Haiti Forum Former Owl in Top Office Diversity
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OP-ED P. 3 A&E p. 8 SPORTS P. 10 Rice High School? Three's company AU warmed up Transfer Nadia Khalid writes about cliques and popularity at Company, Wiess Tabletop's third production of the year, Baseball seems to have gotten over its slow start, with an 8-1 the residential colleges. excels musically, if not technically. record over the break. thVOLUME XCVIIe, ISSUE NO . Ric22 STUDENT-RUe N SINCE 1916 FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 2010 Haiti forum Diversity Former Owl in top office BY JOSH RUTENBERG sparks THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF finds new Recently elected Mayor Annise Parker (Jones '78) talks to the Thresher discussion about her time at Rice and her jour- role at Rice ney to become the first Owl to serve as BY MICHELLE PHILLIPS mayor of Houston. BY JOCELYN WRIGHT THRESHER STAFF THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF Rice Thresher: How did you first More than a month after the dev- decide to go into politics? Don't feel left out. Rice's newest astating earthquake in Haiti, Rice Annise Parker: I was a volunteer administrative addition, the Office of students, staff and faculty are still for other people for a very long time: Diversity and Inclusion, will be tasked helping in whatever way they can. I worked on a lot of political cam- with enriching campus life by taking On Feb. 25, the Office of Multicultural paigns; I was president of the Houston advantage of Rice's cultural diversity. Community Relations, part of the Of- Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus; I Associate Provost Roland Smith re- fice of Public Affairs, hosted a panel did political organizing, but I never re- alized the need for more coordinated entitled "Haiti: Past, Present and ally intended to run myself. In the first efforts in dealing with campus diver- Future." The information presented 10 years after I graduated from Rice, sity after surveys were distributed by initiated debates over the next step 1 was one of the most visible lesbian the Council for Diversity and Minority for Haiti, and afterward Rice students activists in the state. ... For the next Affairs. Smith, a member of the council, sponsored a bake sale that raised 10 years, 1 was one of the most vis- talked with individuals at other college $200 for Haitian relief efforts. ible civic clubs activists in Houston. campuses and researched diversity in- Art Rascon, an Emmy award- I started thinking about how to best clusion in higher education, submitting winning reporter and anchor for accomplish what I was trying to do in his findings to President David Leebron. KTRK-TV, was the moderator of the terms of neighborhood quality of life Smith spent the past two years mak- discussion, which had on its panel issues, and doing it from the inside ing recommendations on what direc- two Rice professors and one Rice seemed to be a much more effective tion the campus should move in order alumnus. About 60 people attend- way than pushing from the outside. to effectively draw on the benefits of di- ed, including Rice students, mem- But it wasn't what I dreamed about versity and inclusion for the campus. bers of the community and even doing when I was a little girl. Rice alumna Annise Parker (Jones '78) became the first Rice graduate to as- "I see diversity and inclusion as two visitors from Haiti. RT: What sort of activities did you cend to Houston's top office when she became mayor Jan. 2. In an exclusive important ingredients," Smith said. do while at Rice? interview with the Thresher, Parker discussed her favorite Rice class, her "What we want to do is maximize the AP: I did powderpuff football at value that students gain, and our com- (f tenure on the Jones powderpuff team and the the thrill of Baker 13. Jones; I was a work study student to munity gains, from the diversity that we make money for my expenses. There have." It was a place where was an undergraduate lesbian group The office will serve as a hub to bet- we could all feel open that met off campus that I was a as an undergraduate in off-campus Tunisia. He spoke in a stream of con- ter coordinate campus-wide diversity founding member of. Immediately af- gay organizing, so more of my experi- sciousness and it was very hard for me efforts, which are largely driven by data to express a wide ter I graduated, in 1979, the Rice Gay ence tended to be off campus. Harris to take notes. I also had to drop Calcu- collection, Smith said. While the office range of opinions. Student Support Group was founded, County Judge Ed Emmett (Lovett '71), lus, but I decided if I was going to be is a work in progress, it already has and I was one of the original members who is also a Rice grad, asked me the a social science major, I didn't have to some data for focus groups, including Luis Duno-Gottberg of that. other week about the time my jaw was take Calculus. black and gay, lesbian, bisexual and Hispanic Studies professor RT: What is your favorite memory dislocated at a powderpuff football RT: Is there anything you took transgender students. The office plans of being at Rice? game. It was reset, I was put back on from your time at Rice that has been to collect data for Mexican-American 99 AP: I'm very identified with Rice, the field, and I finished the game. especially helpful in your career? and Native-American students next. but I have some not so pleasant mem- RT: Did you have a favorite class at AP: Particularly because of what Carol Quillen, director of the Bo- ories about being in the dorms. I was Rice? I studied, I had a good, basic educa- niuk Center for the Advancement of Each person on the panel provid- out when I came [to Rice] more than AP: Bill Martin's Introduction to tion that taught me to vastly improve Religious Tolerance, helped Smith in ed his or her own perspective on the 35 years ago. It was a very different Psychology class was absolutely awe- my writing and communication skills. facilitating the identification of core trouble in Haiti and what should be time, and I often felt isolated and very some. One of the toughest classes I If you can communicate effectively in participants, with a focus on faculty done about the various issues there. much an outsider in Jones, but I really had was Stephen Klineberg's class writing and verbally, it will make a development and faculty recruitment. After the initial presentations, the enjoyed the academics. I was involved on politics and social structures in O see PARKER, page 7 O see DIVERSE, page 7 panel opened the floor for ques- tions from the audience. "It was a place where we could all feel open to express a wide range New art blends with organic landscape of opinions," Luis Duno-Gottberg, an associate professor of Hispanic over city parks, promenades, and the Studies, said after the panel. Du- BY JACLYN YOUNGBLOOD art-friendly Heights District. Once no-Gottberg opened the panel by THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF HAA chose Rice as the exhibition site, presenting the history of Haiti and Hubbard said the University Art Com- background on current political cor- Miracle-Gro is not responsible for mittee quickly accepted the bid. ruption and colonial dependency, the sculptures that have cropped up Both HAA and the committee which are worsening the problems on campus; James Surls is. Rice was se- raised funds to cover the hard costs of in Haiti now. lected as the venue for seven of Surls' the exhibition, which included the in- Edward Cox, an associate pro- bronze and steel installation pieces, stallation process, signage, securing fessor of history, followed Duno- which are now featured in the Central a project manager and covering cost Gottberg and focused on the history and West Quads, the field next to Her- of shipping the sculpture to Houston of disasters that Haiti has suffered. ring Hall and the area outside the Bio- from a Connecticut warehouse. Rice Cox emphasized the need for a long- Science Research Collaborative. did not pay anything out of pocket. term partnership between Haiti and The sculptures are part of a travel- A Public Art Program student in- aid-providing countries, such as ing exhibit that had been on display tern, Bradley Houston, said the com- Canada, the Netherlands, Spain on New York City's Park Avenue. mittee applied for, and was awarded, and the United States. When University Art Director Molly a $20,000 grant from the city of Hous- Rascon, who reported from Haiti Hubbard heard the show was coming ton for exhibition publicity and pro- for 10 days following the earth- to Houston, she submitted a bid for motion. (AMES LIU/THRESHER quake, showed footage of his cov- Rice to host the sculptures. These funds will cover publishing erage of people responding to the Hubbard said the Houston Art Al- costs of maps and guides, which will Here's lookin' Part of a traveling exhibit, seven sculp- disaster. He said he wanted to focus liance, which organized the Houston be placed in local hotels and tourist tures by James Surls will watch over more on the personal, emotional leg of the exhibition, selected Rice attractions, making exhibition post- at you, kid campus until August 2010. O see HAITI, page 6 O see ART, page 6 Party like it's 2154 We Kare-eoke Spring backward, fall forward? INDEX Opinion 3 Avatar may not have gotten Best Picture, The Stone and Holt Weeks Foundation is hold- Sorry, not really.