The Rice Thresher, Vol. 90, No. 26, Ed. 1 Friday, April 11, 2003 Page: 1 of 20
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Texas Digital Newspaper Program and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Rice University Woodson Research Center.
- Highlighting
- Highlighting On/Off
- Color:
- Adjust Image
- Rotate Left
- Rotate Right
- Brightness, Contrast, etc. (Experimental)
- Cropping Tool
- Download Sizes
- Preview all sizes/dimensions or...
- Download Thumbnail
- Download Small
- Download Medium
- Download Large
- High Resolution Files
- IIIF Image JSON
- IIIF Image URL
- Accessibility
- View Extracted Text
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
the
resher
Vol. XC, Issue No. 26
SINCE 1916
Honor changes debated at forum
Election for proposed amendment and at-large representatives Tuesday and Wednesday
Friday, April 11, 2003
by Mark Berenson
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
Students will vote on the proposed Honor Council constitu-
tional amendments Tuesday and Wednesday. Members of the
council and administrators debated the merits of the changes
at a forum held Monday.
The first proposed change would change the allowable
grounds for appeal. Currently the grounds for appeal are
procedural error, excessive or unjust penalty, incorrect verdict
or defective deliberation. 'Hie new grounds would be proce-
dural error, biased decision or new evidence, and the grounds
are defined in the proposed amendment.
At the forum, Honor Council Internal Vice Chair Candice
Hance said the category of procedural error covers previous
grounds for appeal that were seemingly eliminated in the
revisions.
However, Assistant to the President Mark Scheid said at the
forum that based on the definition the council gave of procedural
error—failing to take action required by the blue book or taking
action prohibited by the blue book — many unacceptable actions
could not be appealed under procedural error.
"If you look at the entire Honor Council constitution, what
this means literally is that if I'm on the Honor Council, I could
tie you to a chair and hit you with a belt until you confessed
because it's not specifically forbidden," Scheid said. "I could
hold your cat hostage. I'm not suggesting the Honor Council
would do that, but we don't know."
Members of the council also said at the forum that Associ-
ate General Counsel Carlos Garcia had encouraged the coun-
cil to eliminate incorrect verdict as a grounds for appeal at the
Honor Council retreat a few years ago.
Garcia denied having told the council to eliminate the
grounds of incorrect verdict, and he said no member of the
General Counsel's office had told the council to take such an
action during his eight years at Rice.
Garcia said the changes would have students giving up rights,
and that the General Counsel's Office did not support the changes,
though the office had no concern about the legality of the changes.
"We don't view them favorably and don't think they're a
good idea," Garcia said. 'There are some good ideas in there,
but I think it is a step backwards."
The second proposed change would have the first level of
appeals be heard by a panel consisting of the Assistant Dean
for Student Judicial Programs and two faculty members.
Hance, a Baker College senior, said such a change would lead
to faculty members being more involved in the honor system.
"The Faculty Council has given its wholehearted approval
of the proposal," Hance said.
See HONOR. Page 7
ERIN WHITMAN/THRESHER
Assistant Dean for Student Judicial Programs Patty Bass
expresses her misgivings with the proposed Honor Council
constitutional amendments Monday in Farnsworth Pavilion.
Kissing the Heiny goodbye
KATIE STREIT, THRESHER
Shay McGarr ovett '96) imitates Eric Heineman (right) while former Lovett College Vice
President Deepa Bhatnanger (left) looks on at Heineman's farewell banquet entitled
"Lovett Kisses it's Heiny Goodbye." Heineman will leave as the Lovett Resident Associate
at the end of the year after serving in the position for ten and a half years.
Cost of parking to increase
by Mark Berenson
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
The fee for a student to park in the
Greenbriar Lot in 2003-'04 will increase by 670
percent from this year. Associate Vice Presi-
dent for Finance and Administration Neill
Binford said. The student parking fee for the
West Lot will increase by 114 percent, and
college lots' parking fees will go up 36 percent.
When parking fees were first announced
last spring, Binford said the fees would in-
crease by about 10 percent per year.
Students who park in the West Lot, both
commuters and residents, will pay $114 per
year in parking fees in addition to a $46 per
year shuttle fee. The two fees together equal
the faculty and staff rate of $ 160. This year, the
combined parking and shuttle fee for the West
Lot was $90.
The largest percentage increase is in the
fee for the Greenbriar Lot. Students next year
will pay $54 in addition to the shuttle fee to
park in the lot; students this year paid an
additional $8 to park in the lot. Faculty and
staff will pay $100 annually to park in the
Greenbriar Lot
Tlie fee structure continues to have a fresh-
man surcharge — freshmen next year will pay
$250 in addition to the shuttle fee to park in the
West Lot.
Binford said the purpose of the surcharge is
to decrease the number of cars on campus.
The surcharge was created last year as the
fairest way to decrease demand for parking, and
was considered a better option than barring
freshmen from having cars on campus or taking
into account the value of a student's car in deter-
mining a financial aid package, Binford said.
"We choose what we all thought was the
least onerous — it doesn't make it impossible,
just discouraging," Binford said.
Binford said the freshman surcharge this
year — freshmen paid $150 plus the shuttle
fee to park in the West Lot — was not success-
ful in reducing the number of freshmen with
cars on campus, and around 200 freshman
have registered their cars.
The surcharge only applies to undergradu-
ate freshmen and not transfer students.
Some students said they think there are
better ways to limit freshmen with cars.
"I don't think it's fair to single out fresh-
men," Jones College senior Manuel Pereira
said. 'They maybe shouldn't get the same num-
ber of parking spaces as upperclassmen, but it
is unfair to make them pay higher rates."
See PARKING Page 4
' Flatlan shut down over legal fears
by Skye Schell
I'HKI SHLR H1ITORIAI STAFF
Rice's Flatlan server flatlined last
Thursday after the Recording Indus-
try Association of America filed four
suits against college students who
run similar servers.
Flatlan, a Napster-like file-shar-
ing program, allows users to down-
load shared media files from other
computers. Rice's Flatlan operator,
a student who wished to remain
anonymous, said he took the server
offline to avoid legal action and does
not plan to restore access.
The RIAA filed suits against four
students — two at Rensselaer Poly-
technic Institute, one at Princeton
University and one at Michigan
Technological University — accus-
ing them of music piracy. According
to an April 5 Detroit Free Press ar-
ticle, the RIAA is claiming damages
of up to $97.8 billion.
The RIAA filed similar charges
against Napster in 2001.
Napster indexes files that indi-
viduals anywhere on the Internet
have shared, and allows users to
send files to each other through
Napster's software. Flatlan, on the
other hand, resides on a local area
network like the Rice network. It
allows users to search the network,
but does not handle file transfer.
Instead, it provides the user with a
network address so they can retrieve
the tile from its home computer.
While his server made it easier to
search for media files on the Rice
See FLATIAN Page 7
Give-a-hoot
INSIDE
Baseball win streak stopped at 30 games
by Jonathan Yardley
rilRKSHI.R I rirrORIALSTAFI
The baseball team's pitching fi-
nally faltered Wednesday, as lamar
University ended the Owls' school-
record 30-game winning streak with
a 7-5 win al Reckling Park.
Rice leads the country with a 2.26
FRA, but Rice pitchers uncharacter-
istically walked more batters than
they struck out. the first time that
has happened all season, and the
Cardinals (23-9) took advantage.
Senior righthander Steven Herce,
in only his second outing of the sea-
son due to shoulder soreness, ran
into third-inning trouble with his
control, leaving with no outs and the
bases loaded. Freshman lefthander
Colin Matheny came in and
struggled out of the inning by allow-
ing all three runners to score to tie
the game 3-3, but settled down to
throw five innings and give up only
one hit. Junior closer David Aardsma
did not have his best control either,
leaving his fastball up in the strike
zone and surrendering two home
runs for his third blown save of the
year in 10 chances.
The Owls return to action with a
three-game series this weekend
against Western Athletic Conference
rival Fresno State University, cur-
rently in third place in the WAC
standings. Rice still has a 19-game
WAC winning streak, which dates
back to last season, on the line enter-
ing this weekend's series in Fresno,
Calif.
See BASKHALL Page 16
Owl Weekend began yester-
day and runs through tomor-
row. Hosts, keep your Owls
busy. Owls, stop by the activi-
ties fair between 4-5:30 p.m. to-
day. Visit your personal tree.
Attend a performance and/or
event and/or gathering for ev-
ery campus group.
Creepy fifth years, stay in
your room. The purpose of Owl
Weekend is to try to persuade
the Owls to attend Rice, not to
scare them away.
In similar fashion, all
Thresher staffers will be in hid-
ing for the weekend.
Self schedule exams
Registration for self-sched-
uled exams begins Monday.
Students must sign up for self-
scheduled exams b\ Wednes-
day at 5 p.m. Don't say we didn't
warn you.
As good of an idea as it seems
like now, trying to take five ex-
ams on the last day is not a good
idea.
OPINION Page 3
Honor Council appeals changes
A&E Page 10
KTRU outdoor show
SPORTS Page 15
Hinshaw vaults to record
Quote of the Week
"When people think theater sucks,
they're generally right because
most theater does suck."
— company director of Infernal
Bridegroom Productions Jason
Nodler. See Story, Page 12.
Scoreboard
Baseball
Lamar 7. Rice 5
Texas A&M 0, Rice
Hawaii 1, Rice 8
Hawaii 0, Rice 2
Hawaii 4, Rice 12
Men's tennis
Rice 4. Tulsa 3
Weekend Weather
Friday
Partly cloudy. 72 51 degrees
Saturday
Mostly Sunny, 76-52 degrees
Sunday
Partly Cloudy, 76-55 degrees
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Berenson, Mark. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 90, No. 26, Ed. 1 Friday, April 11, 2003, newspaper, April 11, 2003; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth398527/m1/1/?q=%22Education%20-%20Colleges%20and%20Universities%20-%20Rice%20University%22: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.