IF RICE STUDENTS, BOTH BLACK AND WHITE, ARE UNHAPPY WITH THE FOUNDER'S STATUE, THEY SHOULD DISENROLL FORTHWITH AND FIND ANOTHER UNIVERSITY TO ATTEND

Amid the protests against racial injustice, black students at Rice University are making a number of demands, not the least of which is the removal of the William Marsh Rice statue

By Howie Katz

Big Jolly Times
June 24, 2020

Rice University opened in 1912 as the William Marsh Rice Institute for the Advancement of Letters, Science, and Art,

William Marsh Rice was a very wealthy businessman and investor who left the bulk of his wealth to establish the school which bears his name.  Rice had at one time owned 15 slaves and his will mandated that the school be for "whites only." 

In 1930, the statue of a seated William Marsh Rice was erected on the campus. 

Back before the nation's colleges and universities lowered their standards in order to admit more minorities, Rice University was one of America's premier universities, ranking right up there with MIT and Cal Tech.  

Not to be outdone by the nationwide protests against racial injustice, black students at Rice are making the following demands:

__The school must fund a "non-residential Black House" on campus.

__The statue of William Marsh Rice must be removed.

__The school must hire more black professors.

__The school must hire more well-being counselors and therapists.

__The school must increase the number of black students accepted to Rice.

__If  during the new student orientation, a Black student requests to have a Black roommate, that request must be honored.

__"Hate speech" must be included in Rice's code of conduct.

__Course descriptions must include tags that indicate what race/ethnic/cultural groups are included since many course titles do not make it clear if they include diverse perspectives.

__The school must provide better lighting for ID photos because "many Black students have had significant issues with the photographs that are displayed on our student IDs. ... We deserve to be photographed and represented properly without having to make modifications and adjustments."

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I'm surprised they have not demanded that the name of the school be changed to Obama University ... or George Floyd University ... or Kaepernick University ... or MLB University ... etc.

There is no doubt that William Marsh Rice was a racist, but if it were not for him, there would be no Rice University.  And because of his generosity, the university did not charge any tuition at all until 1965. 

If Rice students, both black and white, are unhappy with the William Marsh Rice  statue, they should disenroll forthwith and find another university like Texas Southern or Prairie View A&M to attend.

And if any Rice professors are unhappy with the William Marsh Rice statue, they shouldn't let the door hit them in the ass on the way out.