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T~X• The rr\1 1 VOLUME 81, NUMBER 3 WE'RE OUT OF INK SEPTEMBER 3, 1993 GALORicR objectes to ROTC'Threshes conflict with university policry by Sara Maurer Board of Governors Trustee J. Evans Atwell confirmed that the letter was sent to him but said he had not yet Rice administrators had no re- read it and could not comment. Other sponse this week to students protest- trustees were unavailable for com- ing that Rice's Naval ROTC conflicts ment with university policy of nondiscrimi- Capt Quentin Masters, head of nation on the basis of sexual prefer- the Naval Science Department, said it ence. is up to the university to make any Attention was called to the contro- decisions. versial issue in a letter sent to Presi- The naval science classes are open dent Malcolm Gillis and all seven trust- to everyone at Rice, even those who ees of the Board of Governors by the aren't in ROTC," Masters said. "Per- Gays and Lesbians of Rice. sonally, from that standpoint I don't The letter, also published in the see any conflict" Aug. 27 Thresher, stated that since the Masters also pointed out that ap- ROTC's exclusion of homosexuals vio- plicants to ROTC must apply to ROTC lates university policy, "Rice is obli- and the university separately. gated to take action to either correct The Naval Policy Book does not or eliminate the offending program." refer to sexual orientation, but ROTC Rice's policy states, There is no is subject to Department of Defense discrimination whatsoever on the ba- regulations. sis of sex, sexual preference, race, The Policy Book states, "Wc are color, religion, national or ethnic ori- committed to honesty and integrity, gin, age, disability or veteran status." recognizing that the public trust and That policy applies to Rice's admis- defense of the nation requires the high- sions and student activities. est standards of moral conduct "[Gillis] affirms George Rupp's "We do not tolerate illegal or im- policy," said Carl MacDowell, assis- proper behavior or even the appear- tant to the president Then-President ance of such behavior." George Rupp implemented the above GALOR Co-director J.J. McCoy, a policy of nondiscrimination. Brown College senior, said the group Armed Forces secretaries will re- has no plan of action to call further ROTC members get in their daily dose of push-ups Wednesday at 5:30 a.m. in front of the Shepherd School of Music. lease guidelines Oct 1 for military attention to the issues raised in the programs adjusting to President letter. "We don't do anything as a standpoint the only solution is for the Clinton's "don't ask, don't tell" policy group politically," McCoy said. university not to do business with for gays in the military. MacDowell "I don't know how receptive the ROTC until [ROTC] decides to com- Lab plans relocation said. administration will be, but I have to ply with university policy." "Necessarily, we're going to want ask that Rice abide by its policy, and He said he knows of homosexual to see what's in that text of Oct 1," that would involve removing ROTC students discharged from ROTC pro- MacDowell said. He said Gillis has from campus." grams at other colleges but does not to pave way for CITI read the letter but is waiting for the " I'm looking for Rice to go on record know if it has happened at Rice. Over the summer, most campus release before making a decision. on this issue," McCoy said. "From my by Sei Chong buildings had ethernet cables in- stalled, allowing access to Owlnet, the Russian ministers visit Rice Bonner Nuclear Research labora- campus networking system. tory will relocate in a year to make Changes to expand computing fa- room for a computational engineering cilities include upgrading the Rice building. The computer workstations Advanced Visualization Lab in Ander- within Bonner will be distributed to son Hall as an Owlnet lab. other areas of the campus. In addition, the Macintosh lab in It is unclear, however, whether the the biology building will be expanded, Bonner building will be razed or used and Gorry said there are plans to build for computational engineering. a computational lab in the library. Bonner Lab houses computer Bonner was chosen as the site of • ; workstations, some Physics Depart- the new computational building pri- ment offices and research facilites. marily because of its location, Line * The land Bonner occupies is leased said. from the Natural Sciences Depart- There was a strong argument to ment, said Tony Gorry, vice president locate the building next to engineer- for research and administration. ing," he said. Bonner is next to Aber- "It was loaned with the understand- CTombie Laboratory and the engineer- ing if [the department] had a need for ing quad. it, then we would give up the space," The space planned for the Com- he said. puter and Information Technology Originally, Bonner was to close at Institute building also includes the the beginning of this school year, but Abercrombie parking lot the department decided to extend the Computer science Professor Keith lease one more year. Cooper said those involved in the con- "Bonner is not going out of busi- struction of the new building will be ness," said Provost Neal I^ine. "It is a looking at the layout of Bonner as an very important research activity. It is ideal because many students like its Representatives from the Russian and U.S. energy industries met at Rice Monday to discuss U.S. invesment. Front row not settled as to how it is to be housed. design. from left: Russian energy minister Shafranik, a translator and U.S. Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary. There are no plans right now but sev- But Joseph A. Walters, deputy eral options are being questioned," he Owlnet director, said, "My understand- by Melissa Williams companies will invest in its energy industry, which, said. ing is that the Bonner Nuclear Lib is despite rich oil reserves, has sagged since the fall of the In the current plans, Bonner will scheduled for demolition in a year, in Soviet Union. acquire new high-performance silicon order to make way for the new CITI Russian ministers, U.S. Department of Energy rep- "Lots of excellent ideas came outof this meeting," said graphics workstations to supplement building." resentatives and Houston businesspeople met at Rice Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary. "[We had J a frank and the workstations already there. on Monday to bolster U.S. investment in Russia's oil open discussion on what it tikes to improve business Bonner's Macintosh computers and gas industry. relationships." were moved out before the lease ex- FEATURES According to Mark Doyle, public liaison for the Suggestions included an independent dispute-resolu- tension. They were placed on the sec- Energy Department, Rice was chosen because "this is tion group, education of youth aboutenergy and ways to ond floor of Rayzor Hall and in the the oil and gas capital of America." examine existing oil and gas projects, O'Leary said. aural skills lab in Alice IVatt Brown Also, Rice is close to the Wyndam Warwick Hotel, Earlier on Monday, Russian IVime Minister Viktor Hall, according to Andrea Martin, as- on where the dignitaries stayed, and is well known for Chernomyrdin signed a natural gas deal with Houston's sistant director of computer services. having hosted the international Economic Summit in Enron Corp. Gorry said plans are being devel- 1990, Doyle said. The next stop for the delegation is Washington for oped for a new computational lab avail- wheels and Rice President Malcolm Gillis also attended the meetings with Vice President A1 Gore. able to students to offset the loss of meeting and made opening remarks. Baker College t/s President Clinton and Russian President BorisYeltsin Bonner. senior Tyler Sunshine drove the Russians from the charged Gore and Chernomyrdin earlier this year with There are more network capabili- ra airport to their hotel and then to Rice. exploring Russia-United States cooperation in energy, ties on campus than people realize, Russia is hoping the U.S. government and private space and environmental technology. however, he said. "We'll lose some but we'll gain more than we had." 9 2 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1993 THE RICE THRESHER OPINION ENABLING UCFT^OO$fc,T*AR- AWBOWElflEVm Efforts to accommodate the disabled should be sensible and economical The issue of access for the disabled is a difficult one because it raises such a wide range of questions. The most central of these questions is also the most complicated: What does society owe to its disabled? To what extent must society level the playing field for those who need more elaborate access, greater services, and more care? From where does society's moral obligation spring, and at what point is this obligation met? It is now established in American law that universities and other public institutions must make plans to accommodate the disabled in all future construction and must create plans to update earlier buildings in the near future for basic access. The university must carefully consider its future plans and cautiously adjust its budget accordingly. More importantly,itmustconsidertheuniquenature of the institution itself. While laws can be followed in letter, only those within the university know what access really means on this campus: what Response to disruption mistaken buildings « « l—j people most Discussion reveals deeper problems with O-weekawareness rape program To the editor made the previous comment must minutes to remind everyone that some- piniOng '"luently On August 27, a letter appeared in never had been raped because, "When one had just been raped.