$ the RiceTh Vol. XC, Issue No. 9 SINCE 1916 Friday, October 25, 2002 .Jones to see summer changes by William Penny FOR THE THRESHER Requests submitted to the Board of Trustees for this summer's capi- More mold at WRC « tal improvements will focus on Jones Joel Wolfe said H&D person- College, Housing and Dining Direc- by Aaron Heckelman THRESHER STAFF nel have started to remove mold tor Mark Ditman said. from air-conditioning units at the The requested maintenance in- Housing and Dining is imple- college. cludes repairing the roof of Jones menting several anti-mold mea- "[H&D personnel] were re- South, waterproofing the exterior of sures at Will Rice College in re- cently trained on mold removal the old wings, replacing-air condi- sponse to this semester's influx and have begun to clean the air- f* tioning control systems, replacing of mold-related complaints. conditioner units according to drapes and carpets, performing Will Rice Masters Joel andTraci that training," he said. "We hope maintenance on fan coil units and Wolfe said H&D Director Mark they maintain these units so that renovating kitchenettes. Ditman is working with them, specialized work isn't necessary Each year, H&D concentrates its along with college officers and stu- in the future." maintenance efforts on a different resi- dents to alleviate the problem. See MOLD. Page 8 dential college, Ditman said. Although Jones recently underwent substantial renovation, Ditman said H&D wished Jones President Reed Macy said Some students at Will Rice and to preserve the maintenance cycle. he thinks the improvements are Baker Colleges said they feel they "The reason we are focusing on needed. are being short-changed, and there Jones this summer is to complete "I've been pushing for the air- are more pressing maintenance major maintenance which will allow conditioning repairs for a while," concerns at their colleges than at SUSHI SUZUKI/THRESHER the entire college to return to the Macy, a junior, said. "Any other re- Jones. nine-year major maintenance cycle," pairs they decide to make would be Will Rice freshman Joe Halbouty A place to remember he said. great." said he thinks his college is in des- Sid Richardson College recently dedicated a garden in memory of A new wing of Jones opened If approved, the repairs will be perate need of repair. former coordinator Sharon McDonough, who died from complications this year, and construction on the completed over the summer. Work "I seriously doubt that Jones following surgery in March 2001. The garden was funded by a donation North College Servery and Jones' that might disturb students will not needs [improvements] as much as by former Sid Masters John and Peggy Bennett and an Envision grant. new commons was completed last begin until after commencement, we do," he said. semester. Ditman said. See JONES, Page 8 Basketball teams to debut at first Halloween Hoops by Elis». Freeman day the NCAA allows teams to begin practicing, FOR 1 hi' HRESHER SASS decided against this date because it fell on the Friday night before mid-term recess. Students for Athletic Spirit and Support "We figured nobody would come so we will host Rice's first Halloween Hoops from pushed back the date and changed the name 10 p.m. to midnight Thursday at Autry Court. because Midnight Madness is trademarked," The event is designed to boost support for Browning, a Wiess College junior, said. "Other bot'i the men's and women's varsity basket- than that, Halloween Hoops is essentially the ball teams, bASS President Jill Browning said. same 'as Midnight Madness]." Modeled after Midnight Madness, a popular Basketball player Kara I jggett, a Baker Col- SUSHI SUZUKI/THRESHER tradition at many universities in which stu- lege senior, said she thinks the event will be a dents attend the first practice of the season, way for the team to bond with the student body. Really, it's not how it looks Halloween Hoops will feature scrimmages, an "We can have fun instead of being so seri- Baker College junior Sasha Cooke (top), Baker sophomore Elaine Attebury (middle) and audience-judged slam dunk and three-point ous," she said. "It will be a nice break right Lovett College senior Alex Fay perform at Saturday night's Spontaneous Combustion show. competition, a raffle and free food. before we start playing real games." Although such events are usually held the See HOOPS. Page 5 U. Court to hear gate breaking case INSIDE by Mark Berenson The student, a Martel College the gate and cracked to the ground." THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF member, said he and a friend, also a The student said that immedi- Rice student, were walking back to ately after the gate fell, a vehicle Two students will be sent to Uni- Martel after a late-night run to Wal- parked facing the gate in versity Court for damaging a parking Mart Oct. 9. Abercrombie Lot turned on its lights gate. No one else has been accused in "I walked by the gate and pulled and headed toward the pair. # the rash of parking gate vandalism on the end of it, and it bounced back Rice University Police Depart- that occurred almost three weeks ago. and did a little wobbly thing, and I ment officers were in the vehicle. One of the accused students, who said That was cool,"'the student said. The student said he and his friend 111 fit* 81 spoke to the Thresher on the condi- "So I walked back, and I pulled back ran back to his room at Martel, swip- tion of anonymity, said the damage a little farther this time, and when I ing his II) card to get into the college. was an accident and not vandalism. did it, it popped off at the other end of See GATES, Page 9 SUSHI SUZUKI/THRESHER More than 5,000 fans came to Saturday's WUSA exhibition match between the Washington Freedom and Atlanta Beat. See Story, Page 17. )) ' Commencement still lacks speaker 25-hour day! OPINION Page 3 Over-the-counter overdosing Need that extra hour of sleep after NOD? Well, you've got it! A&E Page 10 Administration considers Rice professor for 2003 commencement Sunday at 2 a.m., clocks are My Fair Lady fares well set back one hour as daylight- Scheid said the President's Office is Haynie, a Will Rice College senior, by Olivia Allison saving time conies to an end. SPORTS Page 14 THRKSHKR KDM OKIAl. STAFF still working to find a speaker who is said. "We're here for four years, and not a faculty member. One possibil- we hear a lot of faculty all the time, Barkers reach ITA final four ity is a NASA astronaut. and maybe that's not the best way to Rice may look within its own com- Better than two-ply Scoreboard munity for a resolution to the still- On Wednesday, SA President finish out our career here." Petitions for homecoming Football open 2003 commencement speaker Matt Haynie said he planned to have The President's Office's sugges- king and queen nominationsare Rice 35. UTEP 38 position. a meeting with (iillis this week. tion was to have the faculty member available at the Student Asso- Rice 17. Navy 10 The possibility of inviting a fac- Haynie said he had heard negative who gave the faculty address during I ciation office in the Student » C ulty member to serve as the speaker student reactions to the idea of a each class' Orientation Week also Center. Petitions are due Fri- Weekend Weather was discussed in the colleges and at faculty speaker, so he planned to give the commencement address, day, and the Homecoming Flec- Friday the Student Association meetingthis inform (iillis of student dissatisfac- Scheid said. tion is Nov. 8-13. Scattered t storms. 64 74 degrees week, after a meeting between the tion. "You could do a neat thing with Past winners have included Saturday college and SA presidents and Presi- "The general student sentiment 'that was then, this is now,"' Scheid two-ply toilet paper, the Will- Thunderstorms, 65-73 degrees Sunday dent Malcolm (iillis last week. is they would like to have someone said iams Tower and Officer 220. who's not part of the faculty speak," See SPEAKER. Pace 9 Thunderstorms, 62 78 degrees Assistant to the President Mark I » *•* '. THE RICE THRESHER OPINION FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2002 — Inside -rt\e. IJiPtp S., the Rice Thresher / t«i\ A ****"«* Fixing priorities ft * Will Rice College is falling apart Almost everyone would agree * that the building needs major overhaul and a large financial investment to bring it up to Rice's standard living conditions. But the university is spending the capital improvements budget this summer to improve Jones College, which just received a new wing and a new commons. (See Story, Page 1). \tr' This shows a problem with the way the university decides how to fund capital improvement projects. 0 While parts of Jones are old and showing some wear and tear, the condition of Jones North and South is nothing near that of Will Rice, where ceilings collapse, bathrooms don't function and mold is widespread. Housing and Dining states that there isn't enough time during this academic year to plan for massive improvements to Will Rice, but we disagree. Will Rice has been falling apart for years — plenty of time to work out a schedule and a plan to make major building-saving repairs. Will Ricers aren't asking for a new commons, a new wing or anything drastic.