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NEWS 1/18/22 10:57pm

Rice alumnus named a TIME 2021 Hero of the Year

By Bonnie Zhao

Rice alumnus Barney Graham ’75, a renowned virologist whose research led to the development of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, has been named a 2021 Hero of the Year by TIME Magazine. TIME Magazine extended its “Person of the Year” category in 2021 to include “Hero of the Year,” awarding the title to Graham and three other prominent vaccine scientists who developed the COVID-19 vaccine — Kizzmekia Corbett, Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman.

NEWS 1/11/22 11:10pm

Rice adjusts to record-high COVID cases as students begin return

By Prayag Gordy

More than 326 Rice community members tested positive for COVID-19 from Jan. 3 to Jan. 10 as the Omicron variant spreads rapidly across the country. Through the entirety of the 2020-2021 academic year, Rice reported 367 cases. In response to the rise in cases, President David Leebron and Provost Reginald DesRoches announced over email that the first two weeks of most classes will be online. They also asked students to delay their return to campus, prohibited indoor dining, required vaccine boosters and reimplemented a full indoor mask mandate.

NEWS 1/11/22 11:04pm

Rice requires boosters for students and employees

By Prayag Gordy

All students and employees eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster are required to get one as soon as possible, unless granted a medical or religious exemption, according to an email from President David Leebron and Provost Reginald DesRoches.

NEWS 1/11/22 2:38pm

Rice named as one of 16 schools in financial aid lawsuit

By Ben Baker-Katz

Rice is one of 16 universities alleged to have broken federal antitrust laws by violating the terms of an exemption which allowed universities to use a shared method of calculating applicants’ financial needs. The plaintiffs allege that this shared method resulted in price-fixing and unfairly limited aid to students, according to a lawsuit filed Sunday.

NEWS 12/26/21 5:00pm

Classes to be online for first two weeks, booster now required

By Talha Arif

Courses will be delivered online for the first two weeks of the spring semester, and vaccine boosters will be required for all employees and students effective Jan. 10, according to an email sent Dec. 26 by President David Leebron and Provost Reginald DesRoches. This announcement follows a recent mask mandate reimplemented amidst the spread of the Omicron variant.

NEWS 11/30/21 11:17pm

Rice mandates COVID vaccine for all employees

By Viola Hsia

Rice announced that all faculty and staff are now required to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19, in an email sent on Nov. 19 by Kevin Kirby, chair of the Crisis Management Advisory Committee. According to the policy’s document, the new vaccination policy comes after President Biden issued Executive Order 14042, which mandates that all federal contractors require their employees or anyone connected with a federal contract to be fully vaccinated by Jan. 4, 2022, unless granted a medical or religious exemption. 

NEWS 11/30/21 11:15pm

Rice implements $15 minimum wage for employees

By Morgan Gage

Rice University will institute a $15-per-hour minimum wage for regular and temporary staff as announced in President Leebron’s address to the faculty senate on Oct. 21. This change will be implemented in the upcoming 2023 fiscal year, taking effect on July 1, 2022. 

NEWS 11/30/21 11:14pm

New “Sarofim Hall” VADA building to be constructed

By Megan Xiao

Rice University will construct a new building for visual and dramatic arts students and faculty, named Susan and Fayez Sarofim Hall. The building will be situated adjacent to the Moody Center for the Arts. The $25 million building will be a 50,000-square-foot facility, joining the Shepherd School of Music’s Alice Pratt Brown Hall and the Brockman Hall for Opera as part of a Rice arts district. The district aims to serve as a resource for Rice students and faculty and the Houston community, according to the Rice News article.

NEWS 11/30/21 11:08pm

Campus sees handful of bike, scooter thefts this semester

By Hajera Naveed

There has been a recent rise in the number of reported electric scooter thefts on campus, according to Rice University Police Department Chief of Police Clemente Rodriguez. There were a total of five reports of electric scooter thefts this semester, with four occurring in November.

NEWS 11/16/21 11:09pm

Students introduce resolution at SA Senate to relocate WMR statue

By Bonnie Zhao

Students demanded that Rice University remove William Marsh Rice’s statue from the Central Academic Quadrangle to a new, non-prominent location by the end of this academic year, during the Nov. 15 Student Association Senate meeting. The SA will vote on the resolution Nov. 29, according to SA President Kendall Vining.

NEWS 11/16/21 11:04pm

REFS held on Nov. 12 to discuss financing energy transition

By Viola Hsia

The 13th annual Rice Energy and Finance Summit was held at McNair Hall in the Jones Graduate School of Business on Friday, Nov. 12. The goal of the event was to discuss how to finance the transition to renewable energy resources, according to the school’s website and event information.

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