No Charges Will Be Filed in Sexual Assault Case Ids Now Required To
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the Rice Thresher Vol. XCI, Issue No. 21 SINCE 1916 Friday, February 27, 2004 No charges will be filed in sexual assault case Athletes may still face university disciplinary action ] S" IZ v.. ' by Jenny Rees attorney representing Heard, said he is pleased HM THRKSHKR EDITORIAL STAFF with the grand jury's decision. % W ' "The evidence showed that these kids didn't No criminal charges will be filed against do anything illegal," Yates said. "We're just three football players and one football recruit very pleased that this matter is over, and hope- in the case of an alleged sexual assault against fully these kids can go on with their lives." a female student reported at Wiess College The grand jury heard a summary of the Dec. 6. A grand jury heard the case Feb. 19 and evidence in the case and voted in secret on Tuesday and decided not enough evidence whether there was enough evidence to file existed for the district attorney's office to file charges, Gutierrez said. He said at least charges, Harris County Assistant District At- nine grand jury members must vote in favor torney Roberto Gutierrez said. of filing charges, which did not happen in "The grand jury found not enough prob- this case. able cause to indict," Gutierrez said. Gutierrez said the female student made no The three students' cases are still pending claims that physical force or threats of physi- in the Office of Student Judicial Programs, cal force were used but claimed that a sexual Assistant Dean for Student Judicial Programs assault had still occurred. Don Ostdiek said. 'The only possible theory that could have "IThe district attorney's decision not to file worked, if there were enough evidence, was chargesj does not affect the case in that the that the person had not consented and the Rice proceedings are about violations of the actors knew the person they were having [Rice] Code of Student Conduct, not viola- sex with was unconscious or physically un- tions of Texas state law," Ostdiek said. "It is a able to resist," Gutierrez said. "There was a separate determination." lack of evidence as far as that was con- The accused students are Wiess College cerned." freshman Joel Armstrong, Wiess freshman CALEB REOnELD/IHRESHER Gutierrez said that in this case, the claim Jonathan Cary and Sid Richardson College that the female student was intoxicated was Dancing the night away freshman Bubba Heard. The Thresher is with- not sufficient to support an indictment for holding the name of the recruit — who chose sexual assault. Brown College junior Ziggy Zeigler leads a spirit dance during the Stayin' Awake for Kids' to attend a different Division I school — be- "It's not enough to say, 'I got drunk and I Sake dance marathon Saturday in the Rice Memorial Center Grand Hall. The event raised cause lie is a minor. didn't give consent.'" Gutierrez said. "That's money for Memorial Hermann Hospital. Armstrong, Cary and Heard declined of- not sexual assault. It has to fall within the fers to comment. However, Terry Yates, an See ASSAULT Page 5 IDs now required to enter college serveries H&D trying to curb theft by those without plans by Ian Everhart plates," he said. "More and more people were eating in the dining THRESHER STAFF rooms who weren't on the meal plan." The on-campus housing agree- Don't forget that ID — at least if MEAl. PLAN COST vs. V'AUUfc you want to eat. Housing and Dining ment states that meals may not be instituted stricter rules about admit- shared with others. All on-campus Ml ting students to serveries earlier this residents purchase the 19-meals-per- month. Students must present their week plan at a cost of $1,540 per IDs to be swiped when they enter semester, which includes$50of tetra rather than signing their names. points. ()ff-campus students may pur- H&D Director Mark Dilman said chase the five-meals-per-week plan the new policies were prompted in for $620 per semester or buy meals part by the growing trend of students individually with tetra points. with meal plans bringing food from I)itman said he thinks increasing the servery to their friends without security at the door will be an effec- meal plans in the dining area. tive way to prevent food theft. "What we noticed this year—and "Rather than spending a lot of time it seemed to gain momentum as the on surveillance and trying to catch semester went on — we were seeing people cheating, we decided the re- CALEB REDFIELD/THRESHER more and more people leave the serv- sponsible first step was to make sure Signs placed at the entrance to each college servery by Housing and Dining detail the cost of feeding Rice students. ing areas with multiple fully-loaded See FOOD, Page 4 The cost is $4.42 per day per student, according to the signs. Rules set for Beer-Run race INSIDE Happy midterm recess! OPINION Page 3 by Aaron Heckelman future Beer-Runs as compared to last year's. Minors orgasming on stage Each runner will run one lap around the Beer- There will be no Thresher next Friday THRESHER STAFF Bike track rather than biking three laps for because of midterm recess, but don't A&E Page 15 College and campus-wide Beer-Bike coordi- men or two for women and alumni, and chug- worry, we'll be back with double the issue Oscar preview nators met Monday night to finalize an official ging regulations will be identical to those of and double the fun on March 12. set of rules for Beer-Run, the footrace that Beer-Bike. However, the time between races Have a safe and restful break. SPORTS Page 21 replaces Beer-Bike in the event of rain. Beer- will be shortened to 15 minutes. The races Save the last dance Bike is scheduled for March 20. currently run on a set schedule with an hour Bookstore sale The coordinators hope to inform students between each of the three races' start times. in advance of what to expect if the weather on In order to provide better organization on There's a sale on Rice paraphernalia "Has anybody been able to keep that guy off race day is inclement. Some coordinators said race day. each college will be required to in the Campus Store, so be sure to visit the boards this year? Was Stanford able to the biggest problem with last year's Beer-Run, submit a roster of runners, in addition to the the basement and get a few T-shirts for all keep him off the boards? No. I don't care what league you're playing in, that guy is a the first in Beer-Bike history, was that it was regular bike and chug team rosters, to the those family members that you know re- ally want something Rice-related. player." organized at the last minute. campus-wide coordinators by March 15. As — University of Nevada head basketball with Beer-Bike, varsity athletes will be al- "If Beer-Run is necessary, the difference Weekend Weather coach Trent Johnson on junior forward I from last year] would be that it is structured," lowed to participate ir. Beer-Run with a coach's Michael Harris' play. See Story. Page 20. Friday Sid Richardson College Beer-Bike Coordina- permission. Both the men and women's track Mostly sunny. 66-48 degrees teams have meets scheduled for March 20. Scoreboard tor Patrick Spicer said. "Many of the things Saturday that took place were simply thrown together At the Monday meeting, the coordinators Partly cloudy. 68-60 degrees Men's basketball last year, and so we are trying to avoid that by decided a college's runner roster may contain Sunday Fresno State 60, Rice 63 having a plan." up to five people not on the bike team. Some Thunderstorms, 74-56 degrees Louisiana-Lafayette 76, Rice 81 Procedurally, few changes are planned for See RUN. Page 5 , THE RlUi THRESHER OPINION FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2004 Service trip for 12 to Honduras: Feeding a family of five for the Rice Thresher $19,795 41.2 years: $19,795 Athletic recruitment should be examined We are concerned with the recent negative national media attention Rice has received regarding alleged acts committed while varsity athletic recruits were present (See Story, Page 1.) The Associated Press and the Houston Chronicle, among others, have circulated stories of an alleged sexual assault by three athletes and a recruit—the accused were cleared of any criminal wrongdoing this week — and media have covered the alleged hiring of strippers at athletic recruitment parties. To put it mildly, /I this February the university has not presented itself to the outside world as well as it normally does. JU % While we do not know the validity of the accusations made against Rice Just cutting a check to feed the children: varsity athletes and athletic recruits, the frequency and the gravity of the -3 CP Inconceivable accusations warrant a close, candid and public look at how athletes are recruited, as well as a look at sanctioned and unsanctioned practices of athletes and the Athletic Department in general. To that end, the report on Rice athletics currently being generated by LETTERS TO THE EDITOR the consulting firm McKinsey and Company should be made public. And tive July 1, 2004. These will be fully tant Vice President for Student Af- we hope McKinsey will be asked to evaluate the nature of formal and Hanszen's generosity, defined in the next parking regula- fairs John Hutchinson said, "It is a informal recruiting practices at the university, if it is not already doing so.