The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 44, No. 23, Ed. 1 Friday, March 22, 1957 Page: 4 of 10
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THB THRESH BB
FRIDAY, MARCH St, 1957
P
Tonight, in the lecture lounge, the annual Bartlett
chamber music concert will be performed by the very able
Houston Chamber Music Guild Quartet. The program will
be composed of works by Beethoven and Debussy.
It is unfortunate that so few Rice students take advan-
tage of these free concerts. Although the lounge is always
full, even overflowing, relatively few Rice students attend.
If the word "chamber music" sounds forbidding let
us assure you that one need not be a "longhair" to attend.
"Chamber music" does not mean music performed in the
chambers of old ladies with smelling salts; it means music
suitable for performance before a group of people in a small
room (such as our lecture lounge). The works performed
are by familiar composers: Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy,
Mozart.
If you have never attended a chamber music concert
at Rice, we hope you will take this opportunity to attend a
very enjoyable concert tonight.
0
Poll Results
LiTTli MAN ON CAMPUS
by Dick tibtor
"I SEE I'VE LECTURED INTO YOUK 'LUNCH HOUR* AGAIN."
Judging alone by the number of votes cast, the inte-
gration poll of last week seemed to be interesting to a great
many students on the campus. Despite the fact that the
poll will have no serious effects, we nevertheless consider
the results significant as a gauge of campus opinion. There
is a striking contrast in the opinions shown in the Rice
integration poll and the segregation ballot offered the peo-
ple of Texas in the November election, when a majority of
about 3 to 1 voted to strengthen the segregation claws
applying to public schools.
Part of the discrepancy can, of course, be traced to the
wording of both ballots. In the Texas segregation referend-
um, .maintaining segregation was worded positively, so
that one who favored integration in any way would have
to vote "no." Such wording was, without doubt, more fav-
orable to segregation. Likewise, in the Rice poll, integra-
tion was worded positively, in fact given two alternatives,
against only one way to vote against it, "not at all." In I
the case of public school integration almost half the voters j
preferred "eventual integration." We interpreted this ans-;
wer as meaning such voters favored integration in princi-
ple but \vanted sufficient time to insure that it would come 1
about as peacefully as possible. Yet the amount of time
desired by the voters could vary greatly under the phrase
"eventually." One might mean that integration should 1
begin very soon but should be worked out over a long per- !
iod of time. Another might feel that eventual integration
would best occur 100 years away and during somebody
else's lifetime. Yet, if we only interpret "eventual integra-
tion" as meaning approving of integration in principle no
matter how greatly the voters of this alternative varried
in their conception of how long eventually might be, we |
must nevertheless see that the majority of Rice students j
matter how greatly the voters of this alternative varied j
with the traditional views of the South. They have accepted j
the Negro problem as a social problem and expressed faith
in the idea that it might be best handled by the change of j
social institutions, an important step away from the be- j
lief "that the Negro problem is a problem of race and in-
herent inferiority which cannot and should not be dealt
with socially.
History of Rice
Institute A Rainy
Lake Even In 1912
THE RICE THRESHER
Tho Rice Thresher, written and edited >y 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 Cllf Carl
Assistant Editor Jim Bernhard
Afst. Business Manager Steve Williams
Associate Editor Herbert Simons
Ne.ws Editor Bruce Montgomery
Make Up Editor Ginger Purington
sports Editor jjm Bower
Feature Editors:
Fiire Arts Helen Morris
Society Estelle Kestenberg and Naomi Robins
Exchange Margie Wise
Religious Carolyn Dearmond
student Council * Erlene Hobly
Graphic Arts Russell Brown
Staff: Charles Earhart, Alan Ringold, Jarrene Mengden, Joan Field, Fred
Erisman, Ed Sumtnmers, Ann Farmer, Steve Williams, Harriet Hokanson, Wee
Baynton, Jerry Pittman Mike Reynolds, Gwen Ritter, Claire Plunguian, Francis
Bartaeh, Roy Russel, Heater Finke, James Ragsdale, Frank Dent, Doyle Little,
Meyer Nathan, Gary Norton, David Rush, Don Payne, Bob Malinak, Don Bell,
Don Kate, Park Weaver, Hap Veltaan, Pam Hoffman, Mar* Smith, Phil Barber.
By ED SUMMERS
This is the seventh in a series of
articles on the history of the Rice
Iiptitute.
After the grand opening of the
Rice Institute in October, 1912,
was over, and the visitors had
gone home, the wann autumn
.days faded into, one of Houston's
rainiest winters -in years. The
Institute was often isolated in a
vast lake south of Houston, and
the ground the Institute stood
on was not an island.
The only high ground was the
trolley track which ran where
Fannin Street runs today, and
students and faculty alike used
this trapk with such frequency
during the early winters that an
irate motorman once swore,
"Damn it all, there's always
either a cow or a professor on
this track!" Thoughtfully, the
Institute built a wooden walk out
to the track from the buildings
to keep the faculty and students
from excessive wading. When
warmer weather came several
colonies of wasps homesteaded
the bottom of this wooden walk
and developed an active dislike
for its users.
As Spring Came
As spring came the students
and faculty were getting together
in "safaris" each morning for.
the trip from Houston across the
co\$ pastures (there were no
roads to Rice). There were gates
to be opened and closed, mud-
holes to be stuck in, and highly
unsocial cattle in several pas-
tures. An alligator and ostrich
farm where Southmore Street is
now was given a wide berth by
journeying scholars.
By a peculiar omission, the
Institute in 1912 had no black-
boards. One professor got tired
of repeating himself and made his
own blackboard out of linoleum,
which was satisfactory, except
that it would not erase and had
to be scrubbed clean.
Sports
At this time the student body
took up sports. The most popular,
then as now, was football, and
before condemning Coach „A*-
buckle's 1912 squad severely, re-
member that there only 77
students at Rice then and many
of these were women. The team
crushed Houston High School, 7-
6, before being smeared by Aus-
tin College, 81-0. In the early
years the. pattern was one of
great victories (1916: Rice 146,
SMU 3) and great defeats (1915:
Rice 0, Texas 59).
This last score deserves a
closer look. The game, played in
Austin, was prolonged twenty-
five minutes in the thifS^quarter
by a UT official, keeping the
Rice first string out of the game
and permitting the Steers to run
up their rather discouraging lead.
The game stood as played.
Socially Expanded
Socially, 1#o, Rice expanded,
and this expansion produced some
odd situations—like the literary
society for boys which flourished
around 1916. There was an Idlers
Club, a 12 or 15 member band,
and a Hall Committee, among
whose earlier members were S.
G. McCann, C. W. Heaps, and
J. Newton Rayzor.
All of these groups and a few
others were described in the first
Campanile, which appeared in
1916 In explaining how the
Campanile got its name, the first
editors wrote, in part: "Every-
one will concede that towering
above every other feature of this
Institute's existence is its sub-
lime architecture; everyone will
concede this . . . for he has it
on the highest authority."
Tile Eaves
At that time the Campanile
had tile eaves running around
the top, but these were often hit
by lightning. Dropping tiles be-
came a nuisance, so the eaves
were removed.
These were pleasant days at
Rice. The library was in the Ad-
ministration Building, and the
live oaks were being planted
along Main Street. On sunny
spring Sunday afternoons. Stock-
ton Axson, Rice's frist Professor
of English, gave his lectures on
Shakespeare before the people of
Houston in the old Faculty Cham-
bers.
Things Went Wrong
But things could—and did—go
wrong. A "few years after the
Physics Building was completed
in 1913, but before the campus
became congested, two elderly
ladies stopped by the Institute
Other - Wis®
Autherine Lucy
May Enter UT
BY MARGIE WISE
AT SMU . . .
Campus Chat, the SMU ver-
sion of the charity drive, will
strive for $4,000 this year, with
one-fourth of the money going to
the educational fund of the Pue-
blo Indians. The reason the In-
dian fund was singled out as most
important was because it was
discovered that only two per cent
of the graduating seniors of In-
dian high schools have an oppor-
tunity for higher education. The
drive was also chosen because
the need is close to home to uni-
versity students.
AT TEXAS . . .
Mrs. Autherine Lucy Foster,
first Negro to attend the Univer-
sity of Alabama, intends to enter
the University of Texas in Sep-
tember. A T.U. spokesman said
he did not know of any legal re-
quirements that would keep Mrs.
Foster from registering, since the
university allows Negroes to en-
roll in both graduate and under-
graduate schools. Mrs. Foster
was expelled from Alabama last
year, charging university offi-
cials conspired in campus rioting
that brought on her expulsion.
Mrs. Foster said she' plans to
study library science at Texas.
AT BAYLOR . . .
Baylor's own version of the
"Meanest Man in the World"
stole a gift Webster Collegiate
Dictionary during the holidays
from three new dorm students.
The newly arrived boys are from
war-torn Hungary, and were giv-
en the dictionary, along with
othfr English textbooks when
they arrived at Baylor. They were
-using the boq|cs in learning the
English language.
— o
HARVEST
By JARRENE MENGDEN
(What happened at Rice five, ten,
twenty, even forty years ago ? The
following are excerpts from Threshers
of the past.).
March 19, 1926:
The Fourth Biennial Engineer-
ing Show is to be presented at
Rice in April of this year. Back
in the days of 1920, a senior, H.
A. Tillett, conceived the idea of
having an exhibition of the work
that was performed by the Engi-
neering Society of Rice. Out of
this idea, which was wholly that
of a student, grew the present
Engineering Show, which is held
in the Physics, Chemistry and
Mechanical Laboratory buildings
of the Institute every two years.
„ % $
March 20, 1931:
Jack Major, Rice's own song-
bird, flew back to his old homing
grounds last week as a member of
the RKO troupers at the Maj-
estic Theatre. While at Rice, he
organized the first glee club. He
stepped right out of Rice into
vaudeville, and made good at the
start. Besides his stage work, he
has recorded for the Brunswick
Phonograph Company, and is also
a composer.
■I
%
and, thinking the Physics Build-
ing was a home—or more likely,
a hotel—they rang the doorbell.
When the Physics building
was wired, the doorbell had some-
how become connected to the fire
alarm system. As the ladies stood
Waiting to be asked in, several
large fire engines, accompanied
by uniformed firemen and spotted
dogs, roared up and skidded to
a halt. What then followed is not
recorded, but it is safe to assume
that the doorbell has since been
disconnected from the fire alarm.
NEXT WEEK: CONCLUSION
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The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 44, No. 23, Ed. 1 Friday, March 22, 1957, newspaper, March 22, 1957; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth231053/m1/4/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.