Abductions cause students, university to evaluate security Gillis ...

6 FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 1994 THE RICE THRESHER NEWS
Debate
FROM PAGE 1
preliminary rounds.
Both freshmen also placed individually
among the top 20 speakers in
the country.
At the world tournament, the Wee
duo will compete with nine others
from the United States and 250 teams
from more than 47 countries. It will be
held at Princeton University in January.
While neither team member
wanted to set his hopes too high,
Daniel West, speech and debate team
director, said a good deal of practice in
several tournaments between now and
January will prepare the students to
perform at the top of their abilities.
"1 f we work hard I don't see why we
can't do well. But as freshmen there's
so much we haven't learned,'' Ruthfield
said. This year even if we don't do
well it will still be a good learning
experience."
Ruthfield attributed their success
to their different speaking styles and
backgrounds, which gives the team
an edge in a battle of quick wits.
Parliamentary is a specific style of
debate based on that of most European
countries. In competition, each
team represents either the government
or the opposition in debating a
GSA Business
particular issue, which may be political
or philosophical in nature.
With little time to think and much
to say, Ruthfield said the event is often
"mentally exhausting and frenetic."
Both teams are given only about 10
minutes before the 40-minute debate
to prepare arguments to win over
judges.
And despite its rather stuffy-sou nding
name, Ijevy said, parliamentary
debate is usually far from dull.
Teams are encouraged to heckle
each other, often resulting in dramatic
yelling and table-rapping from both
sides. Humor also plays an important
part in the competition, which
Ruthfield described as "40 minutes of
craziness."
The goal is to win the hearts and
minds of the audience over to your
position.
Being stodgy doesn't win hearts
and minds," he said. "Unfortunately,
we're not a very funny team. Butwe're
working in it"
Levy said he hopes to learn enough
from debating other good teams over
the next year to finish first in the 1995
national tournament, and Ruthfield
said he hopes the freshman team's
recent success will draw more Rice
students to future parliamentary debate
tournaments.
But for now the speech and debate
team is gearing up for the American
Forensics Association's National
Speech Tournament to be held at
Wichita State University April 9 to 11.
Nine students have qualified for
the tournament at earlier competitions
in 21 events which include persuasive,
extemporaneou s and impromptu
speech, as well as communication
analysis.
Of these nine students, four are
first-year members.
Baker College senior Peter Johnson
said Rice has more novices going
to the national tournament than it has
had in three years. Many members
said the first-year members are one of
the team's greatest assets.
"I think that shows continued success,"
West said. "I'mgraduating four
people but gaining four good new
people — I've got a lot to build on."
"If we continue to recruit the same
number of people every year that we
lose, we're going to have a very strong
team," he said.
Rice speakers will compete with
more than 400 students from about
120 schools across the nation.
West said the team hopes to improve
on the 14th place ranking it
received last year when the tournament
was held here.
Johnson said he expects national
competition to be fierce due to school
and personal rivalries which have
formed during the past year.
The Graduate Student Association met March 24. The following were discussed:
• The results of the GSA elections held March 24 were announced:
President: Chris Oehrlein
Vice president: Cormac Flanagan, Maeve McCarthy
Treasurer: Laurie Feinswog
Secretary: Chris Stokes
• The council decided to give two service awards to graduate students, and it also approved three separate
awards to faculty and staff. Award recipients will be announced at the next meeting.
• Positions are still available forgraduate students on the Affirmative Action committee and the University
Council. The council will also elect a sports representative at the next meeting. Those interested should
contact Chris Oehrlein in the math department or their department representative before the next
meeting.
Next meeting: April 13 at 6:30 p.m. in the Miner Lounge at the Ley Student Center
w
M
=H
<
JUNIOR
Order your 1995
class rings
in the RMC
April 12th & 13th
9:00 AM—4:00 PM
$25 deposit required.
Must have completedat
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Opening expected today
The Rice University campus location
of the Copy Club is scheduled to
open today, although minor electrical
work took longer than expected.
Joe Woolley, manager of the Rice
franchise, said Copy Club hoped to
open the location Tuesday, but electrical
problems delayed clean-up.
The builders should be finished
by Wednesday, and after that it's just
clean-up and moving our computers
in," Woolley said.
Copy Club contacted university
newspapers Monday to advertise the
opening.
But Woolley said the opening date
remains negotiable. If it doesn't open
today, Copy Club will open early next
week.
"We can't control acts of God,"
Woolley said, "but we're trying our
hardest to get in there and open up."
Copy Club is accepting applications
for employment at the campus
store. Applications are also available
at the Rice Program Council office
and from Woolley.
— by Patricia Lin
NSF prizes awarded
I^ovett College junior Michelle
Price and freshman Griselda Mani
won $1,000 from the National Science
Foundation Incentive for Excellence
Scholarship Prize. The award will be
presented April 16 at the Engineering
Alumni Picnic.
This prize recognizes academic
excellence and is designed to encourage
outstanding minority students to
pursue advanced study in science and
Officer
FROM PAGE 1
Jones College sophomore Emily
Meyer, a drunksitter, evaluated the
19-year-old freshman around 2 a.m.
following Rondelet Because he had
been passed out for several hours and
people who had said they would return
for him did not show up, she
recommended calling campus police
for assistance.
Lanier, a registered nurse, listed
several steps drunksitters take to help
them determine when to call for help.
"If a student has been passed out
for an hour or more, you need to make
an assessment. Ask if they've had anything
to eat, how long they were drinking,
what have they been drinking,
when did they startdrinking, and judge
how big they are to determine how
much they've been effected," Lanier
.said.
"If someone doesn't respond,
chances are they're probably unconscious.
At that level, they're probably
entering a serious and possibly lifethreatening
situation."
Lanier said she also teaches students
how to position someone who
has passed out "You put them on
their side and prop them up with a
pillow. You want to avoid the student
vomiting. If they're on their back and
then vomit, the chances of asphyxiation
are pretty high."
Contrary to popular myth, Lanier
said hospitals don't always inducevomiting
when a drunk person is admitted,
unless other drugs also arc suspected.
"Most of the time the alcohol
is already in the bloodstream so hospitals
start an IV to dilute the alcohol
level in the blood," she said.
Meyer relied on her training when
she encouraged others to call the campus
police.
NEWS IN BRIEF
engineering.
Rice was awarded two prizes in
recognition of two previous minority
NSF Graduate Fellowship winners.
Professors receive grants
Chemistry Professor Marco A.
Ciufolini and math Professor Richard
A Strong have been selected to receive
the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Research Fellowships. Candidates
were nominated by their department
chairs.
The fellowships, worth $30,000,
support the recipients' [research for
two years.
A total of 100 fellowships were
awarded out of 400 nominations.
Science forum tomorrow
The Scientia conference, titled
The Teaching of Science in a University
Curriculum," will be held tomorrow
in Sewall Hall Room 301. The
program will begin at 8:30 am.
The conference will feature four
speakers on scientific literacy, and a
panel of Rice faculty will comment on
each speech afterward.
Voting site at Hermann Park
Students can vote in the Texas
General Elections primary runoff on
Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the
Hermann Park Rose Garden Center
Safety discussion next week
University officials will address student
concerns at the Student Association
Forum on Safety on Thursday at
the Grand Hall in the Rice Memorial
Center from 8 to 10 p.m.
The [drunksitterj training says
thatingeneralyoudon'twantto move
him. I expected that the police would
move him gently since you don't really
want to move him at all," she said.
"But Sgt Veltman was very rough
with him, smacking him on the face
and shouting at him to get up. But he
couldn't"
Veltman then picked up the
freshman's arm and placed himself
under it. An officer-in-training assisted
on the other side of the freshman, she
said, and.together they carried and
dragged the student to their patrol
car. Afterwards they took him.to the
hospital. Meyer and Maas rode in the
backseat with the freshman and later
received a ride home from Veltman.
"He was nice to us after the incident,"
Maassaid. "But,thewholc thing
was that Veltman didn't understand
the situation [the student] was in.
Veltman originally wanted to take him
to jail to the drunk tank. He didn't
react correctly to the situation. He
should have come in, be calm, assess
the situation, but he didn't"
While the Meyer, Maas and
Fowlkes disagree oyer the extent any
disciplinary action against Veltman
should take, they all agree campus
police should receive training similar
to the drunksitter classes.
"I'd like to see all the campos get
training in how to handle a situation
like that so they don't put a student in
more danger than they were before,"
Meyer said. She and Maas said they
do not think Veltman should be fired
for the incident
Fowlkes wants Veltman dismissed.
"I'll be satisfied if he's dismissed from
the force and if any other charges had
been appropriate, like assault, that they
would have been prosecuted. Nothing
short of dismissal will send the
right message that the campus police
are really here to protect us," he said.
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