Along with the rest of the Rice community, I received a crime alert Saturday morning that a female student had been sexually assaulted at a party at Sid Richardson College the night before. The university and student body reactions that followed have been mixed, with the administration responding better relative to than the students.
Sid Richardson College is embroiled in controversy after a female undergraduate reported that she was sexually assaulted by a male undergraduate at a private party on the college’s seventh floor. The Rice University Police Department sent an email Saturday announcing an investigation into the assault that allegedly occurred at 12:30 a.m. the same day before announcing later that night that they had identified the suspect.
The office/parking garage article in the Jan. 20 Thresher indicates that Rice students are quite supportive of the new six-story office building and seven-level parking garage south of Allen Center. Similarly broad support was apparent from my communications with faculty and staff about concerns over the construction plans. Senior Rice administrators met with me and demonstrated that they had carefully designed the project to maximize benefit to the Rice community and minimize sustainability concerns. But darker concerns persist.
As incoming students enter Rice, many are surprised by the degree to which the university’s Honor Code extends trust to the student body.
By seizing the chance to explore deeper meanings of my existence through self expression, I followed where the opportunity led and never looked back. This was my chance to do so again, and I haven’t regretted it since.
I often like to attend a Rice men’s basketball game, but it appears I am in the minority, especially compared to the Rice students.
Rice has recently reached a new level of positive PR in national media outlets. The coverage has centered around the Entrepreneurship Initiative launched in 2015, a well-funded push to expand the academic, extracurricular and co-curricular re-sources for entrepreneurs at Rice. The university was featured in a front-page article in the Dec.
Whoever thought up the New Year’s resolution probably intended well by it, but its meaning has eroded to today’s infamous, scare-quoted “resolution.” Failed reform became the norm.
You mention that you study the liberal arts and immediately hear the scoff, “What are you going to do with that?” This derision stems from a specious idea that equates a liberal arts education with studying certain disciplines that “don’t pay well.” But the ideological core of a liberal education is an approach toward learning that celebrates acquiring knowledge for its own end, rather than for any vocational advantage.
The one thing that stood out to me in the SB#4 conversation, of Thresher op-ed fame, was Bridget Schilling’s courage.
Dear President Leebron, As a Rice alum (Physics, M.A. '71, Ph.D. '73), I write to tell you that you and the university have made a mistake. I understand your thinking on this, in that living in the isolated world of higher education, you might believe that the hedge around the Rice campus provides sufficient protection. But the issue is not "must carry". It is to allow those who have been vetted, have a Concealed Handgun License, and have the requisite training, to carry — to actually have in their possession a tool that will allow them to defend themselves should a situation occur similar to Virginia Tech, or the theater in Colorado, or the elementary school at Sandy Hook. Those were "Gun-Free Zones" — you see how safe that made the people there.
Due to a new Texas state law, Rice University Police Department will now be subject to open records requests (see p.
Just over 50 years ago, President John F. Kennedy stood less than a mile from where you stand and galvanized a nation.
The one thing that stood out to me in the SB#4 conversation, of Thresher op-ed fame, was Bridget Schilling’s courage.
The one thing that stood out to me in the SB#4 conversation, of Thresher op-ed fame, was Bridget Schilling’s courage. Instead of discussing the issue as a general problem in need of a general solution, as many politicized issues carelessly degenerates into, she reminds us that sexual misconduct is really an ambiguous umbrella term tagged to a broad range of very different and very specific problems encountered by vastly different individuals. As a victim of sexual assault, she might not have known how to react to an adverse situation. As a possible perpetrator of sexual assault, my problem is most definitely a fundamental misunderstanding of the meaning of love, sex and intimacy.
At Rice we pride ourselves on being at the cutting edge of various fields and offering our students a diverse and talented community. Rice’s undergraduate architecture program is ranked third in the country according to Architectural Record’s 2015 rankings. According to US News and World Report’s 2015 national rankings, many of our engineering disciplines are ranked in the top 20 and as an undergraduate institution we are ranked 18th. The process of adding diversity and talent to our community is ongoing, and I believe the next step in that process is to create a school of or program in journalism. As the reach of mass media becomes increasingly global, journalists are among the greatest influencers of the tides of change, and they have a responsibility to present unbiased information to the electorate. The cover stories of the New York Times and the main news story on NBC Nightly News dictate political agendas and public feelings regarding issues of global importance. Investigative journalism has ruined presidencies and celebrities’ careers. As journalism permeates every hour of our lives, the responsibility of journalists to report information accurately and illuminate important issues is more crucial than ever. As such, I believe that Rice students should have a greater opportunity to pursue careers in journalism. Rice’s status as one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the country positions it to attract talented students interested in journalism and equip them with the skills to become leaders in the field. Rice has produced many great businessmen, lawyers, politicians and engineers, and has already graduated many accomplished journalists, such as David Rhodes, president of CBS News. If the university were to invest in developing either a school of journalism or a communications and journalism major, it would expand the talent of our student body and mold alumni who will have a positive impact on a potentially global level. The resources available to Rice would make this a feasible investment that would pay long-term dividends. In addition to the potential for the program as a major by itself, a school of journalism would allow students from all majors to develop skills crucial in almost all career fields. Scientific, engineering and policy reporting are potential interdisciplinary minors or classes that would add to the opportunities available to Rice students. Communication with media is a crucial aspect of the lives of many successful businessmen, professors and researchers. Interdisciplinary coursework in journalism and communications would equip students from all majors with the skills necessary to articulate their achievements and discoveries to the public and news sources. This would make the creation of a journalism program less costly as many current professors could teach journalism courses in addition to those hired specifically to teach within the major or school of journalism. Implementing the program would not require construction of new buildings specifically for journalism, though a broadcast studio would benefit those students studying broadcast journalism and provide them with invaluable experiential learning opportunities. The Thresher, KTRU and RVP would allow journalism students to develop their skills in real world settings. These organizations also illustrate that many students on campus are already interested in various forms of journalism, and their experience would be greatly enhanced by the availability of coursework in their area of interest. The main risk of creating a school of journalism would be the direct effect it could have on making Rice a more pre-professional environment. However, I disagree with this sentiment because the addition of journalism and communications classes would add to the breadth of our curriculum, allowing many students to explore for the first time into a completely foreign field or provide some students further education in a topic they are already passionate about. Creating opportunities for our students to learn and test new subjects will never be pre-professional as long as the students at Rice and the culture of the campus doesn’t change. Many peer institutions already have majors or schools in communications and journalism, such as the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communication or New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. However, to maintain the intellectualism that defines a Rice undergraduate experience we should create the program in a manner unique to our school and student body. This will be accomplished by maintaining the admissions practices that admit students who are both ambitious and intellectually curious. I believe that the two qualities are not mutually exclusive and that these changes will add to everyone’s Rice experience. Rice must continue to expand its community and curriculum to maintain our spirit of intellectual inquiry and our reputation of educational opportunity. Through the creation of a major or school of journalism, Rice would take a significant step in building a diversity of talents in our student body and presenting our students with additional opportunities to learn and develop valuable skills that will serve them for the rest of their professional careers. Rice should make this investment. It will have a positive impact on our community for the foreseeable future. Maurice Frediere is a Duncan College freshman
Just over 50 years ago, President John F. Kennedy stood less than a mile from where you stand and galvanized a nation. His words, “We choose to go to the moon … not because [it] is easy, but because [it] is hard,” led to one of humanity’s crowning achievements and the 20th century’s proudest moments, and Rice is still known as the university where the space race began.Two weeks ago, Will Pomerantz, the vice president of Virgin Galactic, visited campus with a similar but fundamentally different challenge. He spoke of the coming commercial space race and very pointedly asked that Rice students join his team. I firmly believe Rice has the chance to continue its legacy as the national epicenter where extraterrestrial dreams are realized and challenges are answered. Rice alumni from all over the aerospace industry have sought to recruit more Rice students. Josh Earnest, a Sid Rich alumnus and the current White House press secretary, ventured, “The United States is on an ambitious and sustainable path of space exploration, and the development of a commercial space industry in this country has had significant economic benefits for communities all across the country … The president continues to believe overall in the value of investments in our space program and in space exploration.” From the mechanical engineering department to the Baker Institute, professors and scholars from around campus recognize the growing importance of space policy and education. In 30 years, companies like SpaceX, Planet Labs and Blue Origin (all wildly successful start-up spaceflight companies) will stand as giants beside Boeing and Google, and a new kind of space race will be underway. Profit and nonmilitary competition will drive the industry instead of politicians, and costs of spaceflight will decrease sharply. When a company begins cutting corners and falters, another commercial venture will rise to take its place. Earnest has also said, “[The burgeoning private aerospace industry] also is something that has led to important innovation — that this kind of competition has yielded innovative results and advancements for the space industry.” Already in the last 10 years, the cost of putting one pound of technology in orbit dove from $10,000 to $3,000, with more savings on the way. In the next 50 years, human planetary exploration, space tourism and even asteroid mining will be within reach of our earthbound culture. Imagine being alive when the first human puts boots on the ground on Mars instead of Iraq, or Europa instead of Ukraine. Spaceflight is the act of discovery that inspires nations and the world to undertake missions that are seemingly impossible, missions that will captivate the our imagination.Although Rice already has a multitude of opportunities for those who are interested in joining the commercial space race, you can take three simple steps that would revolutionize the campus attitude and awareness. Firstly, look up the Rice Space Institute (many students have never even heard of it), an offshoot of the first space science department ever established in this country. It has an amazing staff who are filled with a passion for education. Secondly, reach out to more aerospace companies and alumni. Even if many aerospace companies do not visit Rice campus, a Rice education is one of the best in the nation, and many students every year graduate into the aerospace industry. Many alumni, from Josh Earnest to Peggy Whitson (one of our eight alumni astronauts), deal with the aerospace industry on a regular basis, and they can provide unique insight and motivation for developing Rice students. Lastly, find your passion. Rice is unconventional not because of any physical aspect, but because each and every student has a passion, and the passions of today lead to the dreams of tomorrow. When Kennedy spoke that warm September day, the world changed, and I cannot wait to see how Rice will respond to the changing space industry.Andrew Gatherer is a Brown College sophomore
Rice isn’t so big at all. It’s not the University of Texas, or Baylor, or Texas A&M. Rice is a small campus where you see the same people just about every day. Each semester we walk, skate and pedal past the same peers to and from the same classes. Because of this, Rice has the beautiful potential to build and cultivate a compassionate community that reflects the ideals of its conception. However, there exists a prevalent schism among our general student population that threatens the greatness of our community. At Rice, so many barriers and borders bleed together to create diversity that marks our university in almost every facet of campus life. Yet, the disunion between athletes and nonathletes persists and continues to infect the collective strength of our community. Obviously class schedules, practice times and extracurricular events create logistical clashes bound to occur between nonathletes and student athletes, but the simple virtues of kindness and amiability still play a crucial role in uniting the two groups. Support and participation should come from both sides. Nonathletes should support their athlete peers at sporting events and competitions, while athletes should strive to increase their visibility and participation in their residential colleges and the lives of their peers. Rather than viewing this as an exchange, it should be seen as a way of promoting the health of our community and improving our individual experiences here at Rice.Many students who don’t participate in Division 1 sports at Rice feel that athletes come off as intimidating and unapproachable. Likewise, athletes share similar feelings toward nonathletes. “Jock” and “nerd” stereotypes aside, the issue at hand is larger than insensitive labels. The issue isn’t a matter of two sides making amends, but that the two groups are ignorant of their commonalities and the little effort required to richly enhance the quality of the lives lived here on Rice’s campus. Here the phrase “culture of care” is thrown around in O-Week groups and informational sessions. While this maxim, simply put, refers to one’s citizen duty to aid in the care for his drunken brother or sister, the phrase in our ideal society should extend toward the overall atmosphere of compassion that ought to characterize our students, faculty and staff.Rice, like any great place, is made greater by the people who make up its body. Athletes and nonathletes are components of the body, not separate elements. We all are residents of Houston. We are students and Rice Owls. Rather than focus on how our course schedules, practice schedules, friend groups or hobbies make us different, we should focus on how they make us unique and how they help add to the story of Rice University. This may seem ultra-idealistic, or a tad bit cliche some would say, but amid the attempt to strive for this ideal, even in failing, we may land in a better place that still addresses the silent tension between nonathletes and athletes at Rice.Nahshon Ellerbe is a Wiess College freshman
On a campus where both alcohol and drugs are a reality, we emphasize safe consumption of the former while all but ignoring the latter. From the allegedly drug-linked disappearance of a Rice student during spring break two years ago to the expulsion of Wiess’s president last spring on allegations of providing drugs, it is clear that this campus needs more discussion from both administration and the student body surrounding student drug usage.Every Rice student is inundated with information about alcohol use and its disciplinary consequences beginning in Orientation Week, but discussions of drug use are practically nonexistent. Silence about drugs, however, does not prevent them from affecting students. Although it is true that introducing new students to the punishments of dealing LSD on the second day of O-Week is inappropriate, it is necessary to dedicate time and resources toward preparing students to deal with the reality of drugs on campus, especially as some new students may be entering with prior experience using drugs. RUPD, UCourt and chief justices instruct new students during O-Week about the Rice amnesty policy with regards to alcohol to make them comfortable with calling EMS. If new students are unaware that drug overdoses also fall under amnesty in certain cases, they are unlikely to call for help or attempt to remedy their addiction through help from the Wellbeing Office for fear of administrative consequences. Abuse of hard drugs is a serious concern and affects the health of the overall campus, but students cannot get help if they do not know the resources available to them.Furthermore, the investigation and adjudication process for those involved with drugs remains poorly communicated. Regardless of whether students are guilty, the speed with which these cases are adjudicated is concerning, as the accused may not have the time they deserve to fully develop a defense. The fact that the accused can neither record the interview nor access Student Judicial Programs’ recordings has been a recurring concern.The alcohol policy, as a document created with student input and based on community values, clearly outlines the policies and punishments surrounding the consumption of hard alcohol on Rice’s campus. Students lack a comprehensive, oft-cited, analogous document for the usage of drugs, leaving a gray area in students’ minds. This degree of standardization of disciplinary procedures has downsides; for nuanced situations such as sexual violence, dealing with perpetrators on a case-by-case basis is the fairest course of action. But even sexual violence is easily outlined into different classes of violations: sexual misconduct, sexual harassment, sexual assault, etc. Drug use, however, lacks documented stratification; the vast majority of students, for example, would have no idea whether dealing marijuana merits the same degree of a violation as just consuming LSD. The Rice community deserves an open and honest dialogue regarding student drug use. Transparency and clarity are just the first steps.Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Thresher editorial staff. All other opinion pieces represent solely the opinion of the piece’s author.
Sylvester Turner has dedicated his career to improving Houston, and on Dec. 12 Houston will have the opportunity to elect him mayor for the next four years. I have spent the last three months interning on his campaign and have encountered people of all ethnicities, ages and party affiliations who work long hours in hopes that Turner is elected the next mayor of Houston. His qualifications for office are unmatched, and his plan to carry Houston into its bright future is sound. However, to understand Sylvester Turner and his passion for this city, first you need to understand where Turner is from and the obstacles he overcame to become the man he is today.Sylvester Turner was born on Sept. 27, 1954. He grew up with nine siblings in a two-bedroom home in the Acres Homes section of Houston. The Acres Homes district is one of the poorest in Houston, where 37 percent of residents fall below the federal poverty line. His father was a commercial painter and his mother was a maid. He graduated valedictorian and was the senior class president at Klein High School, attended the University of Houston and graduated summa cum laude before going on to Harvard Law School. After graduating he returned to Houston and established his own law firm in 1983. Turner’s spent 26 years in the Texas House of Representatives fighting for Houston and fiscal responsibility. He is on the Legislative Budget Board, is the vice chairman of the Appropriations Committee and has directly overseen the balancing of the Texas State Budget twice. He secured funding to renovate a run-down park in the Acres Homes community that has provided 2,000 inner-city youth with access athletic facilities and recreational opportunities. Turner fought in the House for tax incentives for companies to come to Houston as well as increased funding for local schools and lower insurance rates for low-income Houstonians. He has spent his life fighting to make Houston better.Turner bases his vision for the future of Houston on three main initiatives. He plans to revamp our infrastructure, make our communities safer and invest in Houston’s educational system. Turner’s plan will carry Houston into the future and make opportunity a reality for all Houstonians. The Road to the Future Initiative would allocate $300 million to the infrastructure budget to expand highways, fill in potholes and smooth out sidewalks. These changes would make it safer and more comfortable for Houstonians to get to and from school and work as well as prepare Houston for further population growth in the immediate future.The Partners in Safety Initiative is a multi-step plan to improve relations between poor and minority communities and the Houston police force to make this city safer. The first step is to increase Houston’s police force by 540 officers to 6,000 total officers by 2020, the first increase in the police force since 2005. Turner would also reinstate the D.A.R.E. program to increase drug and alcohol awareness and personalize the relationship between police officers and students. Turner would also implement legislation to subsidize housing for officers in the communities they serve with the aim of increasing respect for police officers and for these officers to be wary of using excessive force, as they would be protecting their neighbors and friends. The last step in Turner’s Partners in Safety Initiative is to fund a body camera program for every officer in Houston. Increasing police accountability ensures that the communities historically affected by police brutality will feel safer in their neighborhoods, knowing that the officers protecting them will be held to the standard to which they should be.Turner’s last initiative is the Partners in Learning Initiative, aimed at providing opportunities for every young Houstonian to improve their lives and have access to a great education. His experience in the Texas State Legislature puts Turner in a strong position to secure the funding that Houston schools need as well as fight against potentially devastating school closures in the city’s most impoverished areas. His plan also includes after-school and summer programs so that students from single-parent households or households where both parents work can receive homework help and have structure in their lives to keep them off the streets and focused on getting an education. Sylvester Turner has been fighting for Houston his entire life. His campaign has been endorsed by the Houston Police Union, Houston Firefighters Union, Harris County Deputy Sheriff’s Union, the LGBT Caucus of Houston, the Houston Chronicle, conservative former mayoral candidate Stephen Costello, liberal former mayoral candidate Adrian Garcia and multiple other Republicans and Democrats throughout Texas who believe that his unparalleled experience and passion for improving this city makes him the clear choice to lead this city. On Dec. 12 get out and vote for Houston’s future. Vote for Sylvester Turner.Maurice Frediere is a Duncan College freshman and campaign intern for Sylvester Turner
