Special Projects

Baseball's amateur draft takes two former Owls

As the Rice baseball team walked off the field at Alex Box Stadium on June 13, reeling from a 5-3 defeat at the hands of Louisiana State University in the NCAA Super Regionals, the players were already thinking to the arrival of the 2010 season and the new freshman class. However, because the Major League Baseball amateur draft had already taken place, the Owls knew that they stood a fair chance of losing several key components of the team who had fallen to the eventual national champions in two closely contested games.

Financial aid simplifies job search with new board

Finding work in this economy can be a job in itself, from scouring classified ads and bulletin boards to relying on word-of-mouth or random online postings. Finding a job on campus, however, has been streamlined to a single Web site on the Rice Financial Aid Student Job Board. Students can now go online to search for jobs on campus such as office assistants, research assistants, lifeguards or class graders.Students can access the job board at jobs.financialaid.rice.edu by signing in with their NetID under the tab "Applicants."

McMurtry is in tents!

McMurtrians and their advisors mingle outside of their tent commons, waiting for a dodgeball game to begin on Wednesday. To find out how the McMurtrians and their rival Duncaroos are being welcomed into the college system, turn to our four-page spread on Rice's two newest members.

Campus Reaction

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Streep, Adams whip up a winner with Julie & Julia

Two generations parallel each other in the new film Julie & Julia, where two real lives from different times find a connection in the world of cooking. Talented screenwriter Nora Ephron has produced one of her best works, transitioning from her more chick-flick screenplays (You've Got Mail, When Harry Met Sally) to a more historical - yet still lighthearted - film that is as enjoyable as it is clever.

This week's Editorial Cartoon

Rice ranks top in quality

We're number one! As detailed in the Princeton Review's new The Best 371 Colleges, Rice ranked at the top in the "best quality of life" category. The rankings were based on a survey of 122,000 students attending the 371 colleges featured in the book. The quality of life ranking was an aggregate of students' assessment of food on- and off-campus, dorm life comfort, campus beauty, ease of getting around campus, relationship with the local community, safety on campus and the surrounding area, interaction between students, friendliness and happiness of students and how smoothly the administration is run.

Inside the New Colleges

// Not only did they open at the same time, but McMurtry College and Duncan College share many of the same measurements and features. Both measure 125,700 square feet, for a total of 281,200 square feet, including the joint-servery. Each features five floors and 324 beds, split among 150 singles and 87 doubles. While the bottom four floors of each college have an internal hallway, the fifth floor is characterized by a single-width hallway with a terrace. The new colleges also have their own servery, complete with private dining rooms and libraries.

Donors hope to establish legacy, enrich student life

Burton ('56) and Deedee ('56) McMurtry

Surveying the summer's silver screen selections

Call me sentimental, but watching a movie in the theater is an emotional experience for me. The larger-than-life screen, the booming sounds and the novelty of watching a film for the first time is a thrill that seems new and exciting each time I go to the theater.This summer was no exception. It seemed that each movie I watched over the last couple months had some kind of personal connection to me, either because of the screening location or the individuals with whom I saw the films.

Parking deal evidence of Rice's generosity

The deal Rice and H-E-B have crafted, allowing H-E-B employees to park for free on West Lot, may seem strange at first glance (see story, page 4). Rice seems to be reaping no benefit out of the agreement - had the university installed an H-E-B olive bar in the Rice Memorial Center, the deal may seem more even-handed.One day, Rice may see a return on this display of kindness. But if that day never comes, we won't mind. The area where H-E-B employees park are often empty, and never full, thus negating any impact the H-E-B employees may produce. Rice is simply helping a neighborhood business, during a time in which economic times are harsh all around. Any little bit can help, and Rice's generosity should be commended.

Comp exam results remain steady despite class growth

Even though the size of the freshman class increased substantially, the percent of students passing the composition exam remained at 71 percent, indicating both the reliability of the exam and the consistent strength of the incoming class, Program for Communications Excellence Director Deborah Barrett said.Although the percent of international freshmen increased by 67 percent this year, Barrett said this did not make any difference in the exam results, a trend consistent with last year.

Reli professor leaves legacy of compassion

Edith Wyschogrod, a former religious studies professor, died July 16. She was 79.Wyschogrod, a native New Yorker, started her career teaching philosophy at Queens College of City University of New York. She advanced from lecturer to a permanent member of their faculty and, in 1967, to chair of the department. She held this position until 1992, when she joined the Rice Religious Studies Department.

Rayzor Hall welcomes Spanish Resource Center

The new Spanish Resource Center, which opened this summer, will offer students an opportunity to learn about Spanish language and culture through an extensive reference database and educational activities, hosted in conjunction with the Department of Hispanic Studies, Spanish Resource Center Director Miguel Hernáiz said. Funded by the Ministry of Education of Spain and located in Rayzor Hall 321, the center is free and will be open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to students, faculty, staff and the Texas community, Hernáiz said.

Rice Soccer 2009

The injury bug happens to every team eventually. But for the women's soccer team, its presence has become all too infuriatingly commonplace. After graduating only one permanent starter from last year's roster, the 2009 women's soccer team features many familiar faces on the pitch, but if the coming campaign is to be remembered as a success the team will almost certainly have to keep away from the familiar bite of the injury bug.

Rice offers West Lot spaces to aid H-E-B employees

In an unconventional venture beyond the hedges, Rice is hoping to have established a beneficial relationship with a local business by appealing to their pocketbooks. The employees from a recently-opened H-E-B Grocery Store, located on Buffalo Speedway and South Blvd., have been parking in West Lot free of charge since the beginning of the month, and will continue to park there until next Monday, Aug. 31.The employees are parking in West Lot 5, the lot adjacent to the police station and post office, off University Blvd. Parking Manager Mike Morgan estimated that the H-E-B employees use 50 to 100 parking spaces at any given time. He said since the lot normally has 180 spaces and is infrequently used, parkers should not be impacted by the spaces temporarily in use.

Sports Notebook: Rosa reaches NCAA semifinals

When junior Bruno Rosa began play in last May's NCAA Men's Tennis Singles Championship, it had been nearly forty years since Rice had produced a back-to-back All-American. But after running his way to the final 16, Rosa replaced Mike Estep (Will Rice '71), an All-American from 1969-71, as the last Owl to earn such honors.Having already led his team into the NCAA Tournament, Rosa joined then-senior Christoph Müller in the singles competition. While Müller fell in the first round to the University of Virginia's Sanam Singh, Rosa pushed past No. 8 Robert Farah of the University of Southern California, which was coming off of winning the national championship, in straight sets.

Collapse of print journalism not completely irreversible

I saw the implosion from the inside out. The collapse of journalism, the creaking and crumbling and crashing of an industry that keeps politicians to task and athletes in the glare. I saw the faces behind it, the dinosaurs who were too slow or too unaware to update the business model when they could.I was in the middle of it this summer, in the New York magazine district, gleaning the lessons learnt from the movers of the publishing world. They admitted their failings. They told me what to expect in the immediate future. They made sure that my job prospects were grounded in reality, stuck in the mud of the recession and the layoffs.

Students opt for historic housing at old Will Rice

Historic Will Rice opened up this year to ensure that all incoming first-year students have beds on campus, and it will provide temporary on-campus housing to about 75 continuing and transfer students, Dean of Undergraduates Robin Forman said. Although Will Rice College and Baker College will be under construction this year, the 1912 wing of Will Rice is not being renovated, and will stay open this year to house these students. Currently, Historic Will Rice does not have any of the traditional support systems of a residential college, such as masters or a chief justice, and all residents will remain affiliated with their residential colleges, although Forman said support systems similar to chief justices and student maintenance representatives might be added in the coming weeks.

District 9 is out of this world

Aliens. Guns. Exploding heads. All can be found in District 9, and all are among the many reasons that you should spend your last day of Orientation Week at this flick.Born from the ashes of director Neill Blomkamp and producer Peter Jackson's aborted Halo movie, District 9 is a fictional documentary of peculiarly unique proportions. In 1990, 20 years prior to the events in the film, a large alien ship drifted over the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. However, none of the expected invasion, exploration or Signs-inspired raiding occurred. Instead, the ship simply ... parked. Not knowing who was on board or what the ship's plans were, humans cut their way into the behemoth and discovered it contained thousands of severely ill and malnourished alien workers. With no other option than to help them, District 9, a grimy Soweto-inspired slum, was set up outside the city to house the refugee alien population.