The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 37, No. 22, Ed. 1 Friday, March 24, 1950 Page: 2 of 6
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Two
THE THRESHES
Secret Ballot
Write - Ins
On the right hand side of this page there is a letter to the
editor from John Lynn, concerning write-in voting. The ideas expressed
therein are worthy of notice by all members of the Student Association.
I he Council defeated Lynn's motion to legalize write-ins mainly
for the reason that there would be no time to apply it to- the Monday
elections. Many of the Council members are in favor of the basic
idea, and ask only revision of details for their support. A great
many students, members of the Student .Association, are in favor
of write-in voting. With the strong .expression of student opinion
on this subject now current, it would be unwise for the Student Council
to ignore any sizeable write-in campaign. Although t.hey can always
seek shelter behind the plea of constitutionality, they will be subject
to criticism, and just criticism at that, on the grounds of paying too
much attention to the letter of the law, and let the spirit go begging.
Words 8c Letters to the
Monday, students will go to the polls and vote in the first
secret general elections at the Rice Institute. Hitherto, with num-
bered ballots and class lists, the term "secret ballot" was a euphemism
which meant only that no one looked over the student's shoulder dur-
ing the voting. That same thing is true of state elections now.
Actually, it is controversial whether or not Texas now has a
secret ballot. The last legislature responded to demands for ballot
reform by passing a law providing for lists and numbered ballots,
but saying that the lists should be consulted only in case of a contest
and should be destroyed 30 days after the election.
1 he initiation of the secret ballot on the campus is an excellent
example of the worth of campus politics, which are often condemned
as superficial. They are, or they can be, valuable laboratory training
in the democratic processes of American government. The same
process which procured hte secret ballot for the Rice Institute Student
Association can be utilized by the same voters, later, to bring the
secret ballot to the state of Texas.
Don't go to the polls with the idea of participating in an all-school
joke. The elections are a joke only if the students make them so.
This year we have unprecedented opportunities for knowing the inten-
tions of the candidates: the Forum-sponsored rallies, the platforms
on pages one and three of today's Thresher. Take advantage of
them. The candidates are striving with might and main to let the
students know what they think, so that the elections may be raised from
the level of popularity contests. Thees efforts shouldn't go to waste.
We've already had elections for Campanile favorites and Ron-
delet honorees. Everyone should have had a chance already to
express his preference in the conversationalist and dancing-partner line.
I he thing to do now is to see that the representatives elected Monday
are just that—representative.
Music
By Tim Weakley
The Houston Symphony is again
going back to the Old Masters this
week, after Thomson and such like.
They're giving Mendelssohn's "Ital-
ian Symphony," Sibelius' Violin Con-
certo, Ravel's "Bolero," and a vague-
ly-referred-to work by a Texas com-
poser, both title and composer un-
known to my informant. I would be
quite unlikely to know anything
about this last one, even if I knew
what it was, so skip it.
The "Italian" Symphony was be-
gun during Mendelssohn's trip to
Italy in 1861. Its first performance
took place in 1833, by the London
Philharmonic, with Mendelssohn con-
ducting. For this work and other
music for the same occasion, he was
paid the princely sum of $500; don't
grieve as if this were Mozart-Men-
delssohn was lousy with the stuff.
Being lazy by nature, I'll let Sig-
mund Spaeth talk about Sibelius'
Violin Concerto: "This concerto is
not essentially a display piece, but
depends upon pure musical values
throughout, seldom giving way to
the conventions of the form." I'm
glad of that; too much adherence to
form causes all this Socialism and
such like. We need a few people
who get out of form occasionally.
My only regret about the Bolero
is that they only intend to play it
and not put it on as a ballet, as was
done originally. Sounds pretty sexy,
from what I hear, with some female
doing some Carmen-like hip-wrig-
gling on top of a table. Even I
could make sense out of that.
Beware, all ye who inhabit the
library! We now have our own Scylla
and Charybdis, in the HI office. Any
poor devil wandering past, with any
semblance of literary taste on his
face, is dragged in and forced at
gun's point to read a play, by Henry
Walters and Clarke Foster. "Highly
Impressionable," the name is, and
take it from an old critic from way
back (since December, I think) it
is well worth the reading, and will
be worth' the viewing when such
comes about.
The version I got ahold of was
slightly censored; still, it is some-
what "bawdy"; if that won't pack
in you yokels, nothing* will. Scene
laid on a college campus, which is
highly reminiscent of a certain one
which will rem«rtn nameless. Char-
acters, in any sense you prefer, are,
for example: Ralph, who isn't quite
sure whether he was seduced last
Saturday or not; Linda, who, for all
her father knows, may be someone
else's child; Ophelia, who is hardly
a counterpart of her namesake;
and Michael, who is the impression-
ably one.
Be sure to see it.
0
7HEX/CB H New Comedy By
Foster, Walters
To Be Staged
Entered as second class matter, October 17, 1916, at the Post Office,
Houston, Texas, under the act of March 3, 1879.
Subscription Rate $1.00 Per Year
Represented by National Advertising Service, Inc., 420 Madison Ave.. New York City.
Published every Friday of the regular school year except during holiday and
examination periods by the students of the Rice Institute. Editorial and
Advertising offices are in the Fondren Library on the campus.
Editor Emmett McGeever
Business Manager Tom ^ Smith
Assistant Business Manager Ernest Voss
Associate Editor Bill Hobby
News Editor Ruey Boone
Editorial Advisors Bob Mcllhenny, Finis Cowan
Sports Editor Howard Martin
Assistant Sports Editor Ted Lockhart
Fanfare Editor Patsy Brady
Society Editor Marty Gibson
Make-up Staff Allyce Tinsley and Harold Melnick
Reporters Beverly Brooks, Don Eddy, John Blake-
more, Pat Byrne, Bob Schwartz, Dewey Gonsoulin, Betty Mc-
Geever, Lee Mary Parker, Nina Shannon, Bernice Davis, Julia
Martin, Shirley Arnold, Tim Weakley, Farrell Fulton, Shirley
Armstrong.
©
For its second original contribu-
tion to dramatic circles in Houston,
the Rice Dramatic Club has chosen
to present April 30 and May 1 a
three-act comedy written by Henry
Walters and Clarke Foster. The
cast has not been definitely selected.
The play, entitled "Highly Impres-
sionable," is concerned with a young
college senior who has not yet come
down to earth. Rather than live in
a realistic environment of the small
college town, he prefers to identify
himself with the ideas and characters
whom he encounters i/i Wadsworth,
Wilde, and two of Shakespeare's
plays, "Othello" and "Hamlet." The
(Continued on Page 6)
To the Editor of
This semester the Honor Council has placed two amend-
ments before the voters for their approval or rejection. Both
create far-reaching changes in the administrative organization
of the Honor System and thus deserve the serious consideration
of students.
The first of these changes will To The Editor:
shift the penalty ■recommending The Ametimn lde>1 0l ^ Tote h
power which now rests with the , ...
Honor Council to a joint student- a sacred thm*' A vote expresses
faculty committee. This committee * man's choice or decision regarding
will not, like the Honor Council un- his right of being governed in a
der its present constitution, be truly representative fashion. Under-
bound by a minimum penalty of one stand this_that a vote i8 not
year. The committee will be free
to mete out that penalty which it process of elimination bat a direst
considers most just for the individual opinion.
case. I contend that what is now in
This amendment is designed to ac- existence at Rice is a process of
complish two purposes. First, the ,. . .. , . ,,
tt /-i , . . elimination. The man who marks the
Honor Council will be freer to con- , ...
sider the one question with which it Fallot with his privileged "X" has
should be concerned (i.e. Is the ac- before him, for instance, five names
cused individual guilty of violating of which he is to choose, say, two.
the, rules of the Honor System?). jjjs indicated choices on the ballot
Second, the penalty finally given will ., ,,
, , .? . . . refer only to the more suitable one&
not be dependent upon the facts of . ' . t
the individual case and not upon a m e lilted field presented
pre-arranged formula stated in the him. The Rice Ballot today offers-
Honor System constitution.
him no effective method of stating
The second ammendment changes his conviction of the best man for
the present provision in the consti-
tution requiring a unanimous vote
for conviction. Under the proposed
ammendment, 7 out of the 9 mem-
bers of the Council will be required
to concur for a verdict of guilty.
The reasoning behind this change
is again based upon a two-fold ar-
gument. First, the Honor Council,
the particular job.
Our neighbor to the West offers
its voter the prerogative of casting
a vote for Uncle Joe or not casting
a vote for Uncle Joe. (Have you
stopped beating your wife?) Here
in Texas and in other states, our
as a 9-member permanent investi- Democratic system provides that if
gative body, is more comparable to the voter can find no one to his lik-
a board of judges than to a civil
jury. As such, the Honor Council
should follow the policies of our
courts and decide their cases on
a basis other than that of unanimity.
The second reason for a change
from the present necessity for unani-
ing on the ballot, he can, in all le-
gality, \yRITE IN .the name of the
man whom he believes should be in
the office and notice will be taken
of this indication.
Granted—the petition system of
mity is based on each man's indi- Rice is a good one in that it allows
vidual experience. Every student at those who want to run to appear on
Rice knows the difficulty of getting the ballot. However, should circum-
nine persons to agree on anything, stances of "excessive" modesty or
In addition, I must add, that in three difficulties of a technical nature pre-
years experience on'the Honor Coun- vent a highly capable candidate's
cil it has been my observation that name from appearing on the ticket,
justice has several times been very it should remain the privilege of the
seriously obstructed by the require- voter to write in the name of that
ment for unanimity. candidate and it should also be the
On. this basis I recommend to all duty of the powers-that-be to record
students that they consider the pro- - his vote.
posed ammendments carefully and The precedent set in the past
hope that they come to look upon years at Rice has been to count a
them with as much favor as do I.
Respecfully,
Finis Cowan
-0
write-in ballot as a "no-vote." I
believe that some arbitrary figure
could be decided upon, and if a write-
in candidate's name appears, for
example, on 20% of the balots, he
should be duly regarded as a can-
didate for the office' and so reported
on the returns.
. Elections are not limited to a
More elections. The APO is spon- & few Frankly> the qualifica-
tions of a candidate are not the main
issue. What really matters in any
APO Contest Picks
Ugliest Rice Man
soring one next week, sans benefit
of platforms in the "Thresher," For-
um rallies, etc. This one is for the miction ^theTa'at that if a major-
ugliest man on the- campus. The Qf 1{J expresg their vote for
election is a money-raising stunt to & certain person_a person original-
get money for APO campus projects. . Qn the baUot Qr not_he should
Each vote costs one cent, with ^ ^ deg- ted job. That's our
bonuses as the amount given grows. American ideal> anyway.
By a system which can only be un-
derstood by a few graduate mathe- . The Partial purpose of this letter
maticians, one gets more votes for is ^ brmg to the attention of the
his money as the amount of the studmts at Eice the faet that a by-
contribution Increases. ** leg llifn<[ T**?®
The money raised in the election was recently defeated in the Student
will be used to further APO projects Council by a vote of approximately
such as putting benches on the cam*
pus, lights on the tennis courts. Are your representatives repre-
The election will be an annual senting you? What do you think?
APO activity. ^ John R- Lynn
Voting will take place from 8-1 0
on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday
of this week.
0
Wednesday noon, in AH lift,
the Senior Class will meet to dis-
cuss tickets for the Seitior Ban-
quet, caps and gowns, and invita-
tion distribution.
Mr. M. T. Works of Cameron
Iron Works will speak td the Rice
branch of the American Society
of Mechanical Engineers next
Tuesday", March 28, at 7:80 PM,
in A.H. 110.
Everyone interested is cordial-
ly invited to attend.
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The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 37, No. 22, Ed. 1 Friday, March 24, 1950, newspaper, March 24, 1950; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth230836/m1/2/: accessed May 14, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.