Residents frustrated with Life Tower condition upon move-in
The new Life Tower apartment complex, a popular off-campus housing option, has faced criticism from Rice student tenants for ongoing issues since the building opened this month.
The new Life Tower apartment complex, a popular off-campus housing option, has faced criticism from Rice student tenants for ongoing issues since the building opened this month.
Ambassador David Satterfield assumed the position of director of the Baker Institute of Public Policy July 1. He succeeds the previous director, Ambassador Edward Djerejian, who served as director of the institute for 28 years.
Jamey Rootes, recently appointed director of the Hutchinson Leadership Initiative in sports analytics in the department of sports management, died in Houston on Aug. 21 at the age of 56. His wife, Melissa Rootes, shared the news on Monday, saying he had been battling mental health issues.
Starting this fall, all matriculating students must take a class of at least three credit hours that meets the new Analyzing Diversity requirement. According to the General Announcements, these courses will primarily consist of three areas: social and cultural analysis, system inequities and their redress, and equity, knowledge and the university. These courses are meant to focus on how difference is understood across societies, how understandings have changed through time and their specific consequences on human development.
Rice admitted its last class of Rice-Baylor College of Medicine Medical Scholars this year, and it has since elected to terminate the program citing differences in opinion on how the program should evolve, according to Vice President of Enrollment Yvonne Romero da Silva. In the past two years, Baylor College of Medicine had also limited the number of students admitted from six to three students.
Changes will be made to the Rice Critical Thinking in Sexuality curriculum, a violence-prevention program with discussions on sexual consent and communications, beginning this semester, which includes an optional sixth session and several changes to the course’s original curriculum.
Out of 31,442 applicants, only 8.7% of students were admitted, with a yield of 44%, for a matriculating class of 1,210 students as a part of the Class of 2026 this year, according to Vice President for Enrollment Yvonne Romero da Silva. Amid plans of expanding the student body, this serves as a lower admittance rate, in comparison to 9% for the Class of 2025.
The 2022-2023 school year brings with it not only a new president for Rice University, but also new leadership in other administrative positions. So far this year, the university has introduced five new members of administration: Omar Syed as vice president and general counsel, Paul Cherukuri as vice president of innovation, Ramamoorthy Ramesh as vice president of research, Kelly Fox as vice president of finance and administration and Paul Padley as vice president of information technology and chief information officer. Rice also named Amy Dittmar as the new provost.
Amy Dittmar, the senior vice provost for academic and budgetary affairs and a professor of economics and finance at the University of Michigan, has been selected as Rice’s new provost, incoming president Reginald DesRoches announced Thursday. DesRoches, the current provost, will become Rice’s president on July 1, and Dittmar will start August 1.
The 109th Convocation ceremony was held in person this past Friday night, with no restrictions on attendance. Hundreds of class of 2022 Rice undergraduates passed under the Sallyport before meeting at Rice football stadium for the ceremony.
The Student Association executive board drafted a formal complaint against the Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship to present to University Court for violation of the SA Constitution nondiscrimination policy that every Rice organization is required to adhere to. This complaint comes in light of the recently published Thresher article, where several students shared their experience with discrimation within the club on the basis of sexual orientation.
In response to the growing class sizes, the Office of Academic Advising’s Director Christine Martinez said that it will be expanding its divisional advisor program. Each college will be adding three DAs — one in Social Sciences, another in Natural Sciences and the third in Engineering.
The 109th commencement ceremony is expected to proceed as normal with no restrictions, according to Cynthia Wilson, deputy secretary to the Board of Trustees.
Several residential colleges, including Brown College, Duncan College and Will Rice College have reported a decline in student interest for on-campus housing next year, attributing this decrease to several factors including the pandemic, housing prices and food options. However, some colleges, such as Wiess College, have also experienced less on-campus housing availability, partly due to the larger size of incoming classes.
In the coming years, Rice’s visual and dramatic arts department is anticipating a drastic restructuring of its current curriculum, according to Dean of Humanities Kathleen Canning and VADA Chair Bruce Hainley. Theatre students voiced concerns about these changes, as well as safety and Americans with Disabilities Act compliance issues in the current theatre building, Hamman Hall.
Rice University’s speech and debate teams won several awards for their 2021-2022 competition season. Debate team members Jacob Tate and Maximus Renteria won the team its second national championship in the National Parliamentary Debate Association 2022 Championship tournament, and the team placed No. 5 in the overall season sweepstakes, according to David Worth, the director of the George R. Brown Forensics Society. The speech team placed twelfth in the overall season sweepstakes category at the American Forensic Association National Speech tournament.
The recent rise in COVID cases on campus prompted the reinstatement of masks in classrooms, the reduction of indoor dining to half capacity and the closure of The Pub at Rice, according to an email sent by the Chair of Crisis Management Advisory Committee Kevin Kirby late last week.
Following Rice Program Council’s announcement of the official 2022 Beer Bike results, students from Jones College said they plan to contest their third place finish in the women’s race.
One of the last things newly matriculated students expect at Rice is intolerance based on sexual identity. However, the Thresher spoke to three students who shared experiences with exactly that in the national Christian organization Chi Alpha, as well as issues regarding victim blaming and alcohol consumption.
Rice administration has canceled public parties for the rest of the semester, according to Thursday night emails from college presidents. Additionally, capacity in college commons has been halved, masks are required in classrooms and The Pub at Rice has closed until further notice, according to a message from Kevin Kirby, chair of the Crisis Management Advisory Committee.