For a few minutes, it looked like we might have actually had a partial government shut down last week.
There is so much discussion and numerous viewpoints today about the size of government, the amount of money the government should borrow, how big a deal the debt currently is, and whether or not we can responsibly raise taxes while still in a recession. But one of the major misconceptions present in a large number of debates deals with people's perceptions of taxes. Especially with the last midterm elections which so many people view as a clear message for smaller less intrusive government, the word "taxes" got thrown around so often, used pejoratively by the right, while being a taboo word for the left.
Barnes & Noble will soon over take more real estate in the RMC (see story, pg. 1). The contract of 13th Street, Sammy's and Smoothie King has expired, thus allowing a "Recharge U" convenience store, operated by Barnes and Noble, to open.
The Athletic Department, not to be bested by RPC's Harry Potter pre-midnight showing ticket distribution last semester, generously provided students around campus the opportunity to obtain free NCAA Final tickets (see story, pg. 9). A portion of the unsold UConn tickets were donated to Rice for use by its students; a similar donation was made to the University of Houston. Furthermore, instead of exclusively dealing the tickets to athletes, the Rice Athletic Department allowed all students equal opportunity to experience this exclusive event.
Rice has instituted a new policy by which students who are a semester behind graduating with their matriculating class may partake in walking across the stage during Commencement (see story, pg. 1). This new policy arrives after years of students with valid reasons being denied the opportunity to walk with their class; nonetheless, we expect this long-needed change will be very well received.
As prospies flood Rice's campus for Owl Days, current Rice students survey the high-schoolers with keen interest to catch a glimpse of what the Class of 2015 might look like. While Will Ricers are already busy looking for bikers to recruit, everyone else is busy gauging the prospective class' sociability, ability to integrate, and of course attractiveness. However, no matter how hard we seek to assess the class of 2015 through the Owl Day prospies, we will be unsuccessful because Owl Days omits a vital aspect of Rice — diversity.
Recently, my car was towed at Rice University. I spent an hour looking for it before I learned what happened. This situation has affected at least two other people I know, one person twice.
In the relentless world of top-20 academic institutions, Rice succesfully poached the best of the best for its next dean of engineering. Edwin Thomas was the chair of MIT's material sciences department, the best in the country. The addition of faculty of Thomas's caliber is definitely an accomplishment, and his mere presence gives further validation to our already strong engineering department.
Rice University recently announced a plan to rejuvenate its webmail system by transferring over to a Google interface and google servers. This decision will definitely yield improvement over the current webmail, and it is certainly exciting to see administration and IT making a proactive decision to shift our outdated system to one of the best and most proven email clients on the market.
With all the coverage of exciting environmental initiatives on campus recently, Rice looks from the outside like a leader in sustainable living. We have classes dedicated solely to green campus initiatives, top-notch LEED certified buildings, green roofs, single-stream recycling, bike sharing programs and even part of our tuition now goes toward improving our carbon footprint. There's no doubt that Rice students are smart enough to know about the importance of maintaining a sustainable lifestyle, but are we smart enough to care?
Productivity. We all strive for it. Students inhale Red Bulls and lock themselves into their rooms to be productive. Athletes, doctors, lawyers, farmers, workers in every profession, you name it, want to be productive. And why not? In our society, productivity is rewarded handsomely. You can't get an A+ or a stack of Benjamins if you're not a productive worker.
The outpouring of support at Rice for Japan has been simply extraordinary. Conscious groups of students have gathered and implemented massive efforts to raise funds for the recovery process.
This Monday, President Barack Obama spoke at the National Defense University explicitly describing the motivations and justifications for our action in Libya. And yet so much of what people feel he left out was crucial to "making his case" to the American people.
