Faculty addresses coach’s comments

Faculty addresses coach’s comments
…………………………………………………………………

(The following
story will appear in the Nov. 7 issues of the Rice News)

The Rice faculty
on Tuesday, Oct. 29, unanimously repudiated "any statement
by a Rice official that might seem to imply that the University
discriminates" and reaffirmed the university’s
policy of nondiscrimination.

The vote came
one day after a Chronicle of Higher Education article appeared
online and included reporting on an interview with Ken Hatfield,
head football coach, on the topic of gay athletes.

The issue was
added to the agenda as the first item of a meeting of the
general faculty. Rice President Malcolm Gillis opened with
a resolute statement.

"We do not
have a test for sexual orientation at this university,"
he said to the faculty. "We do not have a test for
students. We do not have a test for faculty.

"We do not
have a test for staff or any other part of the university,
including athletics. And" he said, striking the podium
for emphasis, "we are not going to have one, ever."

The faculty,
as a demonstration of its exact intent, then chose to include
in the resolution the precise definition of "repudiates."
It then immediately voted unanimously — with the president
for the first time exercising his right to vote as a faculty
member — to approve the full resolution:

Whereas a story
in the 1 November 2002 Chronicle of Higher Education might
mislead the public into believing that Rice University condones
discrimination,

Be it therefore
resolved that the Rice University faculty repudiates any
statement by a Rice official that might seem to imply that

Be it therefore further resolved that the Rice University
faculty unanimous reaffirms the University’s non-discrimination
policy 815-96, which states:

Rice university
does not discriminate against any individual on the basis
of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national
or ethnic origin, age, disability, or veteran status in
its admissions, its educational programs, or employment

["repudiates," from repudium divorce: 1. to divorce
or separate formally from; 2. to refuse to have anything
to do with: disown; 3a. to refuse to accept: esp. to rejects
as unauthorized or as having no binding force; 3b. to reject
as untrue or unjust; 4. to refuse to acknowledge or pay]

Exactly 24 hours
earlier, on the afternoon the story appeared, President
Gillis had sent by e-mail a letter to the Chronicle of Higher
Education reaffirming Rice’s policy on nondiscrimination,
stating that he had obtained Coach Hatfield’s promise
to wholeheartedly carry out that policy and closing, "No
student at Rice will be denied equal participation on a
team based on sexual orientation, period."

The president’s
letter to the publication was accompanied by one from Coach
Hatfield committing himself to carrying out the policy sincerely
and completely, and apologizing to the university and the
community.