The Rice Thresher, Vol. 98, No. 1, Ed. 1 Friday, August 20, 2010 Page: 1 of 24
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t.
OP-ED P. 4
Sale of the century
Debate over the sale ofKTRU to KUHF rages in a special extra
opinion page.
A&E
Om nom nom nom
Discover the best late-night eateries in the Rice area in
preparation for that first big problem set
P. 15 SPORTS P. 22
Anniversary present
The soccer team hopes its second decade brings senior-led
success.
\ t
the Rice
VOLUME XCVIII, ISSUE NO. 1
STUDENT-RUN
SINCE 1916
FRIDAY, AUGUST 20, 2010
Hutch is
new dean
Chem prof now
in Lovett Hall
by Seth Brown
Thresher Editorial Staff
Chemistry Professor John Hutchin-
son became Rice's second dean of
£ undergraduates July l, the same day
that former Dean of Undergraduates
Robin Forman started work as dean
of the College of Arts and Sciences at
Emory University.
Hutchinson was selected by a
17-member search committee headed
J} by Interim Dean of Humanities Allen
Matusow. The committee included
two undergraduates and one gradu-
ate student.
i Matusow said that the committee
c wrote the job description for the posi-
f tion and advertised for the position,
.♦ and then collected material from ap-
L plicants, conducted interviews and
n recommended an unranked list of
final candidates to the president and
provost. These candidates were then
j 'erviewed by a variety of constitu-
;es and the process ended when
;he president made a selection, Ma-
3n tusow said. He said that not all of the
co candidates recommended were from
jn, within Rice, but could not say who
ti0 the others were.
v,;/ "Forman did an excellent job
% and we were looking for someone
vvho could build on what Robin
Jid," Matusow said. "That meant
oeing able to establish rapport with
[students and represent their inter
ests and at the same time provide
leadership in the educational mis-
£ sion of the university."
I.eebron said he spoke to each can-
p]ei didate himself, and there were a num
>• ber of factors in Hutchinson's selection.
"[Hutchinson has] a deep and
genuine commitment to undergradu-
Osee HUTCH, page 7
W"0"'wj 'i-jmujmk 1
i
Composition results 'consistent'
by josh rutenberg
Thresher Editorial Staff
New students received the results
of their summer composition exams
last Tuesday. This year, 67 percent of
students who took the exam passed,
a decrease of 4 percent from last
year's scores.
Despite the slight drop in passing
grades this year, Barrett said perfor-
mance remained consistent across
student demographics compared to
previous years' exams.
Out of 950 new students, 884
elected to take the exam. During the
summer, students are allotted five
days to compose an essay on a given
topic using several readings aimed at
assessing the student's strength in
expository writing skills.
Jones freshman Rebecca Nelson
said she found the exam challenging,
but learned more than just writing
skills from the experience.
"The topic was genetic engineer-
ing and I had never read about that,"
Nelson said. "It was really cool and
I got to learn new things. I felt like I
could talk about it afterward."
Those receiving a grade of "pass"
or "low pass" may exempt the COMM
103: Academic Writing and Argumen-
tation class, while those receiving a
grade of "not satisfactory" must take
the COMM 103 class in order to gradu-
ate. Nearly 25 percent of new students
who took the test received a "pass,"
while 42 percent received a "low
pass" grade.
Any student with a "not satisfac-
tory" grade or who opts not to take
the exam must take COMM 103 be-
fore graduation. In all, 362 incoming
O see COMP, page 10
* Deal to sell Rice's KTRU to KUHF announced
by Seth Brown
Thresher Editorial Staff
^ Monday evening, news broke of a
deal between Rice and the University
of Houston to sell KTRU to KUHF, a
deal which was confirmed by Presi-
dent David Leebron Tuesday morning
in an e-mail to the university.
Rice University had the broadcast li
:ense, FM frequency and transmission
ower of KTRU, the on-campus student
adio station, appraised last summer
ind checked the market for potential
buyers - but found no takers. However,
this spring they were approached by
iCj'JH, and in March Rice's Board of Trust-
w ?es approved discussions of a possible
r sale. Pending Federal Communica-
tions Comission approval, the license,
frequency and tower will be handed
over for $9.5 million, six three-year in-
ternships for Rice students at the new
station, valued at $432,000 and the op-
portunity for the chief station engineer
at KTRU to apply for employment at the
new station.
The funds to pay for the new sta-
tion will come from UH's existing ra-
dio station, KUHF, which broadcasts
NPR news programming and clas-
sical music. When 91.7, KTRU's cur-
rent frequency, is acquired by KUHF,
KUHF's current frequency, 88.7, will
begin broadcasting only news pro-
gramming while retaining the KUHF
call sign, and 91.7 will be renamed
KUHC and will broadcast only classi
cal and arts programming.
The news of the sale came sud-
denly to the approximately 150 disc
jockeys who work for KTRU, about
two-thirds of whom are Rice stu-
dents, KTRU Station Manager Kelsey
Yule said. The remainder of the DJs
come from the Houston community.
Yule, a Hanszen College junior, said
she and the other DJs first heard of the
deal around 9 p.m. Monday, after it had
already been approved by Rice's Board
of Trustees and only awaited approval
by UH's Board of Regents and the FCC,
the former of which came Tuesday
morning with a 5-3 vote in favor.
Leebron said that the university
has tried to adopt processes by which
students are consulted, but the degree
of secrecy present in this deal was nec-
essary. Both parties involved had (o
sign a confidentiality agreement.
"Occasionally we have to consider
the needs of confidentiality to realize
the maximum possible value for [an]
O see KTRU, page 8
Willy's Statue is covered with
KTRU stickers as students protest
the sale of the KTRU radio tower.
nose
Invasion of the body snatchers
Tomorrow is move-in day for most of cam-
pus. Beware of your new neighbors, fresh
men - they may seem friendly, but they're
really soulless alien abominations. Tomor-
row is also Dis-O. This is not a coincidence.
Try to at least go to the first day
Even if you sleep through that 8 a.m. the rest of
the semester, Monday is the first day of classes,
so you might want to go just this once and
check it out. There are classes the rest of the
week too, apparently.
Want to be on the front page?
If you're interested in working for the news section
here at The Rice Thresher, come by our office (it's
on the second floor of the Ley Student Center)
Wednesday at 8 p.m. for an introductory informa
tion session.
Rice receives
top rankings
once more
by josh rutenberg
Thresher Editorial Staff
August has brought a wave of rec-
ognition for Rice University, including
a spot on U.S. News and World Re-
port's list for "Best Colleges" in 2011.
U.S. News changes variables,
Rice remains in top 20
The 2011 ranking from U.S. News
and World Report marks the seventh
year in a row Rice has received a top-
20 national university designation on
the "Best Colleges" list, again tying
with Vanderbilt with 82 out of 100
possible points in 17th place. Harvard
College edged out Princeton Univer-
sity for the number one spot overall.
President David Leebron said that
the rankings reflect Rice's ability to
remain a top-tier institution, despite
recent increases in the student bodv.
Leebron also noted that while
Rice should be proud of its ranking,
other factors contribute to a success-
ful university.
"It's important that we keep in
mind the values of the university,"
Leebron said. "[Rankings] don't
count the happiness of our students
or the way we treat our students."
The list uses 16 factors of aca-
demic excellence to determine a
school's rank, including undergrad-
uate academic reputation, student
£3 see RANKINGS, page 6
INDEX
Opinion 3
News 6
Arts 81 Entertainment 15
Sports 19
Calendar 23
Backpage 24
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Wilde, Anna. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 98, No. 1, Ed. 1 Friday, August 20, 2010, newspaper, August 20, 2010; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth398476/m1/1/: accessed June 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.