|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Rice Thresher
Phone:
|
by Meghan Miller Thresher staff
Rice Broadcast Television became a blanket tax organization, intramural sports did not receive student approval to raise its fee, and both the Student Association and Honor Council Constitutions were amended. A proposal to increase the Intramural Sports fee from $10 to $15 failed by 2.25 percent. The additional money would have gone toward increasing referee wages and improving equipment, Director of Student Activities Mona Hicks said. The increase was put to a vote because the fee was established by referendum in 1993. "Those were the measures through which it was established," Hicks said. "I'm just trying to follow the protocol that was set." However, some students questioned the necessity of the referendum. "I can't pinpoint why [the referendum failed]," Hicks said. "There's just so much energy about why we were going about it the way we did that it took away from the issue." Hicks and Tina Villard, intramural sports director, plan to meet with undergraduate sports representatives to decide what to do next. They are not sure whether they will put the referendum to a vote again or if they will approach the administration. However, they insist the program needs more funds. "I have to get the money, somehow, some way," Villard said. "If it means next year we'll be doing this again, it's that important, that's what we'll do. We'll explore all the options we have." RBT's referendum increased the blanket tax by $4 per student. The tax will generate about $10,000 per year for the organization. RBT President Travis Johnson, a Hanszen College sophomore, said 60 percent of the funds each year will be spent on equipment, creating a good studio and improving equipment for use outside of the studio. Also, RBT will purchase a $4,000 video server to allow the station to broadcast 24-hour programming, controlled remotely from any computer on Rice's network. RBT also plans to use about $1,000 to air recently released movies, and organizers want to plan campus events for these releases. Students also voted to pass referenda changing both the SA and the Honor Council's constitutions were also passed. Both sets of changes clarified the documents and corrected inaccuracies. The SA started working on the changes last April, outgoing SA President Lindsay Botsford said. "We started looking at it last spring and realized we weren't going to make any progress," Botsford, a Wiess junior, said. "Most of the changes were made last semester and halfway through this semester." The major change in the Honor Council Constitution is an increase in the graduate student representation, from four representatives to between four and 10 representatives. The council decided to make the change in order to equalize the graduate to undergraduate student ratio. Graduate students make up about 40 percent of the students at Rice. However, there were only four graduate students and 22 undergraduate representatives on the council in the past. Other changes can be found at http://sa.rice.edu/amendments/sa.htm and http://sa.rice.edu/amendments/honorcouncil.htm, respectively.
- back - |
|||
|
Search the Thresher pages:
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 MS-524, PO Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251-1892, USA. The Thresher Online Project -- ethresh@listserv.rice.edu |
