Administration consistently neglects students' input

By Sean McBeath     8/26/10 7:00pm

In the past few weeks, KTRU has received a tidal wave of support as it faces the imminent sale of its broadcasting rights. The support comes largely from KTRU and Thresher media alums who spent many a Wednesday night down the hall from each other; however, these people are coming out of the woodwork.And this is KTRU we're talking about: an organization on campus that has its requests for blanket tax increases consistently voted down - overwhelmingly - by the student body, and whose listener base on campus is likely outnumbered by the students who would rather see it closed for good.

But this isn't a debate where arguments like "KTRU sucks" and "No one listens to their weird programming anyway. Genetic memory? What is that?" are relevant. As much as an average student - especially those new students who might know nothing at all about the station - probably won't miss KTRU's FM broadcast capability, the issue here isn't really about KTRU at all.

This sale only represents the highest profile, and most recent, example of the Rice Administration's (the one with a capital "A") continuing disregard for student input. Based on the decisions of the last five years, there's nothing too surprising about the sudden announcement that KTRU's foundation is being sold out from under them; I'm certainly not shocked, but I've been consistently more critical of Rice's decisions than the average student.

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On issues affecting everything from new construction to the colleges, administrative decisions have largely been made before even a token attempt to gather student opinion. President Leebron claims to have taken into account community sentiment in most of his decisions, but the track record of what the recommendations of the student's have been and what the result is speak otherwise. If you don't believe me - or aren't familiar with the history - just flip through some Thresher archives.

You'll find stories about the transfer of student organization funds to BANNER. At a meeting to discuss the potential effects of such a transfer, such as the Cashier's Office tracking the purchases of the colleges and their ability to block spending, Dean Forman informed the assembled students that the decision had already been made. It wasn't a question of if our funds would be moved, it was only when. The forum to gather student input was arranged only after the actual decision had been set down.

You'll find stories about Coffeehouse's repeated bids to take over the space in the Brochstein Pavilion. When the building opened, Coffeehouse was not considered and a two year contract was signed with Diedrich's Coffee. I was told, personally, by President Leebron that Coffeehouse should expect to function like a normal business; competition was part of the business world and when the next bidding season opened they'd be considered like any other contractor. Of course, they weren't. Coffeehouse's bid this year was also denied: Someone decided that the Pavilion needed to serve wine (even though, in my experience, students are content drinking wine in their rooms) and didn't believe Coffeehouse could acquire proper licensing to do so.

You'll find some stories about the new colleges, whose size exceeds that of the other nine by almost 25 percent. Surveys of students in the early planning stages of the new colleges showed that undergrads voted, overwhelming, to make the new colleges like their college, in almost every way (including size). The decision to make larger buildings came from a financial perspective, by which it's more efficient. There was even a movement from the masters, most clearly displayed in a column by then-Martel Master Jerry Dickens, to keep the sizes of the new colleges on par with the existing ones. Managing 350 students is work enough, they argued; 450 is too many. But the massive structures you walk past every day speak to the effect that had on the administration's vision.

The last time student, or community, input was gathered in earnest was during the Call to Conversation in 2005: Two years before any current undergraduate student had even matriculated. The truth is that the desires of the students have been consistently overlooked in favor of decisions aimed at increasing Rice's visibility and profit. It looks more and more like the Vision for the Second Century is about benefits at the end of the second century than the beginning.

Sean McBeath graduated from Martel College in 2010.

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