Special Projects

Meeting mtvU's new stars: Anish Patel and Faheem Ahmed

A month ago, an anonymous A&E editor stumbled upon an email titled "Report at the Oscars w/MTV!", inviting ambitious, outgoing college journalists to send in videos showing why they should be chosen to represent their colleges as interviewers at this year's Academy Awards. Nonchalantly, the editor forwarded the message to the Thresher reviewer and Sketch Comedy founder who seemed the most comfortable in the public eye, Faheem Ahmed.Little did she know she had created a monster. A few weeks later, Faheem received a call announcing his and his cameraman Anish Patel's placement in the contest's top ten contestants. Hundreds of Rice kids and other supporters screamed, cried and voted online with fast fingers and high hopes. A triumph seemed near, and on Monday, mtvU announced that Rice's team had made the cut as one of the three picked to cover (and film!) pre-Oscar events and compete for the final honor of Red Carpet correspondent.

BSA sponsors King lecture

In honor of Black History month, Executive Vice President of Electronic Data Systems Corporation John Castle spoke to students Wednesday about how the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr. have transcended racial and generational boundaries. In his lecture entitled "Martin Luther King Jr.: Preacher, Leader, Scholar", which was hosted by the Black Student Association and Leadership Rice, Castle detailed the story of King's civil rights movement and the qualities that made King a successful leader.

Sid Richardson RA Stein to leave at semester's end

Sid Richardson College Resident Associate Evan Stein announced at the Sid Council meeting Tuesday that he will be stepping down at the end of the semester. In addition to his work at Sid, Stein is the associate director of recreation programs.

SA presidential candidates, keep these points in mind

Just in case the numerous flyers covering tables at the serveries have not given enough indication, we will make it clear here: The Student Association elections for the 2009-'10 school year are right around the corner. Presidential debates are scheduled for Monday at 10 p.m. in the Farnsworth Pavilion, and the general election period starts Friday. To the three canididates running for SA president, Brown College junior Patrick McAnaney, Martel College sophomore Nicholas Muscara and Jones College junior Matty Weingast, we offer the following:It was nearly two years ago today that the Thresher Editorial Staff crafted a rather scathing indictment of the SA's policies ("SA needs its own Vision," Feb. 23, 2007). Our critique at that time was that the SA was slowly becoming "a rubber stamp for administrative interests." We complained then that SA members had apparent trouble with the concept of providing "strong, clear voices representing [the] majority opinion of their constituency" in the form of resolutions.

Saturday's Sports Update: Rice Falls in Overtime, 91-88

GREENVILLE, N.C. East Carolina's James Legan connected on a three-pointer with 3.2 seconds to play in overtime as the Pirates defeated Rice 91-88 Saturday in Minges Coliseum.

Ron Paul speaks on economy, smaller government

Republican Representative for Texas Ron Paul spoke to Rice students last week to share his personal opinion on the state of the economy and discuss how to restore the United States back to a responsible fiscal system. "The system we have today has failed," he said.

Head 2 Head: Fanboys

Brian's Take:

Comic: Candy Roses A Phils serenade

Wednesday Sports Update: Miners clip men at Tudor with late break

After seven lead changes and eight ties, the University of Texas-El Paso's basketball team pulled away in the final minutes for the 67-58 victory over Riceª at Tudor Fieldhouse. The Miners used a stifling full-court press to slow down the improving Owls offense, which came into Wednesday night's game averaging over 75 points in their last four contests.

Blanket taxes find ballot spot

Peppered among the names of student-government hopefuls on the 2009 Student Association spring election ballot will be a number of blanket tax proposals. Rice Program Council is requesting to increase its per-student blanket tax by $23 in two separate measures, adding $8 to its general fund and adding a new concerts fund tax of $15. Additionally, KTRU is requesting a $3 increase in its blanket tax, Open magazine and The Rice Review are asking to add a $1 blanket tax each and SA Internal Vice President Akshay Dayal proposed to eliminate The University Blue's $1 blanket tax. In order to pass, the proposals - all of which have already been approved by the SA senate except Open's request, which will be proposed at the next SA meeting Monday - must be separately approved by two-thirds of the students voting in the general election Feb. 20-25, with at least 20 percent of the student body voting.

Thursday's Sports Update: Miners pick away victory over Owls at home

The women's basketball team came home for the first of a four-game home stretch tonight against the University of Texas-El Paso. The game turned out to be a near repeat of their last match-up. Both teams stuck close to one another for most of the game, but a late game collapse by the Owls gave the visiting team a sizable final margin of victory, 69-57.From the start of the game, though, Rice showed their determination to bring their 11-game losing streak to an end, pulling out to an early 9-4 lead seven minutes into the game. The Miners were struggling with a scoring slump, shooting only 23 percent from the field after the first ten minutes.

KTRU interview: behind the genetic memory mystery with Matt Weston

I was driving with some friends recently when we suddenly heard a high-pitched screech punctuated by harsh thuds. "Do you hear that?" someone asked. "I think there might be a problem with the car." My friend laughed and pointed to the stereo, dialed to 91.7. "No, it's just KTRU."We were listening to a track from Matt Weston's album Not To Be Taken Away, released this past July on his label 7272music and currently in rotation on KTRU's playlist. Weston is a percussionist and electronic musician who is also a member of the experimental bands Barn Owl and Thrillpillow. This is his second full-length solo release after 2000's Vacuums.

Coming to America

Someone should really consider following Alexander Zinchenko to men's track meets with a boom box. That way they could blare the spooky electronic music that announced Ivan Drago's triumphant entrance into the arena before his bout with Rocky Balboa in Rocky IV. A fog machine wouldn't hurt either. The Brown College freshman, who matriculated at the beginning of the spring semester and had spent all of four weeks in the United States, is quickly establishing himself as a member of the Fantastic Four who comprise Rice men's shot corps. Rounding out the Four are freshman Will Meyers, junior Philip Adam and sophomore Clay Baker, who took first place at the Feb. 16 Leonard Hilton Invitational. However, Zinchenko, a 6-5, 250-lb. behemoth, is the only one who originated from across the pond.

Women's tennis sweeps week's competition

The women's tennis team continued their fantastic play by managing to win every single point in their last two matches against Louisiana-Lafayette and Prairie View. Because of rare showers in California this past weekend, the team postponed their trip to 60th ranked St. Mary's and 15th ranked Fresno State. Fortunately, first year head coach Elizabeth Schmidt was able to quickly schedule a match against Louisiana-Lafayette last Saturday.

Article XII of Honor Code does more harm than help

Last year, nine Rice students got away with sidestepping the Honor Code. Even after being officially confronted with the accusation against them, these students faced no formal hearing and had no mention on their records, due to the allowances of the Honor Code's Article XII - known to many as the "loophole" clause. On the Spring Election ballot next week, Rice students will have the chance to make our Honor System significantly more fair: The amendment to Article XII must pass! What is Article XII? In a nutshell, it allows a student faced with an Honor Code accusation to voluntarily withdraw from Rice for two semesters and, by doing so, to bypass the Honor Council process and have all charges against them dropped when they return. The plain truth is that Article XII harms more Rice students than it helps and undermines the fairness of the Honor System we have all agreed to abide by.

This Week's Sports Notebook

Swim team downs UIW

Think you've picked out the perfect Valentine's flick Think again

I just about died last year when my boyfriend picked out Monty Python and the Holy Grail for our movie date on Valentine's Day. While Monty Python has its strangely funny moments, it is strangely disturbing on some levels, and I don't quite find it to be an appropriate viewing experience for couples hoping to share some quality, romantic alone time.Even for Valentine's Day, some guys of the shoot-'em-up persuasion may find a true chick flick a little bit hard to swallow. They shouldn't have to spend their lives in fear of February 14, however, since there are quite a few movies besides über-girly ones, including The Notebook or The Wedding Planner, that more action-adventure guys might be able to handle . or even enjoy.

Sid gets new college coordinator

Corinne Cammarata, who previously worked as a grant writer for the Houston Area Women's Center, has filled the vacancy for Sid Richardson College's college coordinator. She began work on Tuesday and will continue through the rest of the academic semester. The Sid College Coordinator Search Committee began fielding applications after the previous office coordinator, Kelly Penrod, announced her resignation in early December last year. She worked until the end of the fall semester before leaving for a position with a counseling center.

Letters to the Editor

Rec Center strives to improve facility

Director of Sponsored Research steps down from post

Director of Sponsored Research Nancy Nisbett said farewell to Rice Wednesday after nearly five years as a staff member. The Office of Sponsored Research is directly responsible for aiding faculty and researchers in submitting grant proposals to both federal agencies and corporate industries. All research projects must be submitted through the office, she said.