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NEWS 4/16/24 10:14pm

Title: Exploring Michel Foucault’s Legacy – Foucault: Genealogies for the Future

By Wenshi Chen

Rice will host the Foucault: Genealogies for the Future international conference from April 18 and 19, convening scholars to reconsider the influence of Michel Foucault in academia and culture since his death in 1984. This international conference is a part of the Foucault: 40 Years After, a world congress commemorating the legacy of French philosopher and historian Michel Foucault.

NEWS 4/16/24 10:13pm

Students convert Housing and Dining vehicle to electric

By Keegan Leibrock

Four Rice teams, encompassing over 20 students, worked over the past year to convert a 1997 Chevrolet P30 Rice Housing and Dining vehicle into a fully electric vehicle. The teams finalized the van’s conversion before its senior design debut at the Ion last Thursday. Two teams, the thermal management and dashboard design teams, received awards following the showcase.

NEWS 4/16/24 10:11pm

Rice students win National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship

By Hope Yang

The National Science Foundation awarded 25 Rice students the Graduate Research Fellowship April 4. The fellowship provides three years of support over a five-year period in graduate studies in a STEM field, which amount to $37,000 in stipends and $16,000 to the institution that the awarded will attend for their graduate degree.

NEWS 4/16/24 10:03pm

Everything fits right: Student completes campus Lego model

By Andrea Plascencia

Once upon a time, Brown College senior Andrew Linhart was a kid — a Lego kid, to be precise. He could not have foreseen how a love of Legos would lead him to a career in mechanical engineering, but he knew this much: he loved putting things together. Much like the fragments of the Lego sets built during childhood, the pieces of his life now fit together effortlessly. 

NEWS 4/10/24 12:05am

To bike or not to bike? Beer Bike 2024 sees tents, possible wind

By Viola Hsia and Riya Misra

This year’s Beer Bike took place Saturday, April 6. After a seven-minute delay, the alumni races began, followed by the women’s and then the men’s. For the second year in a row, each of the races were divided into two heats. As usual, the times from both heats will be compared, along with calculated penalties, by the Rice Program Council to determine final results. Results are not available at time of publication, and the campus-wide Beer Bike coordinators did not provide a timeline for when they will be.

NEWS 4/10/24 12:03am

Rice community members see solar eclipse on day off from classes

By Belinda Zhu

Students, faculty members, and community members gathered to view the solar eclipse April 8. The total solar eclipse swept across North America and was visible in parts of Mexico, the U.S. and Canada. While parts of Texas were in the path of totality, approximately 94% of the sun was blocked in Houston. It was the first total solar eclipse visible from the United States since 2017, and the next one won’t occur until 2044. 

NEWS 4/9/24 10:57pm

Philosophers debate the problem of evil

By Hongtao Hu

The Houston Institute hosted a debate on “The Problem of Evil” at the Glasscock School of Continuing Studies April 2. Rice students and Houstonians filed in to listen to Rob Koons from the University of Texas at Austin and Luis Oliveira from the University of Houston debate how evil could be present assuming God exists.  

NEWS 4/9/24 10:55pm

HACER keeps name after student vote

By Sarah Knowlton

The Hispanic Association for Cultural Enrichment has voted to keep their current name after announcing that it would be changing in October. Club members voted on different name options throughout the semester, culminating in a final vote alongside HACER’s executive board elections, co-president Melissa Cantú said.

NEWS 4/9/24 10:55pm

Historian Avi Shlaim gives talk on Gaza

By James Cancelarich

Avi Shlaim, a historian of Israel and Palestine, spoke April 6 at Rice in a talk titled “Gaza in Context: Reflections of an Arab Jew.” The event was a collaboration between the Rice history department, Jewish studies program and Arab-American educational foundation chair of Arab studies Abdel Razzaq Takriti.

NEWS 4/9/24 10:54pm

Spectra, LGBTQ+ mathematician organization, launches Rice chapter

By Amelia Davis

A new chapter of Spectra is being introduced at Rice this spring semester. Spectra is a professional association for LGBTQ+ mathematicians, originating as a protest after the 1995 Joint Mathematics Meeting conference was scheduled to take place in Colorado, which had recently passed a state amendment prohibiting anti-discrimination laws for lesbian, gay and bisexual people. 

NEWS 4/2/24 11:13pm

Honor Council passes new amendment allowing confidential accusations

By Belinda Zhu

Students can now confidentially accuse each other of honor code violations, according to a  procedural amendment the Honor Council announced in an email to students March 27. Violations can be reported anonymously by students through a Google Form, while faculty and teaching assistants will continue reporting violations through email. 

NEWS 4/2/24 11:12pm

What to know about the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement

By Spring Chenjp

Debate during Student Association meetings and a town hall hosted by Rice Students for Justice in Palestine followed Rice’s tabling of a proposed SA resolution to withdraw SA-disbursed funds from Israel-aligned companies. The resolution, S.RES 02, was developed in accordance with guidelines created by the international Boycott, Divest, Sanction movement. 

NEWS 4/2/24 11:09pm

From South Africa to the Willy statue, admin and SA conflict

By Sarah Knowlton

When the Office of Access, Equity and Equal Opportunity instructed the Student Association to table a resolution adopting the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement for Blanket Tax funds, the authors of the resolution called it “a direct violation of [their] freedom of expression” and an “overstep of [administration’s] power.” SA President Jae Kim called the action unprecedented.

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