The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 86, No. 21, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 31, 1999 Page: 2 of 4
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THE RICE THRESHER OPINION WEDNESDAY. MARCH 31, 1999
the Rice Thresher
Jett McAlister,
Mariel Tam
Editors in Chief
Brian Stoler
Senior Editor
Joseph Blocher,
Michael Sew Hoy
Opinion Editors
Ignoring student opinion
on the future of Wiess
The recent decision to postpone the reconstruction of Wiess
College is unsettling on many levels. We are concerned not only
because of the apparent illogic of the plan, but also because of the
autocratic way in which members of the administration went about
forming the plan.
Not only was the decision made without student involvement, it
was made without student knowledge. Even Wiess Masters John
and Paula Hutchinson and Vice President for Student Affairs Zenaido
Camacho were left out the loop until several v^eeks ago, after the
decision was already made. We find disturbing the blatant omission
of student input on a matter that is so relevant to student life,
especially while Rice touts its college system and its respect for
student opinion as characteristics that make it unique.
Keeping Wiess students out of the old and new Wiess buildings
for at least four years (two years more than previously estimated)
could prove very damaging to Wiess' identity as a college. Wiess will
go on; there's little question of that. But Wiess five years from now
may differ substantially from Wiess today, and not simply because of
a new influx of students.
Besides overlooking student input, the administration also seems
to have overlooked a few obvious common-sense considerations in
choosing Wiess as the locus for storage and faculty offices. First, the
building's structure is at best questionable, and at worst gravely
unsound. Students have complained about rats, leaky roofs and
faulty plumbing for years. And old, converted dorm rooms aren't
exactly the most desirable office space, though they might be a slight
improvement over converted broom closets. *
Because of these obvious structural problems, Rice will have to
spend money just to convert Wiess space into offices and storage
areas. Why would Rice allow spending for temporary use when it has
seemingly ignored the building's problems for years?
What makes the least sense is why the administration has chosen
to place Wiess at the bottom of its list of priorities in upcoming
construction. The administration is trying to squeeze a couple more
years out of a dilapidated structure that has been a thorn in Rice's
side for decades.
Will Wiess College
ever be rebuilt?
A decision made by a small group of people behind closed doors
is good cause for suspicion. So we wonder: Is this plan really the
whole truth?
Will Wiess College ever be rebuilt?
Consider:
■ Wiess is located on some of the best real estate on campus, right
on the Inner Loop, near Fondren Library and the humanities
buildings. That would be an awfully good site for an academic
building.
■ The number of people living off campus involuntarily doesn't
quite add up to justify two more colleges, and the administration
swears it isn't adding more students. Meanwhile, the plans for
Martel College show new rooms being added to Jones and Brown
Colleges after Martel is complete. Those would be hard to justify
unless they aren't really adding two new colleges (Martel and
South) but one (Martel).
■ After four years, the vast majority of Wiess students will have
known no other building but South College. They may not want to
move — and the administration could benevolently let them stay.
■ Wiess has caused the university an awful lot of headaches. (Think
Night of Decadence.) Is that a reason to get rid of it?
■ Think money: The university is spending a lot of money for new
buildings already. Does a new Wiess fit into that budget?
■ A new building named "Wiess" brings the university no naming
money (unless all those Wiess alumni out there start pooling
funds). That makes it very hard to finance. (Vice President for
Finance and Administration Dean Currie said the university will
rebuild Wiess "as soon as we possibly can." That doesn't sound
very definite.)
■ Or maybe the name will live on after all. South College still has no
name. Martel, which was due to completed later, was named first.
Could it be that the name of South is ... "Wiess"?
All this may sound far-fetched. But this week's announcement
(turning decrepit Wiess rooms into faculty offices),also sounds a bit
far-fetched if you think about it. We aren't saying any of the above
means anything, but ...
STOR-W
WIESS
<W office- paJtA
D OpF
Improving Health Services, for now
Students have numerous complaints about what
Health Services is — or isn't — doing. But the
largesf problem facing on-campus student health
care is also its easiest and least expensive to solve:
extending Health Services' hours to include evening
and weekend hours.
A student seeking medical treatment on cam-
pus either has to wait for walk-in hours — with no
guarantee that he'll see a doctor that day — or
make an appointment to see a doctor later, often a
day or two from when he most needs medical
attention. Adding just a couple hours per day would
increase the number of students doctors can see,
helping reduce the backlog of patients.
Yes, there are other problems. Health Services'
current facility in the belly of Hanszen College is
woefully inadequate. It's small, outdated and not
accessible to physically handicapped students, with
cramped offices, and little privacy. In fact, its offices
have been in need of improvement for decades, as
the Student Association's research found.
But while there is no easy way to fix the facilities
problem, keeping the clinic open during evenings
and on Saturdays is a matter of finding staffers and
funding. And a temporary solution to the latter
problem is already being proposed.
Yesterday, petitions were circulated for a refer-
endum to take an approximately $32,000 in accu-
mulated blanket tax money and give to the
university to support increased hours for Health
Services for the 1999-2000 academic year. The
surplus funds had accumulated for several years
when they were collected for two defunct pro-
grams.
We can't think of a worthier cause for the excess
money. Rice has already raised health care fees
without committing to any specific improvements
— student health fees have more than doubled in
a three-year period, jumping from $96 in 1995-'96
to $214 in 1998-'99. Earmarking student money for
extending clinic hours would ensure some sort of
concrete improvement to Health Services for the
next academic year.
It's pathetic that, at a university with such an
ambitious strategic plan and so much fund raising,
students have to take not only the conceptual but
also the financial initiative to enact change in Health
Services.
Even if it doesn't pass, the referendum should
send a strong message to the administration: If the
university isn't going to improve student health
care, the students will try to. Even more than the
SA's letter, the referendum will serve as a wakeup
call to an administration that has been alerted to
problems for years but has neglected to make the
dramatic improvements necessary to bring stu-
dent health care to the level of quality found at
comparable schools.
the Rice Thresher
Jett McAlister, Mariel Tam
Editors in Chief
Brian Stoler
Senior Editor
NEWS
Jennifer Frazer, Editor
Leslie Liu, Ass/. Editor
Gordon Wittick, Page Designer
OPINION
Joseph Blocher, Editor
Michael Sew Hoy, Editor
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
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SPORTS
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CALENDAR
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Business Manager
PHOTOGRAPHY
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COPY
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ONLINE
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McAlister, Jett & Tam, Mariel. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 86, No. 21, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 31, 1999, newspaper, March 31, 1999; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth246645/m1/2/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.