COLUMN: Backpage here to stay thanks to your misclass submissions
Does this suggest that some of our administrators have a latent appreciation for the ribald? Maybe so. But maybe it is the case that some of our adminstration actually read the Backpage each week.
That would truly set them apart from the avenging administrators and faculty who don't read it, but seek out the "naughty parts," then tell their buddies how repulsive the humor is.
But then again, Rice is a selective school, so why not be selective with what you attack? And for that matter, why not be selective with what you remember?
Let's bring the misclass misunderstanding to a halt. Here is a jaunt through the history of misclass.
On Aug. 31, 1972, Steve Jackson made a brave move, a move that has brought much enjoyment and misery to this campus. Jackson was the editor in chief of the Thresher that year, and on that final day of August, he made a call for "misclassifieds."
Prior to his solicitation, the Backpage was home to other conventions and display ads. Notes and Notices served as a free outlet for publicity available to non-profit organizations and individuals in the Rice community. It still survives in the classifieds.
The "Rice people's calendar" is another remaining element. But after several decades of its tenure on the Backpage, the current editorial board decided to develop the calendar into its own section due to its expanding size. The calendar can now be found just one page before the Backpage.
The key foundation in the current evolution of the Backpage, though, is the misclassifieds section. Now known to Rice as "misclass," the anonymously submitted jibes, quotes, cartoons and prose have long been a student favorite to some and the scourge of the earth to others.
Jackson designed misclass as "cheap ads for Rice people." For only seven-tenths of a cent per letter (spaces were free), students were told to "buy, sell, trade, insult your friends." You once had to pay to submit!
The fees were soon waived, and the misclass rolled into the Thresher office. Between 30 and 40 submissions were printed each week.
After some years, the editors in chief made the move of hiring at least one editor to handle the misclass. These revered souls had a much higher slate in the hierarchy of the Thresher staff box. Placed in the first tier of editors -- above the managing and photo editors -- the first BPE helped continue a tradition and develop it into what you see now.
Misclass has almost always contained an irreverent tone. Like today's students, Rice people used colorful language 20 years ago; the Thresher printed it. If the student chooses to contribute this type of humor each week, why not print it?
Some of your avenging administrators say that the Backpage lacks good taste or journalistic style, and for them, that is reason enough not to print it.
As far as journalism is concerned, the Backpage now boasts some of the freshest, yet most precise layout within the Thresher .
A second point is that misclass is not news, it is satire -- humor that readers submit.
Anyone who has read the Backpage lately should have noticed different qualities in its humor. That is why I appreciate the faculty, masters and administrators who are discriminating enough in their reading to have noticed the many improvements.
Misclass has evolved over the past two decades and so has Rice. Even though the Backpage has included some of its most controversial content over the last two years, parents have continued to subscribe in record numbers. Nearly 10 percent of Rice parents receive the Thresher at home.
The endowment has also climbed more than $200 million during the same time period. Obviously the Backpage has not been a liability to Rice's funding or the Thresher's quality.
Misclass is here to stay. Some issues of the Thresher feature no misclass. Some issues feature dull misclass. Some issues feature vulgar misclass. But all issues have one thing in common: They feature your misclass -- submitted directly from the Rice community.
Censoring the Backpage is censoring yourselves. Rather than propose censorship, I ask the critics to make a choice: Read the misclass if you like it, don't read it if you don't. Why? Because Rice is a selective school.
This item appeared in the Opinion section of the October 6, 1995 issue.
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