The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 6, Ed. 1 Friday, September 24, 1993 Page: 1 of 24
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VOLUME 81f NUMBER 6
CENTRAL KVITCHEN
SEPTEMBER 24,1993
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Sid Richardson College sophomore Emeka Koren dives to catch a Frisbee this week at Ultimate Frisbee practice.
Public policy institute
looking for a director
James Baker too busy for position, professor says
by Ryan Koopmans
Student reps to host visiting VIPs
by Chris Bachers
Rice students may soon be chauf-
feuring the world's VI Psaround Hous-
ton , part of a university effort to "put its
bestfootforward" during increasingly
frequent dignitary visits.
In a program started by University
Relations Director Greg Marshall, 50
students will be selected as Rice Am-
bassadors to perfourn "a mixed bag of
duties" for these visits\
"Rice University ha^worked to
break down the barriers between un-
dergraduates, graduat&students and
faculty, and now I believe we should
attempt to break down those that exist
between students and visiting VIPs,"
Marshall said.
The volunteer ambassadors will
represent Rice at business and social
functions and act in such capacities as
"airport greeters, campus tour guides
and special-event facilitators,"
Marshall said. Ambassadors will wear
white Rice shirts while working, he
said. '
They will study the history of Rice
and attend monthly training meetings
for continuing diplomatic instruction.
Representatives will be expected
to maintain an impeccable record of
conduct, Marshall said, and can re-
main in the program until graduation.
Since taking his post just 19months
ago, Marshall said he has seen an
amazing collection of international
dignitaries and world-renowned aca-
demics visit the university.
HecitedSen. PhilGramm, R-Texas;
U.S. Secretary of Energy Hazel
O'Leary and Pulitzer Prize-winning
journalist Anthony Lewis as examples.
He said upcoming events will in-
clude a Sept 30 speech by former
Secretary of State James A Baker III
and President Malcolm Gillis' three-
day inauguration activities in Octo-
ber.
" Exchanges with the student body
have evoked the strongest positive
responses from these VIPs, and inter-
action with individuals of this caliber
is a great opportunity for Rice stu-
dents," Marshall said.
The students' job will be to make
these exchanges more frequent and
more representative of Rice's diver-
sity, he said.
The selection process will yield 32
undergraduate and 16 graduate stu-
dents.
The presidents of the Student As-
sociation and Graduate Student Asso-
ciation will also serve.
GSA President Joseph Elias said
he th inks the program is a "good id ea"
because it gives diginitaries a chance
to "talk to real students instead of only
the university administrators."
Elias said his only concern was
whether there will be enough events
for all ambassadors to participate.
Applications were submitted this
week to college nominating commit-
tees.
The committees, consisting of a
college's masters, president and SA
senator, will nominate four to six stu-
dents from their college to a final se-
lection committee on the university
level.
"Final selections will be made by
representatives from the Office of Stu-
dent Activities, the Office of Develop-
ment, the Office of Student Affairs, the
Office of Graduate Studies and the
Office of University Relations,"
Marshall said.
On the graduate level, nominations
will be made by the GSA.
A search committee is seeking a
director for the James A Baker III
Institute for Public Policy, ending
speculation that Baker himself would
fill the spot
"This is a full-time commitment,
and Baker has many other commit-
ments as well as this," said Richard
Stoll, a political science professor who
has been involved with the institute
since its inception.
Stoll said Baker has played a large
role in other institute activities.
"He has been involved with draw-
ing up the plans and with many as-
pects of the institute," Stoll said.
Baker will be at Rice Thursday for
the first public event associated with
the institute. This speech is the only
planned institute activity before its
unveiling next year.
The lecture will be at 4 p.m. in
Stude Concert HalL Baker will speak
on "Meeting Global Challenges: The
Necessity for American Leadership."
Seating is on a first-come, first-served
basis.
The search committee is looking
for someone knowledgeable in both
public policy scholarship and policy
implementation, said James
Pomerantz, committee head and dean
of the School of Social Sciences.
"It's a rare combination of skills,
but there are people out there,"
Pomerantz said.
After then- President George Bush
lost his 1992 bid for re-election, many
at Rice hoped Baker, Bush's chief of
staff and former secretary of state,
would become involved here.
Baker has strong family ties to
Rice. His grandfather, Capt James A
Baker, helped uncover the plot to
murder university founder William
Marsh Rice.
In response to Rice administrators'
queries, Baker agreed this spring to
create the institute in his name. He
also serves as a term member on the
Board of Governors.
The Baker Institute does not yet
have a formal structure or charter, or
even a permanent home. It won't be-
gin of&cal activities until next year.
The in stitute, like all others at Rice,
will be funded by donations.
Whether it will have its own build-
ing or be added to an existing building
depends on how much money is
raised.
Temporary offices are being cre-
ated on the first floor of Fondren li-
brary.
"{The institute] won't take money
from anything else at Rice," Stoll said.
According to its charter, Rice can-
not assume any debt, so all fundraising
must be completed before any build-
ing can begin, Stoll said.
Pomerantz said the institute goal
is to "unify the world of action with the
world of ideas."
"Lots of scholars do good work
that never makes it to the real world,
and lots of policy makers are uni-
formed about what the scholars are
writing," he said. "The purpose of the
institute is to bring about interaction
between the two groups."
A major institute activity will be an
annual public policy conference. The
first, planned for next fall, will mark
the institute's real beginning.
The conferences will bring to-
gether world leaders and scholars,
possibly including some of the digni-
taries Baker worked with as secretary
of state, Pomerantz said.
The institute will also teach stu-
dents and bring in new faculty. There
is a strong desire to see that the Baker
Institute is well connected to every-
thing that Rice does," Stoll said. "It's
notgoingtobeoffon its own," he said.
To help reach this goal, plans are
being made for student internships.
Also, several departments plan to
work with the institute, including po-
litical science, economics, history, so-
ciology, psychology and the Jesse H.
Jones Graduate Schoolof Administra-
tion.
Senate collecting F&H complaints
Lovett College president asks, "Are ive being treated as tenants should be?"
for freshman hit at party
by Keith Hoffman
The Harris County district attorney last week refused to press assault
charges on behalf of Baker College freshman Brian Crain.
Crain may pursue, however, a civil suit against Kurt Wagner, a Jones
College senior. Wagner struck Crain at a party Sept 11 after Crain
sprayed him in the face with a fire extinguisher.
Mary Voswinkel, chief of campus police, said the charge was refused
because the "elements" necessary to"prosecute weren't present
Crain said<he is not disappointed by the decision, hoping it will end
criminal proceedings.
"I'd like to go through as little of that as possible," he said.
Crain said his parents have not yet decided whether to pursue
damages through litigation. He said the bill for medical treatment of his
injuries, which included a fractured skull, would be "fairly expensive."
Wiess College, where the party took place, and Food and Housing
may fine Crain for alcohol policy violations and for discharging the fire
extinguisher. Crain, however, said he has heard from neither organiza-
tion.
Wagner was unavailable for comment
by Michael Howell
The Student Association Senate
has created a committee to evaluate
the quality of on-campus housing at
Wee.
The committee is seeking criticism
about housing facilities "to improve
the treatment that students receive as
tenants of the university," said Clint
Patterson, Lovett College president
and committee chair.
In a Sept 13 memo to all SA sena-
tors and college presidents, Patterson
asked that complaints be submitted
so the SA "could assemble thorough
and coherent information of Food and
Housing practices that may seem un-
fair, abusive, arbitrary or wasteful."
The memo listed as potential
sources of inquiry "overbilling [of col-
leges by outside contractors], unfair
fines and policies, policies that seem
arbitrary and haphazard, fining stu-
dents for the same room damages in
consecutive years, fining students for
room damages but not repairing them,
wasteful practices (usually when a job
must be redone), instances of unre-
sponsiveness by Food and Housing
officials [and] security."
Patterson said the next step for the
committee will be to evaluate the com-
plaints that are received and see if
there are any "general themes" among
them.
"What we are trying to assemble
are larger complaints regarding hous-
ing," he said. The committee also
plans to suggest alternative policies to
F&H.
Patterson stressed that the com-
mittee did not form in response to a
specific instance.
"I want to emphasize that this is
not in any way a witch hunt What
we're trying to do is assemble a com-
prehensive list of complaints people
have with their housing," he said.
"Are we treated as tenants should
be? I don't know the answer to that 1
just thought it was important to first
identify whether people were dissatis-
fied. Housing is the one issue that
affects almost every student at Rice,"
he said.
Residential Colleges Manager
Daniel Perez said he hopes positive
comments, as well as complaints, will
result from Patterson's efforts.
"I don't want to just look for prob-
lems. I want to look for things that are
being done well as well as things that
... [the students] don't like," he said.
Any comments or complaints may
be sent by campus mail to Clint
Patterson at Lovett
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Howley, Peter & Epperson, Kraettli. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 6, Ed. 1 Friday, September 24, 1993, newspaper, September 24, 1993; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245848/m1/1/: accessed June 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.