The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 87, No. 18, Ed. 1 Friday, February 25, 2000 Page: 1 of 24
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the Rice Thresher
Vol. LXXXVII, Issue No. 18
SINCE 1916
Friday, February 25, 2000
Botsford elected SA president; turnout up from last year
by Liora Danan
I HUKSH I K STAIT
Wiess College sophomore Lind-
say Botsford won the Student Asso-
ciation presidency in a highly con-
tested race that ended Wednesday.
Students cast 836 ballots in the
SA presidential election, part of the
campus-wide General Elections.
"It was really good to have an
election in which four qualified can-
didates were running," Botsford said.
"I think any of us would have done a
great job."
The three other candidates,
Hanszen College sophomore Gavin
Parks, Lovett College sophomore
James Dallal and Hanszen sopho-
more Merritt McAlister, each re-
ceived at least 20 percent of total
ballots cast in the first round of vot-
ing.
Voter tu rnout rose from last year's
General Elections, in which only 733
ballots were cast for SA president,
the position that traditionally draws
the greatest number of voters. The
numbers of ballots cast for SA presi-
dent in both 1999 and 2000 showed
a significant decrease from the 1998
total of 1,169 votes cast.
Habitat initiative passes
by I.aura Derr
THKKSHKR STAIT
The $32,000 in defunct Stu-
dent Association blanket-tax
funds will fund a Habitat for Hu-
manity project house. The initia-
tive proposing this expenditure
received 72 percent approval out
of 869 voters in the SA General
Elections, which ended Wednes-
day.
The other initiative on the bal-
lot, a proposal to fund the con-
struction of a rock-climbing wall,
failed with the support of only 42
percent of 872 voters.
Rob Prentice, sponsor of the
Habitat house initiative and trea-
surer of Rice Habitat for Human-
ity, said he was pleased that the
initiative passed. "1 was over-
whelmed. I'm very excited about
it," he said.
Prentice said he spent Tues-
day afternoon talking with Hous-
ton Habitat for Humanity about
4the details of the project. Hous-
ton Habitat has agreed to pay the
See INITIATIVES , Page 13
"I think turnout improved this
year over last year because people
had more of a choice," Botsford said.
"I think it made it more interesting
and made people slightly more mo-
tivated to vote."
Botsford said that she hopes to
increase this type of student inter-
est.
"My ultimate goal is to make [ the
SA] more fun," Botsford said. "I think
that will improve the rapport be-
tween the SA president and the sena-
tors, which hopefully will change
people's opinions of [the SA] and
make it more effective in what it
does."
Botsford said her goals include
increasing the availability of extra-
See ELECTIONS, Page 12
GENERAL ELECTIONS RESULTS
Student Association
President: Lindsay Botsford
Internal VP: Dinah Mack
External VP: Jennifer Tang
Secretary: Catherine Chen
Treasurer: Rani Yadav
Rice Program Council
President: Ginger Chao
Internal VP: Agnes Wang
External VP: Anisha Patel
Treasurer: Angela Durbin
Rice Student Volunteer Program
Chair: Vandana Gadhia and Vivek
Mittal
Internal Vice Chair: Chad
Chasteen
External Vice Chair: Katherine
Goeke
Secref!ry: Irene Tung
Treasurer: Steven Caufield
University Council
Representatives: Agnes
and Ajeet Pai 4 '
Wang
Thresher
Editor in Chief: Brian Stoler
Honor Council
Sophomore Rep: Theo Yaung,
Muneeza Aumir and Robert Lee
Junior Representatives: Aaron
Martz, Laura Derr and Emily
Caveness
Senior Representatives: Neilanjan
Nandi, Kristin Johnson, Jeff
Charbeneau and Claire Bocchini
University Court
Sophomore Representatives:
Carolyn Thurow and Meghan
Smith
Junior Representatives: Andrew
Sean Lin and Frieda Fotouh
Senior Representatives: Alisa De
Luna and Trushar Sarang
Initiatives
Rock-climbing wall proposal: Fails
Habitat for Humanity proposal:
Passes
Furniture thrown off Sid balcony
by Brian Stoler and Elizabeth Jardina
I HKFSHFR KMTORIAI S TAFF
rob ga ddi/thresher
This chair was destroyed after a fall from a Sid Richardson College balcony Feb. 18.
Food and Housing employees locked the Sid
Richardson College balconies for five days after a
couch and a chair fell from the college early in the
morning of Feb. 18. The balconies were unlocked
yesterday.
No one was injured in the incident. 'Hie chair
was completely destroyed and thrown away by
Food and Housing staff, and the couch was irrepa-
rably broken, Housing Operations Manager
I>oretta Pisegna said. The falling furniture also
broke off a lamp from the front of the college.
Sid's bylaws state that no objects other than
free-flowing water may be thrown from the
college's balconies. At press time, the Sid Court
was investigating the incident. Sid Chief Justice
Kyle Voosen, a senior, had no comment on the
status of the investigation.
Whoever threw the furniture from Sid at around
5 a.m. Friday will face sanctions if caught and
convicted.
"Any individual found in violation of balcony
policy by the SRC Court will be fined in an amount
at least equal to any costs incurred by the college.
... Court rulings may range from monetary fines
and service hours to rustication and/or referral to
higher authority," according the college's bal-
cony policy.
Pisegna estimated that the couch would cost
between $800 and $900 to replace, and the chair
would cost $600. Sid's vice president will deter-
mine when to replace the lost furniture, if at all,
and from where the money will come.
Pisegna said Facilities and Engineering has
*the broken lamp, which was badly damaged, and
is looking to find an exact replacement. If they can
not find a match, the matching lamp on the other
side of the main entrance doors will also have to
be replaced, Pisegna said.
Sid President Pete Irot said the college may
lace fines from F&H. "It is likely that the majority
of cost to the college will come from F&H fines,
but 1 do not have the figures on that," lrot said.
See SID, Page K!
Student arrested at Archi-Arts
by Olivia Allison
iMi(i:snri< rnrn > k i a i. stai-i
Houston Police Department officers ar-
rested Wiess College sophomore David
Fscobar at Archi-Arts on Saturday night.
He could receive a fine of up to $2,000 and/
or 180 days in Harris County Jail if found guilty
of the charge of possession of marijuana, a
Class B misdemeanor,
Fscobar has been charged with public in-
toxication, attempted bribery and possession
of marijuana, according to HPD spokesman
Robert Hurst.
Two HPD officers arrested Fscobar for
public intoxication around 12:30 a.m. Sunday
when he caused a disturbance at Archi-Arts,
held at the Hangar, a converted warehouse
downtown. The officers then searched Fscobar
and found him to be in possession of mari-
juana, Hurst said.
"When they picked him up for public in-
toxication, they found lO.Sgramsof marijuana
on him. He was quite intoxicated, and he was
unable to stand up — the officers had to hold
him up," Hurst said.
Fscobar also attempted to bribe the trans-
porting officer while inside the police car,
according to the offense and court reports.
See ARREST, Page 13
INSIDE
Jones elections to be held again today
Elections inyalidated due to e-mail campaigning confusion
by Olivia Allison
THHKSHKK STMT
J ones College will re-run elections for presi-
dent and Orientation Week coordinators to-
day after a misunderstanding over the legality
of e-mail campaigning, Jones Parliamentarian
Nathan Allen said. '
Cabinet members voted to invalidate elec-
tion results posted Tuesday because some
candidates in both the presidential and O-
Week coordinator elections had used e-mail
messages to campaign, which the Jones Con-
stitution does not specifically address in its
election procedures.
Article 11 of the Jones Constitution states,
"Campaigning is only permissible by word-of-
mouth. Candidates are not allowed to use
posters, flyers, buttons, or any other method
which requires the spending of money or the
use of Jones equipment."
Junior Svetang Desai, who sent e-mail mes-
sages as part of his c^tnpaign, was told he had
won the presidential election Tuesday night.
Desai said he was disappointed when he
learned that elections would be held again but
considered the decision the "best remedy for
this situation."
"(This election) will help to resolve any"
See JONES, Page 12
<■ amelia pousson/thrfbher
Juliet (April Stevens) and Constance Ledbelly (Susanne Pringle) dance in Jones College's
production of Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet). See Story, Page 15.
OPINION Page 3
Criticizing uncreative campaigning
A&E Page IS
Moving new music from the Cure
LIFESTYLES
Clubbing 101
Page 17
SPORTS Page 18
Women's basketball contends for WAC lead
Weekend Weather
Friday
Scattered showers, 60,72 degrees
Saturday
Mostly cloudy, 57-77 degrees
Sunday
Partly cloudy. 61-77 degrees
Scoreboard
Baseball
Rice 12, University of Houston 14
Lamar 3, Rice 4
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McAlister, Jett & Tam, Mariel. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 87, No. 18, Ed. 1 Friday, February 25, 2000, newspaper, February 25, 2000; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth246669/m1/1/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.