Rice’s Martel College Texas Party responds to Dis-O and NOD alcohol issues

By James Cancelarich     9/2/25 9:20pm

After a Dis-O that saw four times as many calls for intoxication-related transports of students to the hospital compared to the prior three years, Cory Voskanian, a Martel College socials head tasked with planning the first public of the year, said that he was feeling the pressure. 

Threats of a dry campus hovered over Martel’s “Don’t Mess with Texas” party.Voskanian said he felt a need to play it safe, reasoning that a disappointing party was better than no parties at all.

“It’s looming in our heads that we have to be very careful, and for that reason, Texas Party looked a little different than how we would have perhaps wanted,” Voskanian, a sophomore, said.

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Martel’s Texas Party is split between the sundeck and the quad, with a limited capacity on the sundeck. At the beginning of the party, pictures were shared on Fizz, an app where users can post anonymously, of an almost completely empty quad. 

Following the party, a picture of a guillotine began circulating in response to a post asking who the Martel socials heads were.

“I found it kind of humorous, but also, I think it’s a little ridiculous that all it takes is a bad party for you to impose death threats on someone,” Voskanian said of the meme.

However, Voskanian said that he was not paying attention to what he described as the hate.

“People need to understand that some things are beyond one weekend and I think that’s what we kinda came to terms with as a [socials] team,” said Voskanian. “We need to protect campus, the longevity of campus. We don’t want it to be dry forever, because then everyone will be mad and that doesn’t serve anyone well.”

Following Dis-O, college presidents discussed the event with Dean of Undergraduates Bridget Gorman, and they said a ban of alcohol on campus was “seriously considered.” Rice’s last experience with alcohol sanctions was after Wiess College’s “Night of Decadence” public in October 2023. That party was shut down early after seven Rice students were transported to the hospital. Afterwards, public parties were cancelled through spring break and NOD was permanently cancelled.

Voskanian said that he had not received any specific thresholds for what would induce a dry campus. However, he said that those coordinating the Texas Party were on alert.

At Martel, according to Voskanian, one student was transported due to intoxication.

Voskanian did not comment specifically on pressure from administration when planning the party, but described the party as already “set in stone” from an administrative viewpoint. He also described the communication with administration as “not the best on both ends.”

“I feel like the students and admin are like being pitted against each other, and we’re just in the middle receiving all the hate,” Voskanian said. “The reason I don’t feel offended by it is because … I feel like so much of what went into the party is out of my control anyway or has already been established.”

One of the changes made at the Martel public was a restriction of entry into the sundeck about halfway through the party. Voskanian did not comment on the reason for the decision, but said that the decision was made by the Martel socials team.

Orion Pope, the chief justice at Martel, said the Dis-O incidents were taken into account when preparing for Texas party.

“As in past years, [private parties] at Martel were not allowed and we made especially sure this year to keep administration from having to relay very tough decisions onto the student body,” Pope, a junior, wrote in a message to the Thresher.

In addition, Pope said that the sundeck was monitored for capacity, and organizations such as the Baptist Student Ministry provided their usual pancakes to “alleviate drunkenness from hypothetical previous pre-games.”

As with last year, Texas Party did not feature a beer garden, which is often a feature at publics.

Unlike last year, however, Martel’s party was free of charge, unless a student missed ticket pickup time or did not fill out the form for a ticket.

“We wanted it to be accessible,” Voskanian said.

If campus were to go dry, Voskanaian said he would worry about the culture shifting to exclusive off-campus parties, which he described as similar to fraternity parties.

“I think publics work because they’re very inclusive,” Voskanian said. “Anyone could hypothetically go to a public and get a ticket, but when you start fraternizing things, it becomes very exclusive, and then only a certain type of person perhaps could get in.”

Rice does not have fraternities, and is a wet campus. Voskanian said that he views these as integral parts of Rice’s culture.

“If we like it or not, alcohol is a part of how the institution has come up. Beer Bike is the integral event,” Voskanian said. “So it just becomes, like, how much do you want to mess with the culture?”

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