Letters to the Editor

3/25/10 7:00pm

Online Comment of the Week

In response to "Healthcare debate attendance laudable," March 19:

We would like to thank the Thresher for the praise of the Rice University Young Democrats. While we enjoyed helping to organize this event, we hope that next year we will not have to reach into the ranks of alumni to fill out the conservative side of a debate.

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Our message to all conservatives and Republicans is simple: Please revive the Rice Republicans and be heard on campus. Rice needs a more vibrant political discourse, and the voice of Republicans is necessary for students to hear both sides of major political issues. Thank you.

Rice University Young Democrats

Annual Fund letter sent mistakenly

To the Editor:

Due to an unfortunate and embarrassing error, the Rice Annual Fund sent a fundraising letter to the students, parents and alumni of Martel College without President Sean McBeath's permission to use his name as author. But there's no way this honest mistake could be construed as fraud, as the Thresher stated ("Annual Fund monies fraud," March 19). Fraud entails intentional deception, and there was absolutely no intent to deceive.

Each year the Resource Development Division stages a College Battle to see which college can raise the most money for the Rice Annual Fund, which benefits students in many ways: Scholarships and fellowships, travel grants, library publications and support for the colleges are some examples. The battle occurs before Beer Bike, and the college with the highest participation rate wins the Sammy Cup and $1,000.

Unfortunately, we mistakenly mailed the Martel letters along with the other letters that had approvals before we obtained Sean McBeath's consent. As soon as we realized our error, we sent an e-mail apologizing to Sean. I personally apologized to him as well.

I have enacted a written, zero-tolerance policy for Resource Development employees and subcontractors regarding the use of a person's name without that person's approval. Violations of this policy will result in disciplinary action.

The Thresher inaccurately and irresponsibly called this mistake an act of fraud. We recognized our error, immediately apologized, openly shared the facts about the situation and implemented procedural changes to prevent its recurrence. That's hardly the M.O. of people who intend to perpetrate fraud.

Darrow Zeidenstein

Vice President for Resource Development

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