The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 11, Ed. 1 Friday, September 28, 1990 Page: 1 of 20
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<5
SINCE 1916
1
VOLUME 78, NO. 11
ANTIDOTE ON YOUR ANTEDATE
SEPTEMBER 28y 1990
Carlos Fuentes opens lecture series
by Leezie Kim
Internationally reknowned au-
thor, diplomat, human rights activist
and Renaissance man, Ambassador
Carlos Fuentes arrives at Rice
Memorial Center Wednesday to
open the 1990-91 Presidential Lec-
ture Series.
Ending his own six-week interna-
tional lecture circuit, Fuentes will be
addressing the issues of Latin Ameri-
can and United States interrelations
in his "Sharing the Hemisphere"
program
Mexican by birth, Fuentes spent
his youth in Washington D.C. where
his father was posted as a diplomat
and where he learned to "prefer grits
to guacamole."
"Ambassador Fuentes is really an
American spokesman for Hispanics
in the United States," said professor
of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Ronald Sass, chair of the committee
on the Presidential Lecture Series.
"He's well worth listening to and has
the ability to tell a story and entertain
an audience." Anticipating a large
crowd, Sass expects a representative
portion of the Houston Hispanic
community to attend.
Before his leap onto the political
stage as Mexico's Ambassador to
France, Fuentes was already a well-
received international author.
Hailed as the international voice of
gringo and Latino souls by some and
criticized as an author without per-
sonal identity or history by others,
Fuentes has been decorated with the
Cervantes Prize by King Juan Carlos
of Spain in 1988, the prestigious
Romulo Gallegos Prize, and numer-
ous honorary degrees from some of
the most famous universities of the
world.
Ironically, Fuentes became best
known to Americans by the help of
Hollywood. The Old Gringo, starring
Jane Fonda and Gregory Peck, was
based on Fuentes' novel of the same
name. 77ie Old Gringo made Fuentes
the first Mexican author to become a
bestseller in the United States.
"[The committee] noticed a lot of
people [here at Rice] were reading
The Old Gringo," said Sass.
The 1990-91 Presidential Lecture
Series consists of five distinguished
speakers from various fields includ-
ing environmental science and
American social psychology. Speak-
ers in the past two years have in-
cluded authors Joyce Carol Oates
and Susan Sontag and archaeologist
Richard Leakey.
"Each year we try to have a
speaker from an interactive cul-
ture—Asian, Black, Hispanic," Sass
said aboutthe speakers chosen. "It's
a gesture to increase cultural awar-
ness and interaction among different
cultures. It's our way of bringing
what's beyond the hedges inside the
hedges."
Though the lecture series is open
to the public, its main thrust is to
benefit the Rice student. However,
students do not make up enough of
the audience, according to Sass. He
told stories of guessing games on
how many chairs shou Id be set out so
the Grand Hall does not look too full
or too empty. He encourages more
students to attend.
"Students tell me they can't go;
they have a biology lab and they
don't want to get all dressed up," Sass
said. "You don't have to dress up and
you have to remember that you get to
go to that lab every day. If nothing
else, it's a cheap date...and it's close
to the Pub." „
New majors catch up with the times
Asian studies, cognitive sciences span departments, offer variety
by Heidi Huettner
Students interested in interde-
partmental fields of study may
choose a new major this year, with-
out having to go through the long
process of having an area major
approved. Asian studies officially
debuts as a major at Rice this semes-
ter and,alongwith cognitive science,
introduced last year, broadens the
scope of study available.
Asian Studies
Professor of art and art history
Richard Wilson, specializing in Japa-
nese art, said, "for the caliber of Rice,
we're late into the game" when it
comes to setting up this type of ma-
jor, but added that he is "very grate-
ful to everyone for letting us try it"
"In the past ten years, there has
been an explosion of Asian Studies
programs," Wilson said. "Twenty
years ago you could count Asian
Studies programs on your fingers."
He also noted heightened student
interest in Asian Studies. The stu-
dents demanded it. , .The area ma-
jors [in Asian Studies] have in-
creased exponentially since I came
here."
Explaining the increased interest
in the East, Wilson said, "Asia occu-
pies one-third of the world's
population...In science, economics,
and human endeavor, Asia cannot be
ignored." He said that he tells his
students to "walk around campus
and look: the faces aren't all white.
It's all part of a reality that the world
is round indeed."
Wilson, along with history profes-
sor Richard Smith and professor of
religious studies Anne Klein, pre-
sented a proposal for an Asian stud-
ies major in the spring of 1989. The
Undergraduate Curriculum Com-
mittee approved the proposal and it
then was subjected to intensive re-
view/revision by the committee,
administration and faculty.
The new major features a abso-
lute minimum amount of offerings,
according to Chair of the Under-
graduate Curriculum Committee
Stephen Klineberg. But, he said, "at
least it's a sort of a foot in the door for
the subject" Klineberg said it was
fortunate for the university that
"three just extraordinarily good
people" teamed up to establish the
major. Smith, Wilson and Klein spe-
cialize in Chinese history, Japanese
art and Buddhist history, respec-
tively, and cover a necessarily broad
range of topics in such an interdisci-
plinary effort.
Although the staff is small right
now, and technically spread out over
several departments, Klineberg
said, "By having [Asian studies] as a
major, it's in the catalog, and indi-
cates a commitment on the part of
the University."
No Japanese courses have been
offered at Rice since 1989, despite
Photography professor
gored byvbull in Mexico
Photography professor Geoff Winningham recently traveled to San
Miguel de Allende, Mexico to watch and photograph the running of the
bulls, a centuries old tradition which originated in Spain and was
captured in Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. Sources have
informed the Thresher that on September 22, Winningham was gored
by a bull and is currently in a clinic in central Mexico with a fractured
pelvis, broken ribs, and a punctured lung.
A wild bull which plunged into a crowd watching the running of the
bulls in San Miguel de Allende, a town approximately 150 miles north-
west of Mexico City, caused the injuries, Maria Wells the department
secretary for the art and art history department said. The bull veered
into the crowd, injuring eight observers and killing the person next to
Winningham, Wells said.
During the running, a crowd gathers on the sides of a road while
a matador hires the bulls down the road and into the arena where the
bull fights will be held. Wells said Winningham was aware of the dan-
ger as he had photographed the bulls last year, but he felt he was
relatively safe by staying out of the front row of the crowd.
e The town is located in a mountainous areaJiaving a high population
of retired Americans. The town square, where the* crowds werq_
located, was sealed off, leaving no room to run from the bull. Injuries
and deaths during bull runs are not unusual occurences.
Winningham, who is also chairman 6f the art and art history 4epart-
mentcannotbe movedfromSan Miguel becauseof his punctured lung,
the most serious of his injuries. He is expected to remain thefe until at
least next Wednesday.
Doctors have been trying to inflate Winningham's punctured lung,
but had riot been able to remove the tubes as of Tuesday* *
Winningham has traveled to Mexico on photography&assignments
in the past He displayed a one-man show in San Miguel in June 1982.
Winningham, a 1965 Rice alumnus, also was involved this summer
with the Economic Summit as a White House staff photographer.
Some of his works from the event are currently on display in the
photography show at the Farish Gallery in Anderson HalL
by Thresher Staff
Alan Balfour was recently appointed dean of the School of Architecture.
Archi school appoints dean,
hires first female professor
by Terri Shieh
overflowing enrollment when
classes were offered. According to
Wilson, the Hokkaido Foundation of
Japan funded an instructor for two
years, but funding was not renewed,
and hopes of getting more funding
via the Economic Summit this sum-
mer yielded nothing.
Hopefully, establishing Asian
studies as a major will attract atten-
tion to this and other related areas of
study, and encourage hiring of more
professors and instructors as the
program develops.
Because Asian studies doesn't fit
under any specific department get-
ting funding and added personnel
SEE MAJORS, PAGE 8
The Rice School of Architecture
recently appointed Alan Balfour as
dean of the school of architecture,
and Elysabeth Yates Burns McKee
as the school's first woman profes-
sor. Both professors have met with a
strong show of student support.
Mckee studied at the University
of Massachusetts and Amherst and
received her masters from Yale uni-
versity in theoretical studies, phi-
losophy, and comparative literature.
Balfour received an undergraduate
degree from Georgia Institute of
Technology and continued his
graduate studies at the Edinburgh
aged as part of the learning experi-
ence. Balfour said, "1 like to see stu-
dents take part in debates and dis-
cussions. Rice is an ideal setting for
this. These questions are not inter
nal to the school of architecture. We
must get input from engineering,
humanities, sociology as well. Rice
has the smallness-of-sc.ale accessi-
bility to do this."
Architecture students are highly
supportive of Balfour and his leader-
ship. Jones College junior and presi-
dent of the Anderson Hall Student
Council Julio Salcedo said, "He's
really nice to work with. He's good
with student involvement, with every
single type of committee. He looks
for student input in the running of
'My goal is to demystify the materia! and to
encourage interaction so students participate in
everything.' —Elysabeth Mckee
and Princeton Schools of Architec-
ture. He was a member of the Royal
Institute of British Architects in the
1960's and is cuirently a member of
the American Institute of Architects.
Balfour, previously the associate
dean, was appointed the acting dean
of the architecture school shortly
after former dean Paul Kennon's
sudden death in January.
When asked about his goal for the
students-, Balfour said, "Architecture
is clearly the most important public
art We do not see the future clearly
now. We must be extremely well
grounded in theory and practice to
make cultural interpretations, both
social and political. We want our
students to be the leaders, profes-
sionally and intellectually, of the fu-
ture."
Balfour maintains that architec-
ture is a fine line between the science
and the humanities, that it draws
from both fields. According to Bal-
four, the main question now is how to
interpret culture and to construct
future ideas about techniques and
philosophy in post-modernism,
which Balfour calls "an open door to
infinite realities."
To help answer this question.
Balfour and the school of architec-
ture encourage a wide variety of
thought and opinion. Currently, the
architecture school has faculty who
fly in during the week just to teach
classes; James Williamson from
Cambridge, Massachusetts and
Charles Rose from Cooper Union in
New York City are just a few of those
who make this weekly trip. In the
future, distinguished alumni such as
Stephen Fox, Richard Becherer and
other prominent architects will visit
for presentations and lecture series.
Student input is greatly encour-
the school. You can always go in to
talk to him, .even though he's really
busy."
Robert Mankin, a Sid Richardson
College junior, said, "He's very ener-
getic and enthusiastic about the
school. He wants to upgrade the
computer-aided designs so all the
students can have access and be
knowledgeable about the computer-
aided design process,"
Currently, .Anderson Hall is in-
stalling the Rice Advanced Vision
Lab (RAVL), a highly advanced
computer system that allows stu-
dents to easily creatc three-dimen-
sional shapes and spaces and even to
block out, shade, and manipulate
various dimensions.
Elysabeth McKee, formerly a
professor at University of Cincinnati,
also joins the faculty at Anderson
Hall. Her main interest is the shape
of modernity and modernism in
architecture. Her area of concentra-
tion is the impact of Hegel, Marx, and
SEE ARCHITECTURE, PAGE 7
Feature
The MOB; past, pres-
ent and fu ture
See page 4
Feature
An interview with
the playwright of
Secrets
See page 13
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Moeller, Kurt & Yates, Jay. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 11, Ed. 1 Friday, September 28, 1990, newspaper, September 28, 1990; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245762/m1/1/: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.