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Opinion

OPINION 9/1/15 2:31pm

Go ahead, bite off more than you can chew

By Julianne Wey

During last year’s Orientation Week, then-Student Association president Ravi Sheth detailed his underclassman years, explaining how he overloaded himself with activities, cramming extracurricular after extracurricular into his schedule until he found himself burned out. In spending so much time on things he wasn’t actually interested in, he lost sight of what he was doing at Rice. His story has a happy ending, but so many other people devote their college years to biting off more than they can chew. It’s one thing to be an overzealous freshman who signs up for way too many organizations at the club fair, and a completely different thing to be someone who continues to pursue position after position, just for the sake of having some title. In fact, the latter is the major issue, not the former. If we constantly seek to stuff our resumes, we end up never doing anything for ourselves; everything is for the benefit of someone else. In high school it was for admissions, now it’s for potential employees. Ironically, we might find that in all the BS-ing and flubbing through activities we don’t really care about, we end up getting caught up in the pitfalls of our constantly forward-looking generation. (And we might be taking an opportunity away from someone else.) Many of us have fallen into the trap of blindly seeking one extracurricular after the next, constantly on the prowl for some nonacademic activity we can boast about on our Linkedin profiles. In our attempts to make our stack of titles bigger and better, we lose sight of our genuine interests. I met an engineering director at the Sunnyvale Yahoo office over the summer who, as a sociology major who ditched law school, told me I should do what I love, and money will come later. It is an age-old message: Follow your passion, follow your heart, etc. (The cheese ensues.) But it’s one that people perpetually take for granted and disregard because of its supremely obvious nature. I think we should bite off more than we can chew, just for a semester or a year — on the condition that we use that time to explore what we’re actually interested in and curious about. It’s okay to extend ourselves a little too far so as to pull back, re-evaluate and regroup. We need to find that perfect medium: Without truly pushing ourselves to the point of “too much,” we won’t know the full capacity of our capabilities. And without exploring as wide a range of subjects or activities, we may never discover our genuine passions. I seriously admire those who knew upon or before entering college what they wanted to do with the rest of their lives, because I don’t, and I bet more than half of all college students have not found their passions (even seniors). We should take the time, while we have it, to dabble and dip our toes in far-flung ponds, because we won’t get many chances post-graduation. Many people claim “it’s never too late,” but sometimes it actually is. A barrage of eventual responsibilities completely out of our control lies beyond the college years — eventually, we won’t be able to permit ourselves to be selfish and explore whatever we want. Here and now, we can create and benefit from our obligations. College is for figuring out who we are and what we want to do with our lives after all the schooling and instruction. It seems to me there’s no more suitable nor perfect time to indulge in over enthusiasm and extracurriculars. 

OPINION 9/1/15 2:31pm

Hoot’s move will damage their revenue

By Evan Neustater

The Hoot seems to be very proud of their new move to the Rice Memorial Center, and at a cursory glance, it makes sense. The hot food will arrive in stages, preventing it from running out in under two hours, as it did far too often last year. The Hoot’s new location will help people at Pub find food, and will also nourish the night owls at Fondren.However, it ignores the incredible convenience the Hoot represented on campus. Prior to this year, both north and south colleges had easily accessed late night food and drink in their nearby servery, but now students must factor in a much greater distance to get food. It may seem like a minor inconvenience to have to walk to the RMC for the Hoot, but I argue the new distance will discourage many students from making the trek.When I first visited Rice during Owl Days, I thought the Hoot was the coolest thing. The college cafeteria turned into a Chick-fil-A at night, just seconds from my dorm room! Over the last two years my opinion has not changed. I cannot count the times I was doing homework in the McMurtry commons and suddenly craved a pizza or chicken sandwich. I practically went into tetra debt from the Hoot’s convenience. The greatest thing about the Hoot was its ability to incite spontaneity.Now, the decision to go to the Hoot will be much more involved. Is the walk to the RMC worth it, especially if I have a lot of work to do? With mobile apps like Postmates and Favor allowing for food to be delivered essentially to your door, it may now become more convenient — and cheaper — to just order food from my phone. I doubt the Hoot’s move will encourage people to work and study near the RMC, since college commons are already too established for the Hoot to create that kind of culture shift.That being said, I completely understand the Hoot’s rationale. Maintaining a profitable food reselling business at two different locations must have been extremely difficult. Without considering how the relocation of the business will affect customer behavior, the move seems to be the most viable economic option. The move will, however, discourage people from going to the Hoot. How that will affect the Hoot’s profitability remains to be seen. I think this move will hurt their sales; I see the inconvenience of the new location strongly discouraging business.

OPINION 9/1/15 2:30pm

Body cameras raise questions and offer opportunities

By Thresher Editorial Board

Rice University Police Department recently adopted the policy of equipping all officers with body cameras. Many support the implementation, including faculty, graduate students, undergraduates and Rice’s attorneys.  The Thresher, too, is happy that RUPD has embraced body camera technology. Dashboard cameras can capture only so much, and recent events nationwide have shown that what can and cannot be verified through video footage is critically important not only in court, but also to public opinion. Considering the recent Texas Supreme Court decision (see p. 2) ruling RUPD officers as “officers of the state,” it is commendable for Rice to be a part of the movement toward increasing police oversight and operational transparency. However, both students and university administration have a responsibility to consider how the availability of body camera recordings may impact future judicial proceedings at Rice. Although it is true that the majority of RUPD arrests occur with individuals off campus who are not affiliated with Rice, there certainly are occasional altercations with students, especially related to parties. Students who are undergoing Student Judicial Programs or University Court proceedings may now have a potential source of evidence for their cases. RUPD statements should be taken at word, but if video evidence exists, it should be considered alongside or even given greater value than the original statement. Ideally, video evidence would be considered in every case, but this may not be feasible in order to deliver timely rulings. Some students will inevitably choose to defend themselves through this avenue. RUPD, SJP and UCourt should collaborate with the Student Association to set up a framework for handling video requests from students, whether that is within the original trial or through an appeals process. To ensure cases are adjudicated as fairly as possible and to minimize future complications, it is necessary to define criteria to determine which requests for evidence will be honored before such requests arise. There is an opportunity to pre-empt confusion and frustration, and Rice should work together to take it. As students with the privilege of a police force with body cameras, we have a responsibility to be aware of our rights when it comes to policing as a whole. We must educate ourselves on which situations require officers to turn on the video recordings and understand that RUPD is not obligated to honor requests to refuse recording, which may be especially important in sensitive situations. Claiming ignorance of either police or citizen rights is inexcusable.

OPINION 8/27/15 12:09pm

SA Corner: Welcome to Rice!

By The Student Association

Welcome to Rice!Jazz Silva, SA PresidentOn behalf of the Student Association, I would like to welcome both new and returning students to the new semester. Despite it being the summer months, our team continued to meet and work for you. Now that the fall has arrived, we are happy to reveal our new website and our new monthly page in the Thresher!As we begin this new academic year, I would like to remind each student that they have a voice. This means that at all times students have the ability to make changes they want to see become a reality. From the new off-campus meal plan to the restructuring of the economics department, it’s clear that students have the ability to make a difference when they feel empowered to speak up. I want to see this spirit of engagement continue at full force! For all our new students on campus, I encourage you to apply for the new student representative positions at your respective colleges. This is the easiest way to get a real look at what campus government looks like and to develop leadership experience.As promised in my campaign, the campus-wide senate meetings will now be held in the colleges. So, by the end of this year many of you will attend an SA meeting for the first time. I hope you can see how dedicated our entire team is to working for students. I look forward to a great year and thank you again for letting me serve as your president! New initiative fundThe Student Initiative fund is a new funding opportunity created in light of the recent changes to the blanket tax system. This opportunity is available for all subsidiary organizations and active Rice student organizations. The Initiative fund money will be distributed via an application process that will be made available to all organizations. There will be two opportunities to apply for funding between the second and third SAPP deadlines each semester. Stay tuned for more information in the upcoming weeks on specific dates and application information. If you have any questions regarding the fund please feel free to contact satreas@rice.edu. 

OPINION 8/27/15 12:07pm

Approaching classes: The trouble with hoop-jumping

By Henry Bair

It’s the beginning of a new semester. Among the multitude of excited and eager students, several phrases crop up repeatedly. “I’m taking this class — medical schools love it when applicants have taken it” and “This a super easy filler class — there’s barely any homework” are often tossed around as people settle into their new courses and brag about them over dinner to their friends.These statements typify an attitude toward education that any lover of learning should find troubling. Here we are, at a university with exceptionally few limitations on which classes a student may take, in a country that advocates its liberal approach to education. Yet many of us look at courses not as a platform for examining our intellectual interests, but as entries to fulfil a list of requirements or tools for maximizing our GPAs, that most hallowed of metrics.Most of us know the rhetoric: We are here to learn how to think, and we should strive to think for ourselves and develop our reasoning capabilities through the coursework we choose. Still, I think that deep down, many of us are instead really good at hoop-jumping: We assess a course not so much by how well we think it will enhance our intellects, but by how well we believe we can deduce and adapt to the “formula” for success. We try to answer the question “What does the teacher look for?” rather than “What can I learn from the class?” Sure, we might think for ourselves, but only to appease the professor and earn a satisfactory grade, and only for as long as the course lasts.In other words, we take classes for the most mundanely utilitarian of purposes, to help us attain the grades needed to obtain our first jobs or gain admission into our desired postgraduate schools. These classes satisfy our distribution requirements without being too rigorous. They strike a happy medium between appearing “impressive” and requiring an excessive time commitment. By far the worst offender is the “filler class,” taken because it is apparently the most unchallenging class that fits into one’s schedule and that helps one progress toward graduation.This approach to a class is extremely insolent. It is disrespectful to the professors who devote substantial effort to creating the curriculum and evaluating the assignments; it is disrespectful to other students who take the class out of sincere passion for the material; and most crucially, it fundamentally invalidates the purpose of a university edification by corrupting the honest spirit of academic exploration and intangible merits of education. It is, in summation, profoundly anti-intellectual.Fortunately, not everyone here has this attitude toward education. For those of you who see the challenges of a course as more than the upcoming problem sets, who see the rewards from a class as greater than the sum of all A’s received on the papers written, who see classes as an indispensable segment of the grand lifelong voyage of learning — keep at it.However, maintaining this desirable perspective isn’t always simple. When confronted with a particularly grueling assignment, we may be hard-pressed to consider the enduring benefits to be gained past this immediate task. In moments like these, we would do well to remind ourselves: We are at a time in our lives when our minds are most flexible and receptive to new ideas. We should savour these precious years and the rich humanistic education with which we are being bestowed, and which (as most of us are still vaguely conscious of) is meant not only to make us better doctors, lawyers, consultants and engineers, but also better people. The liberal education we are receiving is a glorious privilege. Why reduce it to a mere credential?The countless hours of reading, writing and problem solving that go into a class allow us to easily forget that the true value of an education lies in cultivating a scholar — a rational and critical thinker — in each of us, something that can hardly be abbreviated into a series of letters. By the time we are into our sixth jobs, the grades we earned here will be nothing more than ink on paper. In contrast, the expansion of our mental fac ulties, sharpened through conscientious reflection on our coursework, will help us lead productive, positive and meaningful lives. As we venture into the new term, remember that we are here to enrich and refine our souls, not to try and trade them for an A.

OPINION 8/27/15 12:07pm

Life's a Mitch: Keep your pens inked, or fingers above the keys

By Mitch Mackowiak

Welcome one and all! Since I took the yoke of Opinions Editor, we have run a few self-ads encouraging readers to write opinions articles. Please note the change in tone of the ad, from a request to a reminder:   As the calls of slammed trunk doors die away and towers of boxes and bins dwindle Between brimmed buckets of announcements poured over our bewildered ears and eyes I wish to share with you some hopes. If you want to shout your thoughts from a roof Fondren’s will garner widest audience, but I hope you think the Thresher a good roof.   If you have saved some public monologues snuck in the corners of your mind, you will find columnists welcome to the Thresher.    Should recent news spark your strong reaction the act of writing allows thorough thought and I hope you think thoroughly through us. If your convictions fall on ears unhearing or everyone seems out of earshot plenty of eyes study newsprint, like yours.   You need no invitation to write us but, as any teacher might subtly threat,  should no one raise a hand, I shall call you as empty opinion sections are lies.

OPINION 8/27/15 12:06pm

College is the time to experiment with your fashion style

By Thu Nguyen

Before matriculating in 2013, I had little hope for finding a large crowd of fashion enthusiasts on campus, and my first semester proved me right. Free T-shirts and sweats was the norm. There was the rare fashionable individual here and there, and the only exceptions to the T-shirts and sweats combo were career expo days and Associates’ Nights.Thankfully, I discovered 6100 Main, the tiny, tiny fashion blog dedicated to our campus. I began to write for it, and envisioned it becoming the campus fashion blog one day. It was an ambitious vision at the time because no one seemed to care about what they, or anyone else for that matter, wore.Magically, the summer of 2014 seemed to instill a sense of fashion upon the majority of our student body. Or the class of 2018 just elevated the entire campus’ style scene in one fell swoop, who knows. I came back to more chino pants and button-downs on the men, and an even more stylish women’s fashion scene. From boho chic West Coast to NYC street to Southern tea time chic, from Asian street to European posh, our campus style was slowly becoming the epitome of our school’s “diversity” mantra. Rice, you had finally proved me wrong. Not only did you prove that you actually do have a sense of dress, but you also showed enthusiasm for styling and fashion — a sort of new and improved attitude toward actually caring about what you look like, what you are wearing. It honestly took me by surprise, especially the exponential increase in recognition 6100 Main had received lately. (For that, thank you!)Another summer has passed, and we welcome a new class on campus. I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that being stylish and fashionable isn’t necessarily a sign of being a snobby rich kid, an airhead, a “Mean Girl” (or “Guy”), etc. I encourage you to continue this upward trend of caring about fashion and trying out new styles. Remember to take chances and wear what you like, whether or not your roommate hates it!College is the prime time to be ridiculous and experiment with your style. Whether it be loud and bold or just plain and old, your style can physically represent a part of your personality. They tell us not to judge a book by its cover, but let’s be honest: We do judge books by their covers. Covers both protect the pages of the book and make a statement. Use fashion to feel put-together even when your life is in shambles, or to make a social statement. I feel like Beyonce 2.0 when I step out in a white button-down half tucked into high rise jeans, paired with black heels. And when I wear all black? Everyone seems to understand: “I don’t bother you — don’t bother me.” (Yohji Yamamoto). Just as music is a universal language, I believe fashion is too.It’s been a great joy to watch our campus style scene evolve, and I look forward to seeing what this new year brings in terms of fashion. If you ever see someone hobbling across the quad in heels and a blazer on the way to lunch, go ahead, laugh and shake your head. Or stop me to say hi and let me take a picture of your #riceootd (outfit of the day) for Instagram!Bonus tips: Guys, I wholeheartedly embrace the “chino paired with short sleeve button-downs” trend. Chino shorts and pants can be dressed up or down, and can be regular-conservative-khakis colored, or progressively-fashionable-pastel colored. While rolled-up long-sleeve button-downs make any person automatically ten times more attractive, short sleeve button downs are your chance to show off those nice arms you’ve been working on. Ladies, most of y’all know the drill already — loose-fitting dresses are your friends and pointy-toe flats give the same leg-lengthening effect as any pair of heels.

OPINION 8/27/15 11:52am

Leebron: The welcome back speech I don’t get to give

By David Leebron

Each year I have the opportunity to address the entering students at a matriculation ceremony held at the beginning of Orientation Week on the first night our new students are on campus.  What I don’t have an opportunity to do is welcome back our returning students collectively in any formal way. So when the Thresher offered me the opportunity to write a short essay for their first issue of this academic year, I jumped at it. Although limited in scope, it presented an opportunity to deliver a message I have always had in the back of my mind.This year I wrote a new matriculation address. After a bit of explanation, I gave the nano-matriculation speech (taking inspiration from Anthony Brandt’s nano-symphony), which went as follows:We are thrilled and grateful you are here.You should be thrilled and grateful to be here.Seize your opportunities.Get to know your classmates.Don’t do stupid stuff.You can change the world.Thank you and welcome to Rice.After thunderous applause received primarily because they actually thought the speech was over shortly after it began, I got back up and delivered a decidedly non-nano address (but shorter than last year).The nano-speech could be turned into an appropriate welcome back speech by simply adding “back” after “welcome” in the last line. But actually, my nano-welcome back speech would be even shorter, along the following lines:We are thrilled and grateful you are back.Thank you for all you do make Rice the special place it is, and for passing that culture onto our new students.(Okay, I probably should leave in the “Don’t do stupid stuff.”) To explain why I think that is the primary message to our returning students (and indeed to those who have graduated), I would refer to the recent Princeton Review rankings. As I hope you know, we came in No. 1 in the country for both overall quality of life and for interaction among students from different racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. We also remained in the top 10 for student happiness. While there are many reasons for our success in these categories, I believe the primary reason is the way our students treat each other — with enthusiasm, acceptance, encouragement, support, curiosity and respect. They create the strong sense of community in which the vast majority of students feel welcomed and included. Two aspects of Rice are critical in creating this culture and atmosphere: O-Week and the residential colleges. I am amazed each year by the outpouring of enthusiasm for participating in O-Week, and then by the sheer joy our students take in welcoming new students to Rice and making sure their Rice experience is as good as it can be. Our upper-year students do this primarily because they care about their new students. But an O-Week advisor I spoke with over the past weekend told me how much he gained from the experience. The realization that he is now a role model, and the responsibility that entails, resulted in a leadership experience from which he learned a great deal. The faculty, staff and administration, and of course especially our college masters, do all we can to support the special Rice culture, a culture that emphasizes inclusion and support, and disdains features of exclusion and elitism such as fraternities and sororities. The success of that culture, and especially its transmission from one group of students to the next, rests largely in the hands of our students, and that is a responsibility that they rise to magnificently. We aren’t perfect, and indeed the moment we believe that we are is the moment we will get worse rather than better. Under the leadership of our student coordinators, O-Week continues to be refined and improved, year after year. And despite many changes in the university, the culture persists and attracts extraordinary students each year.So to all our returning students:We are thrilled and grateful you are back.Thank you for making Rice a special place, and for helping our special culture endure.And, oh yes, don’t do stupid stuff.

OPINION 8/27/15 11:51am

Hutchinson: Pause and reflect upon who you want to be

By John Hutchinson

Sociology Professor Jenifer Bratter’s Orientation Week faculty address focused on “identity,” how we define ourselves and each other, and how these definitions are flexible. I was inspired by the power of her message, and it seemed to me to resonate with two of the themes I want us to think about and work on this year. In terms of identity, the questions are not “Who are you?” and “Who are we as a community?” but rather “Who do you want to be?” and “Who do we as a community want to be?” And these are not trivial questions.As you begin your year at Rice, if you have not already given considerable thought about the question of who you want to become, now is the perfect time to do so. You are not defined by anything other than your aspirations and your choices and your efforts to achieve both. Your time at Rice is not about demonstrating what you can do; rather, it is about choosing experiences that will help you become the person you want to be and then learning from your experiences, whether they are successes or disappointments or even failures.  Many, perhaps most, of you consider college as simply the next thing to do in your life, another step on the road to wherever it is you are planning to go. Some of you have thought of Rice as a four- or five-year joy ride at someone else’s expense (most likely your parents’). In either case, if these are your narrow goals, I suspect you will succeed. But in doing so, you will have missed the greatest opportunity of your life at the most important time of your life. I strongly encourage you to spend time in reflection, rather than to make assumptions about a fixed identity. And I encourage you to make choices necessary to give yourself the time and space for this reflection. Take fewer courses so that you can get the most from each course. Pursue only a single major enabling you to explore the curriculum with more electives. Engage in the many opportunities for personal and intellectual growth that Rice offers through community engagement, independent study, internships and study abroad. Be an active member of your college and your campus, forming lasting friendships.As for who we want to become as a community, there are too many facets to discuss in this note, so I will focus on a single value we should hold together: honor. Our honor system is one of our longest-standing traditions, if not the single longest-standing. But it is quite easily taken for granted, and as such is quite easily compromised and violated. This year, Faculty Senate in partnership with the Honor Council and the Student Association will undertake an in-depth assessment of the honor system, including policies and processes. This will allow us to reinvest ourselves as a community in this shared value, together answering one of the most important questions of who we want to become. We want to be, now and always, a community where honor is an absolute, with integrity never to be compromised. I encourage every one of you to engage in this conversation so that honor and integrity become a common expectation to which we hold ourselves and one another.It happens that I am writing these words on Aug. 23, the seventh anniversary of the day our family lost Emma Grace Hutchinson. She was 20 and about to begin her junior year at Trinity University, a place that she loved dearly and an opportunity that she cherished. No one I’ve ever known has better understood the importance of experiencing life to its fullest by a willingness to take chances on difficult tasks, on new relationships, on challenging subjects, on once-in-a-lifetime opportunities not to be missed. No one I’ve ever known has more fully embraced her own uncompromising integrity, living her carefully considered values. No one I’ve ever known has more deeply lived life to its fullest with unfailing optimism about what life might bring. My aspiration for each of you while at Rice and in the years to come is that, like the Trinity student whose life I shared, you find your own inspiration to set your sights high and then to use this opportunity to become the person you most want to be.

OPINION 8/27/15 11:48am

Overcrowding inevitable, but not unmanagable

By Thresher Editorial Board

Some returning students have been asked to move off campus to make room for an over-enrolled class of new students. In a few cases, new students were switched between residential colleges after already receiving their assignments or had to live in a college different from the one into which they matriculated. The Thresher believes overcrowding is an inevitable and severe issue that demands discussion and preparation among the student body and administration during the year. The Thresher appreciates the administration’s efforts to fill every bed and understands the difficulty of predicting yield. It is not only reasonable but expected that the issue of overcrowding will arise and some shuffling of new students will occur. However, Rice lacks a cohesive plan to address overcrowding in a way that is suited to each of the residential colleges’ unique needs. For example, offering returning students the incentive to overcrowd rooms may work at Sid Richardson College, but is largely ineffective in the single suites at Martel College.  Moreover, incentives that provide monetary compensation to returning students to move off campus are unfair to students who voluntarily chose to move off campus for the following year. While monetary incentives are a viable way of ensuring all new students are accommodated on campus, they must be offered and distributed fairly. This is a tough situation to address but the Thresher believes it can and must be improved to ensure financial fairness. Overcrowding diminishes from new students’ first year experience. The residential college system is designed such that students become almost immediately attached to their home college, and to learn last minute that one has been shuffled between colleges can be disjointing. O-Week coordinators are often forced to bear the brunt of parental anger even though they lack control over the situation. It is understandably difficult to strike a balance so new students do not learn of their residential college assignment too late or too early. However, when new students are informed that their assigned residential college lacks the physical space to accommodate them, Rice and its student leaders, who are the face of O-Week, appear incompetent. One of Rice’s most commendable features is its emphasis on student leadership; however, if these leaders are not immersed in decision-making processes, they must face the consequences of decisions they had no hand in, in a situation they cannot improve.  The student body, administration and college masters and coordinators should collaborate throughout the year to change overcrowding from an emergency situation to an anticipated issue with an established solution. As part of this plan, new students must be informed by the administration that residential college and rooming assignments are tentative. In order to make the new student transition to college as smooth as possible, it is necessary to accept the reality of overcrowding and address it as best as possible for all parties involved.

OPINION 4/22/15 5:09pm

Grade collaring policies have no place at Rice

By Thresher Editorial Board

The Student Association plans to begin a discussion in the coming fall about departmental grade inflation policies. These discussions come on the heels of legislation passed by the Faculty Senate in April 2014, which called for faculty-wide discussions about grading standards every five years, among other stipulations (see p. 1). The Thresher supports this renewal of discussion on a subject matter that continues to affect many students at Rice, especially now that the department of statistics has implemented a blanket policy of no more than 40 percent A’s in many of its introductory classes. While it is understandable that a large proportion of high grades in a certain class may be cause for concern, The Thresher maintains the opinion presented in our April 23, 2014 editorial that collaring grades as a response to grade inflation is not an appropriate response. By instating a policy where only a certain percentage of students can achieve high grades regardless of how many points they accrue throughout the semester, instructors engender a system that directly contradicts the spirit of positive collaboration so frequently touted by Rice. If individual professors, departments or the administration wish to see a more even grade distribution, then perhaps looking at course rigor or taking a more nuanced approach is in order. Considerations for major requirements, distribution credits and class content should be made to help determine a change in grading scale, not the performance of the current grading scale.  Collaring grades is an arbitrary punishment to students that not only negatively impacts Rice’s academic environment of positive collaboration, but also does not address the root of any alleged problems with inflation. If too high a percentage of students receives A’s, the grading scale should not be the first place the faculty looks for a solution. The Thresher recommends investigating the content of the courses to see if it is appropriately rigorous for Rice students.  The Thresher believes the statistics department’s turn to grade collaring is a precedent other departments should not follow. Princeton University recently repealed their grade deflation policy after 10 years, citing how it adversely affected students’ willingness to take risks in course selection, damaged the academic atmosphere and discouraged students from applying to the university. There is no reason a similar policy should be implemented among Rice courses. The Thresher encourages each academic department to consider student feedback in the implementation of grading policies, and to give significant thought to the potential negative consequences of such policies. Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Thresher editorial staff. All other opinion pieces represent solely the opinion of the piece’s author.

OPINION 4/21/15 7:00pm

SJP’s hold over UCourt thwarts student governance

By Brian Baran and Zelia Rosenzweig

UCourt was not what we thought it would be. Nor was it what Rice pretends it is.When we applied to be new student representatives, we wrote that University Court allows students to “play a major role in shaping Rice into what we want it to be,” “maintain the integrity of the university” and “promote responsible decisions” by students. Maybe our wording was a little off, but even as new students, we got the idea: The point of UCourt should be to give students a voice in Rice’s judicial process. But as UCourt has matured, it has begun to collide with the rock wall of reality; Rice restricts us to operating in such a narrow space that our voice can hardly be heard.We have both been on UCourt for the last four years; between the two of us, we’ve served in every position, from new student representative to chair. From this vantage point, we want to communicate both UCourt’s potential and the serious pitfalls of the current UCourt-SJP power dynamic.For a little background, UCourt adjudicates cases under the Code of Student Conduct (analogously to Honor Council, which administers the Honor Code) and operates under Student Judicial Programs. UCourt was essentially re-established in the fall of our freshman year (2011) and has since come a long way.UCourt is an impressive organization in its mission. It provides students the chance to have their cases heard by peers who understand both what the Rice community means and the integrity it relies on. In our time here, UCourt has heard cases with consequences as serious as suspension and had long, serious, straining conversations about the conduct we should expect from Rice students in each case that has come before us.But UCourt’s ability to be a prosocial organization is restrained by its institutional limits. UCourt is dependent on SJP for case referral and its very existence, so while it would like to, it can rarely operate as a true voice for the student body, whether by advocating on broad issues or by reviewing specific cases.“You can always appeal to UCourt” is the message students are supposed to hear when they meet with SJP. But that’s not true. In reality, you have the right to bring your case to UCourt — unless SJP doesn’t want you to.None of this comes from Yik Yak; we’ve seen it year after year. UCourt operates as a functional judicial panel but lacks jurisdiction over or knowledge of cases until SJP chooses to refer them or allow students to appeal. There are legitimate privacy reasons to limit the information available to a student panel, but SJP frequently interprets these so broadly it seems the real intent is less to protect privacy than to prevent us from weighing in on cases and campuswide issues where it worries our answer may not be one it wants to hear.Which brings us back to the central problem: UCourt is stuck sitting at the little kids’ table. For example, in the 3.5 years prior to the semi-announced Code of Student Conduct overhaul this winter, SJP made unannounced changes to the Code at least 10 times. UCourt was not consulted on changes where a student perspective would have been relevant, but that pales next to SJP’s failure to even tell us the document we adjudicate under had changed.That experience represents the larger issue with the SJP-UCourt relationship. SJP treats UCourt as a student relations operation and a pawn. It often seems that SJP uses us to ease its workload by referring cases only when it feels comfortable with what our perspective might be — and, in doing so, it can pretend students have genuine input. That’s not to say UCourt is always expected to agree with SJP (it empirically doesn’t), but that SJP only gives us the chance to disagree on select cases.Even when cases are referred to UCourt, its influence is limited. Rather than having free rein to consider situations, their social meaning and appropriate responses from a student perspective, UCourt is often confined to a framework dictated by SJP and SJP’s own view of the charges and sanctions that fit the facts and students involved.For students found in violation, UCourt must determine an appropriate sanction, but SJP unilaterally sets the baseline for what is “appropriate.” Base fines, the starting point from which the Court can move up or down based on the specific case, are set by SJP and often change (read: increase) suddenly. Even if the changes are not arbitrary, they seem like it. We’re lucky to be told there was a change, much less to get an explanation.But this is much bigger than a question of the exact amount of the fines. We have long believed that fines are rarely appropriate except to repay actual damages. Despite a lack of evidence that fines educate or deter, Rice fines students left and right. (Fines also present a social justice issue; the same dollar amount has a disparate burden.) We firmly believe SJP and UCourt should aim to educate and rehabilitate. It is harder to design effective educational sanctions tailored to each case, but it’s better to work toward doing so than to continue fining students out of ease and inertia.This issue is also an example of when UCourt officers asked to discuss a major topic with SJP and were promptly shut down.Finally, UCourt’s decisions are only recommendations until SJP accepts them. While decisions are rarely overturned outright (as opposed to through the appeal process, an integral part of any judicial system), the possibility always looms, inevitably constraining the views we can provide.All of this puts UCourt at the mercy of fickle university politics, which is the last place a judicial panel should be. UCourt cannot currently serve as a check on SJP’s power; it’s been made clear throughout our time here that we are not in a position to hold SJP accountable.This is a classic case of a lopsided power dynamic, and it’s a shame that it’s between two organizations that could do a lot of good for the Rice community by working together.To be clear, we are not bringing into question our previous case decisions; we believe our perspective has been beneficial in the cases we’ve been allowed to hear. Our goal in writing this is instead to improve the overall system in which UCourt operates.Like most graduating seniors, we didn’t want to take all our institutional knowledge with us, but we could’ve never written this piece while we were in office. Now, we worry that we waited too long to say anything, and that if the student body doesn’t continue to advocate and enthusiastically call for change, the status quo will prevail.So it is on you, students and UCourtiers alike, to be mindful of the difference between what UCourt is, and what it could be.

OPINION 4/15/15 10:21am

Summer does not equal an internship

By Sophie Newman

Spring: the season of rain, Beer Bike and Easter. But most importantly, the time of year when students scramble to find something, anything, to occupy that daunting, empty time without set classes, club meetings and term deadlines — summer. Springtime is a breeze for those who already have internship offers, study abroad plans or prestigious pre-professional jobs, but for those who don’t, it can feel like being the only senior without a prom date. Perhaps I’m exaggerating. But I have heard multiple stories of anguish and despair over finding the perfect summer internship. You know, the one that seems cool to friends, bolsters your resume and pleases your parents? Yikes. What a lot to ask out of a summer. What strikes me is the fact that I hear of very few people who actively choose not to pursue a traditional internship or research position. For many of my non-Rice friends, a job at a pool, coffee shop or restaurant is the norm. Granted, many students attend Rice with the goal of running headfirst into the professional world, so it makes sense that they would pursue internship opportunities over the summer. But this tendency alienates students who don’t want or need to spend their summer with this kind of position. Alternative summer experiences, aka those that don’t involve working at a nonprofit, Fortune 500 company or research lab, can be just as valuable to students as internships.Take, for example, students who love exploring new cultures. Maybe they can only travel through a baseline job in a foreign country, like a tour guide or a hostess. These jobs provide them with the opportunity to immerse themselves in another culture and potentially reflect on their experiences in a meaningful way, but they choose to pursue an internship instead, because, well, that’s the default option. Many Rice students undervalue or even completely overlook non-academic summer experiences. They disregard the potential of experience for the sake of experience, which is understandable given the temptation to fill one’s resume with appealing, professional-sounding titles. But if you’re doing something — virtually anything that requires getting out of bed and interacting with the world — your experience probably has some value to you and your future self, whether it promotes self-reflection, earns you some extra cash or simply makes you feel fulfilled. Internships are not the only way to prepare for the future.In no way do I mean to devalue the “traditional” internship experience or discredit those who truly love these kinds of opportunities. But I want to say that those who don’t want to spend their summer working their butts off in an office or lab shouldn’t feel like they are less hardworking or ambitious than their peers. After all, I can say from personal experience that some physically intensive jobs can be just as taxing and just as rewarding as hours of research. Pursue opportunities you think will add value to your person, not your resume. Your future employer won’t think you’re a bum because you chose to spend your summer on an organic farm. Internships can be an awesome way to prepare for the future, but they aren’t the only path to productive experience. 

OPINION 4/15/15 10:20am

SA Initiatives Program deserves more publicity

By Thresher Editorial Board

The Student Association will continue to accept proposals for the Student Initiatives Program. The program is tied to an initiatives fund populated by $18,000 Honor Council was forced to return following a Blanket Tax Standing Committee investigation into their finances. In the future, the fund will receive money from an increase in the blanket tax from $79 to $85 (see p.1). Currently, according to SA Internal Vice President Peter Yun, the SA is primarily pursuing one viable proposal to the program — an “Inreach Day” during which students will perform tasks normally completed by the Housing and Dining staff. However, currently, the Student Initiatives Program has been underpublicized and underutilized.The Thresher believes the program has great potential if the SA expends more directed effort reaching out to the student body.The success of SA40K should serve as a model for the administration of the Student Initiatives Program. The SA40K gave funding to a new Queer Resource Center, Rice Emergency Medical Services, Rice Bikes and environmental initiatives, such as subsidized reusable containers and water bottle fillers. Though the pot may be smaller, an equal, if not more, effort should go towards soliciting proposals. Nor should the amount of available funds discourage students from applying for funding.Still, publicity for the Student Initiatives Program has been lacking. While publicizing the SA40K, the Senate Executive Committee visited college government meetings, posted extensively on Facebook and constantly made students aware of the money’s potential uses. If anonymous social media is any indication of student awareness, the buzz surrounding the SA40k on Yik Yak has been markedly absent for the current Student Initiative. For the Blanket Tax Committee to effectively distribute the $18,000, students must be made more aware of its existence and purpose.The initiatives fund has the potential to be immensely beneficial for the student body moving forward. The fund allows clubs and students to apply for funding for initiatives that the yearly allocation of the blanket tax does not make provisions for. However, if the fund is not better publicized, the money will not serve its intended purpose in a timely manner; ideally, it should be spent on ideas stemming from those from whom the blanket tax funds originated. Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Thresher editorial staff. All other opinion pieces represent solely the opinion of the piece’s author.

OPINION 4/15/15 10:19am

Rice must better support low-income students to truly provide equal opportunity for success

By Bridget Schilling

Let me give you an example of a lower-income student at Rice University. This student has a high school diploma but no AP or IB credits, nor the background knowledge to comfortably excel in Rice’s introductory level classes. This student is also on financial aid, either on a full or partial tuition grant, has been offered student loans, and was given a federal work-study grant of about $2,500.Lower-income students like the one I describe face barriers to success that stem from these circumstances. Federal financial aid covers only four years of college, which might pressure some students to graduate in that timeframe, leaving less time for them to explore diverse interests and extracurricular activities. Additionally, students in these circumstances may feel more pressure to pursue a major leading to direct entry into a high paying field. Without AP credits, students might need to take extra courses other students can forgo, or might need to study more due to insufficient background knowledge of a subject.A lack of AP credit also limits students wanting a double major or dual degree. A student entering without AP credits must average 16.5 credits a semester over eight semesters to get a bachelor’s degree in chemical and biomolecular engineering (If this chemical and biomolecular engineering major also wanted a bachelor of arts degree, they would need to average 20.25 hours each semester, more hours than they can register). A 16.5-credit semester load might be feasible with some classes, but it might mean stacking extra hours atop difficult courses full of new material requiring substantial study time, which could compete with a 10-hour-a-week work-study job.These hours seem flexible if you only spend work-study funds on luxury items, but this money can buy textbooks and study guides, pay cell phone bills, health insurance and Saturday dinner. Since work-study funds are often capped at around $2,500 and generally hover a few dollars above minimum wage, a student must work over 250 hours to pay for these basic amenities. This is a huge time commitment for a student for little profit.Work-study sounds like a great idea on paper. It is a federal grant Rice allocates to provide a wage to students who qualify and work at university-associated jobs. It gives students who qualify for financial aid money to pay for personal expenses not covered by tuition and housing grants. Students choose the jobs they take on, often with flexible hours. However, work-study, in concert with the circumstances mentioned above, can deprive students of a good college experience. This “college experience” means more than getting an academic education and scraping by financially. As humans we need social interactions and relationships, and as students we try to build our resumes and networks as much as our transcripts. If a student needs a work-study job, it may interfere with their well-rounded education and keep them from using that time in ways that could pay off in the long run, but will not pay for more immediate necessities.With the amount of money coming in from the annual fund every year, Rice could afford to scrap its work-study program and pay students who would otherwise qualify for work-study a living stipend or allowance. This would cost the university, but it would be a cost worth providing all students the same opportunity to explore the same options.I have described some extreme circumstances, but high achievement extremes should be accessible to low socio-economic extremes. If college is supposed to be a great equalizer and Rice tries to welcome students of diverse backgrounds, we should focus on supporting success in all students as much as possible rather than setting expectations of excellence that exceed the capabilities of a lot of students. Requiring students disadvantaged financially or in their prior education to do extra work to keep up with other students does not allow these students to participate in as many of the Rice experiences as they should be able to. In a marathon, no one would think it fair to start some people miles ahead, set their times as standard, and expect the people starting at the beginning to finish within that time, so how can it go unquestioned here?

OPINION 3/18/15 4:06pm

SA-facilitated forum accomplishes little

By Thresher Editorial Board

The Student Association facilitated a student-only forum with residential college presidents about what constitutes a safe environment on campus, among other concerns, last Wednesday, March 12 (see p.1). More than 70 students attended the forum, which was held after the Senate meeting.  The forum came in the wake of an incident at McMurtry College, in which a president-elect resigned after a friend ordered a stripper to attend a private party celebrating the win. Informal discussions about Title IX and Rice’s sexual environment ensued, but these conversations left many confused about the legislation’s role in moderating student behavior. As such, students may have expected the forum to directly address the McMurtry incident and clarify what a Title IX violation entails.  However, the questions the SA used in the forum did not delve into specifics. They asked questions such as, “How do we avoid bad situations and what do we do when a value is violated?” While these questions did generate discussion, many left the forum with more questions than firm answers about campus values. The Thresher believes events like the forum should directly address student concerns. As the voice of the student body, the SA should embrace its role as both a facilitator of difficult conversations and an advocate for the solutions that arise from them. However, they cannot fulfill their role if these conversations leave students with more questions than solutions. Many at the forum expressed divergent opinions about the role of administration and their relationship to students. While it is necessary to promote discussion among the student body regarding the role of the administration in setting campus values, students deserve a seat at the table when their values and their community are at stake. Though administration necessarily plays a role in the discussion, the students’ voice should be loud and warrant recognition.  To ensure that the student voice matters in discussions about campus values, the SA must work toward concrete solutions. Passing legislation, for instance, codifies student opinion in both an authoritative and historical record students can point to when administration takes action that goes against their interests. For the forum to effect change, the SA should craft legislation that expresses student opinion on Title IX and the campus environment. While it may be a good start for the SA executive team to sit down individually with the administration in the future to facilitate discussions, it is not nearly enough. Creating legislation is the most effective way to enact lasting change in our community, as it transcends the short-term institutional memory that plagues other less concrete solutions.  Students wanted answers about Title IX and the McMurtry incident that the forum did not provide. In the future, the SA must take a stronger leadership role; haphazardly organized discussions without plans of action are insufficient. Tangible solutions, such as working groups and legislation, would better represent student voices in a lasting and meaningful way.  Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Thresher editorial staff. All other opinion pieces represent solely the opinion of the piece’s author.

OPINION 3/17/15 7:00pm

You need not travel far to study abroad

By Tina Nazerian

Last Wednesday, I stood in front of the White House press gate for at least 30 minutes among photographers, other journalists and later, with three of my classmates. Eventually, a White House staffer led us into a room decorated with white chandeliers and golden curtains. After 15 minutes or so, out came first lady Michelle Obama.  The occasion was the first lady’s Nowruz, or Persian New Year, celebration, which is also observed by people in Eastern Europe, Asia and other Middle Eastern countries. As an Iranian American, it was beyond incredible listening to her say “Nowruzetan Mobarak” and give remarks about a holiday my family and I celebrate. With all the political news about Iran, it was a nice change listening to someone in the administration touch on cultural aspects of the country. I was able to have this experience because of one of my amazingly resourceful professors in my study abroad program. Well, let me back up. Instead of actually leaving the U.S., I chose to study in Washington, D.C. through American University’s Washington Semester Program in Journalism and New Media. I did have some initial concern about missing out on living and learning internationally — in fact, I remember bringing that up the day I finalized my application with the Study Abroad Office. By choosing to stay within the country’s borders, I did miss out on being immersed in a totally new culture for a semester. However, I’ve now been in D.C. for more than two months, and I hold zero regrets. And because no study “abroad” is complete without the participant telling you why you, yes you, should also do it, here is my spiel. While studying abroad in a foreign country does have a lot of value, such as language and cultural immersion, it may not be for everyone. For some, a semester away from Rice University might mean reaching Spanish fluency in Spain or learning about state formation in Bosnia, and I’m all for that, because such particular interests are best explored abroad. However, for others, like me, studying internationally is not the best fit. Had I gone to London or Rabat, I would not be where I want to be in my journalism career. Living and working in the nation’s capital has been educational, fun, challenging and something that will give me a jump-start when I’m job-hunting in several months.At Rice there is a mindset of “unconventional wisdom,” or so people claim. I believe studying abroad, or away from Rice, for a semester is a vital addition to the Rice experience, provided that you can find a way to make it work with your major and finances. In choosing a study abroad program, do your research and pick one that caters best to your needs and goals. Furthermore, do not be afraid to think domestic. D.C. may not be “abroad,” but it has opened doors to a world that I would never have been able to imagine sitting in my room at McMurtry College last semester. 

OPINION 3/11/15 4:09pm

Tuition increases must be thoroughly justified

By Thresher Editorial Board

Rice recently announced they will increase undergraduate tuition by 4.2 percent for the 2015-16 school year (see p.1). The announcement came in a press release that touted Rice’s status as a Kiplinger’s “best value” education and its relative affordability compared to peer institutions. The Thresher believes the press release ignores the reality of Rice’s consistent tuition-raising. Under President David Leebron’s tenure, Rice has justified outsized tuition increases as the cost of business rising, seemingly turning its back on a history of affordability to become more like its peers for its own sake. These consistent increases would be more understandable if the administration clearly communicated the purpose of each one. At one point, Rice was free for all students, and for most of its history tuition was significantly lower than that of other high-ranking, small, private research institutions. Before 2010, Rice even increased tuition at lower rates each year for undergraduate classes that had already matriculated, but that too has unfortunately changed.  In 2000-01, when Rice’s average tuition per student was $17,720 — compared to Duke’s $24,890 and Northwestern’s $24,648 — Rice could claim significantly lower tuition than that of its peers, being on average 28.5 percent lower. However, Rice’s proposed tuition for the 2015-16 school year — $41,560 — is not as significantly lower than other school’s tuitions. At $47,488 and $46,836 respectively, Duke’s 2014-15 tuition (2015-16 numbers have not been released yet) and Northwestern’s 2015-16 tuitions are not as proportionally high as they once were — Rice’s tuition is on average 11.9 percent lower. It is the administration’s duty to explain why it needs to raise tuition by a comparably higher rate than its so-called peers. A circular argument that invokes notions of “becoming more like our peer institutions” won’t do. At a certain point, becoming similar to other like-institutions dilutes the aspects of a Rice education that make it pleasantly unlike peer institutions, such as its cost.  Maybe the cost of doing business is simply going up, or maybe Rice has used the increases to fund new opportunities for students. Either way, Rice News’ press release does not show the student body anything along those lines — only tired rankings and comparisons. Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Thresher editorial staff. All other opinion pieces represent solely the opinion of the piece’s author.

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