to more dangerous pranks
which damaged college property
and student unity.
Initially, the jacking which oc-
curred among the colleges did not
inflict any irreversible damage. But
as college spirit rose to a frenzy,
some students became overzealous
in their jack attempts. "Towards the
end of the week it became vandal-
ism—not jacking," said Wiess 0-
Week Coordinator Bob Elliott
The week began with a series of
jacks by members of Sid Richardson
College. Freshmen arriving at
Brown College on Monday morning
were confused about the location of
their college because SRC students
had painted over the signs at the
Brown parking lot entrances, chang-
ing them to read "Jones College."
Monday evening, members of
SRC first attacked Will Rice College
with buckets of water and later ran to
Wiess and Hanszen Colleges after a
mud-wrestling event and pressed
their muddy bodies against the
doors and windows.
"Sid did all the beginning jacks
and initiated the tone of the week,"
said Jones 0-Week Coordinator
Paula Perry.
Several of the colleges responded
to these incidents with retaliatory ac-
tions against SRC, as well as attacks
upon each other. Hanszen OWeek
Coordinator Grace Chen reported
that Hanszen did not normally par-
ing Wheaties, laundry detergent,
animal intestines, and animal liver.
Hanszen students also wrapped
paper mache around the trunks of
trees in the Will Rice courtyard, and
removed doorknobs from Wiess.
those jacks."
Students from Lovett entered the
SRC lobby on Wednesday and re-
moved several presidential pictures,
damaging three of them in the proc-
ess.
There is a sense of pride in a creative and non-destructive
jack...Towards the end of the week, creativity went sour. What could
be interpreted as creative became destructive"—Bob Elliott
week Coordinator dod fcliiott Paula Perry.
Administration gives Rice
Council $4,600 to replace
by Kurt Moeller
Wednesday the Rice Program
Council received a check for
$4636.10 from the administration to
replace a check for the same amount
that was written to cash by 1989-90
RPC President Steve Cantrell. There
are no records indicating where that
money was disbursed.
In March, the RPC was forced to
take out some loans, including an
emergency $4000 loan from the
Thresher, to enable it to hold Beer-
Bike and Rondolet in March.
"The loans that it asked for are
going to be repaid immediately,"
said Director of Student Activities
Sarah Nelson Crawford. "The RPC
will function as usual."
" [The money] is coming from the
administration because we're at a
point where our hands are tied [as far
as forcing repayment]," said RPC
President Keith Jaasma. The money
from the administration is not a loan,
according to Jaasma. The admini-
ticipate in jacking, but said "We were
abused at the beginning of the week,
and the freshmen wanted to get
them back."
Members of Hanszen deposited a
variety of substances in the SRC vol-
leyball pit during the week, includ-
Program
missing funds
stration will try and recover the
money itself.
"In the short-term we haven't
been affected, because we have
enough money to cover the cost of
the [fall events] calendar," Jaasma
said.
Trail of the check
Cantrell's signature was the only
one on Rice Program Council check
#2950, dated December 8, 1989,
which was written to cash. 1989-90
RPC Treasurer Chris Lowe said he
SEE RPC, PAGE 6
Rice's new owl mascots, Sammy and George, get acquainted with their new home jn the I-oyett quad
Rice acquires new owl mascots
by Laura Whittington
Rice recently acquired two Great Horned owls as
new mascots, Sammy and George. The pair will con-
tinue the role recently held by Sammy and Norman,
who were killed by a predator late last spring.
Although it is illegal to keep Great Horned Owls in
captivity, Rice received permission to house them
bemuse each owl is injured in a way that would not
allow it to survive in the wild.
Sammy and George were obtained from rehabilita-
tors who try to help injured or orphaned birds learn to
survive in the wild. If no one had claimed the owls,
they would have been put to sleep.
Both owls are female. Sammy was living in Austin,
Texas and was used to educate people about wild
birds. She has a detached retina in one eye and limited
sight in the other.
Although she compensates very well through her
acute hearing, she cannot hunt effectively. She does,
however, have some flight capability.
Sammy has been the traditional name for tlje Rice
mascot since the early 1900's, when Texas A&M stole
the owL The private detective who was hired to find
the lost owl telegraphed "Sammy is fine and misses
his family and friends."
George was also named in accordance with a Rice
tradition that calls for naming the bird after the cur-
rent university president She was found in Jasper, TX
where she was being tended for injuries to her wing.
She was caught in barbed wire, injuring her tendon
and causing a hole in the wing and can no longer fly.
Both birds are provided for by student owl caretak-
ers who are trained by professional rehabilitators.
The money for their upkeep comes from the student
blanket tax. Before the new owls arrived, their cage
was repaired and examined "with a fine toothed comb
to ensure that last spring's tragedy is not repeated,"
explained Sarah Nelson Crawford, Director of Stu-
dent Activities.
Crawford explained that the owls would probably
not be ready to appear at the first football game due
to the fact that they are very shy and uncomfortable in
their new surroundings. While it is fine to visit them,
she advised that the curious respect their space by
moving slowly and trying not to make any loud,
sudden noises.
Sammy and Norman are buried by the cage now
occupied by the new Sammy and George. A plaque
will be placed near the grave to commemorate the de-
ceased owls.
According to Will Rice O-Week
Coordinator Carrie McDonald,
SRC's activities and rumors about
the "Sid Jihad" O-Week theme pro-
voked a rowdy response from WRC.
"Will Rice was never much of a jack-
ing college before this year," she
said, "but there was a rumor that Sid
intended to commit five jacks every
day, and that prompted people at Will
Rice to jack more."
"A lot of people believed that we
did jacks we never did," said SRC O-
Week Coordinator Melissa Deaton.
"That was one of the problems."
Deaton said the SRC O-Week
Coordinators had intended to gener-
ate enthusiasm during the week
through practice of jacking, but that
they did nothing to provoke the de-
structiveness of later jacks. "None of
our jacks were ever destructive. If
our attitude led to jacks later in the
week, that's fine. But we are not re-
sponsible for the destructiveness of
On Thursday, members of Will
Rice poured cement in the SRC vol-
leyball pit WRC O-Week Coordina-
tor Chris Briggs said, "A bunch of us
showed up at 9 a.m. the next morning
to clean the pit, but someone had
already taken care of it."
Thursday evening while most of
the freshman class was at Water
World, students advising at Hanszen
attempted to rewire the elevators in
SRC so that they would function ir-
regularly, but ended up damaging
the elevator wiring. One coodinator
at SRC was shocked when he exam-
ined the wiring. Hanszen declined to
comment about the incident
The Lovett volleyball pit was also
targeted on Thursday. Students
from WRC buried mousetraps in the
sand, but the Lovett coordinators
were warned ofthejack by an advisor
at SRC in time to remove the traps
without injury to any students.
Jones was a victim of several seri-
SEE JACKS, PAGE 6
Ex-NFL star named new
External Vice President
by Zeynep Iber
After twenty-five years of being
away from Rice, Frank Ryan says it's
good to be back. Ryan recently re-
placed Kent Dove as the Vice Presi-
dent of External Affairs.
Ryan graduated from Rice in 1958
with a degree in physics and later
received a master's and a doctorate
in mathematics from Rice. Ryan said,
"Rice is an especially- fine university,
and this combination of duties, along
with the challenge of repaying my
debt to Rice through service on it's
behalf, is both an honor and an op-
portunity that I simply could not let
pass by."
As an undergraduate Ryan played
football for the Owls, quarterback-
ing them from 1955 to1957. Upon re-
ceiving his bachelor's degree, Ryan
continued with professional football
while simultaneously working on his
master's and doctorate. Ryan played
13 seasons in the National Football
League with the Los Angeles Rams,
the Cleveland Browns, and the
Washington Redskins. Ryan was
elected to the NFL Pro-Bowl team
three times, and he was ranked sev-
enth among all-time NFL quarter-
backs on the basis of passing profi-
ciency when he retired in 1970.
Ryan quarterbacked the 1964
Cleveland Browns to the NFL work!
chapionship and received his doctor-
ate from Rice six months later.
After being a professional athlete
for thirteen years, Ryan held several
teaching positions. In 1971 Ryan
founded and directed the House In-
formation Systems Organization
that designed and developed the first
non-administrative computer sys-
tem used by the U.S. House of Repre-
sentatives. From 1971 to 1977 he
devised and refined the application
of computer technology to a multi-
tude of legislative functions, the first
and most revolutionary of which was
the electronic voting system that is
used today to record the legislative
votes of the House members.
In 1973 Ryan was elected to the
Rioe Board of Governors and has
served both as an alumni governor
and as a governor advisor becoming
a distinguished alumnus in 1987.
From 1977 to 1988 Ryan served
first as first Yale University's direc-
tor of athletics and then as the asso-
ciate vice president for institutional
planning. Ryan left Yak- in June of
1988 to become president of Contex
Electronics.
The responsibilities of the vice
president of external affairs include
being in charge of development and
fund raising, handling alumni affairs
and overseeing public relations.
Even though each of these depart-
ments has its own director, Ryan acts
as a supervisor to all three. Ryan
commented that he was "still in ex
ploration mode, trying to renew old
contacts and learning about my job."
Although he has only been here
since August 6th, Ryan already has
some new ideas. In his new position
Ryan said he would like to keep
SEE RYAN, PAGE 7
FEATURE
Date Rape: Rice's
Policies
See page 8
SPORTS
Rice Football revs
up for promising
season
See page 11
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Moeller, Kurt & Yates, Jay. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 7, Ed. 1 Friday, August 31, 1990, newspaper, August 31, 1990; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245758/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.