Rice University’s Student Newspaper — Since 1916

Monday, December 23, 2024 — Houston, TX

Guest Opinion




OPINION 11/12/24 9:58pm

Why the Democratic Party keeps failing us - and what we can do

In the wake of the 2024 general election, many of us are grappling with frustration, disappointment and even anger toward the Democratic Party — and that’s okay. This isn’t about campaign strategy or a single election loss; it’s about the party’s choice to take a once-promising, potentially transformative nominee and reduce her to a hollow vessel for corporate donors and backers. 



OPINION 10/29/24 10:51pm

Make Election Day a permanent non-instructional day

Back in 2022, as Jones College’s New Student Representatives, we presented one of our first Student Association Senate resolutions to President Reggie DesRoches and other university leaders, asking them to designate Election Day as a non-instructional day. This resolution aimed to eliminate barriers to voting and promote civic engagement, recognizing that the right to vote should not come at the cost of academic performance. 


OPINION 10/8/24 10:36pm

Students should stop supporting Rice SJP

To foster a truly inclusive campus culture, we must consider a paradox of intolerance: a society must be intolerant of intolerance to uphold its foundational values. Rice SJP not only silences opposing voices, but promotes exclusionary rhetoric that undermines principles of inclusion and pluralism.


OPINION 10/1/24 10:52pm

Rice bends to Zionist propaganda

In the last several weeks, Rice University held three events — both openly and behind closed doors — that, taken together, demonstrate its commitment to advancing a Zionist ideology on campus, which serves as the foundation for Israel’s increasingly psychotic expansion of its genocidal violence into Lebanon and Yemen. 


OPINION 9/24/24 11:57pm

Rice is going through an awkward phase

Rice is going through puberty, marked by awkwardness, evolving parts and existential questions. This pivotal time offers both challenges and opportunities for growth. Our actions now, as a community, will have lasting impacts on Rice’s future.



OPINION 4/10/24 2:41pm

Student activism is working – and fear-mongering cannot hold us back

S.RES 02, titled “Student Association Boycott and Divestment from Corporations Complicit in the Ongoing Genocide in Gaza,” was presented to the Student Association on March 25. This resolution proposes the creation of an Ethical Spending Advisory Board designed to ensure that Blanket Tax funds are not dedicated to corporations that are complicit in Israeli colonial violence and apartheid based on guidelines created by the BDS movement. 



NEWS 4/9/24 11:10pm

Student workers matter

It is commonly accepted at Rice that our plates are always full. Beyond keeping up with our demanding coursework, Rice students are involved in a variety of research opportunities, administrative work, community advocacy and so much more. Our classmates are integral to our favorite student-run businesses and world-class research, and you can even find them giving tours to prospective students all around the year. In short, undergraduate employment is a core aspect of the Rice experience. 


OPINION 4/9/24 11:09pm

Honor at Rice is in jeopardy

I decided to go to Rice in part because I was told that this university had a unique culture of honor, trust and freedom. The honor system is one of Rice’s longest-standing traditions, created by the first class in 1912. I joined the Honor Council four years ago because I believed that students, rather than faculty or administration, should keep other students accountable and that their cases be heard by their peers. 


OPINION 4/9/24 11:04pm

Two-faced Rice administration undermines university values

The recent tabling of S.RES 02 showcases the blatant hypocrisy of the Rice administration and sets a dangerous precedent of silencing students’ intellectual discussion. The resolution called for the SA’s creation of an Ethical Advisory Board, which would monitor Blanket Tax spending on companies deemed complicit in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.


OPINION 4/3/24 12:32pm

Keep war criminals off our campus

This February, current director of the Baker Institute, David Satterfield, invited former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to speak on Rice’s campus. Condoleezza Rice is infamous for her central role in launching the illegal U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. After an introduction by President Reginald DesRoches — where he celebrated Condoleezza Rice’s bloody legacy — Satterfield and Condoleezza Rice sat together as two never-elected bureaucrats with decades of experience directing colonial violence between them to discuss the ongoing genocide in Gaza and “the delicate balance between free speech and incitement.”


OPINION 3/26/24 11:00pm

Now is the time to understand religious diversity and discrimination at Rice

In the midst of a nationwide increase in religious discrimination and hostility, particularly following the events of Oct. 7 in Israel and ensuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, there is a need to examine how Rice University students have been impacted, how they are responding and the degree to which religious tolerance, religious accommodations, and perceptions of religious discrimination at Rice have changed. 


OPINION 3/26/24 10:59pm

We need to diversify Rice’s foodscape

Rice students have lots to say about access to food while on and around campus.  Rice’s unique foodscape lives and breathes the school’s motto of unconventional wisdom by helping accommodate a diverse group of students.  But to a certain extent, it could benefit from a taste of conventional wisdom.  Implementing other universities’ foodscape features at Rice would benefit our students.



OPINION 2/13/24 9:58pm

Keep the Sabbath Holy

Rice students are no strangers to burnout. Optimism at the start of a semester turns into dread as the grind wears us down and we wonder how we will fit all our weekly commitments into a mere 168 hours. 


OPINION 1/30/24 10:17pm

The burden of tradition: NOD 2023 was the fault of systemic issues, not the students

Student discourse in the aftermath of Night of Decadence has frequently taken a defeatist character. A muted “I guess that’s what we get” has risen in response to the cancellation of publics, without any form of organized protest. This passivity in the face of blatant paternalism ignores a major systemic issue: the loss of student autonomy in maintaining traditions.