The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 68, No. 25, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 5, 1981 Page: 5 of 20
twenty pages : ill. ; page 20 x 14 in.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
BEYOND THE HEDGES/by Karen Strecker
Survey finds
Increased drinking
February was a great month for
surveys. After the Valentine's Day
festivities, what else are college
newspapers going to write about
until spring break rolls around? On
most campuses, spring Rush is
over, and elections for next year's
officers haven't started yet. So
until a really juicy scandal erupts,
here is a sampling of two
interesting polls from universities
across the country.
The Daily Texan boasts that UT
students are drinking more
alcoholic beverages and getting
drunk more often. Among the
fascinating- and not too
unexpected facts to be gleaned
from this report are that more
freshmen typically consider
themselves non-drinkers than
seniors, and that the heaviest
drinking around campus is
associated with those students
involved in fraternities and
sororities. The results break up
something like this:
Non-drinkers (1976) (1980)
freshmen 20.0% 5.7%
sophomores 6.7% 6.0%
juniors 5.1% 5.4%
seniors 8.7% 4.0%
graduate students 12.5% 6-0%
Housing for those who drink more
than four drinks in one sitting
(1980): i-
off-campus (apts.) 26%
on-campus (dorms) 36%
fraternity/sorority houses 41%
private homes,coops 25%
A previous issue of the Texan,
however, voiced concerns that the
proposed state biH to increase the
legal drinking age to 19 would
result in financial losses to the
Texas Union (UT's student pub).
Tom Owen, night manager of the
union said students would incur
these losses through decreased
alcohol sales, recontruction of the
Texas Tavern, and the hiring or
additional employees to check
student identification cards. "The
'19-year-old-law' will cost the
union money and therefore cost
the students money—because if we
can't make alcohol money, we
have to find that money
elsewhere," Owens told the Texan.
"Right now, the only other
available funding is the student
fee."
Yale profs decry
grade Inflation
Grades given by individual
departments varied tremendously
last year, according to statistics
released by the Office of
Institutional Research. They
rangedfrom foreign languages like
Italian (70 percent A's) and
Spanish (58 percent A's) to
familiar languages like English
(42.9 percent A's) to geology and
geophysics, which gave only 29
percent A's. Spokesmen for these
departments downplay these
differences and don't see them as
evidence of grade inflation.
So opens the beginning of a
controversial article from the Yale
Daily News on the topic of grade
inflation.
In spite of comments by
protessors from the varying
departments mentioned expostu-
lating as to why their individual
courses aren't affected by grade
inflation, and that the marks
a student received does accurately
reflect the amount of knowledge
the student learned in the class, it is
clear from the examples presented
that Yale does not utilize a bell-
curve system as do many courses at
Rice.
The high grades in Italian
courses are due to a "combination
of factors" according to Director
of Undergraduate Studies Alfonso
Procaccini. "Our students usually
have a personal interest in Italian,
and if that is conbined with an
interesting class, it's understanda-
ble that they would do well."
Procaccini explained.
Sydney Clark, Yale DUS in
Geology and Geophysics, told the
Daily News he was unaware that
the grades given by his department
were below average. (The overall
grade-span at Yale being defined
as "40 percent A's, 40 percent B's,
10 percent C's.")
Yale College Dean Howard
Lamar concluded that he didn't see
grade inflation as a serious
problem and thinks it has little
effect on the quality of education.
Some dissension must exist on
this issue at Yale, though, for the
following issue of the Daily News
announced a review of the current
grade system by the Teaching and
Learning Committee. Two recent
polls indicate that over two-thirds
of the student body favors the
present system, while 79 percent of
the faculty favor a new system
utilizing pluses and minuses in
addition to the basic letter grades.
UT considers
core curriculum
University of Texas faculty and
administration, concerned that the
trend toward specialization in
degrees means that students are
Colleges elect officers
Results from elections in the
colleges in recent weeks:
Brown, February 18
President
External VP
Internal VP
Secretary
Treasurer
Susan Hemphill
Sandra Wasson
Karen Bradley
Barbara Whitney
Susan Brown
RPC rep. Terri Henriott
Food rep. George Cheij
A runoff for Will Rice president
was held today between David
Barnes and Robert Garland.
Neither received a majority of
votes in the election February 17.
not being educated in basic
subjects, authorized a special study
by the University's Council
Committee on Basic Education to
write stiffer graduation
requirements that would ensure
that students receive a better
all-around education. The results ot
this study were only recently
publicized and have created a
flurry of response from faculty
who oppose the changes or wish to
propose alternative solutions.
The proposal, if approved by a
council composed of administra-
tion, faculty, and students, will
narrow the span of courses that
satisfy graduation requirements.
The new requirements, as reported
by The Daily Texan, are
• 12 hours of English, plus a basic
writing course. Six hours could be
filled by upper-division
departmental courses in other
majors certified to have substantial
writing requirements.
• Three hours of social sciences
beyond those government courses
required in state schools.
• Three hours of mathematics.
• Nine hours of natural science, at
least six of which must be in the
same subject.
• Three hours of fine arts and
humanities.
Comp jocks take second
A team of Rice computer
students came in second place in a
national contest held last Tuesday
and Wednesday in St. Louis. The
team of Scott Comer, David
Capshaw, Bob Hood, and Thom
Potempa, was sponsored by the
Rice engineering departments.
After first winning a
competition sponsored by Tau
Beta Pi, the team then advanced to
the regional competition on
January 24. They won the
regionals and then went to the
national competition which was
held February 24-25, to compete
against 21 other teams, two from
each of the 11 national regions.
The national contest was
organized by the Association for
Physicist Peierls to
give lecture
Sir Rudolph E. Peierls will give
three lectures next week which will
reflect on his career as an
internationally-famous nuclear
physicist.
His first lecture will be 4 p.m.
Monday in Sewall Hall 309 on the
subject of "Nuclear Weapons and
Arms Control- Some Common
Fallacies."
The second lecture will be4 p.m.
Tuesday in the Physics
Amphitheater on "Recollections
of the Early Days of Quantum
Mechanics."
The third is Wednesday, also at
4 p.m., in room 210 of the physics
building. It will be a colloquium on
"Model-Making in Physics."
Peierls was one of the
originators of Britain's nuclear
program in 1940 and came to the
United States in 1943 to join the
nuclear programs in New York
and at Los Alamos.
Computing Machinery, and
required programming six
problems in six-and-a-half hours
using the 1966 standard edition of
Fortran. The Rice team had
successfully programmed five of
the problems and was in the
process of entering the sixth when
the contest ended and the
computer shut down.
Will Rice, February 17 and 19
President Runoff
Vice President Pam Kelly
Secretary Alison Bober
Treasurer Jim Mischka
Internal Affairs Chm. Joe Motro
Richardson, March 3
President A1 Hirschberg
Vice President Mark Durcan
Secretary Bret Hern
Treasurer Ken Fill
Hanszen' March 3
Representatives
Sec. 1
Sec. 2
Sec. 3
Sec. 4
Off-campus
Social coordinator
Jim Ivey
Marina Wirfel
Judy Sparks
Ruth Strauss
Bob Annand
Paul Roush
Laurie McKinzey
Gene Grayson
Doug Kennedy
Norman Furlong
One position unfilled
Kate Moss
„ Jim West
Photography in Mexico
Rice University Summer Program
Up to six hours of academic credit will be available for
beginning and advanced photography students taking
courses through the Rice University Summer Program in San
Miguel de Allende, Mexico this summer. All equipment will be
provided. Two consecutive three week sessions will be
offered, June 8 to 26 and June 29 to July 17. Courses will
stress the learning of technical skills, including darkroom
technique, and parallel studies in the history and aesthetics of
photography. Instructor will be Geoff Winningham,
Department of Art and Art History. Financial aid available. For
further information contact either the Rice Summer Program,
x4948, or Geoff Winningham, x4894.
Stretch your mind and your horizons.
V-*'
When you join STC. you won't be given work that's dull, meaningless or
repetitious. You'll be given assignments that are challenging, interesting and
meaningful. STC is on the leading edge of high-density, high-performance
data recording, so your career will be state-of-the-art. If you're looking for an
opportunity to go as far as our abilities will take you, and you're not afraid of
responsibility. STC could be the answer. Just as important, we're located in
Colorado, one of America's most beautiful areas, with mountain vistas that
stretch your horizons and help stretch your mind. Check the following career
opportunities with STC. If you qualify, we'd like to hear from youl
ELECTRONIC
Education/experience in digital, analog electronics, microprocessor,
logic, semiconductor development, read/write, servo technology.
BS, MS. PhO-FF
INDUSTRIAL
Education/experience in facilities design & layout, work sampling.
MTM. materials control, mgt. reporting systems, project cost analysis,
reduction. BS, MS. PhD-IE.
QUALITY
Education/experience in PCB design, test calibration of test
equipment, electro/mechanical testing & evaluation, statistical &
failure analysis. BS. MS-EE. ME. Math. Physics.
MECHANICAL
Education/experience in vibration analysis, materials development,
servo mechanisms, thermo analysis, package design, tool &
fixture design. BS. MS. PhD-ME.
MANUFACTURING
Education/experience in tool/fixture design, work station set-up.
manufacturing process control, development, equipment main-
tenance. evaluation. BS. MS-ME. EE
COMPUTER SCIENCE
Education/experience in engineering or business applications
programming. Knowledge of PL1-PDP11-FORTRAN, Basic, COBOL
Knowledge of IBM systems, computer graphics design BS. MS.
PhD-CS, Math. Physics.
STC offers an excellent compensation package including health and
insurance benefits, stock purchase plan and more. For an interview
appointment please sign up at the Career Placement office. If you
are unable to meet with us at thisjrime, please send your detailed
resume in complete confidence to STORAGE TECHNOLOGY CORPORA
TION. Attn: College Relations. MD-31. 2270 South 88th St.,
Louisville. CO 80027. We are an equal opportunity employer m/f
STORAGE
TECHNOLOGY
CORPOP AT ION
f .ihiunq ")e p-0T„<,e ot :erh.no'o^y
The Rice Thresher. March 5, 1981, page 5
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Dees, Richard. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 68, No. 25, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 5, 1981, newspaper, March 5, 1981; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245465/m1/5/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.