The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 86, No. 3, Ed. 1 Friday, September 18, 1998 Page: 3 of 24
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THE KICK THRESHER
OPINION
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1998
LUNPGM
The good, bad and administrated
Many of us probably learned how
a university works from movies like
Animal House. The story goes like
this: The students, who are the good
guys, want to have fun. The adminis-
tration, which consists of
cranky old men, does its
best to keep them down.
This is certainly an ap-
pealing storyline. Some-
times, it's a reasonable
first approximation. But
it's not nearly that simple.
Thus, I present the top
myths about the Rice ad-
ministration. •"
The administration
is evil. When Rice un-
veils an unpopular plan
(like the shared serveries proposal),
.many people assume that it's a part
of some malignant conspiracy. The
truth is more disturbing: Many of
these ideas were actually intended
to improve life for the students. In
other words, this is what the admin-
istrators think we want. Whether we
want it is another issue entirely.
I've found that there are some
administrators who live to make oth-
ers unhappy. There are some who
are on a big power trip. But there are
others who passed up higher sala-
ries elsewhere because they like
working with students.
The administration is mono-
lithic. I'm even implying this in my
choice of words. In reality, there is
no such thing as "the administra-
tion." There are many different
people and different offices, often
Christof
Spieler
with very different goals. When 1
took offense at the Student Center's
drive to insert itself into student life
two or three years ago, I discovered
others in the Student Affairs hierar-
chy trying to prevent that
from happening. Now all
members of that Student
Center staff have left, and it
seems the new staff is tak-
ing a new direction. (I take
some pride in having been
at Rice before the old Stu-
dent Center administration
and then outlasting them.)
The administration
gets along. Undergradu-
ates have perhaps four
years to win enemies and
propagate feuds. Administrators
may have decades. Onty the faculty
is worse: Academic departments
rarely communicate, and faculty
members often devote considerable
energy to actively disliking each
other.
But there are others
who passed up higher
salaries elsewhere
because they like
working with students.
It's all part of a greater plan. It
often is, but sometimes, the
university's actions are more or less
improvised. A while ago, a top ad-
ministrator verbally gave away one
of the engineering buildings to a
humanities department — without
checking with its current occupants
first. When the new would-be occu-
pants showed up with tape measures,
the engineers got alarmed. Some
alumni on the Board of Governors
met with the president, and the,,
whole matter was quietly dropped. '
The important administrators
are the visible ones. President
Gillis is obviously important, but
some of the most powerful people at
Rice — Vice President for Informa-
tion Technology Tony Gorry, Vice
President for Finance and Adminis-
tration Dean Currie, etc. — are al-
most unknown to the student body.
Maybe they prefer it that way.
The administration is inac-
cessible. That's true sometimes,
but you'd be surprised. Call up an
administrator's office, and chances
are good that you can get an appoint-
ment (eventually).
When administrative decisions
are made, students usually only see
the final result. Behind that is a lot
— a lot of administrators, a lot of
thought and a lot of disagreement.
As students, we really can't under-
stand it all. But it's good to know the
people in Lovett Hall and Allen Cen-
ter are, for the most part, human.
Christof Spieler (Sid '97) is design
consultant and a graduate student in
civil engineering.
Guest column
Sexual harrassment should be governed
by individuals, not by university policy
A few days ago, General Counsel
Shirley Redwine sent me a nice little
memo about Rice's Revised Sexual
Harassment Policy. (Well, not me
specifically — she sent it to every-
body.) I can't say that I enjoyed
reading it, mainly because
it's pretty dry stuff (it needs
more "bodice ripper" sec-
tions for my money), but
also because it once again
brings up the whole issue
of Rice's sexual climate
and once again makes me
worry about getting my-
self sued.
Because I write for the
Rice public, and because
I'm misogynistic in gen-
eral, I've been asked to attend sev-
eral of Rice's forums on the sexual
atmosphere of this campus. After
listening to hours of talk, I've man-
aged to gather only one piece of
information (besides that these fo-
rums are a very bad place to try to
get a date): Everybody's really wor-
ried about our climate, but nobody
knows what to do about it.
We could move the whole cam-
pus to Aruba, but I don't think that's
the climate change everyone is wor-
ried about. No, everyone is worried
if certain cheers are offensive. If so,
what do we do about them? And
what about college minutes, or the
backpage? Can I date someone I
tutor, or a freshman at the college I
advised at? Are some of my jokes,
instead of being just plain bad, seri-
ously hurting members'of my audi-
ence?"
I've always thought the simple
answer was just to act like adults,
and treat our fellow students like
adults as well. But, after reading the
sexual harassment policy the adults
put out, I'm not entirely sure that's a
good idea anymore.
Which is not to say -that I dis-
agree with flie idea of a policy agai nst
sexual harassment. No one should
ever have to submit to an environ-
ment where sex is a condition or
impediment to their success. But
Zach
Bonig
when am I harassing someoije, and
when am I just being an idiot?
I promise that in my case it's
most often the latter. Under the
letter of Rice's policy, doesn't my
mention of "bodice ripper" consti-
tute "sexually suggestive
objects, pictures, video-
tapes, audio recordings or
literature, placed in the
work or study area, that
may embarrass or offend
individuals"? Or doesn't
my yelling of my college
cheer ("We are the best
Edgar Odell Lovett rah rah
college whatever") make
me guilty of sexual harass-
ment against the people
who are offended? fh both cases, I
have to figure the answer is yes, but
we've already covered that most of
what I say is the ramblings of an
idiot.
women are happy.) All anyone has
to do is read the intellectual yet inane
jokes on Mudd Building's bathroom
wall to realize that our Rice mindset
is pretty much identical to that which
got us all to punch each other and
pull pigtails when we were younger,
except now we have bigger vocabu-
laries.
For my part, I'm just going to try
and conduct myself in such a way
that I wouldn't be ashamed to tell
my Grandma about my day. Or if I
screw up, I'll try and get a good
enough story to impress Grandpa. I
recommend you try and do the same
(use your own grandparents, mine
are taken), but I won't try to set that
down as policy.
Zach Bonig is a Lovett College senior.
Guest column
Christian-bashing spreads
under guise of liberalism
One of the least memorable
parts of Orientation Week for
many freshmen may well be the
Diversity Awareness Workshop.
This year's event in?
volved two distinct
parts.
First, freshmen from
several colleges gath-
ered in one commons
and stood up whenever
they considered them-
selves part of a long list
of minority groups.
Then, the large group
broke up into smaller
subsections that dis-
cussed the difficulties faced by
certain minority groups. One
facet of the workshop managed
to impact me deeply.
Near the end of the second
exercise, the event coordinators
relayed stories of discrimination
they had personally experienced.
They then asked members of the
group to share similar experi-
ences.
The only voice that rose out of
my group belonged to a white
Christian male, who related a
story of how he had lost many of
his friends when they discovered
he belonged to Campus Crusade
for Christ and Young Life.
As a staunch leftist, I have
traditionally gravitated toward
people who identify themselves
as liberals. This has given me
plenty of opportunity to observe
"liberal" behavior, which I have
found to differ quite a bit from
liberal ethos.
Liberals hold as one of their
highest ideals that"famous
J effersonian phrase, "That all men
are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with
certain Inalienable rights, and
among these are Life, Liberty and
the pursuit of Happiness." The
liberal ideal preaches that all
people should be treated alike,
that no individual should be dis-
dained for his or her color, sexu-
ality or ideology.
Ihave found that most liberals
in their pristine enlightenment
do an excellent job of overlook-
ing colorand sexuality. However,
liberals, especially self-pro-
claimed intellectuals among
whom atheism is quite trendy,
seem to have hit a serious road-
block in overcoming differing ide-
ologies.
Among my liberal friends, it is
unusual for a single conversation
Phil
Mayor
to pass without a slanderous re-
mark directed toward Christians.
I find this a sad state of affairs.
Liberals constantly critique con-
servatives for close-*
mindedness. They ac-
cuse conservatives of
failing to accept
lifestyles unlike their
own, for their failure to
appreciate diversity.
Yet many liberals re-
act with the same intol-
erance, if not more, to
groups holding opin-
ions different than
their own. Christian-
bashing in particular seems to
have become a near-sport.
Certainly among the religious
right, dangerous extremism oc-
curs. However, it is/no more ac-
ceptable to label an entire group
by its extremist behavior than it
is to label an entire race by ste-
reotype.
Any would-be liberal who tells
or even tolerates anti-Christian
jokes is as guilty of discrimina-
tion as a bigot who tells racist
jokes or a coward who refuses to
speak out against such jokes. To
criticize extremists is acceptable.
To caricature an entire group by
the behavior of a tiny subsection
of that group is abominable.
The solution is simple. I sug-
gest that all would-be liberals re-
evaluate their prejudices. I en-
courage every liberal to get off
his "more enlightened than thou"
soapbox and to judge his own
actions by the stringent standards
he expects others to follow.
Finally, I call for anyone who
'is unwilling or unable to do these
things to cease calling themselves
liberal. Liberalism should be
about open-mindedness and ac-
ceptance of all people and their
ideas. I have used Christianity as
an example in this column, but
the problem is larger. Not every
N at ion al Rifle Association s me m -
ber is a violent idiot. Not every
nonenvironmentalist is seeking
to pave the earth. Not every pro-
lifer bombs abortion clinics.
If you are guilty of holding
these stereotypes and you are
not willing to rid yourself of them,
do not think yourself as open-
minded. Do not think of yourself
as enlightened. Think of yourself
as trendy.
Phil Mayor is a Will Rice College
freshman.
But when am I
harassing someone,
and when am I just
being an idiot?
How did it all come to this? Is it
because we live in a time when presi-
dent is having affairs, and, for once,
the American public cares? Maybe
it's because we're all trying to be
good, well-meaning individuals
wtio've forgotten that you can't offi-
ciate respect and decency. Maybe
we should just bring back the Victo-
rian Era.
All I know is that I feel much
more hostile about this hostile sexual
environment than I (*ver did before
it was such a hot topic. The whole
thing would seem farcical if I didn't
find it sad. I honestly don't believe
that we, as a whole, are trying to go
around harassing each other. .(I. for
one, find myself spending much of
my free time trying to make sure
the Rice Thresher
Brian Stoler
Editor in Chief
Summer Durham
Business Manager
NEWS
Joel Hardi, Editor
Usnian Baber, /tssf. Editor
Susan Egeland, Asst. Editor
OPINION
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Jose Luis Cubria, dssf. Editor
Leslie Anne Carter, Asst. Editor
CALENDAR
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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Marisa Levy, Editor
Jett McAlister, Editor
CJ
Jill Thompson
Advertising Manager
BACKPAGE
El Bandito, Acting Editor
COPY
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Marie! Tarn. Editor
PHOTOGRAPHY
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ONLINE
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•f COPYRIGHT 1998.
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Stoler, Brian. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 86, No. 3, Ed. 1 Friday, September 18, 1998, newspaper, September 18, 1998; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth246626/m1/3/: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.