The Rice Thresher, Vol. 92, No. 12, Ed. 1 Friday, November 12, 2004 Page: 4 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:
m
THE RICE THRESHER NEW* FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12. 2004
Debate team wins
state championship
by Clarence Yung
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
The George R. Brown Foren-
sics Society won the Texas Inter-
collegiate Forensics Association
State ChampionshipTournament
at Texas State University in San
Marcos last weekend. The team
also won the state tournament
last year.
Fourteen members attended
the tournament, winning 27
individual awards and 4 team
awards.
Brown College freshman Kim
Bennett said the team's success
came from hard work.
"We all put in quite a bit of
work every week in just writing
cases, memorizing speeches,
looking up facts, filing articles,"
Bennett said.
Wiess College senior Greg
Miller and Wiess sophomore
James Rapore placed second in
varsity parliamentary debate.
Miller and Rapone also competed
in the National Parliamentary De-
bate Association National Champi-
onship last year, but with different
partners. The pair is ranked third
by the National Parliamentary
Tournament of Excellence. The
rankings are based on points
awarded for wins and placement
in tournaments.
For varsity parliamentary
debate speaker, Rapore took first
and Miller took fourth.
In comparison to last year, the
team is doing significantly better
on a national level. Miller said.
Miller said he and Rapore
gained valuable experience and
training over the summer.
"We're better, more mature
and have more experience," Miller
said. "You know how they have
summer basketball camps for
kids? We attended a debate camp
this summer, the Claremont De-
bate Institute."
Two other pairs from the
team placed in the top five for
parliamentary debate at the
tournament. Jones College junior
Robert Crider and Martel College
junior Nathan Smith placed third,
and Lovett College freshman Kim
Hartson and Jones freshman Hri-
shi Hari placed fourth.
In addition to the champion-
ship, the team took first place
in debate sweepstakes and third
place in individual event sweep-
stakes.
Thirteen members of the team
also won awards in individual
events.
Miller took first place in
extemporaneous speaking, and
Bennett took first place in junior
varsity after-dinner speaking. For
overall individual event speaker,
Hanszen College junior Felipe
Valdez placed fourth, and Miller
placed fifth.
Teams from 18 universities
across Texas competed in the
tournament, including Texas
Tech University, the University of
Texas-Austin and the University of
Texas-El Paso.
Along with Rice, teams from
Texas Tech and UT traditionally
do well at the state tournament,
Rapore said.
"We have a big rivalry with
TexasTech, as far as debate goes,"
Rapore said. "It often becomes
Rice versus Texas Tech at the
end, and fortunately, we usually
prevail."
The team will travel to Lubbock
Nov. 19-21 for one more tourna-
ment this month, the Lubbock or
Leave It Swing Invitational. Texas
Tech will also host this year's
National Parliamentary Debate
Association National Champion-
ship March 17-20.
Alternative Spring Break
In Montivedo. Uruguay
See how you can Join us
for Uits amazing
experience1
Questions contact Hilary at
713-526-4918 or htamklnQhoustonhiMal.org
rx
—'
V
'p
Information Technology
TECH FAIR
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
RMC Grand Hall
See the latest from
Apple, Dell, HP, IBM, Verizon
and others.
Door Prizes include
an iPod, flash drives, and more!
For more information, call 713-348-HELP (4357)
or go to http://www.rice.edu/it/
v~
' " ' - ' ' >
mmt Vy.\< • H IWiMi
ANNA WHITMIRF THRESHER
No blood, no foul
A student holds his arm aloft after donating a unit of blood at the Rice Student Volunteer Program blood drive
Monday in the Grand Hall of the Student Center.
La. Tech game moved to Reliant
by Jonathan Yardley
THRKSHER EDITOR1AJ. STAFF
The football team will play its final
home game of the season Nov. 27 at
Reliant Stadium instead of at Rice
Stadium as originally scheduled.
Athletic Director Bobby May (Will
Rice '65) announced last week.
May said the decision was based
on several factors, including NCAA
attendance requirements, financial
considerations and weather condi-
tions.
"For that time of year, you never
know what you're going to be faced
with," May said. "It should be in every
sense a better situation."
May said the Athletic Depart-
ment contacted Reliant Stadium
management about switching the
game, which is the fourth Rice will
play there in the venue's three-year
history. I>ast year, Rice moved its
game against the University of Texas
to Reliant for a guaranteed sum ex-
ceeding the expected revenue from
Rice Stadium
"We're always visiting with the
people at Reliant — we have an on-
going relationship," May said. "They
like having Rice games, and we've had
some success playing over there, so
it was a mutual decision to have the
game there."
The game against Louisiana
Tech University will start at noon,
a change from the original 2 p.m.
kickoff. The Athletic Department
will provide complimentary student
tickets and shuttles as it did for the
Sept. 5game against the University of
Houston, also held at Reliant, Associ-
ate Athletic Director for Marketing
Mike Pede said.
The decision to move the game
was partially based on NCAA regula-
tions that require Division I-Aschools
to average 15,000 fans per home
game, May said. Schools can count
only one off-campus game toward its
average, and Rice will count its sea-
son-high UH-game crowd of 28,726.
Based on figures released to date.
Rice is averaging 17,652 per game in
paid attendance, but turnstile counts
have not been released. May said he
does not know Rice's exact average
for the season.
"I think we're real close [to
15,0001, frankly, as I know other
schools are," May said. "The jury's
still out on that one."
Rice ranks 99th out of 117 Divi-
sion I-A schools in official football
attendance. Four schools have official
attendance less than 15,(XX), including
fellow Western Athletic Conference
school San Jose State University,
which averages just 6,949 per home
game, according to the NCAA, and
isconsidering eliminating its football
program.
The NCAA approved the atten-
dance restrictions in 2002, but this
is the first season they have been in
effect. Teams are required to play
four home games against Division
I-A opponents in the 2004 season but
will need to host five games per year
beginning with the 2005 season. May
said he expects to continue hosting
most games at Rice Stadium, with a
few exceptions.
"If it's going to benefit the pro-
gram to have a game |at Reliant],
we'll see if we can make that work,"
May said. "We hope to play Texas
over there again I in 20061. It would
be impossible.to hold that game at
Rice because of parking, so that's an
obvious game that we would want to
play there."
Rice Stadium was built in 1954
with a capacity of 70,000 and hosted
Super Bowl VII in 1971. Wood-
en benches in the upper decks,
however, are in poor condition, and
the NCAA lists capacity as just 28,000
as a result.
"It certainly requires a lot of main-
tenance, and a lot of maintenance has
been deferred," May said. "We do
what we can to keep it up and make
it as good a venue as we can make
it. I think we will continue to have a
combination of games on campus
and off campus to better serve the
university."
Reliant Stadium has a capacity of
70,000, and the 2003 game against
UT drew 45,764 fans. Even if Rice
Stadium could accomodate such a
crowd, Rice's parking capacity would
still be inadequate. However, May
said for smaller crowds. Rice is the
preferred venue.
"For the really big games, there's
a mechanical impossibility to play a
Texas-sized game in our building,"
May said. "Beyond that. Rice Stadium
is a great venue. It just doesn't have
the bells and whistles that Reliant
does. But I think anybody in the
homecoming crowd [SaturdayI
would say it was a great place to
watch football."
The current version of th^
Rice master plan calls for changes to
the stadium, however. Archi-
tect Michael Graves presented
three updated versions of the
master plan to the Board of Trust-
ees in October 2002. All three
plans included some combination
of the Rice Track/Soccer Sta-
dium and Rice Stadium, including
the possibility of filling in the
lower bowl of Rice Stadium and
creating a new surface with room
for a track, which would further
reduce capacity.
However, May said those plans
are not likely to take place in the
near future.
HOME AWAY FROM HOME
Rice's Nov. 27 game against Louisiana Tech at Reliant Stadium will be the
fourth game in school history played at the home of the NFL's Houston
Texans. Here are the results of the previous three games:
Date Game Attendance
Oct. 6, 2002 Rice 37, La. Tech 20 20,895
Sept. 20, 2003 UT 48, Rice 7 45,764
Sept. 5, 2004 Rice 10, UH 7 28,726
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. 12, Ed. 1 Friday, November 12, 2004, newspaper, November 12, 2004; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth398474/m1/4/: accessed June 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.