The Rice Thresher

Common Reading Selected

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Those who were hoping next year's common reading would be the timely political memoir by Allen Raymond, How to Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative, may have to wait until the 2012 presidential election. This month the common reading committee reached a decision, selecting Greg Mortenson's memoir, Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace � One School at a Time, which they have since distributed to Orientation Week coordinators, advisers, resident associates, college counselors and next year's incoming class.

Parking fees increase, proposal changed

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Last week, the University Standing Committee on Parking sent President David Leebron its proposal for next year's parking fees and policies. The main points of the proposal included returning to a tiered-fee system depending on seniority and reducing the fee for the Greenbriar Lot.

Sport Mana major passed by Senate

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Students who sought a kinesiology major with an emphasis on sport management can officially change their majors to sport management beginning this fall.

The change, which has been in the works for two years, was approved May 5 by the Faculty Senate. Clark Happonstall, director of the sport management program, said this major will better reflect the work required of the students.

Demolition causes debris to fall through band hall ceiling

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

The Marching Owl Band has experienced everything from rained-out shows to football fans who disagree with their sense of humor at halftime performances, and now they face an unexpected disturbance from construction crews.

Director of Bands Chuck Throckmorton said the band hall has seen numerous pieces of debris fall through the ceiling this semester.

BioE professor wins award for photobiology research

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

The American Society of Photobiology awarded Associate Bioengineering Professor Rebekah Drezek the New Investigator Award in March. Drezek, also an electrical engineering associate professor, was awarded $1,000 and will speak about her research in June at the society's annual meeting in San Francisco.

EWB Trip cancelled due to political unrest

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

The rising costs of fuel on the international market may seem more than a slight annoyance when shelling out $3.50 per gallon of gasoline, but a group of Rice students experienced the global effects firsthand when they had to cancel a trip to Central America.

Strong opinions brew over Pavilion's opening

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Students walking around Robert R. Herring Hall and the Rice Memorial Center may have been surprised when the construction fences cawme down to reveal a glass building containing a coffee bar and lounge furniture. The new Raymond and Susan Brochstein Pavilion officially opened to campus with a dedication ceremony April 24.

Speaker addresses clean election reform

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

For this election year, political fervor may have gripped many students on campus who look into donating money to fund their favored candidate's election. But Dr. Joan Mandle, president of Democracy Matters, an organization devoted to campaign financing that has 70 chapters in college campuses across the United States, claims these donations may not make a difference for many politicians, who mainly answer to corporate interests and the privileged elite.

Commencement Speaker Rupp emphasizes global service

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Thank you very much, David, for the very warm introduction, appropriate on a day when - I don't know if you've noticed, but the word "warm" has been used by virtually every speaker so far. As David mentioned, Nancy is here with me and we are both delighted to be back on the Rice campus, and in particular to be assembled with you in this place, surely one of the most remarkable academic quadrangles in the world.

New Owl Days host 500 prospective students, up from previous years

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

The Rice campus played host to prospective students last month as the Student Admission Council directed three sessions of Owl Days. The new program for admitted student visitation, which replaces previous years' Owl Weekend, took place in three Monday-through-Tuesday sessions, from April 7-8, April 14-15 and April 21-22.

News in brief

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

College Way closure Starting last Wednesday, College Way in front of Autry Court began a daily scheduled 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. closure. The street will reopen next Tuesday. Construction crews are building a man hole and tying in new storm lines, Facilities Service Center Supervisor Eugene Kettlewell said in an e-mail last Friday.

Rice's BoredAt site created

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Rice gained a new bathroom wall this April, joining the boredat network with the creation of the boredatrice.net Web site. Boredatrice is one of dozens of anonymous collegiate posting sites, which include juicycampus.com, allowing students to post whatever they want under the protection of anonymity, with themes often trending towards the vulgar.

Baseball clinches conference title with sweep of Houston

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

There were many things to cheer about as the fifth-ranked baseball team played its final home series last weekend. With a sweep over rival University of Houston, the Owls (39-11, 18-3 C-USA) secured the regular season Conference USA crown, marking Rice's 13th conference title in a row dating back to 1996.

Marshall ousts women's tennis in C-USA semifinals

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

In the realm of sports, effort and talent do not always equate to success and victory, particularly in women's tennis. In this day and age, parity amongst conference rivals leads to any team having a chance of triumphing on any given day. After six hours of grueling play against No.

Third time not the charm for men's tennis

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

This was not supposed to happen. Not again. This was supposed to be the year that the men's tennis team finally got over the hump known as the University of Tulsa. After succumbing to superior Golden Hurricane squads in the Conference USA Championship match each of the last two seasons, No.

In Focus: Cole St.Clair

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Whenever a Rice baseball player crosses the plate to tally a run, his teammates immediately head out of the dugout to meet him - a celebration that is tradition in college baseball, and one that highlights the true sense of team camaraderie in college athletics.

Senior sprinter Heard's emergence highlights men's track's resurgence

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Last year the members of the men's track team could count the number of NCAA regional events they qualified for on one hand. This year, however, that hand could be used to count the events that senior Bubba Heard has qualified for all by himself. Add another hand and a foot and maybe we could start counting his

individual victories.

Where have all the Rangers fans gone?

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

When I first got to Texas, images of 10-gallon hats, five-pound belt buckles and 24/7 barbecuing were floating through my head. The theme song to that mental slideshow was "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone," sung by '90s-crooner Paula Cole, if only because I was in a soft-rock mood, and it had "cowboys" in the title.

Women's track set for postseason competition

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

This season, the women's track and field team set a bevy of personal and career individual bests. Together, however, they recorded an even more important team accomplishment: The largest number of post-season qualifiers in school history. After last weekend's action, the Owls now have 14 members with regional qualifying marks and one with a national meet invitation.

Golf team last at C-USA

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

For the golf team, the Conference USA Championships are turning out to be a tough nut to crack. For the second year in a row, the Owls rounded out the bottom of the pack at the C-USA Championship, finishing 11th out of as many teams in Texarkana, Arkansas on April 20-22.

Hercules and Love Affair anything but pretentious

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Eponymous albums with Internet buzz are hot right now: First Vampire Weekend, and now the new self-titled LP from Hercules and Love Affair. The latter has been touted as a "reinvention of disco," which is sort of like reinventing New Coke or trench warfare or anything else that sucked, then died.

The Kooks' Konk will give you cool kicks

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Sometimes, you just want a band that you know will make you smile. A band that makes you feel like you're driving to the beach with the windows down. The Kooks are that band for me. With bouncing rhythm, dreamy English vocals and catchy lyrics, they are exactly what I needed after a few days of locking myself in the library.

RDT spring show offers memorable experience

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Rice Dance Theatre's spring show, "Dancing on the Edge," did not keep me sitting on the edge of my seat during the performance. Having gone to see the show on a man-date with my roommate, I recall looking over at him after the first dance after intermission and saying, "There are three dances left? Mistake.

Staff Editorial:Parking proposal rejection na've

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Earlier this month, President David Leebron reviewed the Parking Committee's decision for next year's parking fees. The committee, which had proposed a return to the tiered-surcharge system and cutting Greenbriar Lot's surcharge by half for students, found its work from the past year largely overlooked when Leebron rejected much of its proposal (see story, page 1).

Column: Off-campus student needs require redress

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

During my time at Rice, I was one of "those people." I lived on-campus for one year, moved off-campus for sophomore year and never came back. I went pretty deep OC my junior and senior years. Spending lots of dead time in the Rice Memorial Center during my three years off-campus has taught me one thing: Rice needs better resources for off-campus students.

Column: Rice blogs reveal university's potency and flaws

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

I love blogs. News blogs, tech blogs and such, those are nice. But the best blogs are those personal blogs: Livejournal, Xanga, etc., because it is there where you can find real information. Blogs that provide analysis and whatnot just provide a new avenue to information that is already out there.

Column: Life after Rice vague, but clear in nature

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

As a man of generally few outspoken opinions, trying to choose what to write for my first and last column as an undergraduate at Rice was rather difficult. Looking within the hedges there were many options: From lambasting the administration for the lack of both outdoor power outlets for laptops, among other issues, at the new Brochstein Pavilion, to recommending improvements in writing and communication for the undergraduate engineering education at Rice, no topic seemed broad enough.

Letter to the editor

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

To the editor:

I recently visited the new Brochstein Pavilion, and it looks like a good example of environmentally-friendly construction, though I am no expert on green building practices. However, it seems to me that one tenet of eco-friendly design should be limiting construction to those structures which serve some useful function.

Letter to the editor

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Baker Institute talk lacks objectivity To the editor: As an alumnus now living in Houston, I have been privileged to attend occasional lectures at Rice. A few weeks ago on April 10, I came to the James. A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy to hear professor Lara Deeb discuss "Understanding Hizbullah.

Letter to the editor

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Unwitting faculty may fund genocide To the editor: Most Rice University professors and staff, I suspect, would be quite upset to learn that their family savings are helping to support the murderous regime in Sudan, which is waging genocide against its own people in Darfur.

Staff Editorial:Congratulations, graduates

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

You made it through alive, though perhaps not unscathed. You have braved the late-night hours of Fondren, walked to lab in the darkness before dawn and left it in the darkness after dusk. And finally, after all of it, you walked across the stage and received the hollow tube with a picture of campus rolled up inside.

Staff Editorial:Undergrads, have a safe summer

Fri, 16 May 2008 04:00:00 GMT

With the school year more than over, we hope that all of you have by now found whatever beach, mountain or lab disctraction with which you will preoccupy yourselves over the next three months. We are taking a vacation as well, during which we will try our hardest not to think about fonts or pictures or photo captions or anything else of the kind, no matter how much we might regret leaving the office.