Rice Athletics turned heads this week by firing head baseball coach José Cruz Jr. just a few days before conference play — and after a 10-game losing streak. He was swiftly replaced by David Pierce, a veteran of our 2003 national title run under coach Wayne Graham.
After an election marked by last-minute changes and ballot errors, Trevor Tobey has been elected Student Association president and will soon settle into his post alongside the rest of the new executive board.
Amidst federal funding cuts impacting research and firings of federal workers, higher education feels chaotic right now. At first glance, it seems alarming that Rice’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion was renamed to the Office of Access and Institutional Excellence, announced in a campus-wide email. However, we feel this name change is mostly symbolic and necessary to ensure Rice can continue supporting those values — in action, if not in name.
Due to her experience as the Student Association Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission head, we, the Thresher Editorial Board, endorse Sohani Sandhu for Internal Vice President.
Due to his previous Student Association experience, knowledge about SA logistics and passion for transparency, we, the Thresher Editorial Board, endorse Trevor Tobey for SA president.
This week’s opinion page is a bit more crowded than usual. Beyond our standard editorial and guest opinions, we’ve reserved one of this week’s extra four pages for our annual SA endorsements. Just as national newspapers endorse candidates for federal races and the Houston Chronicle endorses local candidates, we endorse candidates for Student Association elections.
Once again, Student Association elections season is upon us (are you as thrilled as we are?) and 40% of the seats are empty.
Once again, Student Association elections season is upon us (are you as thrilled as we are?) and 40% of the seats are empty.
President Donald Trump has signed a series of executive orders increasing border security measures and altering the daily lives of undocumented immigrants. The orders include expanding the use of immigration detention, bypassing immigration judges to fast-track deportations and auditing current federal programs that support allegedly removable immigrants.
Four months ago, the Student Association formed a special committee to review its constitution. Two days ago, members of the committee presented their findings, suggesting four major changes to functionally, they say, streamline the SA’s efficiency — granting them “ultimate authority” over Blanket Tax Organizations like student media and Rice Program Council, and eliminating BTO perspectives from the committee that disburses some $300,000 every year.
From a little-known concept among researchers to generating summaries with every Google search, artificial intelligence’s accessibility has skyrocketed over the past decade. However, its innovation comes at a cost. Training ChatGPT-3 was estimated to generate 552 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, more than the emissions of 559 flights from London to New York. Artificial intelligence can also steal from artists and reproduce racist biases from its data sets.
Is giving up weekday breakfast at South and North serveries worth it for an omelette bar and cinnamon rolls? We think so. Even if the new dining schedule is confusing, the changes are a good step towards more food availability on campus, and are a heartening indicator of departments considering student feedback.
Between ESTHER, Degree Works and Navigate, students have a plethora of technological platforms for everything from viewing financial aid to keeping track of graduation requirements. Despite being necessary for students, these platforms often are visually clunky, redundant or just don’t work.
Picture this: You’re a senior. After four years of churning out every major requirement and elective known to man, you’re ready to graduate. You eagerly submit your spring semester courses in Esther (who asked for a redesign, by the way?), only to be stopped in your tracks by the last, looming task on your plate: the LPAP.
On Monday, the Senate passed four referenda calling for Rice to divest, be transparent with their investment holdings, condemn “ongoing genocide and scholasticide” and support “anti-colonial scholarship.” These proposals will now go to an undergraduate-wide student body vote as early as next month.
Monday, Oct. 7 was the last day to register to vote in Texas. Now that you’ve (hopefully) taken that step, we encourage you to research your candidates ahead of early voting, which kicks off Oct. 21.
Those sitting in their college commons last Tuesday may have watched between two and twenty minutes of an ad promoting the student-developed food-tracking app Diagnos. We’re glad Diagnos provides that nutritional data — absent from servery menus — for free. However, we encourage the developers of Diagnos and other app developers, especially those that involve artificial intelligence, to address ethical concerns and user-test these apps prior to launch.
Of the 116 recruiters advertised for the Fall 2024 Career & Internship Expo, 11 are related to the humanities and social sciences. That’s 9% — yes, some of us can do math.
