The Rice Thresher, Vol. 89, No. 20, Ed. 1 Friday, February 15, 2002 Page: 4 of 28
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Texas Digital Newspaper Program and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Rice University Woodson Research Center.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
.'O
- i S,
each Lifeguard!
Now's the time, Don't wait
THE RICE THRESHER OPINION FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15,2002
Guest column
.'.v<
spT? v-rY- -ft Tr^'f i r^iT.' ' * * 'tf~ *" 1 wfiV
Spend your time on the beach in a fun and
challenging position working for the Galveston
Beach Patrol. Starting pay $9.00/hr with incen-
tives for bonus pay. Salaries increased for
EMT's. Discount housing available; summer
school available at Galveston College or Texas
A&M Galveston. Minimum qualification, be
able to swim 500 meters in 9 minutes or less.
Call (40?) 763-4769 for information or
www.galvestonbeachpafrol.org
Tryouts March 10, April 28 and May 5.
STUDENT TRAVEL
It's YOUR
London $267
Paris $307
Amsterdam $375
Madrid $385
Rio de Janeiro...$744
San Jose C.R. ...$453
Fares are round-trip. Restrictions
may apply. Tax not included.
BUDGET HOTELS
for as little as
$18
ANIGHT!!!
TRAVEL
2401 limes Blvd. 713.524.9910
c a
rice players presents
IWaI ■ M ICCWi Mil H W »
a play by Keith Curran
directed by Mark Ramont
February 15, 16, 21-23
performances start at 8:00pm
$4 students
$6 faculty&staff
$8 non-rice adults
7 13/ 348-PLAY for reservations
Hamman Hall • Rice University
http://www.rice.edu/players
Bush welfare proposal mocks family values
In a bizarre policy shift, the party
that so flagrantly bemoans the intru-
sions of big government is seeking
to implement a welfare policy that is
about as intrusive as any
ever proposed. Two weeks
ago, senior aides for Presi-
dent Bush began to out-
line a new plan for welfare
reform. One proposal of
the bill they articulated is
particularly alarming.
The administration
seeks to allocate $100 mil-
lion for premarital educa-
tion and experimental
programs that would
encourage low-income
individuals and welfare re-
cipients to get, and hopefully stay,
married. This new promotion of gov-
ernment-sponsored, or perhaps
more accurately, government-co-
erced, family values is shocking.
Perhaps ambitious in its attempt to
preempt the problem of welfare
rather than address it after the fact,
this new proposal nonetheless flies
in the face of everything "family val-
ues" are supposed to promote.
Since the advent of the modern
welfare state, questions of allocating
the nation's resources have proved
contentious. Conservatives and lib-
erals both attempt to score points
with constituents by widely promul-
gating "family values" without ever
Chrissy
Davis
are or establishing a legitimate and
clear connection between these val-
ues and welfare reform.
Family values — vague as the
concept is — are hard to
stand up against. The poli-
tician who stands against
them is inviting political
suicide.
The Bush proposal
to promote low-
income marriages is
merely the newest
attempt to universalize
family values with the
purported added benefit
of financial stability.
The promotion of
marriage as a financial
arrangement to keep people off the
welfare payroll can only be seen as
an insult to the religious and spiri-
tual implications of marriage that
politicians so cherish in the promo-
tion of family values.
I take no issues with premarital
education. With a divorce rate of over
50 percent, it would be hard to claim
that most Americans enter marriage
with a reasonable assessment of, or
commitment to, what it means to be
married.
Beyond funding for premarital
education, however, it is ridiculous
to presume that the federal govern-
ment should have an active role in
determining who should and who
really defining what "family values" should not get married. With a
resounding historical record of
denouncing government involve-
ment in the personal affairs of its
citizens, the Republican party would
be hard-pressed to avoid hypocrisy
in endorsing the Bush proposal.
Outside of the obvious infringe-
ment on individual rights, this pro-
posal will have a detrimental effect
on the values politicians claim are—
and Americans actually do hold to
be — essential to family life. Pro-
moting marriage among two indi-
viduals who have chosen not to get
married is likely to result in more
unhappy marriages, higher divorce
rates, childhood trauma for children
raised in dysfunctional households,
and higher incidence of domestic-
violence.
It is arrogant and ridiculous to
presume that encouraging low-in-
come couples or welfare recipients
to get married would circumvent
the problems of poverty or lack of
universal child welfare.
Degrading marriage to a finan-
cial convenience or, more aptly, ex-
ploiting the institution of marriage
to prevent a financial burden on the
nation is not only destined to fail but
is also likely to accelerate the disaf-
fection Americans feel with mar-
riage. It will destroy "family values"
at their very core.
Chrissy Davis is a Hanszen College
sophomore.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
DONATION, from Page 2
How do we as an institution ex-
cuse ourselves from taking money
from the same man who destroyed
his employees' lives?
To the administration: Explain
how this is different from blood
money.
Kevin Cassidy
Sid sophomore
Insults of swimmers
unqualified
To the editor:
Whatever Robert Killeen's quali-
fications to comment on the swim
program at Rice, 1 am quite sure,
based on my experience as a faculty
member, that he is unqualified to
judge the recently dismissed senior
swimmers ("Dismissal of swimmers
justified," Feb. 8).
These students are certainly not
irresponsible, negative or lacking in
"leadership."
Killeen's insults are wide off the
mark, offensive not only to the
women themselves but to those who
know them.
Thad Logan
English lecturer
Gonzalez needs to
back up stereotypes
To the editor:
In her Feb. 8 opinion column
("Apathy overwhelms students' bet-
ter traits"), Alessandra Gonzalez
writes that Rice students are apa-
thetic, useless, powerless and com-
placent. I know this is a popular Rice
stereotype, but I wish Gonzalez
could provide us with more con-
crete examples of the problem she
sees. What leads her to believe that
none of us care about non-student
members of the Rice community?
Why does she feel that we are not
involved in issues? What changes
would she like to see?
Gonzalez's experience interests
me because my own observations
have led me to the opposite conclu-
sion. I came to Rice because the
students here seemed so deeply pas-
sionate about so many different
things. We've got those who are to-
tally committed to their studies,
those who participate in volunteer
work, and those who are just consis-
tently helpful to their fellow students.
(At this point I'd like to interject a
great big thank you to everyone who
owns a car, everyone who has a Rice
meal plan and every other computer
science major.) And aside from all
the on-campus clubs, lots of us are
involved with real-world organiza-
tions like charter schools and advo-
cacy groups. That's why we're all so
damn busy.
During my Owl Weekend, of
course I picked up a copy of that
week's Thresher. The lively, diverse
and well-researched voices of the
opinion section demonstrated that
plenty of us are paying attention.
L Almagor
Sid junior
Erratum: In the Feb. 8 issue, Kit
Clark's (Sid '82) year and college
were misidentified. The Thresher w-
grets the error.
Mellon Undergraduate bellows Program
The Mellon Undergraduate Fellows Program at Rice University is currently accepting
applications from students interested in participating in a mentored program that prepares
them for entering Ph.D. programs in selected disciplines after they graduate from Rice
University. Eligible fields are Humanities, Anthropology, Mathematics, Mathematical
Sciences, Statistics, Physics, Geology, Ecology, and Earth Sciences.
Applicants should normally be completing their sophomore year as a student at Rice
University. Selection will be based on a number of attributes including but not limited
to academic standing and potential, life experiences and interests, commitment to building
bridges in multicultural settings, and interest in pursuing graduate education. Students
who participate in the program receive a yearly stipend of $1,600, work closely with a
faculty mentor for two years, and are also eligible for participation in summer fellowship
programs at the end of their sophomore or junior years. Finalists will be interviewed.
Announcements will be made in March.
Application forms and additional information about the program can be obtained online
at http://dacnetdev.rice.edu/deDts/outreach/mellon/ or from Dr. Roland B. Smith, Jr.,
Associate Provost, Room 313A, Lovett Hall.
Application deadline is FEBRUARY 222002
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Liu, Leslie & Reichle, Robert. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 89, No. 20, Ed. 1 Friday, February 15, 2002, newspaper, February 15, 2002; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443080/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.