Rice University’s Student Newspaper — Since 1916

Thursday, April 18, 2024 — Houston, TX

Opinion












OPINION 3/23/16 8:46pm

Revisiting college jacks: Out of line and out of sync

On Tuesday night of Willy Week, Brown College was jacked in a totally unacceptable manner. This “jack” involved putting sexual lubricant on the door handles throughout the Brown Tower and Quads, and though that was supposed to be it, several other acts occurred in conjunction with it.


OPINION 3/23/16 3:55pm

​Campus-wide discussions necessary for effective self-governance

Sid Richardson College recently established a self-imposed ban on private parties in response to the Lads in Plaid incident and corresponding violations of the alcohol policy (see p.1). The Thresher believes the restriction fair, given the necessity of preventing similar violations in the near future as the college works to foster a culture of self-governance and responsibility.


OPINION 3/23/16 3:52pm

Academic advising: A call to action

Last week, the Thresher published a few op-eds expressing disgruntlement with Rice academic support systems. Perhaps the support systems themselves need support, they argue. Though these articles do raise some valid points and areas of improvement, the articulated dissatisfaction is largely overstated. I hope to clarify and discuss some of the concerns here.


OPINION 3/23/16 3:51pm

Revisiting college jacks: Out of line and out of sync

On Tuesday night of Willy Week, Brown College was jacked in a totally unacceptable manner. This “jack” involved putting sexual lubricant on the door handles throughout the Brown Tower and Quads, and though that was supposed to be it, several other acts occurred in conjunction with it.




OPINION 3/15/16 8:58pm

Rice must reevaluate its academic support systems

As a senior who has been both a Peer Academic Advisor and an Academic Fellow, I have formed some critical opinions on both of these programs, especially with regards to the lack of communication between the heads of the college-specific programs and their teams, as well as between the Office of Academic Advising and the collective bodies of PAAs and Fellows/Mentors.



OPINION 3/15/16 8:48pm

The fall of empathy and rise of Donald Trump

If you’re like me, you’ve watched with dismay over recent months as Donald Trump sped to the front of the pack of Republican presidential nominee hopefuls. If you’re like me, you’ve bemusedly asked yourself, “Who is voting for this guy?” I’ve spent much time thinking about politics in my political science coursework and during internships in Congress, the U.S. Department of Education and the White House. But it wasn’t until I set aside politics and began thinking about my hometown, a small municipality in upstate New York, that an answer emerged: Donald Trump is winning because his campaign is founded on false empathy.