Editorial: Let’s be honest about why Rice Owls must “give back”
Every year, the Rice Annual Fund solicits donations from students for the Rice Owls Give Back campaign. One reason is to foster a “tradition” of giving back; another is to measure student satisfaction and boost the school’s ranking. Many students, however, aren’t sure why they should donate in addition to the thousands in tuition they already pay. Instead, they are often pressured into coughing up a dollar or two. Contrary to how the program is often portrayed, the amount of money raised only about equals the amount spent to encourage donations.
The very name of the campaign suggests that something valuable has already been given to students. But current students, especially freshmen, might not feel that they have tangibly received anything from Rice besides admission (and attempting to enroll in 600 percent full classes).
Ideally, the Fund would be less duplicitious in their messaging and more cognizant that many paying students aren’t eager to be targeted by a fundraising campaign. Maybe when students graduate, they will “give back” to the school that boosted their careers. However, current Rice students are simply that: students, buried by mountains of loans and coursework.
More from The Rice Thresher
Do more to make campus bird-friendly
April is the month of many things: Beer Bike, a solar eclipse, the last day of classes and, perhaps lesser known, Earth Month. As Rice launches a series of Earth Month events, I would like to address our potential as a campus community to be more environmentally conscious, particularly in an effort to make this campus more friendly to birds.
Take time for yourself during the summer
The academic year’s close means this issue will be our last until the fall semester, which gave us some time to reflect on what our editorial for our last issue should look like.
Student activism is working – and fear-mongering cannot hold us back
S.RES 02, titled “Student Association Boycott and Divestment from Corporations Complicit in the Ongoing Genocide in Gaza,” was presented to the Student Association on March 25. This resolution proposes the creation of an Ethical Spending Advisory Board designed to ensure that Blanket Tax funds are not dedicated to corporations that are complicit in Israeli colonial violence and apartheid based on guidelines created by the BDS movement.
Please note All comments are eligible for publication by The Rice Thresher.