The Rice Thresher, Vol. 90, No. 29, Ed. 1 Friday, May 16, 2003 Page: 1 of 28
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ice Thresher
Vol. XC, Issue No. 29
SINCE 1916
Friday, May 16, 2003
Students sue Rice in
Honor Council case
by Mark Berenson
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
Martel College junior Booker
Law and Wiess College senior
Katrina Law sued Rice May 5, ask-
ing for a temporary restraining or-
11 der that would have allowed Katrina
Law to graduate last Saturday de-
spite an Honor Code violation that
led to both students being sus-
pended. The temporary restraining
order was denied.
A temporary injunction hearing
l| is scheduled for Monday.
In the lawsuit, the Laws, who were
married last summer, claim that their
due process as described in the blue
book and General Announcements
was violated through the nature of
the hearing and appeals process, the
Laws' lawyer, Allan Cease, said.
The accusation came from the
professors of CHEM 212: Organic
Chemistry, a class both students
were taking in Spring 2002. The Laws
were accused on two separate occa-
sions of collaborating on two exams
by Chemistry Professor JamesTour
and Associate Chemistry Professor
|€ Seiichi Matsuda, who team-taught
the course.
The first hearing
According to the case abstract
(Case #24 spring 2002, heard
April 18,2002). the accusations were
f based on similar answers on the
™ Laws' exams.
"The main issue was that both
Student A and B produced highly
similar (and sometimes identical)
wrong answers. The probability that
two students could independently
produce identical incorrect answers
€ is next to impossible."
The Laws claimed in their depo-
sitions in the case that their answers
were similar because they studied
together.
"We were not observed cheating
or found with any instruments of the
crime, but were determined to have
cheated due to an alleged similarity
in their [sicj test answers. My hus-
band and I had intensely studied
together for the tests at my resi-
dence," Katrina Law wrote in her
deposition.
According to the abstract, during
the hearing the Laws also testified
that both rarely attended class and
relied heavily on the textbook, thus
resulting in some of the similarities.
Regarding the second exam on
which they were accused of collabo-
rating, the Laws, in their appeal to
Assistant Dean for Student Judicial
Programs Patty Bass, said they sat
near each other, though in compli-
ance with Honor Code seating, to do
some last minute cramming.
"In order to facilitate last minute
studying, it was necessary to sitclose
enough to exchange notes before the
exam was scheduled to begin," the
Laws wrote.
According to the case abstract,
the council determined that there
was not sufficient evidence to find
individual or collaborative cheating
on one exam, but there was suffi-
cient evidence to find that Booker
Law had copied from Katrina Law on
the other exam and that Katrina Law
"had to have been aware and even
complicit in aiding [Booker Law's]
cheating."
Based on the consensus penalty
structure and the lack of any mitigat-
ing circumstances, the council rec-
ommended that the Laws receive an
F in the course and a two-semester
suspension.
The Laws appealed their case to
See HONOR, Page 12
m mm
SUSHI SUZUKI/THRESHER
Four years of work ...
Members of Martel College watch the 90th Commencement Ceremony on Saturday. See Feature, Pages 14-18.
ACC team additions may affect Rice
by Mark Berenson
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
The Atlantic Coast Conference's
decision Tuesday to expand by three
teams could have ramifications that
affect the Western Athletic Confer-
ence and Rice athletics.
Athletic Director Bobby May said
the ACC's expansion isn't a done
deal, but if the University of Miami,
Syracuse University and either Bos-
ton College or Virginia Tech defected
from the Big East, it would set off a
chain reaction that quickly affects
Rice.
"You will have holes left in the
Big East, then there have been sev-
eral scenarios there for how to fill
those holes," May said. "The domi-
noes can continue to fall until it gets
into the Conference USA"
Conference USA members in-
clude the University of Houston and
Tulane University.
May said once teams had left
Conference USA any number of
things could happen.
"Would the WAC look to Confer-
ence USA schools to try to expand
and try to take advantage of a weak-
ened Conference USA? Or does Con-
ference USA go looking for mem-
bers of the WAC looking to
strengthen their league after their
defections?" May said. "That is what
could develop."
May said Rice is happy with the
current state of the WAC, but addi-
tions could be beneficial.
"If we had a chance to strengthen
the eastern side [of the conference],
then I would hope we would make
all efforts to do that," May said. "I
think that everybody is aware that
there could be an opportunity, and
we need to be aware and take advan-
tage of it."
President Malcolm Gillis said Rice
is content as a member of the WAC.
See WAC, Page 10
Students will be allowed on new road
by Mark Berenson
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
A FEMA-funded overland flow
channel will soon provide a conve-
nient cut-through for Rice drivers as
- well as a route for floodwaters.
™ The channel will extend Alumni
Drive from its current terminus at
Loop Road near Baker Hall to Wiess
College, where it will connect with
the Wiess College Service Road. (See
map, page 5.)
Facilities and Engineering Plan-
{ ner Max Amery said construction
will begin at the end of the month.
The substantive parts of the con-
struction will take about two months,
and an additional month will be
needed to complete related work,
including landscaping work around
intramural field #7.
A Federal Emergency Manage-
ment Agency grant will finance al-
most the entire project. Rice re-
quested the grant in the aftermath of
Tropical Storm Allison, which in June
2001 caused $2 billion of damage to
Houston, including $1 billion at the
Texas Medical Center and $5 mil-
lion at Rice.
"The present Alumni Drive,
when we had the Allison flood, sort
of turned into a river — it started
two or two-and-a-half feet high by
Rice Blvd, and it was three-and-a-
half feet deep by the time it got to
College Way," Amery said. "What
we are doing now is saying to FEMA
that if we had an extension of the
road, which we don't call a road,
then we can get the water to run
south and get to our retention pond
a lot faster."
The water retention area is east
of the Track/Soccer Stadium.
Amery said without the new flow
See ROAD, Page 5
Students protest late assignment of final
by Ajay Kalia
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
The 30 students in COMP 110:
Computation in Science and Engi-
neering received a shock when they
were assigned a final exam project
during the last week of class.
* Students in the class, taught by
Computer Science Professor Ron
Goldman, said throughout the se-
mester they were under the impres-
sion that there would not be a final.
According to the class syllabus, the
workload would consist of only 10 re-
^ quired programming modules and
an extra credit assignment due at
the end of the semester.
However, on Tuesday, April 22,
Goldman informed the students that
the extra credit assignment had be-
come the final exam for the course
and would count for 25 percent of
the final grade. Goldman set the as-
signment due date for noon on
May 5, two days before the end of
the final exam period.
Goldman said he had been con-
sidering assigning a final exam
throughout the semester, but did
not indicate this to the class.
"There was no indication either
way," Goldman said. "I didn't give an
indication that there would or that
there wouldn't be a final."
Jones College freshman Lucas
Ogden-Davis, a COMP 110 student,
said on the first day of class, some-
one specifically asked if there would
be a final exam. Goldman assured
the class there would be no final
exam, Odgen-Davis said.
Jones College sophomore Russell
Carrington said most class mem-
bers were initially outraged when
they found out about the newly-as-
signed final. The timing of the an-
nouncement especially angered stu-
dents, he said.
"It was really unfair, especially
since he notified us after the self-
scheduling period," Carrington said.
"So if someone made finals plans
based on having a certain number of
exams, or bought plane tickets
home, they were [screwed]."
The format of the exam was simi-
lar to other assignments in the class.
It was a take-home, open-note,
untimed project involving a series of
programming questions for several
graphics programs that increased in
complexity.
Goldman said he assigned the
exam because he felt the students
needed more experience with the
material. He also cited the need for
a clearer grading curve, since many
See FINAL Page 6
INSIDE
Ah, the summer!
This issue of the Thresher,
the last of the 2002-'03 aca-
demic year, will be mailed to
the homes of current and in-
coming students.
Our next issue will come out
Aug. 2, the Friday of Orienta-
tion Week.
Remember to visit our Web
site, thresher.rice.edu, through-
out the summer, as it will be
updated with continuing cover-
age of Rice sports teams and
other important campus events.
Good-bye and congratula-
tions to the Class of2003: Greet-
ings to the Class of 2007, and
everyone, please have a safe
summer.
NEWS Page 4
Police dispatchers examined
A&E ."ige 20
'Sammys' awards theater quality
SPORTS Page 23
Two Owls NFL bound
Quote of the Week
"The Ivy draw is very strong —
Harvard, Vale, Princeton — it's
hard to compete against them."
— Vice President for Enrollment
Anne Wright. See Story, Page 13.
Scoreboard
Baseball
Rice 10, St. Mary's 5
Rice 7. Nevada 8 (10 innings)
Rice 7, Nevada 4
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Berenson, Mark. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 90, No. 29, Ed. 1 Friday, May 16, 2003, newspaper, May 16, 2003; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth398503/m1/1/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.