Opinion

Letter from the editor’s desk: Telling the stories closest to home

Last week, I knew what I was going to write here. I spent the night before the semester began reading and re-reading what old editors-in-chief had to say in their welcome letters, picking up on common themes: building trust with readers, supporting student media, running a paper in unprecedented times. Then last week, one hour before our first staff meeting of the year, we received notice of an immediate shelter-in-place: RUPD was investigating a tragic homicide at Jones. Campus shut down, and everything stilled.

Expand affordable and accessible coffee options

Dear Little Kitchen: it’s only been a week, but we already miss you. Please take us back — this new relationship isn’t working for us. 

Expand affordable and accessible coffee options

Dear Little Kitchen: it’s only been a week, but we already miss you. Please take us back — this new relationship isn’t working for us. 

In loco parentis: Don’t baby-proof collegiate life

Amplifying resources during a time of loss

We don’t know what to say, and quite frankly, we don’t know what you all want to hear.

Do more to make campus bird-friendly

April is the month of many things: Beer Bike, a solar eclipse, the last day of classes and, perhaps lesser known, Earth Month. As Rice launches a series of Earth Month events, I would like to address our potential as a campus community to be more environmentally conscious, particularly in an effort to make this campus more friendly to birds.

Take time for yourself during the summer

The academic year’s close means this issue will be our last until the fall semester, which gave us some time to reflect on what our editorial for our last issue should look like. 

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. 

A journey with Generation Conscious: breaking barriers and expanding horizons

When I first set foot on the Rice University campus, the contrast with my small hometown of Toomsuba was stark. Moving from a quaint town of 800 people to the big city of Houston, Texas made me realize how large the divide between my experience and that of my peers was.

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. 

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.

Overly stringent public capacity limits harm Rice traditions

At 7 a.m. sharp on Beer Bike morning, students gathered in a line (if one can call it that) stretching nearly to McMurtry College  commons, in hopes of attending Martel College’s iconic morning party. Upon entry, students would discover that the historically packed public boasted the attendance of, well, a large FITQ.

Letter to the editor: In defense of the Honor Council

Recently, the Thresher Editorial Board published an editorial criticizing the Honor Council's decision to allow confidential accusations by students. While their editorial does bring some valid points, it is in many ways misinformed about the Honor Council process.

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.”

Letter to the Editor: Student Association’s Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions resolution is antisemitic

The March 26, 2024 Thresher article “Senate debates resolution to boycott, divest SA funds from Israel-aligned companies” does not accurately or completely characterize my opposition to S.RES 02 as I expressed during the March 25 Student Association meeting. S.RES 02 empowers an “ethical spending advisory board” to prevent student organizations from spending Blanket Tax funding on corporations deemed to be “complicit in the violation of the human rights guaranteed to Palestinian civilians.” Because Rice University’s Jewish student cultural organizations are inextricably connected to the State of Israel through programming and professional staff, there is no protection that Blanket Tax funding would be withheld from these student organizations, should the resolution pass.

Honor Council’s new confidentiality policy is misguided

At 10:02 a.m. on March 27, students across campus received an email with the subject: “Honor Council Confidential Accusations.” Students — many of us included — feared the worst upon seeing an Honor Council email in their inbox. 

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. 

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.

Practice safe drinking post-Prohibition

Dean of Undergraduates Bridget Gorman finally released the long-awaited Alcohol Policy Advisory Committee’s recommendations regarding the alcohol policy on March 22. We have to be honest — it could have been much worse.  

What we want to see from Jae Kim’s presidency

Jae Kim has assumed the role of Student Association president, having led his first Senate meeting Monday night. We hope that Kim will foster serious deliberation within the SA and make meaningful change through concrete initiatives. Here are the changes that we want Kim and the new SA cohort to focus on during the 2024–25 term.