the Rice Thresher Vol. XC, Issue No. 1 SINCE 1916 Friday, August 23, 2002 Parking gates to be completed soon Binford said that even a student by Mark Berenson who parks in the West Lot would be THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF given a proximity card before the Finishing touches are being put gates are activated, so that he could on parkinggates on all non-college access gated lots after business lots except the stadium lots, with the hours, such as the Allen Center Lot, .,.v . m gates scheduled to be activated about in which registered vehicles can park Sept. 2.- after 5:30 p.m. Returning students will be paying Details are still being working out $53 to park in the West Lot, formerly by Binford, but the current plan is for the East Stadium Lot; $8 to Park in the college coordinators to distribute the Greenbriar Lot, formerly the West proximity cards to students who have Stadium Lot; and $113 to park in the registered their cars prior to the acti- vation of the gates. Students who gin**w>im college lots. Freshmen will be paying , nm $150 to park in- the West Lot. All register their cars after the gates' students will pay a $37 shuttle fee. activation have been activated will Associate Vice President for Fi- get cards when they register their nance and Administration Neill cars at the Rice University Police Binford said the gates would not be Department annex, Binford said. activated until the system was ready, Most fees and policies are as they iimtmw even if that meant delaying activa- were announced in the spring. Fac- » tion for a few days. ulty and staff will pay $240 for pre- "The gates will be active once we mium lots (all lots east of Alice Pratt are sure everything is working prop- Brown Hall), $400 for the Central Campus Garage, $150 for the South erly and once we are sure everyone MARK 8ERENSON THRESHER has the [proximity] card that they Stadium Lot, Hess Court Lot and need," Binford said. Media Center Lot, $90 for the West Moving on up Binford said that almost 6,000 Lot and $45 for the Greenbriar Lot. Final preparations are being made on the new Jesse H. Jones School of Management, where classes are proximity cards, which are needed The one change is that all incom- scheduled to take place Monday. New Wiess College and new wings at Brown and Jones Colleges opened last * to gain access to and leave any gated ing students will now pay $150 to week. See Stories, Page 8-9. * lot, will be distributed to faculty, staff park in the West Lot, a rate not an- and students. SeeGATES, Page 12 Driver charged in student death Hunts cause mischief Police report problems with 0-Week groups' scavenging by Mark Berenson had been drinking, and Houston Po- lice Department spokesman Martin 4 THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF DeLeon said police later determined by Olivia Allison ing the old Wiess building: either A Houston man was charged Gattis' blood alcohol level was .26, THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF attempting lo enter the building, in- in late May with intoxicated more than three times Texas' legal side it or carrying property away manslaughter and intoxication limit of .08. /ice President for Student Affairs from the building. Taylor said the Zenaido Camacho sent a letter Mon- area was particularly dangerous be- p- i assault for his role in the car Harris County Assistant District accident that killed Brown Col- Attorney Warren Diepraam, who is aay reminding Orientation Week cause asbestos removal is currently lege freshman Erin Peck prosecutirg tho case, said Gattis was coordinators to plan scavenger hunts taking place. Although no warning t May 10. charged with intoxication man- that "respect the property and rights tape has been put up around the Michael Leslie Gattis, 30, was slaughter and intoxication assault. of all members of the Rice commu- building, the building should be driving a white Chevy Silverado Intoxicated manslaughter is a sec- nity," after several police complaints fenced off within a week, Director of westbound on Bissonnet Street, ond-degree felony and carries a pun- about hunts Sunday night. Project Management Barbara White ran a red light and hit Peck's ishment of two to 20 years in prison. "There was some concern," Rice said. vehicle, which was traveling Intoxication assault is a third-degree University Police Chief Bill Taylor said. Another Brown group removed southbound on Greenbriar felony, punishable with between two "Sunday night we were contacting three photographs from Baker Hall, I Street. Peck, who was wearing a and 10 years in prison. people on a regular basis and saying, causing the backings to be damaged. seat belt, died at the scene, and However, Diepraam added that Folks, you shouldn't be doing that.'" Other Sunday night incidents included *s. COURTESY HARRIS COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMEh Brown and Baker Colleges held taking construction barricades. the three passengers in her car, it was possible that even if a jury Michael Gattis the all Rice students, were released convicted Gattis of intoxicated man- scavenger hunts Sunday. All colleges "They seem to forget that the rea- les. from the hospital within a week slaughter — the more serious first offender, meaning he has except Wiess and Hanszen Colleges son why that stuff is put up is because or after the accident. charge — he still might not have to no prior felony convictions or have a scavenger hunt during O-Week. there's some danger or some haz- Gattis admitted to police go to jail. felony probation," Diepraam Among the problems with ards, and when they pull that stuff, it shortly after the accident that he "Mr. Gattis is what is called a SeeARREST. Page 11 Sunday's O-Week scavenger hunts can leave someone vulnerable for an ent were several O-Week groups caught accident or getting hurt," Taylor said. 'asy by police at various points of enter- SeeHUNTS. Page 10 our edit arc i tact Computer mistake causes brief NSIDE 5238 freshman registration problem OPINION Page 2 Get involved at Rice "Once [Information Technology] by Mark Berenson A&E Pages 20-21 THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF identified the problem, they imme- diately created the file, and the IT Fast, cheap and out of control Continuing the slow march to people immediately rolled it over [to SPORTS Page 24 complete online registration, incom- SISWeb and Exeter]," Montag said. Hess, IM tennis courts being repaired ing students registered for classes "Even as the students were waiting, online Wednesday, though with their accounts were being updated some kinks. and they were fine." Registrar Jerry Montag said that Peer Academic Adviser Meredith Welcome back! when students created Owlnet ac- Jenkins was at Ryon Lab when stu- This is the Orientation Week issue of the ior counts earlier in the week, a file dents were registering. She said \ Thresher the first of the 2002- 03 academic year. should have been sent to the Stu- there were a few kinks in the JOHN YARDLEY/THRESHER The Thresherwill publish weekly until Oct. 18. dent Information System and Exeter morning's process. Senior outfielder Dane Bubela (right) warms up We wish everyone a successful year and happy systems, from which online regis- "It seemed really chaotic in the before playing a game for the Bourne (MA) Braves (class) shopping to all! tration works. morning," Jenkins, a Hanszen Col- in the Cape Cod League. See Story, Page 25 However, for an unknown rea- lege junior, said. "But all the prob- son, the files were not created in the lems seemed to be solved really Weekend Weather two systems. Therefore, on Wednes- quickly, and it was just a little bit of Friday Meeting the freshmen day morning when a new student a delay." Isolated thunderstorms, 74-94 degrees This year's Newcomers Guide will be available t to went to create a SISWeb account in Montag said there were several Saturday by Wednesday. Just remember. Screw Yer Room- son order to enter the online preregis- other minor logistical problems, such Hazy, hot and humid, 74-96 degrees mate is coming up next month. for tration system, the Rice e-mail ad- as new students not remembering Sunday V- dress which the student entered was their SAT or ACT score — some Partly sunny. 74-95 degrees not recognized as valid. SeeREGISTRATION . Page 6 THE RICE THRESHER OPINION FRIDAY, AUGUST 23,2002 insert title here... 111 the Rice Thresher Testing fairly After waking up Monday in a new place surrounded by new people, the new students on campus had to take a test. A test that determined part of their courseload and impacted their academic confidence, despite some serious failings of its own. Some people say the English Composition Exam fails enough % people to fill the spots in English 103; some people say test graders pass too many people who need help because there are not enough spots in the course. The issue is not whether the numbers of students passing are inflated or deflated each year. A bigger prob- e lem is that after talking to graders, it was clear that how severely they 9e judge these tests is based — to some extent — on how many seats there will be in English 103 that year. This is inappropriate for a test that claims to determine a student's by katie streit writing ability. While the exam is officially called a composition exam, "i got canadia!" it is a competency test judging students' writing skills — any skill- based test that results in a pass or a fail is evaluating competency.