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Opinion

OPINION 2/4/20 9:22pm

A call to remember what the SA is for

By Ariana Engles and Ashley Fitzpatrick

We, as active participants in the Student Association Senate, feel that the SA is currently operating by a top-down model, with the chain of communication beginning with Rice administration and ending with the students. But the intent of an organization like the SA should be the opposite.

OPINION 2/4/20 9:17pm

Y2K sets dangerous precedent

By Thresher Editorial Board

Saturday night, hundreds of Rice students paid $2 to stand in line for one of the most popular publics of the year, Y2K, with some waiting over two hours only to not get in. Despite claiming that they based the number of wristband sales on statistical “models” that would allow entry to everyone, McMurtry College refused to release this data publicly, leaving the logic and intent behind this new system unclear.

OPINION 1/28/20 9:25pm

Keep SA campaign promises realistic

By Thresher Editorial Board

With the start of a new election season, there are only a few weeks remaining for the current Student Association Executive Council to meet goals set at the beginning of their terms. Given the Thresher Editorial Board’s previous endorsement of Grace Wickerson for SA president on the basis of promises they made at the time, we were particularly interested in progress made on those promises.

OPINION 1/21/20 10:06pm

Deadly shooting at Bellaire High School highlights need for tighter gun control

By Alexa Thomases

Fourteen days. That’s how long the U.S. went before its first fatal school shooting of 2020. Two weeks into the new decade, 19-year-old César Cortés was shot and killed at Bellaire High School, about five miles southwest of Rice. He was a Junior Reserve Officers Training Corpsmember who was enlisted in the Army and had aspirations of serving his country. His death is heart-wrenching. It was also preventable.

OPINION 1/21/20 10:02pm

Not in our name will the Ion perpetuate injustice

By Taylor Crain

The spring of 2019 I heard whispers and read snippets about the Innovation District, which I understood, initially, to be an innovative tech and consulting hub for venture capitalists, startups and big corporations. Immediately, I wanted to be involved out of fear the development would exclude the interests of creative students at Rice and of communities vulnerable to displacement and cultural erasure.

OPINION 1/21/20 10:00pm

Stop saying the r-word: Sincerely, someone on the spectrum

By Josiah Jones

One evening last semester, I sat down at a table with the most familiar faces in my college commons for dinner. We had a lot of scattered conversations about classes, the food and, for some, the past weekend’s late-night escapades. It was during the discussion of this final topic that I heard that word: “Retarded.”

OPINION 1/14/20 11:26pm

New year, new(s)paper

By Thresher Editorial Board

In the spirit of the new year, we as the Thresher’s editorial board have set a few resolutions and invite y’all as the readers to hold us accountable. Going forward, we want to be more transparent about our operations as well as maintaining the standards and policies we’ve created this year in the spirit of transparency. 

OPINION 1/14/20 11:25pm

Building a more financially inclusive Rice undergraduate experience

By Bridget Gorman and Grace Wickerson

At universities across the U.S., including Rice, conversations about inclusion and the affordability of college are ongoing. The last few years have seen growing attention to financial accessibility and the inclusiveness of the Rice experience, and we are impressed by the positive spirit and heartfelt care that so many members of our community have shown toward others. 

OPINION 12/3/19 9:47pm

What can Rice University do to show that they believe Black lives matter?

By Milkessa Gaga and Toluwani Taiwo

“If Black lives matter to Rice then we would not have to ask that question to begin with.” As members of professor Anthony Pinn’s Religion and Black Lives Matter course, we were challenged with the task of applying what we learned in a unique way that engages the Rice community. One of our responses to this challenge was to survey Black voices on campus: “What can Rice University do to show you that they believe your life matters?”

OPINION 11/12/19 10:24pm

Show solidarity against the Bolivian coup

By Jefferson Ren

The military of a South American nation forces a left-leaning president to resign and political violence shakes a nation. Prominent American lawmakers release unfounded statements to discredit the outgoing government and hail the undemocratic transition of power as “allowing the voices of the people to be heard”.

OPINION 11/12/19 10:23pm

The degradation of classical liberalism

By David Getter

Free markets are not very popular on college campuses. As rigid economic regulation has become a staple of leftist politics, another market — the marketplace of ideas — is now being subjected to the same type of boundless regulation.

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