Special Projects

RESET, RPC earn blanket tax increase, while KTRU fails

While the Rice Endowment for Sustainable Energy Technology and the Rice Program Council will both get the funding they hoped for via blanket tax, KTRU will have to try again next year. Six of the eight proposed amendments to the Student Association Constitution, which required a two-thirds majority to pass, succeeded in the SA General Election, which began at 11:59 p.m. last Thursday and ended at 2 p.m. Wednesday.Of the three blanket tax proposals, only RESET's was meant to create a new subsidiary organization of the SA. RESET received a 71 percent vote in favor, and will now receive $9 annually from every undergraduate.

Eater's Digest: Unconscious overeating

For most of us, it's a simple premise: You eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full. Right? Wrong. It turns out our stomachs are terrible indicators of satiety. Current scientific studies show that our sense of "fullness" is more affected by environmental cues than by our bodies' need for energy. It's not that your stomach lies - it's just that it's pretty susceptible to peer pressure.

Mock trial offers rewarding experience

Rice University has a mock trial team, but not very many people know it exists. I've only been in the club for a semester, and I'm already used to the incredulous "Is that a club here?" As much as their reactions dishearten me at times, I can't blame these students.The Rice Mock Trial Team disbanded last year and was restarted last semester by a group of freshmen and sophomores, including myself. We were busy, to say the least. As we struggled to rebuild the team and learn the course material, all the while honing confidence and skill, we admittedly found ourselves more concerned with making it to the regionals unscathed than with promoting the club on campus.

Slideshow: The James Surls Sculptures

Seven large steel and bronze sculptures by renowned modernist artist James Surls were installed on campus last weekend. Concentrated in the Central Quad and the West Quad, with an outlier at the Bioscience Research Collaborative, the sculptures were previously featured in an exhibit on Park Avenue in New York City sponsored by the New York City Parks Public Art Program. Check back with the Thresher after spring recess for a feature on the other-worldly structures.

Tuition rises 5 percent due to endowment losses

SA General Election Results

In the Student Association general elections, held from Feb. 18-24, students flexed their civic muscles. The ballot featured 22 positions and eight proposed amendments. Candidates who did not win are given in parentheses. Also be sure to take a look at the official election results page on the SA website.

Transfers require open mind, initiative

Transitions are never easy, especially transitioning mid-year into a completely unfamiliar environment and leaving behind everything you know. This is what I went through last month when I transferred to Rice.I knew, being a mid-year transfer, that I was coming into an unfamiliar territory where social groups were already sorted out, the general university procedures understood. In addition to adjusting to a new academic structure, I imagined feeling increased academic pressure as I worked to secure transfer credits.

Women knock off first top-20 foe in ten years

The women's tennis team's matches against No. 4 University of California-Los Angeles (9-1) and Pepperdine University (3-5) two weeks ago - matches in which the Owls (5-3) won a total of just two points - seem to have been exactly the kind of wake-up call the team needed. After seeing what it's like to play championship-caliber teams, Rice has been on a roll: the Owls have won their past three matches, two of which came over ranked opponents.

Tuition hike inflicts financial burdens

Rice recently announced that it is perpetuating a disheartening trend in tuition hikes, increasing undergraduate tuition by 5.4 percent for the 2010-11 school year to reach a whopping $33,120 (see story, page 1). This continues the university's decades-old pattern of steadily increasing tuition year after year, often without regard to the national economic picture or external considerations of its students. In the past 10 years alone, the increases have combined to entail more than a doubling of undergraduate tuition. The latest increase is, frankly, insensitive. The administration has spent the past year preaching about the difficult economic situation in justification of multiple budget cuts. Since the fall of 2008, we have endured cuts in academic departments, budget reductions in the residential colleges, staff-wide hiring freezes, the non-renewal of contracts and the elimination of many courses. Times are hard, we're told, so we simply must learn to do without luxuries such as newspapers and college courses taught by professionals.

Late-night Hoot turns quick profit

Late-night munchies beware: The Hoot has its target set on after-dark hunger. Since the student-run late-night eatery opened Jan. 11, it has become the go-to spot for night-owl students to buy food and drinks. Open Sunday through Friday from 10 p.m.-2 a.m., the stand sells subs from Jersey Mike's, fountain drinks and full or half-portions of large pizzas from Domino's.

Men last in conference

All young teams are plagued with the unwelcome guest of inconsistency, and the men's basketball team has been no exception throughout its 13 conference matches this season. On any given night, its rebounding can be dominant or pathetic, its posts can be unstoppable or asleep and any team member can put up 15 points or put up goose eggs in every statistical category. Yet the one thing that has come in unwaveringly long streaks has been a plethora of losses. And while on any given night the players can point to poor transition defense, lack of concentration or uninspired offense as the culprit, the constancy of losing beckons Head Coach Ben Braun and his staff to find the underlying missing piece of the puzzle.

Last week's online poll results

Online only: Faculty Senate minutes

The following were noted at the most recent meeting of the Faculty Senate Feb. 24.

Return to Rapture

Let me preface this review by saying that the original BioShock, released in 2007, is one of my favorite games. Of all time. I was completely caught up in the game's creepy art-deco atmosphere, the hostile beauty of the underwater city of Rapture and the engaging, thought-provoking and moralistic plot.So when BioShock 2 was announced less than a year later, I had every right to be skeptical. The original BioShock garnered Game of the Year awards from dozens of media outlets - how could the sequel improve upon perfection? The fact that the sequel's production was being handled by a different developer and the addition of a seemingly superfluous multiplayer mode did little to convince me that BioShock 2 wasn't just riding the coattails of its predecessor in an attempt to make some quick cash.

Saturday Sports Update: Baseball continues to roll with 4-3 win over Nebraska

The Rice baseball team opened its season on a four-game losing streak, but the Owls rebounded last night with a 7-2 win over Elon in the Rice Invitational. They continued their success into tonight's came against Nebraska, coming away with a 4-3 win.The Cornhuskers got their bats swinging early against sophomore starter Taylor Wall. The southpaw looked to be working his way out of a first-inning jam, but with two runners on, two outs and a 3-2 count, catcher Patrick Tolentino lined a single into center to score two.

Tuesday Sports Update : Fazio gets Rice win over Sam Houston State

With eight wins in its last nine games, the baseball team is on a roll. Tonight marked the start of a six-game homestand, and the Owls (8-5) kicked it off with a bang, quickly disposing of Sam Houston State University 8-1. Rice was efficient both in time and in scoring, besting the Bearkats (3-10) with nine hits and eight runs in just over two hours.Redshirt freshman Anthony Fazio (1-1) got the ball for ninth-ranked Rice for his second start of the year and picked up his first career win. Entering tonight's game, Fazio had previously forfeited five earned runs over 0.2 innings in three appearances, including a shaky first start against Lamar University Feb. 24.

East Coast woes beset tennis

Two weeks ago, the men's tennis team thrashed a pair of ranked opponents at home by a combined score of 12-2. Last weekend, on the road, Rice (5-3) ended up on the other side of the 12-2 score against another pair of ranked foes. What a difference a weekend can make.

Owl Bowl offers opportunity to assist the visually impaired

When I graduate in a few months, my mom will be bringing baked treats for my masters, embarrassing me in front of my friends and smiling in pride when I receive my degree and skip through the Sallyport. She'll be doing the things that a mother of a 22-year-old should be doing, and better than I ever could have asked.But she won't be seeing me in the same way as the rest of my family.

Photo: Find me some body to love

Martel College junior Noemie Levy performs an original piece at the "Love Your Body Monologues" at Willy's Pub Wednesday.

Women finally shake off years-long road struggles

On Feb. 23, 2008, George W. Bush was still president, half of the undergraduates at Rice were still in high school and Duncan College and McMurtry College were mere glimmers in Leebron's eye. That date was also the last time the women's basketball team won a Conference USA road game, a streak that had to be reversed if the Owls were to have any hope of climbing into the top half of the C-USA standings. Rice (12-14, 6-7 Conference USA) had two prime opportunities to break the 15-game losing streak this weekend, facing two struggling teams. The Owls began the swing with a contest against the University of Central Florida, then heading to Hattiesburg, Miss., to take on the University of Southern Mississippi.