SA election gamers record turnout

Mazel tov! Rice will offer a new minor in Jewish s tud ies beg inn ing this fall. The minor, which was approved by the Faculty Sena te last week, is the start of a long-term effort to bring a ful l-f ledged Jewish s tud ies program to Rice. Professor of Judaic Studies Gregory Kaplan, a long with Professor in Biblical Studies Matthais Henze, both members of the Religious Studies Depar tment , spent the past three m o n t h s obtaining approval for the minor by working with professors from a multitude of discipl ines . Ultimately, Kaplan and Henze aim to develop a program that will offer fe l lowships and in te rnsh ips , bring more faculty to c a m p u s and s t reng then re la t ionsh ips with the su r round ing communi ty . "My h o p e is that the Jewish s tud ies program will create a forum where we can meet and d i scuss all k inds of ideas, texts and per iods ," Henze said. "I see this as a place of exchange for ideas and scho la r sh ip we are crea t ing ." Henze believes s t uden t s will be able to take full advan tage of the new program, us ing elective credit to fulfill the minor requi rements . Additionally, Henze said the new minor will not require any new resources. Everything being proposed for the minor a l ready exists , and the minor will not be cont ingent on a budget proposal , Henze said. However, the full program will necessitate s ignif icant resources , such as ob ta in ing a pos tdoc tora te in Jewish s tudies and add ing facul ty l ines. Elie Bengio, who has taken several Hebrew classes, said the time-commitment and the low student enrollment in introductory classes might have discouraged some students from taking the courses in the past. "Many s t uden t s may be unwillinging to make a five-credit hour commi tment to a Hebrew class which, ult imately, isn't a distr ibution course and won't serve towards any other major ," Bengio, a Lovett College sophomore , said . "I think that ins t i tu t ional iz ing a Jewish minor will give those s t u d e n t s the incentive to take that Hebrew class ." Given the cur ren t economic d o w n t u r n , Henze said the program will take slightly longer to emerge, but he remains hope fu l . "1 believe it will be a popular minor, not just for Jewish s tuden t s , but for s tuden t s of all backgrounds , " Henze said. The Jewish s tud ies program O see JEWISH, page 4 resher STUDENT-RUN SINCE 1916 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2009