The Rice Thresher, Vol. 90, No. 13, Ed. 1 Friday, November 22, 2002 Page: 1 of 20
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ie Kice Ihresher
Vol. XC, Issue No. 13
SINCE 1916
Friday, November 22, 2002
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Staff hiring freeze declared
by Olivia Allison
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
A temporary hiring freeze, which
will leave many of Rice's 48 open
staff positions unfilled, took effect
Monday and is scheduled to last
through April.
The freeze aims to reduce the
pace of spending for staff and ben-
efits, according to a memo written
by Associate Vice President for Hu-
man Resources Mary Cronin and
Budget Director Kathy Collins. The
memo was sent Monday to deans,
vice presidents, department chairs
and directors.
All non-temporary staff hiring is
frozen, including positions that will
become open between now and April,
but the freeze does not apply to fac-
ulty or research positions.
The freeze is less drastic than
measures taken at many universi-
ties around the country, where in-
vestment losses have led to em-
ployee layoffs and hefty budget cuts.
Monday's memo outlines excep-
tions to the freeze, including mul-
tiple vacancies in an office, emer-
gencies due to the loss of safety-
related staff members, hiring for
positions fully funded through a
grant and hiring for positions of "criti-
cal importance to Rice." These ex-
ceptions can be approved only
through written appeal to Cronin,
Provost Eugene Levy and President
Malcolm Gillis. Vice President for
Public Affairs Terry Shepard said he
thinks the exceptions will not be
granted generously.
"The sense I get from this memo
is it's going to have to be good to get
accepted," he said.
Budget forecasts will be reviewed
in April, when budget administra-
tors will determine whether to ex-
tend the freeze through the end of
the academic or fiscal year.
Cronin said the university does
not have a specific goal for decreas-
ing costs and said she does not know
the staff rate of growth in recent
years. Spending on all employees
and benefits, including faculty and
See FREEZE, Page 7
BY THE NUMBERS: THE ENDOWMENT
Rice's temporary hiring freeze results from concerns about the growth rate
of the university's operating budget, 45 percent of which comes from
endowment returns. Endowment returns, which are sensitive to market
influences, have been affected by the economic downturn which began in
2000. The following are endowment levels for June 30 for the past four years.
1999
2000
2001
2002
Today
2.75 billion dollars
2.9 billion dollars
.24 billion dollars
2.94 billion dollars
7 billion dollars
■pmi
* ■ ^
Parking fees discussed
West Lot to be gated by February or March
by Mark Berenson
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
JOANNA MUNDY/THRESHER
Student Association President Matt Haynie (left), Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs John Hutchinson
(middle) and Recreation Center Associate Director for Programs Daniel McMasters led Monday's forum.
Students debate reforming LPAP
by David Berry
THRESHER STAFF
Students vented frustration Mon-
day at a special Student Association
forum focusing on the Lifetime
Physical Activity Program require-
ment. Attendees proposed alterna-
tives to the program, but most balked
at abolishing LPAPs altogether.
Associate Vice President for Stu-
dent Affairs John Hutchinson, who
oversees the program, and Recre-
ation Center Associate Director for
Programs Daniel McMasters, who
coordinates the program, answered
questions at the forum; SA Presi-
dent Matt Haynie distributed a sur-
vey to all undergraduates in atten-
dance.
The forum and survey are only
the beginning of the SA's efforts to
gather student opinion on the LPAP
requirement, Haynie said.
"Senators should be discussing
this issue in the colleges and cabi-
nets until break," he said. "This fo-
rum was only to start a dialogue, so
that next semester we can condense
student opinion into a specific fo-
cus."
Only the Faculty Council has the
power to change graduation re-
quirements, Hutchinson said. The
University Standing Committee for
Undergraduate Curriculum, com-
posed of three undergraduates, 13
faculty members and several advi-
sory members, is responsible for
proposing possible changes in
graduation requirements to the Fac-
ulty Council.
The current LPAP requirement
mandates that students take two
semester-long courses that foster
skills and participation in a physical
activity. Letter grades for LPAP 101
and 102 appear on student tran-
scripts, but the grades do not affect
grade-point averages because the
See LPAP, Page 8
Plans for gating the West Lot early
in the spring semester are being
finalized, and the University Stand-
ing Committee on Parking is exam-
ining parking fee levels for next year.
Associate Vice President for Fi-
nance and Administration Neill
Binford said the work is scheduled
to begin on the West Lot gates dur-
ing winter break to be completed by
February or March.
After all gates and perimeters are
in place, there will be four separate
lots: a close-in lot for faculty, staff
and visitors next to Alice Pratt Brown
Hall, a large commuter lot behind
the faculty, staff and visitor lot, a
resident student lot and a commuter
lot next to the rugby field.
The large commuter lot, for both
commuting students and faculty, will
have three entrances and exits. There
will be one along the extension of
laboratory road, one next to Rice Sta-
dium and one near the Rice Univer-
sity Police Department Annex.
Binford said part of the perim-
eter around the large lot would be
made of single bollards and chains,
which would enable additional points
of entry and exit for special events.
"If we have a major parking event,
like a football game, we can drop
chains and have instead of three
open, a dozen," Binford said.
The rest of the perimeter around
the large commuter lot will be of low
horseshoe-shaped bollards, similar
to those used in the North Lot.
During the construction, the
parking spaces in the lot will be re-
painted to make all the spaces paral-
lel to Laboratory Road and College
Way.
The reorientation, along with the
creation of wider aisles to bring the
lot up to city code, will result in the
loss of about 300 parking spaces.
The entire West Lot has about 3,500
spaces.
The resident student lot v.ill
have two entrances and exits, one
along the road through the park-
ing lot where the shuttle stops are
and one at the back of the lot near
Entrance 11.
Binford said part of the work in
the West Lot will include improving
the extension of Laboratory Road so
the primary exit from the West Lot
towards Rice Boulevard will be at
Entrance 11. Facilities Planner Max
Amery said a traffic signal will be put
at the intersection of Rice Boulevard
and Shepherd Drive after the
completion of the Shepherd con-
struction. projected to end in March.
The perimeter of the resident stu-
dent lot will have horseshoe bollards
along the extension of Laboratory
Road, while the other edges of the
lot will be marked by a pattern of
three layers of wheel stops of two
different heights. WTieel stops are
the concrete blocks that stop a car
from pulling too far into a parking
space.
Binford said this type of perim-
eter will be used because it is a cost-
effective way to ensure that people
must go through the gates to access
the lot.
See PARKING, Page 9
Esperanza runs smoothly in
spite of student arrest, field runs
by Michelle Afkhami
THRESHER STAFF
Houston Police Department officers had
their hands full at Esperanza Saturday night
when more than 900 dance-goers descended
on Minute Maid Park.
Two pairs of Rice students snuck onto the
field and circled the bases during the dance. The
first two students, Brown College freshmen Brian
Dieter and Bradley Scherer, were not arrested
but were removed from the premises.
"I did it because [running the bases] was
like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Scherer
said. "If I didn't do it, I would never be able to
do it."
Scherer said HPD officers asked him and
Dieter to leave the dance.
An unidentified couple ran the bases later
in the evening. They began running clockwise
instead of counterclockwise but turned around
and ran the other way when jeered by onlook-
ers in the stands. The students were not ar-
rested.
HPD officers also detained three underage
drinkers.
A Jones College freshman vomited on an
HPD officer and was arrested and taken to
Harris County jail for the night. As a result of
processing problems, he was not released
until Sunday afternoon.
Two other Jones freshmen were held in the
drunk tank at the park until they were re-
leased to Jones masters Robin Foreman and
Ann Owens later that night.
The Rice Program Council's formals com-
mittee. composed of Baker College sopho-
mores Cara Eng, Michelle Mejia, Inna Husain
and Karuna Munjal, said they think the event
went well despite these mishaps.
"The venue worked out really well — the
roof was open, you could see the skyline, the
board just lit up the field,... and there was a lot
See ESPERANZA, Page 5
INSIDE
Turkey or bust
Shuttle buses will be provided to
Hobby Airport Wednesday and back to
Rice Dec. 1. The shuttle will leave the
circle drive of the Ley Student Center at
9 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 12 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 3
p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
The shuttle back to Rice will leave
from outside of the baggage claim area at
Hobby Dec. 1 at 1 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 4 p.m.,
5:30 p.m., 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
You can also take the shuttle bus to go
to Hobby to take a quick long-weekend
trip to Florida, while telling you parents
you have too much work to be able to go
home.
Thanks for girng us a break
The Thresher will be off next week as
we celebrate Thanksgiving with our fam-
ily and friends (though we were tempted
to go to Florida). We will return for the
Dec. 6 issue the final week of classes.
OPINION
Page 3
Teeing off without women
A&E
Page 11
Art deconstructs nature
SPORTS
Pages 16-17
Basketball previews
Friday
Sunny, 40-69 degrees
Saturday
Sunny, 48-71 degrees
Sunday
Partly sunny, 52-73 degrees
Scoreboard
Volleyball
UTEP 0, Rice 3
Swimming
Rice 129, San Jose State 72
Rice 105, Cal. Berkeley 146
Football
Hawaii 33, Rice 28
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Rustin, Rachel. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 90, No. 13, Ed. 1 Friday, November 22, 2002, newspaper, November 22, 2002; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443153/m1/1/: accessed June 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.