The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 77, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, November 3, 1989 Page: 1 of 16
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¥ # The P T M __1 SINCE 1916
Rice Thresher
VOLUME 77, NO. 10
UNTAMED WITH NO SHAME
NOVEMBER 3, 1989
IBM approves $1 million
for OWLnet workstations
Halloween 13 run creams all records...
by Grace Chen
Rice has recieved a grant from
IBMcorporationfor$l million worth
of computer equipment to improve
OWLnet, Rice Engineering's Educa-
tional Computer Network. The addi-
tions, which include software, stor-
age disks, and parts of 28 new work-
stations, have already arrived at
Rice.
Sam Davis, Director of OWLnet,
said the workstations, which are
electronic studios modeled after the
architectural studio, will arrive early
next week. In addition, these work-
stations will allow engineering stu-
dents continuous access to comput-
ing and information resources
throughout their Rice careers.
A proposal submitted eight
months ago to IBM Corporation by
Sam Davis and John Akin, Chairman
of Mechanical Engineering & Mate-
rial Science, requested facilities to
incorporate the IBM wing of the
OWLnet Program. OWLnet, which
is only 2 years old, presently consists
of 58 Sun and Apple workstations.
Currently, about 800 engineering
students hold accounts on the sys-
tem.
The proposal had originally
asked for 54 stations worth $2.5 mil-
lion. Davis said that only $ 1 million of
the hardware was approved last
month , but "we picked out what $1
million worth we wanted." Neverthe-
less, the 28 new workstations will
increase the present OWLnet sys-
tem by 50 percent
Four years ago, although IBM
was interested,the same proposal
was turned down because "it was just
a bad economic time for them," said
Davis.
Davis and Akin stated in their
proposal that "extending the net-
work to include a substantial number
of IBM workstations would reflect
the prevalence of IBM PC RTs in
industry. These stations have ad-
vantages over the Sun and Apple
workstations in both speed of com
putation and graphics capabilities."
"This new IBM system has twice
as much memory as the old system,"
said Davis. Many of the IBM work-
stations will be in Ryon Laboratory
while some will be in Abercrombie
Lab. There will also be one used by
the staff in the Mudd Building,
where the central fileserver will be
located.
Davis said the main component
the Rice system had lacked was
equipment allowing engineering
design in a "realistic way." Graphics
are currently only in black and white.
This will change with the installment
of the new IBMs which will "expand
labor for high resolution graphics
and engineering designs."
Although the parts for the 28
workstations are expected to arrived
by next week, the second step is the
task of installation. Davis said that
efforts by the staff at Mudd and stu-
dents will be needed.
Davis said he hopes the present
system can be connected to the new
one by next semester, but since the
systems are different it is uncertain,
whether this will be possible.
Although an attempt will be made
to incorporate the entire system,
Davis conceded, "I haven't talked to
any colleges that have done this.
"We hope to make it all one nice
happy family, connecting the whole
system all over campus," he said.
"Our goal is to have the system op-
erational by next semester."
tn
p
, JK
On October 31,1989, Club 13 ran with its largest turnout in Known history, estimated at 110, including a number of
conversions en route. The besmeared mob overwhelmed most attackers, who were expecting a much smaller group.
The run took them through several college commons, a first-year Physics test, Mudd and Valhalla. The hi#ilight of
the historic evening was clearly "trick or treating" at the Rupps' home, where Nancy Rupp cheerfully answered the
door with an automatic (squirt) weapon.
Admissions Committee reviews entrance standards
by Tr£ Fischer
The Admissions Committee pre-
sented its annual report at a faculty
meeting Monday. The report com
pares students admitted as athletes
or to the Shepherd School to the stu-
dent body as a whole. The report
attempted to gauge the quality of
scholarship athletes and Shepherd
School students, since the commit-
tee cannot review their applications
before they are accepted.
Experienced members of the
committee examined the academic
records of these students and
ranked them into one of three cate-
gories: category I designates stu-
dents comparable to the student
body; category II designates those
who are not comparable, but meet
some minimal standards; category
III designates those who are not
comparable and fail to meet mini-
mum standards.
The data for 1989 Shepherd
School admissions showed 45 per-
cent in category 1,54 percent in cate-
gory II and 3 percent in category III.
This is a 20 percent increase over last
year's category I admissions. Admis-
sion Committee Chairman Fred
Rudolph said, "This past year was
quite good, especially considering
that they use musical talent as pri-
mary criteria."
The data for 1989 athletic admis-
sions showed 24 percent in category
I, 48 percent in category II, and 28
percent in category III. Last year,
only 17 percent of admissions were
in category III. One reason for this
year's increase may have been a
change in criteria for designating
category III students.
Previously, the category was for
those students "who would probably
not survive at Rice, whereas this year
it is for students who, based on the
responses in their applications, are
not comparable to the average stu-
dent These are basically students
who made below 850 on their SAT,
have low class rank, and low prepara-
tion in important courses," Rudolph
said.
"It is important to realize that this
is not just football. This is a spread of
all scholarship athletes, including
trainers," said Associate Director of
Advising Mark Scheid. He also said
that he was asked to emphasize that
many of the athletes currently at-
tending school were admitted by
past coaches.
Scheid presented a report re-
set ADMISSIONS, PAGE 6
Faculty approves
research faculty track
by Tr6 Fischer
m
Groundbreaking ceremonies for the new bios-
ciences/ bioengineering research building at Wee
were held Friday, October 27, during homecoming
weekend. The building, a $24 million, 107,000-
square-foot structure, will be named the George R.
. Brown Hall, after the late alumnus and benefactor.
The three-story building, designed by Charles
Redmon of Cambridge Seven Associates, Cambridge
Massachusetts, will be constructed on the northwest
side of the campus, and will be located between An-
derson Biological Laboratories and the Chemistry
Building. Occupancy is planned for fall 1990.
At its meeting on Monday, the
faculty approved by a narrow margin
an amended version of the contro-
versial proposal to establish a re-
search faculty track.
In addition, the Admissions
Committee delivered a report on last
year's athletic and music admissions
[see related article, this page], and a
joint Masters of Business Admini-
stration/Masters of Engineering
Degree program passed unani-
mously.
The creation of a research faculty
track is intended to increase Rice's
ability to obtain research grants by
attracting high-quality researchers
without taxing the fiscal resources or
academic balance of the university.
After a lengthy debate, the faculty
approved an amended version of the
research faculty proposal by an inde-
terminate, but narrow, margin. The
exact margin of the vote was unclear
due to discrepancies in counting by
Faculty Secretary Stephen Baker
and Faculty Parliamentarian Alan
Chapman. Their results were 54 or
62 for and 47 or 51 against
Despite the controversy and calls
for a recount from Baker and the
floor, President George Rupp said
that a recount was not necessary
because the entire "No" range was
below the entire "Yes" range. Soon
after the vote, several faculty mem-
bers walked out of the meeting,
making a recount impossible.
"The vote revealed a deep split on
the fundamental questions as to the
goals of the university. This is not a
good way to start, but it is necessary
because regulations require things
of this type to be voted on by the
faculty," Rupp said. "We will con-
sider the down side risks of this
proposal in implementation."
In hopes of resolving the opposi-
tion to the use of the professorial title
by someone who does not teach, the
faculty passed an amendment of-
fered by Dean of Natural Sciences
James Kinsey. It changed the titles
ofthe research faculty to Faculty Fel
low, Senior Faculty Fellow and Dis-
tinguished Faculty Fellow. The pro-
posal originally designated positions
as Assistant Research Professor,
Associate Research Professor and
Research Professor, in ascending
order of seniority.
"I am strongly in favor of the
SEE RESEARCH, PAGE 7
Feature
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1939
See page 9
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Kahn, Greg & Leedy, Sarah J. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 77, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, November 3, 1989, newspaper, November 3, 1989; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245733/m1/1/: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.