Special Projects

Men's track collects twenty season best marks

One thing nearly all college sports fans have an opinion on is conference loyalty: Should you pull for your squad's conference mates in interconference competition, or does it mean nothing? For the men's track team, conference loyalty meant something this weekend, as they competed in the Texas A&M Challenge for the third year in a row, which features three teams from each of Conference USA, the Big 12, the Pac-10 and the Southeastern Conference. This meet combines the scores of the three teams representing each conference in order to determine conference supremacy for that season. While C-USA finished third and the Big 12 dominated, cruising to a 189-point margin of victory, Saturday's meet was not without positives for Rice, which compiled 20 season-best times or marks amongst its competing athletes. Head Coach Jon Warren (Jones '88) spoke about what he saw in the competition last week. "Lot of good things happened across the board and we're finding out some things about guys," Warren said. "Our distance events are coming together and the DMR [distance medley relay] guys are doing well."

Golf falters late after solid start

Looking to close the second round with a strong finish, the Owls instead squandered their place in the top-half of the leaderboard, falling to a 14th place finished at the UTSA/Oak Hills Invitational in San Antonio. Following a layoff from competition that neared four months, Rice stepped up to the tee on Monday morning and put forth a solid round. Led by senior Michael Whitehead, the team's strongest performer throughout the fall, the Owls shot a cumulative 293. The round left them in a tie for eighth in the 17- team field. Freshman Chris Contreras and sophomore Brock Wilson shot matching 73s to head the Owls' strong effort. Contreras felt that the course was ripe for scoring in the first round.

A fond farewell to our departing colleagues

As the spring rolls around we prepare to bid adieu to several of our colleagues as they leave us for the higher callings of real life. Our outgoing editor-in-chief, Anna Wilde, has accompanied us on many long, late, and sweaty nights. Her baked goods, consistent ability to lose rock, paper, scissor bets, and constant Spurs boasting made her the perfect team mom. Her neglect of sleep, ability to find comma splices at 5 a.m. and uncanny controversy dodging made her the perfect editor in chief. Late nights with Anna were made bearable only by Joe Dwyer, outgoing A&E editor, constantly chiding Anna to "read our shit." Feliz Navidad, Joe, Feliz Navidad. When Anna wasn't reading our pages, she was making coffee and shrieking from patented James Liu pokes. And when James, outgoing photo editor, wasn't poking Anna, he was either editing 3 a.m. pictures or serenading the office with snide remarks and complaints about low-quality photos. With the departure of Helen Shaw, outgoing Calendar editor, our hearts will mourn the absence of her omnipresent JIBA attire and brain-stimulating sudoku puzzles. Our minds were also sharpened with former Backpage editor James Kohli's frequent witticisms and quips. He was truly the ying to our yang.

Meet the new Will Rice masters

Three colleges have picked new masters, who will start their five-year term in the 2011-2012 school year. Will Rice College chose Associate Professor of Sociology Bridget Gorman and Mike Reed; Wiess College chose Associate Professor of History Alexander Byrd and Jeanette Byrd; Jones College chose Associate Professor of Linguistics Michel Achard and Melanie Achard. Each week we will feature the new masters of an individual college.

Minorities get VISION of life at Rice

Wondering where all the prospies came from so long before Owl Days? Rice's admission board invited 210 prospective students to campus this year to participate in last weekend's VISION program. According to Associate Director of Admission Laura Villafranca, VISION, now in its 16th year, is an opportunity to showcase the university to a strong group of minority applicants in a way that goes beyond a traditional campus visit.

I Am Number Four worth only two

Of all the myriad film genres, none is more awkward than the teen action movie. The new film by director D.J. Caruso (Eagle Eye), I Am Number Four serves as an exemplar of a film where the enormous concerns of a high school crush and the fate of the world weigh equally on the protagonist's mind. While the film has a few glimmering moments, it ends up transforming a relatively strong premise into a ridiculous tale that the audience is more likely to laugh at than connect to. The story focuses on teenager and alien John Smith (Alex Pettyfer, Tormented), the fourth in a group of nine extraterrestrials sent to Earth as infants for an unknown greater purpose involving their superhuman abilities. The evil Mogadorians pursue the nine, in order of their numbers, so they can conquer and decimate our fair planet.

SA General Election Results

In the Student Association general elections held from Feb. 8 to Feb. 14, 47 percent of the undergraduate student body voted. The ballot featured 22 positions and eight proposed amendments. Names of runners-up are given in parentheses.

Culture of care extends to aiding peers with mental health issues

I'm clinically depressed. I take antidepressants, and I see a therapist in the Counseling Center regularly. If you were to run into me today - perhaps chatting in the servery, waiting in line at Coffeehouse, lounging in Fondren or laughing with friends on the way to class - you would never be able to tell. If you know me personally, you probably had no idea. And why would I ever tell you? If you knew, you'd probably see me differently - you might judge me, look down on me, pity me or maybe even avoid me. So why am I telling you now? Because it's time to break the silence.Oh yes, we all know that Rice is one of the "happiest" colleges in the country. And it certainly seems that way: when we talk to our friends, we talk about classes, parties, campus events, weekend plans - we work hard, we play hard, we have fun, we're happy, productive, successful. But the sobering truth is that under the surface, too many of us are struggling to stay afloat. Too many of us are affected by mental health problems, too many of us are suffering in silence and too few of us are talking about it. It doesn't help that there is an enormous stigma surrounding mental illness. We can't talk to our friends about these issues - we don't want to be seen as crazy, weak, irrational, incapable, or otherwise abnormal. They wouldn't understand.

Student input necessary for success of ALFA committee

It is rare that a university has a multi-million dollar budget devoted solely to improving student life; therefore, it is imperative for the students to be involved with this unique opportunity ( see story pg. XX).The ALFA committee has made it a primary priority to maximize the amount of student input it accrues prior to submitting a proposal to administration.

ALFA committee solicits student input

Got a $6 million idea? The Student Association's Asset Liquidation Funds Appropriations Committee is soliciting student ideas - great and small - for proposals to submit to President David Leebron on how to use $6 million of the money from the sale of the KTRU tower.Committee Co-Chair Selim Sheikh said that the committee is seeking input both online, through ALFA's website and Facebook, and in person by going to cabinets, hosting forums and coffee breaks and having single committee members meet with groups of students at lunch.

Men's tennis goes home to sweep opponents

Returning to their nest at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium after their slip-up last weekend at Louisiana State University, 34th ranked Rice continued their undefeated streak at home (5-0) with an impressive 7-0 win over the University of Louisiana-Lafayette (0-5) on Friday and 6-1 wins over the University of Texas-San Antonio (2-2) and Abilene Christian University (2-2). To add to the Owls' weekend triumphs, senior Oscar Podlewski was named the Conference USA Tennis Athlete of the Week after he went 3-0 on the weekend.

State may cut TEG funding

Rice expects to see a drop of approximately $1 million in financial aid funds from the Texas Equalization Grant Program for the academic year of 2011-2012. Last year, Rice received $2.6 million from the state annually to help support Texas resident students at private universities whose families' average income is less than $29,000. Out-of-state students who are National Merit Scholars can also get these grants.

Beyond the Hedges

National

RUPD removes unregistered bikes, frees space

Rice University Police Department has been removing unregistered bicycles in an initiative to motivate students to register their bikes. Sixteen bikes had their locks cut and were taken from around Lovett College on Wednesday. Baker College and Will Rice College also had unregistered and abandoned bikes removed earlier this month, and students from McMurtry College and Duncan College received notices earlier this month regarding the removal of unregistered bikes next Friday.

Women's basketball wins crucial game at Memphis

Talking with freshman star forward Jessica Kuster before last weekend, it was no secret that these two Conference USA games were the Owl's most important - and most difficult - of the season. "It's great being one of the best teams in the conference right now, but we have to get wins this next weekend," she said. "It's no secret that [the University of] Houston and [the University of] Memphis are both great teams, and we're going to have to play really well to stay at the top."

Rice Baseball 2011: Practice makes perfect (slideshow)

America has opportunity to counter radicalism

The traditional order of the Middle East is being torn asunder. For decades, the United States has supported dictatorships in the Middle East, and now almost 60 years of autocratic malgovernance has taken its toll. The Arab street has risen up, incensed by corruption, police brutality, and a fundamental lack of economic opportunity. Ben Ali in Tunisia and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt have been cast aside, and now protests gain force like a cresting wave in Libya, Algeria, Jordan, Yemen and Bahrain. Caught flat-footed the first two times, the Obama administration must now formulate a proactive policy that not only ensures the stability of US security interests, but also allows and encourages reform efforts in future countries. However, most U.S. policymakers are looking at these protests as a potential problem. They worry about Israel, oil, and that radical Islamists will gain control of billions of dollars of U.S. weaponry. What they fail to realize is that in these uprisings and protests rests an opportunity. We have an opportunity to fundamentally engage the Arab street and show that we do not seek merely clients, but companions and partners in the journey of democracy.

Rice Baseball 2011: After hard work, Reckling given opportunity

As the countdown for the first pitch of the season comes to an end, lately there is always one indisputable question that remains loud and clear above all other hype and excitement. Who will be dependable on the pitching staff this year?The last two years were less than satisfactory for Rice's pitching department. Injuries plagued the lineup in 2009, while the pressure on the team's young staff last year may explain the inconsistency in their pitching performance throughout the season. The stakes are higher than ever, as disappointed fans hope for a solid pitcher that will lead the road to Omaha, Neb. after a two year hiatus from the College World Series.

Women's track powered by Pye's and Ince's feats

Mark your calendars and let the countdown begin. Only seven days remain before - no, not spring break - the Conference USA Indoor Track and Field Championships. While spring break may seem particularly early this year, the women's track and field season feels that much shorter as well. From the first day of practice to the start of the conference meet, the track and field team will have just seven weeks of training under their belts since returning from winter break. In fact, the C-USA Championship will be only the fourth full-squad meet for the Owls of the season. However, now that the weather has climbed out of the mid-30s into the mid-70s, the team will have had two full weeks of uninterrupted training - knock on wood - in the lead-up to the meet.

Rice Baseball 2011: Starting Lineup 2011