The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 87, No. 5, Ed. 1 Friday, October 1, 1999 Page: 1 of 20
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the Rice Thresher
Vol. LXXXVII, Issue No. 5
SINCE 1916
Friday, October 1, 1999
AMENDMENT TO
SA CONSTITUTION
The constitutional amendment
adopted at Monday's Student
Association Senate meeting
changed Article II, Section 4:
In the event of the passage
of 2 or more mutually exclu-
sive referenda and/or initia-
tives in the same election, a
special preferential ballot elec-
tion will be held no later than
2 weeks after the original
election.
Only those referenda and/or
initiativesthat receivethe req-
uisite 2/3 votes in favor of
their proposition in the origi-
nal election shall be placed
on this ballot, and the election
will be conducted according
to By-Law E, Article E-l, Sec-
tion 4 of this constitution.
The Student Association shall
be obligated to take any
necessary action as a result of
the special preferential ballot.
SA Senate votes to
amend constitution
by Elizabeth Jardina
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
The Student Association Senate-
amended the SA constitution Mon-
day night, creating a provision for
the case of two mutually exclusive
referenda or initiatives on the same
ballot.
The amendment, proposed by SA
Parliamentarian Greg Pfleger,
passed unanimously.
This is a particularly timely issue
because of the upcoming special
election in which the fate of approxi-
mately $32,000 from defunct blan-
ket taxes will potentially be decided.
Currently, three initiatives will
be on the ballot — one from the
college presidents for $24,000, one
proposed by Hanszen College sopho-
more Jared Singer for $8,000 and
one proposed by Baker College se-
nior Gabe Garcia and the Outdoors
Club for $32,000.
According to the current SA Con-
stitution, all three initiatives will a}>-
pear on the homecoming special elec-
tion ballot in a "yes" or "no" format.
If more than one initiative passes
by a two-thirds majority and 20 per-
cent of undergraduates vole in the
election, there will be a second elec-
tion, in which those initiatives will
be voted upon preferentially.
Before the new amendment was
passed, if both initiatives were to
receive two-thirds of the student
vote, there would be no way to deter-
mine which proposal would get the
money. The SA would have been con-
stitutionally required to give money
for all the initiatives that passed.
Pfleger said of the amendment,
"It's a contingency plan, so that we
don't get forced into spending more
money than we have."
In the special election, students
can vote "yes" for as many initiatives
as they wish.
Dance club, roek climbing
wall initiatives proposed
by Olivia Allison and Ben Johnson
FOR THE THRESHER
Two more initiatives proposing
ways to spend the $32,000 from de-
funct Owl Care and Escort Cart blan-
ket taxes will be on the special home-
coming ballot. ■
One initiative proposes building
a rock climbing wall at Autry Court.
The other initiative proposes a dance
club on campus on Saturday nights.
These two initiatives will be on
the homecoming elections ballot
with an initiative submitted by the
eight college presidents, which asks
that $24,000 be divided among the
colleges.
Rock climbing wall
If an initiative proposed by Out-
doors Club President Gabriel Garcia
at the Monday Student Association
meeting passes, students might see
a rock climbing wall built on cam-
pus.
"The rock climbing wall will pro-
vide students, faculty and surround-
ing community members with a char-
acter-building experience that will
help one's confidence and physical
skill," Garcia, a Baker College se-
nior, said. "This is an activity for
everyone."
According to Garcia, in a recent
survey conducted by the Kinesiol-
ogy Department, rock climbing was
the second most popular potential
activity.
"We only this past year started to
consider it as something that would
be part of the basic instruction pro-
gram," Kinesiology Department
Manager Lorraine McKaye said.
"Prior to that, the Outdoors Club
had brought it to my attention that
they wanted this for their program,
but the cost is exorbitant.-So. that has
not happened because the cost is
$30,000 or more to build something."
Location is also a problem,
McKaye said. If the wall were put
indoors in Autry Court, for instance,
it would probably have to take the
space of a racquetball or squash
court, she said.
"But we have talked about it.
Daniel McMasters, who is the direc-
tor of the basic instruction program.
See INITIATIVES, Page 4
INITIATIVES IN THE
SPECIAL ELECTION
Each initiative was signed by
at least 5 percent of under-
graduates.
1) Would you support taking
$24,000 out of the defunct
Escort Cart/Owlcare Blan-
ket Tax' Fund and dividing
the money exactly among
the eight residential col-
leges for use as deemed fit
by each college's respec-
tive appropriationscommit-
tee?
2) Would you want a rock
climbing wall to be built
with the $32,000 in the
defunct Escort Cart/
Owlcare Blanket Tax Fund?
3) Do you support using
$8,000 of the defunct
Owlcare and Escort Cart
Blanket Tax funds for the
creation of a supa fly dance
club on campus?
Elections will be held online
from Oct. 8 at noon to Oct. 13
at 1 p.m.
All for Rice's honor
ROB GADDI/THRESHEF!
After Rice's 20-17 victory over the U.S. Naval Academy, tight end
Shan Jackson signs an autograph for a young fan. See Story, Page 14.
Registrar updates system
by Olivia Allison
FOR THE THRESHER
The Registrar's, Cashier's, Finan-
cial Aid and Admissions offices re-
cently finished upgrading their com-
puter system to the latest version of
Exeter, a commonly used database
program, enabling the four offices
to work better together.
"We've been functioning on 1983
technology, and it was time for us to
move forward," said Barry McFarland,
dean for Enrollment Administration
and acting registrar. "We wanted to
be on the leading edge."
So far, Rice and the California
Institute of Technology are the only
schools to try the new version of
Exeter.
"We are actually helping Caltech
do their registration," McFarland
said. "We were the first ones to do it,
so they got the benefit of what we
learned from our registration."
The system was installed in four
modules beginning with the admis-
sions module, which went live in
December 1998. The financial aid
module went up last February, and
the billing module went up in June.
"After the billing module went
live, we got the bills out two weeks
earlier than,we have sent them out
before," McFarland said.
The registrar's module went up
Aug. 18.
"Because we went live with the
registration module the Wednesday
before the freshmen arrived, we
didn't have as much training for the
registration staff as I had planned,"
McFarland said. "We're still learn
ing the program, but it has been one
of the smoother transitions."
There were numerous problems
in the financial aid department, some
caused by the new program and
some that were simply computer
glitches.
According to McFarland, the long
and slow-moving lines in the
Registrar's Office were due to both
to the registration staff s lack of train-
ing in the program and the fact that
adding and dropping courses on the
new program requires two different
screens.
"The staffs were very embar-
rassed because they had people lined
up, and even though the lines were
not very long most of the time, they
w'ere all very concerned with getting
everyone trained," Ann Wright, vice-
president for Enrollment, said.
See WEB, Page 5
Rice alumna questions traffic safety in Med Center
by Lisa Gillum
FOR THE THRESHER
Texas Medical Center officials are re-evalu-
ating the safety of the area's streets after Lovett
College senior Tony Sorola was struck .by a
truck at the intersection of Main and Dryden
streets Sept. 1.
Center officials plan to investigate lower-
ing the speed limit in the Medical Center to 20
mph, similar to a school zone, and to strictly
enforce it.
A city ordinance might be required to do
so, and the zones would then be applied to all
hospitals in the city.
Because the combination of high pedes-
trian and automobile traffic creates the Oppor-
tunity for accidents, some dub the hospital
district "Donor Alley."
A week after Sorola was thrown from his
bike, Brown College alumna Suzanne Simpson,
who witnessed the accident, wrote a memo to
the leaders of Medical Center institutions ask-
ing that urgent action be taken to increase
pedestrian safety.
"Sadly, blatant disregard for traffic laws is
commonplace, as are its consequences,"
Simpson wrote. But, she said she is optimistic
about the possibility of a solution. "I feel if the
people here focus on the problem that they
can solve it," she said.
Medical Center employee Jeanne Philbin
also took up Sorola's case in an opinion col-
umn for the Sept. 19 issue of the Houston
Chronicle.
'Sadly, blatant disregard for
traffic laws is commonplace,
as are its' consequences.'
— Suzanne Simpson
Brown College alumna
Crossing Main Street, she wrote, was "a
game of wit and dexterity in which the pedes-
trian must constantly be anticipating the next
move."
"If something constructive does emerge
from this effort, I believe Jeanne's letter and
conversations with Chronicle staff have been
crucial," Simpson said.
Sorola said the 35 mph speed limit is a little
too high and that lowering it may help safety.
But he said he would rather see the existing
speed limit and traffic laws more strictly en-
forced.
"I don't think anybody really follows the
speed limit," Sorola said.
The Houston Police Department said they
are ready to aggressively enforce any regula-
tions approved by the city.
Sorola is recuperating at his home in La
Mesa and said he expects to return to class in
January.
On the morning of Sept. 1, Sorola was
walking his bicycle through the intersection
of Main and Dryden \yhen a pickup truck hit
him as he stepped off the median. According
to Simpson, the truck had accelerated to go
through a yellow light. Sorola was not wearing
a bike helmet.
The accident left Sorola with several inju-
ries. He required a cast on his right leg over a
broken fibula, a screw inserted where he broke
his right ankle, as well as a back brace because
his third lumbar was shattered. He also had a
hematoma on the left side of his head and was
unconscious after the collision. Sorola said he
feels fortunate to be recovering so quickly.
INSIDE
OPINION
My first NOD
Page 3
NEWS Page 4
Possible change for Rondelet date
A&E Page 6
Rice Players' season opens
LIFESTYLES Page 12
Get in shape without the Inner Loop!
SPORTS Page 14
Football wins home opener
Weekend Weather
Friday
Sunny, 54-79 degrees
Saturday
Sunny, 60-84 degrees
Sunday
Scattered thunderstorms, 67-84 degrees
Scoreboard
Football
Rice 20, Navy 17
Volleyball <«
Central Florida 3, Rice 2
Rice 3, UNC Asheville 0
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McAlister, Jett & Tam, Mariel. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 87, No. 5, Ed. 1 Friday, October 1, 1999, newspaper, October 1, 1999; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth246656/m1/1/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.