REPLY: Position in `Thresher' irrelevant, provided no conflict of interest

---

by George Hatoun

---

Editor's note: According to Student Association By-Law E, "Prior to an election, if a letter or article concerning a candidate is to appear in the Thresher , the editor must notify the candidate and the chairman of the Election Committee at least 24 hours before the publication deadline. The candidate shall have until the publication deadline to submit a reply. If the letter or article concerning the candidate is printed, the candidate shall be guaranteed 250 words printed in the same issue."

To the editor:

"Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Thresher editorial staff. All other pieces represent solely the opinion of the author. Obviously."

That statement has appeared in every Thresher produced since Scott Ruthfield -- someone who has written his share of columns in the Thresher -- matriculated at Rice three years ago.

Maybe it isn't big enough. Or maybe he didn't read it.

But if he even understands the concept of an "opinion" section, he shouldn't have to.

Ruthfield's very serious charge of conflict of interest is equally groundless.

There can be no conflict of interest if one only writes opinion pieces about the Senate and Student Association but not factual articles -- and that is what I have done.

I have written nothing about either of those two organizations for several months -- period.

In addition, to avoid any perception of conflict of interest, I have asked for and been granted relief from my responsibilties as news editor until the elections are over.

Ruthfield also thinks that I used my position on the Thresher staff to get my opinions published.

That charge is equally unfounded.

The Thresher publishes something like 90 percent of the letters and columns it receives; and my pieces go through the same scrutiny that all of the other submissions are subject to.

Simply, I had no advantage.

Finally, Ruthfield points out the irony of my writing my opinions about the SA before annoucing my candidacy. I thought that it was pretty ironic also -- in fact I wanted to point that out in my column.

But if I had, Ruthfield, the incumbent SA parliamentarian, would have had the pleasure of disqualifying me for premature campaigning.

George Hatoun

SRC '97

Candidate for SA President

This item appeared in the Opinion section of the February 23, 1996 issue.

Copyright © 1996 The Rice Thresher. All Rights Reserved.
This document may be distributed electronically, provided that it is distributed in its entirety and includes this notice. However, it cannot be reprinted without the express written permission of:
The Rice Thresher, Rice University, 6100 Main, Houston, TX 77005-1892, USA.