Helping sexual assault [title of show] Club soccer Goes victims to Nationals INSIDE Five students argue for more re- Hanszen and McMurtry Col- Men’s club soccer qualified sources for victims of sexual assault lege Theatre collaborated for a national tournament Rice football had a at Rice. harmoniously on this comedy. with an 8-2 record. decisive 52-14 win over LA Tech. see Ops p. 5 see A&E p. 6 See Sports p. 9 See P. 9 Volume CI, Issue No. 12 StudeNt-RuN sINCe 1916 wedNesday, NoVembeR 20, 2013 H&D aims to eliminate paper waste by ANIta Alem ThResheR Staff Housing and Dining is cur- rently working to create a sus- tainable takeout container system for use in the serveries, according to H&D Senior Busi- ness Director David McDonald. “One of the things we’ve been grappling with for years is a defined takeout program,” Mc- Donald said. “We don’t have a [policy] more defined than just a paper plate and a paper cup and some plastic utensils. We’ve been really struggling with this over the years to find a middle ground that works for everybody, and we haven’t figured it out yet. Hope- fully, we can create some dia- logue among the students, which is hard to do on this campus be- cause of the 11 distinct college governments [that come with the residential college system].” Jeffrey Piccirillo/thresher I strongly believe Rice Dancing the night Martel College sophomore Itzak Hinojosa and Jones College sophomore Sophia Beltran share a dance at students wouldn’t away at Esperanza Esperanza, Rice’s annual homecoming dance. Students danced to music from DJ Politik. really use this re- source until they were presented with how and exactly why using these contain- Fondren plans changes for finals hours ers would benefit the by JeRemy HuaNg temporarily increase the [amount have increasingly expressed a need College junior, said. “The problem environment. ThResheR Staff of space] for student use.” for more study space, and we have is that there are people who come Peter Yun According to Bynog, an often- added more study rooms, tables to take advantage of free access Hanszen ’17 In light of student concerns, voiced concern has been the large and chairs in response …, [but] stu- to [computer resources] for non- the Fondren Library staff plans to presence of visitors at the library, dents [continue] to raise concerns.” academic reasons. It’s never fun to improve the student experience who number about 600-800 a week. According to Bynog, new rooms be distracted by a random visitor during the finals weeks from Dec. “[There are] … visitors who will be open for students to use for loudly playing games or music on 2-17, implementing a number of spend many hours studying at Fon- studying during finals. the computer next to you.” changes to maximize student study dren for medical exams [and] take “[We will open] up the Kyle Mor- Okotie-Eboh said he is neverthe- McDonald said he has space and limit visitor access to the up many of the large tables near row Room as a study space during less mainly in favor of Fondren’s been communicating with the library, according to David Bynog, windows,” Bynog said. “[Rice] stu- evening and weekend hours and handling of visitors. EcoReps at each college and with Fondren’s assistant head of acqui- dents have to search for tables for [provide] extra tables and seating “But [it] is important to remem- the Student Association about sitions. their studying.” in various locations throughout the ber that there are many people out- the best way to serve the student “The [pilot] project aims at in- Bynog said a key concern is the library,” Bynog said. side of Rice who benefit from access body. He said H&D is considering creasing available spaces in two availability of space for student Former Fondren student em- to Fondren,” Okotie-Eboh said. letting students pay $5 in tetra ways,” Bynog said. “The first is by use, especially as the demand for ployee Omare Okotie-Eboh said he Bynog said the library also plans points by swiping their ID card reducing the number of hours that space heightens. felt the number of visitors in Fon- to provide stress-relieving activi- for a plastic container. Students the library is available to visitors, “Rice’s student population has dren was never a significant issue. ties, such as a number of study and could then return the container particularly during the evening increased dramatically since 2005 “Overall, I feel like it is OK … snack breaks in the weeks leading for a refund of their points, af- and nighttime hours that are popu- as part of the Vision for the Second that we are not the only students in to finals week. ter which H&D would wash the containers for reuse. These con- lar with students. The second is to Century,” Bynog said. “[Students] the area,” Okotie-Eboh, a Will Rice 0see Fondren, page 2 tainers would potentially have one large compartment and two December Library Hours for Rice ID Holders small ones and would function as snapware. Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday McDonald said students of- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ten consider taking their own (Closed to Public) plastic containers into the serv- eries for takeout meals but that Opens Closes Open 24 hours 24 hours 24 hours 24 hours at Noon at Midnight 8 a.m. - Midnight this is a health code violation in 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Houston because the container (Closed to Public) (Closed to Public) (Closed to Public) is not washed and regulated by the servery. McDonald also said Opens students who bring the food into at 8 a.m. 24 hours 24 hours 24 hours 24 hours 24 hours 24 hours their college commons on a ce- 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 (Closed to Public) ramic plate and then transfer it to their own plastic container are Open Open Open 24 hours Closes 24 hours 24 hours at 6 p.m. 7 a.m. - 6 p.m. 7 a.m. - 6 p.m. 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. practicing bad servery behavior that could be considered looting. When open to public, public hours shortened from 7 a.m. - 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. - 3 p.m; after Dec. 18, public hours shortened to 7 a.m. - 6 p.m. 0see Plates, page 2 2 NEWS the Rice Thresher Wednesday, November 20, 2013 0 2013-14 academic year states, “Disposables PLATES are available for take out, but is not All You Computer science team from page 1 Care To Eat [sic].” McDonald said that although H&D recog- McDonald said health code violations nizes that plastic containers are not the per- also occur if students use the same plate fect fix, a more drastic change might disrupt places second in region they previously ate off of to get second help- the normal flow in the servery. ings. He also said eating at the station or in According to McDonald, the issue with by Jennifer Shen dropped out at the last minute and I took his line is discouraged for the same reasons. implementing a to-go policy arises within the Thresher Staff place,” Arenson said. “I met a bunch of amaz- “If you use a dirty plate, we will ask you residential college structure at Rice. He said it ing people — both from Rice and from the to drop it off and take a clean plate,” McDon- becomes difficult to control the use of plastic A group of computer science students put schools we competed against — and decided ald said. “But we can’t defend against all of containers when students do not have a few their skills to the test earlier this month to to go back. I almost didn’t get involved, but these [violations]. If we see people eating at centralized dining halls and one commons. compete in a programming competition. The I’m really glad I did.” the station, we’ll warn you that it’s not good “We’ve been toying around with [the idea team from Rice placed second out of the 57 Arenson, who serves as the student orga- hygiene and that you should think of your of plastic containers] for several years and teams that competed in the USA Southwest nizer, said he organized the three teams that fellow students.” seeing if this is something students would be Central regionals of the Association for Com- represented Rice this year by experience. He However, McDonald said he encourages interested in doing,” McDonald said. “[But] puting Machinery International Collegiate said the participants started preparing for the students to use reusable water bottles to we don’t really have any restrictions on if Programming Contest. competition soon after the semester started. minimize waste from paper cups. He said you take a China plate out of the servery. At Two other teams from Rice also competed “[Arenson] led weekly practices for the this would not violate the health code be- the end of the day, we realized, we have no in the competition and placed 11th and 42nd, participants, doing practice problems and cause bottles should not touch any of the defense against that. But we’re not against respectively. talking about common issues that come up nozzles on the water dispensaries. the takeout either. We’re just trying to find According to its website, ICPC is a team- within the contest,” Greiner said.