Opposition to KTRU sale

By Staff Editorial     9/2/10 7:00pm

This week's Student Association meeting introduced a resolution entitled "To Disapprove of the Secretive Process Employed During the sale of KTRU-FM; To call for a Collaborative Dialogue between Student Stakeholders and the Rice Administration" (see story, page 11). The Thresher would like to highlight this commitment as it pertains to both the student body and the university's administration.First, the SA's support of student organizations is commendable. Though they are understandably powerless to take any action stronger than passing a non-binding resolution, their demand that "the Rice administration provide a concrete assurance ... that the decision to confidentially appraise and sell KTRU-FM was indeed not a precedent" properly engages decision-makers to come to the table and share future plans with the student body. In a place where institutional memories rarely reach back further than four years, it is important that the administration carve in stone their commitment to students.

But this commitment has been put forth as a call to action for the student body, as well. In deciding the fate of the $9.5 million, and indeed the fate of student organizations throughout campus, this resolution demands that students be prepared to engage in dialogue with the administrations as "stakeholders" and that the student body keeps this incident in its collective memory in the future.

The administration has repeatedly emphasized its readiness to discuss the allocation of the funds and the future of all student clubs on campus. While many students are upset that no university representative showed up to address the public at the KTRU forum on Wednesday, there will be many more opportunities to for the university to showcase a dedication to the cause of collaborative dialogue. To make up for the public relations blunder that was the sale of KTRU, the administration will have to be proactive in ensuring the money is spent according to the full will of the students. The ball is now in their court.

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Lastly, the Thresher congratulates supporters of KTRU for having staged a valiant fight against the sale and for having exhibited to the whole city how loud the voices of a few Rice students can be. While the administration can take away their tower, they have shown that no one can quell their desire to be heard.

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