Despite student caricatures, Leebron deserves praise

By Timothy Faust     11/20/08 6:00pm

Editing the Backpage is a wonderful job. I mosey into the Thresher office every once in a while, sit in one of our many comfortable chairs, make fun of our editors in chief, avoid my homework and occasionally write something which I pray my mother will never discover. Sometimes I even make people laugh, but those weeks are few and far between.In those rare moments when I'm not busy scaling the mountain of humor godhood or trying to figure out how to turn my weekly flirtation with libel into a real-life job, I enjoy nothing more than attending the weekly Monday meeting of the Student Association Senate. As elections chair I'm technically required to attend all SA meetings, but this responsibility is its own reward: Nothing gets my blood a-pumping like glancing at the steely, determined gaze of presiding officer Matt Youn or admiring the sharp focus of the nine enthusiastic college presidents or playing "World of Goo" on my laptop while External Affairs Vice President Nick Muscara talks about some tailgate or another.

But the Nov. 10 meeting was something which honestly took me by surprise. President Leebron came before the SA and requested to use the meeting time as an open question-and-answer forum to address any and all campus issues about which those members in attendance had concerns. He primarily discussed the new colleges, the financial crisis and the Rice-Baylor Medical School merger, but he encouraged feedback from all students on any subject.

The Leebron whom I write onto the Backpage is the Leebron who swims through vats of William Marsh Rice's gold in his finest Scrooge McDuck attire and clams up in terror at the thought of talking to undergraduates. This obnoxiously exaggerated caricature sails in a small lake of credibility - even the first Backpage that discussed Leebron (Aug. 20, 2004) examined his goal to "transform Rice into another Harvard" and the first editorial cartoon of the same year painted him as student-wary - but gestures like this question-and-answer session at an SA meeting threaten to suck all the wind out of the sails of those critiques.

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When Leebron offered to stay as long as was needed to answer every question in the room, it was as if he had torn up these sails and sewn them into a quilt for a veteran's hospital. I must explain (or rather, confess) how impressed I was with Leebron at the senate meeting and how flexible I believe he has proven himself in learning to deal with Rice undergraduates.

Hold the phone. Am I really applauding President Leebron for, of all things, his relationship to students and his attention to their concerns? Absolutely. For all the guff we give him, this year Leebron has made a tremendous effort to reach out to the undergraduate population. I first noticed this change during Hurricane Ike. President Leebron and his wife, Y. Ping Sun, toured the colleges before the storm and wrote frequent blog-like posts on the front page of www.rice.edu updating the outside world about Rice's condition after most of Houston was thrust into humid darkness.

There's also the Open Office Hour, which I find to be a very funny concept. It's held during classes when many students can't make it and is always prefaced by an e-mail so awkwardly worded that I blush just by reading the first paragraph (who really "engages in conversation" these days?) but it affords any schmuck at any of the colleges the opportunity to be heard. This openness, however limited, is not frequently paralleled at many peer institutions, and the fact that we can take it for granted - not to mention make fun of it - is a sign President Leebron is doing his job well.

I must stress that this column must not be mistaken for trifling toadyism. Eight years of Rage Against the Machine's "Battle of Los Angeles" have taught me to decline the role of sycophant as a general life principle. I certainly don't agree with all of the changes at Rice, but let's not discuss Dirk's Coffee, the college and club financial restructuring or the proposed McMurtry and Duncan population plan right now. I instead want to acknowledge my gratitude for the progress we've made and insist that the work can't stop here. In a time of such rapid growth and the promise of many exciting tomorrows at Rice, Leebron's relationship with the undergraduate population becomes more and more important and these frank, casual interactions must take a leading role as a method of soliciting students' input regarding the years and tuition they invest here. The possibilities for such interactions are wide. Why not get a Facebook, President Leebron?

David Leebron heralded his appointment as president with a four-month "Call to Conversation" that emphasized discussion with students, faculty and community members. It is to his great credit that three and a half years later he is still calling and conversing. I trust that he will cultivate this dialog in the future and keep Rice a school I can call home.

But hopefully that happens after I graduate. Otherwise I'll need to find new material for the Backpage.

Tim Faust is a Brown College senior and Backpage editor.

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