Events in Libya are being transformed instantly into political myth in order to pursue policy objectives instead of being treated as contextualized yet individual occurrences of modern history.
While the KTRU radio tower sale ruffled its fair share of feathers among the student body, students are now beginning to see the marginal returns on the nearly ten million dollars acquired in the transaction (see story, pg. 4). The Three 6 Mafia concert was funded partially by endowments from the KTRU money as are many other projects that are slated to begin shortly and in earnest in 2012. While ALFA fund expenditures are still pending administration approval, university funds are being used for expenditures that will ultimately come from the ALFA budget.The Thresher is anticipating the final approval of the ALFA funds for projects that will further improve student life quality.
In the August 19 issue of the Thresher ("New class size exceeds expectations") it was incorrectly reported that 169 students were expected beyond the planned class size. In actuality only 52 students were accepted over the ideal quota. Furthermore, the Class of 2015 consists of 1,019 freshmen, not 1,119 as originally reported. The Thresher regrets these errors.
Ahhh DiffE. The mere pronunciation of the word strikes a keen sense of dread into the minds of many incoming students. Known as the "Orgo" of advanced math courses, the course is famously featured by three Rice students in "Teach Me How to DiffE," a YouTube parody of Cali Swag District's "Teach Me How to Dougie."
Volleyball is back starting tonight and the Owls are hoping that they can get back to the NCAA tournament after not receiving a bid last year. Last year was up and down for the Owls as they finished with a .500 record at 16-16 with an 11-9 record in Conference USA play. Rice entered last year with high hopes of making a third consecutive NCAA tournament, but erratic play and close losses ended their dreams quickly. With Rice career assist leader Meredith Schamun (Jones '11), career digs leader Tracey Lam (Lovett '11), Caroline Gill (Wiess '11) and Justyna Brewczyk (Martel '11) graduating last year, the Owls have enormous holes to fill coming into the season. However, Head Coach Genny Volpe is very impressed with the five members of the freshman class: libero/defensive specialist Daniela Arenas, outside hitter Lizzy Bache, setter Dana Edwards, middle blocker Jillian Humphrey and outside hitter Noelle Whitlock. Unfortunately, Whitlock tore her ACL in practice about a week ago and will be out for the rest of the season as she will redshirt this season. Volpe expects the rest of the group to be immediate contributors and to help get the team back to the NCAA tournament. Along with the newcomers, many savvy veterans are returning to the team including senior outside hitter Jordan Meredith, junior middle blocker Nancy Cole and sophomore setter Megan Murphy, who hope to be the leaders of a Rice team that is looking for a rejuvenated season after last year's troubles. The Owls have practiced many different strategies throughout the offseason and Volpe has been very impressed with the improvement in the focus and attitude of the players after last year's bumpy season. Volpe understands that the team doesn't want to finish in the middle of C-USA again. "They have worked their butts off and they have a great attitude," Volpe said. "We are really doing good in a lot of things and determination is carrying the team through. The team really did not like the feeling of finishing in the middle of the pack in C-USA at 16-16. They don't want to finish in fifth; they want to finish in the top three."Meredith agreed that she felt like she had noticed a difference after the first day of practice, claiming she saw a new team with a different attitude and mindset due, in part, to the freshmen. "We definitely changed our focus and our mindset coming into this preseason," Meredith said. "The team has shown good chemistry and I am very excited to see how the season does turn out. From the first day of preseason, I was blown away by how the freshmen were playing."Volpe noticed the same thing, as the team knows that in order for it to be successful, the freshmen are going to have to play a vital role. "The freshmen know that they are going to have to play some key positions and do their job and do what we know they can do," Volpe said. "The freshmen expect that and more from themselves."The Owls are confident and they are not hiding from the tough opponents early in the season. They have a home match Sunday against Stanford University, which is ranked sixth in the country. The Owls are also hosting the University of Delaware, a team that has been picked to win the Colonial Athletic Conference, for their first match of the season tonight. With Stanford, Volpe knows that it is going to be a rough contest for the Owls, but even though she admits Stanford has advantages, she still thinks that the Owls have the potential to surprise some people. "Stanford is one of the best teams in the country," Volpe said, "They consistently make it to the final four, so they are going to be very athletic. They are probably going to be a little bit taller and a little bit faster than us, but we can still challenge them and hopefully test them."Expectations are high among the team for this season. They have been projected to be sixth in the preseason in C-USA but Volpe is confident that they can at least get top five and maybe top three. Meredith agreed, by saying that she is very impressed with the team and she thinks it is possible for them to win the conference, although the University of Tulsa will stand in their way. "Tulsa is always going to be tough," Meredith claimed. "I think that finishing first in conference is not an outlandish goal by any means. We have worked very hard this year, and I think with the level of new talent coming in, we could go a long way."
In an attempt to promote better communication between students and Information Technology, the department has hired one student from each college to help relay computer and Internet related announcements. IT Tech Communications Manager Carlyn Chatfield got the idea to create this position, known as IT Ambassadors, because she felt many students were unaware of all the services available to them.
Warning: Prohibition is a classy establishment. Be prepared to feel awkward in nothing less than your smart-casual best, and certainly do not show up in jeans and a T-shirt (as we did, unfortunately). You'll just feel even more out of place than you already do as a Rice kid who's ventured far enough beyond the hedges to end up at the new bar next to Saks Fifth Avenue. After the bouncer miraculously let us in, despite our uncouth garb, we found ourselves in the midst of some weird fusion between 2011 and 1922: a piano playing 1920s-style covers of new music, bartenders dressed in suspenders and hats, and a crowd of people who were doubtlessly as confused as we were but doing a better job of not showing it. We shuffled in as inconspicuously as possible and slid into one of the tables not reserved for people getting bottle service. (For future reference, all the tables are generally reserved for parties getting bottle service, but our waitress took pity on us and was really nice about the whole affair; she even moved us to a larger table once our party grew.) That said, once we sat down and got over the fact that we were pathetically underdressed for the place, Prohibition became quite a delightful experience.
Congratulations, new students. You have proven yourself to be among the most intelligent of this campus' population; no, not for the many essays you've written or your immaculate SAT scores, but for picking up the very first issue of this year's Rice Thresher and turning to the very best section in it! The Arts & Entertainment section, generally located in the very heart of the paper around page 10, is loaded every week with reviews of the latest movies, college performances, and even delicious places to eat close to campus. Also, every week this section includes a handy list of the coolest events happening off-campus, called The Weekly Scene. We even run semi-regular columns with interviews, opinions about music, movies and topics that wouldn't normally fit in other sections, like fashion or fine art. Instead of only dealing with events at Rice like the News or Sports sections, A&E will keep you connected to the Houston area, and guarantee that you never sit alone in your room on a Saturday night just because you don't know what else to do.
As the summer of 2011 reaches an end, our minds naturally turn to the idea of escape. The economy is more volatile and unpredictable than freshmen dating patterns and soon we must mercilessly defend our GPAs. Fortunately, three science fiction summer blockbusters in theaters now offer the chance to leave our studious world for a little while so we can retain some sanity as Rice begins to take it all away.
Coming off of the success of its recent Harry Potter movie screenings, RPC has once again found a way to live up to its name by organizing Three 6 Mafia and The Wild Moccasins for a back-to-school concert (see story, page 1). Not only has RPC managed to snag an Academy-Award winning group and tackle the problem of publicizing the event during the summer, but the concert will certainly make a positive impression of what student organizations are capable of to incoming students and returning students alike. The use of ALFA funds to create a concerts endowment have proven that at least some of the funds have been used successfully. We can't wait to see what else RPC has in store for future events.
For the third year in a row, Rice has been ranked number one by the Princeton Review for having the best quality of life. According to the 2012 edition of the Princeton Review's annual guide "The Best 376 Colleges," Rice also rose from eighth to first in the category for happiest students. Rankings by the Princeton Review are based upon the opinions of approximately 122,000 students at 376 colleges, who were surveyed in the 2010-11 school year. Factors that were taken into consideration for the ranking include campus beauty, satisfaction with school administration, dorm comfort and food.
