The women’s basketball team received potentially great news on Monday: when it tips off its opening game of the NCAA Tournament on Friday at 1 p.m., it will do so a mere two hour drive from its home court — in College Station on the campus of Texas A&M University.
Every election cycle, candidates push to increase the diversity of ideas that make their way from the student body to the Student Association Senate.
The Thresher editorial board strongly supports the Student Association’s efforts to prevent violent and sexual abusers from holding elected office in campus-wide organizations, including the SA Senate.
It is the opinion of the Thresher editorial board that only Brown College junior Grace Wickerson has the experience, attitude and knowledge to effectively lead the student body as next year’s Student Association president.
Revelations related to Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s blackface appearance led to similar discoveries at Rice — in our very own Campanile yearbooks.
Petitions for the campus-wide Student Association ballot are due Sunday, and it’s not too late to consider running for a position. Often, the same individuals who served in the government their freshman year are the ones who ultimately run for SA or college leadership positions.
The new summer school financial aid is undoubtedly a good thing (see p. 3). In fact, it appears to place Rice ahead of its peer institutions. Harvard, Yale and Princeton Universities only offer loans for summer courses which must be paid back — Rice’s new grants, which need not be paid back, expand summer school access to those for whom the cost might be prohibitive.
Duncan College Magister Caleb McDaniel announced a ban on all private gatherings at Duncan serving alcohol, including wine and beer on Dec. 3, alleging that student leadership had turned a blind eye to hard alcohol consumption at the college. The Thresher believes this ban to be misguided and counterproductive.
The pay gap between male full professors and female full professors is $11,580 as of the 2017-18 academic year (see p. 1). This gap has grown over the past eight years from $6,526 in 2010-11 and $9,244 in 2013-14.
This week, the Rice Program Council changed the theme for Esperanza, which will take place at the Houston Museum of African American Culture, from “A Night at Gatsby’s” to “A Taste of the Twenties.” The change occurred after the Black Student Association, Rice African Student Association and the National Society of Black Engineers reached out to RPC with concerns that the initial theme was based on a novel that is not racially inclusive and overlooks the contributions of the African American community to culture in the 1920s. By meeting with student leaders and altering the theme, RPC responded in a thoughtful and appropriate way. The discussion that led to the change is an example of honest and critical conversations that we should be engaging in.
This past weekend, Rice’s volleyball team won two away matches to extend its winning streak to a program-record 13 matches in a row, breaking the old record of 12 set in 1995. This is a historic and extremely impressive accomplishment for head coach Genny Volpe’s team. But almost no one at Rice was able to watch it happen.
Last year, Chi Alpha staff member Mathison Ingham commented to the Thresher that Evening of Elegance was meant to provide an environment with “dignity” compared to Night of Decadence. That set off a whirlwind of criticism culminating in a fiery op-ed from then-Wiess College senior Josh Kaye. Chi Alpha did not publicly respond to the criticism.
This week, as promised, Rice officials sat down with representatives from the Rice International Student Association (see p. 1). Unfortunately, the administration’s comments described by RISA members are symptomatic of an overall apathy towards meaningful progress in financial support for international students. This is our second editorial of the year on the topic of international student aid because we feel it is important not to let this issue be swept aside in a private meeting. Once again, we are calling for greater transparency, not only through clear financial goals but also through increased and transparent communication with international students on how Rice can better support them.
Texas is dead last in the nation in voter turnout, according to census data (see “Push to the Polls” in Features), and the problem is even worse among younger Texans — a paltry 27.3 percent of college-age Texans made it to the polls in the 2016 presidential election. In midterm elections, the problem is even worse. Only 11 percent of Texans aged 18 to 24 reported voting in the 2014 midterms, a stark contrast to the more than half of Texans above 65 who reported voting.
The Rice Investment will expand Rice’s tuition and fee grants dramatically. But the it doesn’t offer the same help to international students, who make up 13 percent of this year’s incoming undergraduate class (see p. 1). To address this, the administration should set measurable and actionable goals for providing financial aid to international students.
The Thresher Editorial Board applauds the Board of Trustees and President David Leebron for demonstrating Rice’s dedication to financial accessibility.
