Special Projects

Students concerned over Tudor seating

In a dramatic redistricting of Autry Court, the new student section at Tudor Fieldhouse has moved from the right courtside location to one behind the south baseline. This location, which was converted from a back gym, is out of sight of the main scoreboard, a frustration for many students who attended the first games at the fieldhouse on Saturday. Since the student section is located behind the main scoreboard, students can only see the auxiliary scoreboard, which does not display information like player statistics, Assistant Director of Athletics Chuck Pool said.

Students participate in city-wide rally against Proposition 8

Several hundred Houstonians, including a number of Rice students, gathered in front of City Hall last Saturday in solidarity with a nation-wide protest against Proposition 8, the California state amendment banning same-sex marriage that was barely approved by California voters on Nov. 4. Same-sex couples, straight allies and other activists held signs declaring their opposition to the ban and expressing their desire for gay rights.Co-President of Rice's American Civil Liberties Union club Ben Carson attended the rally along with about ten other club members.

Men's cross country season ends with fifth place finish at regionals

It's true that all good things do come to an end, including the 2008 men's cross country season. That was the case this past Saturday as the Owls finished fifth at the NCAA South Central Regional meet, meaning they will not be running in the NCAA National Championship. The team needed to finish third or fourth to have a chance at securing an at-large berth to the national meet.Senior Aaron Robson led Rice with a 14th-place finish overall, and he was followed by junior Brad Morris, junior Simon Bucknell, senior Justin Maxwell, redshirt freshman Michael Trejo and junior Brett Olson to round out the scoring runners. Texas A&M University took first place with 39 points, and Texas A&M senior Shadrack Songok won the overall title with a scorching time of 29:52.

College nights face changes

College nights at Rice have become synonymous with drunken antics, crazy costumes and class disruptions. But in the past few weeks as professors have become more and more frustrated with inebriated lecture interruptions, colleges have encouraged their students to curb the raucous trouble in a desperate effort to save college night. At a recent meeting of college masters and presidents, those in attendance agreed to temper their troublemaking on those days for fear that college nights will be more disruptive than fun, Martel College Master Jerry Dickens said.

Condoleezza Rice speaks to Rice

From a non-partisan standpoint, the election of Barack Obama as U.S. president showed the world an example of true democracy, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a speech last week. Rice spoke at a gala last Thursday commemorating the 15th anniversary of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, a nonpartisan scholarly think tank focusing on research on domestic and foreign policy issues. The institute was ranked among the top 30 think tanks in the United States by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in January.

Students take on month-long novel writing challenge

Katz's Deli on Montrose Boulevard buzzed with even more than the usual late-night food frenzy Oct. 31, as costumed patrons celebrated Halloween. In one corner, however, a strange hush fell at the stroke of midnight. It was a table for four crammed with nine people, all wielding laptops. As October became November, these members of Martel College sophomore Ian Jones' class, Martel 142: Write a Novel in a Month, began to type furiously.

Women's basketball christens new fieldhouse, wins season opener

For the first time in school history, the Owls answered the all-too-important question: Whose house is this? Tudor Fieldhouse was filled with students and fans to watch the first home game in the new facility last Friday.IN PHOTOS: OPENING WEEKEND AT TUDOR FIELDHOUSE

Dear flag stealer: 'fess up!

Last Thursday, Nov. 13, the Baker Institute staff arrived in the morning to find that 22 international flags had been stolenfrom the Centennial Campaign tent (see story, page 10). The flags, which were meant to be decorations for Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice's speech later that afternoon, have still not been recovered.

Yakobson receives Nano 50 award for work with nanotubes

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Professor Boris Yakobson received a Nano 50 award Nov. 13 from science publication Nanotech Briefs for his advances in nanotechnology. The Nano 50 awards, now in their fourth year, recognize the top 50 technologies, products and innovators who have considerably influenced the latest advancement in nanotechnology. Yakobson received the Nano 50 award in the Innovators category for his work with nanotubes.

School of Jones rocks

Recently, publications like The Financial Times, The Economist and U.S. News and World Report have ranked the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management as among the top 25 in the nation (see story, page 1).Compared to the lackluster numbers from previous years, these new rankings, which are measured based on the salaries of Rice MBA graduates, are considerably better and indicate that the Jones School must be doing something right.

Thief steals 22 international flags before Condoleezza Rice speech

Last Thursday, the night before the 15th anniversary celebration of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, 22 international flags were stolen, leaving Baker Institute staff void of props for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's speech just hours before it began. The flags, which have a collective value of $1,342, were stored in the Centennial Campaign tent between the Baker Institute and the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management before the event. The flags have not been found, Rice University Police Captain Dianna Marshall said, although replacements were found before the event started.

Men's basketball falls to Portland State in final-second loss

From the opening tip to the waning seconds, the basketball team battled back and forth but ultimately lost to unanimous Big Sky conference preseason favorite Portland State University. The match-up was the first ever men's game played in the renovated Tudor Fieldhouse on Saturday.IN PHOTOS: OPENING WEEKEND AT TUDOR FIELDHOUSE

Comic: Cingle Cellularity

Volleyball earns first-round bye for C-USA tournament

The volleyball team entered last Thursday's match against the University of Houston riding high, having won 11 of their last 12. Instead of continuing their winning ways, the University of Houston upset Rice. The loss to Houston dropped Rice to third in the final Conference USA standings, meaning the Owls will have the third seed in the upcoming C-USA Tournament. The tournament began Thursday and concludes with the final on Sunday in Memphis, Tenn. Rice does not play on the tournament's opening day due to their place in the top four of the C-USA standings. Head coach Genny Volpe thought the bye would be extremely beneficial to the team's tournament chances.

Backpage's Voyage Through the Annals of History

Welcome to the Backpage's Journey through the Annals of History! Because the Backpage can't go online each week, we've chosen to dig up an article from the Thresher's past and put it online for the world to rediscover. We've also recorded two audio readings in case all these words get too burdensome on your eyes. Please enjoy and send any comment to backpage@rice.edu.This week's article comes from the November 15, 1916, issue of the Thresher. All of the original text has been reproduced, including misspellings and grammatical errors.

The Backpage Interview Series

You know the guy who seems to run every club meeting you go to on campus? In a couple of decades, he'll be Kevin Kirby. Dr. Kirby, the VP for Administration, oversees almost every campus project you could imagine. He met the Backpage at the South Plant on Wednesday to chat about moustaches, the Predator aircraft, why he loves Rice and the Green Bay Packers.BP: We dug up the photo you had when you came to Rice in 2005. You used to have a pretty formidable moustache [see inset]. Where'd it go?

This week's Editorial Cartoon

Lovett is a Cabaret

The success of Lovett College's deservedly well-received I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change ("Lovett's I Love You, You're Perfect needs little change", Feb. 22, 2008) seemed to many a dramatic revival of the college's once-stagnant theater program. Cabaret, directed by Lovett College senior and I Love You... cast member Paul Early, builds upon the spring show's forward momentum and brings a wide assortment of talent to the stage lights, but a few dark spots mar what is otherwise a very enjoyable performance.Cabaret, written by Joe Masteroff with John Kander's music and lyrics by Fred Ebb, explores the relationship between cabaret performer and general debauchée Sally Bowles and struggling young American author Clifford Bradshaw as they weave their way through the hedonistic excesses of Berlin's underbelly during the Nazi rise to power.

Women's cross country headed to nationals after second place regional finish

Running cross-country is a lot like playing poker: Doing well requires practice and skill, but they both require a little bit of luck. Last Saturday at the NCAA South-Central Regional meet, all of these elements came together for the women's cross-country team perhaps for the first time all season. Not only did the team compete in peak shape, but they also ran without anyone on the team battling illness or injury.

Mirror's Edge a leap of Faith

Best known for their work on the Battlefield franchise, Electronic Arts and EA Digital Illusions Creative Entertainment have gone in a completely new direction with Mirror's Edge, an original title that aims to shake up the first-person genre.Players step into the shoes of Faith, a "runner" living in a gleaming white, futuristic dystopia where the police survey and control all modes of communication. When citizens want to stay under the radar with their information, they rely on runners like Faith to transport their messages across the city's rooftops. The game begins with Faith's cop sister getting framed for a murder she didn't commit, forcing Faith to do some digging around town to uncover the truth.