The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 44, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, December 14, 1956 Page: 4 of 8
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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1H4
Ivy League Finds Answer
Is Ivy League football a trend in colleges? We hope
so. According to US News and World Report of November
30, Ivy League universities have found one answer to the
danger that U.S. colleges may become mere football
"farms" for hired athletes. Although these eight big
schools have abolished padded subsidies and "snap" cours-
es for athletes, says U.S. News, student teams still draw
huge crowds.
"Basic rules that now govern Ivy League football are
these:
Academic authorities must control athletics.
Players and coaches should be "permitted to enjoy the
g-ame as participants in forms of recreational competition
rather than as professional performers in public spec-
tacles."
"Football scholarships," as such, are prohibited. So
is financial aid from alumni groups or any other outside
sources that might put pressure on coaches or players to
win regardless of rules.
Reports on both grades and financial aid must be made
regularly to an Ivy League eligibility committee. All play-
ers' records are open to inspection.
%
Every student athlete must be studying toward a gen-
uine academic degree and must maintain good standing
scholastically."
Ivy League colleges do not deny scholarships to ath-
letes. All of these colleges have a policy of giving liberal
grants to 35 to 50 per cent of their students. Scholarships
are granted rather on the basis of need and scholastic abil-
ity/as among other students. These things being equal
their participation in sports is considered just as leadership
in other extra-curricular activities is considered. There is
i
no financial inducement for athletes; and their course re-
quirement is as strict as that of other students.
The coaches, too, are satisfied. Policing of the rules is
left to the academic authorities as it should be. Coaches
are under less pressure.
What about the quality of football played? Naturally
it's lower than the semi-prof essional,football played by
many other teams. The difference is reflected by the^wal-
loping Ivy League schools have gotten from Army and
Navy.
But attendance has not been hurt, nor has enthusiasm.
Within the conference teams are well matched and gate
receipts have remained good. Nor does the income from
their games go to athletic subsidies. Out of the college
treasury go the expenses for the entire college athletic
program and into the treasury come the profits.
U.S. NeWs' quote of Dr. Grayson Kirk, president of
Columbia University, is pertinent here: "Columbia College
is fortunate in the type of man who plays on its teams to-
day—and the type of man who coaches ... *
"This is also true of most of the major opponents we
schedule. Like Columbia, £hey do not have an athletic pro-
gram merely for the purpose of providing week-end amuse-
ment enterprises at'the expense of scholastic standards.
"Such an attitude, in which the institutions of the Ivy
Group have pioneered, gradually will win acceptance
throughout the country. It is up to' us to continue to set
the standards for intercollegiate athletic competition."
If a college's reputation is built by its football team,
as ma©y people maintain, would it not be more reputable
to play a good game against an Ivy League college with
high scholastic standing than to be excluded as ,an oppon-
ent because academic requirements were not po great ? ^
THE RICE THRESHER
The Rice Thresher, written (End edited by students of the Rice Institute,
is published weekly in Houston, Texas, except during the summer. It ia not
published during holidays and examination weeks. The views presented are those
of the staff and do not necessarily reflect administrative policies of the Rice
Institute. .
Editor Donna Paul Martin
Business Manager Clif Carl
Assistant Editor Jim Bernhard
Associate Editor Herbert Simens
i News Editor „ Bruce Montgomery
<Make Up Editor Ginger Pofington
Sports Editor jln, Bower
Feature Editors:
Pine Arte ^ Helen Morris
Society Estelle Kestenberg and Naomi Robins
Exchange Margie Wise
Religious Carolyn Desmond
Student Council / Erlene Hubly
Staff: Charles Earhart, Alan Ringold, Jarrene Mengden, Joan Field, Fred
Erisman, Ed Summers^ Ann Farmer, Steve Williams, Harriet Hokanson, Wes
Boynton, Jerry Pittrtan. Mike Reynolds, Gwen Ritter, Claire Plunguian,
Francie Barteeh, Mike Cluck, Roy Roussel, Hester Finke, James Ragsdale,
Frank Dent, Donna Shultst, Jimmy Evans, Pat Puckett, Mary Powers, Doyle
little, Meyer Nathan, Gary Norton, David Rush, Don Payne, Bob Malinak,
Don Belly Don Katz, Park Weaver, Hap yeltman.
Probations;
Failures, And
Deficiencies
BY FRED ERISMAN
Wijh the black cloud,of finals
hanging on the horizon, a com-
mon question about campus is,
"What is probation, how do I get
on, and how do I get off?" With
>dmirable foresight, thfe admin-
istration has released this in-
formation to the student body.
Probation is attained in one of
two ways. The first is the or-
dinary, or gar den-variety proba-
tion. This is given a student if he
fails to pass more than 75% of
his work for any semester, or
for any year, or if he fails to
make grades of "3" or higher in
at least 40% of his work for
any semester or any year.
The second type of probation
is s"Special Probation," or the
"Ill-Pro." A student on special
probation must earn grades of
"3" or higher in each course for
that semester," and^ maintain
grades' above probation level at
all times thereafter.
The iron fist in the velvet glove
appears when the power behind
probation is shown. A student is
asked to withdraw if he goes
on probation for the third time,
fails to meet the requirements of
special probation, or\fails to pass
50% or mdre of his work for any
semester. The latter rule does
not apply to freshmen in their
first semester.
No student is given a degree if
he goes on probation at the end
of the term in which he com-
pletes the requirements for his
degree. To absolve this blot, he
must enroll in at least four
courses for one more semester.
Deficiencies, a fancy term for
not having enough credits, may
be brought about by failing or
dropping a course. Unless this
is wiped out by attending an ac-
credited summer school, the stu-
dent must repeat the course at
Rice. These deficiencies may not
be made up by enrolling in an
extra course at Rice a following
year.
o
HARVEST
By JARRENE MENGDEN
(What happened at Rice five, ten,
twenty, even forty years Vigo? The fol-
lowing are excerpts from Threshers of
the past.)
December 2, 1938: '
At the last meeting of the
Debate Club, a debate, was heard
on the question, Resolved: "That
Roosevelt's relief policy is prac-
tical." All students were invited
to attend and an open forum
followed the debate. Participants
were Harris Colwell, George
Dutton, Curthbert Abell and Jay
Brown.! The dfbsing feature of
the program was ^ ten-minute
speech by John Freeman, who
discussed "Germany's Chances in
the Next War."
❖ ❖
December 4, 1925:
The Rice Engineering Society
admitted Anna Lay to mentber-
ship, the first girl ever to enter
the organization. The devastat-
ing effects of Woman suffrage
are being felt in fields formerly
totally masculine. It is rumored
that the senior boys refuse „to
grow mustaches, probably be-
cause the senior girls would wear
false ones.
* * *
December 2, 1938: \
A brief dedication ceremonjr
will be held at # the new Rice
Stadium at 2:15 p.m. Saturday,
immediately before the 2:30
game. At its conclusion the en-
tire audience will be requested
to stand and join in the sing-
ing of "For Rice's Honor.'^
UTTUoMAN on campus
by Dick MMop
o
R
"I UNPERSTANP HE'S UP FOR RETIREMENT NEXT BR."
An Introduction To The
College System At Rice
By DON PAYNE
(This is the first in a series of
articles dealing with the new College
System at Rice. The information for
these articles was taken from the Min-
utes of the. Committee on Student
Housing which are on reserve in the
Fondren Library.)
The purpose of this^ series of
articles is to present to the stu-
dents- and faculty of Rice a brief
description of the new College
System which will go into full
swing next fall.
T' have* 'taken ' the' information
from the Minutes of the Com-
mittee on Student Housing which
met for two years planning this
new system. After struggling
through all their suggestions,
proposals, recommendations, etc.,
I have tried to find the complete
and correct story, and that is
what I hope I have included in
these articles. Future articles
will deal with Freshman Selec-
tion, Activities >of the College,
Duties of the Blaster, Town Stu-
dents and Food, and the Gov-
ernment of the College.
First Meeting
On October 25, 1954, the Com-
mittee on Student Housing met
for the first time. Dean McBride
was the chairman of the group
which included both students and
faculty members.
The first plan of the Board
of Governors was to build dormi-
tories for 225 men and-100 wom-
en. This idea was incorporated
into the idea of Residence Col-
lege^, which would include se-
parate dining rooms, provisions
for faculty members to live in
the Colleges, students self gov-
ernment, and selective admit-
tance.
/
Committee's Work
This committee would be ex-
pected to (1) create a model con-
stitution for the College, (2)
provide a description of life in
the College, and (3) to provide
dormitory plans to comply with
(1) and (2).
Representatives made trips to
Cal Tech and Yale to study the
College Systems there. Both
strong and weak points1 in both
systems were observed, and it
was divided to try to incorporate
the strong points of both into
the Rice College System.
Needs of Students
The Committee studied the
needs of the students. In the
men's dormitories sthere was a
lack of home like atmosphere—
present dorm life yas only a
place to eat and sleep.
The Committee discovered that
there was also a lack in stu-
dent leadership. There was a
need for developing the potenti-
al leadership ability in many stu-
dents.
There was a need, also, for
more student social affairs.
What Is Lacking?
What is ' lacking in the Rice
graduate, and what can be done
to fill the void?
• This is the question the com-
mittee asked. This was the basis
for the need of a new way of
life at Rice. To answer the
question of what could be done
the Committee introduced, threw
out, introduced again idea upon
idea. The result of this hashing
and re-hashing of ideas, sug-
gestions, proposals, rejections*
and approvals is the new College
System for Rice.
The Committee on Student
Housing soon decided that there
would be four Colleges for Men
and one College for Women.
Each College would have its own
buildings and be independent
from the other Colleges.
Dining Rooms
Each College will have its own
dining room. The Committee
realized that the College meal is
a very necessary p£rt of the Col-
lege System. A central kitchen
will,prepare the food. One night
a week to be designated by the
individual Colleges will be set
aside as College Night at which
time all of the members of the
College, both resident and non-
resident, will eat together.
Architects were assigned to
draw the plans for the buildings.
Final plans included additions to
the existing East, South, and
West Hall. A dining room will
be added to Wiess Hall.
Each building will have a tower
with apartments to be used by
graduate students. The dining
halls and the lounges will be air-
conditioned.
Women's College
The Womens College will con-
sist. of two four-story dormitory
buildintrs and a large dining
hall. The Womens halls will be
entirely air-conditioned.
Since the co^t />t plumbing is
very high there1 will be one «en-
(Continued on Page 5)
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The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 44, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, December 14, 1956, newspaper, December 14, 1956; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth231044/m1/4/?q=music: accessed June 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.