Opinion

​Per Owlstra ad Astra: Why Rice Should Choose Space

It's time for renewed investment to make good on Rice’s astronomical legacy. 

​Intramural Sports: A Mainstay of the Rice Community

Intramural sports are not only one of the most popular extracurriculars on campus according to the Surveys of All Students, but they are also integral to our community.

​Not our cup of tea: Consent merits more complex discussions during O-Week

Everyone remembers the “tea video” from O-Week. Everyone remembers the feeling of absurdity it invoked. Why do we not refer to it as the “consent video”? 

McMurtry is in tents

Tell me what it really means to be South Asian

I grew up surrounded by Indians who would automatically speak to me in Hindi. Why was I expected to know Hindi? I felt immense guilt and would apologetically explain that I speak Tamil, a South Indian language. 

Bitcoin: The Next Frontier for Accessibility at Rice

Rice should extend our definition of accessibility to include the most marginalized populations on the planet: those outside the jurisdictions of stable governments and without access to reliable fiat currency. We can do this by ushering a new form of payment through the Sallyport: bitcoin.

​New dean has potential to be a voice for students

The dean of undergraduates is the primary administrator with the ability to be a voice for the student body. Gorman should actively work with and listen to students rather than act unilaterally as an administrator. 

#notourpeersbike

Editorial: Better financial aid vital to a diverse student body

Rice currently does not conduct need-blind admission for international students, which sets it apart from other prestigious schools that lead in financial aid — and not in a good way. 

From the editor’s desk: Pit safety should be priority for next Beer Bike

Beer Bike is an inherently risky activity that we should constantly strive to make safer. The steps taken by the campuswide Beer Bike coordinators to improve biker certification were much needed in limiting the risk that is ever-present when a pack of 12 bikers takes sharp turns around a track at high speeds.

​Low Income Deniability: Rice must stop taking advantage of international students

Rice cannot claim that it “fosters diversity” if 11.5 percent of its students are denied equal opportunity based on citizenship alone. 

​Not My Beer Bike

I love how much Rice loves Beer Bike. I love the way we call it “Christmas," the platoons of people filling water balloons and building floats, the punning and planning around selecting themes and T-shirt designs.

Editorial: Looking back on 2017-18 Student Association

Overall, the SA under outgoing President Justin Onwenu has certainly brought up important topics that could set up the incoming executive board to further galvanize the Rice student body.

In pursuit of a safer Beer Bike: Next year’s biker certification test

​Weakness of Course Review Models, not Lack of Student Engagement, to Blame for Poor Course-Specific Feedback

While the editorial board correctly identifies the need for course review reform, the editorial places too much blame on a lack of student engagement as opposed to the weakness of existing student feedback models.

Veganism: A moral imperative for present and future generations

Vegan. This word arouses anxiety among many; however, a deeper knowledge of this philosophy leads to truth.

​Mass shootings must come to an end, and that’s why we must March for Our Lives

Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan once said, “No one is born a good citizen; no nation is born a democracy.

The Thresher strikes again!

​Rice, will you go to the March for Our Lives?

The March for Our Lives, the protest organized by survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and their families in support of gun law reform, will take place in Washington D.C. and sister cities including Houston on March 24 at 9 a.m. This is the same time as Beer Bike. Will you go?

​Rice’s continued performance of ‘Vagina Monologues’ limits expression of diverse student experiences

“The Vagina Monologues” makes clear that womanhood and having a vagina are synonymous. The play reiterates the right-wing and trans-exclusionary radical feminist ideology that gender is the product of one’s biology and anatomy.  But what about the women who don’t have vaginas?