Rice University’s Student Newspaper — Since 1916
Friday, April 04, 2025 — Houston, TX

News

NEWS 2/15/23 12:38am

Faculty senate makes Election Day 2024 non-instructional

By Marie Valera

The faculty senate passed a Student Association sponsored resolution on Feb. 1, making the 2024 presidential Election Day a non-instructional civic engagement day. Therefore, no classes will be scheduled on Nov. 5, 2024, a change that currently only applies to the 2024 academic year. 

NEWS 2/15/23 12:36am

Halas becomes second woman named University Professor

By Viola Hsia

Naomi Halas was recently named University Professor, the highest academic title Rice offers. Halas, the only Rice faculty member to be elected to both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering for her research at Rice, is the tenth person and second woman to receive the honor in Rice’s 111-year-history. 

NEWS 2/15/23 12:35am

Campus munches on meal plan changes one semester later

By Viola Hsia

Last semester, Rice made changes to Meal Plan A that included the introduction of “Munch,” an additional meal period between 2:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. on weekdays and an adjustment in how meal swipes are recorded. According to David McDonald, director of Housing & Dining, these changes resulted in an  increase to the amount of meals being served per day, something McDonald expects to continue in future semesters.

NEWS 2/2/23 9:24pm

Will the real Yo-Yo’s Hot Dog please stand up?: H&D brings True Dog Houston to campus after all

By Ben Baker-Katz , Morgan Gage and Prayag Gordy

Housing & Dining announced on Jan. 31 that they had reached an agreement with “YOYO” to operate on campus. But the next day, H&D sent the Rice community a follow-up email with a flyer for the vendor they had actually secured: True Dog Houston, operated by Damion Loera, a former partner of YoYo’s Hot Dog who has since opened his own business selling similar hot dogs.

NEWS 1/31/23 11:25pm

Fifth datathon held at Rice

By Meghan Paral

The Rice Datathon, run by the Rice DataSci Club and the Rice D2K Lab, returned for its fifth year this past weekend, hosting approximately 470 participants from across the country and attaining a significantly higher in-person attendance than previous years, according to Apple Li, co-director of this year’s event. 

NEWS 1/31/23 11:22pm

All is fair in love and code: COMP 310 faces potential removal

By Bonnie Zhao

COMP 310, a current major requirement course, is likely to be completely removed from the Rice computer Science curriculum, the class’s professor Stephen Wong said. This comes after numerous student complaints posted on Piazza last semester and raised to the computer science department Chair Christopher Jermaine.

NEWS 1/31/23 11:20pm

RUPD launches license plate readers at campus entrances

By Keegan Leibrock

The Rice University Police Department recently began piloting a system of Automated License Plate Readers throughout campus. The ALPR cameras, which scan license plate numbers and vehicle details, will be used by RUPD to provide investigative data when a crime occurs on campus.

NEWS 1/24/23 10:35pm

Rice students celebrate Lunar New Year

By Keegan Leibrock

The Rice Chinese Student Association will host its annual Lunar New Year Gala in person for the first time since 2020 this Saturday, Jan. 28. The Gala, hosted jointly by the RCSA and the Vietnamese Student Association, will feature traditional dances, music, creative writing, food and fashion, according to the RCSA Instagram.

NEWS 1/18/23 12:26am

Campus BCycle stations suspended indefinitely

By Nayeli Shad

All Rice University rentable bike share stations, except for the Biosciences Research Collaborative station, have been temporarily suspended as of December 2022 without a designated return date. The closures are part of a city-wide suspension of 75 of the 153 Houston BCycle stations.

NEWS 1/18/23 12:24am

Rice announces changes to May Commencement Ceremonies

By Marie Valera

Graduation ceremonies will now become one event for each graduating group, removing the all-student commencement ceremony generally on the second morning of graduation weekend, according to President Reginald DesRoches from a campus-wide email sent on Jan. 10.

Editor's Picks

Most Popular

The Rice Thresher