Special Projects

Rice receives high score for game design

Computer gaming - usually a top procrastination activity - is now a productive endeavor for Rice students. Rice earned a spot in the Princeton Review and GamePro magazine's top 50 schools for computer game design. Computer Science Professor Joe Warren (Sid Richardson '83) started the program 10 years ago with the class COMP 460: Advanced Computer Graphics. The Computer Science Department also offers a freshman gaming class, COMP 160, and the Visual and Dramatic Arts Department offers a 3-D modeling class, ARTS 102.

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This week's Editorial Cartoon

VADA Theatre's The Bug all laughs, no glitches

A computer bug leads four office employees on a search for a missing co-worker in The Bug, the Rice Visual and Dramatic Arts Department's spring play. The Bug may be modest in length, plot and ambition, but it delivers the laughs in a thoroughly enjoyable corporate comedy of errors.The Bug is a small-scale play; it is only an hour and a half long, and it consists of a single long scene in one room, with an intermission in the middle. There are only four characters, and the play follows their conversations over the course of a rather atypical morning at the Chicago offices of Jericho, Inc.

Slideshow: Jacking hijinks

Baker Shake's 40th production continues tradition of quality

Baker Shakespeare's production of As You Like It opens with a bombastic fight sequence, and it only gains momentum from there, culminating in a comical, yet touching, wedding ceremony in which everybody ends up with his or her true love.The 40th production of the Baker Shakespeare company, As You Like It completely engages audiences with the movement of the play. Enchanting and delightful, the play genuinely enraptures the audience with the cast's intense energy and talent, transporting mind and body into the Forest of Arden.

Women's tennis falls short in road competition

After leaving the Pelican State with victories over Louisiana State University and Tulane University to bring their winning streak to five matches, the women's tennis team ran into a tough spot in the nation's heartland, falling to unranked Wichita State University, 4-3, and No. 40 University of Tulsa 5-2. Rice (8-5) played Wichita State (6-6) last Friday in Wichita, Kan. Due to poor weather conditions, the teams were forced to move indoors.

Greenspan selected as athletics director

The Athletics Department, in conjunction with the Athletic Director Search Committee, formally announced Rick Greenspan as Rice's new athletics director last Friday. Greenspan replaces former Athletics Director Chris Del Conte, who left Rice Oct. 21 and now fills the same post at Texas Christian University. Since Del Conte's departure, Interim Athletics Director David Sayler has guided the department.

ROPE trips offer outdoor opportunities

Maybe I was high on spring break and too much sunshine, but after a rigorous week of backcountry camping in Big Bend National Park, I felt great.Sure, I came back with worn-out sneakers and multiple loads of laundry; I had aching shoulders, tired muscles and a sore butt; my hair, attempting the "sexy camp hair" look, would better be described as "I-can-tell-you-haven't-showered-in-a-week hair;" the smell emanating from my shoes to my travel bag was disgusting; to top it off, my insides didn't feel so hot, either.

Healthcare debate attendance laudable

This Saturday, more than 60 students attended a healthcare debate hosted by the Baker Institute Student Forum and Rice Young Democrats at Hanszen College (see story, page 1). Sure, the food may have played a part - serveries were closed, and the event promised Vietnamese sandwiches and tacos. But the food ran out in the first few minutes, and students remained to listen to Democratic and Republican students debate the relative merits and issues of healthcare reform.We at the Thresher are pleased. Not necessarily because the Tacos a Go Go proved the event to be a success - those wandering in the Hanszen Commons just two minutes after the debate began were too late for the food - but because of the implications of this attendance. Sure, serveries were closed, and the food was a step above what most might purchase on campus on Saturday evening, but more than 60 students remained for the final vote at the end of the debate, which showed a fairly even bipartisan split. For a campus that must alert, and almost force, its students to attend alumna and Houston Mayor Annise Parker's (Jones '78) Rice speech by delaying servery dinner, getting this many students to show up to a student debate is especially noteworthy.

Owls split weekend with Bears

After an encouraging weekend at the Houston College Classic and a dominating 8-1 win against rival Sam Houston State last week, the baseball team went back to its inconsistent ways in the first two games of a four-game series against the University of California-Berkeley Golden Bears last weekend. In the opener last Thursday night, Rice ace Taylor Wall struggled against the Cal (9-5) offense, allowing a pair of three-run home runs to put the Owls (11-7) in a 6-0 hole. The Rice bats, silent for the first six innings, rallied late to trim the deficit to two, but a line drive off the bat of junior right fielder Chad Mozingo was caught and resulted in a game-ending double play with a final score of 8-6.

Photo: You grab the blanket, I'll make the picnic

Students gathered on the Central Quad lawn to celebrate the beginning of Willy Week Monday. The Rice Program Council hosted a campus-wide picnic featuring musical stylings by Lovett College sophomore Tristan Clement, who DJed during dinner, and two local bands, the Erin Jaimes Band and The Sour Notes, who performed after dinner. RPC handed out Wild West Willy Week-themed water bottles to the first 200 attendees and sold T-shirts.

Photo: Throwing it back

In preparation for Beer Bike, two Wiessmen practice their chugging skills. On the day of the race, women chug 12 ounces and men chug 24 ounces.

Commentary: Focus on leaderboard, not on Tiger's wrongdoings

Last week, I was tasked with preparing a speech on why America may or may not be in moral decline. Pondering my options, I figured I could cite homicide rates, marijuana decriminalization and same-sex marriage - all the sociological strictures that comprise the glut of this nation's moral conversation. That is to say, all the points people are expecting me to discuss. And then I realized I didn't have to do any of this. Instead, I could just talk about Tiger Woods.

Dean misrepresents mission of humanities

Three weeks ago, the Thresher reported that the School of Humanities would be cutting two courses "not directly relevant to majors," HUMA 250: Writing for Print Media and HUMA 251: Typography and Design ("Non-major Humanities courses cut," Feb. 26). As an alumnus of HUMA 251 and an aspiring graphic designer, I find this news very distressing.However, what is more distressing is the fact that Interim Humanities Dean Allen Matusow asserted in a letter to the editor last week that these two courses are "peripheral to the core mission of the humanities" ("Courses cut due to limited budget," March 12). This statement demonstrates a grotesque misunderstanding by Matusow about the mission of his own school.

Casino party security pays off

Nearly 800 party-goers, several donning fake hair braids and blue body paint, made their way to Lovett College last Saturday for the college's annual Casino Night, themed after the movie Avatar. As the partiers arrived at Lovett, they encountered a facade of "floating" mountains, a bridge over a water pit and a small waterfall complete with dry ice to give the appearance of fog. Lovett students started work on the façade before spring break and through the week preceeding the party, Lovett Chief Justice Jay Patel said.

Rhodes shares broadcast news insight

A vice president at Fox News Company at 32, David Rhodes (Will Rice '96), who spoke March 11 to a full crowd of students and faculty, has been one of Rice's fastest-rising recent graduates. Rhodes, the current head of U.S. television operations at Bloomberg L.P., spoke at Farnsworth Pavilion about his career and counseled those in social science majors about their prospects after college.

Debate team remains sharp, looks to future

Not up for debate: Rice Forensics has once again succeeded in qualifying students for national competition. The George R. Brown Forensics Society, Rice's speech and debate team, is fresh from recent successes in its two past tournaments, the Sunset Cliffs Invitational and the American Forensics Association District III Invitational, where it qualified to move on to nationals April 2-5.

Letters to the Editor

Increased financial aid offsets tuition

Erratum

In the March 19 issue, the Thresher reported in the article "Casino party security pays off" that undercover Houston Police Department officers made an appearance at Lovett's Casino Party. The officers in attendance were actually representing the Texas Alcohol and Beverage Commission. The Thresher regrets the error.