Special Projects

RU Press funding stops after 4 years

Rice University Press, Rice's digital academic press, will stop receiving university funding at the end of the month. The decision to cut RUP's funding, which has consisted of $150,000-$200,000 a year since its revival as a digital press in 2006, came after a report by a group of consultants said that RUP would require significantly more cash in order for it to achieve its original goal of being a leading digital university press.RUP, in its previous incarnation a traditional university press, was initially shut down in 1996 but was then brought back in 2006 as an all-digital press. Publications were published through Rice's Connexions project and could be accessed digitally for free, but bound copies could also be purchased. Former Provost Eugene Levy said that although RUP was never intended to make a profit, the publications that had so far been put forward by RUP had not really attracted a market.

The Rice University Press closes down

For many members of the Rice community, the news that the university's digital press is being shut down (see story, page 1) illicits a common reaction: The university had a digital press? While losing this resource puts an end to an innovative experiment we would love to see continue on campus, the Thresher believes that in the current economic situation, the viability of maintaining this press would be under question. Though the press was producing at an admirable capacity, taking into account its limited support, its contribution to the campus and to elevating Rice's national standing was negligible. Having produced 18 pieces of work in the last two years is a lot for a $200,000 annual operating budget, but according to some figures, it would take nearly twice that to even begin to make Rice University Press a recognizable entity on the national scene.

Veg Out: Field of Greens

Field of Greens is a health-conscious vegan's paradise. The atmosphere is laid-back, and the self-serve condiments include Braggs Liquid Aminos and Stevia packets that can be found right next to the unprocessed cane sugar. Counter service makes the place feel more like a café than a restaurant, but I like to call it a deli with benefits. Not only can you get more than just sandwiches - there is a full menu of food selections, just like a normal restaurant - but Field of Greens also offers a few salmon and tuna dishes, as well as classic vegetarian dishes like eggplant Parmesan, so you can bring along your less adventurous omnivorous friends without feeling like you're pressuring them into eating tofu.

East Servery to be ready by spring semester

From a distance, the glass-walled structure near Will Rice College and Lovett College may not look like much, but upon students' return from winter break, the building will house the East Servery. Scheduled to open its doors on the same day students return for the spring semester, the new servery, which broke ground last February, will replace the old serveries at Lovett and Will Rice.

Volleyball takes three of four in return to Houston

After a trying tournament the weekend before at Louisiana State University featuring some of the nation's top teams, the women's volleyball team returned home to feast on some lesser out-of-conference opponents in the second edition of the Rice Invitational. The return to Tudor Fieldhouse turned out to be just what the Owls needed as they posted a 2-1 record in the tournament. Although Rice lost to Arkansas State University 3-2 in its first match last Friday, the Owls played much better in their final two games of the weekend as they beat Samford University 3-1 later that night and Stephen F. Austin University 3-0 on Saturday.

Youth movement carries cross country to first

The men's cross country team dominated the competition on the slightly damp Rice intramural fields last Friday at the 35th-annual Justin F. Cooper Memorial Rice Invitational, with four true freshmen finishing among the top eight Rice runners. Redshirt sophomore Gabe Cuadra led the way for the Owls once again by taking fourth place overall. Freshman John Cavallo followed nine seconds later, with redshirt junior Michael Trejo following in seventh place with a time of 17:52 minutes. Redshirt sophomore James Llamas followed one second behind and freshman Wyatt Doop, running unattached, turned in a time of 18:14 on the 5.6-kilometer course to round out the top five for Rice. Head Coach Jon Warren (Jones '88) is thankful to have a group of young runners that have contributed so early in the season.

Relish: Great hours, underwhelmng food at One's A Meal

Sunday night, Dan's laptop charger suddenly died, and he was reduced to tears. In order to cheer him up, Siegfried offered him a meal on the Thresher's dollar at One's A Meal, a local 24-hour Greek diner at Westheimer Road and Montrose Boulevard.Since we're both too fabulously wealthy to drive our own cars, we had our driver Peter bring us to One's A Meal around midnight on Sunday. Or Monday. We're not totally sure. Like our uncertainty about how time works, we're also pretty ambivalent about returning to One's A Meal. While not particularly remarkable or desirable, the food was also edible and available at ?weird hours.

Soccer plays tough match against ranked BYU

Trejo understands the team's mentality going into this important benchmark race. "Jon and the team recognize the OSU meet as our first real test," Trejo said. "The course is eight kilometers and it is run over a more real cross country terrain than we're used to in Houston. I think our team has gotten a feel for where we stand fitness-wise and I'm confident going into this meet that we can compete with some of these teams."

RMC kiosk encourages recycling with incentives

Going green at Rice is about to get bigger. A recycling kiosk about the size of three vending machines was installed over the Labor Day weekend in the Rice Memorial Center near the entrances of the Rice University Bookstore and 13th Street. The recycling kiosk is part of a pilot project by the Greenopolis Group at Waste Management, a national company that handles Rice's solid waste. The Greenopolis Group is the division of Waste Management focused on developing technologies to increase recycling levels. The kiosk is on a one-year trial at Rice University, according to Director of Sustainability Richard Johnson. It is capable of storing up to 9,000 aluminum cans and 1,700 bottles, roughly corresponding to 300 pounds of aluminum and 170 pounds of plastic.

KTRU Top 35: Week of 09.12.2010

Device with personal information stolen off campus

A file containing the personal information of 7,250 students, faculty and staff, including names, birth dates, salaries, emergency contacts and Social Security numbers, was stolen from an off-campus location at the end of August. Rice announced the theft in an e-mail to the campus community Sept. 10. The Rice University Police Department is conducting the investigation of the theft in conjunction with the Houston Police Department. The device contained two files copied from a computer which contained the personal data of the 7,250 employees on Rice payroll as of January 2010. The data on the device was not encrypted. Senior Director of News and Media Relations B.J. Almond said the police requested he refrain from giving any additional details about the device or the information contained on it to prevent the thief from gaining any potentially useful information. As of Sept. 15, Almond said none of the information on the device had been used maliciously.

This week's Editorial Cartoon

Nature-themed works put on display in Brochstein

The white walls of Brochstein Pavilion are bare no more - "paraMuseum: Environmental Exigencies," a new photographic project by artist Charles Mary Kubricht, moved into its permanent home at Brochstein on Tuesday evening. Visitors to the Pavilion can see the four striking four foot by eight foot photographs on the wall opposite the food and beverage kiosk.The black and white photographs depict four leaves, each from a different indigenous oak tree on campus. Kubricht gathered the leaves herself and then photographed each leaf using a high-resolution camera.

Owls bring home hard-fought win at North Texas

Playing special teams for a football team is no easy task. There is little glory for successes, and any failure is costly. However, last weekend, special teams made the difference for the football team in Rice's 32-31 win over the University of North Texas last Saturday. Head Coach David Bailiff took note of special teams' contribution.

Soccer splits hard-fought weekend contests

In a sport where player creativity often manifests itself through injuries, it can often be hard to tell which contact is real and which is for the referee's benefit. During the Owls' home victory last Friday against the University of Texas San- Antonio, the crowd had little trouble separating the two; the crunch every time an Owl hit the ground gave it away. Perhaps the loudest crunch of all came in the games' first few minutes, when senior midfielder Kate Edwards received a vicious kick to the shin that forced her to exit the game.

Easy A makes grade with solid plot

With blockbuster comedies like The Hangover and Mean Girls to top, many new comedies simply fall short of audiences' expectations. In spite of this challenge, Easy A manages to be an original and humorous movie that will undoubtedly entertain a wide variety of people. Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone, Superbad) narrates this high school tale, opening with her typecast role as the invisible girl at her school. Everything gets thrown into chaos after she lies to her best friend Rhiannon (Aly Michalka, Bandslam) about losing her "V-Card." Rumors spread thanks to the nosy, Bible-thumping Marianne (Amanda Bynes, Hairspray), and eventually Olive's reputation changes from a nobody to super-slut.

New coordinator has long road ahead

This week, the campus-wide Beer Bike coordinator was selected after weeks of concern over a dearth of applicants (see story, page 1). The Thresher wishes Sid Richardson College junior Matt Sawyer success in his role. It was encouraging to hear that Sawyer has been so involved in the culture of Beer Bike for so long.Sawyer must hit the ground running, as this year's Beer Bike planning process is already behind schedule, with Beer Bike occurring two weeks earlier than usual. Jones College senior Nazish Malik, one of last year's campus-wide coordinators, was correct in suggesting that discussion surrounding proposed changes should come earlier in the process this time around. For example, potential changes to water balloon trucks have been discussed among student leadership for years with no clear solution, so it is time that the student body enter the conversation to bring some creativity and a fresh point of view on the subject.

Owls drop three straight matches in the bayou

While many college students return from the Pelican State still giddy from a weekend on Bourbon Street, the volleyball team had no cause for revelry, as they returned 0-3 from the Louisiana State University Tiger Classic in Baton Rouge, La., last weekend. Rice fell to New Mexico State University, the University of North Carolina and LSU. On Friday, Rice faced New Mexico State. Rice did not come up with the start they wanted, as they lost the first set 25-19, with the Aggies winning seven of the first eight points.

BB coordinator set

With Beer Bike six months away, the Rice Program Council selected Sid Richardson College junior Matt Sawyer last week as campus-wide Beer Bike coordinator. At this point, RPC has set the definite date for Beer Bike at March 12. Despite acknowledging that he faces key challenges in preparing for the events, Sawyer stated his goals for this year. "Overall, expectations are that, while maintaining the traditions of the event, we can produce a safe event that will be a lot of fun for all those involved and more importantly, if any changes need to be made, then they will be made," Sawyer said.

Personal data theft surprising

We at the Thresher became nervous after the discovery that a device containing sensitive information about all students employed by Rice was stolen (see story, page 1).The administration has made it clear to the student body that they take this threat very seriously and have taken measures to ensure students' information is as safe as possible. But the fact still stands that mistakes were made. Sensitive files, such as payroll information, should be encrypted; this a basic security measure that should have been enacted long ago.