The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 87, No. 13, Ed. 1 Friday, January 21, 2000 Page: 1 of 24
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the Rice Thresher
Vol. LXXXVII, Issue No. 13
SINCE 1916
Friday, January 21, 2000
Jones junior dies on Tuesday
by Ben Weston
fflRLSHHK I.DIIOKIAI.SIA1F
Jones College junior Peter Savvas Nelson died
Tuesday afternoon in Miami Beach, Fla.
The cause of death was multiple drug intoxication
and his death was ruled a suicide, according to the
Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner's Depart-
ment. Nplson was 20.
The funeral service for Nelson will be held tonight
at 6 p.m. in Austin, his hometown. The interrment
will take place tomorrow at 10 a. m. at St. Elias Church
in Austin. Any students wishing to attend should
contact Jones Master Enrique Barrera for more in-
formation.
Jones junior Adan Galvan, Nelson's roommate,
said that after spending Christmas with his grand-
mother, Nelson went to Florida on Jan. 7 to take a
meditation course in a small town there. Midway
through the course, Galvan said, he left a note saying
he had a family emergency, took a bus to Miami, and
checked into a motel. Nelson checked into the Inter-
national Inn in Miami Beach on Saturday, according
See NELSON, Page 12
Computer problems
delay fall grade reports
by Olivia Allison
1HKESHER STAFF
Jones College junior Peter Nelson
COURTESY RENATA BENJAMIN
Continuing problems with the
new computer system Exeter caused
students to receive their first semes-
ter grades a week late, according to
Vice President for Enrollment Ann
Wright.
Students' grades were delivered
lo the college mailrooms Sunday
night or Monday, but many students
did not receive their grades unlil
Tuesday.
Wright said the Registrar's Of-
fice originally planned to mail them
to students' permanent addresses
Jan. 10.
'The grades were due Jan. 3, so
we should've had them out on the
10th, but there was a problem with
calculating CPAs," Wright stated.
"It got to the point where we asked
ourselves if we should go ahead and
send it wrong or wait until it was
right, and we decided to wait.''
According to Wrjght and Vice
President for Student Affairs Zenaido
Camacho, concerned parents and
students called to ask about the de-
lay in receiving grades.
"Our office received roughly 10-
20 calls and e-mails. I had someone
tell me that his parents thought In-
had hid his grades," Camacho said.
Lovett College freshman Philip
McDaniel said his mother called
Camacho, and that he too was wor-
ried about the status of his grades.
"All of my friends at home were
getting their grades, and I wanted to
know my grades as well," McDaniel
said.
Professors also claimed they wen-
assigned classrooms much later than
they had anticipated. Edward
Doughtie, an English professor, said
See REGISTRAR. Page 11
Backpack with RPC money
taken from treasurer's room
by Jen Frazer
THRESHER EDITORIAL STAFF
When a backpack was stolen Dec. 3 from a
Will Rice College room, the Rice Program
Council was the victim, losing an estimated
$4,500 in cash and checks from door receipts
from Esperanza.
Overnight, the bag RPC Treasurer Dan
Street had left in a drawer in his unlocked
room on the second floor of Will Rice's old
dorm vanished. "I came out at nine in the
morning, got out of bed and opened up [the
drawer] and the money wasn't there," Street
said.
Street had received the last of the money
from the Nov. 13 dance on Nov. 30. He said he
counted the money on Dec. 1, leaving it in a
locked box in /the RPC office through the
morning of Dec. 2.
"On the third, I got the money from the
RPC office at approximately 1 p.m., brought ii
back to my room and put it in a the bottom
drawer. I left it there. Wheif I woke up on the
4th to go make the deposit, the money wasn't
there," Street said.
Street said he did not immediately talk to
the Campus Police or RPC President Lindsay
Germano, but instead scoured the campus,
hoping the thief would have taken the cash
and abandoned the rest. The RPC's check-
book was also in the backpack.
"Since the money was in such a weird
place, I wanted to make sure that it wasn't one
of my friends coming into my room and pick-
See RPC, Page 13
ROB GADD1/T
An estimated $4,500 In cash and checks were in a backpack taken from this drawer in the
of former Rice Program Council Treasurer Dan Street (inset), a Will Rice College junior.
Board approves domestic partner benefits
Health insurance for same- and different-sex partners to be available July 1
by Liora Danan
THRESHER STAFF
Rice faculty and staff will be able
to select from a number of benefits,
including health insurance, for es-
tablished domestic partners begin-
ning with the new fiscal year on
July 1.
Tire Board of Trustees reached
this decision at its Dec. 10 meeting.
The change affects both same- and
different-sex couples and has re-
ceived the support of several Rice
groups.
'The hope and intent is that it will
help with recruitment and retention
of the very best staff and faculty,"
Kyle Cavanaugh, associate vice
president for Human Resources,
said.
According to Cavanaugh, the in-
creased benefits should be offered
to current faculty and staff by the
annual enrollment period in April.
The changes were recommended
by the president's Committee on
Faculty and Staff Benefits.
Cavanaugh said that certain de-
tails, such as the exact definition of
"established domestic partners,"
have yet to be determined.
"We're still working our way
through a lot of the logistics,"
Cavanaugh said. "They will have to
be ironed out in the next couple ol
weeks."
Rice currently offers domestic
^partner benefits such as ID cards
and the use of Autry Court, Fondren
Library and Cohen House. However,
health insurance has not been avail-
able for the domestic partners of
staff and faculty, despite the Faculty
See BENEFITS, Page 10
Passing the torch
MONDRO BARMAN/THRESHER
A young attendee of Monday's Martin Luther King Jr. candlelight vigil
walks toward the Rice Chapel. See story, Page 8.
Tickets for baseball
home opener
INSIDE
Tickets to the Owls' first home
game at the new Reckling Park
will be available at the Rice Ticket
Office in Autry Court Jan. 31.
Undergraduate students with
valid ID stickers and faculty and
staff can pick up the limited tick-
ets between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.
on a first come/first serve basis.
Admission to all other games will
be handled at the gate.
The game contests No. 7 Rice
against No. 10 Unftersity of Hous-
ton. The Thresher m\\ run a base-
ball preview in next week's issue.
NEWS
Page
4
Parking rale changes
SPORTS
Page
18
The color 'blurple'
A&E * v
Page
17
Too square to understand hip-hop?
LIFESTYLES
Page
22
Academ life after graduation
Friday
Mostly cloudy, 56-62 degrees
Saturday
Mostly cloudy, 55-74 degrees
Sunday
Partly cloudy, 50-68 degrees
Scoreboard
Men's Basketball
Tulsa 67, Rice 49
Rice 71, SMU 80
Rice 62, Texas-Pan Am 72
Rice 57, Dusquene 72
Lamar 51, Rice 40
Rockhurst 43, Rice 51-
Texas A&M 56, Rice 53
Rice 71, Houston 84
Rice 71, Stephen F. Austin 77
Northwestern St. 49, Rice 52
* Women's Basketball
Rice 58,.Tulsa 59
Rice 51, Maine 70
Texas A&M 57, Rice 60
Rice 74, Florida A&M 47
Cornell 4£, Rice 73
Texas-Pan Am 42, Rice 83
Michigan 63, Rice 47
Massachusetts 58, Rice 59
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McAlister, Jett & Tam, Mariel. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 87, No. 13, Ed. 1 Friday, January 21, 2000, newspaper, January 21, 2000; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth246664/m1/1/: accessed April 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.