LETTER: Responsibilities of hosts include respect

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by David Grossman

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To the editor:

After learning of a prospective student's unfortunate experience while spending the weekend at Rice, I feel compelled to stress both the importance of and the responsibilities associated with hosting visitors.

Especially with Owl Day occurring next week, I feel that this issue deserves tremendous attention.

In this particular incident, a Jewish high school senior was paired with a non-Jewish student who happens to be an active member of a Christian group on campus.

Even though this match alone raises no unresolvable problems, the host was never told that the visiting student was Jewish, and the Jewish student did not object to attending the religious group's meeting because she thought it was purely a social event with no religious elements.

At the meeting, however, the Jewish student experienced extreme discomfort and left Rice feeling that students here are completely insensitive to Judaism.

As a Jewish student who has served on the Student Admission Council as a member of both the Overnight Hosting Committee and the On Campus Programs Committee (the group responsible for planning Owl Day), I believe that this incident should encourage all of us to consider the responsibilities we assume when we agree to host prospective students.

We must remember that many students feel quite vulnerable when visiting Rice and want to do nothing that might inconvenience their hosts.

Even if the student had not been Jewish, she still may have felt uncomfortable at a religious meeting yet never acknowledged such feelings because of a desire to conform to her host's behavior.

Therefore, those of us who host students must make every effort to accommodate visiting students and dispel any fears they may have of being burdens to us. We must be certain that visiting students feel comfortable at all times.

Especially in such personal matters as religion, we must show the utmost sensitivity and exercise extremely cautious judgment.

Next week, April 18-20, the Student Admission Council will sponsor Owl Day, an opportunity for us to convince over 300 admitted students to attend. To attract these students, we must show them that we want them to be at Rice.

Above all else, we must remember that they are the nervous visitors whereas we are the comfortable, confident hosts. If we do so, this year's Owl Day weekend will be as successful as all the previous ones have been.

David Grossman

WRC '97

This item appeared in the Opinion section of the April 12, 1996 issue.

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