The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 29, Ed. 1 Friday, March 22, 1991 Page: 10 of 20
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10 FRIDAY, MARCH 22,1991 THE RICE THRESHER
T
"And then they take your parents away."
-wr ~r —Neil Robinson
The Rice Sentinel
JLou're staring atthe freshly-
posted list of advisors and co-advi-
sors. And you're wishing that just
once, you could have a peek into
those mysterious coordinator's
minds. After all, you're allowed to
worship them, but only for ten min-
utes at a time.
Well, this is it The comprehensive
guide to Orientation Week. How to
get Wiess to pick you. The best jacks
and the worst jacks. The rise and
stumble of the alcohol policy. How to
do it up right
This is also a critical look. Is "O-
Week" just a euphemism for 'boot
camp?" Is it one long party with "Ad-
6 Some of the
advisors were
more concerned
with making the
impression of
their being re-
ally cool people
instead of say-
ing, 'hey, if you
really have a
problem you
can come talk
to me.9
—Lindsay
Fair hurst
visors Only" taped to the door? Is it
really for the freshmen anymore?
Problems with 0-Week are easy
to pinpoint, but not so easy to solve.
0-Week is chock full of stuff that has
to get done. Orientation, placement
tests, registration, McGuffin...
This year's coordinators are try-
ing to trim the activities down and
rework scheduling. Will Rice College
coordinator Dave Garraway said they
want to revise or cut the library orien-
tation and shorten the gym orienta-
tion. They're trying to ban testing
done "at obscene hours." (The NSCI.
placement exam is given at 8 a.m.)
Garraway also said the music school
and architecture presentations
should be done at the same time. 40
The powers that be are also tak-
ing a look at expanding the advisor
training sessions to include one day
in the spring for training on social
issues. The Student Association
committee on Minority Affairs wants
to add race relation discussions (see
sidebar). A new student committee
chaired byWRC freshman Johnath an
Briggs is developing an "advisor
checklist" to give upperclassmen an
added reminder of freshmen's needs.
This 0-Week will, perhaps unfor-
tunately, see a lot of changes. The
administration is working to tame
the matriculation ceremony (see
sidebar), which ended last year with
the entire audience chanting "Build-
ing, unbuilding and rebuilding" in
unison with the president Coordina-
tors will be breathinfdownthe necks
of jacksters in an attempt to prevent
last year's destructive mis-
takes from happening
again.
The masters have
also capped the num-
ber of advisors allowed
at each college this
year, said Brown mas-
ter John Brelsford, Jr.
They now allow 36 per
college, a token measure
because Sid Ricardson was
the only college planning to
accept more. According to
coordinator Gambrill
Hollister, Sid often wel-
comes as many as forty more
freshmen than other colleges
because it has more on-cam-
pus space.
Already/#iough, there are
245 advisors on campus for 600
freshmen. This does not include
other upperclassmen such as the
college presidents and coordinators.
"I think with the number of jacks and
general rowdiness it would be good
to keep the number of advisors
down," Brelsford said.
And perhaps the most important
difference this year is that the alco-
hol policy has beeii jeopardized by
licensing troubles, so the adminis-
tration-is sure to be watching O-Week
closely. Advisors and coordinators
are the watchdogs for the whole stu-
dent body. Let the third bone-dry
Orientation Week begin.
Eeni-meeni-myni-mo
There are 576 people applying for
165 advisor spots. Eight hundred and
five people interviewing for 80 co-
advisor spots, not counting Lovett
Advising is obviously a coveted job.
So what does it take, then, to turn the
heads of a tired coordinator?
Well, extracurriculars and popu-
n
□
St
larity may not play as large a part as
you think. What really counts is
whether your heart is in it Do you
want to advise for the prestige, the
advisor bonding, the cute coordina-
tor with a tattoo? Or do you have a
real desire to give up seven days of
your life to seven hapless young
collegiates?
You can't fool the coordinators,
says Baker head mentor Jennifer
Hailey. They can tell what your mo-
tives'are.
Baker junior Damla Karson obvi-
ously made a good impression on
coordinators last year. She was ac-
cepted to advise at three out of the
seven colleges where she applied.
Finding
common
ground
The Student Association (SA) Mi-
nority Affairs Committee met last
Wednesday to discuss the possbility of
adding a couple of "prejudice reduction*
activities to 0-Week to increase minor-
ity awareness.
Will Rice College President Teddy
Adams and Lovett junior Sean
O'Connell, the committee chairs, invited
the students that attended the recent
Common Ground: Building on the
Strength of Diversity program spon-
sored by the American Association of
University Students to share what they
had learned.
The delegates from the conference
who attended the meeting included
Jones juniors Quanna Gee, and Mitra
Miter, Jones 9ophomore Pat Sanchez
and Hanszen junior Mike Sandkxt.
One activity they suggested was to set
up study circles of ten to 15 people. These
circles could easily be set at dinner time
during O-Week whereoneperson who would
act as facilitator would raise a topic of dis-
cussion concerning prejudice. This type of
setting would encouage very open, non-
limited discussion.
"I think it's important for everyone to
evaluate themselves and their prejudice,"
Sanchez said. A similar activity would be
initiated for faculty as well.
The commitee decided to carefully skirt
overkill.
"What we want to tell the freshmen about
prejudice reduction needs to be very light
but at the same time serious. It needs to
come across in a non-threatening way,"
Sandfort said.
Cathi Clack had suggested that a skit
about discrimination should be presented
during the "Mixed Signals" program during
O-Week. At other universities, one long skit
is presented with different acts that com-
ment on different problems such as sexual
assault and racism.
The only objection to these activities
seems to be the time factor. Some say that
O-Week is already top full to accomodate
any more planned a&Mfies.
To get around this problem;del-
some of the techniques they learned at
the conference to reduce prejudice and
the incidence of prejudice remarks and
racial slurs.
college level. Each coNegecould implement
several of the activities on its own time.
"I think most of these activities would be
more effective on the college level anyway
because you would be experiencing
them with the same people that you see
everyday," Adams said.
One suggestion was to give a
scantron-type evaluation on discrimina-
tion. This would let each student con-
front his or her own feelings on preju-
dice.
"Some people think they're not
prejudiced, but sometimes don't think
that what they say or do might offend
somepeople,"Lovettsenk>rNathan Tiller
said.
"There are only six American Indi-
ans on campus and some wereoffended
with the representation of Indians as
savages at Sid Richardson College's
Wild, WM West' college night," Gee
said.
The discussion groups and evalua-
tions would probably not just focus on
racial discrimination.
"A lot is being done about racial
discrimination but not much is t$ing
done about sexual orientation discrimi-
nation. GALOR (Gays and Lesbians of
Rice) still feels that they have to wear
bags over their heads for pictures," Gee
said.
The committee will meet formally
with the O-Week coordinators next
Tuesday,teforethey get too set in their
ways," Adams said, to discuss the ac-
tual implementation of these activities
during O-Week.
—Jill Salomon
V
What's her secret? "A lot of it has to
do with luck," she said, citing the
interview as the most important ele-
ment
Originality helps. Wiess, infamous
for early-morning interviews, sched-
uled Karson at 8:30 am. on a week-
end. "I rolled out of bed, grabbed my
teddy bear and put on my slippers
and went to the interview. They loved
it"
Karson also expressed concern
about people who apply to advise for
the prestige or for social reasons.
To me, those are fringe benefits,"
she said. "Not the mam concern. I'm
there to be with my freshmen."
Lovett freshman Lindsay
Fair hurst commented, "Some of the
advisors were more concerned with
making the impression of their being
really cool people instead of saying,
'hey, if you really have a problem you
can come talk to me."
Hailey says she looks for different
qualities in a co-advisor than in an
advisor. "We want the co-mentors to
be representative of the spirit of that
college. They should be able to get
everyone at Baker to be attracted to
that college.... Co-mentors should
love their college more than they
love Baker."
Also important is how you fitjnto
the big picture. Coordinators w&nt a
group which represents every facet
of the university. However, some-
times personality outweighs diver-
sity. Last year, Jones had six
coadvisors from Wiess. Lovett had
five from Baker.
In general, cos have to be a little
more outgoing than advisors. "We
might pick a Jones person that's a
little more reserved, but they're reli-
able," Jones coordinator Jennifer
Evans said.
by Jil]
Director of Student activities
Sarah Nelson Crawford said she sees
a trend away from picking advisors
who are focused on partying or
"scamming on freshmen." She said
coordinators seem to be more con-
cerned about advisors' motivation in
recent years.
Picking head honchos
While there is no real way to tell
what prompts an applicant Hollister
said, "as long as the coordinators are
aware of the point of O-Week it'll be
okay." Coordinators set the tone for
O-Week, for sure. They are ultimately
responsible for advisor selection,
6 How are you
going to remem-
ber someone's
name if you're
drinking?'
—Jennifer
Evans
enforcement of the alcohol policy,
controlling jacks, even pairing room-
mates.
Some colleges—Brown, Jones
and Will Rice—elect their coordina-
tors, who run in pairs or groups of
three.
"I think that it's a good thing that
coordinators are elected at Brown.
The students pretty much know who
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Moeller, Kurt & Yates, Jay. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 29, Ed. 1 Friday, March 22, 1991, newspaper, March 22, 1991; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245780/m1/10/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.