HP 972 Participate in 75Th Commencement
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U>£<L W cP- K3 HP Tt 1HRESHER Volume 75, Number 28 Rice's recycled ne\^aper. Friday, May 13,1988 972 participate in 75th Commencement by Sue Yom Neal Lane presented 84 doctoral Overcast skies and progressively degrees and 274 Master's degrees. exuberant student behavior marked Vice President for Student Affairs Rice University's seventy-fifth com- Ronald Stebbings conferred 614 mencement Saturday, May 7, in the Baccalaureate degrees. The under- academic quadrangle. President graduate colleges engaged in spirit George Rupp presided over the cere- contests during the presentation, monies, in which 972 students re- punctuated by Wiess College's ceived Baccalaureate and graduate shouts of "Team Wiess" for several degrees. seconds before they crossed the stage. Congregation Beth Israel Senior The atmosphere became rowdier as Rabbi Samuel E. Karff delivered the noon and the end of the ceremony opening invocation, requesting approached, evidenced by a few thanks for "the gifts of the mind" and thrown balloons, graduation caps, the "passion to know." He expressed cheering, and a beach ball. gratitude for "the patterns of the struc- Student Association Immediate tures of the worH" asking Rice stu- Past President Kevin Gass prefaced dents to "use power, the fruit of the the presentation of the Student Asso- tree of knowledge, responsibly." ciation Mentor Recognition Award Karff ended his speech,"Establish with some brief comments, noting thou the work of our hands, and the "it's difficult when you're typing a work of our hands, establish thou it." term paper at four in the morning Following the invocation, Provost see Rupp, page 7 % Many construction projects on hold by Thresher news staff President for the Administration Physical Plant -activity on campus William Akers. will be lively this summer, though "I don't think the Shepherd School renovations to the residential colleges will be started by the time school will not be as extensive as in past begins. Construction probably won't summers. begin until October or November," Melinda Chang amuses herself and fellow graduates at Rice's 75th Commencement. J. Yao Physical Plant summer projects Akers said. "will probably be a little larger than in "Neither of the projects will get the past, with over $4 million in new started this summer. It will be the end F&H develops new meal plan capital" allotted by the Board of of the school year before we start Governors for capital improvements groundworking for either," Samfield by Michele Wucker Late this semester, students re- Housing will charge higher prices for and major maintenence, according to said. After two Hanszen College mem- ceived a letter of intent describing a special dinners, steak nights, and Physical Plant Director Ed Samfield. He said site analysis and pricing for bers circulated a leaflet complaining new a la carte meal plan allowing no shrimp nights. Samfield says the administration the biosciences buildings would oc- about a proposed new meal payment refunds on unspent money. In re- Karsner said the new prices will be plans to complete the Allen Center cur in mid-April and mid-June, with system, student representatives met sponse to that letter of intent, Hanszen considerably cheaper than Sammy's construction project and the Fondren construction postponed until early with Director of Food and Housing College members Aaron Stambler prices. A card reader will be left in Library renovation project by the end 1989. Marion Hicks and Vice President for and Michael E. Morris distributed a Sammy's so students can continue to of the summer. Both projects were Rice also plans to renovate some Administration William Akers to leaflet telling students that under the use their food plans to purchase meals begun earlier this year and are on new laboratory space and the fifth develop a new food plan allowing old agreement, unused funds would in Sammy's. schedule. According to University floor of Fondren Library, according students more flexibility, according be carried over. That leaflet also ex- Karsner said the new plan will Librarian S amuel Carrington, various to Akers. "There is the possibility that to Student. Association President plained that not signing the new force Central Kitchen to improve the projects are ahead of schedule (see some new lab space and some addi- Andy Karsner. agreement meant students remained quality of its food because students story, page 5). tional space in the library will be Although the nonrefundable base bound under the old plan. will receive refunds for unspent "Allen Center work was slow in renovated. But these projects haven't cost to cover overhead has increased The new plan replaces the money. starting. We hope to finish by the end been approved yet. They're still in the under this plan, the total cost of the administration's original letter of in- On-campus students can choose of August. The library work should be planning stages and haven't gone to new plan is lower than last year's tent. Under the new plan, leftover from Plan I, with an annual cost of complete by about the time school the [Board of Governors] yet." plan. In addition, all money except the funds in students' accounts will be S4,175, or PlanII, with an annual cost starts," Samfield said. The administration plans to com- base cost in a student's account can be carried over from semester to of S3,825. Both figures include a Neither construction for the new plete all of these renovation projects refunded if the student chooses not to semester. Students can request rebate $425 base cost that covers labor and science building nor for the new by the end of the summer. "By August eat at Rice. Like the process under last checks through the Cashier's Office. overhead. The a la carte and "Owl building to house the Shepherd or September, our campus might be year's system, individual meal costs Students can also add money to their Platter" prices reflect raw food costs, School of Music will begin this sum- clean for a little bit," said Akers. will be deducted from the student's accounts in $25 increments. related food supplies, and tax. mer, according to Samfield and Vice see Renovations, page 5 balance. The new system gives students the Returning students will be given option of purchasing a full meal (the Plan II unless they request Plan I. "Owl Platter") or a la carte . The The new system was developed by "Owl Platter" for a family style meal representatives from the Food and costs $3, and includes the choice of Housing Department, the Residential one entree and any four of the follow- College Management Advisory ing: soup, small salad from salad bar, Committee, the Student Association, vegetable, and dessert or small yo- and the Food Committee, with sup- gurt, plus a roll and two beverages. port from the vice president for ad- Karsner said the "Owl Platter" was ministration. designed according to approxima- tions of the portions students nor- INSIDE: mally serve themselves. Although the cost of each a la carte Opinion: Breadth at Rice, item has not yet been determined, the page 2. "Owl Platter" will cost less than the News: The top stories of the same amount of food purchased sepa- year, page 6. rately, according to Karsner. Per-meal prices for Owl Platters Fine Arts: Colors features are as follows: breakfast, $2; lunch, gangs and drugs, page 9. $3; dinner, $3; brunch, $3.25; and Sports: Baseball team faces continental breakfast, $1.25. do-or-dle game, page 10. Construction workers install a new floor on Allen Center, one of many ongoing building projects. —L. Cowsar To cover food costs, Food and Friday, May 13,1988 THRESHER Opinion Breadth of education at Rice questioned Hearing all the graduates' names being read over the loudspeakers at FANlUA^PIDH^m-r graduation raised a few questions in my mind regarding the breadth of IS® education that each of those graduates had obtained in his or her years at Rice. Rice is well-known for its academic excellence, and the faculty make it their first priority to push the students by continually challeng- ing them in their classes. The workload is stimulating, but, at times, unbearable. VKEI Every graduate has much to be proud of, for graduation means that the hellish work is over. But what does the opportunity cost? Are these the best years of our lives or the worst? The scary fact is that, at Rice, this issue is debatable. Who has not heard the story of the Rice engineering graduate who underwent "woik-withdrawal" during the first six months on the job? The point is that Rice should be able to remain on & the same academic level without demanding so much from the students. ttTTTKHf Excessive work has a definite negative effect on Rice students. Rice students are not eager to become involved with campus-wide activities as much as they should be. Most are content to have perhaps one position, usually of little responsibility, and at the college level; if there is any type of time committment involved, Rice students immediately run away and point to a pile of books for justification. Consider the Campanile situation. At most other universities, students would line up with "about to buy Springsteen tickets" fervor for a chance to take on the position of yearbook editor. At Rice, the current y-i*? editors are forced to take time out from working on this year's book in order to comb the university in search of a person willing to take on the job. There is no doubt that the talent is plentiful; I am continually amazed at how multi-faceted the typical Rice student is.