The Rice Thresher, Vol. 88, No. 23, Ed. 1 Friday, March 2, 2001 Page: 4 of 24
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1 THE RICE THRESHER imv»: FRIDAY, MARCH 2,2001
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Students tour Wiess construction site
by Esther Sung
THRESHER STAFF
About 12 students and faculty
toured the new Wiess College
servery and commons construction
site Monday, walking through the
servery, the commons, the new
Acabowl and the sun deck on top of
the servery roof.
Although the construction
completion date is months away, the
students were able to see the new
college and servery taking shape.
"It's wonderful," Wiess President
Josh Katz said after the tour. "The
building has the possibility for a lot
of interesting new uses that classes
in the future will have to come up
with."
Common spaces include the roof-
top sun deck, accessible both by
elevator and by a large staircase lead-
ing from the ground level of the
intramural playing fields. A wall of
windows will allow the commons to
look out on a large courtyard in the
middle of the college — the new
Acabowl. .
The Acabowl is the outdoor area
where parties are traditionally held.
"Standing in what will be the new
Acabowl, you really did get a sense
that the architects have done a great
job of preserving the features of
Wiess that we love so much," Wiess
President-elect Amy Schindler, a jun-
ior, said.
"For so long now, we've been
looking at architectural sketches and
diagrams of what the commons and
servery will look like, but it meant so
much to be able to stand there and
see it with our own eyes," she said.
The new Wiess also has space
allocated for a weight room, a piano
and music room, and several class-
rooms and private dining areas.
Wiess has appointed a Furnishings
Committee to recommend the style
and type of equipment and furniture
the new college should have.
ROB GADDI/THRESHER
This photograph was taken from inside of the future Wiess College Commons.
Beginning this summer, Hanszen will "borrow" Wiess' commons until their
commons is finished in fall 2002.
"We want yellow chairs in our
commons, of course," Katz, a senior,
said. "The old Wiess has square
tables right now, and we want square
tables in the new Wiess so we can
keep doing tabletop theater."
The servery will be completed
later this spring or summer in order
to serve Hanszenites during the
2001-'02 school year. Hanszen Col-
lege students and the Hanszen col-
lege coordinator will "borrow" the
servery facility and commons area
of the new Wiess for a year while the
current Hanszen Commons and
kitchen are torn down and rebuilt to
be attached to the common servery.
Wiess students will move into
the new building in fall 2002.
"It's nice — I guess it'll do for a
year," joked Hanszen junior and
President-elect Erik Vanderlip after
viewing the servery and new com-
mons.
"It's exciting, but it'll be a hard
transitional year for Hanszen," he
continued. "Especially for the [ris-
ing] seniors, eating in a new com-
mons after we've been eating in the
same commons for three years."
"I really think it'll be beautiful for
both colleges," Hanszen Master
Eugenia Weissenberger said. "I'm
so excited — I'm not from Wiess and
I'm still excited. The big windows
[in the commons] will make it so
pretty and bright. It's fantastic."
Although much construction re-
mains to be completed, many stu-
dents were pleased with the progress
already made.
"I could really feel the excite-
ment among the Wiessmen who
went on the tour as we talked about
possibilities for the future of Wiess,"
Schindler said.
"They promised my class when
we were freshmen that we'd be mov-
ing into this building in our junior or
senior year," Katz said. "[The con-
struction] should have been done a
long time ago, but I'm glad it's hap-
pening now. I wish I were going to
be here when it's done."
1
1
I
I
I
1
removed from ballot
by Elizabeth Jardina
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAF F
James Dallal was removed
from the ballot as a candidate for
Student Association president
Friday.
SA Secretary Catherine Chen
sent out a message to the SA
listserv at 9:45 a.m. announcing
that the Lovett College junior's
academic eligibility could not be
verified and, therefore, his name
would not appear on the ballot.
In order to run for any office,
a student must not be on aca-
demic probation — defined as
having a cumulative grade point
average of less than 2.0 or a grade
point average from the previous
semester of less than 1.67.
"At the time I was academi-
cally ineligible according to the
registrar's records," Dallal said.
"I had two unresolved grades....
The professors were willing to let
me resolve them sometime in the
future."
At the end of the fourth week
of class every semester, the
Registrar's Office changes all in-
complete grades to F's. On Feb.
19, Dallal's marks of "incomplete"
from the previous semester were
changed to failing grades.
Dallal heard about his aca-
demic ineligibility Feb. 22, the
day of the SA presidential de-
bate, In an e-mail from Chen. The
SA secretary is, in the current
version of the SA Constitution, in
charge of running elections and
confirming the academic eligibil-
ity of all the candidates.
Chen, a Jones College sopho-
more, said she gave Dallal the
choice whether or not to partici-
pate in the debates.
"I thought I would be able to
resolve the grades in time, so 1
had to proceed as though I was
going to run in the election to
have any chance," hp said.
However, Dallal had not
turned in the work for his incom-
plete classes. He said he was fin-
ished with a final paper for one of
the classes but had not yet turned
it in. He also said he had com-
pleted a substantial amount of
work for the other class but had
not turned that in either.
One of his grades had not been
resolved, and was therefore offi-
cially an F, by Friday morning.
"One professor was sympa-
thetic to the election concern
and the other was not," Dallal
said. 'The one who was unsym-
pathetic to the election concern
is going to turn in a grade for rne
sometime this week, but he
wasn't willing to expedite the pro-
cess just so I could run in the
election."
Dallal said the grades were
incomplete "because of a personal
crisis I had during finals week
that I'd rather not go into."
General Elections began on
Friday morning, and since Chen
had not heard of any change to
Dallal's status, she removed him
from the ballot.
Dallal said he wasn't happy
about how the situation turned
out, but he's sympathetic to the
reasoning behind the decision.
"I'm disappointed," he said. "I
also think it's kind of bizarre to
be off the ballot when I still might
be academically eligible. I under-
stand that the SA only has the
registrar's records to go on, so I
understand why they had to take
me off, for the sake of fairness.
"Clearly, the worst possible
outcome would be for me to win
the election and then be declared
ineligible after the fact," he said.
'Taking my name off at least pre-
vents that from happening, but
it's still kind of nagging that 1
might be declared eligible and
the election will be over."
Dallal said if he is eventually
declared academically eligible, he
might run for an office in the
Spring Elections or he might seek
an appointment within the SA.
STUDENT ASSOCIATION
The Student Association Senate met Monday. The following were
discussed:
■ The senate approved the Solar Car Club, which will design a solar car
to race in a national race in 2003. Anyone interested should contact
Ben Harper (bharper@rice.edu).
■ The senate approved changes to the Catholic Student Association
constitution, changing the leadership structure to have two co-
coordinators and an undefined number of officers.
■ Graduate Student Association President Elle Marie Schollnberger
announced that the Student Activities Fund will be increasing from
$20,000 to around $45,000 when the graduate students and
university begin contributing funds. The new funds primarily will be
used to allow clubs to comply with the university's new travel
policies. About $12,000 will come from the new fee for graduate
students, and the amount will be matched by the university.
■ Will Rice College President Eden King presented the college presidents'
draft of a letter to Vice President for Student Affairs Zenaido Camacho
regarding a new policy for college cheers. (See Story. Page 7.)
■ The position of peer academic advisers was announced. Applications
are now available outside college coordinators' offices or by sending
an e-mail to Gwen Hoben (gmbhoben@rice.edu). (See Story, Page 5.)
■ The senate went to a closed session to discuss possible recipients
of the SA Mentor Award.
The next meeting will be held March 12 in Farnsworth Pavilion in the
Student Center at 10 p.m.
The Feb. 23 article "Scotcher elected GSA president" incorrectly states
when GSA President-elect Miles Scotcher will take office. Scotcher will
take office April 1, not March 1.
Due to an editing error, the Feb. 23 article "Woman faints during 'Vagina
Monologues'" incorrectly identified Lovett College sophomore Joanne
Braun. She is an emergency medical technician who was operating the
show's light board: she was not an audience member.
In the Feb. 23 article "Crane malfunction forces Hanszenites to
evacuate," Job Site Supervisor Charlie Fischer's name-was misspelled.
Additionally, it was omitted that Jen Frazer contributed to the story.
The Thresher regrets the errors.
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Stoler, Brian. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 88, No. 23, Ed. 1 Friday, March 2, 2001, newspaper, March 2, 2001; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443134/m1/4/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.