I pulled out an issue of the Thresher looking for a nice Christmas message and stumbled instead across angst. My goodness, you can feel the anxiety practically pulsing off this first editorial:
1966 was only the second year of tuition charges for Rice students and the old habits of mind formed at a university that provided an education free of charge still endured. Chief among these were a general indifference towards the struggles of the students with an unbendingly rigorous curriculum and, as seen here, with a schedule that gave them little relief even when on break. It didn’t take much longer, though, for the institution to realize that those students had become paying customers. Rice never stopped being rigorous, of course, but it did make adjustments in the way students were treated, from the addition of a wide variety of counseling and health services to changes in the academic calendar. In fact, not long after this editorial was published senior administrators began exploring all sorts of scheduling possibilities, including a move to a trimester system. Still not much fun in 1966, though.
Bonus: The winter garden by the South Servery is thriving.
