The Rice Thresher, Vol. 97, No. 19, Ed. 1 Friday, February 12, 2010 Page: 1 of 16
sixteen 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:
op-ed
Saints go marching in
How the Saints' Super Bowl victory bn
of a slump, just in time for Mardi
#
Orleans
a&e p. 8
Taco the town
Yan and Ben explore their fourth and final restaurant as they
search for taco Nirvana.
Sports P. 10
Breaking new grounds
Jason Colwick soars above his previous record once again.
But how did he fare on the international scene?
VOLUME XCVII, ISSUE NO. 19
STUDENT-RUN
SINCE 1916
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2010
Vision
Weekend
ready for
prospies
by Hallie Jordan
Thresher Staff
Now that all college applications
have arrived, Rice will attempt to woo
more than 150 prospective minority
students with Mardi Gras beads and
bus tours of Houston.
Vision Weekend 2010, which
comes with a "quasi-Mardi Gras"
theme, is an opportunity for minority
students who have applied to Rice to
get a preview of the university before
decision letters are sent, Admission
Associate Director Laura Villafranca
said. Students from underrepresent-
ed minority groups will be on campus
Sunday through Tuesday, Feb. 16.
"These are rock star kids; we want
to get these kids to Rice," Villafranca
said. "We spend several painstaking
weeks to select about 300 kids to re-
ceive invitations."
The group of prospective stu-
dents will include Afiican-Amer-
ican, Hispanic and Native Ameri-
can high school students. The
current Rice population consists of
24 percent Asian-American, 12 per-
cent Hispanic, 7 percent African-
American and less than 1 percent
Native-American students, while
the rest are either Caucasian or of
mixed ethnicity. These numbers
are comparable to national demo-
graphics from the 2000 U.S. Census,
except for African-Americans, who
make up 12.8 percent of the total
U.S. population.
Almost 1,000 students were con-
O see VISION, page 5
Bustin' a move
Baker College juniors Weikei Yu (left) and Johnny Li take it to the floor to show off
their dance moves for Rice Dance Marathon's "So You Think You Can Dance?"
fundraiser, which raised more than $1300 for Texas Children's Hospital last Saturday.
Problems decline at Duncan, McMurtry
by Michelle Phillips
Thresher Staff
The technical difficulties faced
by Rice University's first green
colleges gave Duncan College and
McMurtry College a rough start
last fall. However, students and
staff agree that the problems are
now decreasing in both frequency
and magnitude.
According to Student Mainte-
nance Representatives at both col-
leges, students issued multiple
complaints about the living situa-
tion during the fall semester. Work
orders last semester ranged from
the absence of hot water to a lack
of light switches, but both Matt Fri-
tze, the SMR for Duncan and Baker
College, and Michael Rog, a co-SMR
for McMurtry and Will Rice College,
said the problems are now minor
and more contained.
"[Duncan] is now a fully functional
building, and everything pretty much
FOR AN UPDATE
ON NEW COLLEGES
See the spread on pages
6 and 7 for a report on
college government struc-
tures, 0-Week coordina-
tors and which college is
throwing the first public
party of its young life.
works," Fritze, a Baker junior, said.
"Housing & Dining has either already
fixed [the problem] or they have plans
in the works to fix it."
According to Rog, the most com-
mon complaint now is that someone
has locked himself or herself out of
his or her room.
"Now I'm less busy than I was at Old
Will Rice," Rog, a Will Rice senior, said.
Rog served as SMR last year, be-
fore the new section of Will Rice was
torn down.
According to H&D records, the
number of work orders from both col-
leges exceeded 5,500 in early August
alone when students first moved in.
By the beginning of October,
however, the number of work or-
ders started to stabilize at around
100-200 orders. Now, according to
H&D Maintenance Manager David
Brown and Facilities, Engineering
and Planning Manager of Commu-
nications Susann Glenn, the new
colleges have no more work orders
than any other college; Brown esti-
mates that he may have received 35
work orders from the two colleges
since Dec. 1, all of them minor.
"[H&D and FE&P] recognize that
we kind of missed the boat in mak-
ing sure students knew how to use
that green building, and how to live
in a green building," Glenn said,
noting Duncan's environmentally
friendly factors. "We've been kind
of retroactively working with Baker-
B see DIFFICULTIES, page 4
Duncan
begins
search for
RAs, HRF
by Diane Ramirez
Thresher Staff
After passing the milestone of
choosing its first masters, Duncan Col-
lege is now on the search for resident
associates and a head resident fellow.
Duncan's RA and HRF search
committees are composed of both
Duncan freshmen and transfers
and are facilitated by Duncan's cur-
rent HRFs and future masters, Luis
Duno-Gottberg and Mamie Hylton.
Students who were interested in
being part of the search committee
turned in applications, from which
Duno-Gottberg selected the final
committee members. While there is
one committee for both the RA and
the HRF search, each part is headed
by a different student.
Martel College sophomore Am-
ber Makhani, head of the HRF t
Search Committee, said the com-
mittees already have approximately
eight RA candidates for two RA po-
sitions and five HRF candidates for
one HRF position, but she said she
expects the numbers to double by
today's application deadline. Once
the committees have all the applica-
tions, the process will proceed by
inviting the candidates to meals,
giving them tours and holding a se-
ries of interviews.
"The whole process is very fast,"
Makhani said. "We have to choose so
that we can get [the new RAs and HRF]
involved in things like our committees
and our transfer events fairly soon."
Makhani expects the final decisions
to be made by Willy Week. Meanwhile,
the committees must focus their ef-
D see SEARCH, page 4
Despite economy, donations to Rice remain consistent
Alumni buck nation-
wide drop in giving
by Seth Brown
Thresher Staff
While the university may be fol-
lowing the nationwide pattern of
fiscal restraint. Rice's funds have
avoided the negative national trend
in philanthropic giving.
Vice President for Resource Devel-
opment Darrow Zeidenstein said that
participation in alumni giving at Rice
has gone up 1 percent over the past
year, reaching 35 percent and an all-
time high in cash donations.
Meanwhile, The New York Times
reported a 12 percent decrease in
donations to colleges and univer-
sities across the country.
According to Associate Vice
President for Development Kevin
Foyle, Rice's Annual Fund received
$6.35 million in Fiscal Year 2008,
which includes all donations made
between July 2007 and June 2008, and
the fund received $6.9 million in
FY 2009. Foyle said that the goal for FY
2010 is to reach at least $7 million.
"As far as I know, Rice's [Annual
Fund] is the only such fund up in
revenue and participation," Zeiden-
stein said.
The Annual Fund goes toward
funding scholarships and college bud-
get money, among other endeavors.
Zeidenstein said that the Centen-
nial Campaign, which aims to col-
lect $1 billion in donations by June
2013, has been a major part of Rice's
success in receiving donations. As
of the end of January, the Centennial Cam-
paign had collected $582.8 million.
"One of the goals of the campaign is
about instilling a sense of pride and loy-
alty, and to give the alumni a sense of
momentum," Zeidenstein said. "This is
a vote of confidence in what the
university has accomplished."
The Centennial Campaign
includes a special program
directed at young alumni, un-
der which gifts made by the
last 10 classes are matched by
Karen (Jones '79) and Rich (Sid
Rich '80) Whitney. If donations
were made by end of 2009, the
Whitneys tripled their matching
funds, and if donations are made
by Beer Bike, the Whitneys will dou-
ble the matching funds.
"We started [the campaign] to protect
O see MONEY, page 5
WNUAi
FUND
■ The Centennial Campaign's goal
is to collect $1 billion in dona-
tions by )une 2013.
■ As of the end of January, the
Centennial Campaign had col-
lected $582.8 million.
■ The Annual Fund received $6.35
million in FY 2008.
■ The Annual Fund received $6.9
million in FY 2009.
■ The goal for the Annual Fund
for FY 2010 is to reach at least
$7 million.
■ Alumni giving has risen from 34
to 35 percent over the past year.
Unfinished business
Today is the last day to resolve "Incom-
plete" grades from Fall 2009. Coincidental-
ly, today is the last day you can withdraw
from the university with a 50 percent
refund of tuition. On second thought,
Organic Chemistry can't be that bad ...
LikeMacGyver
How many engineers does it take to change a
lightbulb? Come find out at the Engineering
Competition next Wednesday from 12-5:30
p.m. in the Grand Hall of the RMC. Partici-
pants will be competing for cash prizes and
bragging rights.
Want a (speed) date?
If you're part of the droves of people looking for some
thing to do this Valentine's Day, consider attending the
Denver ASB's Speed Dating fundraiser from
6-8 p.m. in the Hanszen College Commons. A $5 ticket
will get you dinner and a chance to talk to numerous
people you will probably never see again.
INDEX
Opinion 3
News 4
Arts & Entertainment 8
Sports to
Calendar 15
Backpage 16
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.
Michel, Casey. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 97, No. 19, Ed. 1 Friday, February 12, 2010, newspaper, February 12, 2010; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443066/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.