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The Rice Thresher
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by Rachel Rustin Thresher Editorial Staff The Student Association Senate and college cabinets will hold discussions about the campus climate toward sexual harassment issues during the next month, according to a plan presented by Will Rice College President Eden King at Monday's SA meeting. In addition, a cheers contest will be held at each college in an effort to create new cheers in time for Beer-Bike. The SA plan includes discussions at SA meetings on Feb. 5 and Feb. 19 and at college cabinets between those dates. The presidents will draft a statement, which should be finalized Feb. 26. "I helped make this plan in hopes that we could begin a discussion about the environment at Rice and ways that it could be improved," King said. "We talk about race and religion and stuff, but I think that often sexual harassment isn't something that people really consider an important topic, and I think it is." King said she feels the complaint made last semester by four students brought the issue forward and that it must be dealt with. The students wrote a formal letter of complaint to the administration about what they perceive as a sexually harassing atmosphere on campus. The administration turned the complaint over to the college presidents who, in turn, brought the problem to the SA. "The university is therefore obligated to act on that, and they are also obligated to act on it in a way that would work," King said. "We want to help not just so the university is fulfilling its obligation but also so that we are fulfilling our obligations as people and student leaders." The Feb. 5 SA meeting, which will be heavily advertised, will have an open discussion to gather student opinion about cheers and the campus climate toward issues of sexual harassment. Associate General Counsel Carlos Garcia will attend the meeting in order to explain what the sexual harassment policy means and to answer any questions. "It is important for students to understand the definition of sexual harassment and what types of behaviors are classified as such," Jones College senior Michelle Brand, one of the students who wrote the complaint letter, said. "Having Carlos Garcia there will give students an opportunity to question him and better understand why changes must occur." Brand feels this forum, in addition to discussions at each college cabinet, will allow for student opinion to be heard. Discussions at each of the colleges are good since each college has unique cheers and different issues to deal with, Brand said. "Presidents can then listen to the individual concerns for their specific college," Brand said. To King, the educational aspect of the plan is its most redeeming quality. "The thing that I want to get out of this is education," King said. "I want people to be aware of the policy as it exists, because I don't think people know the law and people don't realize that things that they say can really get them in trouble. I also want to protect other students from hearing things that they find offensive." However, not all students feel the cheers are something to be concerned about. "If people at Rice want to do the cheers, let them do the cheers," Wiess College junior Josh Ginsberg said. "If a large enough number of people wanted them killed, they would be killed. We don't need anyone to come and handle this for us." Ginsberg said he thinks cheers unify Rice students and should not be changed. "Eventually, cheers will die out and be sacrificed to liability," Ginsberg said. "I have a hard time believing that the colleges will rally around politically correct, friendly cheers." After information is gathered from each of the colleges, the presidents will draft a statement about the campus climate toward sexual harassment, to be presented at the Feb. 19 SA meeting. The discussions across campus will be synthesized into a final draft of the statement at the Feb. 26 meeting. The SA proposal presented at Monday's meeting also dealt with changes for Beer-Bike and Orientation Week. The O-Week Steering Committee will discuss the possibility of adding education about the sexual harassment policy to orientation. Money from an Envision Grant will be given to each of the colleges to coordinate college-based cheers contests in the hope that new cheers will be used at Beer-Bike. The college presidents, along with the students who wrote both the complaint and the grant, felt that college-based contests would be more productive than university-wide efforts to rewrite cheers. "We hope the enthusiasm for Beer-Bike will encourage new creative and witty cheers," Brand said. "We have faith that Rice students have the ability to come up with funny, witty and creative cheers that do not constitute sexual harassment."
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