The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 79, No. 19, Ed. 1 Friday, February 7, 1992 Page: 1 of 24
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0 The SINCE 1916
Rice Thresher
VOLUME 79, NO. 19
ALL SORTS OF NSCI PROBLEMS
FEBRUARY 7,1992
'The Race' loses permission to use alcohol; will use Near Beer
by Ann Zitterkopf
Riders in THE RACE, a recently
proposed alternative to Beer-Bike,
will not be permitted to chug alcohol,
according to Dean of Students Sarah
Burnett Race coordinators Todd
Ballengee and Keith Jaasma said they
will use non-alcoholic Near Beer in
place of beer.
"THE RACE mocks the way Beer-
Bike is run now." Ballengee said.
"Now, it's [mocking] not only Beer-
Bike but also the decision to revoke
the license... .We're not going to back
down to bureaucracy."
"The administration has both [a
legal and moral] responsibility to
prevent something that would harm
students," Burnett said.
Ballengee and Jaasma presented
their "more traditional Beer-Bike" to
the Student Association Senate last
week. In THE RACE, which would
occur on Feb. 14, the same people
would both chug and bike, "iron-man"
style.
As THE RACE was originally
conceived, all participants wouldhave
had to be over 21. With Burnetts
decision, minors can now participate
as welL
"Technically speaking, THE
RACE [in its original form] is not a
violation of the alcohol policy if the
participants are over-age," Burnett
said. She voiced concerns that par-
ents would hold the administration
responsible if there were an accident
"When an official university orga-
nization plans to use university prop-
erty and alcohol and to do something
dangerous, [The university] would
be held accountable if we had an
accident, even if it wasn't alcohol re-
lated," said Burnett
Burnett also said that if Beer-Bike
weren't a long-standing tradition,
even the current version with sepa-
rate riders and chuggers would not
SA approves proposed rules for quad
by Amy Keener
The Student Association approved
Monday the wording of a new policy
regulating appropriate uses of the
academic quad, according to SA
President Mitra Miller. The new
wording will appear in the Student
Handbook.
Dean of Students Sarah Burnett
initiated the change because of past
ambiguity surrounding the yellow
ribbons placed on campus during
the Persian Gulf War. The proposed
addition reads:
9. In addition to the regulations
listed under this section, use of the
Founders Court and the Academic
Quadrangle is subject to additional
constraints. Ceremonies, demonstra-
tions, and other activities will be per-
mitted by the Director of Student Ac-
tivities only if it can be demonstrated
that they wiU not interfere with the
academic and administrative activi-
ties of the University. They will be of
limited duration after which all signs
of the activity are to be removed. Fur-
thermore, nothing may be placed on
the monument to William Marsh Rice
which is also his burial place.
Lovett Senator Michael
Woodbury pointed out there was
some discussion over the vague
wording of "limited duration."
"The SA approved the wording
with a recommendation that some-
how the limited duration clause
within the proposal be specified. It
could lead to potential ambiguity if
left unspecified,"said Wood bury. The
SA did not make any specific sug-
gestions for clarification of the
wording.
The change covers both aesthet-
ics and disruptive events.
"We do not want to restrict any-
one from using it for demonstrations
and ceremonies," Burnett clarified.
"We just dont want classes inter-
rupted or normal activities."
Crawford noted a further restric-
tion. "[An event] cannot impede any-
one else's access—you cant have a
strike, for instance," she said.
In addition to preventing disrup-
tive activities, the policy is designed
to preserve die aesthetic beauty of
the quadrangle, which became an
issue last year during the Gulf War.
"The controversy with the yellow
ribbons is that [students] wanted to
put them on the trees and leave them
there," Burnett explained. "They
could put them on other trees, just
not in the main academic quad."
Burnett cited frequent visitors and
television crews as justification for
maintaining the quad landscape.
"We just think it is one area that
we should keep from looking too
unattractive," she said.
A war protest sculpture, which
was removed from the quadrangle
last year, also brought the ambiguity
of past policy into focus. Burnett cited
aesthetic considerations for the deci-
sion to move the sculpture from the
academic quad to the cloisters at Rice
Memorial Center.
Crawford explained, "We want
people to be able to say what they
want to say and to do these
activities...the University does re-
serve the right to restrict where
people can do these activities."
According to Burnett, the policy
change does not affect past proce-
dures for reserving the quadrangle,
nor does the change affect the crite-
ria used for approving space requests.
Any organization may file a request
with the Office of Student Activities
to hold an outdoor event
"Officially when an organization
makes a room request through my
office, it goes through the proper
people," said Director of Student
Activities Sarah Nelson Crawford. For
facilities requests involving an out-
side area, Vice President of Finance
and Administration Dean Cum'e, who
also supervises grounds main te-
ste QUAD, PAGE 10
be allowed on campus.
Ballengee and Jaasma insisted
riders would not be at risk. "We've
practiced this [format of the] race
several times [before the decision]
with beer," Ballengee said. "We had
tryouts at Will Rice twice last week
and twice this week."
"We've had no biking problems,"
Jaasma said. "No one's wrecked or
gotten sick."
Burnett was still concerned.
"Since we have now been informed
of the plan [of THE RACE] and have
the opinion of a physician, we have
an obligation to put a halt to a poten-
tially dangerous situation," Burnett
said.
Dr. Dain Novak of Health Services
said in last week's Thresher that the
riders, after drinking beer, "will be
more likely to fall, and not because of
drunkenness. "She went on to explain
that switching from rapid swallowing
to cycling would be too much for the
riders. Novak also called the iron-
man format "suicidally stupid," a
statement which was not printed in
the story.
Burnett approved the alcohol li-
cense last week, but said that at the
time she assumed this would be a
"typical mock race."
Dean of Student Activities Sarah
Nelson Crawford said she called
Burnett after reading the Thresher
article. "[Burnett] had approved the
license with the understanding it was
going to be one thing and it turned
out to be another," Crawford said.
Ballengee said he had not in-
tended to deceive Burnett "We'dput
a 'mock race' in quotes," he said.
Crawford said when Ballengee
presented the idea to Burnett he
said it was only for the Marcus
Aurelius Latin and English Society
(MALES). Ballengee explained that
while MALES is sponsoring the
event, "it is not closed only to the
members of the club."
Sid Richardson senior James
"Bud" Weisser, who signed the origi-
naldeclaration ofTHE RACE, said, "I
was disappointed with the decision.
Itwasn'tnecessarilytherightreaction
to cancel the event outright WeVe
been doing our best to follow all of
the rules."
Graduate Student Association
President Dirk Valk said, "For me,
Ballengee and Jaasma were making
a good attempt to ensure the safety of
the riders, but it wasnt good enough
for Dean Burnett"
"I dont condemn her decision,
but I wish we could work around her
stance, especially considering the
severity of the new Drug Free Work-
place Act," Valk said. "Butreally, it all
boils down to how concerned you are
about consuming alcohol during the
race." Valk concluded.
"I'm not surprised [at Burnett's
decision]," RPC President Stan H sue
said. "There was a mention of an iron-
man beer-bike last year in the Rice
Program Council, but it got a nega-
tive response from the Dean of Stu-
dents."
Burnett said, "I'm sure [ Ballengee
and Jaasma] will use their imagina-
tions to come up with another clever
way to have fun with beer-bike. At
one time, riders used tricycles, so
there are all sorts of variations."
John McCoy was a contributing
writer for this story.
Gate crashers plague Sid Tower Party
by John McCoy
An undetermined number of
people entered Sid Richardson
College's Tower Party last Saturday
without paying by falsifying the red
stamps on their hands used to mark
paid guests, according to party orga-
nizers. Efforts by students to side-
step both entrance fees and the al-
cohol policy have plagued the large
college parties this year.
Several students also gave their
Bring out your fiddle and banjo...
The Rainbow Rockers played live over KTRU on Wednesday, Feb. 5, complete with fiddler, bassist guitarist
banjo player and tap dancer. They'll be returning to Rice to play a little country dancing music at Jones College
on Sunday night Feb. 9, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Admission is $1 for students.
wristbands, which distinguished
guests over 21, to others and at-
tempted to get new ones, claiming
that they had lost them, according to
SRC social coordinator Heidi
Huettner.
Huettner expressed disappoint-
ment with the offenders. "We're on a
campus where people mil write 10
letters to defend the honor code,
claiming to be honest but they're
content to jack other colleges for a
few bucks," she said.
According to Huettner, SRC so-
cials deckled not to issue bracelets to
those under 21, but instead to use a
stamp. "Because we didn't spend the
extra $200to $300for weird bracelets
[to also mark for under 21], people
got in free," she said.
SRC did spend $100 to buy wrist-
bands with a distinctive pattern for
guests over 21, rather than use the
plain bands provided by the Campus
Police. According to Huettner, they
wanted to make it impossible for
people to get alcohol using an outside
wristband.
At Wiess College's Night of
Decadence last semester, organizers
discovered that wristbands similar
to NOD's were being used by people
under 21 to get alcohoL
Wiess has since dropped its in-
vestigation Into the matter, according
to Wiess social coordinator David
Roberts. Although they "could have
nailed a few individuals involved,"
Roberts said that the college had no
conclusive proof as to who was sup-
plying the wristbands.
Director of Student Activities
Sarah Nelson Crawford said that the
original idea behind the alcohol
policy was that students would be
self-policing in its enforcement She
noted, however that "there hasnt
been an effort by the students to take
care of themselves."
According to Crawford the irre-
sponsibility on the part of the student
body is what led to the increased
security measures of hand stamps
and wristbands.
The undermining of alcohol con-
trols brings with it the possibility of
fines and punishments against indi-
viduals and host colleges.
The student handbook states that
"any college or organization found
not adequately observing the en-
forcement regulations described
above will be fined a minimum of
$200," and that "penalties for students
found guilty of violating the Policy
will range from fines to expulsion
from the University."
Dean of Students Sarah Burnett
receives reports after every regis-
tered campus event from student
monitors who are chosen by the
college masters and presidents. Ac-
cording to Burnett the reports do not
name names. They describe how well
the alcohol controls were enforced
and list any specific violations wit-
nessed.
Burnett said that a monitor report
is not enough evidence to levy a fine,
and that independent confirmation is
SEE PARTY, PAGE 10
FEATURE
Rice students admit
their most recent
underground fad—
cheering for
See page 12
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Zitterkopf, Ann & Howe, Harlan. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 79, No. 19, Ed. 1 Friday, February 7, 1992, newspaper, February 7, 1992; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245804/m1/1/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.