Special Projects

Rice Pride Fall Festival encourages connection, visibility

Rice Pride hosted its first annual Fall Festival Nov. 3 to highlight queer art and the arrival of the fall season. The festival consisted of a queer market, pumpkin painting, a food truck and games and took place in the Grand Hall of the Rice Memorial Center. It concluded with a drag show later in the evening, with local and student performers. Local queer advocacy groups also tabled at the festival, including Equality Texas. 

Oversold parking permits prompt student frustration

Rice Parking informed South Colleges Lot parking permit holders that they were allowed to use the Entrance 3 Garage if they are unable to find parking spots, according to a September email obtained by the Thresher.

REMS to hold blood drive in Moody Center for Arts Nov. 14

Rice Emergency Medical Services will host a blood drive in collaboration with the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center at the Moody Center for the Arts as part of Collegiate EMS Week Nov. 14. This blood drive will last from noon to 6 p.m. with walk-ins welcome until 5 p.m. 

Tapia talks affirmative action and program failure

University professor Richard Tapia hosted the “Responding to the Fall and Failure of Affirmative Action” presentation Oct. 31. He spoke about a lack of academic support received by underrepresented minority students at Rice in the engineering department after matriculation and suggested potential solutions based on his experiences. 

Mark Ditman awarded inaugural Y. Ping Sun Award

Mark Ditman was the first recipient of the Y. Ping Sun Award for Outstanding Community Engagement after almost 29 years of employment with Rice as the former associate vice president for Housing and Dining. During Ditman’s tenure, he secured a $100,000 grant for mass timber projects at Rice, including the construction of the New Hanszen College Wing, the first mass timber residential building in Texas. Ditman, who retired June 30, was also instrumental in promoting solar energy on campus and developing the college serveries.

Academic Quad closed Nov. 6, redesign to be completed April 2024

The Academic Quad will be closed starting Nov. 6 to begin construction of the redesign, according to a campus-wide email from Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Kelly Fox. The closure and construction are expected to continue through late April 2024. All entrances into the quad will be closed to pedestrians. Access to buildings that surround the quad will remain open through their covered walkways. A temporary walkway will be added to allow ADA access to Anderson Hall while construction of Cannady Hall continues, according to Bryan Miller, facilities and exhibition coordinator for Rice Architecture.

A case for publics blacklisting

There’s been a worrying trend in Rice publics. The talk of the town is the recent issues at Night of Decadence, where a recent email from Wiess College explained that caretaking resources were so stretched thin that the public was shut down entirely. This isn’t the first time this has happened — recent Pub nights have also gotten so bad that Halloweekend Pub was restricted to 21+. Medical resources at these events have faced high numbers of calls multiple times now, and as much as I want to say that NOD was a one-off instance that won’t happen again, I would not be surprised if NOD isn’t the only canceled public this year. What about Martel Beer Bike or Murt Y2K or Inferno?

Clinton and Baker discuss foreign policy at Baker Institute gala

Former U.S. Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and James Baker came to Rice Oct. 26 for the Baker Institute for Public Policy’s “Raising a Meaningful Voice” 30th anniversary gala. Henry Kissinger was slated to be the third guest of honor, but canceled due to an injury. He gave a short virtual address instead.

NOD shut down early after medical resources ‘overwhelmed,’ police altercation

Emergency personnel, crisis management and the Wiess College magisters ended Night of Decadence nearly two hours early Oct. 29, according to Jeff Falk, Rice’s director of news and media relations. 

Community members protest Baker Institute anniversary gala

Students and community members gathered outside the Baker Institute to protest the “Raising a Meaningful Voice” gala held Oct. 26. A Rice University Police Department officer at the protest estimated 200 to 300 people were present at its peak.

Campus Sustainability Day educates students on sustainable habits

The Office of Sustainability worked with student clubs and community members to host Campus Sustainability Day Oct. 24. The event occurred during Campus Sustainability Month designated by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, of which Rice is a member.

11-01-2023 Crossword Solution

11-01-2023 Crossword: "Out of the Park!"

DEAN GORMAN TELLS ALL: WHAT REALLY HAPPENED AT NOD

11-01-2023 Editorial Cartoon: "Owl-American"

Record-breaking performance brightens Golf's poor fall slate

It’s been a semester of swinging and missing for golf as they’ve placed in the bottom half of all but one invitational they’ve competed at. Golf started off the fall slate of tournaments with two average performances at the Argent Financial Classic, finishing tenth out of 16 teams (+6), and finishing 15th out of 22 teams (+22) at the Mark Simpson Colorado Invitational.

Soccer season ends with loss

The Owls lost to the University of Texas at San Antonio 2-0 on Thursday in their last game of the season on Senior Night. Out of the twelve teams in the American Athletic Conference for women’s soccer, Rice was one of four to not qualify for the AAC Women’s Soccer Championship tournament, finishing their season with a 1-7-1 conference record and 3-13-2 overall record, not winning a game at home. 

Column: Rice can stop the Pony Express

Saturday’s game against Southern Methodist University will be Rice Football’s final game against old Southwest Conference foes in 2023. The Owls will take the field with a 4-4 record, not having won at home since September, while the Mustangs seek to extend their four-game win streak and improve to 7-2 on the season. 

Owls drowned by the Green Wave in latest AAC loss

“We came up short” has become an all-too-familiar refrain for Rice football head coach Mike Bloomgren, who uttered this four-word statement again following a 30-28 loss to the No. 22 Tulane Green Wave on Saturday evening at Rice Stadium. The defeat dropped the Owls to 4-4 on the season.

Review: Sampha creates music from another world on ‘Lahai’

You might know Sampha from his insane run of memorable hooks on rap songs such as Kendrick Lamar’s “Father Time” and Kanye West’s “Saint Pablo.” In each of his appearances with other musicians, Sampha’s inimitable vocals steal the show, adding another dimension to the sound.