The Rice Thresher, Vol. 90, No. 24, Ed. 1 Friday, March 28, 2003 Page: 8 of 28
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THE RICE THRESHER NEWS FRIDAY, MARCH 28. 2003
— ■
Campus response to war ranges from die-in to TV show
WAR, from Page 1
ghanistan and the military action
with Iraq.
" [Baker Hall] is a focal point right
now, given what is the situation the
world is in," Marshall said.
Marshall, who has been with
RUPD since before Baker Hall was
built, said this was the first act of
vandalism at the building.
RUPD Chief Bill Taylor said the
police department was looking into
the possibility of offering a reward
for information in this case through
the Houston Crime Stoppers pro-
gram. RUPD also requests anyone
with information about the incident
call them.
Baker Institute Student Forum
Executive Committee member Alan
Kolodny said the act of vandalism
was unacceptable.
"Although I am wholly in support
of students expressing their First
Amendment rights, spray-painting
the building is wholly
uncondonable," Kolodny, a Jones
College junior, said. "That is a crime."
Monday at noon another protest,
known as a die-in. was held outside
Baker Hall. Four individuals lay on
the sidewalk in front of the building
in chalk outlines and had red-dyed
corn syrup poured on them.
A sign behind the individuals
read, "James Baker Institute Public
Policy - Killing Civilians for an Oil
Economy."
Jones senior Cameron Naficy,
one of the organizers, said the pur-
pose of the die-in was to bring atten-
tion to the role of the Baker Institute
and its two senior leaders, former
Secretary of State James A. Baker
and former Ambassador to Israel
and Syria Edward Djerejian, who is
the Institute's executive director, in
creating public policy.
"Djerejian and Baker are heavily
invested in oil," Nacify said.
Naficy said the Baker Institute
does not always perform a purely
educational mission in line with the
rest of the university.
This is supposed to be an aca-
demic institution, but really what
they're doing here is creating policy
— they influence policy, and that's
the link that we see through this
Institute," Naficy said.
The point of the die-in is to be a
form of political street theater, Naficy
said.
"It is meant to bring attention to
what's happening on the ground —
the deaths that are occurring and
that will continue to occur, both of
Americans and of Iraqi people,"
Naficy said.
RUPD came to the event to verify
that only students were demonstrat-
ing and to ask non-affiliated indi-
viduals to leave.
"We don't allow non-campus
people to do public demonstrations
on the campus because it is private
property," Taylor said.
Taylor said he believes political
demonstrations are appropriate at
an educational institution like Rice.
"We feel that students should be
able to do those sort of things, and
they haven't had problems doing
them," Taylor said.
Baker College senior Rebecca
Mackiernan, who attended the die-
in, said she thought the demonstra-
tion attracted the attention of people
inside Baker Hall.
"I think it's probably an effective
way to attract attention," Mackiernan
said.
Kolodny said he did not fully un-
derstand why students were so an-
tagonistic toward the Baker Insti-
tute.
"The ambassador's public state-
ments have all focused on a cau-
tious outlook of the war, which if
you are reading between the lines
can even be seen as against the
war," Kolodny said. "Now as for
Secretary Baker, there is more merit
to that."
Kolodny said the Baker Institute
has been approachable in its interac-
tions with students about the Iraq
crisis and cited coffee talks with
Djerejian as an example.
'They have tried to give students
a meaningful voice, and by spray
painting the building, that discour-
ages the process rather than encour-
ages it," Kolodny said.
Rice for Peace has stayed active
since the war began, and former
Rice for Peace President Charlotte
Albrecht said the group plans to
sponsor more activities.
Last night, Rice for Peace and
Rice Students for Global Justice
sponsored a teach-in on the Iraqi
war. History Professor David Slavin,
chemistry Professor John
Hutchinson and University of Hous-
ton history Professor Bob Buzzanco
spoke at the event.
Albrecht said the group plans to
hold weekly discussion-group meet-
ings and possibly perform a one-act
play.
In addition, the group will be-
gin fundraising for humanitarian
support, a project which Albrecht
said she expected to have wide
support.
"Regardless of one's perspective
of the war, everyone should get in-
volved in this," Albrecht, a Sid
Richardson College senior, said. "In
the end, this is about helping to en-
sure life, not end it."
Albrecht said she has been
pleased with the campus support for
the peace movement, though she is
concerned about apathy.
"People get uncomfortable when
groups express issues a lot and try
to get people to listen to them,"
Albrecht said. 'To me, that is fright-
ening about Rice."
Rice Broadcast Television's
"What's Your Point?" will film an epi-
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RBT Station Manger Richard
Adams said the show will be filmed
in front of an audience at 9 p.m. in
Farnsworth Pavilion in the Student
Center.
Adams said the show will feature
a cross-section of perspectives on
the situation.
"We are not going to have a panel
of experts, but just people would
represent a different opinion,"
Adams said. "We are not trying to be
an authority, but just provide a me-
dium for students to talk."
The Rice administration has also
activated a Web site that will provide
the latest information in a crisis. The
site is http://explore.rice.edu/ex-
plore/Etnergency. asp.
Private party hosts
sent to U. Court
by Lindsey Gilbert
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
College presidents and chief jus-
tices will meet with administrators
tomorrow morning to examine cur-
rent and future implications of the
Alcohol Beverage Policy. Attend-
ees of the meeting may discuss
how a March 2 minor in posses-
sion citation near Lovett College
resulted in a party shutdown across
campus.
Rice University Police Depart-
ment officers broke up a party at
Brown College and referred its host
to University Court after receiving a
call reporting a suspicious person
sleeping in a bush near Lovett.
The student, identified as a mi-
nor, was heavily intoxicated, RUPD
Chief Taylor said. Officers called
Rice Emergency Medical Services
and issued the student a minor in
possession citation.
The student, a Sid Richardson
College freshman, said the officers
asked him several questions, includ-
ing where he had been that night
and how much alcohol he had to
drink.
After learning that the student had
been en route to Sid from the eighth
floor of Brown, the officers proceeded
to the North side of campus.
Brown senior Tito Medina, the
host of the party, said he was stand-
ing in the hall near his room at about
3:30 a.m. when four RUPD officers
arrived.
Medina said one of the officers
told him about the minor in the bush
and said, as the host of the party, he
was responsible for that minor.
The officer did not card any of the
guests or enter the room, but he
threatened to issue minor in posses-
sion citations if underage guests did
not leave, Medina said.
Medina said the door to his room
had remained closed throughout the
night. The door was closed and the
party was contained when police ar-
rived, he said.
The Sid freshman, who wished to
remain anonymous, said he was at
the Brown party for fewer than ten
minutes. He said he did not drink at
»H<- '^(j'^aiid the host did not serve
party to stay," he said. "I went there,
said hello to about one or two people
and then left immediately."
Brown freshman Cordon
DeKoch said he attended the party
and left when RUPD officers ar-
rived. He said alcoholic beverages
were contained in the room, the
door was closed and the student in
question had not consumed alcohol
at the party.
"I really don't think that there
was an unsafe environment," he said.
"I don't know that the police needed
to be there, but it is up to their
interpretation."
Taylor said if students are irre-
sponsible in serving alcohol they
will be held accountable.
"We base our interactions on
alcohol largely on behaviors, and
this was a poor decision both on
the student's part and the host's
part."
The alcohol policy states, "Al-
though police and University offi-
cials will not search a student's room
without probable cause, so-called
'private parties' are not exempt from
laws making it illegal for persons
under 21 to possess or consume al-
cohol or for others to provide alco-
hol to persons under 21."
U. Court Chair Daniel Brickman
said U. Court is currently reviewing
the case but said he could not com-
ment further on the details. The party
host is charged with providing alco-
hol to minors, he said.
The minor in the related incident
faces minor in possession and pub-
lic intoxication charges.
Sid Chief Justice Gabe Ledeen
said the incident will most likely
come up at tomorrow's Alcohol Bev-
erage Policy meeting, which he will
attend.
Brickman, Student Association
Presidents Michael Leggett and
Brian Debbink and college presi-
dents and chief justices will attend
the three-hour meeting, the second
Alcohol Beverage Policy meeting in
a period of several weeks.
At the meeting, students will ex-
change ideas with Taylor, Assistant
Dean for Student Judicial Programs
Patty Bass, REMS Director Dave
Melville (Martel '03) and Assistant
Vice President for Student Affairs
John Hutchinson, who called the
meeting.
Ledeen said he does not know if
changes to the alcohol policy are
imminent.
"I think people are really reluc-
tant to suggest changes to the alco-
hol policy because it's a staple of the
social life at the school," Ledeen, a
junior, said. "People do have prob-
lems with [the policy] specifically
because it's up to the discretion of
the police officers."
Brown President Kathleen
Milazzo, who will attend the meet-
ing, said the incident has increased
awareness of alcohol policy issues
among Brown students.
"Many people at Brown were very
concerned about how the situation
was handled by the campus police,"
Milazzo, a junior, said.
Milazzo said she plans to discuss
the incident at the next Brown Cabi-
net meeting.
Many Brown students thought
Student Judicial Programs would
saicf?rinor charges against the party
"I think that everyone thought it
was baseless," Pope, an architecture
professor, said. "I talked to the per-
son after it happened, but I think
that a lot of people like me had just
written it off because it just didn't
have any basis."
Pope said he supports the host
and would be willing to act as a
character witness if the matter is
tried before U. Court.
Both Milazzo and Pope said the
college has had few alcohol policy
violations in the past.
"We feel comfortable and confi-
dent in how we handle parties and
other sorts of situations at the col-
lege," Milazzo, a junior, said.
Medina said he and his room-
mate host one or two parties a se-
mester, and most guests are friends
from the North colleges. Fewer than
50 people attended the party in ques-
tion, he said.
Medina said he has not been
involved in any other U. Court
cases.
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Rustin, Rachel. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 90, No. 24, Ed. 1 Friday, March 28, 2003, newspaper, March 28, 2003; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth442985/m1/8/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.