A A W9 fflwmumm >P-ED ^ ^ 1 IPS* B p| ill|||IB AmM t r P. 14 ^ ;VttV" i." •' iBSttR » W. « i » .<< KW» ' live water for Christmas mmi The Wake is only half-dead Texas two-step Matt Youn was paid handsomely for his column on the Mattel's student-written fall production gets down to the 77>e volleyball team qualifies for the NCAA volleyball tour- tragedy of the commercialization of Christmas. details, sometimes too much. nament for the second time in Rice's history. thVOLUME XCVI,e ISSUE NO . 1Ric4 STUDENT-RUe N SINCE 1916 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2008 Owls will play bowl W •- •« / game in r Houston w ASB0V>\ mrnmm. • " BY YAN DLGILOV THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF At a Wednesday press conference, athletics director Chris Del Conte of- % 'M ficially announced that Rice had ac- cepted an invitation to play in the 2008 Texas Bowl Reliant Stadium on Dec. 30 at 7 p.m. The game will be the final chapter in the saga of a se- nior class that has made an imprint on nearly every column of the foot- ball team's history books. "To be able to come and have our student athletes, our fans, our faculty, and students to participate in a bowl game right here in the city of Houston, we couldn't ask for anything better," Del Conte said. "Rice belongs in a bowl and not on a plate." After finishing the regular season Rice Athletics Director Chris Del Conte, Texas Bowl President John Huff, Texas Bowl Manager Heather Houston, and Coach David Bailiff spoke Wednes- 9-3, Rice considered offers from both day at a press conference to announce Rice Football's participation in the Texas Bowl after the team secured their spot in a win over the University of the GMAC Bowl, to be held on Jan. 6 in Mobile, Ala., and the Texas Bowl. Houston. The game will be held at Reliant Stadium on Dec. 30th at 7 p.m. The Owls' opponent has not yet been announced. The decision to forgo a road trip for a game less than three miles away was well received by members of the team that went undefeated at home all year. Alumni give $15 million2008 Commencement "It was the bowl we wanted," head coach David Bailiff said. "It's another opportunity for the city of Houston to to engineering dept. speaker announced go watch these Rice Owls. It is going to be another opportunity for Chase [Clement] and Jarett [Dillard] to hook BY SARAH RUTLEDGE whom have lost their husbands, with up at home." Donation to establish the Rice Engineering THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF financial assistance, education and Speculation over the Owls' op- job training to regain their pre-war ponent began even before the offi- Leadership Center to focus on communication The commencement speaker this status. cial announcement was made. The May for the class of 2008 will be Salbi is also the author of Between Texas Bowl is usually affiliated with BY MICHELLE JIN so you get programs started and Zainab Salbi, the founder and CEO Two Worlds: Escape from Tyranny: Conference-USA and the Big 12 Con- THRESHER STAFF it's difficult to continue them in a of Women for Women International, Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam, ferences, but it is highly likely that a sustainable way. A gift like this al- the Commencement Speaker Com- a memoir about growing up in Iraq representative from the Big 12 will not The engineering department lows us to build some permanent mittee announced this week. The during Saddam Hussein's regime, be filling the spot. will soon expand the diversity of its infrastructure." organization provides women in war- and The Other Side of War: Women's The team most expected to take program content to include social The Rice Engineering Leader- stricken areas of the world, many of Stories of Survival & Hope. the other slot is the University of lessons in leadership. Rice alumni ship Center will focus on integrat- This year's announcement is four Notre Dame, which is unaffiliated John (Lovett '73) and Ann (Jones ing ethics, sustainable technology months ahead of last year's, which with a conference, but could be giv- '75) Doerr donated $15 million to es- and humanities with engineering, was made in March. en at at-large bid. The Fighting Irish tablish the Rice Engineering Lead- as well as enhancing students' According to Assistant to the Pres- are one of the most storied football ership Center, which is expected to professionalism. ident Mark Davis, Salbi will speak programs in the nation, but have open next fall, Dean of the George "|The Center] will be focused without payment. The university struggled since star quarterback R. Brown School of Engineering on things that transcend the will donate an as-now undetermined Brady Quinn departed in 2007. Sallie Keller-McNulty said. boundaries of the department," amount of money directly to her char- Other opponents could be selected The Doerrs' contribution will be Keller-McNulty said. "An example ity Women for Women International, from the Atlantic Coast Conference, designated to helping Rice students would be communications. What he said. Committee chair and Bio- the Big Ten Conference, or the Big remain at the forefront of new de- do we do to help our students de- chemistry and Cell Biology Professor East Conference. Rutgers University, a velopments in engineering. The velop really great communication Mike Gustin said the committee had Big East member, has also been men- gift, specifically for the engineer- skills? It's not just about writing, discussed establishing a tradition tioned in contention for the spot. ing department, was a rarity, since it's not just about oral communi- of donating money to the speaker's "I really want a tough opponent, donations of such magnitude often cation — it's how you and I techni- cause. because that makes you up your go to the university as a whole, cally can interact, or how you as The committee met in April, be- game," senior wide-receiver Jarett said Keller-McNutly, who also men- an engineer can explain to a poli- fore last year's commencement, to Dillard said. "Everybody in a bowl tioned the donation will fill a need tician something in engineering. brainstorm ideas for speakers. Gustin game is going to be competitive, but in the department. It's aimed at how our students can said Salbi's name was brought up at you want that opponent that nobody "It's very difficult to find fund- gain really strong intercommuni- the committee's first meeting. gives you a chance with, that you ing to support cross-cutting edu- cation skills." Sid Richardson College senior don't even have a shot, and every- cational needs," Keller-McNulty Some of the Center's education- and committee member Ian Feldman body is telling you that you are going said. "You can get grants for that, al focus will be embedded in class- Zainab Salbi said he ran across Salbi's name while O see BOWL, page 15 but they have short time horizons, o see ALUMNI, page 7 2006 Commencement speaker E5 see SPEAKER, page 10 Out of class and out of this world Bad music and black lights OMG it's finally over! INDEX Opinion 2 The Dean's and President's cosmic-themed The Architecture Society is holding a dance Today is the last day of classes. Take a break News 4 study break will offer students a few hours party this weekend titled Soft Space, Hard during dead week from now until Dec. 10, when Arts & Entertainment 11 of fun and free food at the beginning of dead Rave. The party will begin tomorrow at 10 p.m. exams begin. There will be no Thresher until Jan- Sports 1A week. The event will take place in the RMC in Anderson Hall, and will be completely civi- uary, but it'll be fine. We promise no news will Calendar 19 this Sunday from 7-10 p.m. lized and appropriate for the holidays. happen while we're gone. Backpage 20 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5,2008 EDITORIAL THE RICE THRESHER the Rice (Ihresher ATE mnrassgy vara I Don? HAV£ Emergency alert system ANY mey. only works if used Probably everyone would agree that Rice's comprehensive alert system would be good for notifying students of impend- ing natural disasters, campus closings and crimes in the sur- rounding neighborhoods. But what about the on-campus presence of a gun-wielding man fleeing the Rice University Police Department? We feel that when a man accused of physically assault- ing his undergraduate girlfriend evades police custody by vaulting from the roof of Brown College (see story, page 7), students should be notified of his whereabouts, and we don't TOWNlT mean in an e-mail an hour later. Nevertheless, we are very F/ND TH/rr appreciative that at least some college masters provided the electronic communication, considering others did not even 1 cwi.pr', bother with that limited notice. w We consider the lack of common response among the mas- Bur Y00 ters relatively excusable, because we find it disturbing that ANYTH/N6, the administration put the burden of distribution of informa- tion as important as the whereabouts of an escaped criminal ... / on the masters in the first place. The point of setting up the Im university-wide alert system in the first place was to make it easy for those at the highest level of the administration to contact students immediately in the event of an emergency. That said, we fully believe that sending a timely text message to every registered phone on campus would have been much easier and more considerate than trying to disseminate infor- mation through multiple parties and hoping it would arrive intact and simultaneously to each and every student.