NEWS
8/31/11 7:00pm
Process to add classes changes
The days of constantly checking for open spaces in a class may soon be over.
The days of constantly checking for open spaces in a class may soon be over.
Rice hosted the author of its common reading book, "The Honor Code," this past Tuesday (see story, pg. 1). Unfortunately, many new students bypassed the opportunity to hear Kwame Anthony Appiah speak. Only a hundred students attended the talk; the poor attendance reflects the continued struggle of the common reading program at Rice to really captivate the enthusiasm of new students.
Like Michael Kors once said, wearing white next to one's face makes one look instantly younger. It is a universally flattering color on nearly all skin types. Pull on a white shirt — it instantly brightens your look. Pei kept her outfit neutral, with olive shorts against her top. But to keep her outfit interesting, she chose sparkly silver Toms that stand out. An eye-catching accessory is all you need to complete an outfit. As the weather gets chillier, transition your favorite Summer white dress into the Fall season by adding a chic brown bomber jacket or patterned cardigan.
Earlier this month, ESPN.com put Head Coach David Bailiff on a list of head coaches in risk of losing their jobs, claiming that his job performance over the last two years, despite the first Rice bowl victory in decades three years ago, puts his future in jeopardy. Surely, Bailiff is feeling this pressure and knows that this is the year in which he and his team must perform, or the last few years of rebuilding will be for naught.
It seems to me that in our society, we know and acknowledge people in only one dimension.
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.
With the city of Houston in drought with lack of rainfall and experiencing record-breaking heat, Rice Facilities Planning and Engineering has a wide variety of water conservation projects and tips students can use to help save water on campus.
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.
The first time I went to Kahn's Deli this summer, I knew I had made a good choice. Not only did the fresh deli ingredients, showcased on the counter, look delicious, but the owners, James Burke and Jeremy Pakalka, talked with me for a good half-hour about the history of the sandwich shop and the joys ?of pastrami.
Paul Rudd, the king of lovable slackers, once again assumes his mantle of charming ineptness in the awkwardly titled end-of-summer flick Our Idiot Brother, from director Jesse Peretz. Peretz, who directed Rudd in The Chateau, teamed up with his scriptwriting sister Evgenia Peretz to create Brother. Though the title leaves much to be desired and conjures unsavory images of lewd sophomoric humor and, well, idiocy, the film actually reveals itself to be a bland yet sweet look at one bumbling brother's relationships with his three harried sisters. If it were a cookie, it would be shortbread: not spectacular, not detestable, just a middling bit of Hollywood escapism.
The first film to win all five of the major Academy Awards (Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenplay and Best Picture) was Frank Capra's still-fresh screwball comedy It Happened One Night in 1934. It would be more than four decades before Milos Forman's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest pulled off this same fantastic feat in 1975. One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest is the film that converted me from a 2000s-film lover to pre-1980s-film seeker. Prior to seeing the film, I had an unfair prejudice toward films not made during my lifetime; if a movie had not been made in the '90s or '00s, I thought it impossible for it to make me laugh or to even keep my attention for more than eight minutes.
The university has started implementing some of the recommendations made by the Asset Liquidation Funds Committee last school year. However, the money that has been used on these initiatives has not come directly from the sale itself but rather from university funds allocated toward certain ALFA suggestions. The recommendations that ALFA made are still pending official approval from Rice's Board of Directors. Because of this none of the actual funds will be used until the 2012-13 school year, Committee co-chair Selim Sheikh said. Sheikh (Martel '11) said that since ALFA gave their recommendations for the KTRU funds in March the administration has held monthly summer meetings with the committee. During these meetings, Sheikh said the proposed budgets were reconsidered and adjusted. For instance, the Community Involvement Center suggested using some of the funds to improve the Alternative Spring Break, and Fondren Library expressed interest in improving its facilities and programs, Sheikh noted. Furthermore, fellow Committee co-chair Anna Dodson said that both SA and GSA representatives – along with the faculty members of the committee Paula Sanders, Matt Taylor and Kate Abad – would continue to meet with the President's Office over the fall semester to discuss possible budgets and timelines for the various projects. "Due to the nature of the funds raised from the KTRU sale, the timeline for the projected projects will vary depending on the nature of the project," Dodson said. "We cannot yet say which projects will be implemented first, nor can we say with certainty how much of the budget will be allocated to specific projects. These will be the subject of upcoming conversations with the President's Office."Sheikh added that the committee's formal presentation of its recommendations to the board of directors would happen in September of this year. "That's not saying nothing will be spent," Sheikh said, "The university has set aside money for things like the concerts endowment – which helped bring Three 6 Mafia to our Welcome Back Concert – though this money comes from university funds in the name of ALFA, not from the KTRU sale itself."The administration contributed funds to the concert endowment because it would have an easy, immediate effect on the students, Sheikh said. Martel College sophomore Meagan John said she supported the university's contribution to the concert endowment and thought that the Three 6 Mafia Welcome Back concert was a good idea. "It was nice to come back and have that event," John said, "It was really good for freshmen."Sheikh said that there might be plans for more university funds to go toward this year's ASB program in the name of ALFA. "The major changes will be long term," Sheikh said. "Things that happen every year are easier to put into effect."Sheikh also mentioned that the project of lighting the IM fields had been put on hold in the face of discussions with a donor for a possible new tennis court. If the university decides to build the court, it might have to take up some IM field space, which would require the fields to be moved, Sheikh said. He noted that delays like these were keeping the IM lighting project from moving forward. According to Sheikh, undergraduate and graduate students will continue being involved in the allocation of funds from the KTRU sale. He said that he and another committee member would be stepping off the committee soon and the administration would be finding new representatives of student interests. "I don't know the process, but there will be new students on the committee, so there will still be students directly involved in continuing ALFA's work," Sheikh said.
As a college student watching the United States economy slide into an abyss, I am immensely worried. I am worried that when I graduate jobs may not be plentiful. I am worried that robust economic growth may become a bygone phenomenon for the United States. I am worried that Washington is lacking smart, courageous leaders. But, despite all these worries, I take solace in knowing that all is not lost — the United States can recover. By enacting the right policies, the United States can boost economic growth, can create jobs for Americans and can help the country reduce its deficit.
Rice students and Fifth Ward Houston will soon work together under a new service program called Community Bridges.
Rice student life is mainly contingent on three things: the academics, the colleges and the relationship between the administration and the students. The first two of these items are as strong as ever, but last year we saw several major challenges to the third. Before first semester even began last year, the administration sold the KTRU radio tower in a manner that, no matter your opinion on the eclectic radio station, demonstrated a complete disregard to students.