Luke McCaffrey turns heads at Senior Bowl
Junior wide receiver Luke McCaffrey represented Rice football and boosted his draft stock during the 2024 Reese’s Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala.
Junior wide receiver Luke McCaffrey represented Rice football and boosted his draft stock during the 2024 Reese’s Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala.
When the highlight of Solomon Ni’s week became leading the Student Association’s meetings, he knew he needed to quit.
Rice has set aside $33.75 million to settle a class-action antitrust lawsuit filed against 17 elite universities, according to Rice’s financial statement for last year. The settlement amount would be the highest so far in the case, which the plaintiffs colloquially call the “568 Cartel Lawsuit.”
Alison Qiu, the outgoing Student Association internal vice president, assumed the role of SA President Jan. 29 following former president Solomon Ni’s resignation. Qiu, a Hanszen College junior, will remain in the role until March, when a newly elected president will take office after the February SA elections.
The temperature was hovering around the low 50s Tuesday morning when President Reggie DesRoches and Athletic Director Tommy McClelland jumped into Rice’s outdoor competition swimming pool alongside the entire swim team. McClelland and DesRoches, dressed in their Rice pullovers and khakis, hopped into the water to celebrate their announcement that the swim program would add a dive team in the coming season.
Rice’s Hispanic Association for Cultural Enrichment hosted its annual cultural extravaganza, ¡Ritmo! on Saturday, Jan. 27. The event, themed “Lo Que No Me Mata, Me Alimenta,” translating to “What Doesn’t Kill Me, Nourishes Me,” aimed to celebrate the resilience of the Latine community.
A resolution calling for Student Association presidents to meet with an academic advisor and the SA advisor to discuss workload with presidential duties was passed unanimously Jan. 29. Solomon Ni, the outgoing SA president, originally introduced the resolution Jan. 22 with a limit on the number of credit hours an SA president can enroll in, but an amendment Jan. 29 removed that clause.
Student Association director of elections Jocelyn Wang held the first information session for interested candidates Monday. Campaigning begins Feb. 7 and ends Feb. 21, when the voting period will open for one week. The SA will announce election results Feb. 29.
Solomon Ni, the Student Association president, announced his resignation at the Student Association meeting Jan. 22 effective Jan. 29. Internal Vice President Alison Qiu will assume the role as SA president through the remainder of Ni’s term.
Writing to an audience that does not yet exist — some may think it’d be a bit tricky. In his latest book, “Where Are You From: Letters to My Son,” assistant professor of creative writing Tomás Q. Morín sets out to do just that, writing a series of letters to his, at the time, unborn son. Letters that, as Morín puts it, “offer advice and personal perspective on issues of love, growth and the future his son will have to face.” Morín discusses how he, as a person of color, inhabits the present day in America — and what it means for the landscape his son will be born into.
Hayv Kahraman’s solo exhibit, “The Foreign in Us,” debuted at the Moody Center for the Arts Jan. 12. Consisting of over 40 drawings and paintings, the newest exhibit tackles themes of identity and belonging, framed through Kahraman’s personal experience as a refugee grappling with themes of isolation, migration, colonization and fear.
The Rice Black Men’s Association and Multicultural Community Relations hosted a vigil to honor and celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr. Jan. 14. Titled “How far have we come?” the event included musical performances, a poetry reading, remarks from President Reginald DesRoches and a keynote address by Kiese Laymon, Libbie Shearn Moody Professor of Creative Writing and English and author of “Heavy: An American Memoir.”
Rice will suspend classes and normal campus operations Tuesday, Jan. 16 due to severe winter weather, according to an email from Vice President of Administration and Finance Kelly Fox. No classes will be held in person or online. The Rice Memorial Center will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., but Coffeehouse and Sammy’s will be closed. Unless otherwise stated by instructors, coursework may still be due, Fox wrote.
Rice’s Office of Admissions accepted 15.3% of Early Decision applicants on Dec. 14, 2023. An additional 77 students matched with Rice through the Questbridge National College Match program. With 2,886 applicants, this year marked the second consecutive year of record-high Early Decision applications, surpassing last year’s 2,743.
Frank Ryan, a former Rice football star, NFL champion and highly-regarded professor, passed away Jan. 1 at the age of 87. In addition to his wife and four sons, Ryan is survived by 11 grandchildren and one great-grandchild, according to The New York Times.
The Student Association passed a resolution affirming support for the Oct. 27 Rice University Faculty Statement of Solidarity with Palestinians. The resolution, which was introduced at the Nov. 27 Senate and voted on at the Dec. 4 Senate, passed with 16 votes in favor, five votes against and four abstentions, exceeding the two-thirds requirement to pass.
Until Dec. 26’s Servpro First Responder Bowl against Texas State University, Rice Football had not committed seven turnovers in a single game since 2007. Despite a strong first half with three Owl touchdowns, the team lost momentum in the second half and let 21 Texas State points go unanswered. The final score was 45-21 in the Bobcats’ favor, with Rice dropping to 6-7 to end the 2023 season.
Rice Football quarterback JT Daniels is medically retiring after suffering multiple concussions, according to a report from Pete Thamel of ESPN. Daniels, who played his last game Nov. 4 against Southern Methodist University, told ESPN he made the decision in conjunction with his doctors. His retirement begins immediately, meaning Daniels is unable to play in the Owls’ bowl game later this month.
Rice Football head coach Mike Bloomgren found himself covered in Gatorade, sweat and champagne within a matter of minutes following Saturday’s 24-21 win over the Florida Atlantic University Owls. The victory secured a second consecutive year of bowl eligibility for Rice, whose players, coaches and fans celebrated accordingly.
Multiple Rice faculty members released a “statement of solidarity” with Palestinians Oct. 27 later signed by members of the Rice community. The statement was written in response to President Reggie DesRoches’ “message of supportt” to the community Oct. 11, sent two days after an initial email about the “conflict in Israel and Gaza.”