;<;>.• ' ;it:,' v|.5,i|^||jgu i|j§tl ; •• 1-:••••• •;. f m ; y'SI * f>. ;? (• ;•>: iSifeillBll !' MM M Jfc WITS op ''SESKT# m 'imam iviction. 5 • 'Heat' 6 I Bask* *~sm "' "" ' — 10: Mil . m j, r •, • " m | m M VOLUME 83, NUMBER 15 iiliiSiilill THE FLAT TIRE CONSPIRACY JANUARY 19. 1 Up for grabs Three attacks on women in a month parked her vehicle in Lot M. opened Brooke Wooten the door and was looking for a re- Staff Writer ceipt in the passenger side of her •a wk car. The Campus Police is investigat- ing several recent assaults on cam- pus. Three assaults have occurred 'I think that steps need in the course of the last month. The victims of all of the attacks to be taken to curb were female. Searches of the univer- these acts of violence sity area failed to locate any of the suspects in each case. which seem to have The Campus Police refused to comment on any of the assaults for increased in frequency fear of compromising the integrity of the investigation. The first attack happened on Dec — Tony Tran 19 around 7:30 p.m. A white female was sexually assaulted in I»t M, the SA external vice president Allen Center parking lot, which is accessible through Entrance 3 on She then saw the suspect stand- Center Scott Oliver tries to fight through a crowd of Houston Cougars to grab a loose ball. The Cougars edged Rice Main Street. ing by the driver's side door. 78 76 on Saturday at Autry Court. The victim reported that she had SEE ASSAULT, PAGE 4 Dean of Students ' '.•if, • iill Bat Rice staff work on birthday of slain civil rights leader Burnett steps down Jennifer Salomon Burnett will return to teaching psychology Staff Writer' af ter seven-year stint in Student Affairs .. ... Rice community cel. which she helped establish, and ebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Lindsey Schechter Health Services. She has also worked Day in the Rice Chapel Monday Staff Writer to improve student life by starting night, kivokingthe yrords of May a various programs and services. Angelou, Black Student Associa- After seven years of service, Sa- "Overall, I'm extremely pleased tion Pr&^htTara recited rah Burnett will be resigning her with what all of us have been able to "On the Pulseof Morning" to a position as clean of students on July accomplish over these past seven small crowd in the chapel. 1, the end of the academic year. years," she said. The poem, written by Angelou "The time is right to return to the One of her goals has been to for President Bill Clinton's inau- faculty," she said. After taking one attract more students to the Student guration in 1993, calls for unity or two semesters off^r a sabbatical, Center for social activities-through among races, sexes*nd nations, a she plans to return to teaching in the the addition of such luxuries as the theme Long thought appropriate 1 'sy chology Depart men t. Coffeellouse and a big screen televi- for this year's MLK Day obser- sion. Two projects she is especially vance. proud of are the Counseling Center In light of the marked discord 'Overall, I'm extremely and the campus-wide increastfn the that characterized race and gen- pleased with what all of awareness of women's issues. der relations in 1995 — the OJ. She said that the Counseling Cen- Simpson trial and Louis us have been able to ter "continues to make new contri- Farrakahn's Million Man March butions year after year" through such being prime examples — Long accomplish over these programs such as College Assistance expressed a hope for healing via Peer Program, AIDS Awareness this year's MLK Day celebration. past seven years.' Week ynd Alcohol Awareness Week. "This is a day that is going to "In addit ion to dealing w ith students unite people," Long said. "It will — Sarah Burnett who have problems, they continue make us remember the dream (of llrector Greg Marshall and students march from the Dean of students to be a wonderful resource for the iSSI King] and see how far we're go- Sallyport to the Rice Chapel to commemorate the birth of Rev. King. community," she said i«f7 She said she had originally She has dealt with women's is* Unity was also the focus of sev- faculty and administrators to the he and fellow faculty members planned to hold the position for five sues by instituting various programs eral load leaders. According to Sallyport Monday evening. Sing- were enjoying a break from work. years and only stayed two additional on campus. In order to create a sup- WiB Rice College freshman Neema ing the de facto civil rights move- Students, tod, observed a one-day yefJts to help the administration deal port system for the victims of sexual Jones, who attended numerous ment anthem "We ShaB Over- extension to their winter breaks, with the transition from President assault and harassment, she helped events associated with the holi- come," the group shuffled slowly but university staff members George Rupp to President Malcolm organize the Students Organized day, locaTleaders were stressing over to the chapel, where sociol- weren't so lucky. A policy estab- Gillis. Against Rape program, and she unf ogy Professor Chandler Davidson lished by the University Council Burnett has worked at the uni- worked with the Student Associa- i stressing the common spoke on the lessons of King's life. in 1993 created MLK Day as a versity since 1972 when she became tion to post information about sexual theme that we all want a peaceful Citing that King maintaihed faculty/student holiday but kept one of the first female psychology assault in all the women's bathrooms. life," Jones said. "They're talking only a C+ average at Morehouse staff members at work. professors. She was hired as the She also encouraged HealthEdu about taking over our communi- College in Atlanta, Davidson ar- Vice President of Finance and dean of students in 1989 when the cation Director Cynthia Linier to ties from drugs and crime and tak- gued that "we are all capable of Administration Dean Currie ex- position was first created. Tile post create Scruples, the sexual assault ing responsibility for ouractions." heroic acts" and therefore should plained that a change in the struc- was designed to expand the job of prevention play enacted during Ori- Long and the BSA coordinated never leave the history-making to ture of staff holiday allocation pro- disciplinarian to include positive stu- entation Week a candlelight procession and vigil others we believe more disposed duced the current situation.. dent interaction. Burnett is respon !>anier said, "I'm very regretful in memory of the civil rights leader to the position. Instead of differentiating vaca- siMeJormanaging>judnial .affairs. JhttLsh.e!s..m&igtutig...because she's that drew a handful of students, Davidson spokeon a day when SttKIMPABES and overseeing other student ser- been a wonderful mentor and super vices like the Counseling Center, SEE BURNETT PAGE 4 *?r. Ji FRIDAY. JANUARY 19. 1996 1 "tjL! i -vv • fMlSSi «v If ill ra; 'J; r. Staff workers deserve day off. When the University Council established Martin Luther King Day as a faculty/student holiday in 1993, they had the right sentiment. V But lhey had the wrong idea. ^ M LK1 )ay has been a national holiday since 1986. Since then, most Americans, have been given time off on the third Monday of each January to jnty tribute to the individual who played such an important role in ending legal segregation and discrimination based on race. While most universities throughout the nation quickly followed suit in observing MLK Day, Rice was among the stragglers. One reason for the delay was that some believed that cancelling classes was not the best way to pay tribute — students would merely use the three--day weekend for other purposes. Of course, the naysayers lost, and MLK Day is now a faculty/ • 'a /y/t'W ' •Sit**-*- student holiday. Unfortunately, the council members who approved the new holiday did not take into consideration those who would be most likely to use the holiday as it was meant to be used. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR We are talking about the Rice staff, which has a much higher percentage of minorities than the student or faculty bodies. Sure, the cooks, groiindskeepefs, secretaries and otlfer employ Future taciiines snouia De dum on res have the option of choosing to make MLK Day a sick day/ vacation day or, it the majority of members agree, a "skeleton" day. Hut why would they do either when they know that they have lots of campus to reduce risk of crime work to do in preparation for the thousands of students who will be returning from winter break that same day? To the editor: Times change, and often assur- campus facilities and thus will never Literature put out by the university states its commitment to the I wish to respond to an article ances of this sort are forgotten. How- be patrolled as well or effectively. promotion of diversity on campus. In recent years, the administra- ("Man assaulted near Graduate ever, whatever reasons applied to This is not a criticism of our police House") which appeared last semes- the making of these decisions at that service; it is a simple fact. tion has frequently stated that it is ready to address any special ter in theOct. 27 issue of the Thresher. time still apply. In addition, whatever aura the i oneertis that its minority students may have.