Special Projects

Rice's free speech questioned

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a non-profit organization that focuses on civil liberties in schools across the country, criticized Rice on March 9 for restricting freedom of expression in its Information Technology policy. FIRE gave Rice a "red light" rating, and on its Web site, the group stated that "[a] red light institution has at least one policy that both clearly and substantially restricts freedom of speech." In an article on Rice's protocols, FIRE cited a Rice IT policy, among five other policies, as an example that threatened free speech on campus.

Leaps and bounds above all the others

A textbook performance, and a storybook ending. Clearing heights of 5.35, 5.50 and 5.60 meters all on his first attempt, junior Jason Colwick, Rice's pole vaulter extraordinaire, earned himself the title of national champion last Friday at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, held at Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium in College Station, Texas. Colwick came into the championship as the top-ranked collegiate pole vaulter in the nation and did nothing to make anyone at the meet think otherwise. Colwick's championship was Rice's first individual track and field championship since Allison Beckford (Lovett '03) won the 400 meter run indoor title in 2002. Colwick's performance also continued to add to the accolades that Rice pole vaulters have accrued over the years, as five Owls have won championships in the pole vault, including Dave Roberts (Will Rice '73) and Fred Hansen (Hanszen '63).

The Last House on the Left Review

Since when did Hollywood movies start having such crappy titles? There is actually a Channing Tatum film coming out in a couple of months named Fighting. Really? That's the only thing you million-dollar professionals could think of? Hmm, I wonder what that movie is about. The Last House on the Left, on the other hand, can be given some slack because it kept the title of the Wes Craven (A Nightmare on Elm Street series) original that made him one of the greatest horror geniuses of our generation.I fully expected yet another hackneyed suspense remake that had stripped away all semblance of creativity and wit from the original. Fortunately, I was mistaken, and The Last House on the Left was extremely entertaining. The film did not misguide the audience or have any self-delusions of grandeur. It delivers exactly what it promises: an hour and a half of non-stop action, brutal kills and sadistic torture. Sounds like the perfect first date movie, right?

Listening to "The Songs of Nature

With all the events, meetings and receptions held in Farnsworth Pavilion, it is sometimes hard to remember that it also serves as an art gallery from time to time. But from now until next Wednesday, artist Charles Liu is showcasing some of his work in an exhibition titled "The Songs of Nature," a stunning collection of landscape and nature-themed ink drawings on rice paper. The artwork covers all the walls around Farnsworth, with one particular panel painting, aptly titled "Big Falls," taking up an entire wall by itself. Each wall takes on a theme of its own that changes as you move around the room.

Tuesday Sports Update: Owls take 12 to down Cardinals

It took nine pitchers and 12 innings, but the fourth-ranked baseball team finally managed to put away Lamar University on Tuesday evening.Rice (15-6, 2-1 Conference USA) held a 7-4 lead in the ninth inning before relief pitcher Matthew Reckling issued a walk with the bases loaded to allow Lamar to cut the deficit to two runs. The Cardinals tied the game up when the Owls failed to complete a double play one batter later.

Final grades signify improvement for men's basketball

Last Thursday's 73-51 second-round defeat against the University of Tulsa in the Conference USA tournament capped the men's basketball team's first season under Head Coach Ben Braun. Though full of ups and downs, buzzer beaters and blowouts, it was a season that saw marked improvement on last year's disappointing finish and raises the expectations for Rice men's basketball in years to come. Though Rice has shown improvement in many areas, a 21-0 run by Tulsa three minutes into the first half showed just how far this team has to go. Playing their second game in as many days, the Owls were unable to keep pace with the Golden Hurricane, who came into the game with the second best record in C-USA. The Owls struggled offensively, as freshman guard Connor Frizzelle was the only Owl in double figures with 10 points. Senior guard Rodney Foster, Rice's third leading scorer with 10 points per game, was held to just eight points on 1-5 shooting.

Rockin' the Broch

Interviewing one of your favorite artists can be nerve-wracking, to say the least. Interviewing Ben Kweller seemed especially intimidating to me for a few reasons.Kweller, whose awesome record Sha Sha was released my freshman year of high school, was the guy a lot of the "cool kids" listened to. He seemed to be their soundtrack for what I imagined to be the crazy weekends filled with parties and drinking, occuring while I stayed at home, listening to Mary Chapin Carpenter, riding horses and reading. In my mind, I had set his personality as one of those popular kids: polite, but well aware of the fact that they're cooler than you'll ever be.

New Brown RAs chosen

After months of deliberation, Brown College selected Jenny and Joe Rozelle (Hanszen '00 and Wiess '99) as its Resident Associates for the 2009-'10 academic year, Brown College senior and Head of the RA Search Committee Larissa Charnsangavej said. "This is something we have talked about for a long time," Jenny Rozelle said. "We had long decided that if we moved back to Houston, we would want to be RAs."

Waiting for no one

Her freshman year at Rice, Lennie Waite never thought she'd be an All- American, particularly not as a member of the track and field team.

St. Patty's Day brings Rice gutsy win over Longhorns

The way the baseball team has been playing, Omaha is looking a lot closer. The Owls (12-5) finished their seven-game homestand Tuesday night with a 6-3 victory over the University of Texas, ranked tops in the nation, according to Baseball America. On this homestand Rice, currently ranked seventh, also competed in the Academy Sports & Outdoors Rice Classic, followed by a series against the unranked University of San Diego last weekend.

Women falter against Louisville

Last Saturday, the 73rd-ranked women's tennis team fell 9-7 to the unranked University of Louisville on the road at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center in Louisville, Ky. Tough times have befallen Rice, as the team will most likely lose its ranking and fall far short of its goal of reaching top 40 in the national rankings as a result of its current three-match losing streak. The Owls dropped their three doubles matches, including an 8-1 loss by junior Julie Chao and freshman Ana Guzman, a close 9-8 (7-4) loss by sophomore Jessica Jackson and junior Rebecca Lin and an 8-6 loss by sophomore Rebekka H?nle and freshman Alex Rasch. On a season that has seemed to always hinge on who wins the doubles point, this match was no different. Doubles has long been the team's focal point in practice, but the practice has been to little avail. The lack of aggressiveness, desire to be on the court and overall energy concern Head Coach Elizabeth Schmidt.

News in Brief: College newspaper subscriptions axed, suspect sketch released

Newspaper subscriptions cut for colleges

Stereotyping places unreasonable expectations on Asians

There was a moment during the recent Student Association elections when I experienced a feeling I don't think I ever expected to encounter at Rice - I felt ashamed.While reading the ballots for the Rice Student Volunteer Program candidates, I came across a write-in ballot that read, "some Asian girl." It is difficult to express in words how that comment made me feel, but I can come close by calling it an overall sensation of embarrassment, sadness and anger. In that moment, I was ashamed to be an RSVP member, to be a Rice student and most of all, I was ashamed of being Asian myself.

Beer Bike restrictions imposed

As students greet the morning sun to prepare for Beer Bike festivities tomorrow, they will also greet a new Beer Bike policy that has prompted many questions from members of the community. For the first time, colleges will be limited to a single 24-foot flatbed truck to carry balloons into what is unofficially known as the largest water balloon fight in the world.The issue was first brought up in November at a meeting of all Beer Bike coordinators across the university. After the decision to limit the number of trucks was made, its reception was mixed.

Rain keeps men indoors

With rain falling from the early morning on, then-No. 31 Rice's contest against then- No. 51 Duke University and then-No. 75 University of Southern Mississippi never stood a chance at being played at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium. As puddles precluded the Owls' first home matches since the beginning of the semester, the teams headed elsewhere to play for what was, for all intents and purposes, Rice's ninth- and 10th- straight road matches of the year. Since the Owls had a .500 record in the eight road matches leading up to last weekend, it should come as little surprise that the team left the weekend with a Friday loss to the Blue Devils and a Sunday victory against the Golden Eagles.

Baker Shake's Tempest is stormin' good

Last year, Baker College's annual Shakespeare production presented one of the Bard's bleakest plays, Richard III, a violent story of scheming and self-destruction. For Baker Shake's 2009 presentation, the troupe demonstrates its versatility by turning to The Tempest, a light-hearted adventure that features spontaneous dancing, mischievous fairies and a whimsical love story. Fortunately, this show is just as great a success as last year's. The Tempest is, from beginning to end, a total delight.As always, William Shakespeare has constructed a complex plot to keep the audience on its toes. In The Tempest, the rightful Duke of Milan, Prospero (J. Cameron Cooper, Brown '02), has been usurped by his cunning brother, Antonio (Martel College senior Robert Anderson), and exiled to an enchanted island in the middle of the Atlantic. There he lords over a realm of magical spirits and raises his daughter Miranda (Wiess College freshman Margay Dean), preparing to exact revenge on Antonio.

New restrictions hinder spirit of Beer Bike

There are no Rice traditions that compare to Beer Bike. Not Rice baseball, not O-Week and most definitely not pumpkin grades. Thus, you will understand why we are more than a tad perturbed that the planners of this year's Beer Bike have changed the format of this year's parade, limiting all colleges to only one truck (see story, page 5). We take exception to this decree, made without student vote and with little student consent outside of each college's coordinators, for a multitude of reasons. First, and perhaps foremost, is the reasoning that the restriction of trucks will somehow prepare students and coordinators for the pending arrival of two new colleges. This reasoning is flawed - how will imposing restrictions on this year's students prepare them, or the coordinators, for the addition of Duncan and McMurtry? How will fewer trucks ready us for next year's increase? The only reason that this may help us is that coordinators will have to deal only with finding one truck, which may have been a planned imposition for next year, as Duncan and McMurtry, the two largest colleges, would, most likely, have filled the most trucks with those plastic pellets of pain. (Or, for the pessimistic, Duncan and McMurtry could possibly lack the college cohesiveness that necessitates the filling of balloons, putting them at an obvious disadvantage, but we digress).

This week's Editorial Cartoon

Midwest trip challenges women

The women's tennis team did not kick off its spring break the way it hoped, falling victim to two heartbreaking losses to beatable teams in Western Michigan University and Ohio State University. Instead of giving their ranking a much needed boost, the Owls dropped to 9-6 on the year. The losses may have had something to do with the locales because instead of soaking up the spring break sun on the beaches, the women suffered through freezing temperatures in Kalamazoo, Mich. The unranked Owls froze against the 61st-ranked Broncos, falling 4-3 in a close match that highlighted their weaknesses in doubles and inexperience with close matches as their youngest players, sophomore Jessica Jackson and freshman Alex Rasch, each fell.

KTRU Pick of the Week: Bishonen Idolpop Genocaust

When a small waif of an album, or rather half-CD, marked with only "Bishonen Idolpop Genocaust," found its way into the KTRU station, most people did not know what to make of it. The album had the design of a robot and the sound of something that, to the normal ear, would be pure madness. For some time the fate of the album was thrown in the air as the music was so foreign that it seemed everyone was simply afraid of it.Bishonen Idolpop Genocaust hails from Huntsville, Texas, and plays a style of synth electronic music that is reminiscent of old eight-bit video games, so long as they had a high-pitched screaming vocalist accompaniment in Japanese. The native Texan group identifies itself as "Electro/IDM/J-Pop," and the members certainly utilize their identified range to the fullest extent.