Special Projects

Equality Riders campaign for social justice

Nearly 50 years after the Freedom Riders took to the road to end racial segregation, a new group is riding to campaign for another form of social justice: rights for LGBT students. This diverse group of 22 young men and women, the 2010 Soulforce Equality Riders, come from various religious and cultural backgrounds across the country but are united in their desire for change. Since the Equality Rides began in 2006, the riders have visited and advocated for change at over 50 of the approximately 200 schools in the United States whose policies actively discriminate against LGBT students.

Saturday's Sports Update: Blazers' comeback trumps Owls

Another chance led to another dropped lead for the men's basketball team Saturday afternoon, as Rice (7-15, 1-8 Conference USA) dropped a frustrating 76-65 loss to one of the nation's top teams, University of Alabama- Birmingham. Freshman Arsalan Kazemi led the squad with 15 points and 13 rebounds, followed by senior Cliff Ghoram with and junior Trey Stanton with 12 points each.It was a first half to remember for the Owls. Sophomore guard Lucas Kuipers set the tone early with a three-pointer to start the game, and right off the bat, the home team got back on defense. Holding UAB (19-4, 7-2 C-USA) to 30 percent shooting, Rice's stifling defense produced 13 points off of turnovers in the first half alone.

Intersections: Houston draws lines at Matchbox

Just off the Sewall Hall courtyard, flashes of Houston scenery from two projectors travel acros loops upon loops of white string, intricately threaded into a multilayered sculpture that appears to float in the middle of the Matchbox Gallery's black walls. Lovett College senior Nico Gardner's exhibit, Intersections: Houston, opened last Thursday at the Matchbox Gallery and captures a view of Houston that is both deeply personal and visually intriguing.Gardner said the idea of a "map of Houston" was a plan he had considered for some time. The projected footage was recorded on two cameras Gardner mounted to his car, one pointing up and the other forward, so both the Houston skyline and his most-traveled routes were recorded.

Relish: Sampling the menu at Mai's Vietnamese

Houston's incredibly diverse population is complemented by its array of ethnic restaurants, especially Asian-themed ones. We have always enjoyed chowing down on various cultural cuisines, so it was about time we paid a visit to Mai's Vietnamese Restaurant, located off the METRORail's Ensemble/HCC stop. If you love Asian food and are prone to a case of the midnight munchies, but lack a car to help you curb your cravings, Mai's Vietnamese Restaurant is the place for you. If you're not a fan of the light rail, Mai's delivers until 3 a.m.

Men's track gets complete effort at UH Invitational

While certain individuals have found success this season, the men's track and field team began the season as just that: a collection of individuals with individualized performances and individualized competition. Granted, most track and field events are individual, but injuries and the track's reconstruction have kept the Owls from truly gelling in a team format. No more. The team finally came together Saturday for the Houston Indoor Invitational at the University of Houston's Yeoman Fieldhouse, marking the first time this season a majority of the squad competed at a meet. Boasting both veteran experience and poised freshmen, Rice was able to take much away from this meet, according to Head Coach Jon Warren (Jones '88).

Decision to postpone Willy's rings sensible

The administration has decided to postpone a final decisionregarding the potential installation of granite rings around Willy's statue in the academic quad to commemorate donors giving at least $4.6 million - the amount which William

Monday's Sports Update: Owls upend Dustdevils at home

In a much-needed boost of confidence Rice beat Texas A&M International today at Tudor Fieldhouse by a score of 73-66. Freshman Arsalan Kazemi led the Owls with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Junior Trey Stanton and sophomores Lucas Kuipers and Connor Frizzelle also finished with double figures, scoring 16, 15 and 12, respectively.Just two days after a demoralizing loss to the University of Alabama-Birmingham, the Owls seemed to be fighting off fatigue from the start of the game. Rice went down by two points after only two minutes of play, a gap that widened to seven over the next three minutes.

Facing the future

Be sure to find the video interviews below.

Criticism of photoshopping not necessarily deserved

In the past couple of months, I've noticed some revived controversy over the editing of photos of models and celebrities. Of course, the concept and exploitation of photo manipulation is nothing new. The discussion has been in vogue for years, but it goes back even further than simply the invention of Photoshop - Stalin removed people from pictures when they got on his bad side, and even Mussolini edited out his horse handler to appear more imposing. Today, when photo manipulation, more commonly referred to as "photoshopping," is mentioned, fashion, magazines and perhaps even Facebook photos may come to mind. Apart from the general applications of photoshopping, such as inserting colorful backgrounds or textures, many often resort to tweaking pictures for purely aesthetic reasons. With programs ranging from user-friendly editors to professional software, the ability to create and convincingly enhance images has become prolific in our society, both commercially and personally. But to what extent are we willing to accept this warped image?

Barnett sentenced for BB gun shootings

Former Rice student Caitlin Barnett was sentenced to two years of community supervision on Jan. 26 for an assault she committed while enrolled at the university. Although Barnett had originally been charged with the felony of aggravated assault, the charges were downgraded by the judge, and Barnett received deferred adjudication in lieu of a guilty sentence.On Sept. 6 and 7, a string of BB gun shootings occurred on Rice's Outer Loop, perpetrated by Barnett and three others, who were not Rice students, from inside a car.

College courses should not fall victim to budget cuts

The Office of the Dean of Undergraduates has announced that college course budgets will be cut in accordance with next school year's university-wide 5 percent budget cuts (see story, page 1). In what was once a budget flush with $5,000 allotted per college, the college course funds were hacked to $3,000 this year, and will plummet to a proposed $250 next year. It is the university's expectation that students will come to the courses' rescue by opting to fund college courses from their general college budgets. While we understand the need to cut costs in an economy as tepid as this, we are perplexed by the current trend of dumping intellectually invigorating Rice traditions in lieu of other means. For instance, it was just a year ago that we had local and national newspapers scattered on our commons' tables. But due to budget constraints, they are no more. And it now appears that college courses, student-taught or otherwise, are on a similar path, which is both disturbing and disappointing.

Last week's online poll results

This week's Editorial Cartoon

News in brief: Decision on concentric circles postponed (online only)

The decision of whether to implement the proposed design of concentric circles around Willy's Statue, constructed to honor donors in the academic quadrangle, has been postponed. Director of News and Media Relations B.J. Almond said the university plans to have the project design completed by 2012, the year of Rice's centennial celebration.Last spring, Martel College senior Ashley Hinton's proposal of concentric circles around Willy's statue won the university-wide Legacy Design Competition and a $5,000 prize. The design contest aimed to honor the Rice University Legacy Society, a group of approximately 50 corporations, foundations and individuals who have contributed at least $4.6 million to the university, the amount William Marsh Rice gifted in his will to establish the university.

Reece sprints into history in season's second meet

It's never too early to make history. In only the second meet of the indoor track season, senior Shakera Reece set Rice's second-fastest time for the women's 60-meter dash, with a time of 7.39 seconds. The mark was just one one-hundredth of a second away from the school record, 7.38, set by TaNisha Mills (Jones, '98) in 1997.

Free political spending taints campaigns

Is it constitutional to limit corporations' spending on presidential and congressional campaigns? This is one of the fundamental questions of federal campaign finance laws. It is a decades-old question and has generated much debate and rancor.On Jan. 21, the Supreme Court provided a firm answer, and with a 5-4 vote declared, "No."

Veto of Beer Bike proposals commendable

On Monday, the proposed changes to this year's Beer Bike parade were put to a vote to the college coordinators, who proceeded to veto the proposal (see story, page 1). We commend the college coordinators for reflecting the majority student opinion, illustrated in the recent Student Association poll, and for supporting the continuation of the original parade format. We thank all the Beer Bike coordinators for listening to the student voice. While on the subject of voting, we feel that in the future, it would be prudent to elect campus-wide Beer Bike coordinators rather than appointing them, in order to avoid a distinct disconnect between the campus-wide coordinators and the rest of the student body like the one which arose this year.

College course budgets face cuts

Student-taught courses may soon want to include a lecture on thriftiness, because the pocketbooks of Rice University are rapidly shrinking.As the latest victim of the 5 percent university-wide budget cuts, college courses will have to work with a yearly budget of no more than $250 per college next semester, down from the initial $5,000 per college allotted in spring of 2008. After determining that most colleges did not use up their college course budget, the Dean's Office reduced funding for college courses to $3,000 for the current academic year. The subsequent reductions will go into effect next year.

Tom Green is back to take over the world

Since 1996, the name Tom Green has been synonymous with the audacious, the unorthodox and-at times-the downright scary. Green first burst onto the national scene with MTV's The Tom Green Show, which ran from 1999-2000, but the comedian has since become relatively quiet on the national level. Now on a world stand-up comedy tour for the first time in his career, Green continues to push the envelope in media unavailable to him before.The Thresher talked to Green about his online show, life after MTV and his newest endeavors into the world of stand-up.

Letters to the Editor

Editorial overlooks financial aid strides