Rice University’s Student Newspaper — Since 1916

Wednesday, March 22, 2023 — Houston, TX

About Us

The Rice Thresher is the official campus newspaper of Rice University, published by undergraduate students. Since its first publication 105 years ago, in January 1916, the Thresher has continued to provide the student body with up-to-date campus news and information. The Thresher is published each Wednesday during the school year with the exception of examination periods and holidays.

The Rice Thresher aims to promote the free flow of information on campus by acting as a designated public student forum and publishing articles relevant to the student body and greater Rice community. To this end, the Thresher publishes a weekly print edition as well as online content.

Want to learn more? Check out our frequently asked questions.


Ben Baker-Katz: Editor-in-Chief
Hailing from Evanston, Illinois, Ben is a senior at Brown College majoring in History and Political Science. He loves almost everything about Texas, especially the fact that flip flops are an acceptable shoe choice year-round. When he's not writing or editing for the Thresher, Ben can be found reading Politico, watching The West Wing for the umpteenth time, or playing a variety of club and IM sports.

Morgan Gage: Editor-in-Chief
Morgan wanted to be a princess when she was growing up, but since that hasn't worked out she's settled for journalism. She is a senior majoring in English and Visual and Dramatic Arts with a minor in the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality. When not at the Thresher, Morgan can be found reading for her thesis, scrolling through Apple News and listening to sad indie music.

Bonnie Zhao: Managing Editor
Bonnie is a senior from Baker College who, at the time of writing this blurb, is still in the process of getting her drivers license. Her fear of driving is bizarrely accompanied by an intense love for roller coasters and extreme sports such as skydiving. When she's not forced to walk/uber from places to places, you'll most likely find her binging tv shows and ocean documentaries at home or listening to Red (Taylor's Version) for emotional support. She loves card games, the idea of having puppies, Aries, and organizing her imdb lists.

Robert Heeter: Art and Design Director
Robert is a junior at Hanszen College from the San Francisco Bay Area, majoring in Bioengineering and tentatively minoring in Physics. Besides his design work for the Thresher, Robert loves to do photoshoots around Rice (along with landscape and astrophotography), explore Houston, go on late night runs, play competitive tennis for the club team, road-trip and hike in National Parks, munch his way through his stash of servery cookies, and watch sunsets. :D

Katherine Hui: Photo Editor
Born and raised in New York, Katherine is a huge fan of arts and design. When she's not designing for the Thresher, chances are you'll find her painting, shooting photos, exploring every art museum in Houston, listening to her favorite design podcasts, or making memes on Photoshop. She's also a long distance runner, so you can find her running on the outer loop every morning (without music). Some call it self-torture, but she prefers "building character."

Jonathan Cheng: Copy Editor
Jonathan is a junior from Jones studying Political Science, Business, and Asian Studies, and he is originally from Hong Kong. Outside of copy editing for the Thresher, he likes to read and play video games. He also loves to watch football (soccer to Americans) with way too much passion and intensity, and firmly believes that Liverpool is the greatest team in the world.

Annika Bhananker: Assistant Copy Editor
Small in stature, but large in frantic energy, Annika has been known to go to the length of getting a part-time job just to get her daily caffeine fix for "free." Although these time-management skills may be questionable, she will undoubtedly make time to eat an ungodly amount of edamame (fav legume) and attempt to learn too many languages on Duolingo.

Prayag Gordy: Special Projects Editor
Prayag is a junior at McMurtry studying statistics and computer science. He's from Takoma Park, Maryland, but his New York family converted him into a huge Yankees fan (and even larger Astros hater). In his free time, you'll find Prayag scrolling through Twitter, trying to memorize Google Maps, and finding new and exciting places to eat.

Hajera Naveed: News Editor
Hajera (Haj) Naveed is a senior from Wiess College majoring in Sports Medicine and Exercise Physiology and minoring in Biochemistry. She has a major addiction to New Girl and has probably watched it through at least thirteen times. When she isn't at Coffeehouse working or sipping her third latte of the day, you can find her off campus thrifting or playing pool/napping at Wiess.

Keegan Leibrock: Assistant News Editor
Keegan is a Junior from Sid Rich College majoring in Economics and Political Science. In his free time, you can find him running a food account with his hometown friends, binging Netflix, and working out at the Rice Rec. Born and raised in Oklahoma City, he enjoys talking philosophy and politics with friends and ordering DoorDash absurdly late into the night. If he's wearing headphones, chances are he is either listening to The Strokes or Rex Orange County on repeat.

Maria Morkas: Assistant News Editor
Although Maria, a Duncan sophomore, has lived most of her life in Houston, she was born in Kentucky, which she is most proud of, #goKFC. Her passions include finishing her meal while finding something to watch on Netflix and window-shopping online. When not taking midday naps, she's probably making chai or finding new restaurants to try.

Anna Chung: News Designer
Anna is a senior at Lovett college studying chemistry. Besides working with the Thresher, Anna enjoys playing with her dog, consuming excessive amounts of watermelon and boba, and listening to Taylor Swift. You can also find her attempting to learn new instruments and unsuccessfully caring for her dying succulent collection.

Nayeli Shad: Opinion Editor
Nayeli is a junior from Brown college studying BioSciences. When she's not working on the Thresher, you can find her rambling about pop music, devouring hour-long video essays, or painting her nails instead of memorizing biological reactions.

Siddhi Narayan: Opinion Designer
Siddhi is a sophomore at Sid Richardson majoring in Mathematical Economic Analysis and Statistics. She spends most of her time listening to music and psychoanalyzing her friends. When not designing for the Thresher, she likes spending time with others, trying new food, and spending all her tetra at CHAUS.

Riya Misra: Features Editor
If Riya isn't responding to her texts, she's probably sitting on the floor eating artichokes with her phone turned off. She enjoys doing her eyeliner, watching American Horror Story, claiming to be a vegetarian, and sneaking frozen chicken nuggets.

Alice Sun: Features Designer
Alice is a sophomore from Will Rice studying Health Science and Sports Medicine! When she isn't hanging out in Will Rice commons, this Las Vegas native can be found admiring the various pigeons, blue jays, and robins around campus or waiting in line for boba at East West. Some of Alice's favorite things to do include crocheting, embroidering, playing video games, and getting food with friends! Her favorite food is rice (in all its different forms), but you can find her trying various cuisines all around Houston. She is also deathly scared of bugs, so if you see her acting skittish around campus, don't worry - she is probably just running from a butterfly.

Michelle Gachelin: Arts and Entertainment Editor
Michelle is a junior majoring in Health Sciences, and spends most of her time making new playlists and watching romantic comedies (the more plot holes, the better). When she's not writing for the Thresher, she likes to explore Houston and spam her twin brother with TikToks. You can also find her waiting in line at Brochstein or Chaus, or playing air hockey at Sid.

Ivana Hsyung: Arts and Entertainment Designer
Ivana is a junior at Will Rice and is constantly having a crisis about her height. Paradoxically, her greatest fears consist of being in high places, seeing people in high places, and talking to cashiers. There's a reason she's not a writer or an editor, because the third item on the aforementioned list was in no way related to the other two, the aforementioned list contained an oxford comma (and this one will too), and aforementioned was aforementioned four times in this sentence.

Daniel Schrager: Sports Editor
Daniel is a senior from Los Angeles in his fourth year with the sports section. In his free time, Daniel complains about the Thresher.

Pavithr Goli: Assistant Sports Editor
Pavithr is a junior at Lovett College studying Neuroscience. Raised in Houston, TX, he hates the humid summers but loves everything else about Texas. When he's not writing for the Thresher, Pavithr loves hanging out with his friends or listening to music. As an assistant sports editor, Pavithr naturally loves all sports and is disappointed on a consistent basis as a life-long supporter of the Texans, Rockets, and Astros. And for all you haters, the Astros didn't cheat because the entire league was doing it.

Olivia Robson: Sports Designer
Olivia is a Baker sophomore from Long Island, New York majoring in Sociology and VADA Studio Art with a minor in Medical Humanities. She can be found heavily procrastinating on her work by asking her parents to send pictures of her 3 legged cat Rodger and dog Winnie, doing crossword puzzles, walking the inner loop listening to Taylor Swift, or working at Pub. She is super excited to be working with the Thresher, living her high school dream of designing for Cosmo (her favorite guilty pleasure read).

Andrew Kim: Backpage Editor
There are 90 Andrews on Rice campus, as well as 70 Kims. And there are three Andrew Kims, but this is the only one writing for the Backpage. Andrew is a sophomore Lovetteer from the Chicago suburbs studying Political Science and Managerial Econ, and his favorite pastime is confusing people about whether he's joking or not. He's an escape room junkie outside of Thresher, but he can never seem to escape his own crippling addiction to purchasing vinyl records.

Ndidi Nwosu: Backpage Editor
Ndidi Nwosu (just call her DD) is a junior majoring in Computer Science (sorry). Although she moved to Dallas years ago, she was raised in Queens, New York and still stubbornly considers herself a New Yorker. She likes to spend her time pretending to be good at skating, playing silly little table-top games, and laughing at her own jokes before she can say them.

Timmy Mansfield: Backpage Editor
Timmy is a Junior from McMurtry college studying Chemistry. Besides being the Thresher (Co-) Resident Spongebob Expert, Timmy has been working with the Backpage for his whole time at Rice and it's shaped him into the whimsical man he is today. Outside of the Thresher, Timmy enjoys watching the Buffalo Bills, being a gaming warlord, and helping coach the best Powderpuff team on campus.

Lauren Yu: Backpage Designer
Lauren is a sophomore at Jones who has spent most of her life on Long Island, NY. She's majoring in Biosciences and minoring in Data Science and Neuroscience (in theory). She has a terrible sense of direction, but if she's not struggling to make her way across campus, you can probably find her playing tennis, listening to indie pop music, taking pictures of squirrels, hanging with friends at Chaus or obsessing over cute dogs.

Cali Liu: Assistant Photo Editor
Cali is a sophomore from Duncan College majoring in Psychology, with minors in Environmental Studies and Neuroscience. She is from San Diego, California, and enjoys taking photographs, playing on the Rice Women's Club Soccer team, creating art, reading, running, and spending time in nature.

Brandon Chen: Web Editor
Brandon is a junior from outside Los Angeles who often wonders what it's like to be a dog (especially his own): frolicking, jumping to meet people and napping. He also loves exploring the unknown, be it conquering new peaks of Angeles National Forest, reading a new book and discovering new stories or trying and making new foods. In his free time, you'll find him around Will Rice, vibing to songs, shooting photos and videos and dreaming about traveling the world.

Jasmine Liou: Video Editor
Jasmine is a junior at Lovett college from Taipei, Taiwan. When not filming or editing videos, she can often be found enjoying a good cup of boba or tea outdoors or inside Lovett commons working or supposed to be working. She likes to spend her free time playing video games, watching movies, and taking naps.

Camille Kao: Assistant Video Editor
Camille is a Junior at Brown studying computer science. When she isn't swamped with homework after procrastinating for a week, she is probably taking photos, beating up people on chess.com, or taking naps in random spots around campus. Feel free to play chess against her if she isn't sleeping.

Eli Johns-Krull: Assistant Video Editor
Eli is a sophomore majoring in Physics and VADA Film and Photography. When they're not filming around campus or fighting with (read: losing to) Premiere, they're probably riding their bike around Houston to test just how un-bike friendly their hometown actually is.

Ariana Moshiri: Social Media Manager
Ariana is a junior Lovetteer from Toronto, Canada. Even though she's technically lived in Houston for the past 7 years, she's still very Canadian and always makes sure to share that she's from Canada. Ariana has over 192,000 photos in her camera roll and over 2400 icloud notes. No exaggeration; she loves saving/ compiling random thoughts, quotes, things she finds beautiful, links, lists, journal entries, doodles, weird dreams from the night before, anything that make her smile or cry or think... As a Health Science and Neuroscience double major on the premed track, you'd expect Ariana to be studying all of the time. Honestly, she should be. But instead, she loves to go out with friends, bike around campus, watch basketball, make music (usually just sing and play piano), and volunteer at the Rice Women's Resource Center. Oh, and did we mention she's from Canada?

Jazmine Castillo: Distribution Manager
Jazmine Castillo is a senior from McMurtry College majoring in Biosciences. She has a tuxedo cat named Winnie, and is looking forward to my final year at Rice.