Late-Night Hoot Turns Quick Profit Non-Major L
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OP-ED P. 3 A&E P. 8 SPORTS P. 10 If you can read this... Beyond the sea(queQ Play ball? Degenerative eye diseases affect nearly one million in Texas. Does the newly released BioShock2 video game live up to The baseball team started off the season 0-4 with losses to Look inside to see how you can help. the praise of its original title? the Cardinal and the Cardinals. Coach Graham is not pleased. thVOLUME XCVIIe, ISSUE NO . 2Ric1 STUDENT-RUe N SINCE 1916 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2010 Late-night Hoot turns quick profit Non-major BY CATHERINE BRATIC THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF Humanities Late-night munchies beware: The Hoot has its target set on after-dark courses cut hunger. Since the student-run late- BY KATIE JENSON night eatery opened Jan. n, it has FOR THE THRESHER become the go-to spot for night-owl students to buy food and drinks. The latest consequences of the Open Sunday through Friday from recession mean that Rice students 10 p.m.-2 a.m., the stand sells subs may never be exposed to font design, from Jersey Mike's, fountain drinks the chemistry in art or the study of and full or half-portions of large piz- journalism. Next year, the School of zas from Domino's. Humanities and the Wiess School of The idea of an after-hours food Natural Sciences will be effectively service point was originally brought cutting courses that are not directly up by Housing and Dining in re- relevant to majors. sponse to demands received from Certain course instructors and students in recent years, Director of course lecturers on one-year contracts Residential Dining David McDonald will not be returning to Rice next said. As the West Servery was being year, due to university-wide budget planned, McDonald saw the potential cuts. Although their courses are not to enact such an idea. explicitly being cut, the courses will However, the implementation had most likely no longer have teachers, to wait a semester. fen Cooper, creator and current lec- "In the kitchens, just like in the turer of HUMA 251: Typography and new dorms, we had plenty of minor l Design, one of the courses slated to start-up issues to deal with first," Mc- be cut, said. Donald said. The School of Humanities has Although the initiative came been noticeably struck by financial woes: Interim Humanities Dean Allen from Housing and Dining, now that Hungry students take a break from studying and head over to West Servery for pizza and soft drinks at The The Hoot has opened, it is entirely Matusow announced in a memo that Hoot. The highly-successful late-night food venue, which opened in January and is student-run, is serving six student-run, director and manager of because of budget cuts, his school The Hoot Trey O'Neill said. nights a week and is already looking to turn a profit and pay back its start-up costs. could no longer afford to offer cours i O'Neill, a Will Rice College senior, es not directly linked to any major in was originally approached by Mc- the School of Humanities. he explained "For the north colleges, also be logistical problems of getting to ask if another late night service Donald to head such a project while Two of the courses cut, Typogra it's right next door. You don't have to H&D employees to and from campus point can be installed there. working as the general manager of phy and Design and HUMA 250: Writ- wait to order any food, and the prices after hours, but the student-run ar- Willy's Pub last spring. "I'm worried about going back to ing for Print Media, debuted several are actually cheaper than you'd get if rangement has turned out to be supe- Will Rice next year," sophomore Nick years ago as college courses. After "Originally I said no, but then I you were to order out." rior regardless. years of effort, the courses were ad- had to go call them back," O'Neill Riggall said. "They should really open The Hoot keeps its prices low by "This place is really by and for the opted into the School of Humanities. said. "Three months of summer went one at [the] south [colleges]." depending on student labor, McDon- students," he said. "Plus, they're al- "Student interest really sparked by and I changed my mind." McDonald said while the new ald said. Nineteen students make up ready all up at 2 a.m. anyway." the development of these courses," Housing and Dining provided servery has no planned service point the current staff, each working two- Manager Michelle Kerkstra, a Will Cooper said. $5,000 to help start the program, but yet, expansion is being seriously con- hour shifts in exchange for food cou- Rice senior, said if The Hoot's success Cooper's course encourages stu- it is now completely self-sufficient. sidered. pons while The Hoot works to make continues, employees might start re- dents to solve problems of visual O'Neill said The Hoot plans to repay Culinary expansions are also an initial profit. ceiving wages, as Coffeehouse and communication through intelligent that loan soon. planned. For now, The Hoot's menu "If it were staffed by our current Willy's Pub employees do. use of type, according to the current On an average night, The Hoot is limited to pizza, subs and sodas. dining staff, I can't pay somebody for The future may hold expansion course catalog. The class focuses on sells upward of 35 subs and 65 pizzas While Kerkstra said this was typical five hours with just free food," Mc- plans for The Hoot as well, O'Neill the prevalence of visual communica- and does an average of $650 in busi- college fare, she acknowledged that Donald said. said. As plans for the East Servery are tion on college party posters, in visual ness, O'Neill said. it didn't leave much room for healthy McDonald also said there would being finalized, students are starting Q see COURSES, page 6 "I think it's a welcome addition," Osee HOOT, page 6 Tuition rises 5 percent due to endowment losses BY JOCELYN WRIGHT cies from previous years for current and THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF incoming students. Those with family in- HISTORY OF UNDERGRADUATE TUITION SOURCE: THRESHER ARCHIVES comes below $80,000 have aid packages GRAPHIC BY ERIC DOCTOR In keeping with historical trends, that do not include loans, and the total Rice will once more increase next year's amount of loans other students can accu- 1989 ~ $5,300 tuition. While the 2009-10 tuition sits at mulate is capped at $10,000. Collins said 2011 — $33,120 $31,430, next year's amount will jump 70 percent of entering students this year 5.4 percent to $33,120 to compensate received some form of financial support. for endowment losses. This increase in The admissions process for next year will tuition will be accompanied by a 16 per- continue to be need-blind. cent increase in the financial aid bud Collins cited endowment losses as a get, Vice President for Finance Kathy factor in the decision to raise tuition. Collins said. "Rice raises tuition every year—as Room and board has also increased do most other schools—and it is espe- for 2010-11 from $11,230 to $11,750. The cially important this year, given that total charge for entering students, our endowment losses are 18 percent," which includes tuition, fees, and hous- she said. ing, will be approximately $48,500. Over the past year, the endowment The tuition increase will apply to all has dropped from $4.61 to $3.61 billion. students enrolled at Rice next year. Rice's tuition increase is commensu- In addition to increasing the finan- rate with those of peer institutions. Yale cial aid budget to $57 million from a little University announced a 4.8 percent rise more than $45 million last year, Rice will in tuition and fees this year making the continue to honor its financial aid poli- O see TUITION, page 4 A little organ muzak Say goodbye to this (for a week) Country and Western INDEX Opinion 3 Gene Hancock's Faculty Recital is tonight at It might not feel like spring yet (primarily be- The Houston livestock Show and Rodeo starts its News 4 7 p.m. in the Bates Recital Hall. The program cause spring starts March 20), but spring break annual 20-day run on March 2, featuring a barbecue, Arts & Entertainment 8 includes an improvisation on submitted starts tomorrow and goes through Sunday. live music and bull riding. Check it out if you're in Sports 10 themes, so ask for that song you've always Try not to do anything that would make you town but don't drink too much, or you may acciden- Calendar 15 wanted to hear performed on an organ. We worthy of a spot on Girfs With Low Self-Esteem tally find yourself in a tussle with a bull or singing Backpage 16 suggest "Hit Me Baby One More Time." while cavorting around South Padre. on stage with the Black Eyed Peas. "•« EDITORIAL THE RICE THRESHER — FRIDAY, FEBRUARY26,2010 HIiffcSnfoT&sPNfitT ** To e ,•//1 \ : / 'fx the Rice (Ihresher M C*>OL\ Tuition hike inflicts CX>h(M\ financial burdens Rice recently announced that it is perpetuating a disheart- ening trend in tuition hikes, increasing undergraduate tu- LETTERS TO THE EDITOR thresher-ops@rice.