The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 29, Ed. 1 Friday, March 22, 1991 Page: 3 of 20
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Graduate program is not second rate
THE RICE THRESHER FRIDAY, MARCH 22, 1991 3
To the editors:
I feel compelled to take issue with
some of the points raised by Dusty
Capistran, the outgoing President of
the Graduate Student Association, in
his two recent Thresher articles.
Specifically, I wish to make a few
comments concerning the quality of
the graduate program at Rice, the
cost of graduate education, and the
magnitude of Rice's coipmitment to
the graduate program.
All of the evidence that I have
seen suggests that the graduate
program at Rice is of extremely high
quality. A few examples chosen from
material that has crossed my desk in
the last one or two years should suf-
fice to illustrate this point
1. In 1989, graduate students at
Rice received two of only 24 Fannie
and John Hertz Foundation Fellow-
ships given nationwide. Competition
for these prestigious national awards,
which provide stipends of $15,000 a
year, is extremely intense.
2. This year approximately 10-
15% of all National Science Founda-
tion (NSF) Fellowships in Electrical
Engineering were awarded to gradu-
ate students at Rice.
3. The total number of NSF Fel-
lowships awarded to graduate stu-
dents at Rice (10) was comparable to
the number awarded to Rice under-
graduates (17), if allowance is made
for the fact that the graduate school
is only half the size of the under-
graduate school.
4. According to a booklet pub-
lished this year by the graduate of-
fice at UCLA, students at that institu-
tion, which is ten times larger than
Rice, received approximately the
same number of national graduate
fellowships as did students at Rice.
Clearly, these attainments are not
those characteristic of a second class
program.
In today's mail I received a notice
Save seats for students
at Presidential Lectures
To the editors:
Where was Jane Goodall speak-
ing this past Wednesday night? Was
it London? Was it Los Angeles? I
think I heard she was giving a joint
lecture with the Dalai Lama in Tibet
Or was she holding a talk with some
of her chimpanzee friends in the
jungles of Zaire?
It wouldn't really have made any
difference to me, though, as I did not
have a snowball's chance in hell of
hearing her speak, even though I
went over to the RMC soon after
dinner, around seven o'clock.
As someone who pays thousands
of dollars a year for the privilege of
attending Rice, I object to being
tinned away from a Rice Presidential
Lecture when I see large numbers of
people who are obviously not Rice
students already seated. As I gazed
inthroughawindowoutsidethe RMC
Grand Hall to get a glimpse of where
the Great Goodall was to speak, my
breath fogging up the glass, I could
have sworn that I saw George Bush,
Margaret Thatcher, Helmut Kohl,
Francois Mitterand, and a few other
leaders of Western economic pow-
ers sitting in the front row.
It is my opinion that in the future,
Rice needs to better define the pur-
pose of this lecture series. If the pur-
pose is to draw a large Houston audi-
ence, as seems to be the case with
the Dalai Lama, Rice should work in
conjunction with the other sponsor
organizations to arrange for the use
As someone who pays
thousands of dollars a
year for the privilege of
attending Rice, I object
to being turned away
from a Rice
Presidential Lecture...
of a larger space.
However, if the administration
feels inclined to keep the funding
and planning of these events within
the university, I think that they must
also reserve a large portion of the
seating for Rice students and alumni,
who are entitled to the educational
benefits these speakers have to offer.
Joel Sauer
Lovett '92
• The /nrvi i —
RiceThresher
Kurt Moefler, Jay Yates
Editors-in-Chief
Harlan Howe
Managing Editor
NEWS
Jonathan Briggs, Aron Danburg, Shaila
Dew an, Heidi Huettner, Leezie Kim,
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ARTS ft ENTERTAINMENT
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PHOTOGRAPHY
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SPORTS
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OPINION
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BACKPAGE
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PRODUCTION
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O COPYRIGHT 1991
The Rice Thresher, the official student newspaper at Rice University since
1916, is published each Friday during the school year, except during exami-
nation periods and holidays, by the students of Rice University. Editorial and
business offices are located on the second floor of the Ley Student Center,
P.O. Box 1892, Houston, Texas, 77251. Advertising information available
upon request. Mail subscription rate per semester $15.00 domestic, $30
international via first class mail. Unsigned editorials represent the majority
opinion of the Thresher Editors. All other pieces represent the opinion of the
author. Obviously.
that vividly illustrates my second
point; namely, that present day
graduate education is enormously
costly. The notice, advertising an
opening then at University of Minne-
sota, mentioned that in FY 1969 ex-
ternal support for the graduate pro-
gram at Minnesota was in excess of
$300 million. I suspect that this
amount exceeds the total cost of un-
dergraduate education at almost any
school in this country. In the past,
Rice has worked to contain the cost
of graduate education by finding a
niche into which it comfortably fits,
and by retaining a sharp focus on its
goals. We have not invested in a
medical school, nor in a law school.
Our education department has re-
mained very small. The overall size
of the graduate program has not in-
creased during the last ten years (ex-
cept for the introduction of the MBA
program in the Jones School). In-
stead, we have concentrated our ef-
forts on full-time thesis programs in
a small number of academic disci-
plines. In spite of this the costs of
graduate education have remained
high.
In the face of these high costs,
support for the Graduate Program
has been fairly impressive. Seventy
five percent of all Rice graduate stu-
dents, who are not enrolled in pro-
grams leading to the MBA degree in
the Jones School or in one year Pro-
fessional Master's programs in En-
gineering, receive substantial finan-
cial support. About one half of these
students are supported from univer-
sity funds. The remainder receive
support from research grants and
contracts, from federal training
grants, and from a significant number
of privately endowed fellowships. In
spite of this, many doctoral students
in the Humanities and in the Social
Sciences find their time to graduation
extended way beyond the average of
six years by the necessity of having
to work full time to make ends meet.
Support for these students is seldom
available beyond the third year.
Dusty is correct in asserting that new
sources of funding are needed if
doctoral education in the Humanities
and Social Sciences is not to become
a lifetime endeavor.
In closing I should point out that
the specific comments made above
are not meant to detract in any way
from the major thrust of Mr.
Capistran'sthesis. I too am frustrated
by the lack of adequate housing for
graduate students. I too am con-
cerned that graduate students at Rice
are perceived by some as being sec-
ond class citizens. I too believe that
it is unfortunate, if perhaps under-
standable, that the attention of our
alumni is focused so strongly on what
is undoubtedly one of the five stron-
gest undergraduate programs in the
country. However, those who know
Rice best fully understand the strong
synergism that exists between its
graduate and undergraduate parts.
We are all in this boat together. The
ride will be less choppy if we all paddle
in the same direction.
Graham P. Glass
Director
LSAT • GMAT
GRE•MCAT
Getting lost in the
land of silly tests?
Call us for help- we've been
there, and it's not pretty.
688-5500
THE
SA President explains
blanket tax increase
To the Editors:
I am writing to explain the rea-
soning behind a proposed Stu-
dent Association blanket tax in-
crease from $1.45 per student per
year to $2.45 per student per year.
With the end of the ,90-'91 aca-
demic year upon us, it has become
obvious that there is a budget
crunch in store for the "91-'92 S A
Senate. Over the past few years
the amount of money remaining
at the end of each Senate term
that has been passed on to the
incoming group, termed "carry-
over," has been steadily decreas-
ing. It has gone from $10,250 in
spring 1989 to $7700 last spring to
an estimated $4,055 this spring.
This is due to a several reasons:
1 .The SA at one time was lucky
enough to obtain a contract for
the campus directory which net-
ted approximately $8000 in rev-
enue. Because of this, the Senate
was more than willing to keep its
blanket tax as low as possible. In
fact, during *88-'89, then president
Andy Karsner cut the tax from
$1.75 to $1.45 (the current rate).
Unfortunately, the economy in
Houston is no longer so strong
and the best bid we could come
up with this past year netted only
$820.
2. Expenses are continually
increasing and consequently
draining the S A Senate's reserve
funds (the "carry-over"). Student
services such as the Newcomer's
Guide, the Midnight Madness
basketball bashes, open forums
such as the one on the Gulf War
three weeks ago, and appropria-
tions to Rice clubs for special
events have been major expenses
for the S A that we would like to
continue, but will be unable to
afford unless we can swallow
these losses. In addition, we need
to have an operating budget for
our routine expenses as well as
break-even projects such as the
Directory, O/C Apartment
Guide, game-day T-shirts, and the
new Book Co-op. Finally, a lack
of money may mean that the
Senate will be unable to expand
current projects or establish new
services.
3. I remain hopeful that this
coming year we will be able to
find other revenue sources that
will allow us to build up a reserve
for the following year's Senate
(the '92-'93 academic year).
However, I firmly believe that
this blanket tax allowance needs
to be made in order to ensure the
SA's future financial stability.
I would like to encourage all
, of you to be sure to cast your vote
this coming Tuesday, March 26.
If you have any questions or
comments about this blanket tax
proposal (or any other S A busi-
ness for that matter), I encourage
you to talk to your college presi-
dent, senator, or any of the SA
officers.
Mitra Miller
SA. Treasurer '90-'91
SA President '91-'92
9
Ml
TAUGHT IN ENGLISH
w
[BY
DANISH FACULTY
PRINCETON
REVIEW
We Score More!
Hans Christian \ndersen (1805-75) - the great Danish fairy-tale writei -
understood the value of expanding your wild
to travel is to live.'
Life becomes rich and
exciting when you are
nourished by the great
world. To Europe' is the
cry from the sons and
daughters of America.
to the land of our
fathers, the wonderful
land of memories and
dreams - Europe!'
P.
Fall, Spring and full Academic Yeaz.
Libfrai Arts (Social Sciences, Humanities, Arts)
inifrnat'ional business
Archhecuirf and Design (also Summer)
DIS, Denmark's International Study Program.
Affiliated with the University of Copenhagen.
One of Europe's oldest, safest and most
highly esteemed study abroad programs.
Established, recognized and supervised by
the Danish government.
Topwork from the DIS program was iWm/1 got - il really
fulfilled my academic expectations. The fact that instruction was
in English, but by Danish faculty substantially added to the
program - gave a true insight into what Danes and other Euro-
peans feel about the new developments. That, together with
the study tours and field trips, and my Danish host-family that I
loved, have been highlights of my stay
Steven C. Robison, University of the Pacific, Fall 1990
The DIS program was one of the biggest challenges I haw
ever had to lace I have learned so much because I was experiencing
the curriculum in addition to just reading about it The study
tours arranged by DIS added tremendously to this real life expe-
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value for the money I spent.
Yolanda James, University of Connecticut, Fall1990
For further information please contact:
Dr. Patricia S. Martin, Office of Academic Advising
Ley Student Center
Rice University
N *
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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/m1/3/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.