/ Aa Z T INSIDE: • We scored first • The back page moves to page 2. • Snorts replace snuff at the J L J ball park, page 6 Volume 73, Number 6 TJRESHER H jesdoy. September 17. 1985 Faculty lacks minority professors Grob says by Kimberlee Barrett I.css than 15 of Ricc's teaching were part of the problem and we "If you were to ask people in the Professor of English Alan Grob professors are oriental or have need to take part in the solution." administration, 'Why are there not suggested at a recent faculty Hispanic surnames. However, neither Grob nor a fair share of minority professors meeting that Rice University must Until 1965, Rice had an official Briggs believes that the fact that at Rice?' they would answer that strive to recruit and hire more policy of racial discrimination in less than one percent of the they can't find them; 1 think there minority professors. hiring and in the admittance of university's faculty is black is truth to this," Grob said. Currently, only three of Rice students. automatically indicts Rice as being University's approximately 400 Grob believes Rice should make racially discriminatory. Grob said that if Rice is to faculty members are black: an effort to correct some of the They attribute the present correct this problem, the hiring of Professor of English Robert Jones, inequities which occurred in the situation to apathy instead. They blacks would have to become a Professor of Art History George university's past. said that the small number of priority, as it has at several other Smith, and Professor of Electrical "1 think Rice has a particular minority professors in the country Southern schools. Alan Grob —H. Turner Engineering Faye Briggs. social obligation." Grob said. "We makes it difficult to recruit them. see Minority, page 4 Infrastructure improvements critical Whitmire seeks more capital improvement by David Friesenhahn and 1 think that's important lor our economy's growth." Houston Mayor Kathy Despite low tax rates, Houston Whitmire told a meeting of the Houston Water Pollution Control has still looked unappealing to Association in the Rice Memorial some businesses because the city Center Thursday night that the city government has not maintained its must continue the capital infrastructure or provided basic improvements her administration services. Whitmire said. She said has begun in order to compete she has directed much of her economically with other cities. administration's energy toward correcting this situation. Houston's past accomplish- ments, such as the construction of "We suffered from years oi its seaport and its impressive being unprepared, of not taking skyline, demonstrate the historic steps in time," Whitmire said. attitude of its people that they can "Sometimes we didn't maintain the achieve anything, Whitmire said. cleanliness of our water. She said this attitude has provided Sometimes we didn't anticipate the economic opportunities for supply we would need in the Houston's residents. future. Sometimes we didn't Whitmire said the city's ability anticipate the waste we would have to weather its recent recession to dispose of. And now we have to places her administration squarely go back and make up for some lost within this tradition. time." Mayor Kathy Whitmire addresses an audience in the RMC Thursday evening. Hulbert "We've been through a recession One problem which has proven these past few years," Whitmire to be particularly frustrating is said, "but now we're beginning to sewage treatment, the mayor said. come out of it because we are The city lacks sewage treatment Smaller intro courses supported working once again to apply our capacity, which has slowed by Cheryl Smith would ask what's the difference energies to diversify our economy economic development in some "We have a limited number of President George Rupp's between a state university and to compete with other cities and to parts of the city, Whitmire pointed professors who can teach out. promise at last week's faculty Rice." elementary courses," Professor ot make sure that our economy will meeting to increase the Rice Houston's failure to treat He said the fact that many other Chemistry Edward Lewis said continue to provide opportunities faculty by the end of the decade sewage resulted in the pollution of universities also have huge "But I'd have to be convinced that to citizens of Houston in the years prompted a discussion among local water supplies such as Lake introductory classes should not the class size is a problem ahead and in the decades ahead." faculty and students about the Houston, she said. influence Rice's attitude towards Virtually every college in the She said, however, that need for such an expansion, them. country has large introductory Houston's future economic health Whitmire said Houston cannot especially for introductory "I don't know what other private classes. Many have courses in is in jeopardy. The city will be continue to sustain commercial freshman courses. , universities do about this which the students never see a unable to compete with others development if it does not Professor of Physics Ian Duck problem," Duck said. "We should professor at all." unless it creates a more favorable guarantee that these businesses proposed that the new professors do what we think is right. All of the Lewis said teaching smaller climate for business, improves its will have essential city services. be assigned to teach large students, not just upperclassmen classes would prove prohibitively infrastructure, and enhances its "We can't see the kind of introductory-level science classes. or graduate students, have the expensive and would place too quality of life, Whitmire said. economic growth that will provide There are now approximately right to a small student ratio." much of a burden on the faculty. Whitmire said her administra- opportunity to Houstonians if we 350 students in two introductory Professor of Mathematics "It would be nice to teach everyone tion has made progress on all three continue to have restrictions physics sections, which prevents William Veech also expressed the in a class of twenty," he said. "But fronts during her two terms in because of the inadequate capacity professors from giving freshmen concern that courses in his Rice can't afford that and neither office. of our own [infrastructure] the individualized attention they department might begin to suffer. can any other university. We have Her refusal to raise taxes to pay systems," the mayor said. often need, he said. to compete for faculty, and if we for increased city services has left However, Whitmire said her "There is no arguing Rice "We have four sections of 101," ask everyone to teach one more Houston more attractive to administration has addressed devotes a very small amount of he said. "One section of 101 last course, we would lose faculty to businesses which seek to escape the some of these issues. She said the resources to the freshman and year was close to 200, which of other schools." sophomore classes," Duck said. high tax rates of other cities, efforts of the city health course is too large. But we have Some students have also voiced "We mass produce the freshman Whitmire said. department to control pollution already rather radically cut back concern about the large numbers class by not differentiating "Our city has always been have resulted in "dramatic on our junior- and senior-level in their introductory classes. improvement" in the quality of between the differing abilities. recognized as a city with a good, courses. As a school that caters to Delaina Foster, a freshman water in Lake Houston. Those with weak backgrounds are favorable business climate — one the academically elite, we need to taking both physics and chemistry, lost to other majors because the that has kept its tax rate under She also said she hopes that the be able to offer some of these said the lack of contact with her first three weeks are sink or swim control," she said. "WeVe fought capital improvement projects her specialized courses." professors makes it more difficult for them. If 1 were a parent some pretty tough battles in these office has initiated will insure that However, not all science faculty for her to master some problems. last few years at City Hall to keep considering sending my child to Houston will have adeqbate consider the present class sizes a see Smaller page 4 our tax rate at a reasonable level. see Whitmire, page 4 Rice and paying the full tuition, I problem. The Thresher back page and journalistic ethics I'm glad that Jim Colton has taken advantage of the editorial policy he criticizes in order to express his views on the misclass. These pages are a forum for the Rice community to discuss issues, but only if readers are willing to take the opportunity to do so. Colton suggests that the Thresher has wielded the "ugly knife of censorship" with regard to the misclass section and makes several suggestions as to why the misclass has changed. None of these suggestions is accurate. 1 made the decision to follow an editorial policy which excludes personal attacks and obscenity because it is in the best interest of the Thresher to follow such a policy. First Amendment protections and journalistic ethics set precedent for my decision. The First Amendment fails to protect published matter in the case of either libel or obscenity, according to the Supreme Court. Libel, according to College Student Press Law, is "any visual communication which exposes a person to hatred, ridicule, contempt, or which lowers the person's reputation, causes the person to be shunned, or injures the person's livelihood." Someone who makes accusations of libel must successfully prove identification, publication, defamation, and negligence m and/or actual malice in order to win a suit.