The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 75, No. 11, Ed. 1 Friday, November 6, 1987 Page: 1 of 20
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Volume 75, Number
WRESHER
Rice's early-morning newspaper
Friday, November 6,1987
Language competency requirement proposed
by Shelley Fuld
An ad hoc committee on foreign
language study submitted a proposal
to require foreign language profi-
ciency to the Committee on Under-
graduate Curriculum last week, ac-
cording to Bill Wilson, electrical and
computer engineering professor and
member of the committee. The
committee raised questions about the
proposal and requested more data
before making its decision.
If implemented, the proposal
would require students to demon-
strate competency in a foreign lan-
guage by one of the following: a score
of 560 or above on the college place-
ment exam, a 4 or 5 on an Advanced
Placement language test, a 62 or
above on the College Board Achieve-
ment test, or a C or better in a 202-
level foreign language class. The only
current requirement for admission is
two years of high school study.
Wilson said the committee will
probably discuss the proposal at two
more meetings. If adopted, the pro-
posal would probably not affect in-
coming freshmen until the 1989-90
school year.
"There was a feeling among the
committee members that it is as strict
a proposal as there is anywhere,"
Wilson said. He said other schools
require one year of a foreign language
or comparable scores.
An ad hoc committee from the
language departments formulated the
proposal. French professors Bernard
Aresu and Deborah Nelson and As-
sistant Professor of Spanish, Portu-
guese, and Classics Harvey Yunis
submitted the proposal to the curricu-
lum committee.
The ad hoc committee noted that
only 153 out of 643 freshmen re-
ceived a 560 or better on the place-
ment exams administered during ori-
entation week this year, but estimated
that half would ha,ve passed if they
knew it counted and had time to pre-
pare.
The committee raised questions
about how the foreign language re-
quirements would affect distribution
requirements and how the placement
exams were administered during Ori-
entation Week.
Before it can be approved, the pro-
. posal must be reviewed at various
levels. The Committee on Under-
graduate Curriculum will decide
whether to forward the proposal to the
University Council and whether to
recommend adoption of the proposal.
The University Council will then
Drug survey to begin today
by Jeff Solochek
The Task Force on Substance
Abuse, headed by Sociology profes-
sor Chandler Davidson, will begin
conducting asurvey on Rice students'
use of drugs ana alcohol today.
A full report on this survey will be
available at the beginning of the
Spring 1988 semester.
The survey, designed by commit-
tee consultant Stephen Klineberg,
will take random samples of all
undergraduates and fifth-year stu-
dents. One of every five registered
students will receive a questionnaire
in campus mail and will be asked to
fill it out and return it anonymously.
The questionnaires will be sent out
today.
Klineberg said the questionnaire
"is as short, as focused, and as easy to
complete as possible. It should take
no more than three or four minutes to
fill out. The thing that will make or
break the survey is the honesty, seri-
ousness, and willingness of students
to share their experiences with us."
The responses, Klineberg said, will
be kept anonymous. The respondents
will send the completed question-
naires to one place, and a signed card
stating that the questionnaire has been
completed to another.
This procedure will allow the
committee to know who responds
while preserving the anonymity of the
answers. Follow-up letters will be
sent to those who do not respond, to
ask for their participation.
A 1985 survey on alcohol use,
conducted in the same manner, had a
high return rate and accurate results,
according to Klineberg.
This survey serves two functions.
First, it follows up the survey con-
ducted by Klineberg two years ago.
Second, it illustrates an attempt by the
university to know the extent of drug
use on campus, and to act accord-
ingly.
Davidson said, "The basic thrust of
the committee is to raise questions of
the extent of drug use on campus, and
whether people have accurate infor-
mation on drugs to make rational
decisions about their use."
Although the current survey will
address the undergraduate student
body, the task force will eventually
investigate drug problems among
staff and faculty as well.
"Our concern is not limited to stu-
dents," Davidson said. "We have a
definite mandate from Dean Steb-
bings to look at the issue of drug use
as related to staff and faculty as well.
The student survey is only one aspect
of our fact finding."
Dean Ronald Stebbings created the
task force this year in response to an
amendment to the 1986 Federal
Higher Education Act which requires
all universities which receive federal
funds to submit a statement to the
government which states what the
university is doing to address drug
problems.
see Drug, page 7
Termite Tommy at Fondren
Tommy the termite detection dog visited Fondren Library this week to hunt down termites in the building's walls. Beagles
can use their keen sense of smell to detect termites even when there is no visible evidence of any kind. Tommy did,
indeed, find the insects in the building, built in 1949 —D. Kelley
decide whether to send the proposal to
the faculty for final approval.
Wilson said the committee is
somewhat unsure and has questions
that need to be answered.
"I would say the committee
seemed to be treating the proposal
with some skepticism. The commit-
tee is asking why we should have
foreign language requirements when
we don't for many other tilings,"
Wilson said.
"If we satisfy ourselves that there
are good reasons to have foreign lan-
guage requirements when we don't
for other subjects, we will approve it,"
he said.
"It could conceivably go into effect
for next year's freshman class, but it is
not likely. It would have to get into
the catalogue for perspectives, and it
wouldn't even get to the faculty until
the spring, when it will probably be
loo late to be changed," Wilson said.
SA meeting
R. Claussen
SA hears new ideas
oh IDs, enforcement
by Mary Elliott
The Alcohol Policy Advisory
Committee reported on their recent
recommendations at the last Student
Association Senate meeting. Those
recommendations include checking
identification only at the bar and the
possibility of using students to evalu-
ate the alcohol policy at parties.
Four or five students from each
college would be selected by the
master and president to evaluate the
alcohol policy. A list of these stu-
dents would then be sent to Dean of
Undergraduate Affairs Ronald Steb-
bings for him to use as he wishes.
Wiess President Bill Davis, a
member of the committee, reminded
the Senate that the committee's deci-
sions were merely recommendations
to be given to Stebbings.
hi other business, SA President
Kevin Gass said he went to an AIDS
conference last weekend in Washing-
ton, D.C. The United States govern-
ment, Gass said, supplied the money
for the trip.
In a report from the Pub committee,
Baker President Andy Kopplin re-
quested an open forum on improve-
ments for the Pu^. He is concerned
that many students beKeve that the
Pub is about to go under.
"Theoretically the Pub is supposed
to break even, butl'll be surprised if it
does," Gass said.
~ The Senate also discussed the pos-
sibility of dropping the signatures on
add/drop forms, but no action was
taken at the meeting.
The Senate will pass out surveys
next week to determine its effective-
ness in representing the students.
Wiess member Steamer Lecarpen-
tier reported that the Committee on
Substance Abuse is randomly polling
20 percent of the student body on
substance abuse.
Richardson College Senator Frank
Shipman said the Judicial System Re-
vision Committee is trying to get the
administration to look at its recom-
mendations more seriously.
In addition, External Vice Presi-
dent Robert Nevill reported that sena-
tors distributed free voter's guides
from the League of Women Voters to
the colleges on Tuesday.
INSIDE:
News: Seven desperate
people called for help, p. 7
Feature: Bust, Dole. Kemp and
other four-letter words, p. 8
Fine Arts: Three characters in &
search of sex, p. 9
Sports: Mr. Owlook on the
Owls after ten weeks, p. 17.
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Raphael, Michael J. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 75, No. 11, Ed. 1 Friday, November 6, 1987, newspaper, November 6, 1987; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245677/m1/1/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.