The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 84, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, November 8, 1996 Page: 2 of 20
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8. 1996
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School is asking good questions, and
the answers will be important.
Stagnation is a natural tendency. It's always easier to keep doing
what's been working. And the (ieorge K. Brown School of Engineer-
ing, has reason rjiough to stay the course: successful graduates,
r<'spt'ctiul programs and top-notch students.
This weekend's opening of.the new computational engineering
building. I )unean Hall, was a celebration of some of Rice's achieve-
ments in engineering. Rather than bask in its accomplishments, the
school has embarked on a remarkable self-examination as part of the
university's strategic planning process. Everything is being ques-
tioned: what students* should learn, how they should be taught it,
what facilities they need and how they*should be graded. It's a
process being carried out not by administrators but students, faculty
and alumni. " m
There is, indeed, good reason for rethinking engineering at Rice.
With the advent of computer computation and simulation, the design
process has 'undergone ;i revolution, one which is hardly reflected in
•ulunis which have changed little in years, even decades,
lovers are increasingly looking for leadership skills and eco-
nomic/management backgrounds. The question came up repeat-
edly in a series oi planning workshops: Is Rice preparing engineers
for the environment they-
• • tu will .be working in?
pifllOil pi - That this question is be-
* ing addressed on a school-
wide level is great. liven
better is that individual de-
partments are going
through the same process.
Course offerings are being
rethought Iroin the ground up There are new courses like engineer-
ing riliies ifaiu;ht by a Riee alum with a career's worth of industry
i xpf rieuec i. "I .eu,o I,ab" and team projects. Chemical engineering is
working on,a summer internship program, possibly for credit. Civil
.engineerim; and architecture (two fields, which despite their obvi
otis r<Tat 1011siii|j. lend to view each other with disdain) are teaching
a joint i Li lor freshmen and sophomores.
%Soriie of the changes to the engineering school are obvious, like
the brand new Duncan Hall. All around the Engineering Quad
i ani.de, though. there is a much moi e subtle change taking place, a
i hangc not itist, oj courses but of attitudes. It bodes well for the
future. We applaud the school's efforts and look forward to them
brim; reflected in how engineering is being taught..
What were students doing in Rice s
beautiful m*w classroom building?
It seems that students weren't initfally invited to last Friday's
Duncan Hall opening. In the end, the event was open to everyone,
but we can understand the former point of view: Donors and admin-
istrators should not have to deal with anyone who has yet to pull in
a degree or SfiOOgi and per month. Come to think of it, wouldn't this
university be so much more neat and orderly without any students
a round?
Letter Policy
TO SUBMIT l etters may be sent in by ...
e mail welter" rice.edu
campus mail: heller I<> the Editor, c/o The Rice Thresher
(i.S Mail: heller lo the Editor. The Riee Thresher.
tilOO Main St., MS-524, Houston. TX 77005-1892
in person: Thresher Office. Second floor,Student Center
DEADLINE - - Deadline for all letters is-5 p.m. on Muqday. Letters
received yfler I lie deadline are generally not considered for
publicalion until the following week.
RULES
1. All fetters must include your name, college, year of
graduation and phone number.
2. Short letters (200-500 words is sf go<fd guideIine) havt a better
chance of being published than long ones.
:t I eitervrecrived via campus or U.S. mail must be signed. Itywft
arc not submitting vnt e-mail, we strongly recommend that you
submit letters on a Macintosh or IBM-formatted«disk.
" 4 We do not accept anonympus letters, but names may be with-
held by request in special circumstances.
' We rrsn vi i be light to edit for length. sp«41iiig. graitiniar
and style
to the Editor
To the editor:
The panel discussion on abor-
tion that took place at Rice on Oct.
29 was advertised as being, among
other things, a non-religious dia-
logue in search of common ground,
devoid of rhetoric. 1 believe that such
discourse is sorely needed in soci-
ety, today nv>re than ever, and I was
excited to see that it was happening
After a fruitless two hours,
though, my hopes were dashed. TUti
discussion was neither non-religious
nor devoid of rhetoric, and there
was no attempt to find common
ground. The discussion immediately
fell into a rehashing of the same
arguments that have been thrown
around for as long as abortion has
been an issue, and it never recov-
ered. If any effort toward creating
productive dialogue was given in
panelist selection, pre-briefing or
moderation, it was not apparent.
Abortion is one of the most com-
plex anddivisiye sticial issues today
and is only gelling worse. Intelli-
gent discussion between the two
sides must take place. Blocking this
is a prevailing attitude of anger on
both sides, articulated as, "I can't
believe thev believe that."
It is time to face the facts. Pro-
choice individuals really do believe
that the fetus is not a person and has
no inherent rights. Pro-life individu-
als really do believe that the fetus is
a human being with as much value
as anyone else alive on the planet.
We cannot expect
those who do not
believe in the Bible
like we do to act as if
they do.
Furthermore, there are ex*
treinely intelligent people with very
good reasons for their views on both
sides. Unfortunately, there are t hose
on both sides who don't have well-
thought-out ideas and make up for
this deficiency wjfh the amount of
emotional energy which they throw
into the fray.
We cannot lei our participation
in this issue be a reaction against
them. We are responsible, as citi-
zens of a democratic society, to value.
respect and, yes, even be friendly to
those we disagree with, even on an
issue such as abortion.
There were on Tuesday, as there
so "often are, religious motivations
behind this tqpic. As an evangelical
Christian, I am dismayed at the wid-
ening schism between evangelicals
and the rest of society. I make the
following appeal to Christians: We
cannot expect those who^lo not be-
lieve in the Bible like we do to act as
if they do. Our primary respunsibil:
ity is to ensure that we are acting in
such a manner, and if Christianity is
viewed as hateful, then we are fail-
ing. We must display humility and
compassion toward all.
To those who believe that being
a Christian necessarily entails be-
ing a fundamental theocral — this is
not t rue. I apologize for the un-C'hris-
tian attitudes and behaviors that
many who profess to be Christians
display. Please understand, how-
ever, that Christianity includes ideas
that are at odds with popular cul-
ture, and that one can believe in
them and still deserve respect.
Stephen Hush
Hanszen '98
To the editor:
George Hatoun has done an ad-
mirable job recently in this.paper of
exposing some of the staggering
incompetence in the Rice Univer-
sity Police Department. Alas, the
scope of this incompetence is too
great for one man, n«T matter how
brave, to expose. 1 must say that I
have always appreciated and re-
spected the foot, bike and car pa-
trols that keep our campus safe, but
I have utterly lost faith in the folks
responsible for regulating pairing
here.
I received $385 in incorrectly is-
sued parking t ickets over the course
of two weeks earlier this semester.
As a senior at Baker College, 1 am
guaranteed a space in either the
Hanszen College lot or the Baker
College lot, and so I planned to reg-
ister my car when those stickers
were available. Our chief justice told
us to go ahead and park in the
Hanszen lot Until begot the stickers
and that he had talked to the police
about this — we would not get tick-
eted.
Well, sure enough, one day I
started getting tickets. I returned to
my car one bright Wednesday after-
noon to find $235 worth of tickets.for
illegally parking without a Hanszen
lot sticker and for failing to register.
In order to forestall any extra ticket-
ing and inconvenience, I decided to
go ahead and register for a stadium
sticker. I placed the sticker in my
back window, not wanting to affix a
sticker I would use for a day (my
Hanszen lot sticker was in the
works).
No prizes for guessing what hap-
pened next. The next two days savy
one ticket each for failure to register
my vehicle,— a total of $150 in fines
for not registering, after I had regis-
tered.
Why did I give my license plate
number, student. ID number and
social security number to the RUPD
if they don't even use them to check
if a car has been registered? Why
•didn't the police look for my sticker?
1 talked to a policewoman about this,
and she said that I should have re-
ceived a ticket for failure to "prop-
erly affix" my sticker $5.
Now, of course, this is ridicu-
lous, too, because anyone can get a
stadium lot sticker. For four years I
$EE PARKING PAGE 4
To the editor: •
In a letter to the editor in the Oct.
18 issue, "Campus Police should
honor alcohol policy by following
rules, regulations," Sean Seton-
Rogers complained that he had been
harrassed by a campus policeman.
He was 21 and had not been able t^
get a drink at the Screw Yer Room-
mate party because be had mdyit
paper driver's license and a Rice ID.
My problem with his complaint
is not that bewiisn'ttreatedunfairly.
On the contrary, whichever police
officer he dealt with was completely
in the wrong.
My problem with Seton-Rogers'
complaint about the Campus Police
is that he generalized his statement s.
"After all that has been said about
the Rice Campus Police, I still had
faith in th^ir abilities until..." is Se-
ton-Rogers' opening remark. I have
never been treated badly, conde-
scendingly or threateningly by. any
Campus Police officer.
In fact, I have encountered sev-
eral .officers that were nice enough
to understand that student s do drink
on campus to avoid having to drive
elsewhere. The few times that 1
should have gotten in trouble. I found
all officers to be more concerned
with my personal safety than with
hauling me off to jail or harrassing
me about anything.
It sounds like Seton-Rogers had
a bad experience, and he has ev
don't feel that thlUme incident re
right to be indignant. Howeve'
'BP
I? 1
fleets the entire campus police de-
partment.
Wintress Von Mayer
WRC '99
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Beard, Marty & Rao, Vivek. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 84, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, November 8, 1996, newspaper, November 8, 1996; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth246552/m1/2/?rotate=90: accessed May 2, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.