Special Projects

NEWS 3/10/20 8:06pm

Student-run businesses close in wake of COVID-19

By Rynd Morgan

All student-run businesses, including Rice Coffeehouse, Rice Bikes and The Hoot in addition to student-owned East-West Tea, will be closed from now until the end of spring break, according to the businesses’ respective Facebook pages. The closures come in the wake of the cancellation of all classes for the week of March 9.

OPINION 3/10/20 6:44pm

Centralize COVID-19 communication

By Thresher Editorial Board

As students in the midst of a global epidemic, we understand that there are things we must sacrifice for our safety and the safety of our community: no in-person classes, no Beer Bike, no school-sponsored trips.

OPINION 3/10/20 6:42pm

This is voter suppression

By Hannah Kaplan

On election day, Poe Elementary, the closest polling location to Rice, had wait times upward of two hours. The Rice University Young Democrats, Rice University College Republicans and Civic Duty Rice worked with the administration to provide a Rice shuttle to transport students to the polls.

OPINION 3/10/20 6:39pm

Letter to the editor: ‘Do-errs’ do learn to lead

By Brooklyn Holt

In her March 3 opinion piece, Rachel Lisker misrepresents many Rice students and provides inaccurate information about the Doerr Institute.

SPORTS 3/10/20 6:37pm

Men’s basketball snags No. 12 seed in C-USA tournament

By Ben Baker-Katz

Rice men’s basketball will begin the Conference USA tournament tonight when they take on Florida International University at 6:30 p.m. in Frisco, Texas at the Ford Center at the Star. The Owls have already seen the Panthers once this year, culminating in a 92-78 Rice victory back in January.

SPORTS 3/10/20 6:34pm

Women’s basketball enters C-USA tournament as No. 1 seed

By Ben Baker-Katz

Rice women’s basketball will look to defend its Conference USA title when the team plays its first game of the C-USA tournament tomorrow. The Owls’ opponent is not yet known, as they will be playing the winner of Wednesday’s game pitting Marshall University against the University of Southern Mississippi.

SPORTS 3/10/20 6:34pm

Men’s tennis set for two matches at home this week

By Spencer Moffat

After winning a match against Prairie View A&M University on March 2 in which the Rice men’s tennis team convincingly won the doubles point and all six singles matches, the Owls lost 1-6 to No. 3 University of Texas, Austin.

FEATURES 3/10/20 6:19pm

From Rice to reality TV: Shaan Patel connects back to his roots on new Bravo show

By Kavya Sahni

When Shaan Patel graduated from Rice in 2014, he only had plans to be an architect. Now, he is one of the stars of “Family Karma,” a new reality show on Bravo TV.

FEATURES 3/10/20 6:12pm

Fernanda Lago finds expression in laser-cutting earrings

By Ivanka Perez

When she was younger, Fernanda Lago was too much of a tomboy to wear earrings. An avid sports player, she had no interest in dangly earrings — they only got in the way. Little did she know that a decade later, she’d be designing and selling her own.

A&E 3/10/20 5:56pm

Historic SXSW cancellation leaves Austin arts industries reeling

By Katelyn Landry

South by Southwest, an annual music, film, technology and media festival held in Austin, was canceled Friday, March 6 amid concerns about COVID-19. The cancellation was ordered after both the City of Austin and Travis County declared a local state of disaster on Friday. Despite having no reported cases of coronavirus in the Austin area, the declarations were signed by Mayor Steve Adler and Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt as a precautionary measure against the rapidly escalating epidemic.

A&E 3/10/20 5:55pm

Review: Indie duo Tennis brings intimacy to Houston show

By Lia Pikus

Last Monday night, as indie duo Tennis took the stage at White Oak Music Hall, frontrunner Alaina Moore and I had two important things in common: We both were sporting fabulous jumpsuits, and we both were horribly sick with head colds.

A&E 3/10/20 5:54pm

DJ Screw’s legacy manifests beyond music at new CAMH exhibit

By Sanvitti Sahdev

Two decades after his death, DJ Screw’s legacy has been captured and immortalized by 15 visual artists at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston in a unique two-part exhibition titled “Slowed and Throwed: Records of the City Through Mutated Lenses.” The exhibit is inspired by the techniques of the chopped and screwed genre, which DJ Screw, born Robert Earl Davis Jr., developed in the early 1990s, and which has since become synonymous with Houston’s hip-hop identity.

NEWS 3/4/20 12:18am

Rice employees donate mostly to Democratic candidates

By Serene Lee

Rice faculty and administrators have donated $791,014 to various political campaigns and organizations since the 2012 election cycle, with the majority of donations going to Democratic candidates, according to a review of the Federal Election Commission Records.

NEWS 3/4/20 12:14am

University-sponsored international spring break travel cancelled over growing coronavirus concerns

By Rachel Carlton

The Rice Crisis Management Team announced on Tuesday morning that all university-sponsored international spring break travel and any other official international travel would be suspended due to the concern over COVID-19, colloquially known as coronavirus.

NEWS 3/4/20 12:12am

Faculty Senate removes 60 credit hours outside major rule

By Savannah Kuchar and Rynd Morgan

The Faculty Senate voted to remove the requirement that undergraduate students complete 60 credit hours outside of their major coursework, at their Feb. 19 meeting.

NEWS 3/4/20 12:10am

Panel discusses xenophobia sparked by coronavirus

By Christina Tan

After six Rice Alert emails about the novel coronavirus COVID-19 and rising fear about the spread of the disease, student clubs on campus organized to address another aspect of COVID-19: xenophobia toward Asians and Asian Americans. Last Thursday, faculty members and students gathered to listen to panelists speak about the topic and offer potential solutions.

NEWS 3/4/20 12:07am

RUPD urges calm in response to coyote sightings on campus

By Brian Lin

The first on-campus coyote sighting in two decades prompted Rice University Police Department to issue a warning, according to Chief of Police Clemente Rodriguez.

NEWS 3/4/20 12:02am

Houston water main break affects off-campus students, some areas of campus

By Rynd Morgan

Following the burst of a major water pipe in east Houston, some locations on campus and some students off campus lost access to clean tap water for 24 hours. In addition, classes were cancelled on Thursday after 5 p.m., and several off-campus students were impacted by a boil water notice placed over the city of Houston.

NEWS 3/3/20 11:38pm

Student Association calls for student accommodations amid coronavirus alerts

By Anna Ta

The Student Association introduced a new resolution recommending that Rice implement student accommodation policies in the case of an outbreak of COVID-19 cases, colloquially known as coronavirus, at Monday’s SA Senate meeting. Resolution #15 also calls for Rice to “strengthen its public health efforts in response to the concerns surrounding coronavirus.”

A&E 3/3/20 11:25pm

Inferno Gallery is on hiatus. How did it lose its flame?

By Ella Feldman

First, it was an office. Then it transformed into Matchbox Gallery, a 1,600-square-foot gallery nestled into the Sewall Hall courtyard. The space was the only student-run art gallery at Rice, overseen by the visual and dramatic arts department. In 2018, after a decade that saw numerous exhibitions, renovations and leadership changes, Matchbox rebranded as Inferno. During the 2018 - 2019 school year, Inferno hosted six exhibitions and evening gallery openings that featured music, wine and a delectable array of snacks from Trader Joe’s.