The Rice Thresher

Location: http://the.ricethresher.org/opinion/2007/01/26/letter_to_editor

January 26, 2007 > Opinion > Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor

By The Rice Thresher Editorial Staff | Thresher Editorial Staff

Student loan relief just pandering politics

To the editor:

Last week in Congress I voted against a bill called the College Relief Act of 2007 (“Congress helps college students with loan relief,” Jan. 19). I made this decision because I believe American students deserve a serious and thoughtful student loan policy, rather than gimmicky, headline-grabbing solutions that do nothing to increase college enrollment or lower tuition costs.

The misguided Democratic bill would not help a single student afford tuition or expand access to America’s universities. As the Wall Street Journal editorialized Jan. 17, “It makes for a good sound bite, but on closer inspection the connection between lower interest rates and ‘college opportunity’ is far from clear.”

Under the College Relief Act, need-based applicants will not receive an increase in the amount of their loans, which means that aspiring college students will still have the same amount of money available to pay for their college career. If applicants do not receive more money to spend, Democrats cannot claim their bill would allow more students to afford an education.

During the 14 years Republicans held the majority, Congress tripled the size of student aid to a record $90 billion and increased Pell Grants by two-thirds. These proposals have allowed more students to receive federal benefits and obtain a higher education.

If the Democratic majority really wanted to help Americans attend college, they would increase Pell Grants and would hold colleges accountable for the excessive rise in tuition. Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that the new majority wants to develop serious common-sense proposals.

Rep. John Culberson

U.S. Representative, TX-7

Thresher misquotes, misses point in article

To the editor:

An article in the Thresher reports on a forum I led, along with Assistant to the Dean of Undergraduates Matt Taylor (Ph.D. ‘92), at Hanzsen College (“Committee seeks to define undergraduate experience,” Jan. 19). This event was an exciting and vigorous exchange of ideas, which I greatly enjoyed. Unfortunately, a few points in the reporting do not live up to the Thresher’s usual standards for accuracy.

I will mention only the most troubling example. In the article, I am quoted as saying, “Here at Rice, you learn theory after theory, equation after equation, but you kind of lose the real world.” This pithy remark was also the featured quote on the Thresher’s front page. The unmistakable impression is that I was expressing my own view. This is simply not the case. Rather, to encourage conversation I spoke about some of the comments we had heard in previous forums. I informed the audience that, “A few students have told us that they feel that during their time here at Rice they learn theory after theory, and example after example, and kind of lose touch with the real world.” I then asked for responses.

This forum was a true conversation in which the most important and insightful remarks were contributed by the students. The article introduced a number of topics with “Forman said…” or “Forman said he wants to…” when, in fact, in just about every case the topic was first raised, and eloquently supported, by a student, and I simply agreed with, and sometimes expanded upon, their analysis. By focusing on — and occasionally misrepresenting — my comments, the reporters missed a wonderful opportunity both to showcase and support the valuable contributions to this important process that are being made by their peers.

Robin Forman

Dean of Undergraduates

Prof misses value

of varsity sports#

To the editor:

History Chair Martin Wiener made several claims about Rice’s athletic program in his letter that show his absolute misunderstanding of athletics in general and ignorance concerning Rice athletes (“Graham flop shows D-1 fails for Rice,” Jan. 19). Let’s get one thing straight: There are sports other than football at Rice. We have great basketball, tennis and track teams, and it should go without mentioning that Rice’s baseball team is consistently one of the best in the nation. Wiener’s claim that we are trying to buy winning teams is an insult to all athletes.

We cannot buy the talent that comes to Rice. It is a product of those students’ hard work and dedication to a passion. If Weiner took a minute of his self-absorbed time to actually attend a Rice sporting event, he would see the fellowship and support of students cheering on their classmates in an environment that is rare for D-1 schools: Athletes know and mingle with “regular” students. If he had attended the men’s basketball game against the University of Houston, he would have seen the large number of athletes being commended for making the Commissioner’s Honor Roll. Our athletes are not a waste of time. In fact, they are role models for all collegiate athletes. Using Coach Graham’s departure as a facade to attack the Athletic Department is weak and thinly veiled. Academia and athletics coexist on the student level, and it is time for some of the faculty to open their minds.

Jacki Craig

_Lovett senior

Academic needs to do athletics research

To the editor:

I have a research assignment for Dr. Martin Wiener:

Understand what our student-athletes do for Rice’s prestige. Open the last Sallyport and read about the little league coach in Iowa whose players proudly wear their Rice hats because our guys took the time to sign autographs, pose for pictures and chat with them — hardly the work of Division I athletes as you characterize them.

Call our trustees who were once Rice student-athletes. Ask them if they credit their time as Rice student-athletes for the virtues that led to their success. Ask them if they attended Rice on an athletic scholarship, the most dominant expenditure of the Athletic Department.

Learn what it means to be a donor institution. When Rice Stadium needs upgrades, the Athletic Department is told to find the money. It is time for academic departments to face this same reality. If the History Department needs money, you, as the department chair, should go find it.

Come out to a ballgame. Watch student-athletes, students and fans alike stand “For Rice’s Honor.” Strike up a conversation with non-alumni who have brought their family to campus for a ballgame and ask them how they can subject their kids to “money-ridden Division I” sports. I can only imagine the blank stares you’ll receive.

If nothing else do what you’ve spent years doing: Stick to history and leave athletics and the stewardship of this university to those who understand what the Rice way really is.

Steven Herce

Will Rice ‘03

Rice baseball player 2000-‘03

Division 1 benefits university, Houston

To the editor:

History Professor Martin Wiener takes Todd Graham’s economic opportunism and puzzlingly uses it to trumpet the cliche that Division I-A athletics is necessarily at odds with Rice’s academic integrity. Rather than being a zero-sum proposition, the dynamic between athletics and academics at Rice is much more interdependent and nuanced. While Wiener speaks of “money” going to either athletics or academics — as if such money were already booked and fungible — he overlooks the fact that athletic success often spurs school pride, which, in turn, broadly energizes alumni giving, and that many alumni donate to the athletic department and to the Rice general fund separately. Thus, ridding Rice of its athletic programs does not necessarily equate to the direct enrichment of its academic ones.

Wiener also overlooks the positive effect Division I athletics can have on Rice’s academic mission. Athletic achievement can bring instant, invaluable attention to smaller schools such as Rice. Northwestern University experienced this phenomenon when it leapfrogged Rice and broke into U.S. News’s top-ten ranking in 1996 — on the heels of a surge in applications that occurred directly after its Rose Bowl appearance. Similarly, Duke University’s popularity among applicants owes much to its successful basketball program. These schools, along with Stanford University and the University of Notre Dame, have long understood the value of Division I athletics for non-Ivy private schools with small alumni bases and high academic standards.

Sports have long been an energizing and unifying force in our society. As a member of the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority, I have seen the unique and profound impact — psychical and economic — that sports can have in our community. Within that segment of society known as higher education, and within that even smaller segment occupied by schools that are truly committed to excellence in all fields, Rice’s participation in Division I-A serves not to divert from its academic and philosophical mission, but rather, in very tangible ways, to advance it.

Ba Nguyen

Lovett ‘96

Red campaign has corporate confutation

To the editor:

I appreciate Julia Bursten’s article on Bono’s Red campaign to fight AIDS in Africa (“Cause marketing leaves consumers inspi(red),” Jan. 19). Ethical shopping is an important part of being socially responsible citizens, and the campaign provides an easy way for consumers to do such.

However, while I admire both Bono and Bursten’s efforts to encourage people to buy Red, I think it is a mistake to use consumerism and big business to try to solve a social problem. Lives may indeed be saved by the campaign, but if our “convenience-driven world of luxury consumerism” is already the cause of so many injustices, are we really helping much in the big picture by buying Red? What if those Red iPods and Motorola phones are made in sweatshops?

There are no easy ways to solve AIDS and poverty, but if we focus our attention on small, perhaps even counter-productive solutions like Bono’s campaign, we distract ourselves from finding genuine ones. In my mind, any solution that feeds off of our excessive consumerism cannot lead to meaningful social change, even when it comes to AIDS.

I sincerely believe that social and economic justice will never happen until those with privilege make sacrifices for those with none. iPods and GAP T-shirts should not be our way of helping the 25 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa with AIDS. We should expect more from ourselves to help those disadvantaged by our political economy, even if that means forsaking our luxuries. Buying things to make ourselves feel good about saving the world is not enough.

Karen Leu

Wiess junior

To fellow students in Fondren: Shh!

To the editor:

Recently, Fondren Library has undergone renovations that allow for a more open, social atmosphere in what was once an uninviting, dull space. Soon after entering the main entrance, one is now greeted with the soothing colors of white and gray, two lounging spaces with comfortable chairs, personal cubicles and fancy mood lighting. Many students feel that as a result of these modifications the first two floors of Fondren — the renovated floors — have become more active. Students frequently will answer their cell phones in their “outside voices,” groups of individuals will gather around a computer and at laugh at Internet jokes and people working on group projects will discuss their ideas aloud.

Why do people feel the need to discuss projects aloud next to five persons studying when they could easily check out a study room? Why do I have to listen to Guy X talk about how he got wasted Friday night while I study at Fondren on Saturday?

Does this new spatial change justify deviating from the conventional norm of being quiet when in the library? I was always taught that when you enter a library it is “quiet time.” You respect the space and others by not disturbing persons’ willingness to learn. Why should Fondren be any different? Why do people feel the need to not shut up? Multiple warnings are plastered around the cubicles and the entrance of the main foyer — there is no excuse for being rude.

Are you really that important of a person that you cannot go downstairs and outside to answer it? I say that next time when ignorant, rude library attendees answer their phone, angered persons should walk over and hang it up for them.

Alley Lyles

Martel junior

End of article

Back to top