• aV- *• * e Rice Thresher Vol. LXXXVIII, Issue No. 28 SINCE 1916 Friday, April 20, 2001 Autry uniforms optional by Meghan Miller a light blue uniform shirt or a shoe Beckwith was placed in charge of THRESHER STAFF tag. Uniforms will still be available the recreation center earlier this se- for those who want them. mester. Mandatory Autry Court uniforms Right now, check-in will involve "I like to run and lift weights after are finally gone. signing a sheet of paper at the equip- [running]," said Tiffany Bludau, a After nearly six months of dis- ment room desk, but people will soon member of the Student Association cussion, uniforms in the recreation have to swipe a Rice ID card or a Uniform Policy Committee and a Sid center, which encompasses Autry recreation center membership card Richardson College sophomore. "It Court and other athletic facilities, to use the facilities. The sign-in sheet discouraged me when I'm already will no longer be required begin- will monitor the numbers of people working out and then I have to go ning Monday, the Office of Student coming through the center. change to work out [at the gym J. It'll Affairs announced this week. "Hopefully, students will appre- be nice, you can come in from a run A series of other administrative ciate the fact that they don't have to and then lift weights or whatever." changes in the recreation center will use the facility uniforms anymore so The UPC, headed by Beckwith, also be implemented. they won't mind taking a few sec- examined Autry Court's identifica- People using the weight room onds to write their names down," tion and safety policy when discuss- and gym facilities will be required to Student and Recreation Centers Di- ing uniform alternatives. To identify check in at the desk and wear either rector Boyd Beckwith said. See AUTRY, Page 10 Spring recess decision stands by Olivia Allison tion President Miles Scotcher, a gradu- dar changes before they were pre- THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF ate student in biochemistry and cell sented at the April 3 general faculty biology, and SA Presidents Jamie meeting. Although three undergradu- Faculty members will not discuss Lisagor and Gavin Parks Monday to ate slots currently exist on the com- reinstating the 2003 two-day spring 'liscuss further recommendations. mittee, no graduate students serve. recess that they voted to remove These include creating a new commit- "There really was no effort not to April 2 at this year's final general tee to evaluate calendar changes and include students in the discussion, it faculty meeting despite a Student reinstating dead week. was sent to the committee where that Association resolution calling for the Patten said he will suggest that was in place," Patten, an English pro- faculty to reexamine its decision. the faculty create a new committee to fessor, said. "What isn't in place was The resolution, approved April 9, deal with calendar approvals in the the forum for graduate students to also requested "Rice University to future. Patten, the faculty sponsor for state their opinions. That's probably CALEB REDFIELD/THRESHER establish formal lines of communi- the GSA, said he thought one prob- a wrinkle we will have to address." cation with the Student Association lem with the current procedure was An additional suggestion from 'Heavenly Child' president in the academic calendar the lack of graduate student repre- Lisagor and Parks, Hanszen College Lovett College Resident Associate Rick Spuier plays William in Lovett decision-making process." sentation on the University Standing juniors, included reinstating dead sophomore Tariq Tapa's play "Heavenly Child." The play will be per- Speaker of the Faculty Bob Patten Committee on Undergraduate Cur- week, the time between the last day formed on Night A of Baker Bits/Martel Take Ten. See Review. Page 20. met with Graduate Student Associa- riculum, which approved the calen- See CALENDAR, Page 13 Worker injured in 30-foot fall by Mark Berenson when Nava leaned back, the carabiner disen- THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF gaged and he fell through an open area where a stairwell will be located. Victor Nava, an employee of Keystone Rice Emergency Medical Services was noti- Structural Concrete, suffered a severe head fied of the incident, and several emergency injury at the Jesse H.Jones Graduate School of medical technicians responded, including REMS Management construction site when he fell Director Noah Reiter. who was first on the scene. more than 30 feet and landed headfirst on Reiter (Jones '(X)) said Nava was lying face- concrete. He remains unconscious after the down and immobile in a large pool of blood. April 5 accident. "It didn't look real promising." Reiter said. Nava, 38, was working on a concrete col- "I wasn't even certain he was still alive when I umn on the second floor of the structure near saw him as I was walking up." the northeast corner of the construction site However, as Reiter got closer, he saw that when he fell. Nava was breathing sporadically. With the Project Management and Planning Direc- help of a few construction workers, he rolled tor Barbara White said Nava was wearing a Nava onto his back and began treating him. harness equipped with two carabiner-like Several other EMTs began arriving at the safety devices. Correct usage of the harness scene, including REMS Captain Christine requires that both carabiners, oblong metal Borgstrom. the on-duty supervisor. rings with a spring-loaded hinge commonly Borgstrom. a Jones College senior, said used for rock climbing and rappelling, be they stabilized Nava's neck and head and be- locked onto a concrete form. gan assisting his breathing with a bag mask LAURA WIGINTON/THRESHER Investigations by Gilbane, the general con- and oxygen. In addition, Nava was prepared tractor for the site, and the University Police for transportation to the hospital. Expanding your mind said Nava was attached by only one carabiner, An ambulance transported Nava to Ben Harvard University professor Cornel West spoke Monday night, beginning Racial Solidarity and it was not securely locked onto the con- Taub Hospital. Week's dialogue on diversity. See Story, Page 5. crete form. The second was not attached at all. According to Reiter, Nava was in the emer- University Police Chief Bill Taylor said See CONSTRUCTION, Page 12 Sammy's breakfast eliminated INSIDE FEATURE Page 14 Sammy's, as the numbers of meals being by Mark Berenson The man behind $500 million served at Sammy's has dropped significantly. THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF Meals eaten at Sammy's are not covered by A&E Page 19 After serving breakfast to members of the the all-you-can-eat meal plan. Lifehouse unaware of stardom Rice community every weekday for more than Food and Housing Director Mark Ditman OCirass a decade, Sammy's ended breakfast service said the elimination at the start of this school SPORTS Page 25 on Monday. year of the breakfast Training Table, meal Men's tennis faces No. 8 SMU To help fill the gap in breakfast options, service for varsity athletes held at Sammy's, continental breakfast is now available at the also contributed to the decrease of volume for convenience store. breakfast at Sammy's. Baseball Assistant Director of College Food Service Ditman estimated that last school year, LAURA WIGiNGTON/THRESHER Rice's recycling program began in 1971. Rice 5, Houston 3 Rebecca Scheiner said Sammy's had been two-thirds of the those eating breakfast at See Feature, Pages 15-16. Lamar 10, Rice 6 serving breakfast each morning from 8 to 10 Sammy's were athletes. a.m. to around 60 people, mostly employees Many j>eople who regularly got their break- Quote of the Week from Facilities and Engineering. fast at Siammy's were upset by the change. "We're like five dicks in a band. Without Friday Cereal, bottled juices, coffee and now a few "I've been eating here every morning for Partly sunny. 68-79 degrees you, we're nothing, so thanks." hot items, including breakfast tacos, are avail- the past 10 years, and they just cut if off, Saturday — Rob Thomas, frontman of Matchbox able at the convenience store. Prices are the without warning, and I don't know why," Tho- Mostly cloudy, 72-82 degrees Twenty. See Story, Page 19. same as they were at Sammy's. mas Yeates, an F&E mechanic, said. "I don't Sunday Scheiner said the new meal plan was re- know if they're losing money, or if they just Isolated thunderstorms, 71-82 degrees sponsible for the elimination of breakfast at See BRKAKFAST, Page 11 • • • - • ' • '"• 1 ' ' THE RICE THRESHER OPINION FRIDAY, APRIL 20.2001 —— &y pavip cwen the wm a* Leslie Liu, Michael Nalepa Robert Reichle Opinion Editor Editors in Chief Students need recess instead of a dead week The chances of there being a spring recess in 2003 are looking slimmer than ever. The faculty has decided not to reconsider the changes they made to the 2002-'03 academic calendar at their next meeting (See Story, Page 1), so barring a miracle, there will be no spring recess in 2003. According to Speaker of the Faculty Bob Patten, the year will serve to test the revised calendar. Unfortunately, even if this test is carried out with good intentions, it takes two years for any newly approved calendar to take effect, which means that even if the faculty decides against it after spring 2003, a reinstated recess wouldn't appear until 2005 at the earliest. panTS aRe STILL eftanpaToRy. The lack of student input in the process that led to the elimination of the recess is disturbing and frustrating, to say the least.