Rice University’s Student Newspaper — Since 1916

Wednesday, April 23, 2025 — Houston, TX

Opinion





OPINION 4/19/25 6:16pm

In defense of Thresher travel

I grew up in a small town in southern New Jersey called Columbus. Most people from New Jersey haven't even heard of it. If they have, it’s only ever because of our farmers’ market or our supposedly haunted hotel on Main Street. I attended the local public school from preschool through twelfth grade, and I hated every moment of it. 


OPINION 4/18/25 9:29pm

Fund the RWRC

The Student Association's plan to cut the Rice Women's Resource Center budget is wrong, and you should be mad about it.



OPINION 4/15/25 10:16pm

What it’s like to be undocumented at Rice

I’m scared and don’t know how to stop being scared. For years, the fear of deportation loomed over every moment of my life. I developed a phobia of police officers — just seeing one made my stomach turn. The thought of someone discovering my undocumented status was enough to send me into a spiral of anxiety. Even now, despite having legal protections, those fears persist, reminding me that freedom is fragile.


OPINION 4/15/25 10:14pm

Rice should commit to protecting its international students

Last week’s news that five international students – three current students and two recent alumni – have suddenly lost their visas should alarm anyone who values this campus’s global community. The federal government’s “Catch and Revoke” program has already revoked the visas of hundreds of students from universities across the country, raising widespread fears about the stability of international study in the U.S. 


OPINION 4/8/25 9:50pm

Rice has a serious accessibility problem

Just over a year ago, disability scholar Bowen Cho ranked Rice 35th in a study of disability inclusion and access across 106 universities. Cho noted that the 10-minute transfer period between classes used by Rice and many other universities can pose an issue to students with mobility issues. 






OPINION 3/25/25 10:00pm

Learning how to say goodbye

For weeks, I’ve been staring at this blank document, unsure what to write. How do you say goodbye to the most formative job of your (young) life? For two years, I’ve spent my Mondays and Tuesdays — sometimes Wednesdays, often Thursdays, more Sundays than I’d like to admit — shuttered away in my obnoxiously warm, tiny newsroom. 


OPINION 3/25/25 9:59pm

Mid-season baseball coach shakeup is bold

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. 



OPINION 3/4/25 10:56pm

Condemn DEI censorship, protect campus research

The Office of the Provost announced that Rice’s DEI office will be renamed to the Office of Access and Institutional Excellence on Feb. 28. As a graduate student, I am not privy to the reasons for this rebranding. I hope that, in light of recent federal and state directives and ongoing censorship, it is obvious why I am wary, even if the office claims to continue to promote values of diversity, equity and inclusion while removing these words from its website.


OPINION 3/4/25 10:46pm

Rice protects rich abusers — but we shouldn’t

“Culture of care” is our central motto at Rice. Orientation Week, Beer Bike, publics and even random days are accompanied by the phrase — a reminder that we’re always supposed to protect each other. We do not stand for harm. Yet even after being previously exposed for failing victims of sexual violence, Rice continues to bury cases in the name of its image, and more importantly, its endowment.


OPINION 3/4/25 10:44pm

DEI office name change is symbolic, maybe necessary

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.