The Rice Thresher, Vol. 91, No. 25, Ed. 1 Friday, April 2, 2004 Page: 1 of 24
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Y% • 'T'l |
e Kice 1 hresher
Vol. XCI, Issue No. 25
SINCE 1916
Friday, April 2, 2004
Year-old Faculty Council athletics report released
by Mark Berenson
THRESHKR EDITORIAL STAKK
The Faculty Council report on
the Rice athletics program was re-
leased to the public Tuesday. The
report, which has been available to
the faculty since summer, addresses
topics ranging from the cost of ath-
letics to the admissions process for
student-athletes.
The report was researched and
written last 3 ear by the Faculty Coun-
cil Subcommittee on Athletics and is
more than 300 pages long. It was
originally presented to Faculty Coun-
cil and President Malcolm Gillis in
March 2003, and it was discussed by
the faculty at-large at two faculty
meetings in the fall.
Access to the report was origi-
nally limited to faculty members due
to concerns that it contained infor-
mation protected by the Federal
Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
Before releasing the report, the sub-
committee consulted with the Rice
General Counsel, who determined
that most of the information in it
could be released. The public ver-
sion of the report has been edited
slightly to remove confidential infor-
mation, as recommended by the
General Counsel.
Academic Shelters
One of the most controversial sug-
gestions made by the report is that
some academic departments may
function as shelters for student-ath-
letes, who, the report states, tend to
be weaker students than nonathletes.
"Are the costs of special aca-
demic programs created primarily
to accommodate the needs of aca-
demically unprepared athletes
worth the benefits?" the report asks
in its introduction.
The report states that a large nu m-
ber of student-athletes choose to ma-
jor in kinesiology, economics and
managerial studies. It presents data
on the majors declared by student-
athletes as of Spring 2002 — includ-
ing multiple majors declared by
some student-athletes. As of Spring
2002, of the 308 total majors declared
by student-athletes, 29 percent were
in kinesiology, 17 percent in eco-
nomics and 17 percent in manage-
rial studies, which is only offered as
a second major.
The report states that the commit-
tee "did not try to determine if these
programs, departments, or courses
within departments, were shelters."
Kinesiology Chair Bruce Etnyre
said he was upset by the report's
implication that the Kinesiology
Department serves as a shelter.
"They alleged some type of con-
spiracy that we're passing students
who aren't earning their grades, and
that's just not true," Etnyre said. "If
we're supposed to be a shelter for
athletes, no one — not the adminis-
tration, not the faculty, not the ath-
letic department — has ever told us
that we're a shelter."
Etnyre said student-athletes' in-
terest in sports explains their high
concentration in the Kinesiology De-
partment.
"These are students who've been
in athletics all their lives, and they
look for a major at Rice that they're
interested in, as any student does,"
Etnyre said. 'They see that we have
sports-related academic courses, and
they're drawn to it."
Economics Chair Peter Hartley
also rejected claims that his depart-
ment is a shelter, attributing the high
percentage of student-athletes ma-
joring in economics to their interest
in prebusiness-type courses.
However, Hartley said econom-
ics professors and courses have been
affected by the presence of Division
IA athletics at Rice.
"There's a tendency to help
weaker students understand the
material, which reduces the depth
and breadth of what you can cover,"
Hartley said. "Our job would be
made easier — and all economics
students might get more out of our
classes — if we were able to elimi-
nate the weakest tail of the incom-
ing students."
At the Nov. 11 faculty meeting,
Faculty Council Subcommittee on
Athletics Chair Chandler Davidson
made a prepared statement regarding
the report's suggestion that some de-
partments may be academic shelters.
Davidson, a sociology professor who
retired last year, said the report lacked
evidence to support that suggestion.
"In spite of various caveats and
what I had taken to be a tentative-
ness in the section of the report in
question, the implication was there,
and moreover, the report did not
have the evidence to support such
an implication," Davidson said.
In a cover letter he attached to
the report when it was released to
the faculty, Gillis also noted that the
claim was unsupported.
"One would expect such a state-
ment to be supported by data indi-
cating that these majors do in fact
have a higher average course grade
See REPORT, Page 7
'a'
* *
I
&
JOSSIE IVAN0V7THRESHER
O'doyle Rules!
A member of the physics team fires a ball across the court at the civil engineering
department team during an inter-departmental dodgeball match. The civil engineering team
shut out the physists 3-0.
Buckyballs may be harmful
Nobel Prize, winning discovery found to damage fish brains
bv Ian Everhart
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
Buckyballs — the super-tiny, soccer-ball-
shaped form of carbon discovered by Ricechem-
ists Rick Smalley and Robert Curl — may have
toxic properties, according to a preliminary study
conducted by Southern Methodist University
researchers. Smalley and Curl won the 1996
Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery.
The study, led by SMU's Eva Oberdorster,
found that exposure to buckyballs caused brain
damage in fish. Among the largemouth bass
in the experiment, many suffered a break-
down in fatty tissue in their brains within 48
hours of being exposed to the materials. The
breakdown occurred 17 times more frequently
in the fish exposed to the buckyballs than it
did in a control group of fish, but none died in
the experiment, and there was no detectable
change in the behavior of the fish.
Oberdorster. an environmental toxicolo-
gist, told the Houston Chronicle Monday more
research is needed, and the results of one
study should not discount all nanotechnology
research.
"I want to emphasize that the benefits of
nanotech are great, and we definitely should
not put the brakes on positive nanotechnology
research," she said. "But at the same time, we
Three colleges announce
four new resident associates
by Brooke Lathram
THRESHER STAFF
need to be doing toxicology studies. Just along-
side the traditional research, we should also
look at some of these side effects. I his is the
first indication there might be some problem
in environmental species."
Kristen Kulinowski, executive director of
Rice's Center for Biological and Environmen-
tal Nanotechnology, said toxicology research
is important but the study is preliminary and
ought to be recognized as such.
"It really is not appropriate to comment on
work that hasn't gone through the rigorous
peer review process," she said. "We're reluc-
tant to talk about work before it's been peer-
reviewed."
Oberdorster has submitted her study to a
research journal, but it has not yet been ac-
cepted, the Chronicle article stated
CBEN has a National Science Foundation-
funded research center and grants to study
the interaction between nanomaterials and
species in water over a five- to 10-year period.
It is the only federally funded program for
research on the environmental and health
aspects of nanotechnology in the nation.
Kulinowski said the research at Rice, which
focuses on lower-level organisms, will not be
affected by Oberdorster study.
Buckyballs from CBEN were used in the
See TOXIC, Page 11
Jones, Martel and Will Rice Colleges all
announced new resident associates this
week. Baker College plans to announce its
selection soon.
Scott Wray, assistant director of Recre-
ation Program, and Bridget Gorman, a sociol-
ogy professor, are the new Jones RAs. Brian
Gibson, a kinesiology professor, and his wife
Alana Lemay-Gibson — currently Sid
Richardson College RAs — are the new Martel
RAs. Randy Stevenson, a political science pro-
fessor, and his partner Rick Gritz are the new
Will Rice RAs.
Five RA searches took place this semester,
an unusually high number.
Rachel Whitmire, Jones RA search com-
mittee chair, said the search committee chairs
worked with Vice President for Student Af-
fairs Zenaido Camacho to make sure the
selection processes went smoothly.
"It was all four of us working together,"
Whitmire said. "We had weekly meetings with
Camacho and made sure that we weren't con-
flicting with any of the other colleges. We had
to make sure that everyone was working to-
gether."
Whitmire, a Jones junior, said Wray and
Gorman were the best pair of RAs for the
college.
"They were the best fit for the college,
Whitmire said. "We really connected with
them. When we realized that we needed to
choose two candidates, we decided we needed
to pick the best pairing."
The Jones search committee originally
planned to select one RA, but Jones RAs Wil-
liam and Rina Williams resigned while the
search for the other position was already un-
derway, so the committee chose two new RAs.
Gorman said she is excited about becom-
ing an RA at Jones.
"The students brought me flowers and
balloons," Gorman said. "It was incredibly
sweet. I wouldn't have done this if I weren't
looking forward to spending more time with
students."
Martel RA Search Committee co-Chair
Mark Berenson said the fact that so many
colleges were looking for RAs at the same
time seemed to increase the applicant pool.
"I)r. Camacho did a wonderful job making
sure all the searches stayed on the same page,"
Berenson, a former Thresher editor in chief,
said. "When it finally came down to making
the choices, he made sure that all the coordi-
nation worked out. Of all the RA searches I've
been involved in over the years, this was by far
the deepest pool of candidates."
Berenson, a senior, said the Martel commit-
tee was looking for an RAwho would stay at the
college for several years because Martel has
lost two RAs since its founding three years ago.
"Based on our previous experience with
RAs, we were really looking for stability,"
See RAs. Page 9
INSIDE
Applications, applications!
Applications for undergraduate repre-
sentative positions on university stand-
ing committees are due I uesday at noon
at the SA office. The applications are
available at the SA office or online at
http://sa.rice.edu. Now's your chance to
get involved.
Daylight-saving time
Don't forget to set your clocks tor-
ward one hour after returning from
Bacchanalia on Sunday at 2 a.m. for the
start of daylight-saving time. Don't worry,
you still get four hours of toga-wearing
fun, just one hour less of precious sleep
OPINION Page 3
Fro athletes: the role models from hell
A&E
Page 15
A new day dawns for the zombies
Friday
Mostly sunny. 82-68 degrees
Saturday
Baseball
Houston 3, Rice 8
Scoreboard
Baseball
Houston 3. Rice 8
Fresno State 2, Rice 7
Fresno State 5, Rice 6
Women's tennis
TCU 6, Rice 1
SPORTS Page 18
Track takes next test at Texas Relays
Quote of the Week
"We went in there, and we did not want to
lose. We were going to fight. They were going
to have to carry us out of there."
— Men's tennis player William Barker, on the
team's attitude going into its match against
Texas Christian University on March 25. The
team beat the llth-ranked Horned Frogs 4-3.
See Story, Page 18.
Friday
Mostly sunny. 82-68 degrees
Saturday
Thunderstorms, 76-62 degrees
Sunday
Scattered t-storms, 78-61 degrees
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Yardley, Jonathan. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 91, No. 25, Ed. 1 Friday, April 2, 2004, newspaper, April 2, 2004; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth398485/m1/1/?q=%22%22~1: accessed June 22, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.