The Rice Thresher, Vol. 90, No. 28, Ed. 1 Friday, April 25, 2003 Page: 1 of 20
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the Kice 1 hresher
Vol. XC, Issue No. 28
SINCE 1916
Friday, April 25, 2003
Input collected for
presidential search
by Jenny Rees
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
Students want Rice's next presi-
dent to keep enrollment low and
address the housing shortage, Andy
Weber, the undergraduate represen-
tative to the presidential search com-
mittee, said.
Weber, a Sid Richardson College
junior, held a discussion during the
Student Association meeting Mon-
day to gather student opinion about
the characteristics and values the
next president should have. He said
he has attended college government
meetings at every college except
Wiess College and also received in-
put through questionnaires he
placed in every undergraduate
student's mailbox.
The 15-member search commit-
tee, chaired by Board of Trustees
member Tim Crownover
(Hanszen '65), has begun meeting
to plan the search, Weber said. He
said the process will take six to nine
months and will involve more than
200 applicants. The committee's
choice will probably be announced
in December or January. Weber said.
The search committee is cur-
rently gathering input from students,
faculty, staff and administrators
about what qualities they want in the
next president. The committee also
welcomes suggestions of people to
consider as candidates for the posi-
tion, Weber said.
Weber said he has received writ-
ten feedback from more than 100 stu-
dents, many of whom have called for
an administration that will pay atten-
tion to students' opinions.
"Students want a president who
will recognize the students' voice on
things," Weber said. "I think stu-
dents are the heart and soul of the
university, and we are looking for a
president who will recognize that
and engage the students."
See PRESIDENT, Page 7
im i
The joy of cola ... cans
CALEB REDFIELD/THRESHER
Children stack aluminum cans at Saturday's Houston Earth Day, held in the South Stadium Lot. Local nonprofit
groups hosted booths and performances at the event.
.. „•
11
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Web site pirates image of Lovett Hall
by Lindsey Gilbert
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
RACHEL DAVIS THRESHER
It's what ties lis together
Hanszen College freshman Jon Levy tie dyes a T-shirt at
the 4:20 Festival held Sunday in the Ray Courtyard. The
festival also featured hemp weaving and brownies.
The General Counsel's office will ask the operator of an
inflammatory Web site featuring an unauthorized picture of
Ix>vett Hall to discontinue use of the image, Associate Gen-
eral Counsel Joe Davidson said.
The Web site http://www.rapemyprofessors.com, invites
students to post complaints about their professors for other
students to view. In the site's logo, the name of the site and
a slogan, "The place to insult, demean, and taunt your most
hated professors in a non-threatening way," is printed over
a panoramic picture of lovett Hall.
Until Wednesday, the site also offered T-shirts with the
D)vett Hall image for sale. The operator of the site, a Boston
University student who wished to remain anonymous, said
he discontinued sales of the shirts in question after receiving
a notice from the merchandise company, CafePress.com.
CafePress.com told him they had been contacted by Rice
about the legality of the image, he said.
Davidson said Ixtvett Hall is a recognizable building and
its use could create confusion among site viewers, who
might think Rice supports its content.
"It creates a sort of associational disparagement," he said.
"There's some confusion that can be created in the market-
place. People might think that is a Rice-related site, or Rice-
backed, or Rice-sponsored or somehow Rice-affiliated."
The first step in such cases is to send a cease-and-desist
letter, Davidson said. If the student is uncooperative and
refuses to discontinue use of the image, Rice could take legal
action under common law arguments.
The operator, a math major who collaborated with other
BU students in designing the site, said he obtained the
image of Ix>vett Hall from the Greater Houston Convention
and Visitor's Bureau online photo gallery.
He used the image because it accommodated the desired
size of his logo and because it captures the spirit of academic
institutions, he said.
"It's very fitting for a banner image," he said. "In terms of
aesthetic qualities I think it kind of represents the monolithic
nature of any academic institution."
The entry page states, "This site is not affiliated with Rice
University." The operator added language crediting the
source of the photo Wednesday.
Davidson said the problem does not necessarily lie in copy-
right or trademark violations, but in the spirit of the image's use.
Ixjvett Hall is not a registered trademark, he said.
The site, which loosely satirizes another online ranking
site, http://www.ratemyprofessors.com. was registered
March 24. At press time 39 students had posted verbal as-
saults, 16 of which were about professors at Rice.
The operator said he was never a student at Rice, al-
though he has visited the campus and has a few friends who
attend. However, he did not tell his friends about the site.
"It just happened coincidentally that people started post-
ing from Rice University with much frequency." he said.
Sid Richardson College junior Jeff Bishop said he re-
ported the site to the General Counsel's office when he saw
it, thinking the picture of lx>vett Hall might be copyrighted.
Bishop said he was particularly unsettled by the T-shirts
printed with the phrase "rapemyprofessors.com."
See WEBSITE. Page 8
Parking draws moved to the spring
mnmm
by Rachel Rustin
THRESHER STAFF
The old parking rules keep going
out and the new ones keep coming in.
With a change in the policy of close-
in resident student parking lots, both
the North and the South Colleges
D>ts will be permit-only parking start-
ing the first day of classes in August.
While both lots have traditionally
had a grace period while colleges hold
parking jacks, the Rice University
Police Department has announced
officers will begin issuing citations
the first week of classes.
Colleges will complete jacks by
the end of this semester and RUPD
will issue stickers during Orienta-
tion Week and the weekend before
classes start.
Rice University Police Depart-
ment Chief Bill Taylor said the
change was needed because offic-
ers were overloaded with illegally
parked cars, students received tick-
ets they felt they did not deserve and
students who had stickers for those
lots could not find spaces, he said.
"The parking will be available for
the people who are supposed to have
it," Taylor said.
See PARKING, Page 8
Honor Council considers future changes
by Mark Berenson
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
The Honor Council referenda
election last week was not the end of
discussions about reform to the
honor system, and the Honor Coun-
cil. faculty and administration are
now looking to the future.
The only referendum to pass last
week calls for the creation of a three-
member appeals board consisting of
the assistant dean for Student Judicial
Programs and two faculty members.
Speaker of the Faculty Jack
Zammito said he was pleased faculty
will have a formal role in the honor
system.
The process for selecting the
faculty was left to the Faculty Coun-
cil, and Zammito said the council
will discuss the issue at its May 6
meeting.
Newly elected Honor Council
Chair Keith Henneke said he thinks
the appeals board will alleviate some
problems the Honor Council identi-
fied in the appeals process.
"We think that including [faculty
members| in the appeals process
specifically could help ensure that
some of the problems we have seen
the past couple of years don't con-
tinue to happen in the future,"
Henneke. a Jones College junior said.
Henneke said the Honor Council
will recommend to the Faculty Coun-
cil that six faculty members be as-
See HONOR. Page 5
Running for bimitos
The first 150 people to stop
by the men's track meet around
6 p.m. today will be rewarded
with free Chipotle burritos. Ilie
meet is being held at the Rice
Track/Soccer Stadium.
The burritos were pur-
chased by the Student-Athlete
Committee in an attempt to
show students that the best
runners weren't at Beer-Run.
In the event the burritos are
not eaten, SAC members will
be expected to consume all left-
over burritos.
No more Threshers
Unfortunately, the break is
not indefinite. Instead, this will
be the last issue until the gradu-
ation issue. May 16. where we
will be forced to come back to
Rice to put together a paper that
will be mailed to you all that you
probably won't even read. Darn.
OPINION Page 3
Council must not forget
A&E Page 9
Stellar La Traviata's in Houston
SPORTS Pages 12-13
Baseball's catching quartet
Quote of the Week
"I never would have been as good a
player if I had not been trying to
prove I wasn't a sissy."
— David Kopay, homosexual ex-NFL
running back. See Story, Page 4.
Scoreboard
Sport
Rice 5, Lamar 9
Nevada 6, Rice 5
Nevada 0, Rice 3
Weekend Weather
Friday
Partly cloudy, 58-89 degrees
Saturday
Partly cloudy. 59-83 degrees
Sunday
Isolated t-storms. 59-81 degrees
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Berenson, Mark. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 90, No. 28, Ed. 1 Friday, April 25, 2003, newspaper, April 25, 2003; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth398435/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.