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NEWS 3/12/09 7:00pm

Kelley leads golf team to sixth place

By Natalie Clericuzio

At 22 games under .500 with only four scheduled tournament left, the golf team's chances of becoming eligible for the NCAA Championship might seem a statistical impossibility. But teams only need to finish with a .500 record, and since they earn one win for every team they finish ahead of in a tournament and one loss for every team they finish behind, the Owls still have a shot.

NEWS 3/12/09 7:00pm

Craig leads swimmers to third place finish

By Tracy Dansker

The swim team may have finished the regular season with a few more losses than last year, but that did not stop the Owls from making their mark at the Conference USA Championships. Rice finished the meet, held from Feb. 25-28, in third place with a total score of 595. Rice fell to Southern Methodist University (857.5) and crosstown rival University of Houston (623) Although they had come in second place at the C-USA Championships the past two years, the women were not upset with their third-place finish.

NEWS 3/12/09 7:00pm

Men's basketball moves on in C-USA

By Brody Rollins and Yan Digilov

It is never too late to save the best for last. The 10th-seeded men's basketball team played the part of Cinderella at the Conference USA tournament on Wednesday, upsetting fifth-seeded Marshall University 60-59 just one week after losing by 14 to the Thundering Herd (15-17, 7-9 C-USA) in Huntington, W.V. The victory means the Owls (10-21, 4-12 C-USA) will face Tulsa University on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the C-USA tournament, which is held in Memphis, Tenn. Tulsa (10-9, 12-4 C-USA), the second seed, had a first round bye after finishing second in the conference to the University of Memphis.

NEWS 3/12/09 7:00pm

Pink Panther 2 funny for all the wrong reasons

By Jackie Ammons

Movies can sometimes be so terrible that they end up being funny. Such is the case with the recently-released film The Pink Panther 2, in which Steve Martin's character, Inspector Jacques Clouseau, embodies all that is ridiculously preposterous and leaves the audience asking why they are laughing during this horrible, over-the-top comedy.As the second installment of the reboot of the classic 1960-70s Pink Panther series starring Peter Sellers, The Pink Panther 2 features Steve Martin (Baby Mama) in the role of the Clouseau, the bumbling British detective whose goal in life is to preserve, protect and defend the treasured Pink Panther diamond. Aided by his trusty sidekick Ponton (Ca$h's Jean Reno) and girlfriend Nicole (Lars and the Real Girl's Emily Mortimer), Clouseau is a part of the dream detective team (including Beverly Hills Chihuahua's Andy Garcia) that protects all of the world's most valuable treasures from the infamous villain, The Tornado.

NEWS 3/12/09 7:00pm

MRC's "COM(MAN)D" t-shirt slogan incites sexist views

By Jennifer Luo

The Hanszen College Men's Resource Center (MRC) has been selling "MAN" shirts both to raise campus awareness and to raise funds for its Hu(man)ity Campaign to help "young men in the Fifth Ward Enrichment program become responsible adults and productive members of the community." I thought it a perfect example of the kind of socially conscious civic engagement projects Rice students should engage in - that is, until I saw a shirt with the slogan "COM(MAN)D" with the word "man" displayed in a larger font and bracketed within the whole word.Understandably, the MRC was probably trying to make a statement by using funny or enticing slogans as part of its campaign. Most of the slogans are indeed so, such as "WO(MAN)," "(MAN)GO" and "BRO(MAN)CE," but this particular slogan, "COM(MAN)D," is particularly offensive and potentially misleading.

NEWS 3/12/09 7:00pm

Blanket tax system unfairly conducted

By Kern Vijayvargiya

Last month was a bad time to be a blanket tax. In the Student Association general election, every proposed blanket tax increase failed. In fact, the only amendment that did pass was the removal of University Blue's tax.It is conceivable that the failure of the tax increases resulted from a faltering economy, leading students to be more frugal with their fees. But I believe that this trend also indicates a general shift away from the elective blanket tax here at Rice.

NEWS 3/12/09 7:00pm

Commentary: After absence, Griffey's return well worth wait

By Casey Michel

There are things in life that should not happen. We see them in children's books or on the Hallmark Channel, but never in our dirty world of grime and struggle. Life is incomplete, which means that it's imperfect, which means that these Kodak moments we see in cinema or find in literature do not come to fruition. But that is life. This is sport.

NEWS 3/12/09 7:00pm

Men's track places third overall at C-USA Championship

By Jonathan Myers

Going into spring break, the men's track and field team was primed to put the finishing touches on the masterpiece that was the 2009 indoor season, but a third-place finish at the Conference USA Indoor Championships had the Owls feeling like the last movement ended on a sour note. Despite several outstanding performances, Rice had several minor injuries and mishaps that ultimately led to their diminished performance at conference.

NEWS 3/12/09 7:00pm

Tuition swells yet again for undergraduates

By Margeux Clemmons

Rice University undergraduate tuition will increase by 4.9 percent, or $1,470, for the 2009-2010 academic year, reaching $31,430, and Housing and Dining fees will increase 4.5 percent, or $480, to total $11,230, President David Leebron announced at the Student Association's Rice Financial Forum Wednesday night. Rice's percentage increase of undergraduate tuition is the same as the increases at Washington University, Vanderbilt University and Cornell University, but one percentage point or more higher than the changes at Princeton University, Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, according to Vice President for Finance Kathy Collins' survey of undergraduate tuition changes at schools in the Association of American Universities. However, Collins highlighted Rice's financial aid packages as a difference between Rice and other universities.

NEWS 3/12/09 7:00pm

Rice hosts post-career workshop for Dynamo

By Jonathan Myers

As the Houston Dynamo professional soccer team prepares to start its fourth season against the Columbus Crew on March 21, many of its players are preparing for life after their playing days. Members of the team attended a sports business seminar held in Rice Stadium's "R Room" on Tuesday afternoon, discussing the topic. The seminar, hosted by Dr. Clark Haptonstall, Dr. Jimmy Disch, Dr. Jason Sosa and Tom Stallings of the Sport Management department, focused on providing the players with a crash course in handling interviews, as well as an introduction to the opportunities that exist in the sports industry for former athletes.

NEWS 3/12/09 7:00pm

Fond farewells

By Staff Editorial

We would like to bid a fond farewell to Dylan Farmer and Lily Chun, our outgoing Editors-in-Chief. Dylan, we'll always miss your constant wrist-cracking, your videos of kangaroos attacking their handlers and your penchant for rooting for those pitiable Spurs. Lily, your ability to get things done was unparalleled, much like your love of Coffeehouse cookies, which you rarely seemed to want to share. The Thresher's third-place finish could not have been possible without the two-headed efforts you put forward this year, and your previous efforts as Sports and News editors, respectively, paved the way for better content in print as well as online.Likewise, we wish the best for Amanda Melchor, our outgoing Opinions editor; Julie Armstrong, our outgoing-A&E-editor-turned-soon-to-be-A&E-blog-editor; Sarah Mitchell, our outgoing business manager; Tim Faust, the outgoing half of our Backpage team; Joseph Ramirez and Thomas Yeh, our outgoing Advertising managers; and Nick Schlossman, our outgoing Copy editor. The office will not be the same without you.

NEWS 3/12/09 7:00pm

Mayors discuss successes, lessons post-Ike

By Catherine Bratic

Six months after Hurricane Ike hit Houston and Galveston, the two cities are still struggling to recover from the damage, and elected officials are taking a chance to reevaluate preparations made before the storm. On Wednesday, the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy and Texas Monthly cosponsored the forum "Life After Ike: The Future of Houston and Galveston," where mayors from both cities considered what went right and wrong during Ike and what they learned.

NEWS 3/12/09 7:00pm

Bike track accident necessitates improvements

By Staff Editorial

We all care about Beer Bike. Of this, there is no doubt. But when it comes to the safety of our bikers, we must grip the brakes and call for an end to dangerous practices.This danger came in full force before spring break, when a Will Rice College freshman collided with a car stopped on the bike track on the west side of Rice Stadium (see story, page 1). While it was clearly an accident, this collision was also clearly preventable, and we hope to cajole those responsible into implementing a few safety measures.

NEWS 3/12/09 7:00pm

Sony's Killzone 2: Here come the Helghast

By Joe Dwyer

Sony's first killer app of 2009 is finally here, and while the gameplay takes some getting used to, fun and frantic multiplayer modes along with PlayStation 3's most beautiful graphics to date make Killzone 2 a solid entry in any gamer's library.Killzone 2 picks up where the PS2's Killzone and the PSP's Killzone: Liberation left off. Interplanetary Strategic Alliance forces are invading the planet Helghan in an attempt to capture Scolar Visari, leader of the Helghast forces, and put an end to the ongoing war. Obviously, things do not go as planned: Stuff explodes, people die all over the place and players find themselves trying to survive on the hostile surface of Helghan as Sergeant Tomas "Sev" Sevchenko, member of the elite Alpha Team.

NEWS 3/12/09 7:00pm

Seniors finish with exemplary performance

By Yan Digilov

The expectations were low for the women's basketball team as they entered the Conference USA tournament last Saturday. After losing to the University of Central Florida by 25 points earlier in the season, few could have expected the performance the Owls (7-23, 2-14 C-USA), stuck with the lowest seed, would put up. Fortunately, seniors Maudess Fulton and Emery Carter knew they had it in them all along.

NEWS 3/12/09 7:00pm

Endowment must be handled responsibly

By Gislaine Williams and Richard Treadwell

After the failings of Stanford Financial, Lehman Brothers and AIG, the current economic crisis has shown us the true importance of investing in companies that follow ethical and sustainable practices. Universities, as some of the largest shareholders in the country, have a vested interest and a huge amount of influence in making sure that companies commit to socially and environmentally responsible practices.Rice for Peace is calling on Rice University to join a growing movement of schools committed to responsible endowment management. We have created a proposal asking Rice to establish an Advisory Committee for a Responsible Endowment so we can use the university's power as a shareholder to promote social and environmental responsibility. Investments in companies that guarantee ethical practices and contribute to community development will, in both the short- and long-run, be the most beneficial to growing Rice's endowment as well as its standing in the academic and international communities.

NEWS 3/12/09 7:00pm

Under the hood with Watchmen

By Faheem Ahmed

Oscar for "Best Trailer," then director Zack Snyder would have a couple of gleaming trophies sitting on his mantle. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, trailers used to be four minutes long, voiced over by a dude who sounded like he had emphysema and summarized the entire plot of the film.Enter the recently deceased Don LaFontaine: Using his deep iconic voice, LaFontaine single-handedly revolutionized the trailer concept. Since then trailers have become much tighter, featuring quick, exciting montages and samples of some of the best scenes from the film in an effort to garner audience interest. Snyder has absolutely perfected this method.

NEWS 3/12/09 7:00pm

Hanszen snatches Senior Gift victory

By Josh Rutenberg

Taking the adage "what you give is what you get" literally, Hanszen College beat out the competition last week by claiming victory in the Senior Gift Giving challenge.Hanszen senior Ted Wieber said a number of different factors pushed Hanszen to lead the competition.

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