The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 68, No. 5, Ed. 1 Friday, September 5, 1980 Page: 3 of 20
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SHOOTIN' BLIND/by Dovid Butler
The Food is one of those eternal
targets for verbal abuse, like The
Weather or The Social Situation;
and like them, much is said but
little is ever actually done. Oh,
food committees are formed every
year, and new food reps dutifully
trudge off to Central Kitchen —
and they inevitably become the
bearers of bad tidings: smaller
portions, fewer steaks, higher
prices, more eggplant casseroles.
Obviously, the food reps aren't
to blame for the bad news they
bring back to college diners — but,
less obviously, Joyce Rubash
(director of Food Service) may not
bear all the blame herself. Food
Service is one of those ancillary
enterprises, like the Campus Store
or the Rice Lumber Company in
Louisiana, that have very little to
do with a university, yet are still
owned and operated by Rice.
Some of these ventures, such as the
Campus Store, are hideously
profitable; some, like Food
Service, are running into the red;
and some, like Sammy's, are
simply not competitively priced
with the real world.
Rice's food service operations
have a number of inefficiencies
built into their system — and the
greatest one can't be eliminated.
As one sage noted, "the biggest
advantage of the college system is
the biggest disadvantage facing
Food Service." Having eight
separate kitchens (in addition to
Sammy's) leads to a certain
inevitable overlap in services — yet
any attempts at consolidation, no
matter how economical, would
not, I think, be able to get past the
membership of the Colleges.
But given the higher costs of
food and labor, can a school with
only 1700 on-campus diners afford
to support eight separate kitchens
and maintain salad bars, sit-down
dinners, and late breakfasts at '
Baker? What sort of economics are
possible without wrecking the
system of college dining as we
know it? Various proposals are
floating in the river, flowing
through the Rumor Mill; some
pundits have suggested scrapping
weekend meals (and opening
Sammy's for those who can't go
elsewhere); others whisper that the
sit-down dinners may become
blander yet, with fewer desserts
and an end to salad bars in the few
places where they exist.
It may even develop that the
entire Central Kitchen concept has
passed its time. Rice used to use
outside food contractors to
provide college meals; about
fifteen years ago, the university
administration decided that they
could do the job better and
cheaper, and CK was built. The
pendulum may have swung the
other way now — though I
honestly don't think an outside
contractor would be as receptive to
student pressure as Rubash and
Marion Hicks. (Then too, what
happens if we get McDonald's
running the show, as they do at
some high schools? I mean, Big
Macs every day can get boring
pretty damn fast.)
Unfortunately — and I know
this is going to sound like one of
Jimmy's energy sermons — we've
got to conserve, if we want to just
hold our ground against rising
THRESHING-IT-OUT
Cole bullets Taggert's
'truth' and 'freedom'
To the editor:
In response to Mr. Taggart's
letter on the subject of truth, I
would like to address a few words
of my own. What do we mean by
truth? Obviously, we cannot
answer this question without large
doses of hallucinogenic drugs,
because truth is a relative thing.
Suppose I am on planet A rushing
toward you at the speed of light,
and you are on planet B rushing
toward me at the speed of light.
When we collide, I will be
vaporized relative to you and you
to me, but to an impartial observer
several kilometers away we will
both be a source of cheap
entertainment.
Thus, we may say that truth
depends a great deal on one's own
experience and position relative to
others. My girlfriend, for instance,
believes that truth resides in the
vinyl recordings of certain popular
music stars. This is, of course, pure
bullshit, but because these songs
encourage the notion that frequent
sex is necessary for happiness, I
allow her to persist blissfully in her
ignorance.
To further elaborate on the
variable nature of truth, consider
the difference between man and
lower animals. Animals spend all
their time trying to obtain enough
food, drink, and shelter to survive
long enough to reproduce. This is
the brute truth of bestial existence.
Man on the other hand, spends all
his time trying to earn enough
money so that he can obtain food,
drink and shelter and eventually
reproduce. Obviously man
possesses a much more spiritual,
even religious aspect to his
character, and Mr. Taggart is
correct in identifying this aspect
with Christianity.
Jesus said, "1 am the truth," but
he also said, "Lay up for yourselves
treasures," and "Cast not your
pearls before swine," along with
several incomprehensible
mutterings in Aramaic which the
disciples couldn't understand.
What,'if anything, does this prove?
Only that these men were afraid of
looking silly centuries later and so
did the sensible thiqg and hired
ghost writers to do the gospels. It
still makes for a pretty .good story,
and, if sales figures are any
indication, a popular work. But we
must not be misled by its success.
We must always remember the
example of Woody Allen, who
carried a lucky bullet in his coat
pocket. One day, an enraged
religious zealot hurled a Bible at
Allen which struck him directly
over the heart. Had it not beeen for
the protective bullet, the Bible
would have surely killed him.
Gary Cole
Lovett '81
Part-time Clerk
Position
Strong person
needed for stock-
room/loading dock
work. Call Nurse
Recruitment at
Hermann Hospital
797-3000.
costs. Most colleges ended up
eating about $1200 in dinnerware
last year; that works out to almost
six bucks per on-campus resident
— more than enough to buy a
cheap place setting from High-
Tech or the local supermarket
special. Do that, instead. Most off-
campus folks would, I think, be
honest enough to pay for the meals
they eat in Commons; setting the
headwaiters up at the kitchen exits,
rather than the entrances, might
yield a more accurate tally of
where the food is going, and ensure
that it's all being paid for fairly. As
a last resort, we might consider a
meal ticket system, if that would
provide any greater amount of
inventory control. I'm not sure
that it would.
But obviously. Something Has
To Be Done. Some of the colleges
are already reporting vacancies on
campus — with no one willing to
D00HESBURT
move in and fill the space. It used
to be that on-campus living was
cheap enough by comparison that
the savings in food costs was worth
putting up with the noise from the
neighbors. No longer. What we
and Bill Akers will have to decide is
whether steak and shrimp are
worth $2500 a year — or whether
Central Kitchen has become
another Rice Hotel, a nice enough
building, but one that the
University has no business owning.
okay. thanks a
m mrs davenport
I'll sea you soon.
right.. goodby.
sea you later, good luck
MARK. I'M OFF WITH YOUR
FOR WASHINGTON. FUNDRAISER
/ Mil ANDER-
SON HIMSELF
BE TURNING
davenport
u/oman
davenport?
uh-huh. she's
just agreed to
host a funp-
raising party
for anderson.
things ape getting tight we need
cash to buy ads v boost john's
poll standings to wto qualify
for the debates so he can de-
molish m other candidates and
60 on to get elected
he better. congressman
davenport is pulling out all
the stops. she's even sent out
fnftravfd ifji/it/ltinfjs
and you should see
the guest list. its a
who's who of official
ujashing-
ton.
if?
come in, mrs.
come in, davenport?
dear! i'm michael
i d00ne5bury
HOW nice to yes, ma'am.
meet you, and it was
michael. did nice of m
w have a husband to
good flight7 meet mb.
notat
all. i
was in
the vi-
cinity.
JSif
NOW THEN, AFTER
ALL THE GUESTS HAVE
ARMED, WE GIVE THEM
A WHILE TO CHAT AND
HAVE A DRINK.
THEN I'LL GET UP AND SAY
A FEW WORDS ABOUT MY
YEARS WITH JOHN IN CON-
GRESS. AFTER THAT, WE'LL
HAVE THE BRIE AUCTION,
FOLLOWED BY JOHN'S TALK,
OKAY?
wow.. what a place. it
certainly is perfect for
a party, c0ngressw0man.
just magnificent!
then. before we.
sounds ask them for
f/fj£ money. i'll show
■mur the guesb into
theden.lockthe
i door, and turn
off the lights.
,1 SUPPOSE I
SHOULD ORDER
SOME SCOTCH,
TOO. WERE A
< LITTLE LOW.
V /
i th0u6ht
anderson
supporters
only liked
white wine
this the daven
port residence' waiters7
were the wait- hold on
ers for the a minute.
party. /
now, dick, i have no inten-
lets not be von of coming. i
unpleasant. won't drink to a
you donthave ftwi who betrayed
to comev the his own party'
party if you \
don't want
mrs men- oh, good.
port'there show km
areacoupie t0the
waiters here' pantry,
will you,
N . -v. mike7
■' A N
imagine leaving the gop!
after all it's done for
him. why. thats like re -
n0uncing your old school
ties or resi6ning from
yourfavorfte /"
v, men's club! ' 5x/,!tp/
but do you think 5ervant5 mfrf
are a good idea7mere try- %6lz
ing to keep anderson fwm rfttpr
looking like an upper ji&r m
middle class menomenon. j}£m0ff
' \ /v pear '
4, *
sounds like
a pretty
important
party
/
you said it one
bowl cf flat
punch and it
could be hello
reagan
sounds like
w should
attract
your fair
share of
trendies.
•^F>'
0%.
i hope so. we're „ „
auctioning off good pun
a large bpje
play to your
strength'-
if
thank you,
dear. shall dearest
we walk up 1 kffrj we
to the main driver
house7 \
you found a vwble-
a reagan feature. 1
movie?
/ k&ml t x
i scared
I think
that was
the idea,
dear
/
well, it just
isnt pone
he should
have stuck
n out. \
cr, "4
/,v* y
dig my okay
it. kind how much.
of gig. fellahs-'
The Rice Thresher, September 5, 1980, page 3
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Dees, Richard. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 68, No. 5, Ed. 1 Friday, September 5, 1980, newspaper, September 5, 1980; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245445/m1/3/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.