The Rice Thresher, Vol. 97, No. 9, Ed. 1 Friday, October 23, 2009 Page: 1 of 20
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OP-ED » P. 3 A&E
A Nobel debate The breakfast dub
Did President Obama deserve to be awarded this year's Looking for great breakfast Ideas ? Get a taste for what's In
Nobel Peace Prize? store in Tim and Mimi's new Relish restaurant review.
P. 13
the Rice rthresher
VOLUME XCVII, ISSUE NO. 9 STUDENT-RUN SINCE 1916 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2009
Endowment
under new
management
by Hallie Jordan
Thresher Staff
With the creation of the Rice
Management Company at the begin-
ning of this month, the endowment
received a new organization to over-
see its investments.
The new organization will be head-
ed by President of the Rice Manage-
ment Company Scott Wise, formerly
the vice president for investments, and
a lo-member board of directors. Of the
10 members, seven currently serve on
the Rice Board of Trustees and com-
prise part of a finance committee with-
in the board, while the other three were
recruited from outside the university,
based on their background in financ-
ing, Wise said.
"This new system allows us to bring
in really top-notch outside members,
which was hard to do under the old
system," Chairman of the Board of
Trustees Jim Crownover said. "We are
able to bring some real talent on board
and to the Rice Management Company,
who bring dedication to Rice as well as
investment expertise."
Previously, the endowment had
been assessed and invested by Wise,
who had served as vice president for
investments and treasurer since 1992,
and his financial office. His office
worked with the endowment and also
managed other departments, such
as Internal Audit and Insurance and
Risk Management.
a
With this separate
company it is clear
that our role is
dedicated to fall-time
management of the
endowment portfolio.
Scott Wise
President of Rice
Management Company
99
Willy's dry after alcohol violation
by jocelyn wright
Thresher Editorial Staff
Willy's Pub was dry this week in
response to an incident Oct. 8 when a
student brought outside alcohol into
the room, became overly intoxicated
and was later found outside Pub by
Rice University Police, Associate Di-
rector of the Student Center Pamelyn
Shefman said.
The decision to make Pub dry was
made by V&W Permits, the outside
organization that owns Pub, whose
voting members include Shefman,
Assistant Dean of the Student Center
and Campus-Wide Programs Boyd
Beckwith, Pub Manager Trey O'Neill,
Valhalla Manager Sean Walsh, Well-
ness Center Director Emily Page and
economics graduate student alumnus
Purvez Captain. Texas Alcoholic Bev-
erage Commission was not involved in
the decision.
V&W Permits reached its decision
by evaluating the response the TABC
had to similar incidents. Shefman said
in such cases TABC typically closed
the bars for three to nine days.
V&W Permits decided to make Pub
dry for a week after its monthly meet-
ing last week. O'Neill, a Will Rice Col-
\
%
57M
A good night
Caroline Smith and the Good Night Sleeps perform for a standing-room-only audience at
Willy's Pub Oct. 8, the same night a student brought outside alcohol into Pub.
lege senior, said Pub is using this week
as a teaching opportunity.
"We're just making sure that ev-
eryone understands what the situa-
tion is and what policies are," O'Neill
said, noting that Pub expressly for-
bids outside alcohol. "These things
concerned us, so something had to
happen. But the idea is that this is
something educational that we can
build on and going forward we won't
have these problems."
O'Neill said the incident was par-
ticularly serious because not only was
EJsee Prohibition, page 8
Athletic director Del Conte leaves Rice for TCU
AD signs five-year
contract with Frogs
The Rice Management Company
will focus solely on working with the
endowment. Internal Audit will be
managed by the Vice President for Fi-
nance Kathy Collins and Insurance and
Risk Management will be managed by
the Office of Vice President for Admin-
istration Kevin Kirby.
"We have the opportunity for a
greater focus by myself and the rest of
the investment staff," Wise said. "With
this separate company it is clear that
our role is dedicated to full-time man-
agement of the endowment portfolio."
The plan to create the company was
not spurred by the recession, but pro-
posed well before the economic down
turn, Crownover said.
O see Endowment, page 9
Gettin'wasted away again
It's 5 o'clock somewhere, but Brown College's
public party starts promptly at 10 p.m. tomor-
row. Grab your best Hawaiian shirt and plenty
of limes, and keep an eye out for cheeseburg-
ers in paradise.
BY YAN DlGILOV
Thresher Editorial Staff
Chris Del Conte, who has served
as Rice's athletic director since June
2006, was introduced as the new ath-
letic director of Texas Christian Uni-
versity Wednesday.
President David Leebron has
asked David Sayler, fourth year senior
executive athletics director, to serve
as Interim Director while the univer-
sity undergoes a nationwide search
for Del Conte's replacement.
"[Del Conte] is the best fundrais-
er I have ever worked with," Sayler
said. "He was just so visible. I hope
that in my new role I will be able to
do that, but the challenge for me is
that I still have to do my other job in
the short term."
According to Sayler, the news
came as a surprise to most members
of the athletic department staff, who
were unaware that TCU had offered
the position to Del Conte. His depar-
ture closely follows that of former
TCU Athletic Director Danny Morrison
in September, who became the team
president of the Carolina Panthers of
the National Football League.
Sayler said TCU had approached
Del Conte several times in the past to
offer him a position with their ath
letic department.
"I think TCU asked him numer-
ous times, and he said no," Sayler
said. "They just kept coming at him,
and they finally made him an offer he
couldn't refuse."
*£& > V
Chris Del Conte, Rice's former athletic director, announced his hiring at TCU
Wednesday afternoon after working at Rice for over three years.
Though the exact dollar amount of
the contract remains undisclosed, Del
Conte stated in his introductory press
conference at the Fort Worth campus
that, after a week of negotiations, he
signed a contract for five years. It also
included a two-year option that Del
Conte could exercise if he wished to
return to TCU after his initial tenure
ran its course.
"Before we talk about TCU, I want
to make sure and acknowledge some
folks at Rice," Del Conte said at the
press conference. "They have been
very dear to me. This decision was
never about Rice. It was always about
TCU.... I am going to miss them dear-
ly, but [they] gave me the opportunity
to be here. I thank them."
The surprising move came after
Del Conte oversaw one of the largest
expansions of Rice athletics in the
history of the university. The reno-
vation of Autry Court and introduc-
tion of Tudor Fieldhouse, upgrades
to Rice Stadium and Reckling Park
and the recent opening of the Bar-
bara and David Gibbs Recreation and
Wellness Center were just some of the
projects undertaken under his watch.
Those projects have cost a combined
$78 million.
Del Conte's departure also comes
almost three years after Rice's former
head football coach, Todd Graham,
abruptly moved to the University of
Tulsa. Hiring current head football
coach David Bailiff as Graham's re-
placement was seen by many as one
of Del Conte's crowning achieve-
ments, especially after Bailiff led the
Owls to a Texas Bowl win last year,
the program's first bowl game victory
since 1954.
"I'll really miss him," Bailiff said.
"He was not just a boss — he was a
dear friend, somebody that I knew
was with me every step of the way.
And I relied on him and bounced
ideas off him and he bounced them
off me on building Rice and building
that athletic department and trying to
keep momentum."
Bailiff worked as defensive co-
ordinator and assistant head coach
for TCU from 2001-03, and Del Conte
credited his conversations with Bai-
liff among the deciding factors in
making the move.
"Our discussions about TCU were
long and extensive, starting with the
day we hired him," Del Conte said.
"He talked about how [TCU is] the
benchmark of what we needed to
do at Rice. He has been a wonderful
coach for [Rice], and [TCU] was the
beacon in his eye."
His departure drew mixed respons-
es not only from fellow staffers, but
from numerous student-athletes who
had come to Rice during his tenure.
"The thing is that when peo-
ple see success at Rice, they kind
of expect that this person can be
successful at a bigger school than
Rice," senior Toren Dixon, a wide
receiver on the football team. said.
"If you can do it at a small school,
then you can do it at a school that is
more predicated on athletics. ... I'm
happy for him. I'm sure it's a situ-
ation that financially improved. It's
part of the business."
Some of the younger players that
were more closely recruited by Del
Conte were more deeply impacted.
"1 am in shock," freshman Tamir
Jackson, a member of the men's bas-
ketball team, said. "When I met him,
I thought he was the coolest guy. He
had a vested interest for the athletic
program to be on the rise. We are
still going to try to bring the athletic
program up, but it is going to be hard
Osee DIRECTOR, page 16
And everything nice
This little piggy went to the doctor
INDEX
Show off your sweet architecture skills at the
Are you so scared of swine flu that vou're afraid to
Opinion
3
Sugar and Spice Candy Castle Competition.
leave your dorm? Come to Scientia's presentation
News
4
The contest will be held at 7 p.m. next Thurs-
in McMurtry Auditorium of Duncan Hall at 4 p.m.,
Arts & Entertainment
10
day at the Farnsworth Pavilion, with prizes
featuring guest speaker Lauren Ancel Meyers of the
Sports
13
for the winners. To sign up, e-mail sugarand-
University of Texas. Mevers will discuss how scien
Calendar
19
spice@rice.edu.
tists are trying to predict and control the spread of
Backpage
20
the H1N1 virus.
SPORTS
Lucky number eight
With the football team 0-7, this weekend's game against
Central Florida might just be ihe Owls' big break.
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Michel, Casey. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 97, No. 9, Ed. 1 Friday, October 23, 2009, newspaper, October 23, 2009; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443199/m1/1/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.