Rice suspends standardized testing requirements for Class of 2025
Rice’s Office of Admission has removed the standardized testing requirements for the 2020-21 admission cycle due to disruptions caused by the pandemic.
Rice’s Office of Admission has removed the standardized testing requirements for the 2020-21 admission cycle due to disruptions caused by the pandemic.
Rice has announced plans to allocate all $3.4 million in funds received from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act to students, according to an email sent yesterday morning from Dean of Undergraduates Bridget Gorman and Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Seiichi Matsuda.
We asked Black students if they wanted to respond to the countless instances of racist violence against Black Americans, and the protests taking place across the country as a result. Here’s what they said.
In the 2019 documentary “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am,” Morrison encouraged those looking to make change to ask themselves, “What can I do where I am?” That sentiment sparked Summar McGee (Hanszen College ’20) to found Rice For Black Life, she said. Rice For Black Life is a Black-led coalition of 45 Rice students, Rice affiliates and community members seeking to “support Black liberation, the affirmation of Black life and the abolition of white power structures,” according to a recent email from the group.
Clancy Sheridan Taylor, a graduate student in the English department, died on May 16 at age 25. They had just received a Master of Arts in English for their two years of study.
Rice announced the health protocols, which will be in place starting June 1 until further notice, in an email to students yesterday. Leebron had previously shared a $10 million budget gap caused by COVID-19 and the potential for full-time employees to be furloughed in a town hall on Friday.
With an in-person graduation ceremony indefinitely postponed, the class of 2020 was presented in a virtual commencement ceremony, livestreamed yesterday on the university’s YouTube and Facebook page. The undergraduate ceremony included footage of students and campus, messages from various community members, and a reading of all the graduating seniors’ names.
Rice administrators are working to change Rice’s sexual misconduct policy in response to the Department of Education’s Title IX changes announced May 6. Students have also mobilized to express concerns over the implications of these policies for survivors of sexual violence at Rice.
President David Leebron announced plans for reopening campus for the fall semester in an email to all faculty and staff on Monday evening. Rice plans to reopen for the fall semester in mid-August with its full population on campus, but there will be significant modifications to class and campus operations, according to Leebron’s email that was obtained by the Thresher.
Rice University will accept the $3.4 million allocated to them through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, according to Kathy Collins, vice president for finance. The purpose of the fund is to provide emergency financial aid grants to students. The U.S Department of Education prohibited Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival recipients and undocumented students from receiving the federal aid provided by the CARES Act.
The Faculty Senate has unanimously approved a second round of academic relief measures, including moving the Pass/Fail deadline to June 1 and allowing undergraduates who drop courses after this Friday to receive a “NG” designation.
U.S. Attorney Ryan Patrick announced last Wednesday that Rice has paid the United States more than $3.7 million to settle allegations of fraud relating to the use of National Science Foundation research and development grants. Rice officials said that they do not admit any liability or violation of the law, according to the Office of Public Affairs.
For some students, moving back home two months earlier than expected to finish out the semester has meant the mixed blessing and curse of home-cooked meals and navigating impossible time differences for Zoom class; for others, it has meant trying to focus long enough to pass courses amid unstable internet access and the burdens of financial stress. For all students, the pandemic has posed unique obstacles to obtaining the education they had hoped to get out of the semester.
After recently rejecting a proposal for the Double A grading policy, the Faculty Senate will deliberate over potential additional accommodations at their April 22 meeting. However, the Student Association released data from a survey of 34.6 percent of the student body on Monday which showed the majority of student support was in favor of the Double A policy.
Rice students aspiring to become doctors do plenty of preparation in their undergraduate years — prerequisite courses, Medical College Admission Tests and clinical experiences. But most students are likely not preparing to be on the front lines of the battle against a global pandemic. However, that’s exactly where a number of Rice alumni have found themselves in the face of COVID-19.
For the first time since our university’s founding in 1912, all instruction is taking place remotely and virtually. For the second time since our founding in 1916, the Thresher has stopped printing physical papers (the first break was during World War I, according to our records) and for the first time has transitioned to emailing a weekly online newsletter (which you can and should subscribe to here). And for the first time in its 64-year history, Beer Bike did not happen.
After a recent Thresher opinion piece in support of Rice adopting a Double A grading policy, students mobilized their support through the creation of a petition. The Faculty Senate Executive Committee unanimously rejected this proposal on April 10, according to Christopher Johns-Krull, speaker of the Faculty Senate.
English professor Colleen Lamos has been suspended, which she said was due to complaints of race-based remarks in class. However, Lamos said she believes Dean of Humanities Kathleen Canning used the complaints as a reason to suspend her for disagreements over ADA accommodations — an accusation that Canning has denied.
Rice will offer temporary housing for medical personnel who work in nearby Texas Medical Center hospitals at Wiess and Hanszen Colleges, according to an announcement from President David Leebron on Sunday afternoon.
Rice announced that it is implementing a staff hiring freeze effective immediately, according to an email sent to division leads and administrators on Wednesday night. The email, which was obtained by the Thresher, also said that there will be no pay raises for staff for fiscal year 2021.