>•-' -V P.3 AAE P. 12 SPORTS Wm Teenage dlrtbags Their name is Jonas We won! The economy's downward spiral — and Its effects on the Why the lo-Bros are a talented — and sartorially skilled — O, ye of little faith. Rice sent SMU home, crying. Juicy mall-frequenting, textlng teenage masses. boy band, even for the older-than-14 set details insidel thVOLUME XCVI,e ISSUE NO . 3Ric STUDENT-RUe N SINCE 1916 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2008 Wiess, WRC offer free 0/C lunch BY JOCELYN WRIGHT THRESHER STAFF Living off campus can be a learn- ing experience. Students venturing beyond the accommodating dorm situ- ation have to suddenly deal with bills, buying groceries and preparing meals. However, Will Rice College and Wiess College are now offering to shoulder the lunchtime burden by offering free weekly meals. At Will Rice, where the program is in its third year, off-campus students are provided with free sand- wiches and cookies each Friday. Wiess is pioneering a similar program, and will be offering free sandwiches to off- campus students Tuesdays for the next two weeks to gauge student interest. Will Rice Master Paula Krisko said she and her husband, Mike Wolf, start- ed the program two years ago as part of a series of efforts to get off-campus students more involved in residential college life. "Pretty much one-fourth of our stu- dents live off campus and we thought this could help college cohesion," Krisko said. "We tried to make events — and this is one of them — that might encourage people to come back to the college at different times, so people who Drink in hand, Sid Richardson College sophomore Graham Johnson gets pumped up for Rice's football wouldn't normally come back would In-tents tailgating game against SMU last Friday. More than 23,000 fans turned out to watch the Owls' first game of the year. have a day where they can come and relax. We hoped this would encourage that and generally encourage people to remain part of the college and hopefully Rice Webmail Farach-Carson named first Associate come back during their senior year." Krisko said Will Rice sees between 15 and 30 participants in any given upgraded Vice Provost for Research, begins 2009 week. Students put their names on a sign-up sheet and are provided with BY CATHERINE BRATIC BY MATTHEW MCKEE between humanities and social sci- believe that the only way to tackle bread, cheese and lunch meats. Krisko THRESHER STAFF THRESHER STAFF ence faculty with faculty in the TMC. these is to bring an interdisciplinary said the college had to devise a cheaper Farach-Carson said her position team together to work for common way to feed students because lunch can Rice's Webmail received an update As part of a growing investment was created to help foster interdisci- solutions." cost over $6, which would deplete all in May to make it faster and better in research, Rice University selected plinary research. She hopes to assist At the University of Delaware, the funds available for that year in two able to handle the large volumes of Mary Farach-Carson as its first associ- researchers from different fields come Farach-Carson is a professor of bio- months. She said the cost of the sand- e-mail sent to and from Rice accounts ate vice provost for research. Farach- together to work on projects address- logical and material sciences, and wiches was a little under $2 per person. every day. Carson, who currently teaches and ing large issues. she is a founding director of the Cen- Will Rice Coordinator Joyce Cour- Barry Ribbeck, Director for Infor- directs research at the University of ter for Translational Cancer Research. toise said she brings cookies for the off- mation Technology Systems, Archi- Delaware, will begin her work at Rice She said she looks forward to work- campus students each week. tecture and Infrastructure, said the next fall. ing with researchers from multiple "I figure they deserve a little des- update replaced old hardware and The creation of this position fol- disciplines and hopes to assist under- sert," Courtoise said. software from the Webmail interface, lows Rice's rapidly expanding inter- graduate students projects as well as Wiess master Mike Gustin said he which could no longer accommodate est in research and collaboration projects from graduate students and suggested the program to the Wiess Rice's increasing volume of mail. The detailed in President David Leebron's faculty. In her lab at the University off-campus representatives because he Webmail page also got a makeover, Vision for the Second Century. In pro- of Delaware, undergraduates work and Will Rice master Wolf frequently which Ribbeck hopes will make com- moting research, Farach-Carson will together on biomedical projects. share ideas, and he thought the off- monly used features such as spam help encourage and create links with Farach-Carson said her interest and campus lunch program would benefit filters and vacation messages easier the Texas Medical Center and will commitment to research bloomed Wiess students. to find. Ribbeck said the update was also become a part-time faculty mem- during her undergraduate years. Wiess had its first experimental free made following student requests for ber as a professor of biochemistry and "We have an obligation to the next lunch in the spring. Gustin said it was faster Webmail. cell biology. She will work extensively generation of scientists to give them well received by students. Like the Will This is the first time that an up- with the projects of the Collaborative research opportunities, and I just Rice program, the Wiess program costs grade has been made to the interface Research Center, which is scheduled love it," Farach-Carson said. "When about $2 per student. The lunch fare in- portion of the system, Ribbeck said. for completion in 2009. I come to Rice, I am sure that we will cludes bread, sandwich meats, peanut Only Webmail servers and storage Vice Provost for Research Jim look for places in interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research ef- butter and jelly. Gustin said he is cur- have been updated in recent years. He Coleman said his office works with Associate Vice Provost for researchers from varying academic forts that allow [for] undergraduates, rently providing half the money for the said the old Webmail system's hard- Research Mary Farach-Carson program and the Wiess Cabinet is pro- ware was over five years old, and the fields across Rice, as will Farach-Car- graduates, post docs and professors viding the other half. Over the past two operating systems and the version of son, but because one of her specific "I would view myself as a catalyst to work together." weeks that the pilot program has been the software had not been upgraded. tasks is to forge collaborations be- to help pursue more of those kind of Coleman, who has worked at the in effect, approximately 30 students a "This was old when I got here [in tween Rice faculty and faculty in the projects," Farach-Carson said. "Clean university for about 11 months, said week have shown up, making the pro- Dec. 200SI," Ribbeck said. "It was time Texas Medical Center, she is likely to water, renewable energy, global he will work with Farach-Carson gram cost about $60 per week. Gustin for an upgrade... So in a sense, the entire spend more time facilitating and de- health ... all of these problems are so to provide infrastructure support saidheisworkingwithWiessoff-campus Webmail service needed an overhaul. IT veloping projects. But Farach-Carson complicated that no one researcher for assisting researchers with grant £3 see LUNCH, page 8 O see WFBMAIl., page 9 will also help build collaborations can tackle them anymore, and I firmly O see PROVOST, page 9 Registrar deadlines Foreign film Jungle fever INDEX Opinion 2 This is the last day you can add a course online The screening of let the Wind Blow, a film So perhaps Martel beat Lovett in the "first News 4 sans fee, without the instructor's permission, con- about two friends caught between a nuclear war public party of the year" category, officially, but Arts & Entertainment 12 vert a Pass/Fail from last spring to a letter grade, ready India and Pakistan, begins at 8:00 p.m. in Lovett's Getcheroxoff is an ancient Rice tradition Sports 16 become a part-time student and the last day to the Rice Media Center. from the 1970s. The theme this year? Something Calendar 23 withdraw with 100 percent refund of tuition. Get Tickets are $9 for the general public and $6 for about jungle fun and techno. (But of course.) Backpage 24 busy! students. Roar. 2 OP-ED THE RICE THRESHER FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5,2008 the Rice (Ihresher m Leebron wisely passes on Amethyst Initiative: Currently, a proposal called the Amethyst Initiative is circulat- WWt ?ywr* SCORE AT ing among college and university presidents, purporting to be a *T> W «-«- call to "informed and unimpeded debate" about the current sta- ri'S ttoufiZP oy -TO tus and effectiveness of America's alcohol legislation (see story, ye page 6). At this time, more than 120 presidents have signed the initiative, and a few of them are from schools we nominally la- bel "peer" institutions, like Duke University. Despite the buzz surrounding the Initiative, president David Leebron has still not signed it, because he feels that far from be- ing free from bias, the Initiative's implied conclusion is that the current policies are not working, and the drinking age needs to again be lowered to 18.