The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 85, No. 8, Ed. 1 Friday, October 17, 1997 Page: 2 of 20
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Opening the Baker Institute Conference
to all of us is laudably democratic.
Yesterday's Baker Institute annual conference had not yet taken
place when the Thresher went to press, but the event has attracted
national attention, and we feel it is safe to say now that it will have
filled Autry Court to capacity. The James A. Baker III Institute for
Public Policy deserves to be commended for holding this year's
conference, the institute's third, in the basketball gym and opening
it for the first time to all students and faculty who want to attend.
Although the Baker Institute has no doubt gone to great pains to
make the gym as attractive as possible, Autry Court is still anything
but elegant, and the decision to hold the conference there likely did
not come without regret, especially since it coincides with the
dedication*^ the long-awaited Baker Institute building, Baker Hall.
'Phis year's conference will gather former secretaries of state
Warren Christopher, Cyrus Vance, Henry Kissinger and former
Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, along with Baker institute
founder and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III.
More important to note, however, is that, in the past year, the
Baker Institute attracted speakers, such as Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat, Secretary of State Madeline Albright and Attorney General
Janet Reno, to Rice. The institute, if it keeps up the pace established
in its first three years, may be the instrument that finally puts an end
to Rice's being perceived by outsiders purely as a science and
engineering school. More importantly, the Baker Institute promises
to provide real focus and leadership to public policy education at
Rice, just as Baker Hall has already united the economics and
political science departments with an amphitheatre and seminar
rooms, Furthermore, opening its third conference to all Rice
students (as well as high school students and others in the Houston
community) shows that the Baker Institute is becoming more
democratic, to the benefit of the entire Rice community.
With that said, it should also be noted that the first two Baker
Institute conferences lasted two days, while this year's will start and
finish in just half a day. The number of panel discussions, the
conference's most valuable and most interesting component, ha&
dropped from three to one. Given the amount of high-profile speak-
ers the institute has brought to Rice in the past year outside the
conference and the need to prepare for the building dedication, we
can understand why this year's conference might not be as in-depth
as previous ones. But we strongly hope to see this trend reversed
next year. Although it may marginally boost Rice's national profile,
turning the conference into a set of photo-ops wrapped around the
awarding of the Enron Prize does little real good for either the
university or its students.
Great Things?
Pebble paths look great, but they ate hazardous.
The University paves its sidewalks with pebble paths, reportedly
because they are more eye-pleasing and do not change color as they
age, which makes it easy to blend old and new sidewalk sections.
However, with the slightest moisture those same pebble paths"
become dangerously slippery for pedestrians and anyone on wheels.
Cement or concrete would be much less expensive, if not as beauti-
ful, and gravel would provide better traction with a "traditional" look;
unpolished brick might be a reasonable substitute.
In weiging safety and aesthetics, safety should come first.
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Letters to the Editor
Let admissions officers do their jobs
To the editor:
Many people believe schools and
colleges should operate more like
businesses, looking for efficiencies
and improvements. Every so often,
though, these same people decide
to replace the common sense that
guides businesses with politically
charged legislation. The Texas
legislature's decision to admit ev-
ery student in the top 10 percent of
every high school in Texas auto-
matically into the University.ofTeifas
is sucb an instance. It is lime for
everyone to relax and let the admis-
sions personnel do their jobs.
Despite what some parents may
think, admissions q/ficers are not
just trying to decide which students
are "worthy" of their schools. They
are also trying to create a well-
rounded freshman class, much as a
casting director tries to assemble
the cast of a movie, or a director of
human resources tries to put to-
gether a good staff.
Of course colleges are looking
for students who will be able to
handle the workload, but generally,
90 percent of the applicants can do
that. Admissions professionals are
looking for extraordinary artists for
the art department, passionate jour-
nalists for the newspaper, great ath-
letes for their teams. Put all these
.kids together, and they will learn
from each other.
Now, it is one thing for a college
president (or a state legislator) to
say to an admissions office that he
wants a school that is 75 percent
male or 98 percent from one ethnic
group. If that is what the school
wants to do, it is OK by us, though it
would probably make for a miser-
able college experience. But it is
another thing to tell universities that
we would like them to build great
classes, but that they must build
them according to mindless, inflex*
ible rules determined by legislators,
not admissions professionals.
But I ask, "Why not let admis-
sions officers do their jobs?" If the
citizens of Texas are unhappy with
the composition of the student bod-
ies in the UT/A&M system, or if we
want to dictate the composition of
the student bodies, then we should
talk about it. Otherwise, we should
let the admissions professionals
build their classes with the same
free hand that we would give human
resource directors or any other pro-
fessionals.
Fred A. Bentsen
Executive Director, Houston
The Princeton Review
Airline should restrict reptilian carry-ons
Letter Policy
TO SUBMIT — Letters may be sent in by ...
e-mail:thresher@rice. edu k
campus mail: Letter to the Editor, c/o The Rice Thresher
U.S. Mail: Ix-tter to the Editor, The Rice Thresher,
■ 61(H) 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 Monday. Letters
received after the deadline are generally not considered for
publication until the following week
RULES -
1 All letters must include your name, college, year of
graduation and phone number.
2. Short letters (200-500 words is a good guideline) have a better
chance of being published ihan long ones.
;i. Letters received via campus or U.S. mail must be signed. If you
are not submitting via e-mail, we strongly recommend that you
submit letters on a Macintosh or IBM-formatted disk.
\ We do not accept anonymous letters, but names may be with-
held1 by request ifrspecttil eircumsfemcea.- —
5. We reserve the right to edit for length, spelling, grammar
and style.
To the editor:
Sorry to hear your skink can't
ride as carry-on baggage ("Editor
raises Skink," Oct. 10). Having said
that, I see Continental's point in dis-
criminating against cold-blooded
carry-ons. Lots more people, -right
or wrong, are more weirded out by
reptiles than by dogs, cats or babies.
Speaking aS a former pilot, I can
think of nothing I'd enjoy less than a
jumpy bunch of passengers leaping
about the back of my airplane be-
cause they saw a skink.
People fear what they don't know
or understand. That circumstance
would be far less likely if a dog or cat
or other non-threatening pet got
loose. As the owner of two dogs who
have traveled as carry-ons, I am
proud to say that not only did they
travel well, they traveled so well no-
body knew they were on the air-
plane! (Even on a packed Christmas
flight, with no tranquilizers.)
Given that Continental allows no
more than two dogs in coach and
one in first class as carry-on, re-
quires they be under 15 pounds and
still charges the freight handling
fees for the privilege, they do all'
they can to discourage dog and cat
owners from getting their * warm-
bloodad pets on boaro^Ve too have
to worry about coming back home
with a "dogsicle" should the heating
in the cargo area fail, which is why
we go to the trouble and expense to
travel with our pets in the cabin. It
actually cost as much for the dogs to
fly with us as it cost for us to go.
To compare discrimination
against your skink to the discrimi-
nation endured by blacks, Jews and
other oppressed peoples is an insult
to their suffering. The two are worlds
apart. And while babies can be a
nuisance, I can't for an instant be-
lieve you think they should factor
into this discussion. Continental's
rules are for the safety and comfort
of their passengers, and their rules
concerning pets are actually far more
liberal than many other carriers. You
know your skink is harmless, but to
the little old lady who goes into car-
diac arrest if he gets out, he's
Godzilla. h
I,ast time I checked, a 15-pound
dog getting out of its pen wasn't
news, but a 15-pound boa constric-
tor was. I'd be first to boycott if they
wouldn't let you bring your baby on,
or wouldn't let you fly because you're
female or even if they banned you
for being a journalist, but your edito-
rial argument, like Winston, won't
fly.
Bev D. Blackwood II
Systems Analyst
Rice Administrative Systems
To the editor:
I am happy to find my self branded
an anti-communist in Massoud
Javadi's letter ("Renounce objectiv-
ism, boycott Rand," Oct. 10). I'm
outraged, though, to be falsely ac-
cused of condoning the United
States' support of dictatorships. In
my column ("U.N. harms U.S. ide-
als." Oct. 3). 1 apply to China this
principle: A free country should, at
minimum, boycott those dictator-
ships which censor speech and im-
prison or execute political dissidents.
^aMjfse".' ITiTs pnfiBpteltoltiStTue
for the despotic regimes named in
Javadi's letter as examples of my
supposed toleration of horrible dic-
tatorships. ' ' ..j. ■
far more alarming than that
wrongful accusation, however, is this
statement: "(U.S.-supported autoc-
racies 1 bear vivid testimony that the
'ideals' of the United States have
been put into sordid practice in the
dungeon rooms and torture racks of
almost every region of the world." I
can understand those who have con-
tempt for the current pragmatic,
conyjromising American govern;
ment. Javadi, amazingly, blames
American idtah for the -dictatorial
atrocities. The principle of individual
rights, indelibly inscribed by the
Founding Fathers as the American
tyotitical ideal, is the antithesis of a
dictatorship.
Javadi'« disdain for American ide-
als is fully explained by his plea for
"a more universal definition of mo-
rality." I infer that under his moral
system, property rights would be
replaced by liberal "rights" such as
health care and welfare.
I do not deny that I am for capital-
ism and against communism. The
same cannot be said for Javadiesque
liberals.
Q
Chris Klick
Hanazen '00
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Hardi, Joel & Siy, Angelique. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 85, No. 8, Ed. 1 Friday, October 17, 1997, newspaper, October 17, 1997; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth246604/m1/2/: accessed June 22, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.