Rice University’s Student Newspaper — Since 1916

Tuesday, March 28, 2023 — Houston, TX

Special Projects


NEWS 3/20/08 7:00pm

Guest column:Financial aid ehancements tangible, vital

In an ideal world, college admissions would be based solely on merit, and the cost of education would have no bearing on the matriculation decision. Even with supportive parents, the burden of financial responsibility is heavy, and the cost of education is far from cheap. Recent changes in financial aid policies of top American universities have changed the college admissions environment and made the competition for the top students even more competitive.In the final months of 2007, Harvard University created ripples in higher education by revamping its financial aid policy. By changing tuition to cost 10 percent of family income for students from families earning up to $180,000 per year (tuition would be $18,000 per year for those hypothetical students), Harvard greatly decreased the cost of education for students from middle to upper-middle class backgrounds. This policy shift was mimicked by Yale University, while Dartmouth College, Cornell University, Duke University and our own Rice University have chosen the less drastic measure of increasing the maximum income for providing full tuition, allowing families who make more to pay less.


NEWS 3/20/08 7:00pm

Horton captures imaginations and Seuss' vision

After the last two movie adaptations of a Dr. Seuss story - the forgettable How the Grinch Stole Christmas and the abominable The Cat in the Hat - it had become a legitimate concern as to whether it was possible to successfully convert one of Seuss's concise classics into a full-length film. However, Hollywood's latest attempt, Horton Hears a Who!, makes the prospect of a big screen Green Eggs and Ham much less frightening. While the movie is legitimately entertaining, and not even in a "so bad it's kind of good" way, it flags in energy whenever it strays from the concept of the original story and focuses on uninspired plot additions.For the most part, the film focuses on Dr. Seuss' original plot: Horton the elephant (The Number 23's Jim Carrey) discovers a microscopic world on a speck of dust, befriends the mayor of tiny Whoville ("The Office"'s Steve Carell) and then embarks on a journey to find a safe place to store the speck of dust.


NEWS 3/20/08 7:00pm

SA, FE&P install more bike racks on campus

The bike racks across campus may be a little less crowded after Facilities, Engineering and Planning installed a total of 215 new slots over spring break. FE&P worked with Brown College senator Patrick McAnaney and Lovett College senator Fiona Adams to determine locations for the new bicycle racks, which will go by the academic buildings and around Rice Stadium. FE&P Communications Manager Susann Glenn said her department had been given $50,000 for additional bike racks in academic, administrative and athletic areas. Glenn said this budget will provide enough racks to hold 335 additional bikes.



NEWS 3/20/08 7:00pm

Perry appoints Gillis to cancer research grant committee

Former Rice President and current economics professor Malcolm Gillis was appointed to Texas' Cancer Prevention and Research Institute Oversight Committee last Thursday by governor Rick Perry. The institute was formed after a statewide vote in November with the purpose of allocating a total of $3 billion in grants for cancer research to researchers nationwide, not just those based in Texas."I wouldn't have signed up if it had been just Texas researchers," Gillis said. "This proves that we can compete with anybody on equal footing."


NEWS 3/20/08 7:00pm

Commentary:Not only undeserved, Wilson firing sadly mishandled

At long last, it's over. All the pain, agony and suffering that has been piling up over the past couple months - no more. And that whooshing sound you heard the other day? No, that's not the deflation of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign - that's the collective sigh released by Rice men's basketball fans the country over.At long last, the basketball season is finished.


NEWS 3/20/08 7:00pm

Careless jacks have no place in Willy Week

Will Rice Will Sweep . you off your bike, apparently. In a recent unregistered jack attempt, members of Will Rice College strung fishing wire across random paths across campus (see story, page 1). However, the prank turned into a much more serious affair when two students biked into the wires, injuring themselves.


NEWS 3/20/08 7:00pm

Wilson fired after 16 years with men's basketball

While winning may not constitute the entire purpose of sport, it is certainly one of the more important requirements of coaching a Division I athletic program. Because of this requirement, men's basketball head coach Willis Wilson (Will Rice '82) was fired last Friday, two days after Rice was knocked out of the Conference USA tournament by the University of Southern Mississippi. The final loss dropped the Owls to 3-27 overall, and their 0-16 showing in conference play now stands as the worst men's basketball record in C-USA history.As the face of Rice basketball for the last 16 years, Wilson compiled a 219-246 record to become both the longest tenured and winningest coach in Rice history. However, Wilson's extensive experience could not lead the Owls around the numerous roadblocks they encountered during the course of the 2007-'08 season, and by the time the last whistle blew, the defeats added up to a 20-game losing streak, the third-worst run for men's basketball in school history.


NEWS 3/13/08 7:00pm

ASB participants trade beach parties for volunteering

While some students were spending their spring breaks at the beach or on the ski slopes, about 100 others decided to devote their time to volunteering with Alternative Spring Break, a program in which teams of college students in communities do short-term community service projects addressing issues such as racism, homelessness, poverty and the environment. This year, there were 10 ASB trips organized by students appointed to be site leaders and coordinated through the Community Involvement Center.All trips required that participants pay a $250 registration fee. The rest of the money for the trips was raised through individual fundraising by each student group.


NEWS 3/13/08 7:00pm

Vapid Penelope provides timeless empowerment

Penelope is not practical. She has the face of a beautiful wood nymph and the voice of a fairy, but also the pronounced nose of a pig. She lives in a modern world of high technology subdued by 1950s clothing and milk trucks that hearken back to the early twentieth century. Like its principal character, the movie Penelope is neither practical nor provocative enough for thrill-seeking audiences but is perfect for a quiet, simple afternoon viewing.Afflicted by an ancient family curse, Penelope (Black Snake Moan's Christina Ricci) follows the demands of her aristocratic parents (Monster House's Catherine O'Hara and Corpse Bride's Richard E. Grant) that she cover her pig's nose and ears to hide her secret from the public. Unfortunately, the only way to break the curse and restore her features is to find the one man who will love Penelope for who she is. To discover him, she depends on the help of a sassy new friend (Rendition's Reese Witherspoon), a sensitive musician (Atonement's James McAvoy), a haughty blue blood (Pride and Prejudice's Simon Woods) and a midget reporter (Underdog's Peter Dinklage).


NEWS 3/13/08 7:00pm

Rice-Baylor scholar earns national recognition, $2,500 from USA Today

Wiess College junior Steve Xu became one of 20 undergraduates nationwide to join USA Today's 2008 All-USA College Academic First Team. The group of selected students consists of undergraduates throughout the country who excel in various fields.USA Today featured the 20 winners who took home $2,500 in prize money. Xu estimates that between 550 and 600 undergraduates applied for the team this year.


NEWS 3/13/08 7:00pm

Self-proclaimed gadfly: College system strains university bond

Ideally, the college system is a great system. Students leaving their homes, often for the first time, can find a nurturing new community within their colleges. But one cannot live in the nursery forever. However, the Rice housing scheme seems to disagree - Rice does not provide housing for students who wish to leave the confines of the college system.It may seem inconceivable to many students that their peers would want to leave the alma mater they love so dearly, but all it takes is a few minutes in the Rice Memorial Center to find students who want to graduate from their colleges but still attend the university as a whole.


NEWS 3/13/08 7:00pm

After jump in ranking, men's tennis falls against No. 17 Florida State

For the men's tennis team, the confines of Jake Hess Tennis Stadium are a welcome sight. In most instances, that is. The Owls, ranked 13th in the nation, found themselves rudely treated by a visiting Florida State University, which pulled out a 4-3 come-from-behind win last Tuesday. Rice's loss to the 17th-ranked Seminoles came on the heels of a California road swing that saw them drop two ranked opponents. However, those wins sandwiched a 7-0 blowout loss to the No. 6 University of California-Los Angeles on March 5, Rice's first road loss to a top-50 opponent this year.The Owls finally get a reprieve from their strenuous schedule, with an entire week off until their next match - a home contest against No. 26 Louisiana State University next Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. The Tigers have been streaky of late, winning three in a row after dropping a pair of matches to ranked foes, and boast only one player, No. 86 Michael Venus, in the top 115.


NEWS 3/13/08 7:00pm

Men's first win of 2008 will have to come in fall

On the same night that one Houston basketball team won its 20th game in a row, another dropped its 20th consecutive contest. The men's basketball team's season came to an end Wednesday in a disappointing yet telling way, as Rice dropped a 59-50 contest against the University of Southern Mississippi in the first round of the Conference USA Tournament in Memphis, Tenn. The defeat ended what could be claimed as the program's worst season in its history - not only did the Owls (3-26, 0-16 C-USA) become the first team ever in C-USA not to win a single conference game, but they failed to win any games at all in 2008.However, the dismal record may be a bit deceptive. Prior to their season-ending loss, the Owls lost three hard-fought games during spring break. After trailing by more than 16 points in the first half, the Owls closed to within two points late in the second half before folding 68-60 to the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Fla. Later in the week, senior forward Patrick Britton scored a career high 40 points on 14-18 shooting, but the Owls lost 75-68 to East Carolina University at home.


NEWS 3/13/08 7:00pm

Texas routs Rice 9-1 at Reckling Park

The baseball team book-ended the last two weeks with a sweep of the Minute Maid Park College Classic and a 7-3 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi University, but there were a few bumps in the road in between. Not only did No. 15 Rice (9-6) drop two one-run games in a row against Sam Houston State University and Dallas Baptist University on the road, but the Owls were smashed 9-3 by Michigan State University in the opener of the Rice Classic. While the team rebounded with wins over Western Carolina University and Creighton University, the Owls rolled over against the 19th-ranked University of Texas to even the season series at 1-1.The Owls will look to defend their home field once more this weekend, facing Winthrop University four times in as many days, starting today at 6:30 p.m. The Eagles (3-10) have yet to beat a ranked opponent this year, falling three times to the University of Southern California and once to the University of North Carolina. Before the week is over, the Owls will also take on the University of Louisiana-Lafayette at home at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday.


NEWS 3/13/08 7:00pm

Bike-o-saurus rex

Jones College freshman Ryan Le and Jones junior Daniel Hodges-Copple push Jones junior Daniel Antworth off to the races during Mock Beer-Bike Wednesday night, while Professor of Political Science Richard Stoll prays fervently in the background.


NEWS 3/13/08 7:00pm

With spring in swing, we say farewell

The Thresher office is a little bit different come this year's Beer-Bike weekend. It's a little bit quieter, a little more focused and has a little less Hall & Oates blaring from computer speakers. That is because it's changeover week at the Thresher, and as our seniors depart and leave the rest of us legally culpable for everything we print, we must thank them for all of their contributions, past and present.Julia Bursten served as editor in chief for the first part of the year, until she was kidnapped by Descartes' evil demon and dragged away into a philosophy paper. We were sad to see her leave because she was an efficient and encouraging editor whose epic bouts with a certain backpage editor made the office a great place to work.


NEWS 3/13/08 7:00pm

Serendipitous musings: Beer-Bike tradition as quirky, unique as Rice

As the Ides of March approaches, students steel themselves for an especially important and momentous event. Summer job and internship searches? Child's play. Midterm exams and papers? Who worries about those? I am talking about what could arguably be the most memorable and vital annual event at Rice, comparable in magic and joy only to Christmas, and, quite possibly, a law or med school admissions letter: I am talking about Beer-Bike.Not only is it a tradition unique and specific to Rice, but Beer-Bike also provides students with a way to rally and connect together as residential colleges and a university as a whole, regardless of major and age - even the Graduate Student Association participates. The event's evolution marks the growth of the university as a whole, and the excitement is like nothing ever seen before. The energy and anticipation in the air replaces the usual enthusiasm and excitement you find at other universities that have exceptional varsity sports programs and makes the experience available to sports fans and bookish types alike.


NEWS 3/13/08 7:00pm

There's no use crying over spilt carcinogenic milk

If you think milk "does a body good," think again. As consumers, we have fallen prey to a conspiracy of epic proportions. The truth is that milk is no panacea; it is no health food. In fact, it just may kill you.According to the renowned nutritionist Dr. T. Colin Campbell of Cornell University, the dairy industry has infiltrated "virtually all segments of our society - from research and education to public relations and politics - to have us believing that cow's milk and its products are manna from heaven." Milk has found its way into the government-endorsed healthy diet pyramid and is Santa's favorite drink. The truth, however, is a bit less wholesome. Milk causes cancer. Really.


NEWS 3/13/08 7:00pm

SA, RUPD take strides with collaboration

Rice University Police Department caused quite a stir when it implemented its laptop-retrieving policy at the beginning of last semester - in which officers picked up items left unattended within Fondren Library and stored them at police headquarters - to prevent thefts from occurring. But many students reacted negatively to this, saying that RUPD did not inform students when they recovered their items or where they were stored.At the present time, Rice does not have a centralized lost-and-found location. If someone were to lose an item, he or she would have to check many different lost-and-found locations such as the ones in Fondren Library, RUPD headquarters and Rice Memorial Center.