Special Projects

Students and faculty reflect on poetry in celebration of National Poetry Month

The Rice Thresher asked students and professors who identify as poets themselves about their thoughts and interactions with this literary art. 

Soccer upsets No. 5 WVU in NCAA tournament, advance to round of 16

No. 25 Rice soccer upset No. 5 West Virginia University 1-0 on Saturday afternoon, moving on to the third round of the NCAA tournament in Cary, North Carolina next week. While the Mountaineers controlled possession for most of the game, the Owls managed to squeeze out a narrow victory behind a penalty shot in the 74th minute and lockdown defense throughout the game. In the round of 16, the Owls will play the No. 12 University of Virginia. After the match, head coach Brian Lee lauded his team’s effort in pulling off the upset.

Soccer defeats Furman in first round of NCAA tournament

Rice soccer defeated Furman University 3-1 on Wednesday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA tournament in Cary, North Carolina. The Owls will now advance to the second round, where they will face off against No. 5 West Virginia University on Saturday. Head coach Brian Lee was proud of his team’s complete performance in the opening round matchup.

Baseball splits weekend series with UTSA

This past weekend, the Rice baseball team faced off against conference rivals University of Texas, San Antonio in a four-game series. After winning the first two games of the series, the Owls lost the final two matchups against the Roadrunners. With more than half of the season completed, the Owls have amassed an overall record of 17-23-1 (5-14-1).

Women's track ranked No. 14 after impressive showing at Duckett meet

In the final home meet of the year, the Rice women’s track team made sure they left Ley Track with a bang. The Owls racked up two individual school records, 13 top-five competitors and three individual champions. Following the meet, the Owls jumped 15 spots in the latest U. S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll, now ranking No. 14 in the country.

The Backies 2021

Rice planning to expand faculty with diversity in mind

Alongside the student expansion, the administration plans to add around 50 faculty members with diversity in mind, according to President David Leebron. 

Where to find Houston’s best hot chicken sandwiches

When the Hoot brought the Popeyes spicy chicken sandwich to Rice in 2019, students formed a line that ran past the info desk to wait for it. Hot chicken is no recent phenomenon. The fried chicken, floured, fried and covered in a spice blend, hails from Nashville, Tennessee. Students may not realize that Houston’s hot chicken scene extends well beyond Popeyes, from food trucks to brick-and-mortar stores. The two of us, the Thresher’s self-proclaimed hot chicken connoisseurs, decided to venture beyond the hedges in search of the best Nashville hot chicken sandwich in Houston. 

From the Editor's Desk: How it feels to be editor-in-chief during a pandemic

Whether you hate or love our content, there's a way to get involved, whether through writing, photography, videography, or design. Yes, I'm biased about how great the Thresher is — did I say I supported unbiased journalism? — but this is just one claim you can't fact check

From the Editor’s Desk: Journalism takes a village

Remember that we are fellow students seeking to deliver truth to the community with the best intentions in mind. I am deeply appreciative of every student, staff member, faculty and administrator that has shared their stories, data and viewpoints with me. Without the Rice community’s buy-in, the important work we do would not be possible. 

4-28-21 Crossword #2: "Five Guys"

4-28-21 Crossword #1: "Six Feet Apart"

Killgore pushes the boundaries of goalkeeping for Rice

The traditional role of a soccer goalkeeper is to prevent the opposing team from scoring goals, and nothing more — but don’t tell that to junior goalkeeper Bella Killgore. She hasn’t allowed a goal to get past her in over a month, but she’s also added an offensive component to her game this season, chipping in four goals for the Owls off of free kicks.   

Rice hires NC State’s Edmonds as new women’s basketball head coach

Rice has hired former North Carolina State University associate head coach Lindsay Edmonds to take over the women’s basketball program, the school announced on Friday. The hiring of Edmonds ends Rice’s search to replace former head coach Tina Langley, who left the Owls earlier this month to take the head coaching job at the University of Washington. According to Athletic Director Joe Karlgaard, Edmonds is exactly the kind of coach the program needs right now. 

Weekly Scenes and Screens: Apr. 28

Refocus STRIVE to fulfill its original purpose

As a Students Turning Rice Into a Violence-Free Environment liaison, the organization and its mission are incredibly important to me. I originally joined because, as a survivor myself, I wanted to be a part of facilitating safe spaces on campus through educating my peers and acting as a resource to provide support. STRIVE cares a lot about the student body and puts an extreme number of hours into raising awareness and making themselves accessible, as we have seen with the recent survivor panels, college-specific events throughout the year and their response to an anonymous 2019 Thresher opinion. However, we need to readjust how STRIVE is not only viewed and utilized by the student body but also how it is run. The place the organization holds now oversteps into the lives of liaisons and other students and goes beyond what they set out to do with their mission statement. 

Capturing the Rise of Rice RAW.photography

This past month, RAW originally intended on collaborating with Rice Campanile to hold another photography competition open to all Rice students. However, the competition is currently placed on hold in order to give students more time to send in their submissions, as the organization is conscious of student’s workloads and adjusts its events to allow as many people as possible to submit.     

Looking back and looking forward: lessons from the pandemic

The Rice community is eagerly anticipating a return to some kind of normal in the fall semester. Still, it’s clear that not everything will be the same as before the pandemic — but maybe for good reason. While the past year has been undeniably difficult, the Rice community can leave it with important takeaways. We asked administrators, faculty and student leaders what they have learned and what they envision for Rice when distancing, masking and virtual interactions are not the default procedures of the campus experience.

Abercrombye: Engineering Laboratory Building to be replaced by new engineering and science facility

The Abercrombie Engineering Laboratory will be demolished and replaced by a new engineering and science building beginning this May. Demolition will start mid-May and construction of the new building will be substantially complete in January 2023, according to Associate Vice President for Facilities Engineering and Planning Kathy Jones.

The state of energy in Texas: A conversation with Daniel Cohan following ERCOT’s energy conservation appeal

On April 13, a mild spring afternoon, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas announced they may begin emergency operations and called for energy conservation from Texans. Four hours later, ERCOT ended the appeal, but questions about Texas’s energy situation remain. Since extreme weather and an ensuing power crisis struck the state over two months ago, many media outlets, including the Thresher, have gone to Rice civil and environmental engineering professor Daniel Cohan for an expert explanation. The Thresher caught up with Cohan for a follow-up conversation.