The Rice Thresher, Vol. 94, No. 5, Ed. 1 Friday, September 22, 2006 Page: 5 of 16
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 RICE THRESHER NEWS FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22,2006
ANEGAS
From page 1
logging into ESTHER.
"Eventually it came to the
point where we said, 'Look
David, just tell the truth or
we're going to call the police,'"
Rasheed said. "[Vanegas] said
i swear I'm a Rice student.' We
asked him if he would mind if
we called the police to verify
that he was a student, and he
said, 'Yeah, sure.'Then I placed
the call."
A similar episode occurred
in 2002 when a non-Rice stu-
dent, Rodrigo Montano, ob-
tained a Rice ID card, slept on
campus and began practicing
with the track team. Montano
was exposed after a month
and charged with criminal
trespass.
Rasheed said even though
Vanegas lied about being a
student, he was well-liked and
supported by his peers.
"[Vanegas] really is a good
guy at heart, and he was loved
by a lot of people at Rice," Ra-
sheed said. "Even though all
the evidence pointed to the fact
that he wasn't a Rice student,
[there were] a lot of people
who couldn't believe ... that he
wasn't a student."
Rasheed said he did not
expect there would be any last-
ing consequences for Vanegas
when he called RUPD.
"I just wanted to know the
truth," Rasheed said. "I just
thought that they'd be like, 'OK
he's not a Rice student.'"
Taylor said RUPD will focus
on education at the colleges to
prevent similar incidents.
"Idon'tknowthatit's[RUPD]
that needs to do the preventing,"
Taylor said. "It's more the stu-
dents and the people in these
colleges that need to be more
aware of who is and who isn't a
student. An observant student
picked this up. We would never
have picked this up, because he
looked like, acted like, lived like
a student."
MICHAEL ROG/THRESHER
Mother knows best
Hanszen College junior Stephen Rooke compliments Denise Albert, the mother of Jones College sophomore
Andrea Albert, at Spontaneous Combustion's Families Weekend performance. The group performed Sept. 15 in
the Grand Hall in the Rice Memorial Center.
"In Violation" plea eliminated as mandatory penalty mitigator
by Eric Doctor
FOR THE THRESHKK
When a student is found "In
Violation" of the Honor Code,
the Honor Council starts with a
maximum penalty of an "F" in the
course and a two-semester suspen-
sion. Then the hearing panel uses
mitigating circumstances, which
are the nature of the violation and
cooperation with the council, to
reduce the penalty.
At its meeting Sunday, the
council unanimously modified its
Consensus Penalty Structure to
eliminate a plea of "In Violation"
as a mitigating circumstance
council members must consider
when selecting a penalty. However,
council members can still consider
an "In Violation" plea as mitigation
if they choose.
Honor Council Chair Becky
Thilo said the change was made so
that accused students do not think
they have to plead "In Violation"
to fully cooperate with the Honor
Council if they are truly "Not in
Violation."
Prior to the change, the mitigat-
ing circumstance was defined as
"cooperation shown through full
and truthful disclosure of relevant
information, which may include a
plea of'In Violation' made in good
faith."
"[The former system 1 was
giving people incentive to plea
'In Violation' even if they felt that
they weren't 'In Violation,"' Thilo,
a Hanszen College senior, said.
At its closed meeting, the coun-
cil also discussed changing from a
blanket penalty system, in which
every non-heinous first violation
begins at an "F" in the course and
a two-semester suspension on to
a tiered system that would assign
maximum penalties based on the
weight of the assignment in ques-
tion. The maximum penalty for
an unprompted self-accusation
for someone who does not have a
previous violation remains an "F"
in the course, which can also be
mitigated down.
Thilo said the council did not
change the system because it gives
the council flexibility.
"The blanket system has worked
in the past," she said. "Especially
with the mitigating and aggravat-
ing circumstances both in there,
that's something that allows us to
clearly articulate why we chose a
specific penalty."
Aggravating circumstances are
factors the council can use to can-
cel out mitigating circumstances.
They include deceit of the council,
premeditation, violation conceal-
ment and collusion with other
students.
Thilo said a tiered system
would also create problems if an
assignment's weight could not be
determined. She said it is hard to
determine at what percentage an
assignment's weight should make
the penalty more severe.
"If [an assignment] is worth 9
percent or 11 percent, does that
mean that one should be suspended
and the other shouldn't? We want
to be able to handle this on a case-
by-case basis," Thilo said.
She said the council's deci-
sions were primarily based on
the necessity of handling cases
individually.
"Fewer words give us more flex-
ibility to assess the penalty prop-
erly," Thilo said. "And we always
have the ability to mitigate."
PICK UP YOUR
2005-2006
YEARBOOKS
The 2006 Campanile is available for
pick-up in the Campanile office, the
Clubs office, and the Office of
Student Media.
All undergraduates who were
registered during the 2005-2006
academic year are eligible to receive
a yearbook. Previous yearbooks are
also available for eligible students.
Questions? Emailyearbook@rice.edu.
www.ricethresher.org
Earn your MPA in Environmental
Science and Policy
The Master of Public Administration
Program in Environmental Science
and Policy is a twelve-month program
that combines Columbia University's
hands-on approach to teaching
public policy and administration
with pioneering thinking about
the environment.
Application deadline for early
decision: November 1
For more information, please call 212-854-3142, e-mail: la r46(tf>colu mbia.edu, or visit our
Web site: www.columbia.edu/cu/mpaenvironment
For information on other SIPA programs, visit WWW.SIPA.COlumbia.edu
SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS
THE EARTH INSTITUTE AT COLUMBIA UN1VFRSITY
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
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.
Matching Search Results
View 12 places within this issue that match your search.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.
Brown, David. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 94, No. 5, Ed. 1 Friday, September 22, 2006, newspaper, September 22, 2006; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443079/m1/5/?q=Lamar+University: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.