This Week's Front Page
With finals quickly approaching, even Thresher editors need sleep. So please be patient with our unchanging Web site, because the last issue of the year will come out after commencement, on Friday, May 16. That's three weeks! Hello, Wednesday nights! And schoolwork.
A magic date is set in the minds of many students on campus, particularly underclassmen: Fall 2009. This is when major construction for current projects will conclude - including the Autry Court renovation, the new Recreation Center, the Collaborative Research Center and Duncan and McMurtry Colleges.
One of Rice's three e-mail servers suffered a hardware failure and a subsequent operating system collapse at 10 a.m. Monday. The failure severely slowed e-mail access for about 50 percent of users until after 2 p.m. Director of System Architecture and Infrastructure Barry Ribbeck said a replicate mail service was implemented in lieu of the failed server and functions exactly like the original system.
As Orientation Week advisers prepare to leave campus next month for summer break, they will tuck away a copy of next year's common reading book. A selection committee of students, a faculty member and Advisor to the Dean of Undergraduates Matthew Taylor met earlier this month to narrow down their list to two contenders: Allen Raymond's memoir, How to Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative and Greg Mortenson's novel, Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace … One School at a Time.
Each week this spring it seems as though a different member of the men's track team jumps, throws or runs into the spotlight. And this week was no exception. Senior Bubba Heard found the bright lights when he finished first in the 200 meters at the Texas Southern Quadrangular with a personal best time of 20.93 seconds. His time was .36 seconds faster than the second-place finisher, fellow senior Gary Anderson, who clocked a time of 21.29.
The University of Texas-El Paso Invitational is traditionally known to be a prime meet for setting personal bests and record-breaking times. Last weekend, senior Desarie Walwyn met the first and nearly the second of these goals in the 100-meter dash; her 11.45 second finish is the third-fastest time in Rice women's track and field history. The scorching time set the pace for the Owls, who grabbed first place finishes in four separate events.
Passionate romance, jealousy and redemption, humor and tragedy - Giacomo Puccini's La bohème has all the elements of a classic love story. Its revival at the Houston Grand Opera this month is cause for celebration, although the performance falls just one poor singer short of perfection.
Two minutes. In the United States, someone is sexually assaulted every two minutes. According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, sexual assault includes "rape, attempted rape and other violent felonies that fall short of rape." Want a figure that includes only rape? Eight minutes.