m'kr Vol. LXXXVIII, Issue No. 22 SINCE 1916 Friday, February 23, 2001 Student apologizes for rape accusation by Olivia Allison apology, and she assured him no THRESHER KDITORIAI.STAFF rape had occurred. Katie Cox's statement, sent via e- Jones College sophomore Katie mail to all students, apologized for Cox issued a public apology Tues- e-mail she sent Feb. 12 to about day night for writing an e-mail last 100 people, about half of whom are week accusing Sid Richardson Col- Rice students. Her original e-mail lege sophomore Travis Royer of rap- said that a few days after she met ing a female student. Royer, her friends told her he had Sid Master Steve Cox said he raped another student who had not talked to the alleged rape victim reported the incident The e-mails during the course of negotiating the See APOLOGY, Page 7 Faculty to reconsider JEN FRAZER THRESHER Hanszen College juniors and co-candidates Jamie Lisagor and Gavin Parks, Wiess College SA Senator and sophomore Ricky Kalra and Lovett College junior James Dallai participated in the SA presidential debate Monday night in Kelley language requirement Lounge in the Student Center. by Mariel Tam he said. THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF If the motion to reduce the re- quirement is voted down, Zanimito said, "The general faculty could de- Candidates discuss bridging gaps The faculty is likely to either re- duce or completely abolish a lan- cide that it wants to abolish the pro- guage proficiency requirement, that gram." by Meghan Miller should be forced to come to us in has been in effect for less than a For the faculty to change or abol- THRESHKK STAFF order to get their voices heard," year, for undergraduate students. ish it. votes at two faculty meetings ELECTION INFO Parks said. TheUniversity Standing Commit- would be necessary. Candidates for Student Associa- General Elections begin today Instead of the regular SA meet- tee on Undergraduate Curriculum "1 will recommend to the general tion president spent much of Mon- and will last until Wednesday ing, the two plan to hold issue- and will present a motion to reduce the faculty explicitly in presenting the day night's debate discussing how at 1 p.m. Students can reach discussion-based meetings every requirement at Wednesday's gen- motion that we, as a committee, do to mend rifts — between students the online voting site from the other week, alternating with busi- eral faculty meeting, CUC chairjohn not recommend I the requirement! and the administration, students and SA Web Site, http://sa.rice.edu ness meetings. Standard agenda Zanimito said. standing as it is," Zammito, History marginalized groups, and graduate or on laptops in their college items such as club approvals, con '- students and undergraduates. "What we're hoping is that there Department Chair, said. commons during meals. mittee updates and announcements will be a serious and sensible discus- The curriculum committee is will- The candidates—\x>vett College would be restricted to the business sion of the language requirement ," See REQUIREMENT, Page X junior James Dallal. Wiess College See Candidates' Blurbs, Pages meetings. sophomore Ricky Kalra, and Han- 10-12. "Things that need to be brought szen College juniors Jamie Lisagor up over specific issues can be and Gavin Parks, who are running brought up in this environment," Beer-Bike tractors banned together — answered questions Parks said. "We can break up into from moderators Thresher Editor in we do have people constantly ques- specific ideas, specific groups Chief Rrian Stoler and K'FRU Sta- tioning what the SA and what the where we can develop solutions by Olivia Allison decorative vehicle and a tractor- pulled flatbed trailer carrying bal- tion Manager Johnny So and also administration are doing because for those." 7HRKSHFK I DHORIAI.STAl F loons and 10 students. The change from audience members. only then will they be accountable," Kalra, Wiess SA senator and a Tractors have been added to the from trucks to flatbed trailers and Dallal, who calls himself the Dallal said. "1 got tired of being pri- member of the Martel College list of unacceptable ways to trans- tractors was made because the "people's candidate" because he has marily a critical voice and I want to Founding Committee, agreea that port this year's Reer-Rike balloons. trucks had more potential to injure not been involved in student govern- actually gel out there and implement issues often are not addressed suffi- Ixist semester, Reer-Rike coordi- students. ment but occasionally writes opin- some of my own plans." ciently by the SA. Kalra thinks the nators agreed that large trucks would When Reer-Rike Chair Daniel ion columns for the Thresher, said, Parks and Lisagor focused on president should make the SA more not be allowed in the Reer-Rike pa- Attaway went Saturday to look at the "It's time to step into the ring my- improving communication between approachable for clubs rather than rade, and the coordinators unani- tractors the colleges would use, he self." clubs and the SA, promising to at- approaching the clubs himself. mously approved rules Jan. 21 limit- said he was expecting "glorified John "I think it's important that we do tend organizations' meetings. "They want a forum to be heard ing each college to two vehicles — a See TRACTORS, Page 7 have critical voices on campus, that "We don't think that people Set DEBATE, Page 9 OPINION Page 3 Criticizing athletes' involvement unfair LIFESTYLES Pages 14-15 Guide to late-night eating A&E Page 16 Harris shines in Pollock' SPORTS Page 20 Swimmers head to WAC championships Quote of the Week "He said he wasn't a bad guy because he said he didn't want to touch, he just wanted to look." — Sgt. Steve Rciter, on a man who was issued a citation Wednesday for looking up a woman's shorts in Fondren Library. See Brief Page 5. Weekend Weather Today •<- ***** Cloudy, 66 72 degrees m ' i Saturday nil Thunderstorms. 50-75 degrees Sunday Mostly sunny, 46-72 degrees BRIAN SfOlER.THRESHER Too close for comfort Scoreboard Baseball A backup crane helps to lower the crane behind the Hanszen College Commons to the ground. The crane, which was being used to work on Rice 5, Central Florida 1 the roof of the new Wiess College Commons, malfunctioned and became unstable at about 9:30 a.m. Feb. 15. Over 100 students from University of Houston 14. Rice 5 Hanszen New Section were forced to leave their rooms until 2 p.m. See Story. Page 8. < THE RICE THRESHER OPINION FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23,2001 RanonaLe... e>y pavii> omen T the Rice Thresher Racr0Rs Ouesrion Brian Stoler Jos£ Luis Cubria, Michael Nalepa Editor in Chief Mariel Tarn Opinion Editor DeciDeo Managing Editors N TRaiLens A sexual harassment double standard We are disturbed and confused at the lack of university action against Jones College sophomore Katie Cox. Cox should be at least suspended for sending a mass e-mail that falsely accused a male student of raping another student. Any lesser punishment — or none at all — sends the message that spreading damaging, false rumors by e-mail will be tolerated. It also demonstrates an apparent gender bias in the enforce- ment of the sexual harassment policy, which Cox's e-mail violates. The policy prohibits "unwelcome verbal expressions of a sexual nature, including graphic sexual commentaries about a person's beeR no flaice ffte stoopid, body, dress, appearance or sexual activities." beeR H\a*e d\e powrful nice SooPeRfl\an. Vice President for Student Affairs Zenaido Camacho said he thinks this incident does not violate the sexual harassment policy. However, we believe that suggesting that a student has raped another student qualifies as "graphic sexual commentaries about LETTERS TO THE EDITOR a person's ... sexual activities." 9 a publication which condemned her the Kinesiology Department was The action Cox took also violates the Code of Student Conduct, 'Thresher should not primarily for inappropriately identi- presented as a department that is which requires students not to take "reckless action from which have printed name fying another student. not very academic. Our own dean of mental or bodily harm could result to any person." humanities, Gale Stokes, said. "It has all kinds of tracks in there but it Let's compare Cox's case to that of the former Sid Richardson To the editor: Jonathan Ichikawa 1 am disappointed in the Will Rice sophomore still has other things ... stuff that's College secretaries. Last October, they made Sid Council meeting Thresher's treatment of one of its not particularly academic. The idea minutes that included a parody of a column by one of the college's front page stories last week. The is to separate these into two sepa- female members. It contained unfunny, untrue and unnecessarily article ("Mass e-mail alleges sexual Stigma plays damaging rate entities so Kinesiology can de- velop as an academic department." sexual comments about two female members of the college. assault," Feb. 16) tells of a female student who wrote an e-mail to her role in AIDS epidemic First of all, the Kinesiology De- Camacho filed a complaint against the secretaries, both of friends warning about a male stu- To the editor: partment is already very solid aca- whom are male, saying that they had violated the sexual harass- dent she suspected of rape. I feel l.asl week, I visited an unforgiv- demically. In fact, there are over 100 ment policy. that the Thresher made two signifi- ing reminder of the AIDS epidemic, majors, and graduates of the De- cant misjudgments in the handling partment have great opportunities The secretaries were suspended, but their sentence was re- the AIDS Memorial Quilt.