The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 85, No. 27, Ed. 1 Friday, May 15, 1998 Page: 1 of 20
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Vol. IXXXV, Issue No. 27
by Brian Stolei
I HRI SJU R JHlOKliM KJ AI I
Say goodbye, my baby
The Class of '98 celebrates graduation at the close of commencement exercises last Saturday
11 for more photographs and the text of author Kurt Vonnegut's address.
Matriculation '98 to depart from past
Cdmacho reaffirms decision to relocate ceremony to Stude, to ban
advisers from ceremony despite opposition from 0-Week coordinators
by Susan Egeland
THRbSHER STAIT
"Advisers are not going to be
allowedat matriculation at this point,
and there's nothing that the [Orion
tation Week coordinators] can do
about it," Hanszen College O-Week
coordinator and sophomore Chris
Zarate said.
Vice President for Student At
fairs Zenaido Camacho decided
sometime in late March to ban col-
lege O-Week advisers from the 1998
matriculation ceremony.
Utst year, college pranks, or
"jacks," at matriculation sparked
controversy, even though they had
been pre-approved by a committee
composed of the O-Week coordina-
tors and Camacho.
However, a string of jacks which
ended in the display of male back-
sides displeased President Malcolm
(iillis, who called for decorum and
an end to the pranking. The next
flay, after meeting with Camacho,
the O-Week coordinators voted to
ban jacks for the rest of the week .
Camadto's most recent decision,
however, drew month-long conten-
tion from the O-Week coordinators
of all eight residential colleges.
Camacho responded to the coor-
dinators' concerns April 14 with a
letter reaffirming his original deci-
sion to ban advisers.
Camacho wrote to the coordina-
tors: "|Matriculation| is the one
event (hiring O-Week planned, or-
ganized and directed by the admin-
istration of the university. ... Unfor-
tunately, it has been the case for
several years that matriculation has
not gone well, and attention has been
focused away from this formal and
academic welcoming."
In another change from past cer-
emonies, the 1998matriculation will
be relocated from the traditional,
outdoor location at Founder's Court
to Stude Concert Ball.
Matriculation will also be moved
one day earlier, from Monday to
Sunday, the day new students ar
rive at Rice. One coordinator specu-
lated that the move may have been
in hopes that freshmen will not have
had time to learn college cheers in
time for the j^atriculation ceremony.
Camacho presides over the ma-
triculation ceremony, and, in his first
year as Vice President for Student
Affairs, he appeared visually shell-
shocked by the lurid college chants
which bookend the ceremony.
O-Week coordinators first
learned of Camacho's decision to
change matriculation when word
circulated after a March 18 masters
and presidents meeting.
Coordinators received a letter
from Camacho two days later, apolo-
gizing for not informing them of his
decision sooner, but reiterating that
he made his decision with the best
interests of incoming freshmen in
Sec MATRICUIATION Pag.- 5
OPINION Pag* 3
Christof speculates about
Rice's place in the world
NEWS Page 5
Students suggest changes for
improving tile environment
A&E Pag*7
The Thresher interviews
Mike Dirnt of Green Day
FEATURES Paga 10
Commencement '98: Kurt
Vonnegut pontificates
SPORTS Paga13
Owls baseball cruises into
WAC tournament
Cloudy, agricultural fires in
Guatemala continue to cast
haze over Houston, 72-87°
Sunday
Sunny, "lf,this*isn't nice, what
is?", 72-82
June through August
Varies from sunny to rainy,
trasicatly trot; jtist trot
Curriculum vote moved
by Maya Balakrishnan
IHKl'SIIKR FDITORIAI M AM
The Ad Hoc Curriculum Review
Committee postponed until next fall
the faculty vote on university-wide
curriculum changes, which was
originally scheduled for this spring.
The committee decided instead to
dedicate the April 29 faculty meet-
ing to clearing up latent faculty con-
cern about its curriculum reform
proposal and the proposal's recent
modifications.
"After consultation with both the
University Council and Faculty
Council, as well with just individual
faculty, everyone felt that people
needed more time to evaluate the
proposal. It turns out that there were
still a lot of questions out there,"
committee member and Associate
Professor of Chemistry John
Hutchinsen said.
The "Proposal for Revising Uni-
versity-Wide Requirements," re-
leased April 23, repcjf'sents a slightly
modified version of the preliminary
proposal, with relatively superficial
changes, according to the commit
tee. Still integral to the new univer-
sity-wide requirements, and perhaps
its most revolutionary feature, is Rice
101, the freshman seminar. The
proposal-envisions small seminars
that integrate writing, speaking, dis-
cussions, reasoning and critical
analysis into coursework of the
professor's design/The freshman
seminars would be phased in over a
number of years, and funding is al
ready available for a pilot program
in two residential colleges.
While much of the faculty sup
ports the idea of these seminars,
many professors are concerned
about the program's feasibility. For
an entire class of matriculating fresh-
man to enroll in Rice 101, the univer-
sity will eventually have to create 45
such seminars. Some wonder
whether ihe university really can
devote th number of faculty needed
to teaching these courses. Otheffc
worry that existing courses within a
department might suffer if its pro-
fessors opt to teach a seminar.
"I think that the freshman semi-
nar is a great idea, but it'll take a
rnajWr effort of the^iniversity to do
so, arid I am worried that this will be
See PROPOSAL Pa«.' 4
lite Rice University Women's
Commission completed its 1998 re-
port on the campus climate for
women last month.
The report , which is the culmina-
tion of over a year's worth of invest!
•gation, identifies major climatic prob-
lems on the Rice campus.
It commends individuals and or-
ganizations for improving the cam
pus.climate for women, but also rec-
ommends taking other actions for
greater improvement.
According to the report. "Rathei
than provide a detailed analysis of
all the data collected, the Commis
sion invites readers to study the data
for themselves. There is a wide range
of corroborating evidence in the
many appendices listed and anno-
tated in the Table of Contents."
The commission is made up of
elected women faculty and staff
members, as well as ad hoc mem
hers appointed by the commission,
including one undergraduate and
one graduate student.
The overall issue the report ad-
dresses is one of awareness; Many
people are not even aware that there
are gender and climate issues, ac-
cording to the report.
Specifically, (he commission ad-
dressed three main areas of con
cern regarding the climate; prob-
lems facing women graduate
students, tire climate for women in
the residential colleges, and issues
of gender equity among the
faculty.
Graduate students
Women graduate students face
the most significant of these prob-
lems, according to the report; More
specifically, it points to "policies and
arrangements that neglect the needs
of women graduate students."
Mona Hicks, member of thecom
mission and assistant director of the
Student Center and the Women's
Resource Center, said that tin* needs
of graduate students are often very
different from those of undergradu-
ates.
"I am dealing with students who
are having |gender] problems with
t heir advisers," she said. "It's so-hard
to find someone that you can trust
and who will support you," Hicks
said.
The report recommends that Rice
hire a part-time administrative
ombudsperson to respond to this
need. This person would act asarbi
trator in cases of student/faculty con-
flicts not resolved at departmental
or divisional levels.
"The Commission believes that
this senior administrator could im-
prove the 'chilly climate' for women
graduate students and benefit all
graduate students," the report states.
The report also cites the need for an
administrator devoted to graduate
stiidents' academic needs
The Graduate Student Associa-
tion cabinet is already working to
make these new positions a reality.
In an April 7 letter to Vice Pro-
vost for Research and Graduate Stud
ies Jordan Konisky, GSA President
Arnaud Chevallier expressed the
cabinet's support for the creation of
new positions for an associate dean
for graduate affairs and an
ombudsperson.
Undergraduates
Central to the report's discussion
of the climate for undergraduate
women is the issue of college cheers.
According to the report, "Those
cheers, on one hand, have positively
impacted the sense of college spirit.
on the other hand, they have alien
ated some college niembei s
hrough misogyny,and vulgarity by
using sexual references and rur <
words "
Appendix 1 > contains specific m-i
ereneesto and information regard
ing cheers and college activities that
worsen the environment for women
and includes I he text of cheers some
deem misogynistic.
In a paper in llit- appendix en
tilled "Orientation Week and ( "I
lege C heers." Jones College In I;
man Alexis Wiesenthal writes (Li-
the cheers and other tradition*
create a hostile environment for
women starting from fheir/irsi week
at Rice
"On thesurlace. many ol the Rn
traditions are considered to havt
the purpose of blinding and msttli
ing spirit. When these practices ,in-
analyzed. they amount to no Ies*.
than misogynist harassment." she
wrote.
Wiesenthal particularly objei ted
to the fact that incoming Jones stu
dents are required to participate in
the cheers in order to join the col
lege, as outlined in Article l.'f, Sec
t ion II of the Jones College const it u
lion.
Other practices in the colleges
mentioned in the report as possibly
worsening the climate for women
are the Wiess College "ubangee"
practice and-some colleges' mm
tiles.
The report did not offer specific
solutions to address the climate in
th e colleges, it simply encourages
Rice to look into the issue
Faculty/staff
The members of the commission
feel that it is significant fot women
in the community to see women m
positions of authority — as profes-
sors and high administrative ofti
cials.
"People say that women can do
anything they want, but it you don't
See Cl.lMATIv Pay.- t
a v
'■ rl
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Stoler, Brian. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 85, No. 27, Ed. 1 Friday, May 15, 1998, newspaper, May 15, 1998; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth246623/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.