F Tree Vonnegut to Speak at 1998 Commencement^
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SplwS iu. SINCE 1916 WH UIIUMB 9 STILL HATE UZY LABOR DAY OFF SEPTEMBER 5,1SS7 Vonnegut to speak at 1998 commencement^ terhouse Five, a historical novel de- Byron Chen scribing a soldier's experience# in ( >mtnbuh*r World War II. The author lias earned honors including the Guggenh Writer Kurt Vonnegut will de Fellowship in 1907, a National I liver the commencement address at tuteof Arts and Letters grant in 1 next spring's 86th Commencement and the Ljterary Lion Award in 1981 after he accepted President Malcolm "I think it's really cool to have Gillis' invitation in August. someone like Vonnegut speak at Two years ago, Gillis formed a graduation," Beltran said, "He is student selection committe to rec- pretty well-known name.'' ommend speakers for 1998 com- rfe i:. x* mencement, which will be held May 9. i'm pleased as punch,!| 1 The committee distributed sur- iyi veys in the colleges asking the Class and I am looking ~nwi»>>TT of 1998 whom they wanted to deliver forward to hearing his | the commencement address, com- mittee member and Baker College speech. 1 expec t great senior Yolanda Beltran said. Vonnegut was on the short list of things from it.' names they sent to Gillis, who then picked Vonnegut. — SA President Daryl Shorter Coincidentally, Rice selected Arborist Jack Spann talks to an unidentified rtian while arborist Juan Alejandro begins to saw branches away to clear the Vonnegut on the heels of an Internet SA President Daryl Shorter, who' road after a delivery truck collided with a tree on-the Inner Loop in front of Herring Hall at noon on Thursday. hoax that credited him with deliver-. served on the student committee, rng a commencement address to was enthusiastic about Vonnegut's Massachusetts Institute ofTechnol- selection. "I'm pleased as punch, and tree ogy students which began wit h: "la- 1 am looking forward to hearing his dies and gentlemen of the class of speech. I expect great things from '97: Wear sunscreen." it." Driver misjudges clearance; $10,000-15,000 in estimated damage The speech was actually pub- Shorter added that the author f§ and was inside Herring Hall when truck's insurance company, accord- lished June 1 by Chicago Tribune was one of the biggest names to ROM Wilde the accident occurred. His car had ing to Facilities Manager Eusebio columnist Mary Schmich. Thou- speak at Rice's commencement in f Copy EdHiir _ no visible damage. "A couple more Franco. Franco, Groundskeeping sands of online users were fooled by years. While there are plenty of stu- feet and I would have had a nice tree staff and an outside tree consultant the column because its style closely dents who have never read any One of Rice's live oak trees lost a ornament on my hood," Genzer said. will'estimate tffe total bill by Mon- mirrored that of Vonnegut, works by Vonnegut, Shorter said limb Thursday when it was hit by a Genzer left the scene after the day. Considered by many critics to he that students were not disappointed delivery truck .traveling along the road was cleared enough to allow . Franco said that the university among the best of American con- by the selection. Inner Loop. safe passage. His was the only ve- pays special attention to the protec- temporary'writers, Vonnegut prima- Jones College senior Gregg * At 11:45 a.m., an OvernightTrans- hicle allowed to pass through the tion and maintenance of its trees. rily writes science fiction and satire. Miller was equally pleased with portation Company truck tore a large scene of the accident; the Campus "(Rice University] employs two full His books include the highly-praised Vonnegut's selection. He is a "great 11' limb off of an 80-year-old tree which Police detoured traffic approaching time arborists to care for the cam- Cat's Cradle and Breakfast of Cham- author with a quirky style," Miller shades the north side of the Inner the accident onto Alumni Drive. pus' tree population exclusively," pions. He is best known for Slaugh- said. Loop between Herring Hall and The delivery truck driver de- Franco said. "It takes a long time to Wieas College. The driver mis- clined to comment on the accident. grow a tree this size." judged ibm height of the low-hang- Several Facilities and Engineer- "It is a very higb. [university) pri- ing Kmb and of his truck, Campus ing staff members came to the scene ority to keep the old trees healthy Campus Police now able 1 Police Officer Robert Redman said. to estimate the extent of the damage and to plant new ones as well." The truck's upper frame was also and to clear the wreckage of the Grounds Superintendent Ron Smith damaged. limb safely from the road. Alejandro said. to issue Houston tickets Arborist Juan Alejandro wit- and Arborist Jack Spann immedi- Should the damage to the tree nessed the accident from his ately started clearing the tree limb prove fatal, the replacement cost Campus speed limit raised to 20 mph groundskeepiag truck while he was from the road and the delivery truck, could be as high as $10,000 or driving behind the delivery vehicle. using ropes and chain saws. They $15,000, according to Smith. "(The scribed by the Texas Department of Esther Sung could not estimate thg damage on tree| is really irreplaceable because Public Safety." The tickets will fall Alejandro said the truck hit the limb (\»Hlf ihlllift while trying to pass a car blocking the scene but said that the tree con- you can't bring in a tree of that size, under the jurisdiction of the HPD. the Wiess side of the street. sultant would determine the cost by [The tree consultants] have to put a Rice police officers now have ju- The city and county courts will Troy Genzer, Jesse H. Jones the number of damaged linear feet dollar amount on it... and they try to risdiction over people who are not handle the tickets just like any other Ciiraduate School of Business '97, of the tree. "I can tell you (thatJ it's replace it with whatever size of t ree members of the Rice community and ticket issued on regular Houston wail the owner of the black Honda not going to be cheap," Spann said. you can get in there," he said. commit moving violat ions (i.e., drive streets. j > whkJh blocked the right side of the The full cost of the damage, the Rice has approximately 4,000 faster than the speed limit or fail to "Folks come onto campus to cut road. He had temporarily stopped clean-up and tree replacement, if trees on campus, half of which are stop at a stop sign) on the Rice cam- through our property and that his car, leaving,the hazard lights on. needed, will be billed to the delivery live oaks. pus. makes it hard for us to protect our The added police power is communitf." Assistant Police Chief granted by a new law amending the Tom Bickers said. "The [city] legis- Refusal of on-campus housing leads to Transportation Code of the City of lature understands this problem and Houston and Sept. 1 changes to the is giving us help [to keep it under Campus Police traffic policy. control]." / 0-Week shutdown of ethernet services "Rice has always had trouble with The Campus Police emphasize advisors) on-campus housing ulti- Fullmer, who was responsible for people speeding and cutting through that the new policy was instituted Maya Batakrishnan mately made it impossible for the the on-campus housing request for campus from Shepherd Street to only with the best interests of the News Editor necessary computer maintenance to computing associates, told them to University Boulevard to get to the students and employees of Rice in be completed before or during O- appeal to their masters and college Medical Center," Parking Commit- mind. Since revenues collected from Information Technology had no Week. According to Sid Richardson O-Week coordinators for permission tee member and Sid Richardson moving violation fines are paid di- choice but to shut down campus College Master Penny Bennett, a to stay on campus. Brown comput College senior Thomas Hutchinson rectly to the City of Houston, nei- network connections in college subcommittee of the O-Week steer-, ing associate and junior Michael said. In addition to the problems of ther Rice University nor its police rooms during Orientation Week af- ing committee was responsible for Wakin was one of eight computing reckless driving and endangering department stand to benefit finan ter the O-Week Steering Committee all initial decisions regarding on- associates who successfully gained pedestrians, Campus Police have cially from issuing HPD tickets. 111! refused college computing associ- campus housing during O-Week. permission to move oh-campus also had difficulty enforcing tickets According to the Campus Police, ates permission to stay on campus. "They looked at applications based early. they issue to people who are not this law benefits the Rice commu The Thresher reported Jast week on criteria, and the decisioli was Originally, IThad hired students Rice students or employees. Up till, nity. "The point of the new law is not that connections had to be turned made based on [that criteria 1," she as college computing associates to now, they have been handicapped' to raise money, but to change or off so that the dynamic host configu- said. The computing associates did help with networking, and they by a jurisdiction restricted to the modify [potentially dangerous traf- ration protocol could be reset.