Rice Waives Rent Charges to Save Willy's Pub from Closure

SINCE 1916 VOLUME 81, NUMBER 2 TACO CA-BLEAH!!! AUGUST 27,1993 Rice waives rent charges to save Willy's Pub from closure by Sei Chong The best idea is to find Willy's Pub a way to be self-supporting and make itan environmentwherestudentsdon't To keep Willy's Pub afloat, Rice have to drink but have alcohol avail- University has waived $7,000 in rent able," Sanborn said. charges owed from last year. The Pub "If undergraduates want this privi- has suffered negative returns for sev- lege when they are of age, they need eral years and may be in danger of to support [the Pub] now," Crawford closing. said. "We're open. We're running on a In order to generate more busi- very low budget," said Pub manager ness, the Pub has undergone a num- Doug Tapley, a Sid Richardson Col- ber of changes. "It's a different Pub lege senior. He said the Pub went this year," Tapley said. "We want the broke last year, but the decline in Pub to be a medium of the student profits has been a gradual process. body as is the Coffeehouse, the [Rice The Pub has not made money in Program Council], the [StudentAsso- fouryears, due in part to rising costs to ciation]. We want everyone to feel us and due in part to Texas state law comfortable." [raising the drinking age]," he said. Some of the new arrangements "Every year prices have gone up on all are designed to bring in customers other than at 11 p.m. on Thursdays, a peak time. Prices on food and alcohol have 'If undergraduates want dropped. "We're sellingcheap beeras cheap as we can," Tapley said. this privilege when they are Incentives for under-21 students include pool tables, bar stools and a of age, they need to supporttelevisio n satellite for watching Rice [the Pub] now.' basketball and football games. On Wednesday nights, the Pub will fea- SRC senior Cedric Spak, right, and a patron enjoy Willy's Pub this week. The Pub suffers from severe financial problems. —Sarah Nelson Crawford ture live jazz, blues or acoustic music. Tapley said the rock bands in the Student Activities director past were too loud, and hoped these same company, generally "breaks is about one-third that of the Pub be- Willy's Club during lunch for the high types of music will encourage a more even or loses just a little bit of money," cause it is so much smaller. school and college summer school of our beer products [we buy].", relaxed atmosphere. said Bill Jones. Any surplus goes into With less overhead to pay, Valhalla students. According to Lee Hsia, Rice But Bob Sanborn, associate dean Some changes also trim operating capital improvements, he said. is able to charge lower prices than the Program Council president, Willy's of student affairs, and Sarah Nelson costs. The bartenders, who were pre- Jones attributes Valhalla's com- Pub. Jones also said Valhalla often has Club made $802.84 and the profits Crawford, director of student activi- viously paid, are now working as vol- parative success to the fact that its more customers because it serves the went to the Pub. ties, have worked to keep the Pub unteers. "When we'll startgettingpaid, overhead costs are less than one-half public as well as Rice faculty and stu- Willy's Club,however,did not serve open. Sanborn said he asked Rice's we don't know," Tapley said. the Pub's. Valhalla bartenders are vol- dents. alcohol and was only open one and a budget office and the president's of- Valhalla, though owned by the unteers, and its rent to the university This summer the Pub operated as half hours a dav. fice; tto waive ththe charges.. r\ r> (\f p 1 • 1 1 1 1 * was a cushion of money the university gave us. The Pub went through the 33% more transfers admitted to balance class sizes by Ryan Koopmans ment Thu s transfer students will make living on campus this year. tion rate. cushion," Sanborn said. up the difference instead. Two colleges have overcrowded On average, 70 students per year "Any bar makes its largest profit Also, Stabell said, transfers are rooms th is year: Wi 11 Rice Col lege and accept admission to Rice but leave margin on beer sales," Tapley said. The incoming class of 1993 in- easiertocount on for enrollment num- Hanszen College. In both, groups of without a degree. "We're catering to a student body that cludes 33 percent more transfer stu- bers and resulting tuition revenue five students live in rooms designed Unlike many universities, Rice is 30 percent legal, so our biggest dents than last year's, the result of an because they are less likely than fresh- for four. rarely accepts transfer students for money makers are offered to a limited effort by the Admissions Office to keep men to drop out "We're trying to stabilize enroll- the spring semester. "We're not set up percentage of the undergraduate class sizes constant. Transfers bring experience from ment to average 2,600 students," Sta- to do a spring O-Week for 12 or 15 body." There are 88 transfers this year, other institutions and have a lot to bell said. This is the size Rice's budget students," Stabell said. "It's hard for Rice will review the Pub's opera- compared to 66 last year and 29 in offer to Rice," he said. They are often and physical capacity are designed them, and hard for the university." No tionFeb. 1, San born said. By that time, 1991. more focused upon arriving." around, he said. spring transfer students have been V&W Permits, Inc., the company that The last two years saw graduating Transfer students also put less Stabell said he does not expect as admitted in the last three years. ownsthe Puband Valhalls, mustcome classes that were unusually large in strain on on-campus housing. Rice many transfer students to be admitted This year's group of transfer stu- up with a new plan for the Pub to show comparison with the freshman and promises to "make every effort" to next year. The number admitted de- dents, however, was not the largest it is a viable operation. sophomore classes, according^ Dean provide new freshmen with housing, pends on how many freshmen accept ever. In the 1970s thenumberoitrans- V&W has appointed a committee of Admissions and Records Richard but transfers are put on a waiting list offers of admission and on the attri- fers sometimes exceeded 100. to do so, consisting of Tapley, San- Stabell. for spaces, Stabell said. born, Crawford, Bill Jones, Valhalla Increasing the freshman class In recent years no freshman who manager, and Lisa Jones, assistant would repeat the imbalance in coming wanted to live on campus was turned director of the Rice Memorial Center. years and add to Rice's overall enroll- away, and 96 percent of freshmen are Turkish computer user Worth the wait? breaks into Rice system BOOK by Keith Hoffman we had a security loophole," Williamson said. Schafer said he did not believe the An improper security setting on man had had access to the mainframe Rice's VMl mainframe computer al- for very long before he was discov- lowed a man at a university in Turkey ered. to access the system this summer According to Williamson, the in- without authorization. truder essentially said "vou have this "We had a situation ... where we discovered that we had a system set- SEE VMl PAGE 6 ting on [VMl] that allowed access to the mainframe accounts," said Rich- ard Schafcr, network and system sup- A&E port manager. VMl.theonly IBM mainframe on ca mpu s, provides co mput ing services for Fondren library and faculty re- search. Mark Williamson, assistant to an Office of Networking and Computer Services director, discovered the breach July 25 when the unauthorized user contacted him over the computer c*r with a Rice user identification code to It's that time of year again students wait in line to buy books at the Rice Campus Store. request the system administrator's CI— name. The man then "identified that 2 FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, 1993 THE RICE THRESHER OPINION ACTIVISM Saying your piece or lending a hand can be rewarding Rice has long maintained and enjoyed a reputation for academic excellence. Unfortunately, we have also maintained a reputation for extreme apathy. Many have attempted to explain away this phenomenon by emphasizing that most Rice students throw themselves into their academic work and simply do not have time to spend on social or political causes. While Rice students' absorption with academics explains some of our lack of activism, it cannot be the whole picture. Other schools as prestigious as Rice have managed to develop mature activism on their campuses without sacrificing academic excellence. And Rice students have enough sparetimefortheSimpsons, the Pub, the Owls and other diversions. Few have no time to spend on a cause they care about "PARN L.LOOKS UKE Vlt'TS. W TOR ma CONGRISSIOHM. UEMWGSoU VIOLENCE Being active in social or political causes is easy. It may entail M WPS' T.V...." something as simple as writing a letter to the editor about an injustice, making a public stand in a forum that could sway some opinions. Or going further and demonstrating one's commitment more tangibly via protest or civil disobedience. Pollution is man's Manifest Destiny But activism has a more subdued outlet that is equally signifi- Man placed on Earth to balance environmental trends, say Carbonists cant Every social cause, from Young Republicans to Rice for Choice to Amigos to Campus Crusade for Christ, needs more Even worse; scientists with a vested tory mechanisms to ensure the con- people.

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