Student funding approved for Catalyst, Rice Rally Club; RVP retains priority status by 19 votes

By Anita Alem     2/23/16 9:40pm

Rice Rally Club and Rice Catalyst are obtaining priority access to student funding through their new blanket tax status, granted by the student body in the general election. Rice Video Productions will retain its blanket tax status.

Blanket tax referenda require a two-thirds vote in favor to pass. Rally Club and Rice Catalyst received 70.2 percent and 71.2 percent of votes in favor of becoming blanket tax organizations. RVP received 65 percent of votes necessary to lose its blanket tax status; the referendum was short of the two-thirds mark by 19 votes so RVP will remain a blanket tax organization.

Rally Club president Jeremy Reiskind said he is excited that the club’s efforts to foster student support for Rice Athletics have paid off.

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“I was truly excited and honored when I learned that Rally Club became a blanket tax organization,” Reiskind, a Duncan College junior, said. “Not only is this a huge step forward for our organization, but it is a huge step forward in student support for Rice Athletics.“

Reiskind said the student body’s support is evidence that they understand the important role Rice Athletics serves on campus and understands the necessity of supporting student-athletes of every sport.

Reiskind said the funding will go toward two main areas. The first will help increase the quantity and quality of the prizes for the Student Reward App. Reiskind said he hopes to Rice Athletics having provided all of the prizes over the past year.

“With funding we can provide prizes as well,” Reiskind said.

The second, according to Reiskind, is to increase the number and size of the tailgates hosted by the club. Rally Club plans to have tailgates for all football games, two to four tailgates for all sports that compete on campus several times, and at least one tailgate for other sports such as swimming, golf, track and field and cross-country.

“We want to turn athletic games into events,” Reiskind said.

As part of the RVP leadership, Lovett College senior Rachel Gray serves as the current station manager, McMutry College junior Minoti Kale will serve as the future station manager and Hanszen College junior Jeremy Kao is the current programming director. Kale won her role in the general election for the uncontested position. Gray, Kale and Kao said they were happy with the result of the blanket tax vote.

“We are looking forward to working with our new advisor, and we are excited about the changes we are in the process of implementing which will result in improvements to RVP,” they said. “We will continue to film major events at Rice and provide support for student passion projects.”

Rice Catalyst posted a thank you to the student body on its Facebook page on Sunday after the results of the voting.

“Because of your help, Catalyst will be able to continue publishing high quality science literature and help promote science literacy across campus!” The statement read. “Thank you to all who voted, we really could not have done it without you.

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