News In Brief
SA external vice president resigns
Three Student Association Senate members resigned over winter break. Former External Vice President Julia Tucker-Huth, who was a Jones College junior in the fall, left Rice to enroll in the undergraduate business program at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Tucker-Huth said she will miss Rice but thought she could better prepare for her future career elsewhere.
“I [have] an interest in going to business school, [and I thought] a place that had an undergraduate business program would be a better option,” Tucker-Huth said.
SA President James Lloyd said he does not intend to find a temporary external vice president. Lloyd, a Brown College senior, said many of the position’s responsibilities are completed during the summer and fall semester. He said any of Tucker-Huth’s unfinished projects will probably be assigned to other senate members.
“It will be unfortunate to not have her as part of the SA leadership,” Lloyd said.
As external vice president, Tucker-Huth was responsible for coordinating several programs and events, including the HedgeHopper discount program and Families Weekend.
Tucker-Huth said she does not think her resignation will adversely affect the SA.
“I have complete confidence in all of the officers of the SA [and believe] that my departure — with elections approaching in the near future — should not in any way put the SA behind in terms of what it hopes to get done this year,” Tucker-Huth said. “James Lloyd is a very capable person and has a very capable executive committee behind him.”
Two other SA Senate members have also resigned.
Former Brown College Senator Jaron Lukasiewicz, a sophomore, is currently studying abroad in Santiago, Chile.
Brown President Melissa King said she announced at Brown’s cabinet meeting Tuesday that students interested in becoming Brown’s senator should speak to her.
Former Hanszen College Senator Regis James, a sophomore, announced his resignation in an e-mail to the Hanszen listserv Jan. 14. James cited a strenuous workload as the reason for his departure and said he would transfer his SA responsibilities to Will Rice College Senator Neha Kamat, a sophomore.
On Jan. 18, Hanszen Cabinet unanimously elected New Student Representative Jake Winter, a senior who transferred to Rice last spring, to replace James as senator.
— Beko Binder
Students’ water balloon breaks Sid window#
A water balloon launched from the Will Rice College sundeck broke a balcony window at Sid Richardson College Dec. 7. The window cost $847.50 to replace and was repaired Wednesday, Housing Operations Manager Chris Rydzeski said.
The four Hanszen College freshmen involved — Thresher Assistant Sports Editor Dylan Farmer, Brian Mothersole, Sanket Shah and Eric Silberman — shot the balloons as a college jack on the Sid students involved in “primal scream.” Primal scream is a Sid finals-week tradition in which students stand on balconies at midnight and scream to relieve stress. The Will Rice sundeck is located on the third floor at the corner of the Will Rice quad closest to Sid.
The students used an oversized slingshot to launch the water balloons. Shah said they waited on the sundeck for a large number of students to appear before they began to fire the water balloons.
“After we fired a bunch of balloons, we decided to fire the last one,” Silberman said. “Not knowing it had broken the window, we left Will Rice because we thought the Sid people were going to come after us.”
Shah said they did not think the window had been broken because the sound the balloon made on impact was not different from the ones the other balloons had made.
Shah received an e-mail from Hanszen Master Wes Morris Dec. 9, telling him that his name had been linked to property damage at Sid. The students then decided to confess and apologized to the Hanszen, Sid and Will Rice masters.
Rice University Police Lieutenant Phil Hassell said no official crime report was filed, and that the police will not take any action against the students.
“The students admitted they were just screwing around,” Hassell said. “The college masters and presidents decided to resolve the matter amongst themselves.”
The four students will evenly split the replacement cost of the window, Mothersole said. Hanszen will not contribute any money to the repair. The students said they are considering selling T-shirts or pieces of the broken glass to raise money.
“It really was an unintentional break, and we messed up and are going to pay for it,” Silberman said.
— Stephanie Jennings
Kirby named VP for administration
Kevin Kirby, the chief operating officer and vice president for administration at Columbia University Medical Center, will become Rice’s vice president for administration Feb. 1.
President David Leebron — who did not know Kirby at Columbia — said he is pleased with the selection because of Kirby’s sevice orientation, communication skills and intellectual interest in universities.
“He’s pursuing a Ph.D. program at [the University of Pennsylvania] and writing a dissertation on a new medical complex in California,” Leebron said.
Kirby said he was attracted to the position because of Rice’s reputation, the people he will be working with and the challenge of implementing the ideas in President Leebron’s Call to Conversation (see story, page 1).
“The Call to Conversation is very ambitious and very well thought-out,” Kirby said. “I really like the way the president got input from all the relevant stakeholders.”
When Kirby arrives at Rice Feb. 1, he will assume the duties of Associate Vice President for Administration Neill Binford, who announced his retirement in November.
When Vice President for Finance and Administration Dean Currie left Rice last spring, Leebron split Currie’s position into two jobs — promoting Kathy Collins, then the associate vice president and budget director, to vice president for finance. Binford, who had been associate vice president for finance and administration, became associate vice president for administration. Kirby receives the new title vice president for administration, completing the transition.
Kirby, who will oversee Facilities, Engineering and Planning among other departments, said he will work on many of the goals laid out in the Call to Conversation. These goals include increasing the undergraduate enrollment by building two new residential colleges and building the collaborative research tower with the Texas Medical Center, he said.
Leebron said Kirby’s knowledge of medical institutions will be an asset in dealing with the TMC.
“We had great candidates, but he really brings expertise relating to medical institutions and research,” Leebron said.
At Columbia, Kirby currently oversees a medical center composed of the schools of medicine, public health, dentistry and nursing, as well as the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and a commercial biotechnology incubator.
— David Brown
Other news stories
- $20 million donated to School of Humanities
- 175 students admitted in Early Decision
- Bald started as coordinator Jan. 17
- Biochemistry Professor Gustin named new Wiess College master
- De Lorenzo hired to head Rice scholarships office
- Faculty vote to abolish self-scheduled exams
- Former Israeli Prime Minister Peres speaks on Iran, Palestinian conflict
- Grad student Rozworski remembered at service
- Graham named head football coach
- Halliburton to begin term as RA in fall 2006 semester
- Leebron releases vision statement for Rice's future
- Minority applications for Interim Decision increase
- Rice to foster involvement in Houston with new center
- Tour, Pasquali named new directors of nanotech lab
Sports
- Graham and staff bring attitude, excitement
- Men's basketball 2-1 in C-USA competition
- Men's track prepares for another outdoor run
- Repentant football cynic realizes error of his ways
- Students, fans should respond to new coach
- Swimming defeats Houston, loses to LSU in dual-meet competition
- Women look to win conference title
- Women's basketball falls at Houston, Marshall
Arts & Entertainment
- Holiday films rarely surpass mediocrity
- In-flight movies should entertain, distract from crying babies
- Ligon's 'Changes' confronts political, social, personal conflicts
- Strokes' third album makes dubious First Impression
- Student artists debut revolutionary gallery