The Rice Thresher, Vol. 96, No. 12, Ed. 1 Friday, November 14, 2008 Page: 2 of 20
twenty 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:
EDITORIAL
the Rice Thresher
Friday, November 14,2008
the Rice (Ihresher
New registration
restrictions hampering
Many students attempting to register for their Spring 2009 classes
discovered this week that there is a new error message to be found in
the ESTHER system: "Pre-req and Test Score Error." Newly-implement-
ed by the Registrar's Office, the change comes on the heels of of the
double-booking restriction put into effect during registration for this
semester (See story, page 1).
This newest change signals a disturbing trend in the Registrar's
Office. In conjunction with the pending changes to the academic cal-
endar, which will greatly diminish the timeframe in which students
can modify their schedules, the double-booking restriction curtailes
the possibilities of the course shopping period. Prerequisite checking
— and the associated errors within ESTHER related to it — has done
nothing to repair this situation. In fact, ESTHER'S failure to properly
identify cross-listed and in-progress courses has prevented students
from registering for courses in which they belong.
The issue at stake is in the registrar's collection of student liberties
into greater automated restriction. We have functioned without these
constraints for years and there does not appear to be strong motivation
for their implementation. The net effect of these recent changes is to re-
duce students' freedom and flexibility in creating their schedules and, ul-
timately, to discourage the academic growth promoted by "shopping."
Apart from the issue that these changes appear in conflict with the
spirit of enlightenment Rice claims to espouse, they create unneces-
sary paperwork on an individual basis. The registrar's all-students e-
mail advises that we complete a Special Registration Form if we have
issues with the new system. While we are looking towards a 1,000-per-
son increase in the student population, the Registrar's Office should be
seeking to streamline their system to reduce the number of individual
exceptions they must resolve, not increase it.
The bottom line: While these changes might seem to improve the
process in the long run, no amount of fixes or adjustments will make
them better than the unfettered system we enjoyed before last spring.
RPC gets Esperanza right
After years of declining attendance and profit loss, Rice Program Coun-
cil has found the key to hosting a successful Esperanza.
The tent was well decorated; the drinks were flowing; the food was
amazing; and the chocolate-covered strawberries were scrumptious.
All in all, Rice Program Council put together an excellent Esperanza
(see story, page 1).
We have no critiques at all of the way RPC handled and prepared for
Esperanza this year, save that maybe students could have used a little
more updated notice as to the remaining number of rapidly-selling tick-
ets. Instead, we simply want to offer our general praise and applause,
and encourage RPC to commence planning for next year's event as
soon as possible.
This year's dance was a bit of a perfect storm. The Rice Centennial
Campaign was already using the temporary tent between the James
A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy and the Jesse H. Jones Graduate
School for Management in order to kick off the $1 billion fundraiser,
and RPC tacked Esperanza along for the ride. Next year, it is likely that
there will be no pre-constructed, readily available tent, and if the plan-
ners want to keep the dance on-campus (which we hope they will), they
will have to undertake the task of still managing to give it a fresh, off-
campus feel.
To us, this means choosing a location off the beaten path for on-campus
events (i.e. not the Grand Hall), and one that is upscale enough to capture
Esperanza's elegance (i.e. not a gymnasium).
While we have no brilliant ideas of our own to offer at this time, we
strongly encourage RPC representatives to ask for advice from any and
all who are willing to give it. Students know what they want and like,
and they generally have no qualms about expressing exactly what that
is. With any luck, well-planned and excellently-staged Esperanzas can
be Rice staples for years to come, and the hard times that befell the
dance just a few years ago can be little more than distant memories.
Tudor Fieldhouse opens
for basketball season
The big blue curtain is finally gone, and Tudor Fieldhouse has
finally opened its renovated doors (see story, page 1).
First and foremost, we would like to congratulate everyone directly
involved with the project for finishing everything necessary for the host-
ing of both women's and men's basketball home-openers this week-
end. The ridiculous Houston weather never quite cooperates with the
construction schedules of mere mortals, but despite torrential rains,
flooding and a bonus hurricane, the doors will still be open tonight and
tomorrow for the arena's game-play inauguration.
Secondly, we would like to congratulate the administration and
athletics department, but especially principal donor Bobby Tudor
(Hanszen '82) and his wife Phoebe for undertaking all of the necessary
hassles to ensure that Rice will have respectable basketball and volley-
ball facilities for years to come. Expanded and updated locker rooms
and training facilities, new bleachers and a giant scoreboard are just a
few of the many additional features fans will see when they walk in the
doors for the first time. Prospective recruits will see them, as well, and
it is good to know that their recollections of Rice will no longer be domi-
nated by visions of a giant blue curtain, but rather by ideas of what a
program committed to rebuilding and improving can accomplish.
Overall, we applaud Rice campus' newest addition, and we hope
that all students will join us in welcoming our indoor sports teams to
the new floor for the first time.
THE AMER/CAti DREAM 1
\ KKvi USE ANOTHER.
feeom' trough-•
o/vrej
is
fcEAUN ptfPReoJvre
-nus
jgafo;.; -y-.-.ri
TWIS FR.UIT BovJL
WIU- ACCENT VOOR
table qovte ■
(OOU, LoVELN'.
AvACrltAGr
glms
&oivt$ aepfte^T
THE. flteSAfrgw PN
to
i'LL TAKEN
hUNE*
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
thresher-ops@rice. edu
Gay marriage
wrongly opposed
To the editor:
With all the talk about the fi-
nancial crisis, the two wars we are
fighting, an astronomically rising
deficit and an equally fast-paced
decline in the United States' stand-
ing in the world, many Americans
had forgotten about the catastroph-
ic rise in gay marriages which pre-
cipitated all of those problems.
In the past few years, more than
18,000 gay couples said "I do" in the
state of California alone, reportedly
causing irreparable damage to het-
erosexual families as far away as Col-
orado and Arkansas. It is not known
precisely how many healthy marriag-
es the gay aggressors have managed
to destroy, but some pastors have es-
timated it to be in the billions.
Yet what happened at the voting
booths last Tuesday was truly his-
toric and inspiring. A dedicated, di-
verse group of Americans overcame
ethnic, partisan and certain kinds
of religious barriers to form a holy
coalition which heroically defended
the institution of marriage against
gay aggression. In particular, evan-
gelicals were able to momentarily
put aside their hatred of Mormons
to join the Church of the Latter-Day
Saints in their mutual hatred of gays.
The Catholic Church and the Union
of Orthodox Jewish Congregations
of America also poured money into
the campaign.
Despite the crushing recession,
they raised over $31 million to pro-
tect families from the gay family-
destroyers God created in order to
test us. The freedom-fighters fought
valiantly to ensure the passing of the
California state amendment known as
Proposition 8, as well as similar state
amendments in Arizona, Arkansas
and Florida. The amendments pro-
vide badly-needed assistance to be-
leaguered married couples who have
struggled to maintain their wedding
vows in the face of the gay onslaught.
Perhaps one day, measures like
these will allow heterosexual men
and women across America to get
married and form families without
fear of gay retaliation and intimi-
dation. Please join me in saluting
the heroes who made this glorious
victory possible.
Eric Frey
Physics graduate student
Lily Chun & Dylan Farmer
Editors in Chief
NEWS
Sarah Rutledge Editor
Catherine Bratic Asst. Editor
Cindy Dinh Asst. Editor
Jocelyn Wright Asst. Editor
Zach Castle Designer
Kylie Klein Designer
Tiffany Kuo Designer
Nicholas Morales Designer
Jenny Sun Designer
OP-ED
Amanda Melchor Editor
Neel Shah Cartoonist
SPORTS
Natalie Cleriruzio Editor
Yan Digilov Editor
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Julie Armstrong Editor
Joe Dwyer Asst. Editor
COPY
Nick Schlossman Editor
Ryan Stickney Editor
Anna Wilde Editor
PHOTOGRAPHY
David Rosales Editor
Ariel Shnitzer Asst. Editor
Lauren Schoeffler Asst. Editor
WEB
John Michael Cuccia Editor
Stephen Wang Asst. Editor
BUSINESS
Sarah Mitchell Manager
Yvette Pan Payroll Manager
Jessie Huang Subscriptions Manager
Gustavo Herrera Distribution Manager
Sergio Jaramillo Distribution Manager
ADVERTISING
Joseph Ramirez Ads Manager
Thomas Yeh Ads Manager
Tiffany Kuo Classified Ads Manager
BACKPAGE
Timothy Faust Editor
Eric Doctor Editor
CALENDAR
Sean McBeath Editor
The Rice Thresher, the official student news-
paper at Rice University since 1916, is pub-
lished each Friday during the school year,
except during examination periods and holi-
days, by the students of Rice University.
Letters to the Editor must be received by
5 p.m. the Monday prior to publication and
must be signed, including college and year if
the writer Ls a Rice student. Utters should not
exceed 250 words in length. The Thresher re-
serves the rights to edit letters for content and
length and to place letters on our Web site.
Editorial & business offices are
located on the second floor of the Ley Stu-
dent Center:
6100 Main St., MS-524
Houston, TX 77005 1892
Phone (713) 348-4801
Fax (713) 348-5238
E-mail: threshertfbrice.edu
Web site: www.ricethresher.org
Unsigned editorials represent the major-
ity opinion of the Thresher editorial staff.
All other opinion pieces represent solely
the opinion of the piece's author.
The Thresher is a member of the
Associated Collegiate Press. James Bond!
© Copyright 2008
m
• 1
• 1
• »
• 1
• •
• •
• •
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.
Chun, Lily & Farmer, Dylan. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 96, No. 12, Ed. 1 Friday, November 14, 2008, newspaper, November 14, 2008; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443202/m1/2/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.