Special Projects

Tennis confident after weekend tournament play

Last weekend, the men’s and women’s tennis teams returned to the court to compete in the International Tennis Association Men’s All American Championships and the Houston Invitational, respectively. These early fall tournaments helped the teams get in more competitions in preparation for the ITA Texas Regionals Tournament in Fort Worth later in the fall.

Football wins its first-ever AAC game, defeats ECU 24-17

Sporting Columbia-blue Houston Oilers-themed throwback jerseys, Rice secured a 24-17 win in their American Athletic Conference home opener against East Carolina University on Saturday. While the Owls only trailed for five minutes in the first quarter, the game was close the entire time as both teams fought for their first AAC win of the season.

10-04-2023 Weekly Scenes and Screens

Review: ‘PAW Patrol’ needs quality control

The evolving relationship between children’s TV and the silver screen is quite fascinating. After all, it is quite challenging to turn formulaic episodes into a two-hour action-packed extravaganza. Still, we can all recall watching our favorite protagonists make a seemingly magical leap from our TV sets to the theaters, with our child-sized minds enamored by animations, explosions and whatnot. 

ACL artists to look out for: Weekend One

While headliners like Kendrick Lamar, the Lumineers, Hozier and Kali Uchis are sure to draw the most major crowds at Austin City Limits this year, each day’s lineup is full of other lesser-known artists you can’t miss out on. From up-and-coming voices in R&B to experimental, new-age pop music, we’d be wrong to not let you know about some of the incredible artists at ACL for weekend one only. 

Not your average marching band. Not even a marching band.

John “Grungy” Gladu is the Marching Owl Band’s longest standing member, and he was never even a Rice student. Celebrating his 51st year as a MOBster this year, Gladu joined the MOB in 1970 at the recommendation of his own band director at Houston Baptist College, now Houston Christian University. Despite spending his first season doing menial tasks and dirty work, he said he was hooked after his first game on the field.

Alumni point future engineers towards the stars

Of the 30 mechanical engineers in John H. Scott’s 1982 graduating class at Rice, four would end up at the level of department head or higher at NASA. Scott himself was among them; now the principal technologist for power and energy storage, he noted that many of his classmates wound up in similar leadership roles.

Rice’s properties: down to Earth and out of the park

Many Rice students know that the university owns and leases some of the land in Rice Village. Lesser known, however, is the scope of Rice’s extensive and occasionally eccentric real estate holdings, which cover everything from the basics to the land that holds a women’s clothing retailer in the Rice Village, the Impeccable Pig.

Laura Correa Ochoa connects her students with revolution

In her syllabus for her course HIST 237 Radicals in the Americas, Laura Correa Ochoa poses a question: “What worlds were radicals in the Americas imagining and building?” Ochoa said her mission is to bring to light the role racial inequality has played in the recent history of Latin America and the Caribbean, especially in her birthplace of Colombia. 

Chopd & Stewd fest celebrates West African food

The aroma of African spices, sounds of afrobeats and a vibrant energy filled the sky lawn at POST thanks to Rice MBA alumnus Ope Amosu ‘14, the visionary behind the Chopd & Stewd festival. The event was a day-long culinary and cultural celebration of the West African diaspora, taking place Sept. 30, the eve of Nigerian Independence Day. 

Reject attempts to label Rice Pride ‘antisemitic’

We are Jewish Rice students, alumni and community members who fully support Rice PRIDE’s decision to cut ties with Houston Hillel, and who fundamentally reject the notion of one, hegemonic, Jewish opinion regarding Zionism on Rice University’s campus. 

Students’ silence on antisemitism scares me

There has been a lot of discourse regarding Rice Pride’s decision to cut ties with Houston Hillel. Yet, throughout this controversy, I’ve noticed an unsettling sense of reluctance to denounce this underlying fact: The precipitating resolution is itself antisemitic. 

Promote civil dialogue and media literacy

Last week, we reported on Rice Pride’s decision to cut ties with Houston Hillel. It was controversial, to say the least. An ugly debate reared its head on social media, with online fights and hateful comments breaking out.

$1 million donation establishes CAAAS postdoctoral fellowship

Rice trustee Terrence Gee and his family donated $1 million to help launch the Dr. Anthony B. Pinn Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Center for African and African American Studies.

President’s house construction nears completion

The Wiess President’s House, which serves as both a private residence for the university president and a space for university-hosted events, is nearing completion of its latest construction phase.

EcoReps’ clothing SWAP promotes on-campus sustainability

Rice EcoReps hosted a two-day clothing exchange Sept. 27-28 prior to the Sid ’80s public. Students were able to donate unwanted clothes and receive clothes free of charge.

African Student Association previews H&D’s Chopd and Stewd Fest dishes

Housing and Dining and the Rice African Student Association collaborated Sept. 29 to taste African dishes, served at the Chopd & Stewd Fest hosted at the POST the next day.

Administration reassures students in light of recent DACA ruling

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas ruled the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program unlawful on Sept. 13. According to this ruling, current DACA recipients, or individuals whose DACA status has been expired for less than one year, can continue to renew their status. However, first-time applications will be blocked.

Pride was too hasty in cutting ties with Houston Hillel

In an email last week, Rice Pride announced an end to its partnership with Houston Hillel, a Jewish campus organization that has hosted events with Pride since 2016. The statement pointed to the “Standards of Partnership” of Hillel International, the parent group of Houston Hillel, which Pride called exclusionary to Palestinian and Arab queer students.

Rice Pride ends partnership with Houston Hillel

Rice Pride ended its partnership with Houston Hillel, a Jewish campus ministry at Rice, on Sept. 18. Pride’s latest statement on the decision says that the organization will no longer “receive funding or co-create spaces with Houston Hillel” and cited concerns by Palestinian and Arab students who did not feel comfortable engaging in Pride due to the partnership.