The Rice Thresher, Vol. 93, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, December 2, 2005 Page: 9 of 20
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THE RICE THRESHER NEWS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2,2005
BSA holds forum on issues facing black Rice students
by Amber Obermeyer
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
Black Student Association mem-
bers and other students identified
Orientation Week, the large number
of upperclassmen minorities living
off campus and the small number
of non-athlete black students at Rice
as problems the university faces at a
discussion Tuesday evening.
BSA President Daniel Anderson
began the event, entitled "Black Rice
past, present and future: evaluating
Rice's responsibility to black students
and black students' responsibility to
the university," by introducing His-
tory Professor Alex Byrd (Sid '90),
who began by speaking about Rice's
image in black communities.
"A good number of black leaders
have perceptions about Rice that
are completely at odds with reality,"
Byrd said. "They think Rice is a tough
place for black people to go because
it is so expensive and that it is one of
the most expensive colleges, which
is at odds with the reality, at least
[compared to other] private, selec-
tive colleges."
Turning to matters within in the
Rice population, Byrd said students
have always had problems with cer-
tain aspects of the college system.
"Most of the complaints have to
do with the way that the colleges tend
to become what they're explicitly de-
signed not to become," Byrd said. "We
have colleges because we don't want
to encourage the type of behavior that
goes along with selective fraternities
or sororities."
Byrd said black students should
work together to identify the most im-
portant problems at the university.
"Black students need to take on
one or two issues, develop a strategy
for attending to those issues and take
the responsibility for passing those
issues on to the students who come
after them," Byrd said. "There are
problems that you can identify that
need to be solved at Rice, but they're
going to take more than your four or
five years."
Black students can continue to
help Rice after they graduate by giv-
ing money, even if the donations are
nominal, Byrd said.
"When the alumni office looks at
black giving, they need to see high
percentages," Byrd said. "That shows
we have a stake in the institution, and
when you show you have a stake in
the institution, you're taken very
seriously."
Next to address the group, Ander-
son, a Martel College senior, wrote
"safe space" on the blackboard.
"When I return to campus to
celebrate my 20th reunion,... I hope
that Rice will be a safe space for black
people," Anderson said.
Anderson said he thinks the
university's most significant flaw
is the exclusiveness of the college
system.
'Black students need
to take on one or
two issues, develop a
strategy for attending
to those issues and take
the responsibility for
passing those issues
on to the students who
come after them
— Alex Byrd (Sid '90)
History professor
"Especially during O-Week, it
seems like there are no alternative
[events] sometimes, and people just
feel like they're forced to do things,"
Anderson said.
But one of Rice's most endearing
aspects, Anderson said, is the sense
of community among black faculty,
staff and students.
"Older black women on campus
treat me like they're my mom," An-
derson said. "I feel like it's like home
away from home.... They helped me
find my niche."
Will Rice College junior Chrystal
Obi spoke next and began by discuss-
ing why she chose to attend Rice.
"1 resented the fact that a lot of
educated black people kind of es-
caped by going to school up north,"
Obi said. "I thought there was a real
dearth of educated black people here,
and I wanted to bring about change
in Houston."
Obi said Rice has not focused
enough on issues important to black
students.
"At other universities, they have a
black office that's closely tied to their
version of the BSA," Obi said. "We
have the office of multicultural affairs.
... I think that's a wonderful thing,
but it creates a problem because the
issues of different minority groups
are different."
Obi said she and the BSA have not
adequately raised race-specific issues
to the general campus population.
"[In] my year, I think we have two
non-athlete black males, and that
creates a problem, because it feels
like Rice is not willing to accept many
black male students unless they're
playing a sport," Obi said. "That's
probably not the case, but it feels that
way to me, and I've never actually
spoken to anyone on the faculty or
staff about it."
After the speeches, the 20 people
in attendance at Sewall Hall discussed
the issues that had been raised.
Associate Provost Roland Smith
said one reason Rice only has one
office of multicultural affairs is the
university's small size. Increasing
the undergraduate population would
allow additional offices to be created,
he said.
However, Smith said he has
philosophical concerns about having
a black affairs office, because other
universities that have one have seen
decreased interaction between black
students and other students.
Baker College senior Nina Mayes
said she thinks black students can
help dispel myths about Rice by
connecting with students at the
University of Houston and Texas
Southern University.
"Black students at Rice need to
network with black students at UH
and TSU," Mayes said. "If black
students at those universities see we
are accessible, then the face of elite
universities will change."
Will Rice College senior Sean
Davis said he has often been mistaken
for a varsity athlete.
"I can't count the number of times I
was asked what spor 11 played before I
was asked my name, like that was my
ticket into Rice and my sole reason
for being here," Davis said.
Much of the discussion focused
on the college system and how
some black students feel excluded
because of social cliques or a culture
of drinking.
Lovett College junior Kenitra
Brown said she thinks the college
system discourages many black stu-
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OIANA YEN/THRESHER
History Professor Alex Byrd (Sid '90) discusses Rice's image in the black
community during a forum hosted by the Black Student Association Tuesday.
During the forum, students identified problems facing black students at Rice
and identified possible solutions.
dents from living on campus.
"If the college system is a
problem, then we should be living
on campus trying to fix it," Brown
said. "But it's hard when you don't
feel welcome."
Geology graduate student Mark
Little said he prefers the residential
system at Harvard University, where
he was an undergraduate. At Har-
vard, freshmen form groups with
their friends, and these groups are
randomly assigned to houses, which
include sophomores, juniors and se-
niors. Freshmen live separately.
Hanszen College senior Cameron
McGrif f said he has been involved in
college government, which he has
enjoyed. McGrif f said he hopes black
students at the colleges will follow the
model of campus Christian groups
and have smaller, college-centric
meetings or lunches.
Martel College President Luis
Arandia said he hopes black students
realize they can effect change by
becoming involved in the college
system. Arandia, a senior, said he cut
socials funding this year in attempt
to reduce the prominence of alcohol
in events and make the college more
inclusive.
On-campus job offers increase
34 percent more positions available over last year
by Beko Binder
THRESHER STAFF
Graduating seniors looking for employ-
ment have a good chance of receiving an
offer this year in the ongoing recruitment
and interview season. A strengthening
economy and rebounding job market are
reasons for an increase in opportunities and
the most aggressive round of hirings at Rice
since 2000.
This fall, 79 companies came to Rice to
recruit for 101 openings, compared to HI com-
panies with 75 openings last year. On-campus
interviews and presentations increased 14
percent from last year.
Career Services Director Cheryl Matherly
said consulting firms, information technology
corporations and gas and oil companies recruit
heavily at Rice.
"With the economy improving, there are a
lot of companies that haven't been involved in
campus recruiting [for a while] now getting
active again," Matherly said.
In addition to the increase in recruit-
ing, Matherly said companies are making
job offers earlier than they had in the past
five years.
"Job offers are starting to come pretty
early," Matherly said. "That was a trend we
started noticing last year when [the economy ]
started picking back up. We started hear-
ing about the first round of offers in the
middle of October, and we're in [another]
window now where people are going to start
hearing back."
Matherly said she expects the job market
lo stay strong and is optimistic about prospects
for the senior class in the spring.
"There are jobs, and there are going to
continue to be [jobs] for those seniors who
have not accepted a job opportunity or who
haven't really gotten into the job search yet,"
Matherly said. "We're going to see a lot more
places come in to recruit in the spring. It's a
good time to be graduating."
According to the most recent postgraduate
sur vey, 48 percent of students plan t< > go directly
into employment. However, Matherly said this
percentage does not necessarily reflect trends
in the job market.
"One of the things that I think has been sur-
prising [is that] the number of students going
to graduate school and the number looking for
jobs really have not changed that much [from
year to year]," Matherly said.
Matherly said students considering going
onto thejob market should spend time thinking
about what they really want to do.
"Just because there are more opportunities
with certain types of companies and industries
doesn't mean that [those are) the right jobs for
everybody," she said.
Daniel Wu, a Martel College senior ma-
joring in electrical engineering, said he has
received several job offers and is pleased
with both Career Services and the job market
in general.
"I think [Career Services] is doing a very
good job and [has connections with] a lot of
companies," Wu said. Thejob market's looking
very good right now, especially for engineers.
... I'd like to see more companies come, but
one downside is we're such a small school and
some companies aren't willing to commit the
resources to come to Rice."
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JAE-HCE SCHIN THRESHER
Swing for the fences
A child takes a cut at a wiffleball at the Rice Tailgate Games Nov. 19. The event was
organized by students in the class KINE 366: Event and Facility Management. The class
was given $1,000 to plan an event for its end-of-semester project.
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Obermeyer, Amber. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 93, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, December 2, 2005, newspaper, December 2, 2005; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443095/m1/9/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.