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NEWS 3/27/08 7:00pm

Commentary:Fantasies meant for bedroom, not ballpark

By Casey Michel

As someone more famous than me once said, "Life has its poetry." It's a good phrase, but, being the entitled English major that I am, I'm going to fix it up a bit: "Life has its irony." Granted, I completely changed the meaning of the original phrase, but "irony" happens to be the word that captures the essence of a situation I encountered last Saturday - at least better than any Yeats ode or Eminem ballad ever could.With a brilliant afternoon beaming through my windows, March Madness was busy lighting up the faces of me and my friends. Couch sagging, eyes focused and Duke-hate-mongering all around, the holidays of hoops had arrived.

NEWS 3/27/08 7:00pm

Commentary:Environmental activism not merely trendy

By Andrea Dinneen

Whether you are for it or against it, there is no denying that over the last year Rice has gotten noticeably more eco-conscious. In the past year alone, the Rice Thresher has published 39 articles related to environmental issues, compared to 13 the year before. Student groups on campus have organized everything from anti-coal protests to a North vs. South College energy competition, and even Rice's administration got in on the act by requiring all entering freshmen to read the environmentally-focused text, Field Notes from a Catastrophe. Despite environmentalism's apparent popularity on campus, many students have nevertheless begun to lash out against environmental, particularly climate-change centered, activism. These students argue that global climate change has become the "cool issue" for our generation to care about and that environmental activists are more concerned with following a fad than trying to create real change.Before I address the issue of activists' sincerity, I want to begin by dispelling the conception that climate change itself is a fad. For one thing, those advocating carbon dioxide reduction policies are not doing so based on a whim or on minimal scientific evidence. In fact, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the hundreds of scientists it represents have been studying climate change since the United Nations convened the body in 1988. Furthermore, simply searching "global warming" on Google brings up 46 million responses, which makes it hard to argue that global warming is a new or understudied field.

NEWS 3/27/08 7:00pm

Board of Trustees members visit college commons

By Evan Mintz

Last Wednesday, students across campus may have found interesting additions to their usual lunchtime routine of conversation and servery food as members of the Board of Trustees joined them in their college commons to discuss campus issues, with some members returning to the college they attended during their years at Rice. Campus growth under the Vision for the Second Century, student diversity and the differing styles of President David Leebron and former president Malcolm Gillis were popular conversation topics.Marc Shapiro, a former Vice Chairman at J.P. Morgan Chase and current Director of Kimberly-Clark Corporation, ate at Martel College along with Leebron. Shapiro explained to students the board's actual role at Rice, which is approving budgets and working with the president on long-term planning.

NEWS 3/27/08 7:00pm

Serendipitous Musings:Pavilion success rides on student support

By Amanda Melchor

As construction enters its final phases, the near-completion of the Brochstein Pavilion presses students to consider the building's purpose and to take action to help ensure that the newest architectural addition to campus serves that purpose by serving students. The main goal of the pavilion lies in enhancing Rice's sense of student vibrancy, which can only be accomplished if students voluntarily and continually use it.Student vibrancy, as described in the Vision for the Second Century, is defined as a sense of a university community that students acquire by using space

NEWS 3/27/08 7:00pm

Rice Punjabi dance wins third at nationals

By Cindy Dinh

Through leaps, hops and a few shoulder shrugs, Rice's traditional Punjabi dance team, Chowl Bhangra, which translates to Rice Bhangra, danced its way to third place last weekend in the Virsa Punjab Da competition at North Carolina State University. The club is in its second year on campus.Wiess College sophomores Sukhdeep Kaur and Monique Gill started the team last year.

NEWS 3/27/08 7:00pm

Colwick's vaults lead men's track

By Brody Rollins

Despite coming up short during the indoor season, the men's track and field team was in midseason form at the first meet of the outdoor season last weekend. Four Owls posted NCAA regional qualifying marks, one fewer than the total number of athletes that were able to do so all of the last outdoor season.The team competes again this Friday and Saturday at the Victor Lopez Bayou Classic, the first meet of the year at the Rice Track/Soccer Stadium. Notable visiting teams include Harvard Univeristy and the University of Texas, which is currently ranked ninth in the nation.

NEWS 3/27/08 7:00pm

Braun named men's basketball coach

By Casey Michel

When the 2008-'09 men's basketball season opens, the renovated Autry Court will not be the only new sight for fans. On Sunday, Ben Braun was announced as the new head coach at Rice, replacing the departed Willis Wilson (Will Rice '82) who led the team for the past 16 seasons.Braun has an extensive resumé as a Division I coach, having helmed the men's basketball team at the University of California-Berkeley since 1997. The Chicago native led Cal to a 219-154 record in his 12 seasons to compile the second-highest number of wins in the school's history. However, Braun's teams have struggled of late, missing the postseason from 2005-'07 and falling to Ohio State University in the second round of this year's National Invitation Tournament.

NEWS 3/27/08 7:00pm

Golf finishes in 11th place after second-round stumble

By Yan Digilov

While an 11th place finish would be disheartening to most, it was particularly disappointing for the golf team. After finishing in the top 10 in its last three tournaments, Rice was 11th out of 15 teams at the Carter Plantation Intercollegiate in Springfield, La., which concluded last Tuesday. Through three rounds of play the team shot a cumulative score of 943, 62 strokes behind victorious Middle Tennessee State University.After a two-week break, the Owls will look to right themselves at the North Carolina State Tournament, which runs from April 11-13 in Wallace, N.C. and will feature some of the Atlantic Coast Conference's toughest contenders. The team that will give Rice the most trouble will most likely be host NC State - the Wolfpack recently outperformed seven top 20 opponents to take the top spot at the Hootie @ Bulls Bay Invitational last Tuesday.

NEWS 3/27/08 7:00pm

Tiered system for parking fees proposed; Greenbriar to be cheaper

By Alex Dinur

The University Standing Committee on Parking, composed of students, faculty and staff met Wednesday to draft a letter of recommendation to President David Leebron for next year that includes changes in parking policy and rates. The committee suggested a plan to redesign the Greenbriar Lot to hold more spaces and to return to the tiered system of parking. Hanszen College senior Eric Max, who serves on the committee, said the committee is trying to decrease all parking rates but will more likely focus on one low-priced student option.

NEWS 3/27/08 7:00pm

UH finishes off baseball's ten-game win streak

By Jessica Cannon

Despite rain and near-freezing temperatures, the baseball team managed to keep their arms warm enough to sweep Marshall University before returning to the sunny South and handing a loss to Texas State University on Tuesday. Unfortunately, No. 12 Rice's (18-7) win streak ended at ten games Wednesday night when cross-town rival University of Houston handed the Owls an 8-5 loss, although senior Jordan Dodson's two-out fly ball in the ninth came within feet of sending the game into extra innings.Looking ahead, the Owls will be enmeshed in a tough series this weekend with the University of Southern Mississippi. The homestand, which begins today at 6:30 p.m. at Reckling Park, will give Rice a chance to pad its conference record, which stands at 4-1. The Golden Eagles (15-7) have been one of the streakiest teams in Conference USA this year - after a five-game losing streak earlier this month, they have taken nine of their last 10 to climb back above .500.

NEWS 3/27/08 7:00pm

Sid RA Kuster to leave in May

By Dale Swartz

Last week, Sid Richardson College Resident Associate Katherine Kuster (Brown '99) announced that she will step down from her position in May. A search committee has been formed and is looking to appoint a new RA by late April.Kuster, an outreach coordinator at the Rice Gallery, is moving to Japan with her fiancé, who has been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to pursue research on pollution in the upper atmosphere.

NEWS 3/27/08 7:00pm

Sophomore slump: Panic at the Disco and The Raconteurs show that springtime growth should not mean uprooting

By Sarah Cook

Yesterday, both Panic at the Disco and The Raconteurs released their sophomore efforts, and in my excitement, I bought them both. As a way early Christmas present to myself, I first opened Pretty.Odd., the beautiful Panic at the Disco album, drawn to the gorgeous nineteenth-century-style cover, thick with flowers and butterflies.As the first song, "We're So Starving," came on, I remembered why I love them so much. It's not because they're indie-cool (because they're not). It's not because they're technically the best musicians (because they're not). It is because of their fast, upbeat, fresh sound, a sound that evokes smiles even when the lyrics are filled with prostitutes, adultery and sleazy hotels. Unfortunately, as the album continued, I realized that these snarky pop kids seem to have thrown out their old sound for something much sunnier and, sadly, much more boring.

NEWS 3/27/08 7:00pm

Don't be an April fool: rent classics

By Brian Reinhart

Drillbit Taylor. College Road Trip. Never Back Down. Do any of those titles make you want to run to the movie theater? Me neither. With the Oscars over and all the good movies of the year scheduled to come out during either summer or fall, Hollywood is beginning to feed us a steady stream of crap. What is a movie lover to do?My solution is to start renting older movies. There are hundreds of forgotten films from decades past just waiting for us to rediscover them. Here are some recommendations to start things off: three obscure, but great, movies from the '70s, ‘80s and '90s.

NEWS 3/27/08 7:00pm

Men's tennis catches breath before facing Tulsa

By Casey Michel

When three straight wins over ranked opponents can be described as the calm before the storm, it is easy to see how tough the men's tennis schedule really is. Having already faced a dozen opponents ranked in the top 75 over the last few months, the men's tennis team took on three more at last weekend's Rice Invite, sweeping aside No. 46 University of Iowa, No. 68 Middle Tennessee State and No. 62 University of San Diego to capture the tournament crown.But now is no time for the 22nd-ranked Owls to exhale - their most important test of the season comes to Jake Hess Tennis Stadium this Wednesday. The University of Tulsa, currently ranked 11th in the nation, has given Rice the greatest trouble of any opponent in recent memory: The Golden Hurricane has halted the Owls' last two Conference USA championship runs in the final match to capture two consecutive conference titles.

NEWS 3/20/08 7:00pm

Horton captures imaginations and Seuss' vision

By Rameez Anwar

After the last two movie adaptations of a Dr. Seuss story - the forgettable How the Grinch Stole Christmas and the abominable The Cat in the Hat - it had become a legitimate concern as to whether it was possible to successfully convert one of Seuss's concise classics into a full-length film. However, Hollywood's latest attempt, Horton Hears a Who!, makes the prospect of a big screen Green Eggs and Ham much less frightening. While the movie is legitimately entertaining, and not even in a "so bad it's kind of good" way, it flags in energy whenever it strays from the concept of the original story and focuses on uninspired plot additions.For the most part, the film focuses on Dr. Seuss' original plot: Horton the elephant (The Number 23's Jim Carrey) discovers a microscopic world on a speck of dust, befriends the mayor of tiny Whoville ("The Office"'s Steve Carell) and then embarks on a journey to find a safe place to store the speck of dust.

NEWS 3/20/08 7:00pm

Model UN awarded at conference

By Cindy Dinh

With world affairs debated in the media daily, Rice students have the opportunity to engage in political current events by walking in the shoes of an international delegate. Last weekend, seven delegates from the Rice Model United Nations team competed in the University of California at Berkeley Model United Nations Conference held in San Francisco, Calif. and came home with awards such as Honorable Mention for Small Delegation.The collegiate chapter of Model UN emulates the United Nations in that student delegates are randomly assigned committees such as the Security Council or World Bank and represent the interests of their assigned country. Rice members represented Pakistan and Burkina Faso, and the delegates prepared by researching topics and writing position papers on how their assigned country would feel about certain issues. Some of the topics included Iran seeking nuclear weapons, non-state paramilitary organizations or women's human rights violations in Malaysia.

NEWS 3/20/08 7:00pm

Perry appoints Gillis to cancer research grant committee

By Catherine Bratic

Former Rice President and current economics professor Malcolm Gillis was appointed to Texas' Cancer Prevention and Research Institute Oversight Committee last Thursday by governor Rick Perry. The institute was formed after a statewide vote in November with the purpose of allocating a total of $3 billion in grants for cancer research to researchers nationwide, not just those based in Texas."I wouldn't have signed up if it had been just Texas researchers," Gillis said. "This proves that we can compete with anybody on equal footing."

NEWS 3/20/08 7:00pm

Leebron serves as panelist at Clinton Global Institute

By Catherine Bratic

Inspired by his experiences over spring break, President David Leebron is encouraging students to step up and use their education to find solutions to global problems.Last weekend, Leebron joined other presidents and students from universities across the country at the inaugural meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative University at Tulane University. The three-day event focused on how students can make a worldwide difference in the areas of energy and climate change, human rights and peace, global health and poverty alleviation.

NEWS 3/20/08 7:00pm

Guest column:Financial aid ehancements tangible, vital

By David Ouyang

In an ideal world, college admissions would be based solely on merit, and the cost of education would have no bearing on the matriculation decision. Even with supportive parents, the burden of financial responsibility is heavy, and the cost of education is far from cheap. Recent changes in financial aid policies of top American universities have changed the college admissions environment and made the competition for the top students even more competitive.In the final months of 2007, Harvard University created ripples in higher education by revamping its financial aid policy. By changing tuition to cost 10 percent of family income for students from families earning up to $180,000 per year (tuition would be $18,000 per year for those hypothetical students), Harvard greatly decreased the cost of education for students from middle to upper-middle class backgrounds. This policy shift was mimicked by Yale University, while Dartmouth College, Cornell University, Duke University and our own Rice University have chosen the less drastic measure of increasing the maximum income for providing full tuition, allowing families who make more to pay less.

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