. v? v * ~ Rice Thresher Vol. LXXXIX, Issue No. 19 SINCE 1916 Friday, February 8, 2002 Will Rice pays $6,500 in fines by Mark Berenson "When we pass through things are thus indistinguishable on the damages account. THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF at cost, it is not to be judgmental necessarily, but it is just the cost of Wiess College had slightly more Will Rice College was billed al- your actions," Ditman said. than $2,000 in damages, but Wiess most $6,500 by Housing and Dining Rodriguez said Will Rice's fines President Amy Schindler said re- last semester, nearly three times as also resulted in part from numer- pairs to the college's laundry ma- much as any other college. ous life-safety violations. Life-safety chines, which occurred several H&D Business Manager Frank violations include anything that times in the fall semester, are in- Rodriguez said almost all of the bill could put an individual at risk, such cluded in this total. was due to damage fines, though it as prank fire alarm pulls, propping All other colleges had damage also could have included either ca- doors open or preventing doors totals of less than $1,250 each — tering or laundry repair costs. from locking when closed. one-fifth of Will Rice's total. Rodriguez said the majority of For these types of violations, H&D imposes fines almost ex- Will Rice's fine total was from re- Ditman said the university charges clusively at the college level. One pairs H&D had to make after physi- a fine as a deterrent (See Box, exception is when a lock must be cal damage was done to the college Page 7). recored because of a lost key and building. The damage included "In the field of life-safety, [a fine] the individual who lost the key is drawing on walls, punching holes provides a deterrent, we think, for charged directly. in walls, and the biggest single people to willfully circumvent secu- Will Rice College Jesse Halpern charge: replacing a card reader in rity systems," Ditman said. "The Dickerman said the college paid the tower wing of old dorm. size of those fines are related to the fines out of its operating bud- Rodriguez said the card reader security and safety." get, and that currently none of the disappeared. The college with the second fines have been passed onto indi- "[The card reader] was taken off most damage charges was Baker viduals, though the college is inves- the door, busted, taken away," College, which had about $2,300 in tigating some of the incidents. w 1 fit/' , Rodriguez said. "We never saw it fines. However, Rodriguez said a "We have people looking into _ . again, so it had to be completely significant part of this total was ca- [fining individuals] to figure out if • " •*.Wv ~ C replaced and that charge came in tering and laundry fees. we can put it on one individual," » <«»•• around $2,500." For accounting purposes, Halpern Dickerman, a senior, said. BRIAN STOLER/THRESHER For damages, H&D charges the Rodriguez said that whenever a col- Will Rice Chief Justice Justin college the cost of repairs plus an lege requests laundry machine re- Yanosik said the college advocate, Striking it rich administrative overhead cost. H&D pair service through H&D or if the a student who serves as an investi- Vice President for Investments Scott Wise (Will Rice '71) pitches in Director Mark Ditman said these college orders any catering through gator, is collecting evidence con- the Rice Reunion Classic Saturday at Reckling Park. See the Baseball charges are not meant to be Rice Catering, it is billed in the same cerning who caused the damages. Preview (Pages B1-B4) for a rundown of this year's lineup. punitive. way as fines are, and the charges Sec FINES, Page 7 RBT showing movies by Lindsey Gilbert sands of movies, both classics and THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF new releases. "We can get [movies] before they Rice Broadcast Television offi- get to Blockbuster," Johnson, a cially kicked off its new feature film Hanszen College junior, said. initiative Wednesday with a 7 p.m. Once the system is fully opera- showing of "The Karate Kid." tional, students will be able to log RBT will televise films each day onto the RBT Web page and vote for I at 4,7 and 10 p.m. as part of a semes- the next month's movie selections. ter-long pilot program. Some options will reflect campus or This month's selections include national events, Johnson said. 'Traffic," "Shrek," "Time Code" and "We want to be specific to Rice," "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider," among Johnson said. "We want [the mov- others. ies] to correlate with campus events, "This semester is a trial period," things that are going on." RBT Station Manager Travis Several of this month's selections, Johnson said. "Currently, we're just including "The Color Purple," getting the system working." "Malcolm X" and "Remember the RBT has contracted with movie Titans," were chosen to celebrate distributor Residence Life Cinema Black History Month, Johnson said. to obtain licensing rights, Johnson In the spirit of the video-on-de- said. Under the contract, RBT can mand system implemented last se- choose 12 films per month for un- mester, student input will determine KATIE STREIT/THRESHER limited broadcast. the daily movie schedule. By March, Residence Life Cinema, a divi- students will be able to request mov- Patriot games sion of Swank Motion Pictures, pro- ies for the next day on RBTs Web The basement at Lovett College, like many other locations on campus, was filled with football fans watching vides movie broadcasting privileges page at http://rbt.rice.edu. the Super Bowl Sunday. for many universities. The Johnson said the films are meant distributor's library includes thou- See RBT. Page 7 Grad students get insurance aid INSIDE OPINION Page 3 The annual premium rates for the univer- Add/drop deadline by Krissy Goode Green Party more than hippies sity policy currently range between $685 and FOR THE THRESHER Today is the deadline for dropping a $778 per student. With the subsidy, health course for free or adding a course for $10. A&E Page 12 Some graduate students will be eligible to insurance through Rice will cost between $185 If you have been procrastinating, get to 'Of Mice and Men' goes operatic receive a $500 subsidy on annual health insur- and $278. All graduate students are required the Allen Center by 5 p.m. ance premiums purchased through Rice this to have health insurance, though some may SPORTS Page 15 fall. belong to other plans. Men's, women's hoops beat Fresno St. The funding, announced last week, is avail- Konisky said health insurance subsidies are Envision some money able to all full-time doctoral students enrolled needed for graduate students in part because Tuesday is the second round deadline Scoreboard in the student health insurance program. they carry a heavy financial burden during the for Envision Grants. Men's Basketball Vice Provost of Research and Graduate time it takes to obtain a doctoral degree. The Envision Grant Program, spon- Fresno St. 63, Rice 76 Nevada 64. Rice 56 Studies Jordan Konisky said health insurance Konisky said because doctoral candidates sored by Leadership Rice, funds projects Women's Basketball subsidies are part of a national trend. are in school longer than undergraduates, that are new, serve a community, involve health insurance subsidies are not offered to Rice 76, Fresno St. 64 "In recent years, there has been a national leadership and exhibit creativity. Rice 59, Nevada 61 trend to provide health subsidies for doctoral undergraduates. For more imformation, check out Women's Tennis students," Konisky said. "We're just trying to "I've never heard of a university that pro- http://u>ww. ruf. rice.edu/~leading/ Southwest Texas St. 0, Rice 7 do everything we can to help our graduate vided insurance subsidies for undergraduate envision.htm. Lamar 0, Rice 7 students finance their education." students," Konisky said. Konisky said the funding for the subsidies Graduate Student Association President Quote of the Week Weekend Weather will come from university budget funds Miles Scotcher said news of the subsidies "The house mother in Jones South was Friday created for graduate student aid and will take came as a welcome surprise. always spying at you. so I didn't think of the Sunny, 43-65 degrees no funds from existing programs. "Although we've been looking for ways to dorm as any sort of cozy, relaxed place." Saturday Partly cloudy, 41-69 degrees Konisky proposed the subsidy plan in late save money, we didn't really ask for this," — Patricia Teed (Jones '62), describing life at Scotcher said. "It's nice." Jones College during its first few years. See Sunday November. Provost Eugene Levy and Presi- Feature, Page 10. Mostly sunnv, 39-65 degrees dent Malcolm Gillis enthusiastically endorsed A total of 974 doctoral students were en- the proposal, Konisky said. rolled at Rice this fall. J THE RICE THRESHER OPINION FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8,2002 RanonaLe... &y t>avii> cnien the Rice Thresher Leslie Liu, Robert Reichle Editors in Chief Cutting down on gratuitous fines Milii It may not come directly out of your pocket, but you still pay for it. The excessive amount of fines Will Rice College resi- dents incurred last semester hurt the entire college (See WILL Rice CHain OF consu^PTion Story, Page 1). College fines often take the fun out of college parties (less LETTERS TO THE EDITOR money for kegs) or college improvements (like a new big- screen TV or a DVD player).