Rice legal counsel OK's liquor license for student pub by STEVE GOLVACH In a letter, dated April 19, to ning four major legal questions: pub once it is open? beer-wine facility is understood The University Pub for the Dean of Students Fred A. Wier- (1) Who should actually hold the and closely followed. basement of Sammy's came one um, the law firm reported that, license? (2) What exi The report could find no legal The report also said that step closer to reality this week "Rice should not be greatly af- abilities would the university P barriers to the opening of the "There is no sustainable argu- after Baker & Botts, the Univer- fected from a. legal standpoint cur as a result pub, but did urge caution to ment that the property would sity's law firm, returned a favor- by the operation of a Wine and Would theri e sure that the university has become part of the public do- able opinion on several legal Beer Retailer's Permit [sic]." change in fficient liability insurance co- main ... by merely opening the questions which had halted the status? The letter presented a sum- unive rage and that the complex set facility for the sale of beer." project temporarily. „ mary of relevant statutes concer- tain coni f rules regarding operation of a Both Dean Wierum and the Pub Committee members inter- preted the letter with great op- It's not over. timism. The Pub Committee is sche- duled to meet again this Friday to discuss the immediate future of the proposed pub. Items to be discussed include summer con- 11® struction plans and selection of pub management. The Board of Governors should have a chance to review the pub proposals and the long- It's just started. awaited legal opinions at their meeting this month. Passage of the proposal is anticipated. volume 61, number 30 thursday, april 25, 1974 The lawyers' findings should also help solve Valhalla's (the graduate students lounge's) li- Men's colleges face severe overcrowding censing problems. After talking ,-<p to state^ officials, the misconcep- by LEE SOWERS classmen without rooms next co-ed colleges. by ignoring the requirements. tion that two emergency exits Over 50 upperclassmen may year, but they gave them room During the last Masters They will not have enough space were required has been cleared have to move off-campus next at the expense of incoitdng Committee Meeting, two aspects for new freshmen. Lovett and up, and Valhalla recently passed year because the co-ed colleges freshmen. of the crowding problem were Wiess, who followed the require- a fire inspection. The plumbing have effectively robbed Rice of (4) Wiess and Lovett are over 30 considered. First, the fate of up- ments, will require upperclass- is the big outstanding problem one full men's college. A survey rooms short because they fol- perclassmen without rooms; se- men to form triples or move now. taken to determine the extent of lowed room allotment require- cond, what action to take if off-campus. The Student Association is the problem found: ments. more freshmen were assigned to The Masters "further decided now making plans to begin work (1) Each college is required to (5) Will Rice and Baker have a (he colleges than planned. Last that they would accept only as this summer in case the pub is save 1/3 of its total room capa- total of about 10 extra spaces. year some colleges received as many freshmen as they had re- approved. This includes convert- city for freshmen so that each v6) The net difference between many as 16more freshmen than served rooms for, and any addi- ing" the original architectural freshman may be offered a extra spaces in the girls* colleges expected. As a result, contrary tional freshmen would be forced drawings into plans which are room. arid undeispaces in the mens' is to Rice policy, a number of : to live off-campus. No t" nles suitable for construction. Hope- (2) After Bro-.vn and Jones have nearly equal (45-50). freshmen had to live off-campus. will be formed for the purpr tvbf full, students will be able to play allotted ;hi required number of (7) The problem arises because The Masters decided to let accomodating extra freshmen. a large role in the construction spaces for freshmen they have no one allowed a change in the each college decide the fate of Bernard Giles, Director of work, thus reducing costs. 35 extra places. number of spaces required to be its own surplus upperclassmen. Admissions, was interviewed, to (3) Richardson and Hanszen saved when they altered the ba- As mentioned, Richardson and see if he was aware of the prob- All students who will be in would have each had ten upper- lance of spaces by introducing Hanszen avoided this problem lem and to see what could be Houston this summer and are done. He stated that he had not willing to help out are urged to been informed of the problem contact the SA office. Deans receives Brown Award (Continued on page 5) The 1974 winners of the an- ther four faculty members equally, ratherb than being nual George R. Brown awards named. Of the seven winners, weighted in favor of the earlier for outstanding teaching among three are from Science and En- class as was previously done. Rice faculty have been announ- gineering and four from the Hu- The two alumni groups polled ced. The $4000 George R. manities and Social Sciences. were the class of 1969 and the Brown Prize for Excellency in Funds for the annual awards class of 1972. The ballots were Teaching has been awarded to were made available in 1967 by accompanied by letters from Dr. Harry A. Deans, Professor of the Brown Foundation at the di- President Hackerman and from Chemical Engineering. Dr. rection of Mr. George R. Brown. SA President Steve Golvach, and Deans, who in 1970 received the each qualified alumnus was Brown Award for Superior Tea- Procedure and eligibility rules asked to vote in preferential or- ching, is. the first member of the governing the Prize for Excellen- der for three Rice Faculty whom engineering faculty to win the cy and the six Awards for Super- he found to be particularly out- top prize. ior Teaching were modified this standing or effective as teachers. past winter. Ballots were mailed From both classes, 265 students The six winners of George R. to the recipients of four- responded, naming 155 from a Brown Awards for Superior Tea- bachelor's degrees of two and total of 421 faculty. Although ching, each of which is for five years past rather than three faculty must be currently teach- $1000, aredDr. C. Sidney Burrus, and eight years past. ing in order to qualify for one of Associate Professor of Electrical This year, the votes from the (Continued on page 7) Engineering; Dr. Charles Garside, two alumni classes were counted Jr., Associate Professor of His- tory; Dr. Neal E. Lane, Professor CommeBcement set for May 11 of Physics and Space Physics and Astronomy; Dr. William C. Mar- The 61st Commencement at Rice -University will be tin, Associate Professor of Socio- held Saturday, May 11, on the East Lawn of Lovett Hall. logy, and Dr. David Minter, As- Approximately 575 bachelor's, 85 master's, and 245 sociate Professor of English. graduate degrees will be awarded. t» Commencement activities will include the presentation Two of the six have each re- of University prizes and awards at 10am at Cohen House, ceived a previous Award for Su- perior ^Teaching, Dr. Burrus in the ROTC commissioning ceremony at 2pm at Hamman 1969 and Dr. Garside last year. Hall, and President and Mrs. Hackerman's reception for degree candidates immediately after the Commencement This is the first award for the o- ceremonies, also at Cohen House. editorial In a couple of weeks, we'll all be leaving Rice. And a lot threshlng-lt-out of us won't be back. Some hocus-pocus with a piece of sheepskin at Commencement, and we're no longer stu- Thresher, Jackson praised dents; we've made it. We're graduates. Alumni. To the editor: change during what is supposed much improved status and for gi- One of the primary effects of graduation is that you're The Rice Thresher has come a to be a lethargic second semester ving it the future potential to freed from the bounds of the hedges. Indeed, you no lon- long way in the last two years of his senior year points out so continue that improvement in ger have to have anything whatsoever to do with Rice. under the leadership and direc- clearly Steve's unselfish devotion the years to come. Some people think this is just fine. Some, indeed, have tion of its editor Steve Jackson. to and pride in his work which As an associate and a friend, I have been ever-present during would personally like to say waited for years for just this moment, but some alumni, During his two-year term as ed- itor, Steve has brought the the last two years. I think the thanks, Steve, for all the time, whether from gratitude, nostalgia, or sheer perversity, Hiresher from an average 5-page Rice community, especially the effort and prices of paper. would rather not sever all their connections with Rice. letterpress publication to a six- undergraduate student body, is Sincerely, Which is why the Association of Rice Alumni exists. teen-page off-set newspaper. O- indebted to Steve for bringing Malcolm Waddell All alumni are automatically members of the Associa- ver this same period, many let- the Thresher to its present, SRC '74 tion: not just the 18,713 who have received Rice degrees ters-to-the-e"ditor have been writ- the last 60 years, but the 7,949 others who attended Rice ten criticizing Steve's work, u- for a year or more.