The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 37, No. 25, Ed. 1 Friday, April 14, 1950 Page: 1 of 6
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7NEK/CE
VOLUME THIRTY-SEVEN
NO. TWENTW-FIVE
7WESmf
HOUSTON, TEXAS, FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 1950
Entered as second class mailing matter, October 17, 1916, at the Post Office, Houston, under the act of March 3, 1879.
Science-Arts Review Opens Today
Fifty Thousand
Expected to Tour
r* < 99
Campus Circus
Today and tomorrow Rice's
combined academic exposition
and scientific circus, the Rice
Review of Science and Arts,
will be presented to visitors
from all parts of Texas and Louis-
iana. Review officials expect up to
50,000 visitors to tour the campus
in the two-day period.
With a final burst of work during
the Easter holidays and in the
first few days of this week, stu-
dents culminated almost a year
of planning and effort. The Rice
Engineering Society has been the
driving force in reviving the old
Engineering Show of pre-war fame.
After receiving an "O K" from
Dr. Houston last fall, the engineers
began planning the show, electing
Leo Wroten general manager and
Steve Siebenhausen assistant man-
ager. Under the leadership of the
engineering society, the idea of the
old Engineering Show was expand-
ed to include all the departments
of the school. The new name "Rice
Review" was adopted as expressing
the new all-school aspect which
Rice's bi-annual open house was to
assume.
As in the old Engineering Show,
the purpose of the Rice Review has
been two fold. The primary purpose
of the Review is to display the
serious work and the laboratory
equipment of the various depart-
ments. Secondarily, the Review has
been planned as good entertainment
(Continued on Page 5)
0
Nominations Due
For Junior Queen
Nominations for the queen of the
Junior Prom will be held on Monday,
April 17. Every student may vote
for his own choice but only the girls
in the Junior Class will be eligible
for the honor. Out of these nomina-
tions, seven girls will be chosen as
the official nominees.
On the night of the dance, April
22, at the Crystal Ballroom, every-
one attending will be eligible to vote
for one of the seven nominees for
Queen of the Junior Prom. The
Queen will be officially crowned dur-
ing the floor show.
0
Student Short Story
Winners Announced
The Current Literature Club,
which annually awards prizes for
the best short stories submitted by
students of Rice Institute, has an-
nounced the winners of the 1950
prize.
Winners of the first prixe of $15
in a field of twenty-five entries
is Sophie Silversteen; her story,
titled "Birthday Present," is of a
little girl who helps out a tramp.
Ted Cornelia, who won the first
prize in his freshman year, won the
second prize for "Liberty," a story
of a sailor on shore leave.
Both stories were read at a meet-
ing of the Club at the Warwick
Hotel April 12, and will be published
in the RI.
SH • :>r |
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One of the most recent additions to Rice's being displayed by Miss Yuen Chu and Edwin
laboratory equipment is the new X-ray machine, MeClanahan.
Forum
Debate Asks "Does God Exist?'9
by Farrell Fulton
On Tuesday night April 18th
the Forum Committee will pre-
sent a program on the subject,
Does God Exist? This will be at
8 PM in the Physics Amphi-
theater. Tuesday's program
is a direct result of the Forum
on American Sex Standards; for it
was during the discussion period
of that program that Freddie Hagen
asked a question in the course of
which he affirmed that he "did not
believe in God." Following "the 'For-
um Hagen and about 100 other mem-
bers of the Forum audience retired
to the lounge to have it out on the
question of God's existence or non-
existence.
Enthusiasm was high; tempers,
hot. The Forum Committee agents,
ever on the scout for that rare
thing, a student issue, grabbed
this controversy without hesitation,
and are happy to present it Tuesday
night.
For none of this is seriously meant
to dilute by flippancy the tremen-
dous importance to human life of the
problem of God's existence. For this
problem is the cornerstone, the foun-
dation of all mature religion, cer-
tainly of the Judeo-Christian tra-
dition. No problem, in fact, is more
relevant to one's attitude and reac-
tion to life than his stand on God's
existence. For one's answer on this
question leads directly to one's an-
swers regarding the kind of God one
believes in, what kind of life he
expects; or if one disbelieves, what
is substituted (or fail to substitute)
for God; the kind of God in turn
determines the views on immortality,
the problem of evil, in short, on the
entire view of the spiritual interpre-
tation of life. If any question de-
serves a Forum, deserves matui'e
consideration: this is it.
The speakers do not have a uni-
form outlook on the issue; the speak-
were named by the Forum Commit-
tee with the specific purpose in mind
of assuring a many-sided view of the
problem. There will be one cynic,
one agnostic, and three theists. A
conference between the five was held
in order to assure no overlap or
repetition among the five speakers.
The names of the five speakers plus
a short statment of what they will
present follows.
Konstantine Kolenda, senior phi-
losophy major, born in Kamien-Kos-
lyrski, Poland, member of Phi Beta
Kappa, will attend Cornell Universi-
ty next year for MA and PhD de-
grees; intends to teach philosophy.
He will discuss the idea of God and
particularly its relation to the mate-
rialistic bias of our age, and will
contrast the spiritual interpreta-
tion with the materialistic interpre-
tation of life.
Clarke Foster, senior English ma-
jor hopes to be a railroad stevedor
next year providing he is unable to
get membership in the boiler-makers
union. Mr. Foster is a cynic. He be-
lieves that any discussion of the
existence of God is useless, because
rational proof of God is impossible.
He affirms that the merits of
Goethe's Mephistopheles, Milton's
Satan, and Byron's Lucifer deserve
much more recognition than they
have heretofore received. Mr. Foster
will grace the audience by delivering
dramatic readings from the works of
these authors.
Dan Bloxsom, junior physics ma-
jor will do graduate work in indus-
trial physical problems. He will con-
sider the problems involved in the
rational approach to God's existence.
Past px-oofs which have proved in-
adequate will be treated. Finally Dr.
Bloxsom will discuss modern proofs
of God's existence including an "ori-
ginal" theory of his own.
Freddie Hagen, agnostic, junior
philosophy major (the one who ask-
ed the controversial question at the
Sex Forum). He hopes to attend
Columbia University for his Ph.D. in
philosophy, then teach same. He has
attended the University of Texas and
the University of Chicago prior to
transferring to Rice. His stand: "Re-
ligion is not to be set apart from
any other sphere of intellectual ac-
tivity. If we examined the concept
of God prevailing in our society and
the concept professed by most theo-
logians today, we find no basis for
entertaining this concept as signify-
ing anything which corresponds to
reality."
Farrell Fulton, senior histoiy ma-
jor will attend Union Theological
Seminary, New York City, next
year. He will treat faith in God, why
we have it, religious experience and
its affect on faith, the relation of the
rational and experimental approach-
es to God; lastly, the kind of faith
which a mature person (college stu-
dent) should have: "the evidence of
things unseen."
There will be a discussion period
(Continued on Page 6)
Allen Will Speak
In Short Ceremony
At Abercrombie
The opening ceremony of the
Rice Review of Science and Arts
will be held at 2 PM this after-
noon in front of the Aber-
crombie laboratory. Herbert Al-
len, vice-president of the Cameron
Iron Works and member of the Rice
Institute Board of Governors, will
be the principal speaker at the
short ceremony.
Leo Wroten, general show man-
All students are strongly urged
to attend the Abercrombie Lab
dedication.
The Roost and Co-op will both
be open till 10 Friday and Satur-
day night because of the Review.
ager, expressed the hope Thursday
that as many students as possible
would attend the ceremony.
George Hanson, the present presi-
dent of the engineering society, will
open the 19501 Rice Review ofkScienct>
and Arts by introducing President
Houston. After saying a few words,
Dr. Houston will introduce Steve
Siebenhausen, assistant manager of
the Review, who will introduce the
speaker.
After the opening ceremony,
guests will begin to be conducted to
the various exhibits. Members of
the APO service fraternity will aid
in parking and routine problems.
During the Review, the campus
will be visited by over 500 librarians
from all parts of the United States
who are attending a convention. The
librarians will visit the entire Re-
view, paying special attention to
the new Fondren Library which has
become nationally famous for its
unique open stack system.
On Saturday, the Rice Engineer-
ing alumni are holding their bi-an-
nual reunion in conjunction with the
Review.
Returning alumni are expected to
be impressed by the expanded nature
of the Review, which is intended to
present a more thorough exposition
(Continued on Page 4)
Thresher By-Law
Passed By Council
Saturday, April 1 at the Student
Council meeting the new Thresher
By-Law was passed. The new law
provides for the fall election of an
assistant editor. The assistant edi-
tor will automatically become editor
the following year. This action was
taken to make the editor better qua-
lified to fulfill his duties. Formerly
such a position existed, but was
elected in the spring of the sopho-
more year, which many felt to be
too early.
The provision of the by-law for
a reserve fund existing for debts
and bad years has been kept.
Saturday April 29 the newly elect-
ed Student Council and Student-As-
sociation officers will meet with the
old Council and officers at the regu-
lar Council meeting. After the old
business is dispensed with, the old
Council- will be adjourned, and the
new Council will assume its duties
and start the new business.
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The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 37, No. 25, Ed. 1 Friday, April 14, 1950, newspaper, April 14, 1950; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth230839/m1/1/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.