Tuition Indexing to End Next Year's Freshmen's Tuition up 7.4 Percent; Returnees' up 2.4 Percent
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ice Thresher Vol. XC, Issue No. 19 SINCE 1916 Friday, February 14, 2003 Tuition indexing to end Next year's freshmen's tuition up 7.4 percent; returnees' up 2.4 percent bhyv Markt BerensoRprpnenn Tuition indexing THRESHER%ITORIAL STAFF The Board of Trustees approved a plan in 1994 to fix tuition increases for returning stu- Tuition rates for incoming freshmen in the dents at the rate of the CPI, an economic index fall 2004 will not be tied to the Consumer Price that tracks the average annual change in prices Index as tuition rates have been in the past. of a representative group of consumer goods Tuition in 2003-04 for freshmen will in- and services. Under the plan, the board sets crease 7.4 percent over this year's freshman tuition for incoming students on an annual class tuition, to $18,850 from $17,550. Tuition basis. for returning students will increase 2.4 per- Currie said one of the main reasons Rice cent, or $400. introduced indexing was to make the univer- sity more economically attractive, but this has not affected interest in Rice. Negative endowment growth, high insurance "An economist would say a family looks at costs leads to tight budget. See Story, Page 11. a four-year price, not just the first-year price," Currie said. 'Turns out, parents look at the The tuition rates for next year and the first-year price." decision to eliminate tuition indexing were President Malcolm Gillis, an economist, decided at the Board of Trustees meeting said since families were not responding ratio- Dec. 10 and 11 and were announced yester- nally, it did not make sense to keep the pro- ALEX SIGEDA/THRESHER day. gram. Vice President for Finance and Adminis- "Families are not taking that at all into Swinging for the fences tration Dean Currie said both the amount of account because there is a certain amount of Junior third basemen Craig Stansberry, a transfer from North Central Junior College, had the tuition increase and the elimination of the irrationality," Gillis said. "Since it wasn't hav- two hits In Wednesday's 6-4 victory over University of Texas-San Antonio. Stansberry tuition indexing program were in part related ing the desired purpose, there was no reason impressed fans with his speed In beating out a bunt and twice advancing on UTSA wild to the national economic downturn and Rice's to keep on doing it." pitches. budget situation. (See Story, Page 11.) See TUITION, Page 12 Eight candidates run for president by Jenny Rees Students will also elect leaders cil representatives, Sammy the Owl THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF for nine blanket-tax organizations: and two referenda will also appear Rice Program Council, Rice Student on the ballot. Eight candidates are running for Volunteer Program, Honor Council, Previously, Sammy the Owl vjas Student Association president in the University Court, KTRU, RBT, elected in the Spring Election along SA General Election, more than have Thresher, Campanile and University with at-large Honor Council repre- run in any of the past 25 years. Six Blue. SA officers, University Coun- See PRESIDENT, Page 11 individual candidates and two candi- date pairs will be on the ballot. The election will be held online Feb. 21-26. A DECADE OF SA PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES "I'd like to think that so many people are running because more Year Candidates Year Candidates and more people see the senate as 1994 4 1999 2 the best means of getting things done 1995 3 2000 4 on campus, because it's either that or 1996 6 2001 2 they want to fix what I screwed up, 1997 5 2002 2 and I really hope that's not the case," 1998 3 2003 8 SA President Matt Haynie said. President search committee planned by Skye Schell as president June 30, 2004. The what kind of leadership will be most THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF search committee will include rep- appropriate and relevant for this resentatives from the major constitu- path, Barnett ('55) said. Students who want to make sure encies at Rice. "In the last 10 years, Rice has the newpresident doesn't mind look- The committee will meet starting more collaborative efforts going with ing comical in costumes with Vice next month and should conclude its other institutions than ever before," President for Student Affairs Zenaido search by November, Board ofTrust- he said. "That has got to be part of Camacho during study breaks will ees Chairman Bill Bamett said. He the future. We don't want someone be given the opportunity to have described the committee's task as who doesn't want Rice to ever deal STUART SINCLAIR/THRESHER their voices heard. discussing the criteria for choosing with other institutions." Rice has begun the search for a Rice's next leader, talking to the lead- The committee has not decided The surreal medieval? new president and an undergradu- ership of other universities to get whether it will employ a search firm Baker College junior Megan Batchelor and Will Rice College sopho- ate to serve on the search commit- their advice and finally entering the in the process. Rice has not used a more Daniel Phalen dance at Archi-Arts Saturday as one of the tee. The search follows President application process. search firm in its previous searches, oversized presidential heads overlooks the scene. Malcolm Gillis' December an- The committee will begin by dis- but some of Rice's peer institutions nouncement that he will step down cussing where Rice is headed and See SEARCH, Page 6 Open council meeting Sunday INSIDE Happy Valentine's Day OPINION Page 4 The council is also considering changing Israeli-Palestinian discussion must be fair by Rachel Rustin Today is a very special day for about the structure of the first level of appeals. While THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF 15 Rice students. For everyone else, it is this level is currently an appeal to Assistant A&E Pag* 15 a typical Friday, complete with studying Dean for Student Judicial Programs Patti Bass, Moving freely Honor Council members will answer ques- and playing Four Square at Will Rice the council is looking into having the first level tions about the council's process, appeals sys- College tonight. tem and recent cases at an open meeting of appeals go to a board, which might consist SPORTS Page 17 Sunday. of professors, professors and the assistant Lady Owls riding four-game win streak The meeting, which will take place at dean, or professors and undergraduates. The Juice is loose "There hasn't been a consensus on Quote of the Week 7:30 p.m. in Farnsworth Pavilion in the Stu- The Owls take part in the Astros Col- whether our proposal will include a board at "We are disappointed and frustrated and dent Center, will have an open structure to lege Classic tonight at 7 p.m.. tomorrow allow for student feedback, Honor Council the first level of appeal," Honor Council Chair angry at ourselves for letting the team down. night at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 11 a.m. — Junior golf captain Ryan Morgan, on the officers said. Joan Shreffler, a Lovett College senior, said. Before you go to Saturday's baseball team's play in the final round of this week's "We are looking for feedback from students At the meeting, council members will dis- game, check out the women's tennis team, tournament. See Story, Page 18. and faculty on this in particular at Sunday's cuss the proposed changes to the appeals who plays at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. at Jake meeting." Weekend Weather structure. Hess Tennis Stadium, or the men's bas- The proposal includes limiting the grounds The proposal is also being evaluated by the ketball team playing at Autry Court at Friday for appeals to three reasons: new evidence, Graduate Student Association, the faculty and 2:05 p.m. Showers, 58-71 degrees claims of bias on the part of the Honor Council members of th j administration. It will go to a Saturday Isolated thunderstorms, 54-69 degrees or a procedural error by the council. Those vote of the student body before being taken Scoreboard who review appeals would be required to write into final consideration by the president. Sunday Baseball Showers, 43-62 degrees a case abstract and would have limits placed "Ideally, the proposal would go to a vote of UT-San Antonio 4, Rice 6 on how they can adjust the punishment. See HONOR, Page 10 THE RICE THRESHER OPINION FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14,2003 v-.'v.!*- •) "f ' i '•5$f T \ , -r ' a cry m • Sm the Rice Thresher Making us pay In "arning the price for future students, Rice needs to remain honest about its prices and maintain its unique affordability. The university announced yesterday that tuition for the Class of2007 is increasing more than 7 percent from the rates charged to the Class €> of 2006. (See Story, Page 1) Though we understand that tough eco- nomic times force Rice to charge more, the changes in the fee structure worry us. For the past decade, Rice students could take solace in the fact that though each year freshmen paid a substantial sum more than the previous year's class, for the next tliree years tuition would go up at the rate of inflation. Unfortunately, this is ending. ~rnr~*•* - - —i i i %> Administrators say we shouldn't keep our superior system because other schools haven't adopted it However, while almost everyone at I t=r\ Rice would argue that the college system is superior to the fraternities, we don't hear the administration railing for the Greek system simply because most others have them.