Special Projects

Rice falls to Western Kentucky, 49-10

Rice lost to Western Kentucky by a score of 49-10 Saturday afternoon. The loss drops them to 2-3 on the season, and 1-1 in Conference USA play.After Rice opened up with a 3-0 lead, WKU senior quarterback Brandon Daughty led the Hilltoppers down the field, throwing four touchdowns over the next five drives and leading to 28 unanswered points for Western Kentucky. Daughty showed why he is regarded as one of the best quarterbacks in the conference, ending the day going 28/38 for 409 yards and four TD.For Rice, Driphus Jackson struggled mightily. On Rice’s first six drives, Jackson went 5/10 for 87 yards with one interception and one fumble. These struggles led him to be benched in favor of redshirt junior Tyler Stehling early in the second quarter after Jackson’s interception. Stehling started the game strong, going 4/6 for 56 yards on his first drive, leading to a Luke Turner rushing touchdown. Stehling finished the game 11/19 with 150 yards and one interception.Samuel Stewart was a bright spot for the struggling Rice offense, averaging almost six yards per carry, rushing for 60 yards on 11 carries. Ultimately, losing the turnover battle 5-0 and failing to score in the second half proved too much for Rice to keep the game close.Rice continues playing their Conference USA schedule next week when they travel to Florida Atlantic.

Volleyball overcomes illness to defeat Florida teams

The Rice Owls volleyball team faced an unanticipated foe this week when 11 Owls fell victim to a contagious stomach virus. Before this major setback, the week was already scheduled to be a difficult one with three Conference USA matches. On Tuesday, however, the team was forced to postpone their match against the University of Texas, San Antonio Roadrunners because of the team-wide illness. The match will be rescheduled for a date to be determined.

Baylor’s top ranked o

Soccer looks to repeat C-USA title

As the Conference USA portion of the 2015 season begins, the Rice University soccer team will look to make a run towards securing back to back championships.

Local artist surrounds viewers with media at Matchbox Gallery

Matchbox Gallery’s latest exhibition, “Surrounded by Searching,” covers the interior of the small gallery, overwhelming the viewer from all sides. The piece’s creator, Chris Henry, is an emerging Houstonian artist with connections to the San Francisco and New York art world. According to Claire O’Malley, a Baker College senior and co-director of Matchbox,“Surrounded by Searching” is meant to represent the way media envelopes and forces itself upon the user.

Rice Gallery debuts new exhibit

A six-foot cube hangs from the ceiling in the center of the gallery, with a single light bulb suspended in the middle of the box. Together, they manage to fill the entire space, from ceiling to floor, with patterned shadows that are composed of lines and geometric shapes. The details of the cube are defined and delicate, but they become distorted as they fill the rest of the room; the patterns are stretched and expanded on the walls. It is impossible to step into the gallery without becoming yet another piece of the art: The light and shadow from the center of the room are cast onto the viewer’s body, while the viewer’s shadow is thrown to the floor and the wall behind them.

Support Planned Parenthood funding, ignore mudslinging

Rice for Reproductive Justice held an event Tuesday, Sept. 29, entitled #Stand- WithPP Pink-Out Day. RRJ photographed students holding up signs in support of Planned Parenthood, collected petitions and talked with students about the services Planned Parenthood provides and Congress’ recent efforts to defund the organization.

Rice to invest $150 million in tech research initiatives

Rice University President David Leebron announced a $150 million investment in strategic research initiatives last week. The three-part investment will fund Rice’s molecular nanotechnology research, establish a program in data sciences and promote a broad range of research competitiveness across the university, Leebron said. The investment draws from a combination of endowment, philanthropy and reallocation of resources.

The scholarly self: A case for research

Rice proudly promotes itself as a research university while, according to the Office of Institutional Research, 68 percent of Rice University undergraduates do independent research during their time here. But why? What’s the point of spending so much time in the lab, running assays to determine how mTOR or HER2 (or some other protein of the month) is regulated in breast cancer? What benefit do we get pulling all-nighters in the library, poring over mountains of books to characterize Roman Campana reliefs, or finding new ways to deconstruct Tolstoy?

Procrastinating work is procrastinating life

College isn’t really that different from high school. So far, the only two things that have surprised me about Rice are how well refrigerated Fondren Library is and how warm it is in Fondren Library’s men’s restroom. (I’m not telling y’all which one!)

Economic diversity requires support, not silence

Last week, the New York Times published a ranking of top colleges based on their efforts to promote economic diversity, and Rice’s College Access Index ranking was only slightly above average (see this article). The ranking, which was based on the proportion of students who receive Pell Grants, the graduation rate of those Pell Grant recipients and the price of college for middle- and low-income students, placed universities on a scale from 0 to 2. In the rankings, a score of 1 was considered average in terms of economic diversity; Rice scored 1.16.

Breakfast opens 15 minutes early

Students struggling to fit that most important meal of the day in before an 8 a.m. class can now enjoy a more relaxed breakfast thanks to a change in servery hours. Both West and Baker Serveries have begun opening their doors at 7:15 a.m. for continental breakfast, according to Student Association Senator Hannah Todd.

New college application set for

Survey on Unwanted Sexual Experiences results prompt discussion

The Rice Women’s Resource Center hosted a discussion on the results of the Survey on Unwanted Sexual Experiences, drawing undergraduate and graduate students as well as members of the administration. RWRC Co-Directors Cristell Perez and Sam Love organized and moderated the event on Wednesday, two days after the results were released.

KTRU returning to air after four years

Rice University’s student-run radio station, KTRU, will begin broadcasting on 96.1 FM on Friday, Oct. 2, according to a station press release. KTRU has been on 90.1 HD2, a digital format, since the sale of its previous FM frequency in 2011.

Rice ranks 28th in low-income accessibility

Rice ranked 28 out of 179 top colleges, both liberal arts and research universities, in an index of the best colleges for low-income students published in the New York Times last month

Rice remains top 5 in Niche ranking

Rice retained its No. 5 spot in the ranking of overall best college in America from Niche.com, which considers both quantitative numbers and student reviews. It ranked No. 10 for best value.

RTV rebrands, becomes Rice Video Productions

Rice Television is currently in the process of rebranding to Rice Video Productions, according to promotional materials put out by the organization.This is not the first time that the organization has changed its moniker. Until 2002, RTV was known as Rice Broadcast Television. Though the rebranding has precedent, it has not yet confirmed that the rebranding will occur. The rebranding must be approved by the Student Association in order for the change to be official, although the organization has gone through the process of changing its public image. According to SA Treasurer Sai Chilakapati, the rebranding has not yet been approved by the Senate.According to Patrick Huang, current station manager of RVP, the updated name is meant to better represent what the organization does.“It better encompasses what we do as an organization: produce a variety of different student video productions ranging from creative short films to documentary-style interviews and coverage of events run by other student organizations,” Huang, a Baker College senior, said.“With the ever ­increasing popularity of YouTube and online streaming services, the word ‘television’ has become outdated. We have been working on transitioning from being a solely television-based station to one that encompasses all kinds of video productions and maintains an online presence, and we wanted our name to reflect this transition.”According to Jeremy Kao, the RVP programming director, this shift will not come with a radical change in the services provided by RTV, as the organization has had an online presence through both its website and Facebook page.“The name change does not change our purpose or goals as an organization, and it will not affect our viewers,” Kao, a Hanszen College junior, said.The organization’s goal of creating a more modern public image and better connect with new students appears to be working so far, as Kao said RVP had noticed a marked increase in student interest during its fall recruiting sessions.This rebranding comes on the heels of a new blanket tax allocation method approved last spring. The new blanket tax allows for SA subsidiaries to better obtain an appropriate budget each year, instead of being locked in for multiple years at a time. The new name may lead to complications under this method, as RVP’s budget approved last spring was very similar to that of years’ past.“I cannot comment with certainty that there will be financial changes after rebranding,” Chilakapati said. “It will also be made note of so that the future treasurer, during the blanket tax process, does not mistake a change in budget as improper spending.”

Leebron named chair of Internet2 trustee board

Rice University President David Leebron has been elected as the newest chair on the board of trustees of Internet2, an advanced technology organization that operates the largest research and education network in the nation. He will take over the position beginning Nov. 1, according to the Rice News and Media release.The nonprofit organization was founded by the nation’s leading higher education institutions, and according to its website, provides services for over 93,000 institutions across the U.S. Among its member institutions are 282 universities, 66 government agencies, 42 regional and state education networks, 86 leading corporations and more than 65 national research and education networking partners representing over 100 countries.“Internet 2 is a critical and remarkably innovative organization that is assuring we will have the connectivity, security and services that higher education and industry need for the research and education endeavors of the future,” Leebron said. “I am excited to become more involved in it.”Leebron will serve as vice chair to a 15-member board of trustees that includes university presidents, chief information officers, network researchers, discipline researchers and industry partners. The board, which is elected by representatives from member organizations, seeks to provide strategic direction, leadership and oversight to the Internet2 community.

IT plans fix for problems with campus Internet

Rice University’s network system software will be updated in the early morning of Saturday, Sept. 26 to resolve a bug that has resulted in three Internet connection outages in the past week, according to several emails sent to faculty and staff by the Office of Information Technology.Mike Dewey, IT’s Director of Campus Services, said in an email that the network problems originated with changes made over the summer as part of Rice’s efforts to upgrade its network to a new version called RiceNet3.“This summer as part of the RiceNet3 project, we installed a new set of hardware equipment at the border of our network,” Dewey said. “This hardware improved both bandwidth and security of our network connections. However, we learned that the equipment has a bug.”According to Dewey, the equipment vendor supplied IT with a new software version on Monday, Sept. 21, which will be installed on Saturday between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. During this period, all Internet access on campus will be interrupted, Dewey said.“If you are on campus, you will not be able to reach outside services such as Google, Facebook, CNN.com, Netflix, etc,” Dewey said. “On-campus services [such as Rice WebMail and Owlspace] will remain accessible by people on-campus during this time.”Dewey also said police and EMS dispatching services and the phone system will remain in operation.According to alerts on IT’s website, internet outages occurred on Sunday, Sept. 20, on Tuesday, Sept. 22, and on Thursday, Sept. 24. The longest outage, on Sunday, lasted approximately an hour, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.