Special Projects

Student Association committees deserve more from students

Rice students don’t pay attention to the Student Association. This is clear from recent Thresher coverage on the low voter turnout during the SA election and students’ inability to identify the people they “elected” to the executive team. If it weren’t for current SA President Kendall Vining’s encouragement to apply for Academics Committee chair last year, I would have fallen into that category too. I learned that although the SA is designed to represent and empower all student voices regardless of whether they hold a formal SA position in order to better our campus and broader Houston community, it struggles with apathy (or worse, alienation) and a lack of participation. 

The twelfth residential college is a clean slate

Earlier this week, Rice’s Board of Trustees announced that they had approved a measure that, by 2025, will expand the undergraduate student body by 20 percent and add another residential college to Rice’s campus, giving us an even dozen. It is the latter announcement that struck us as particularly noteworthy, as the addition of a residential college is not all that common. Rice has added residential colleges twice in the last 20 years: Martel College in 2002 and McMurtry and Duncan Colleges in 2009. If you’re thinking that’s not all that long ago, keep in mind that 2009 was the first year Silly Bandz were sold in stores. With the addition of a twelfth college, we thought it pertinent to point out that a lot can change in 12 years, be it culturally or socially, and that Rice has the opportunity to capitalize on the blank slate that is this soon-to-be-named college.

Rice releases regular decision results, accepts record number of applicants

At 5:00 p.m. today, the Rice University Office of Admission released regular decision results. This year, Rice gave a record number of admission offers to 2,749 applicants  from all 50 states and 68 countries, according to Vice President for Enrollment Yvonne Romero da Silva. 

Weekly Scenes and Screens: Mar. 31

Rice announces twelfth residential college, student body expansion approved

Rice announced today that it will open a twelfth residential college to account for the plan to expand the student body by 20 percent, which Rice's Board of Trustees has just approved.The undergraduate class is expected to grow to 4,800 by 2025 from its current enrollment of 4,052 students (Fall 2020), according to the press release. 

The statue is only a starting point

I believe Willy’s Statue should go, but I feel that much more than that is needed. I believe the ideal solution to the fate of the statue and the future of racial equity at Rice is to begin a holistic program to acknowledge, address and atone for our university's racism, past and present. 

Senior Spotlight: Nitin Srinivasan combines passions for music and medicine

When Nitin Srinivasan began his first semester at Rice, he knew that he was interested in medicine. Beyond that, the Hanszen College senior didn’t know what exactly he wanted to pursue. It was during that first semester of freshman year that Srinivasan determined what direction he wanted to take his interest: the world of psychology.

Weekly Scenes and Screens: Mar. 24

Crossword #1: "Medical Instruments"

‘We all feel scared and vulnerable’: Asian members of Rice community respond to anti-Asian violence

Over the last year, racist violence and hate crimes against Asians have spiked sharply, with Asian American women bearing the brunt of them. Last week’s Atlanta-area spa shootings of eight people, mostly Asian women, by a white man, was a horrific incident in a long line of hate crimes against the Asian community in the United States and beyond.

Debate team wins national championship

Rice University’s debate team won the national championship in the National Parliamentary Debate Association 2021 Championship Tournament. It won first place in Overall Season Sweepstakes, Open (Varsity) Division Season Sweepstakes and Overall Tournament Sweepstakes, according to David Worth, the director of the team. 

‘The only way out is to vaccinate ourselves out’: Students hustle to get COVID-19 vaccines

After Governor Greg Abbott lifted the state-wide mask mandate for Texas on March 10, getting a COVID vaccine has become more important than ever to many Rice students. An impromptu vaccine drive was held at Rice’s East Gym during the winter freeze a few weeks back, but only around 800 doses were available. Students ran across the icy campus and stood in 20-degree weather for hours to try and receive a vaccine, but there just weren’t enough for everyone. Because many were unable to get the vaccine during that time, Rice students have recently been scheming for other ways to get their hands — or arms — on a dose. 

Beer Bike races will follow revised format to ensure COVID-19 safety

Beer Bike races will stretch across two days this year, with six separate races featuring two colleges at a time and the winner determined after all teams have been timed, according to Dean of Undergraduates Bridget Gorman.  

‘Music is a tool for joy’: Lia Pikus receives Watson Fellowship to study music and prison abolition

Lia Pikus is no stranger to the intersection of seemingly unrelated passions. As a recipient of the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, a grant that allows graduating seniors to pursue an independent study project outside of the United States, she is bringing together two passions of hers — music and prison abolitionism — for her project “Beyond the Bars: Music’s Role in Reimagining Punishment.” At some point in the near future, she will be setting off to observe inner-carceral music programming first hand and experience musical community on a global scale.

Owls tops A&M, take two of three from Southern

Late Tuesday night, the Rice baseball took down Texas A&M University in a thrilling game, holding on to a 2-1 lead in the ninth. 

Men’s basketball season ends with loss in C-USA tourney

Last week, the Rice men's basketball season came to a close when they were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Conference USA Tournament by the University of Alabama, Birmingham. Prior to their elimination, the Owls had won back-to-back tournament games against the University of Southern Mississippi and Marshall University.  

Predicting the 2021 Academy Awards

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released their nominations for the 2021 Oscars and for the first time in a long time, I am pleasantly surprised. While there’s always room to improve, this year’s list is actually both one of the most diverse ever — with several nominations making history — and one of the most quality, at least in my opinion. After seeing how my Golden Globes predictions shored up against the results,  I have an updated list of who I think will and should win, as well as who I think was snubbed and who maybe should have been, some of the biggest categories at the Oscars.

Volleyball falls to No. 6 Baylor in a five-set thriller

Going into Friday night’s game, Rice volleyball had won their previous 12 conference matches, which capped off Rice’s first-ever undefeated conference season. On Friday night, the Owls proceeded with their conference tournament preparation by playing national powerhouse Baylor University. The Owls got out to an early lead, but fell to the Bears in five sets. Despite the loss, head coach Genny Volpe said that the match provided opportunities to test new lineups and focus on the team’s blocking.  

Sid Rich Theatre’s original radio play ‘Space Axed’ embraces spontaneity

Nafisa Istami wanted to put on a play with members of Rice’s theater community, and she knew exactly what she had in mind: a murder mystery set in space, with audience interaction that dictated the ending. Despite being planned as a traditional play in Sid Richardson College’s new building’s theater space, the final product, “Space Axed,” is a live radio play by Sid Rich Theatre that met all of Istami’s expectations and more. 

HACER’s ¡Ritmo! celebrates community resiliency and futurity

¡Ritmo! is known for being an explosion of vibrant colors, sounds and style, and for the members of Rice’s Hispanic community involved onstage and behind the scenes, it’s both a celebration of their cultures and a testament to their perseverance. The annual showcase is the chef-d’œuvre of the Hispanic Association for Cultural Enrichment at Rice. This year’s Ritmo (Spanish for “rhythm”) will be screened virtually at watch parties hosted by each of the residential colleges on Saturday, March 27. The event will include singing, dancing, poetry recitation and other artistic interpretations from both Rice students and members of the larger Houston community.