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Opinion

OPINION 8/26/25 9:11pm

Letter from the editors’ desk: Journalism is a community practice

By Kathleen Ortiz and Sarah Knowlton

First of all, we want to thank y’all for picking up the paper, reading our stories and answering our questions all the time. We want to inform students, staff and the community about what is happening at Rice, and the only way to do that is by hearing from you. Talk to us, email us, submit tips on our website, write an opinion piece; however you want to communicate, we always want to know what matters to you.

OPINION 8/26/25 9:07pm

Letter from the Provost: Welcome and good luck, new Owls

By Amy Dittmar

Welcome to Rice! We look forward to guiding you as you experience this special place that encourages students to grow in and outside of the classroom. The culture on campus is built to support you through your successes and challenges as you achieve existing goals and realize new ones. That’s the beauty of Rice — you will be exposed to new opportunities that you didn’t even know were possible.

OPINION 8/4/25 7:44pm

Despite what H&D's new plan may claim, meal swipes were already unlimited

By Felicity Phelan

Imagine an on-campus student moves into their dorm the Saturday before classes start and stays three full days after the latest possible final exam. Imagine this student eats three meals a day, every day, at a servery. Imagine this student never orders Uber Eats, never goes to a restaurant, never gets a meal from a college or club event and never sle eps through breakfast. Imagine this student never travels during weekends, mid-semester recess or Thanksgiving break. Over the course of the semester, this student would eat 354 meals.

OPINION 4/26/25 5:14pm

This moment may be unprecedented — Rice falling short is not

By Tyler Kinzy

In many ways, the current landscape of American higher education is unprecedented. Sweeping cuts to federal research funding, overt government efforts to control academic departments and censor campus protests and arbitrary arrests and visa revocations have rightly been criticized as ushering in the latest iteration of fascism.

OPINION 4/26/25 5:14pm

This moment may be unprecedented — Rice falling short is not

By Tyler Kinzy

In many ways, the current landscape of American higher education is unprecedented. Sweeping cuts to federal research funding, overt government efforts to control academic departments and censor campus protests and arbitrary arrests and visa revocations have rightly been criticized as ushering in the latest iteration of fascism.

OPINION 4/19/25 6:16pm

In defense of Thresher travel

By Jenna Perrone

I grew up in a small town in southern New Jersey called Columbus. Most people from New Jersey haven't even heard of it. If they have, it’s only ever because of our farmers’ market or our supposedly haunted hotel on Main Street. I attended the local public school from preschool through twelfth grade, and I hated every moment of it. 

OPINION 4/18/25 9:29pm

Fund the RWRC

By Felicity Phelan

The Student Association's plan to cut the Rice Women's Resource Center budget is wrong, and you should be mad about it.

OPINION 4/15/25 10:16pm

What it’s like to be undocumented at Rice

 

I’m scared and don’t know how to stop being scared. For years, the fear of deportation loomed over every moment of my life. I developed a phobia of police officers — just seeing one made my stomach turn. The thought of someone discovering my undocumented status was enough to send me into a spiral of anxiety. Even now, despite having legal protections, those fears persist, reminding me that freedom is fragile.

OPINION 4/15/25 10:14pm

Rice should commit to protecting its international students

By Thresher Editorial Board

Last week’s news that five international students – three current students and two recent alumni – have suddenly lost their visas should alarm anyone who values this campus’s global community. The federal government’s “Catch and Revoke” program has already revoked the visas of hundreds of students from universities across the country, raising widespread fears about the stability of international study in the U.S. 

OPINION 4/8/25 9:50pm

Rice has a serious accessibility problem

By Jenna Perrone

Just over a year ago, disability scholar Bowen Cho ranked Rice 35th in a study of disability inclusion and access across 106 universities. Cho noted that the 10-minute transfer period between classes used by Rice and many other universities can pose an issue to students with mobility issues. 

OPINION 3/25/25 10:00pm

Learning how to say goodbye

By Riya Misra

For weeks, I’ve been staring at this blank document, unsure what to write. How do you say goodbye to the most formative job of your (young) life? For two years, I’ve spent my Mondays and Tuesdays — sometimes Wednesdays, often Thursdays, more Sundays than I’d like to admit — shuttered away in my obnoxiously warm, tiny newsroom. 

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