The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 59, No. 10, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 11, 1971 Page: 3 of 6
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Mardis sets Read straight on fund drive implications
To the editor
Leighton Read seems to have
completely missed the point of
student participation in the
RUF fund drive this year.
The alumni, unlike students,
do have a voice in formulating
policy for the university, es-
pecially in the priorities and em-
phases of fund drives. The
alumni elect four alumni gov-
ernors with four year terms
to the Board of Governors. The
Board appoints the alumni gov-
ernors to Board Committees;
all four alumni governors are
on the Board Committee on De-
velopment of the Endowment
and New Resources. This com-
mittee is charged with the re-
sponsibility of developing the
endowment and raising more
money to support the univer-
sity. It is a policy-making hoard
for the fund drives, establish-
ing priorities and money goals.
The RUF Council merely imple-
ments these policies. Therefore,
"placing students as voting
members" on the RUF Council
does not give students a voice
in policy making, but only in
how best to achieve fund drive
goals for predetermined priori-
ties.
The alumni are not the "main
source of outside financial sup-
port." Alumni contributions
comprise only 25% of the an-
nual fund last year, whereas
business and industry contribu-
tions were 34% and friends of
the University 27%. Only foun-
dations gave a smaller percent-
age of last year's gifts than
the alumni, 14%. Moreover,
year before last 7.2% of the
18,500 "interested" alumni (out
of a possible total of 25,000
alumni) contributed an average
amount of $'15 to the unrestrict-
ed funds of the university.
Last year 15.4% of the 18,500
alumni contributed an average
amount of $71.30 to the unre-
stricted funds. This year the
Development Office is shooting
for 30% participation! If, as
Mr. Read asserts, "(alumni)
influence is the same as is avail-
able to other groups, both in-
side and-out, and it is directly
related to the financial re-
sources they make available to
Rice" then do the four alumni
governors represent only the
15.4% of the alumni who gave
and should everyone who con-
tributes including corporations
and foundations get representa-
tion on the Board of Governors 1
Additionally, the total alumni
gift last year was $616,000. The
total stude'1* °'ift 'nairt tuition)
was approximately $1,480,000.
If we base our calculation of
influence on money, as Mr. Read
seems to, then students should
have roughly twice as many
student governors as alumni
have alumni governors. Admit-
tedly this reasoning is some-
what spurious . . .
. . . Mr. Willoughby Wil-
liams, in one address to stu-
dents, stated that it "looks
good" to have students working
on fund drives when you are
applying to foundations for'
grant money. He stated further
that if students didn't do the
work, then the Development
Office would have to pay some
one to do the same work. The
students' role, then, is restricted
to menial work and window
somewhat broader role for
themselves (heaven forbid!).
Mr. Read said "in genera],
Rice is doing a good job." Mr.
Read is essentially advocating
that students abdicate their re-
sponsibility to point out and
oppose the many deceptive,
misleading and dishonest asser-
tions of the RUF Drive.
As for the pledge card: it
leads alumni to believe that
they can compensate (to the ex-
tent of their donation) for any
objections to priorities by des-
ignating the purpose for which
their money may be used. The
pledge card is vdry misleading
as the money will not neces-
dressing. Perhaps if students
have been involved initially,
they might have envisioned a
sarily be used for the desig-
nated purpose, nor will the do-
nation be added to the budgeted
amount, but will be used as
replacement money, freeing
budgeted funds for use else-
where . . .
This type of program has
been in operation at many other
universities for many years . . .
Therefore, why should this
program be subject to so
many "mistakes"? Indeed if a
student had "proofread" the
letters to the alumni, cited in
the Hanszen letter, then the
"errors" might have been
caught. But why were they
there in the first place?
lives to this place. We have
a responsibility to the Univer-
sity, and to ourselves, to dissent
when we feel the University is
dedicated four years of our
... In a sense, we have
making a mistake. By going
along with programs we feel
to be not in the best interests
of the University, we under-
mine any possibility of having
our criticisms taken into ac-
count. This is not to say we
expect every criticism we make
to be immediately incorporated
by the administration, but
merely that responsible student
voice and dissent have an im-
portant function in the Univer-
sity . . .
Christi Oliver
O ff-Campus Representative
to the Senate
Jer Mai'dis
Off-Campus "Nothing" '72
Senate reconsiders Council, sets election
At Tuesday's Senate meeting,
plans for the election of 3 stu-
dents to tihe new University
Council were discussed. The
University Council, instituted
as primary advisor to the Presi-
dent on all university policy de-
cisions, will convene next sem-
ester. Most of the G college
presidents present at the Sen-
ate meeting said that their col-
leges preferred college-wide el-
ections as opposed to a general
university-wide election. The
Senate, however, after much
discussion, decided that a more
comprehensive plan would bet-
ter compliment the important
duty connected with a Universi-
ty Council assignment.
The Senate suggested 3 dif-
ferent elections; one for an off-
campus representative elected at
each college, and one for the el-
ection of a university-wide re-
presentative - at - large. Then
from the pool of elected repre-
sentatives, the Student Associa-
tion would select the student
members of the University
Council, with the remaining re-
presentatives forming an advi-
sory and research committee to
act as a base of opei*ations for
the 3 student members. Plans
regarding qualifications, length
of terms, and other details were
hazy, however, and the Senate
appealed to the student body
to offer their comments and
suggestions to the Senate in
order to finalize plans for the
election process rapidly.
Other Senate business includ-
ed a report on the progress of
a new judicial code, in which a
new University Court is ex-
pected to replace the present
Inter-College Court this next
semester. There will be a
blanket tax referendum concern-
ing minority admissions and the
RPC and an election for chair-
man of the Intercollege SA
Court on Dec. 1. Filing deadline
is Nov. 24.
Leighton Read, the External
Affairs Vice-President, reported support for the RUF drive.
that the Senate Financial Aid
Committee had changed the
pledge card and had "cleared
up some particular questions
on what restricted funds are",
and called for increased student
Neil Isbin said that the SFAC
also had organized an appeals
procedure for those who have
complaints or are dissatisfied
with any part of the ' financial
aid situation.
Puccini's Tosca comes to Houston
by R. A. FURSE
An international cast has
descended upon Houston to
take part in the second offering
of the opera season, Giacomo
Puccini's Tosca. The opening
performance was Tuesday even-
ing, with Friday night and
Sunday afternoon set as the two
remaining performance times.
Puccini was a principle advocate
of combating the romanticism
of Verdi and Wagner with veris-
mo, or naturalism. Operas of
this type tend to deal with
social problems presented in a
realistic manner. Some critics
claim that Puccini was too sen-
sational and sentimental in
handling this sort of libretto but
(his priority was providing good
theatre, and thus his selection
of texts was careful. In the case
of "Tosca", he softens a harsh
story with his music; the drama
by Victorien Sardon provided
the basis for the opera which
wals premiered in 1900 in Rome.
The story is set in Rome in
1800. An escaped revolutionary,
Angelotti, once a high official
who was ousted by the current
regime, returns to his friend
Carar-adossi, an artist, seeking
shejter. The artist hidels An-
gelotti at his country house.
Meanwhile Baron Scarpia, Chief
of Police, has traced the fugi-
tive to the church where Cara-
radossi works and implicated
the artist in aiding him. Tosca,
the leading soprano of that
area, is Cararadossi's mistress,
ujion whom Scarpia has his eye.
The artist is arrested but will
not admit to concealing the
fugitive. Tosca enters at Scar-
pia's request and Cararadossi
is subjected to torture. Tosca,
to pi-event her lover from fur-
ther agony, tells of the fugi-
tive's hiding place and he is
furious at her betrayal. At the
news of Napoleon's victory at
Marengo, Cararadossi excitedly
expounds on this approach of
human freedom and is again ar-
rested for treason. Scarpia sets,
as the price for his release,
Tosca (herself, to which she at
length agrees. She later stabs
him while he tries to reap his
reward.
Meanwhile the artist will be
released, after a mock execution
for appearances, a condition
prescribed by Scarpia before he
died. The firing squad lines up
on the castle battlements and
actually shoots Cararadossi,
which Scarpia had instructed
to be done, but had neglected
to tell Tosca or his victim. As
Tosca is about to be arrested
for Scarpia's murder, she leaps
to her death from the ramparts.
The roles of Tosca and Cara-
radossi will be sung by two
newcomers to the Houston
Opera stage, Polish soprano
Teresa Kubiak and Rumanian
tenor Ludovic Spiess respective-
ly. Scarpia will be sung by
Louis Quilco, a return engage-
ment for him from New York,
Students may attend the Sun-
day 2:30 matinee for half price
on any ticket.
THE RICE
PROGRAM COUNCIL
PRESENTS
CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS
1967 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Friday, November 12
7:30 and 10 pm. $i or RPC subscription
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the rice thresher, noveniber 11, 1971—page 3
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Freed, DeBow. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 59, No. 10, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 11, 1971, newspaper, November 11, 1971; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245117/m1/3/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.