Lovett College looked to rebound after last spring's daring but unfulfilled "Night of the Macabre." Its Extraterrestrial- themed party definitely left much costume potential to those with creativity and time. Unfortunately, most Rice undergrads lack both of these elements, and the result was a party riddled with the most terrestrial of clothing.
The recent Bicycle Awareness Week seemed to antagonize campus cyclists more than promote them (see story pg. 7). The influx of signs around campus offer pointed, patronizing directions to bikers; furthermore, these signs address only bikers, not pedestrains. Campus biking safety is not a simple one-way street. Pedestrians, cars, scooters and bikes all have equal responsibility to pay attention to the road, and the recent attempts to only focus on the bikers' responsibilities is absurd. The Bicycle Awareness Week also coincided with the negative news that bikers will soon be susceptible to moving violation tickets. Frankly, biking safety around campus is reasonable, and bikers seems to be quite responsible on the whole. RUPD's decision to begin ticketing bikers will only dissuade students from using bikes on campus. If Bicycle Awarness Week is to occur again at Rice it should be completely overhauled, and the vastly negative tone of the week needs be reversed. Perhaps in the future, we can take a look at promoting the environmentally-conscious act of biking, offer biking opportunites around Houston and emphasize campus cycling facilities such as the bike shop.
When seeing the signs announcing Bike Safety Week, a flush of emotions came to me. Fury. Sadness. Desperation. How dare the higher ups at Rice only acknowledge bicycles as personal transporation devices? What about me? What about my scooter? What about my brethren on long boards, skateboards, and waveboards? We too behave dangerously and recklessly. Why are we not important enough for a campus wide safety initiative?
Currently, the NCAA football conference landscape is in upheaval. Universities such as Colorado and Utah have already shifted conferences and Texas A&M is in the process of moving to the SEC. Rice should actively pursue a similar motion.
My second grade teacher, Ms. Clark, once told me that I could have a full conversation with a brick wall. In fact, those who know me are, for better of worse, aware of my ability to talk for long lengths of time about even the most asinine topic. Lately however, I have been having a harder and harder time discussing one of my favorite topics, politics.
It has been a trying 10 years for our country since the devastating attacks of September 11, 2001. However on the 10-year anniversary of the terror strikes, we at the Thresher hope that the Rice community and the whole country can come together and remember those that perished in the tragedy. Rice is hosting a number of events in memoriam of the anniversary. On Sunday, there will be a vigil and there will also be bell tolls at the exact time of each of the four attacks to the minute ten years ago. The Thresher strongly encourages everyone to participate in these memorial events and to take time to reflect on the 9/11 tragedies. as unity is what will move this great country forward.
Summer is winding down. Students are back in school. Tailgaters are brushing off their grills for weekend football games. Pennant races are heating up in Major League Baseball. These are some common thoughts we have about the ninth month of the year.
While keeping track of events in Libya, I printed several copies of news articles to my hard drive. I went back to find the same articles online, and discovered that the articles had changed. Not only did they change, but they also carried no reference to the fact that they had changed: no highlighted edits, and no link to a previous version.
Texan pride abounded last Friday on the Martel Rotunda where the annual Texas Party was hosted (see story, pg. 1). The party boasted huge attendance numbers and gave incoming students a promising first view of Rice's social scene. Unfortunately, alcohol safety was less than ideal. While the lack of alcohol safety is not a new phenomenon at college parties, the handling of the over-intoxicated students seemed to be smoother than usual. The care-taking station was utilized for students who needed a break or EMS attention. Even more impressively, administration and EMS have been mute on the EMS numbers for the night; this represents a stark departure from last year's practice of releasing the the number of students receiving EMS attention at a party. The EMS numbers contribute to nothing productive: high numbers encourage students to not call EMS in the future in order to lower EMS calls; low numbers indicate that students did not call EMS, but it does not necessarily mean that students were safe on a given night. By establishing a precedent to not release EMS numbers the university can help cut down on the "next morning" rumors and the myth that students should avoid calling EMS.
The city of Houston is in a level two drought, and the situation is much more dire than what most at Rice believe (see story, pg. 1). The harsh shortages are affecting the Houston community, while the Rice community remains largely shielded from the issue within the hedges. However, as per our university's mission statement and essence, we play an integral role in our local community, and that dictates that we become a part of the water shortage solution rather than continue contributing to the problem.
All the heads of states or organizations who have recently been criticized for their eyebrow-raising sexual antics wear the same facial expression. Just Google Anthony Weiner, Mark Sanford or Elliot Spitzer and you'll see what I mean. Those trademark, remorseful (or pseudo-remorseful) expressions are strikingly similar to those worn by naughty toddlers who have just been caught stealing cookies from the cookie jar. Should all those politicians who made stupid decisions be publically humiliated into resignation? I think not.
Just like Iowa in a presidential primary, Martel's public party, Don't Mess With Texas, is known for above all being first. This only means it is the first party that the Thresher Party Patrol, a ragtag group of hard-hitting journalists dedicated to covering the unique phenomenon known as the public party.
It seems to me that in our society, we know and acknowledge people in only one dimension.
