The Rice Thresher, Vol. 97, No. 24, Ed. 1 Friday, March 26, 2010 Page: 4 of 20
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4 NEWS
the Rice Thresher
Friday, March 26,2010
STUDENT ASSOCIATION MINUTES
The following were noted at the most recent Student
Association meeting March 22.
Spirituality poll gauges religiosity
■ SA President Patrick McAnaney encouraged students to nominate
their peers for end-of-year awards.
■ Internal Vice President Setim Sheikh announced that applica-
tions for appointed executive positions, which include SA direc-
tors, committee chairs and the parliamentarian, are due to the SA
Executive Office by Wednesday at 5 p.m. The application can be
found on the SA Web site at sa.rice.edu.
■ McAnaney, a Brown College senior, announced that the SA is ac-
cepting applications to join the RESET Committee.
■ Director of Elections Ronnie Ren announced that Spring Elections
would begin at midnight Tuesday. Elections run through 4 p.m.
today. Students can vote at sa.rice.edu.
■ The Senate approved the Budget Planning Committee Bill, creat-
ing a committee to represent the student body's interests to the
Office of the Dean of Undergraduates and the Office of Finance
in regard to departmental budget planning; the Blanket Tax Over-
sight By-law Amendment, creating a committee charged with
grading organizations' usage of their blanket tax funds; the Club
Approval By-law Amendment, creating a committee solely respon-
sible for approving clubs and the NSR Clarification By-law Amend-
ment, formalizing the established practice of appointing three
new student representatives at each college instead of two.
■ The Senate approved the Inner Loop Shuttle Resolution, after
amending it to keep the Huff House stop on the Inner Loop shuttle
route. Three stops will be removed from the Inner Loop route: the
Reckling Park stop, the engineering quad stop and the Herring
Hall stop.
■ Nelson, a Brown junior, gave a presentation on the Student Cen-
ter Renovations Committee, outlining the committee's main inqui-
ries and timeline leading up to renovation of the student center.
Nelson expects the committee's final report on its findings to be
submitted next spring.
■ The Master Plan Working Group gave a report of the results of the
Campus Master Plan Survey, which will be submitted to Facilities,
Engineering and Planning (see article, page 1).
The SA will hold an end-of-year recap and changeover Monday at
9 p.m. in Farnsworth Pavilion.
by Scott Norgaard
Thresher Staff
The Student Association put
faith in its most recent poll, which
opened March 8 and surveyed stu-
dents about perceptions concerning
the availability of spiritual resourc-
es on campus.
Fifty percent of the poll's 250
respondents said they felt spiritual
resources at Rice were sufficient,
and 40 percent said that they had
no problems fulfilling their spiri-
tual needs. However, 80 percent
said they would like more online
resources available. Currently, there
is a database of books and Web sites
students can refer to for guidance,
but SA Internal Vice President Se-
lim Sheikh said he would like to see
these resources expanded.
Sheikh, a Martel College junior,
said the survey results may be
skewed, since respondents likely
tended to be disproportionately re-
ligious already. More than 65 per-
cent of respondents said they were
either aware of or have used the
Religious Studies Department as a
religious resource, which suggests
that respondents viewed religion as
important to their studies. Sheikh
was interested in seeing whether
students were aware of the depart-
ment and whether they used it to
learn more about different faiths
and religion in general.
The poll, which was available
to undergraduate students until
March 21 at sa.rice.edu, assessed
how students viewed the adequa-
cy of campus spiritual resources,
Sheikh said.
Students received invitations
to the poll through the SA listserv,
college listserves and through the
college senators' announcements
at college meetings.
Sheikh said he created the sur-
vey because he felt that existing
campus spiritual resources - help
for students seeking spiritual guid-
ance, such as the Boniuk Center
for Religious Tolerance - might
be lacking. The Joint Campus Min-
istries is a loose conglomerate of
leaders from different religious
ministries on campus, but Sheikh
said before this year, the JCM had
not met in four years. He said he felt
Muslim students were underrepre-
sented and did not receive adequate
religious resources.
a
I think that a lot of
Rice students put
spiritual things to the
side and focus on the
knowledge that they
need.
James Bartlett
Agape president
99
"I wanted to see from this poll
if students feel a greater need for
spiritual resources on campus,"
Sheikh said.
Selim worked in conjunction
with Wellness Center Director
Emily Page and Shira Lander,
interim director at the Boniuk
Center, to develop and refine the
poll's questions. Students were
asked how spiritual they consid-
ered themselves, whether they
felt spiritual resources at Rice
were sufficient and how often
they engaged in spiritual activi-
ties, such as praying or attending
religious services.
Lovett College senior James
Bartlett said a wealth of spiritual
resources are available to stu-
dents through the form of various
campus clubs and organizations,
such as Agape, Hillel, Intervarsity
Christian Fellowship and the Mus-
lim Student Association. However,
Bartlett, who is the president of
Agape, said Rice students may not
be aware of these opportunities.
"I think that there are a lot of
things on campus for someone who
is looking," he said.
Bartlett also said religion should
play a larger role in students' lives.
"1 think that a lot of Rice stu-
dents put spiritual things to the
side and focus on the knowledge
that they need," Bartlett said.
"There are studies that show that a
spiritual element is something you
should develop."
Sid Richardson College sopho-
more Michelle Jin, who is not reli-
gious, said she was not interested in
pursuing such resources at Rice.
"1 guess 1 don't pay that much
attention to different religious
events that are going on," Jin said.
"If other people want them, 1 hope
they are available."
Sheikh said the SA may use this
poll to justify adding more online reli-
gious resources. One source that might
benefit from the results of this survey
is the JCM Web site, Sheikh said.
Bartlett said the SA may see
these results as illustrating a need
to facilitate linking students up
with various campus clubs.
"I think at Rice you are surround-
ed by many intelligent people from
so many backgrounds, it would be a
wziste not to pursue the diversity of
perspectives," he said.
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Wilde, Anna. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 97, No. 24, Ed. 1 Friday, March 26, 2010, newspaper, March 26, 2010; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth398518/m1/4/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.