The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 79, No. 4, Ed. 1 Friday, September 13, 1991 Page: 1 of 24
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Rice Thresher
VOLUME 79, NO. 4
PROUFERIES, PSEUDONYMS, AND THE S.A. 13
SEPTEMBER 13,1991
Chance loses discrimination case against Rice, requests new trial
by Shaila K. Dewan
On July 12 Federal District Judge
Melinda Harmon ruled in favor of
Rice in Jane Chance v. Rice University
and Alan Grob, ending a three-year
segment of a legal battle between
Rice and the English department's
first woman professor.
On July 25 Chance filed a motion
for a new trial, saying that Rice pre-
sented "false or inaccurate evidence"
which Chance can now meet with
"competentcontrary evidence." If the
judge refuses the motion for a brand
new trial, Chance will have 30 day s to
file an appeal.
The Ruling
In the 11-page judgment, Harmon
wrote that Chance "fails to show any
proof of Rice University's purposeful
discrimination against her by reason
of her sex." Furthermore, the ruling
stated that there was no evidence
establishing that Grob, chair of the
English department from 1981 to
1986, "acted intentionally or reck-
lessly, that his conduct was extreme
or outrageous, or his alleged actions
caused Plaintiff emotional distress."
In April, 1988 Chance charged
Rice with sexual discrimination in
pay and terms and conditions of
employment. In addition, she
charged Grob with engaging in "a
vicious campaign to insult, demean
and harass Dr. Chance because of
her stated opposition to discrimina-
tory practices with in the department"
Several people present at the trial
confirmed that the case against Grob
was dismissed on the third day of the
proceedings. Grob stated in an in-
terview this week that David Lopez,
Chance's attorney, had himself stated
in the courtroom that there was no
Defendant Alan Grob.
evidence "under present law" against
Grob.
The judge found that Chance was
not denied a higher salary simply
because she is a woman. Lopez cal-
culated in one document that Chance
was entitled to $262,885 in back pay.
According to the document, Chance's
current salary is $59,250, but the
document claimed that it should be
$102,125.
In her July 25 motion, Chance
asks that, in the event that a new trial
is denied, Harmon amend parts of
the ruling which have "little, if any,
foundation in the evidence."
Specifically, the motion refers to
findings regarding her teaching,
scholarship and merit as a professor.
It argues that Chance has no oppor-
tunity to refute such findings, that
they are not essential to support the
ruling, and that "the inclusion of such
characterizations by the court would
have the effect of chilling potentially
well-grounded complaints of dis-
crimination by other Rice faculty."
Some findings of the judge are:
•"When compared to her col-
leagues in teaching effectiveness,
Plaintiff ranks in the mean." The
university had originally contended
that Chance ranks below the mean in
teaching ability.
• "[Chance's] published writings
are inferior to the publication of sev-
eral other members of the English
department.
•"Plaintiffs committee work is
marked by u ntimely resignations and
unprofessional conflicts..." Chance
has asked that these three findings
be omitted from the ruling.
• The university acted in good
faith and had reasonable grounds for
believing its actions were not in vio-
lation of the Equal Pay Act
•"Since 1973, the [English] de-
partment has made 14 tenured or
tenure track appointments: 8 white
females, 1 black female, 1 black male
and 4 white males.
• "All women who have been in
the department long enough to have
been granted tenure have been
granted tenure." However, ofthe five
tenured women in the department,
only two are full professors.
•"The Humanities Division actu-
ally pays tenured or tenure track
women more than tenured or tenure
track men." But: according to the
Salary Equity Committee Report for
1987-1988 and 1989-1990, this could
be because women are not promoted
as quickly, therefore they are paid
well for their rank but not for their
years of experience. Also, Chance's
motion finds this statement immate-
rial, since it is not specific to the
English Department.
•"Dr. Grob has been instrumen-
tal in the appointment and promotion
ofwomen in the English department,
including Chance." Grob did serve
on the committee which hired
Chance, and says he supported her
promotions.
•"Plaintiffs claim was not frivo-
lous, unreasonable, or groundless."
The judge ordered Chance to pay
the court costs, but not the attorney
fees, of the defendants.
The Motion for a New Trial
Chance claims the defendants
presented false testimony regarding
an evaluation of her work. One of
Rice's exhibits during the trial was a
memo stamped "Confidential" and
SEE CHANCE, PAGE 7
New policy targets parking problems
by Kraettli Epperson
The campus police department,
exercising new authority given by
the administration, has announced a
parking restrictions policy targeting
illegal parking in faculty-staff lots in-
volving towing vehicles or using a
'"boot" to immobilize offending auto-
mobiles.
"We've had lots of problems with
parking in the faculty-staff lots," said
Neill Binford, associate vicp presi-
dent. He added, "I had a faculty
member come to me and say 'If you
don't get this problem fixed, I'm
cancelling my classes.'"
To alleviate faculty-reported
parking shortages, primarily in lots
E and F, Binford instructed Chief of
Campus Police, Mary Voswinkel, to
begin the new policy of towing and
restricting vehicles on August 30.
Campus police officers crack down on parking lot violators.
Money ranks Rice #1 educational buy
by Erin Gainer
In its second annual college value
rankings, Money magazine placed
Rice University at the top of the list
for America's best college buys.
Of the 1,011 four-year colleges
surveyed, Rice occupies one of only
two slots in the top ten held by a
private university. In addition to its
$1 billion endowment, Money cited
Best buys in
$$!F
American
Universities
1. Rice University
2. The New College of the
University of South Florida
3. Trenton State College
4. University of Virginia
5. University of Illinois at
U rbana-Champaign
6. California Institute of
Technology
7. State University of New
York at Binghamton
8. University of Washington
9. University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill
10. The University of Texas at
Austin
Rice's low student-to-faculty ratio,
close student-professor interaction,
and gifted student body as key factors
in determining its ranking.
"As soon as the announcement of
Rice's ranking came on the wire, the
phone in the admissions office began
to ring, and it has not stopped," Dean
of Admissions Richard Stabell said.
"I'm obviously pleased with the
finding, as it has already provided us
with increased visibility and name-
recognition, which is always a goal of
the admissions office."
Student sentiment echoes the
administration's positive response to
the ranking. "It's nice that Rice is
finally being noticed for its ability to
be a top-notch school without
charging the price of an Ivy League,"
Wiess junior Steve Bepko said.
"It's about time that [Rice] got
recognition, because it's such a small
un iversity and yet it has the resources
of a big one," Wiess senior Kathy
Williams said. "Rice has academic
standards as high as the best uni-
versities at half the price."
Although the Admissions Office
has not done anything in particular in
recent years to contribute to Money's
ranking, Stabell feels that Rice will
see an increase in the number of
applicants as a direct result of the
study. "The ranking speaks more to
the university's desire to hold costs
down while maintaining extremely
high standards than to any concerted
effort by the Admissions Office,"
Stabell said.
The number of applicants to Rice
increased 14 percent last year over
the previous year, and Stabell ex-
pects this trend to continue. "Rice is
still being discovered, and the Money
article will definitely help us become
a household word," Stabell said.
The total Rice endowment aver-
ages to $250,000 for each of its 3,900
students, the fourth largest endow-
ment per student in the nation. In
attempting to account for both price
and educational quality in its
rankings, the survey consulted many
state and federal experts as well as
deans of admission. The ranking re-
flects measures of student satisfac-
tion, competitiveness, faculty and fi-
nancial resources, and post-gradua-
tion success.
Ultimately, the rankings were
based on 12 specific factors: student/
faculty ratio, faculty strength, library
resources, instructional and student
service expend itures, entrance exam
results, class rank, acceptance rate,
freshman retention rate, graduation
rate, percentage of graduates who
earn graduate or professional de-
grees, percentage of graduates who
earn doctorate degrees, and business
success.
A computer analysis of 28 differ-
ent sets of statistics regarding the
aforementioned criteria generated
the rankings. Among the top 100 col-
leges are 56 private and 44 public
institutions of remarkably diverse
goals, resources, and educational
philosophies. Rice passed Cooper
Union (for the Advancement of Sci-
ence and Art) and Cal. Tech. in the
survey, jumping from third best buy
last year.
College Masters and Department
Chairs received a memorandum not-
ing the change.
Voswinkel said "...[sjome profes-
sors have not been able to park in a
timely way. They've arrived to teach
a class and had to drive around look-
ing for a spot and sometimes been
forced to walk from the stadium. Then
classes, not thinking the professor is
going to show up, have left."
With the initiation of the new en-
forcement, all vehicles parked ille-
gally in faculty-staff lots will receive
warning slips outling the policy with
the first two tickets issued in any one
lot Upon issuing a third ticket in one
lot or a fifth ticket cumulatively in any
lot, the car, if registered and bearing
an incorrect lot sticker, will immedi-
ately be towed to an off-campus im-
pound lot If the vehicle is not regis-
tered, it will be booted and the owner
compelled to pay fines and to regis-
ter before the boot is removed.
Initial response to the enforce-
ment memorandum by the student
Senate during a September 9 meet-
ing was one of consternation over the
direction against students and of
skepticism as to its effectiveness in
addressing the overall parking prob-
lem. Concern centered around
abuses by Medical Center staff park-
ing in student lots.
Student Association President
Mitra Miller said ofthe change, This
is enforcing without solving any
problems. Where do you put the
people? This enforcement is mainly
focused at the students and doesn't
help students who have been moved
from their lot by others parking ille-
gally."
Miller also noted, however, that
Binford had assured her the policy
will extend to student lots if students
facilitate progress by reportifi# ille-
gal parking to the campus police.
The Senate resolved unofficially to
encourage all students to help with
enforcement in the studen t lots w h i le
watching to see if the policy helped
alleviate the problem.
When asked whether it would be
a month before the new policy was
spread to the student lots, Binford
replied," I doh't want it to be a mo nth.
1 want it to be much less than that."
Headded, "We'll tow Baylor students
too. All the students have to do is call
the campus police. I don't want them
[Rice students] out there confront-
ing people."
To facilitate the new enforcement
the campus police made several
changes. Voswinkel indicated that all
records are now kept on computer
and are continuously updated.
Binford added that data entry into
this new system has been delayed by
other campus data needs, like regis-
tration and food plans, but that it will
soon be fully functional.
Officers will carry a computer
printout listing all tickets issued in
the year to date and will recognize
third or fifth offenders using this.
Confirmation of this information will
be made by radio contact with the
dispatcher.
SEE PARKING, PAGE 10
A8JL
Houston Ballet
presents Papillon:
history of tragic
ballet parallels its
plot
See page 13
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Zitterkopf, Ann & Howe, Harlan. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 79, No. 4, Ed. 1 Friday, September 13, 1991, newspaper, September 13, 1991; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245789/m1/1/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.