Letter from the editors’ desk: We’ll meet you where you stand
Our primary goal at the Thresher has been — and will always be — to serve as a watchdog for the student body, to inform, to entertain and to criticize. As we begin our term as editors in chief, we remain dedicated to our central tenets, but we understand how much we have yet to learn.
The past several months have shown the impact student journalists can have. For example, The Stanford Daily’s investigation into allegations of scientific misconduct in Stanford president Marc Tessier-Lavigne’s research prompted his resignation; and at Northwestern, The Daily unearthed allegations of racism and hazing on the football team, leading to football coach Pat Fitzgerald’s firing.
This year alone, Rice has formally shifted into a new athletic conference, announced plans to build two new residential colleges, made plans to redesign the academic quad, reset the student center project, hired a new athletic director and seen a record low acceptance rate.
Rice is moving in a new direction — and we’re excited to report on it. We also know our commitment to honest, timely and accessible journalism is as important as ever.
As many former editors in chief have said, our mission can be summed in one word: trust. Without your trust, our work will not benefit you. We will strive to build and retain your trust by promoting and publicizing our clear, transparent brand of journalism.
Timeliness is essential across all aspects of the Thresher. A growing university requires even more attention, from daily coverage — such as this week’s breaking news about the new student center delay — to long-term investigations. One year after introducing our Special Projects team, the Thresher has dug into gentrification, abortion, student labor, athletic failures and more. Our focused investigations will continue into the new school year.
Finally, we are taking additional steps to increase the accessibility of our journalism. Although we will continue to print our paper issues — crossword included — every week, journalism is rapidly shifting towards digital platforms. In that spirit, we’ve expanded our social media staff and are branching out into new forms of multimedia, online-only content. The Thresher is run by the students and for the students. We need to meet you where you stand.
To those who are interested in making this difference, we invite you to join us. The door to our office is always open.
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.