The Rice Thresher, Vol. 96, No. 15, Ed. 1 Friday, January 9, 2009 Page: 1 of 16

                                
OP-ED P. 3
Furious George
Patrick McAnaney dishes on cocaine, corruption, and the
craiiness of U.S. -Bolivian affairs.
A&E
Answer: Horseradish
Question: What goes good with brains? Joe Dwyer spills
the beans on the culinary selection of Left 4 Dead.
P. 7 SPORTS
WM
P. 12
Thor is no more
James Casey declares for NFL draft, deams David Bailiff
replacement hunk.
the Rice
VOLUME XCVI, ISSUE NO. 18
STUDENT-RUN
Rice team
wins Ike
contest
By Jaclyn Youngblood
Thresher Staff
Before the Owls reigned victorious
in the Texas Bowl, a different group
of Owls beat over 200 participants to
claim first place in Houston's Recycle
Ike Contest. A group of Rice faculty
and staff members led by Wiess Col-
lege senior Jeremy Caves and Earth
Science Postdoctoral Research As-
sociate William Hockaday created a
proposal to turn the 5.6 million cubic
yards of debris, including fallen trees
and other green waste, left by Hur-
ricane Ike into atmosphere-friendly
biomass charcoal known as Biochar.
"There are two things you can do
with dry plant material," Assistant
Earth Science Professor Carrie Masiel-
lo said. "You can burn it, which is to
combust it in the presence of oxygen,
or you can pyrolyze it, which is to
heat it in the absence of oxygen."
Biochar, the result of the latter of
these two options, acts as a carbon
trap, decreasing the amount of car-
bon released into the atmosphere
during the natural and fire-induced
decomposition of agricultural matter,
Masiello said. Along with greenhouse
gases, carbon dioxide is known
to contribute to global warming.
Masiello also said plant productivity
can double or even quadruple when
Biochar is introduced as a fertilizer.
Finally, Biochar is capable of gener-
ating small amounts of electricity by
capturing methane and hydrogen off-
gases, Masiello said.
SINCE 1916
friday, january 9, 2009
Wiess Senior Jeremy Caves
City of Houston officials wanted
to avoid sending the woody debris
left behind after Hurricane Ike to lo-
cal landfills, a process that can cost
$30-$40 per ton, Caves said. The com-
petition sought to increase interest in
sustainability and generate solutions
to take care of the debris left by Hur-
ricane Ike.
"When I saw this [competition out-
line]," Caves said, "I thought, 'Wow,
this is a great application of Biochar.'"
Caves heard about the competi-
tion through an e-mail forward and,
Osee BIOCHAR, page 4
Owls snag bowl
game victory
ARIEL SHNITZER/THRESHER
Defensive Tackle Chance Talbert (#87) leads the charge out of the tunnel
at Reliant Stadium before the Texas Bowl. Rice defeated Western Michi-
gan University 38-12. See story, pages 8-9.
Rice modifies financial aid
Changes to loan cap and no-loan threshold will increase the
number of students who qualify for financial aid without loans
By Margeux Clemmons
Thresher Editorial Staff
Rice Student Financial Services
is offering its own bailout in these
difficult economic times, not for
banks or auto-makers but for in-
coming freshmen and their fami-
lies struggling to fund four years
of tuition.
The changes to financial aid in-
clude an increased annual income
threshold from $60,000 to $80,000
for families whose need-based aid
will not require loans, and a de-
crease of the maximum amount of
loans a student must contribute to
their financial aid package from
$14,500 to $10,000.
Dean of Undergraduates Robin
Forman said the changes are in part
to keep Rice diverse.
"Rice has always been a need-
blind institution, and it's part of who
we are," he said. "We are constantly
reevaluating our financial aid poli-
cies to make sure that Rice remains
affordable and accessible to all."
Student Financial Services read
the student-loan freezes of early
last year, which prohibited many
students from taking out loans
from private lenders, as indicators
that Rice's policies would require
modification, although the timing
of the changes is partially due to
recent downturns in the economy.
The changes will take effect next
semester, beginning with the 2009
incoming freshman class, and will
only apply to undergraduate stu-
dents, Director of Student Financial
Services Anne Walker said.
Typically, financial aid pack-
ages at Rice include grants, schol-
arships, and loans. With the new
changes, the no-loan threshold
expansion will increase the num-
ber of students whose families'
financial aid package will not
include loans.
Just under 20 percent of incom-
ing freshmen at Rice falls into this
group and comes from households
whose income is between $60,000
and $80,000, according to Forman.
The student-loan cap decrease
will apply to all undergraduate stu-
dents, regardless of their family's
income bracket, although students
who wish to borrow more than is
included in their package and who
have federal eligibility may request
additional subsidized loans.
Of all students enrolled in 2008,
753 took out subsidized student-
loans. Additionally, 37 percent
of students received need-based
awards and 27 percent of students
received merit-based awards, with
some students receiving both or
having their merit-based awards re-
place need-based aid.
Despite hearing the number of
future students the new policy will
affect, some current students are
still concerned about the financial
need of those already at Rice.
"If the goal is to get more appli-
cants this is a great plan," Will Rice
College senior Brian Meckes said.
"If the goal is to help current Rice
students during economically hard
times, it's not such a great plan."
Meckes also said he felt merit-based
aid at Rice should be expanded.
With an increase in the number
of families not required to take out
loans and the student population
increasing 30 percent by 2012, Stu-
dent Financial Services will need
more financial resources to carry
out the intended changes.
"We will probably be utilizing
more institutional dollars," Walker
said, "but at the same time, the
population increase will bring in
more revenue from tuition. We've
done long-range planning to en-
sure we are covering the increase in
population."
Another way in which the univer-
sity hopes to fund the financial aid
changes is through the Centennial
Campaign for $1 billion, $100 mil-
lion of which will go toward a schol-
arship endowment, Forman said.
Whether or not the scholar-
ships, which will pull from the en-
dowment's accrued interest, will be
awarded based on merit or finan-
cial need will be largely determined
by the wishes of donors.
The higher cost for the university
will not affect Rice's guarantee to
meet 100 percent of families' unmet
aid or decrease the amount of aid
available to families whose incomes
Osee AID, page 6
Freeze on
new staff
hires starts
By Jocelyn Wright
Thresher Editorial Staff
In light of the recent global fi-
nancial crisis, Rice has instituted
a temporary staff hiring freeze and
is asking that departments reduce
their non-compensation operating
expenses by 1 percent.
The budget reductions should
result in total university savings of
$600,000, according to Vice Presi-
dent for Finance Kathy Collins.
The freeze, which was imple-
mented Dec. 1, will be reevaluated
around March, President David
Leebron said.
"We're facing a range of finan-
cial challenges which so far are
less severe than other universities,
so we're responding with cautious
measures," Leebron said.
The freeze does not apply to aca-
demic appointments, and there is a
system in place to make exceptions
if a new position is vital for stu-
dent welfare, Leebron said. Since it
takes a couple months to fill a new
position, students are unlikely to
feel the effects of the hiring freeze
immediately.
There may, however, be instanc-
es where students notice a slightly
lower level of service. Although
Rice has made an effort to address
student concerns quickly, Leebron
said they might experience delays
in addressing issues that involve
new expenditures.
The hiring freeze will not keep
Duncan and McMurtry Colleges,
which are scheduled to open next
year, from being staffed appropri-
ately, Director of News and Media
Relations B.J. Almond said.
In terms of academics, depart-
ments are still able to hire new fac-
ulty members, so students will not
experience a reduction in the num-
ber and variety of courses offered.
Leebron said now is a good time to
be looking for new people, provided
they meet very high standards.
Compensation accounts for ap-
proximately two-thirds of the uni-
versity budget. During the 2008
fiscal year, Rice hired 451 non-
temporary staff — approximately
38 employees per month. Almond
said. The hiring freeze will give
Rice the opportunity to save money
this year to accumulate reserves for
times of economic difficulty and
to efficiently organize the budget,
Leebron said.
"We want to pause and take a
breath and not have people mak-
ing unwise decisions," he said.
"Right now we're taking modest
measures to avoid making deci-
sions which we will regret three
months from now."
Rice is also asking departments
to rethink a small percentage of
O see FREEZE, page 6
Delicious, delicious medians
What are the odds that I'll actually show up
to this afternoon's Dinner with the Dean/STAT
lunch at noon in DH 1044? I'm going to say
about as likely as me showing up for STAT 280
this afternoon. Sleep sounds so, so, so much
better.
Nicole Kidman rocks
Ever see The Others? I nearly ran out of the
theater, and that was just from the preview.
Good thing I was able to resolve grades of
"Other" from Fall 2008 by tonight's 5 p.m.
deadline. Too bad Keith Urban is terrible.
Wisconsin student sucks
I would never badger my teacher. I wouldn't
even know where to find a badger to toss. Fortu-
nately, Paula Sanders is helming "Teaching Work-
shop: Practical Solutions to Common Classrooms'
Problems" this Monday at 11:55 a.m. in Sewall
Hall. BYOBadger.
INDEX
Opinion 2
News 4
Arts & Entertainment 7
Sports 12
Calendar 15
Backpage 16