The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 6, Ed. 1 Friday, August 24, 1990 Page: 2 of 8
eight pages : ill. ; page 19 x 15 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:
2 FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 1990 THE RICE THRESHER
■ m
I
HRMj
Letter from Camp Rice
Dear Mom and Dad,
My first week at Rice was great! I've met so many new
had so much fun. Just so you know your getting your $6!
here's what I've learned this week;
pie and
worth,
• At Rice, there is a fifty-fifty ratio of guys to girls. After all, for every
male advisor there is a female advisor. And next year it's a woman's
turn to be Campanile editor, Thresher editor, SA president and presi-
dent at all eight colleges. Boy, getting dates will sure be easy.
•Everyone at Rice has a strict schedule. So quit worrying about
how 111 "manage my time." I plan to study often, between the scaven-
ger hunt and the nightly pranks we play on other colleges, and before
I go to all those casino parties.
•The professors actually care about what classes I take. When my
academic advisor signed my registration form, he asked me about
every single class. He didn't just mumble a few words and then sign
it. And a senior told me they care more about their teaching than their
research.
•Good teachers get tenure.
• People actually eat at their colleges and don't complain about the
food, which I guess is free. Plus, it's all-you-can-eat. But I won't get fat,
because it's very healthy for you. You remember all the salad, fruit,
and bread from the first day.
•You can't believe everything you read in the papers. My new
friend from Boston told me the Boston Globe listed President Rupp as
the leading candidate for Harvard's presidency, but all he talked
about at matriculation was the "building, unbuilding, and rebuilding"
of Rice. He had a great theme for his speech, and it sounded really
good. He's an awesome speaker!
•Everyone abides by the honor system. Really. That poll the
Thresher took two years ago doesn't apply to today's seniors.
•The religious organizations on campus give us free stuff and want
nothing in return. I signed my name up for every one.
•Nobody drinks.
Your loving child
Activities fair worth the time
Welcome to Rice. Today brings the end of Orientation Week. Dis-
obedient upperclassmen will arrive at the dorms before the day is
over, and people will start getting ready for classes on Monday.
And at the activities fair, you'll see that there are many activities to
get involved in. Lots of activities that your high school didn't have.
Lots that maybe you wanted to try in high school and for which you
never had the time.
Participating in these activities is an integral part of the "Rice Ex-
perience." Books and classes are not what's remembered 20 years
after graduation. Instead, what youll remember are friendships,
great times and acheivements, and lessons that can be carried into
many practical situations.
So make sure and go. This is not library orientation. (What does
anyone ever remember afterwards? How many S/E's use the library
before their junior year?)
If there are any groups or organizations that catch your fancy —
like the rugby club, the University Blue, or the Thresher—get on their
mailing list and see what the club is really all about.
Try it; you might like it.
We at the Thresher are especially looking forward to anyone inter-
ested in being on the staff of Rice's student-run newspaper, which
reports and comments on campus news nearly every week (Don't be
scared if you didn't work for your high school paper. Neither of this
year's editors did.)
We look forward to seeing all freshman at the activities fair today.
SMCf 1«U
Jay Yates, Kurt Moeller
Editors-in-Chief
Harlan Howe
Managing Editor
Chris Lowe
Business Manager
PHOTOGRAPHY
Shaila Dew an
BUSINESS
David Mansfield Ads Manager
NEWS
Shaila Dewan, Ijorie list
BACKPAGE
Pete Iimperis Editor
PRODUCTION
Shaila Dewan, Chuck Yates
OPINION Phone - 5274802
Charles Kufner, Chuck Yates © COPYRIGHT 1990
The Rice Thresher, the official student newspaper at Rice University since
1916, is published each Friday during the school year, except during exami-
nation periods and holidays, by the students of Rice University. Editorial and
business offices are located on the second floor of the Ley Student Center,
P.O. Box 1892, Houston, Texas, 77251. Advertising information available
upon request. Mail subscription rate per semester: $15.00 domestic, $30
international via first class mail. Unsigned editorials represent the opinion
of the editors in-chief. All other pieces represent the opinion of the author.
Obviously.
THE ONU WW THtS STRUGGLE
ON HAVE CREDfBlUW WWN
WE A B>N0WJ> \ST00FTO5E
SMfcNA HUSSEIN WW AN W&TOTCE-
BESIDES, AOOPS EOPnY HAS
INTORAED US WOT ONI* WBS
WU.BEAU0 IEDTOVEWOWA
INANARARWR-
a>
8-^
Rice must drop big-time athletics
To the editors:
I ask that Rice withdraw from
Division I competition in the NCAA.
College football and basketball use
their affiliation with educational in-
stitutions to take advantage of ath-
letes. Although Rice has served its
student-athletes relatively well, the
NCAA generally prevents football
and basketball players from receiv-
ing adequate compensation for the
benefits they bring their schools.
Rice's participation in the South-
west Conference and Division I
sports helps the college sports indus-
try maintain the illusion that it has
something to do with academics.
The university must refuse to coop-
erate with the hypocritical exploita-
tion of athletes and academic prin-
ciples in pursuit of the entertainment
dollar.
I'm not proposing this step be-
cause I haven't enjoyed Rice athlet-
ics. I Ve rooted for Rice all my life, win
or lose. My parents, both Rice
alumni, had season tickets for the
family long before I enrolled. Since
graduating I've seen Rice football in
South Bend and Rice basketball in
Richmond, Va., in addition to home
games while visiting Houston.
Nor do I resent Rice athletes.
Among my friends and acquain-
tances at Rice were Jeff Hood, Brent
Knapton, James Hamrick, and Dave
Ramer. All the players I've known
deserved to be Rice students.
But Rice athletes are special.
They usually come for the education,
not to play in bowl games.
But an athlete who is unprepared
for college or destined for a career in
professional football may not want,
need, or be able to get a real college
education. Such a player helps the
school bring in millions of dollars for
the athletic department In return, he
gets something he does not value. In
a free market, Rice might attract
athletes by offering scholarships,
but most schools would have to offer
money. Rice is more fair not because
it follows the rules but because it
offers a better education, to athletes
that want it
College athletic departments
have perverted the notion of "ama-
teurism" to exploit athletes. Just
consider how much coaches and
universities cash in on sports via
salary, gate receipts, TV coverage,
and endorsement contracts. Every-
body gets paid but the player.
Widespread recruiting viola-
tions and payments to players prove
that the player is worth more to the
school. If a team offered to give its
players money instead of degrees, it
would draw hundreds of prospects.
But the NCAA forbids it That policy
is an unjust and possibly illegal exer-
cise of its monopoly: the colleges
saturate and control the market for
semi-pro football and basketball.
In baseball, which has a well-es-
tablished and competitive farm sys-
tem, players can skip college to work
their way up through low-level pro-
fessional teams. The nobility of base-
ball hasn't suffered. In contrast foot-
ball and basketball players have to
pretend that they are amateurs and
that they are students if they want to
work their way up. Rick Telander's
book, The Hundred Yard Lie, probes
the hypocrisy and corruption of col-
lege football in depth.
The hypocrisy takes an especially
large toll on black athletes who are
poor and underprepared for college.
They can't take advantage of a
"scholarship," fit in to largely white
towns like Norman or Boulder, or
afford forays outside what the uni-
versity is allowed to provide by the
NCAA. As a result they remain part
of a lower class no matter how much
they may achieve for their schools on
the game.
Unfortunately, colleges lack the
will and the power to eliminate all
financial gain from sports. The only
possible solution to the corruption of
college athletics is to cut the Gordian
knot by making profitable college
teams professional and separating
them from academic requirements.
Rice could take this step unilater-
ally, as a matter of conscience. Oth-
erwise, since Rice athletes are also
students, Rice could participate in
intercollegiate athletics at a level
where there is no financial reward
for the student or the university. But
the current system is an affront to the
academic ideal, free enterprise, and
social justice. We must oppose it
John A. Burns
Rice '86
Cambridge, MA, May 17, 1990
Summit spending covered
up, didn't attack problems
To the editors:
As she wove her way through the
morning downtown rush, a friend of
mine noticed a difference in the
usual concrete-glass-metal sur-
roundings. Yes, Houston had
scrubbed its sidewalks, buildings,
and highways — the summit was in
town. But something was
missing...j\h, of course, where did
our fair city hide the homeless?
So how much of the multi-million
dollar budget was spent on conceal-
ing the uglier aspects of the city? A
few thousand? A few hundred-thou-
sand? Maybe a million? And where
were they hidden? Were they
rounded up like stray dogs by sortie
glorified dog-catchers?
As students ofRice University, we
rarely see these homeless people —
whom Jonathan Kozol has described
as America's untouchables. The
closest we get to them is perhaps
through the window of our car as
they beg for money. And also as
students shielded by our education
and background, we assume that all
homeless people are the derelicts,
the drug addicts, the criminals, the
mentally-ill and the uneducated of
our society. And how wrong we are
— many are just victims of unem-
ployment or incapacitating acci-
dents. Many were once happy, and
many are families.
Aiid on the flip side, also as stu-
dents of Rice University, we have
been caught up in the adrenaline of
the summit's excitement and import
on our school to see the excess and
disappointment of funds caused by
the event
Houston set out to impress our
international visitors but with the
help of heavy makeup. The expense
of which should have been spent a
long time ago on curing the blem-
ishes of our city.
Perhaps, we did impress them,
and perhaps the^ummit will launch
Houston as an international city,
bringing business and prosperity.
But will this new money be spent
attacking a vitally important social
problem — or wUl it be spent once
again on covering up?
Tomorrow, when our guests
leave, I predict that the homeless will
once again make our downtown
streets their home.
Jean Chen
Jones '91
Houston, July 11, 1990
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.
Moeller, Kurt & Yates, Jay. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 6, Ed. 1 Friday, August 24, 1990, newspaper, August 24, 1990; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245757/m1/2/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.