The Rice Thresher, Vol. 91, No. 15, Ed. 1 Friday, January 16, 2004 Page: 1 of 24
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e
ice Thresher
Vol. XCI, Issue No. 15
SINCE 1916
Friday, January 16, 2004
Columbia Law Dean named seventh president
David Leebron selected by Board to succeed Gillis after year-long search
by Mark Berenson
THRESHER LDH ORIAL STAFF
Columbia University Law School
Dean David Leebron was named the
future seventh president of Rice
University by the Board ofTrustees
Dec. 17.
Leebron's selection concluded a
year-long search process that began
in December 2002 when President
Malcolm Gillis announced he was
stepping down as president effec-
tive July 1.
Leebron said his interest in Rice
came from reading the search
committee's "While Paper." The
White Paper included factual infor-
mation about Rice and the
committee's perspective on its fu-
ture.
"When the search firm first called
and said, Would you be interested,'
for a number of reasons, I said, 'I
doubt it,'" Leebron said. "They said,
"Would you be willing to read some-
thing,' and being an academic, there
is only one answer to that question
... and I read the paper, and it is
really magnificent."
Members of the search commit-
tee also said Leebron was chosen, in
part, because he best embodied the
future goals outlined in the White
Paper.
"He truly exemplified what we
were looking for in our White Paper
when we set out," Andy Weber, the
undergraduate student representa-
tive to the committee, said.
Presidential Search Committee
Chair Jim Crownover (Hanszen '65),
a member of the Board, said the
committee was not initially looking
at law school deans, and as a result
Leebron was not considered until
late summer. He was the last of the
candidates that the committee seri-
ously contemplated.
Crownover said Cornell Univer-
sity President Jeffrey Lehman, who
served as the dean of the University
of Michigan Law School prior to as-
suming the Cornell presidency last
July, suggested the committee con-
sider Leebron.
"[Lehman] gave us one name,
David Leebron," Crownover said.
"He said the problem was you could
never get him, because Columbia
would never let him go."
Crownover said that, by coinci-
dence, he was in New York City
three days later and called Leebron.
The two met for several hours, and
this meeting began the recruitment
process.
In late September, Leebron came
down to Houston for his first inter-
view, and members of the search
committee said he left a powerful
impression.
"We were obviously very im-
pressed, and one thing that very
See LEEBRON, Page 11
alex sigeda/thresher
David Leebron addresses the faculty at the Dec. 19 press conference.
400 textbooks late to Campus Store
by Jenny Rees
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
Rather than standing in typical
beginning-of-the-semester lines in
the Rice Campus Store, some stu-
dents trying to purchase books en-
countered no lines — and no books.
A third of the books requested by
instructors, about 400 titles, had not
arrived yet in the bookstore by
Wednesday afternoon, Campus
Store Manager Michelle
Vanderwater said. Vanderwater said
the majority of the missing books
are for courses in the humanities,
but other departments are also af-
fected.
Hanszen College freshman Todd
Blumberg said only one of the six
books required for his RELI 101:
Introduction to the Study of Religion
course had arrived in the bookstore
by Wednesday.
"The teachers are going to have
to make copies from chapters of [one
karla held/thresher
A new home for Health Services
The Student Health and Wellness Center opened Monday in the old
Brown College commons. See Story, Page 8.
Sexual assault reported
by Jenny Rees
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
An alleged sexual assault was re-
ported at Wiess College in the early
morning of Dec. 6. Charges have not
yel been filed in the case, nor has
disciplinary action been taken by the
Office of Student Judicial Programs.
Assistant Dean for Student Judi-
cial Programs Don Ostdiek said the
case has been referred to his office.
Ostdiek said he will handle the mat-
ter himself, possibly with the assis-
tance of the Judicial Affairs Commit-
tee, and will publish an abstract of
the case at the end of the semester.
Rice University Police Chief Bill
Taylor said he sent the police report
on t he case to Harris County Assistant
District Attorney Roberto Gutierrez
late Wednesday afternoon. Taylor said
RlJPI) had been waitingat the request
of the I )A's office for an outside lab to
return a toxicology report before send-
ing the police report to the DA's office.
Although the toxicology report still
had not been returned from the lab,
Gutierrez decided Wednesday to re-
quest the police report.
Taylor said RUPD will send the
See ASSAULT, Page 9
ESTHER unreliable
by Audrey Walstrom
FOR THE THRESHER
Students attempting to view
or change their course sched-
ules throughout the week have
experienced difficulty connecting
to the ESTHER system and slow
or intermittent connections once
logged in. Hie problems stem
from internal flaws and increased
traffic during the first week of
classes. Associate Vice President
for Administrative Systems
Randy Castiglioni said.
"We're looking at the Oracle
software that supports ESTHER
and how it interfaces with the
network, and that seems to be
where most of the problems are
at this point," Castiglioni said.
He said the increased load on
the system during the first week
of classes is exacerbating pre-
existing problems with ESTHER.
Brown College senior Eliza-
beth Good said she could not log
in to the ESTHER page when she
tried to access the system to add
and drop classes.
"It tried to load for hours,"
Good said.
Baker sophomore Ben Walker
also experienced problems.
"I couldn't log on, I guess be-
cause of traffic," Walker said.
Castiglioni said the delays are
getting shorter as the staff works
to correct the problems, and he
expects significant improvement
by the middle of next week.
"We're working almost
24 hours a day to resolve this,"
Castiglioni said.
Registrar Jerry Montag said
that in addition to the explana-
tory e-mail sent to all students
Jan. 14, the Registrar's Office will
send future announcements by
e-mail to students as necessary.
of the books] that isn't in," Blumberg
said. "With over 200 people in the
class, that's a lot of copying to be
done."
Vanderwater said the bookstore
staff is working to get all the titles in
as soon as possible.
'They are all on order and on the
way," Vanderwater said. "We re-
ceived 87 cartons [Wednesday].
Some are being shipped overnight"
History Department Chair Peter
Caldwell said about half of the his-
tory professors have complained to
him about missing books for their
classes.
'The situation differs from class
to class," Caldwell said. "Sometimes
half the books are missing, some-
times more. For some classes [this
is] truly catastrophic."
Humanities Lecturer Jill Carroll
said the lack of books has caused
problems in her RELI 101 and
HUMA 102: Introduction to Humani-
ties: Constructing Western Tradi-
tions courses.
"You have to figure out some way
to stall," Carroll said.
Hanszen freshman Sam Feng said
the books for his CAAM 415: Theo-
retical Neuroscience course had not
arrived by Wednesday.
"We have a reading assignment
already," Feng said. "The professor
knows the books aren't in but has
not really changed schedule. He said
we need to have [the book) within a
week. I'm waiting a few days, and
them I'm going to buy it online and
do two-day shipping."
Vanderwater said the Campus
Store has had difficulty purchas-
ing some "obscure" books. She
See BOOKS. Page 14
Two RUPD officers terminated
by Mark Berenson
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
Two Rice University Police officers, Lisa
Heiden and Kaila Sullivan, were fired Dec. 5.
Heiden, who has been a resident associate at
Will Rice College since fall 2002, will remain at
the college until the beginning of March.
The firings of Heiden and Sullivan bring
the number of current vacancies at RUPD to
three; Sergeant Pete Martinez resigned in late
November. However. RUPD Chief Bill Taylor
said that number is below average.
"We have less turnover this year than we
have had in past years," Taylor said. "This
time of year, it is not unusual to have four or
five positions open."
Taylor declined to comment on the circum-
stances that led to the firings. Heiden said she
is unsure what led to her firing.
Heiden said Sergeant Gary Spears called
her and Sullivan to a 6 a.m. meeting at the end
of her Dec. 5 night shift. The meeting initially
included other RUPD employees, Heiden said,
but the others were quickly dismissed, leav-
ing only Heiden and Sullivan.
"It was just Kaila and I, and we were like,
'What did we do that we're in trouble?'" Heiden
said. "We were sitting there thinking what we
had done."
Heiden said Sullivan was called into an
office first, and a few minutes later as she
exited the office after her meeting, she told
See Rl PI). Page 6
No class Monday
INSIDE
Don't worry that you can't find your
classrooms because ESTHER'S down;
there's no class on Monday anyway be-
cause of the observance Martin Luther
King Jr.'s birthday.
OPINION Page 2
User's guide to drinking with your family
MLK vigil
FEATURES Page 12-13
Light rail conies to Houston
SPORTS Page 18
Men's basketball has best start in 15years
Weekend Weather
The Black Student Association is spon-
soring a candlelight vigil in honor of the
King holiday at 6 p.m. Monday in the
academic quad. The vigil will feature a
reading of the famous" I Have a Dream"
speech, as well as a speech by President
Malcolm Gillis.
Friday
Showers, 73-63 degrees
Saturday
Showers, 72-47 degrees
Sunday
Partly cloudy, 55-33 degrees
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Berenson, Mark. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 91, No. 15, Ed. 1 Friday, January 16, 2004, newspaper, January 16, 2004; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth398454/m1/1/: accessed July 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.