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NEWS 2/26/09 6:00pm

KTRU Pick of the Week: Group Inerane's Guitars From Agadez

By Rose Cahalan

The electric guitar has long been an instrument of social revolution. The rise of 1950s rock stars like Elvis Presley and Little Richard helped pave the way for the Civil Rights Movement by uniting fans across race and class boundaries with the youthful appeal of a new, blended sound, as blues had previously been largely African-American, and country music the domain of rural whites.A decade later, anti-war and anti-nuclear protest music from John Lennon spoke for the hippie subculture. Today, every band seems to have penned at least one anti-Bush ballad.

NEWS 2/26/09 6:00pm

Rondelet loses momentum

By Staff Editorial

After the bungling of Rondelet this week, the Rice Program Council's spring formal officially has a checkered history (see story, page 7). In 2007, the dance was axed for the first time since 1947, but was resurrected in 2008. At the time, it looked like 2007's cancellation was a fluke, as the 2008 version was well-attended and well-received.But after two abrupt cancellations in the last three years, we feel that it is finally time to nix the idea of having a spring formal entirely. If Rondelet did not have a tainted reputation coming into this semester, it surely does now. With little record of success in recent memory, students will be disinclined to attend a possible second resurrection next year.

NEWS 2/26/09 6:00pm

Two new potential minors proposed to Faculty Senate

By Melissa Tsang

Aside from the newly approved Jewish studies minor, Speaker of the Faculty Senate Deborah Harter said the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee will soon vote on two potential minors - energy and water sustainability and poverty, justice, and human capabilities. These could join sociology, global health, business and financial modeling in Rice's expanding portfolio of minors.The Faculty Senate's approval of a new Jewish studies minor program last week may inspire students to introduce more interdisciplinary and departmental minors into their studies.

NEWS 2/26/09 6:00pm

RPC axes Rondelet due to low ticket sales

By Bianca Walker

After only 60 tickets were sold for Rondelet, the Rice University spring formal was canceled last Wednesday, three days before it was scheduled to take place.The formal would have had a Moulin Rouge theme and taken place in the Grand Hall of the Rice Memorial Center.

NEWS 2/26/09 6:00pm

Political science chair to depart

By Jaclyn Youngblood

After five years as the Department of Political Science chair, Rick Wilson has announced he will step down on June 30. Though Wilson will retire from his leadership position, he will remain at Rice as a member of the political science faculty. Wilson, who was appointed in 2004 by former Dean of Social Sciences Robert Stein, has served as department chair from 1991-94. The Department of Political Science rotates through chairs every three years, but Wilson's current term included a two-year extension beyond the standard three years because current Dean of Social Sciences Lyn Ragsdale asked him to stay.

NEWS 2/26/09 6:00pm

Health care reform need not break America's fiscal budget

By Sahil Gujral

Now that the President has been elected and the stimulus package passed, Washington is once more at war over American health care. The range of policy proposals made by Democratic and Republican lawmakers has been predictable. More government spending. Insurance mandates. Tax credits. Tort reform. Information technology updates. Prevention and education programs. And, of course, more government spending.Certain key problems with these ideas are already well understood. They would raise America's fiscal burden during a time of growing macroeconomic uncertainty. They could erode monetary incentives for top-flight doctors and researchers to practice in the US. They might outspend or "crowd out" private sector competitors, even if actually less efficient. And, they may foment rationing. Alas, amid these common critiques, the most obvious issue is lost.

NEWS 2/26/09 6:00pm

Two Owls land on the Red Carpet

By Julie Armstrong & Lily Chun

On Feb. 22, under the fading Hollywood sunlight, two Rice premeds made history. After beating out reporter-videographer teams from across the nation in mtvU.com's first Oscar Correspondent Contest for college journalists, Baker College senior Faheem Ahmed and Sid Richardson College junior Anish Patel, both Rice-Baylor scholars, flew to Los Angeles as one of the competition's top three finalist teams on behalf of the Rice Thresher.

NEWS 2/26/09 6:00pm

Owls capture home opener after rocky road start

By Meghan Hall

Though there was cause for concern when the baseball team came back from California with only one win from their opening three-game set, history should have warned us otherwise. In both 2007 and 2008, the Owls started 1-2, but earned a College World Series berth in Omaha, Neb. Now, it is too early to tell if another Omaha appearance is in the cards, but there is certainly something to be said for history repeating itself, as No. 10 Rice thumped the visiting University of Houston 9-2 on Wednesday night at Reckling Park.

NEWS 2/26/09 6:00pm

New minors commendable

By Staff Editorial

The proposal of the new Energy and Water Sustainibility and Poverty, Justice, and Human Capabilities minors is a pleasing sight for a few reasons (see story, page 7).Firstly, the continuation and expansion of the minors program is, in itself, the correct step to take in Rice's academic growth. Recently, the Thresher expressed its pleasure about the extension of the minors slate and in the two weeks since, little has changed ("Minors tangible results of student innovation," Jan. 30, 2009).

NEWS 2/26/09 6:00pm

Men continue struggles against ranked opponents

By Casey Michel

There is something out there that will help the men's tennis team beat a ranked foe. The Owls had it, whatever it was, during early-season wins over then-No. 17 University of Miami and then-No. 33 Texas Christian University. But for the last three weeks, that unknown, unnamed and unfaithful something-or-other has gone missing, in the process putting Rice on the wrong side of four of its last five matches. With last Sunday's road loss to No. 16 Florida State University, the 26th-ranked Owls have now dropped to 8-4 on the year, and what once seemed like a promising season has come to a grinding halt.

NEWS 2/26/09 6:00pm

Saturday's Sports Update: Rice basketball falls short against UH

By Brody Rollins

A 15-2 run by the Cougars over the final five minutes gave them the 54-51 victory over the Owls at Tudor Fieldhouse. The Owls were up 49-41 with 5:20 to play, but struggled without senior guard Rodney Foster who had to watch from the bench due to foul trouble. Foster, the team's leading scorer, picked up his fourth foul with over 13 minutes to play in the game and was on the court for only one minute before fouling out with 3:49 left. He finished with 5 points and six assists in 24 minutes.

NEWS 2/26/09 6:00pm

Thoughts on Schofield's gender-bending Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps

By Andi Gomez

Nudity, beer chugging, acrobatics and an explosive, menstrual pad-launching rendition of Hedwig and the Angry Inch's "The Origin of Love" - sound interested?Everyone should be. If more people started going to shows like Scott Turner Schofield's Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps, the world would be a more accepting place. We would see a society in which we seek to understand rather than to exile, and more people would be prepared to accept and help fellow human beings in their struggle to figure out who they are, regardless of sexuality and gender differentials.

NEWS 2/26/09 6:00pm

Pucker Up!

 

Hanszen president Abbie Ryan prepares to smooch Gunther, a visitor to Hanszen College's changeover Feb. 24.

NEWS 2/26/09 6:00pm

SA election garners record turnout

By Jocelyn Wright

A total of 1,610 students, over half of the undergraduate population, voted in the Student Association General Elections last week. The mass of students who voted gave this election the highest turnout in well over a decade, SA Director of Elections Timothy Faust said. The candidates were elected through a preferential voting system. The candidate receiving the fewest number of votes had his or her votes redistributed to other candidates depending on the preferential order of each individual ballot. Before any vote redistribution, Brown College junior Patrick McAnaney lead the race for Student Association President race with 555 votes. Jones College junior Matthew Weingast started in second with 411 votes; Martel College sophomore Nicholas Muscara, third place with 295 votes and Martel senior Alexander Crompton, fourth place with 151. Write-in candidates took 28 first-place ballots. After all votes had been redistributed, McAnaney won with 793 votes to second-place Weingast's 526. McAnaney will take the position officially at SA Changeover on March 23.

NEWS 2/26/09 6:00pm

Men's basketball better than weak record suggests

By Brody Rollins

For all the back-and-forth of a basketball game, it is ironic that most contests come down to a single possession. The men's basketball team was feeling the irony last Saturday, overcoming a 16-point deficit only to come up short in the final seconds, losing 69-66 to Southern Methodist University last Saturday in Dallas. While the Owls (8-18, 3-9 Conference USA) have certainly stepped up their play in the past three weeks, it is hard to decipher that improvement from their record, which finds them as winning only two of their last seven games.

NEWS 2/19/09 6:00pm

Article XII of Honor Code promotes equality and justice

By Richard Romeo

Last year, nine Rice students decided to exercise their rights under the honor system by utilizing the Honor Code's Article XII. With the Student Association General Election ballot this week, a majority of the Honor Council's members - although not all - wish to undermine Article XII's check on judicial power by amending it; they have done their best to paint this piece of our Honor Code as a caustic evil that harms the innocent and exonerates the guilty. On the contrary, Article XII allows you to determine, for yourself, if the honor system ruling by the Honor Code under which you are about to be judged is evenhanded and, if necessary, allows you to avoid improper judgment. It exists in the Honor Code to protect a student's right to plea "no contest" and to ensure his or her just treatment in the event of an unjust Honor Council. There is no reason to remove, alter or amend it. The amendment to Article XII must not pass!For those who do not know, Article XII allows a student confronted with an Honor Code violation to forfeit credit for the class in question and to withdraw from the university within three days for a period not less than two semesters with the knowledge that, following this self-imposed punishment, the Honor Council will no longer carry out action against him or her.

NEWS 2/19/09 6:00pm

No. 7 Rice will face bevy of national competition

By Natalie Clericuzio

Any preseason poll, regardless of sport, should be taken with a grain of salt. While some swear by the them, others disregard the votes as nearly useless. The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. While Baseball America ranks Rice seventh in the nation, the Owls have to be wary of several other schools across the country returning ready to challenge the Owls' in the fight to reach the 2009 College World Series. Rice's in-state neighbor, Texas A&M University, earned this season's top ranking from the staff of Baseball America. The Aggies sport three preseason All-Americans in senior first baseman Luke Anders, senior outfielder Kyle Colligan and junior reliever Travis Starling. Last season, Anders led the team with 16 home runs. Colligan, a Houston native, earned College Station NCAA Regional MVP honors after hitting four home runs over the three-game weekend.

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