The Rice Thresher, Vol. 92, No. 7, Ed. 1 Friday, October 1, 2004 Page: 2 of 20
twenty pages : ill. ; page 19 x 15 in.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
THE RICE THRESHER OPINION FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1,2004
ce Thresher
New dean should show
commitment to students
While we were glad to see the job description for the new
dean of undergraduates position released this week (see
story, page 1), we are disappointed that the description is
more vague than concrete.
We hope the administration will continue to update stu-
dents on the search and reorganization processes, and will
soon release more specifics about which responsibilities
formerly under Student Affairs will fall under the new dean.
Because the dean will not oversee Career Services, Health
Services or the Recreation Center, we want to know where
these services will report, and how their infrastructures will
change. We also wonder how the dean of undergraduates
will interact with graduate student services.
Based on the description, we think the best person for the
job would be one who has already demonstrated commit-
ment to those non-academic aspects of the university that
benefit undergraduates. We assume that all the candidates
will have a firm grasp on undergraduate academics because
only tenured Rice faculty members may apply. Beyond a
commitment to academics, the ideal candidate will also
have a commitment to and a familiarity with the residential
college system.
The new dean should be someone who is straightfor-
ward and someone who students can trust to represent
their interests to the upper levels of the administration.
The personality of this first dean, more than anything else,
will determine the future parameters of the position, so
we hope the committee will choose a candidate who plans
on making himself or herself visible and accessible to the
Rice community, especially to students. Although teaching
and research are important duties of any tenured faculty
member, the dean should have time to fulfill administrative
responsibilities and to form relationships with students. We
hope the dean will maintain a staff large enough to address
the broad responsibilities outlined in the job description.
Our biggest expectation of the new dean is that he or she
undertake the "integration of formal and informal education"
with an eye to enhance, not diminish, the non-academic as-
pects of student life. When considering the applicant pool,
the search committee should select a dean of undergraduates
who will embrace the non-academic culture and traditions
that make Rice a healthy undergraduate institution.
Finding time to
attend inauguration
Most of us won't go to bed early tonight in eager anticipa-
tion of President David Leebron's inauguration ceremony
tomorrow morning. Somehow, pomp and circumstance just
doesn't seem worth the 9 a.m. wake-up call.
However, we hope students will make a strong showing
at the 11:30 a.m. reception for students and alumni in the
Ray Courtyard of the Rice Memorial Center. This recep-
tion is the only other inaugural event students may attend,
and should offer good conversation and tasty finger food
if nothing else.
At the inauguration of former President Malcolm Gillis
in 1993, more than 3,000 people attended the celebratory
barbecue despite rainy weather, and between 300 and
400 students participated in various contests and games.
Although this Saturday's reception will be a bit more formal,
students should still attend because it marks an important
and memorable occasion.
Hey man, can I
borrow your pen?
Guest column
A bicycle built for you, not for thieves
I love riding a bicycle around
campus, pedaling in a pleasant haze
of thought. But recently I have been
relegated to riding my "air" bicycle.
What is an "air" bicycle?
It's all the rage. More
and more folks around
campus seem to be rid-
ing one. I acquired mine
July 4,2004, when my real
bike vanished into thin
air — stolen. Be careful
with your bicycle, or you
may find yourself riding an
imaginary one too.
July 4 dawned beautiful
and sunny 1 headed to the
little alcove at the corner
of the Abercrombie Engi-
neering Laboratory where my shiny
new Marin Country mountain bike
was parked. But when 1 turned the
corner, my heart fell to my knees
with a thud.
The ground was littered with
dismembered Kryptonite locks.
One U-Lock looked familiar — too
familiar. Sure enough, my key
worked. But my bike — half my
monthly stipend — was gone.
A dutiful citizen, I filed a report
with the unsurprised Rice University
Police Department. I learned that the
thieves had used a heavy crowbar to
leverage open the U-lock, crimping
it like a bad perm. They had time to
work on seven or eight bicycles, all
parked in the same spot — a one-
stop bonanza.
Sripriya
Sriram
1 had been under the impression
that U-locks were the most robust
bike theft deterrent. But I had been
living a lie. Thieves can and do
break U-locks. Recently,
a video lias appeared on
the Internet demonstrat-
ing how easy it is to open
Kryptonite U-locks with
a cheap ballpoint pen.
No heavy equipment. No
fuss. Just a free bike.
Ironically, in this case
a chain lock would have
worked out better and
might have saved my bike.
It's a rare thief that has the
tools to break both.
My blood boiled, but
unfortunately there wasn't much I
could do. This was the second bike
that had been stolen from me in four
months.
But there are steps you can take
to avoid acquiring an air bike of
your own. Visibility is key. Park at
a well-lit bicycle rack near plenty
of pedestrian traffic. Be especially
vigilant during long weekends and
semester recesses when there are
less people around.
When you lock up your bike, take
the seat with you. Make sure to lock
both the front wheel and the frame
to the stand, minimizing the space a
thief has to insert a lever. If you can,
take your bicycle into the building
with you — it's hard for a thief to
steal it from under your nose.
Choose your lock wisely. Although
Kryptonite's reputation has suffered,
the company CEO offers up to a $ 1 ,(HX)
reimbursement in the event its lock
fails and your bike is stolen. If you get
one, make sure to register it on the
company Web site within 15 days of
purchase. Another option is to seek
reimbursement through your credit
card's anti-theft clauses, if applicable.
Take the time to find out the relevant
terms and conditions.
But no matter what you do, there's
no way to stop a determined thief. So
register your bicycle with the RUPD
as soon as you get it. This identification
will make it harder to pawn and im-
prove the odds of recovering the bike
in the unfortunate event it is stolen.
Unfortunately for me, all these
suggestions came a little late. No
more shiny new bikes for me — I'm
planning to get myself a rusty con-
traption that will have the bike thieves
weeping in sympathy and dropping
me a quarter or two.
Or you just might see me on my
air bicycle at Beer-Bike this year
along with all the other graduate
students who had their bikes stolen
this summer.
Well make sure to sit on the kegs.
Sripriya Sriram is a graduate student
in electrical engineering.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Thresher
editorial staff.
Bush wasting money
on unjustified Iraqi war
To the editor:
In his op-ed piece ("You can-
not fight terror by playing nice,"
Sept. 24), Rohit Padmanabhan was
correct that the United States was
justified in attacking Afghanistan
after 9/11 in order to root out
Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda
operatives. Unfortunately, he failed
to mention what a terrible job the
Bush Administration has actually
done in Afghanistan.
Instead of focusing our re-
sources on finishing the job in
Afghanistan, President George W.
Bush decided to waste billions of
dollars to attack Iraq in order to
topple a secular dictator who was
actually hated by al Qaeda and other
extremist Islamic groups. When
the administration's initial justifi-
cation for attacking Iraq — that
Saddam Hussein had weapons of
mass destruction — fell through.
it shamelessly started saying that
the purpose of the war had been to
save Iraqis from Saddam's oppres-
sion all along!
Sadly, many Americans like
Padmanabhan bought into the Bush
Administration's lie that attacking
Iraq was an essential step in the war
on terror. Perhaps this is because the
administration misled Americans into
thinking there was a link between
Saddam and 9/11 even though the
bipartisan 9/11 Commission found
that no such link existed. The truth
is that Bush pressured intelligence
sources into telling him what he
wanted to hear so he could attack
Iraq. As a result, over 1,050 Ameri-
can troops have died, approximately
13,(XX) Iraqi civilians have died, the
number of terrorists being recruited
is increasing and ()sama bin I>aden is
still at large. Plus, now we have two
countries to fix instead of just one.
Samir I'atel
President, Rice Young Democrats
Jones senior
CONTACTING THE
THRESHER
Letters
m Letters to the editor should
be sent to the Ihresherby e-mail
to threslter@rice.edu. Letters
must be received by 5 p.m. on
the Monday prior to a Friday
publication date.
■ All letters must be signed
and include college and year if
the writer is a Rice student.
■ Letters should be no lon-
ger than 250 words in length.
The Thresher reserves the
right to edit letters for both
content and length.
Subscribing
■ Annual subscriptions are
available for $50 domestic
and $105 international via
first class mail or online at
www.ricethresher.org.
Advertising
■ We accept display and
classified advertisements.
Please contact our advertising
manager at thresher-ads@rice.
edu or (713)348-3967 for more
information.
I
i
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Gilbert, Lindsey & Yardley, Jonathan. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 92, No. 7, Ed. 1 Friday, October 1, 2004, newspaper, October 1, 2004; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth398451/m1/2/: accessed June 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.