The Rice University Owls baseball team completed a four-game homestand against two in-state rivals, the University of Houston and the University of Texas, San Antonio. Beginning on Tuesday afternoon, Rice defeated No. 25 Houston 11-0 to even up the Silver Glove Series at one apiece and snap a fourgame losing streak against the Cougars. After heavy thunderstorms postponed Friday’s opening matchup against UTSA, the Owls won both games of the Saturday doubleheader but fell in Sunday’s contest. Rice finished 3-1 on the week and is now 26-16 on the year (14-7 in C-USA).
Student athletes gathered in Tudor Fieldhouse for Night of the Owl, an annual event celebrating their athletic and academic achievements. As part of Rice Rally Club, I got the opportunity to support my peer students in a rare, off-the-field context I don’t normally see them in.
Dean of the Shepherd School of Music Robert Yekovich and Dean of the School of Architecture Sarah Whiting discussed the impact of technology on their disciplines at a Scientia colloquium on April 14.According to Yekovich, the development of virtual instruments and electronically produced sounds has dramatically transformed the music market and pushed musicians to find new ways to adapt.“It’s far more cheap and cost-effective to have a computer playing the score for a film than to have 90 or 100 musicians sitting in a recording studio,” Yekovich said. “As a result, many musicians have had to learn computer-based skills, such as how to orchestrate, arrange, record and edit, in addition to knowing how to play their instruments.”Virtual instruments have also changed music composition and the way professors teach composition, Yekovich said. “When I write a string quartet, I can now sit with my computer and hear every note I write in real time on all four instruments,” Yekovich said. “When students go to lessons, they come in with their computer and whatever the piece has been scored for is played in real time.”Yekovich said he believes human performance and human interaction are still many years from being replaced by machine sounds despite these technological advances.“We still contend that human performance and the kind of experiential learning that is derived from that remains central to our musical endeavor,” Yekovich said.According to Whiting, a current challenge in architecture is how to convince people to invest in architecture or push architecture forward instead of imitating designs from the past.“Architecture is experienced in a state of distraction, and the public doesn’t really pay that much attention,” Whiting said. “We need to do is teach students how to make evaluations of their own and make those arguments convincing for a broader audience. If you don’t do that, you can end up repeating the past in a false form.”With new technology, architects can develop more sophisticated models, Whiting said.“Through these softwares, you can form more realistic environments where the imagination is rendered almost real,” Whiting said. “It’s opened the possibility for us to work digitally to create complex relationships among components.”Architecture student and lecture attendee Neha Sahai said she wishes the deans discussed experiential learning in more depth because the school does a great job balancing the technological side with the experiential learning.“Our fields are very based on experiential learning, and technology is a very integral part of our education,” Sahai, a Will Rice College sophomore, said. “For example, we take technology classes for two years in which we learn about structural systems and the basic mechanics behind constructing buildings. So it’s a huge component to the education and lets us push the boundaries with designing.”
Rice Student Judicial Programs has implemented two changes to its disciplinary meetings in response to student leader concerns over transparency: Starting in December, SJP has begun recording its proceedings and often includes a second official in the meetings.SJP Director Lisa Zollner, who arrived at the department in 2013 along with Student Conduct Officer Emily Garza, said input from college presidents and chief justices influenced the new policies. Despite the changes, however, students still will not have the right to record meetings. This is in contrast to Texas law, which states that recordings require consent from only one party being recorded.Garza said this change will improve the adjudication process, particularly during factually complex cases that may involve many witnesses.“Having the audio recordings for factually complex cases is very beneficial in terms of getting all of the facts straight and in a more time efficient manner,” Garza said. “If there’s a case that involves, say, 10 witnesses, it’s helpful to have the recordings in order to review facts.”Both directors said the audio recordings are not shared outside the SJP office. Because the change is recent, there has not yet been a decision about how long the recordings will be retained. According to Zollner, student disciplinary files are retained for 10 years after the involved student graduates, but the audio recordings are not a part of these files. “SJP is working with General Counsel to determine a retention schedule for the recordings,” Zollner said. Zollner said another change, made this academic year, is that when possible both she and Garza will be present during meetings with students. This change was also aimed at alleviating campus-wide concerns about SJP proceedings.“Recently, there have been negative rumors toward SJP,” Zollner said. “Some students come into our office expecting the worst. Having two people rather than just one person present is a response to concerns voiced by students.”Zollner and Garza both said SJP’s primary concern is to keep the Rice community safe and this includes being a resource for students who feel they have been victimized. “The true risk of the rumors about SJP is that they will scare students away from SJP’s services,” Zollner said. If students believe SJP is bad, they may decline to seek out SJP as a resource. This is a risk Rice students should not accept, and a risk students should actively work to guard against.”
The upcoming spring 2015’s Farm to Fork Dinner has an expected attendance of over 80 students and discussion leaders, thus maintaining the success of the semesterly event that is now in its seventh year. Rice University’s Real Food Revolution, an organization which seeks to increase awareness in regards to local foods, is hosting the dinner on April 25.Incoming Real Food Revolution Co-President and Sid Richardson College junior Kathryn Hokamp outlined the details of the event, which will feature a meal cooked by a chef on campus and food from local farmers and the Rice Farmer’s Market.“We’ll bring in discussion leaders from around the Houston area,” Hokamp said. “We’ll ask farmers, people in food policy, people who write about food, who cook food, who have promoted gardens in Houston, [...] people who are involved in the local foods movement in Houston.”Belle Douglass, who is co-president with Hokamp, said the discussions serve to provide students with additional information on local foods and where food comes from.“We like the conversations to be just that, conversations,” Douglass, a Martel College junior, said. “We have found that the best way to really facilitate discussion and learning is by making the discussions casual and allowing the students to ask questions and be engaged with the discussion leaders.”Hokamp said that while a number of discussion leaders have yet to confirm their presence, there will be representatives from MD Anderson’s Gardening Project, Plant it Forward and Last Organic Outpost. Richard Johnson, head of Sustainability at Rice and the official club sponsor, will also be attending, and the management team of the Farmers Market will serve as discussion leaders. According to Hokamp, the event has a three-pronged purpose.“The first thing is to expose the students and the chefs at Rice to the opportunities of local foods in Houston, to the diversity and amount of local foods in Houston,” Hokamp said. “There is a huge agricultural presence that people just don’t know about.”Hokamp said the second goal of the event is the education about the activism going on in food policy for students. Additionally, Hokamp said they hope the event will allow networking with students and between discussion leaders to possibly help students find jobs.Douglass, said this dinner will feature Edward Castillo, the executive chef at West Servery. “We are so excited to work with him and sample his delicious food,” Douglass said. “Some of the produce will be coming from as close as the Martel and Wiess gardens, [and] the furthest the food can come from is a 200-mile radius from campus.”While this is Real Food Revolution’s biggest event of the semester, Hokamp said the group puts together food stands on a regular basis, from which Rice students can take for free some local food items that Real Food Revolution brought from the Farmers Market or harvested from the Rice gardens. Hokamp also alluded to the possibility of a farm visit to either Cellar Farms or Sullivan Happy Hearts Farms at the end of the semester or during this summer, depending on student interest. Farm to Fork Dinner will be held in the Duncan commons, starting at 6:30 PM, $10 for a meal and $15 for a meal and T-shirt. This year, Chef Ed (West servery) will be the guest chef. See the Facebook event for more information.
Recent Rice University alumni voted professor of biosciences Yousif Shamoo as the 2015 recipient of the George R. Brown Prize for Excellence in Teaching.Alumni who graduated two, three and five years ago were asked to nominate professors, according to Dean of Undergraduates John Hutchinson. The professor with the most votes receives the excellence in teaching award, Rice’s top award for teaching. Nine others, chosen by the University Committee on Teaching and the Center of Teaching Excellence based on number of votes, class size and subject, receive awards for superior teaching. All faculty, include non-tenure-track and lecturers, are eligible for the awards, which also carry a monetary prize.Shamoo, who teaches Biochemistry I (BIOC 301) and II (BIOC 302), previously received the award for superior teaching in 2009, 2011 and 2013, but said he never expected to win the top prize for excellence in teaching.“Biochem is such a hard course; I’m always surprised and honored,” Shamoo, who is also the vice provost for research, Wiess career development chair and director of the Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering, said.Jones College junior Felix Yang said he was unsurprised Shamoo earned the top prize, and that he completely deserved it.“He’s a bro,” Yang, who is currently in BIOC 302, said. “He’s engaged and [cares] about what he teaches and the students he’s teaching.”Shamoo said he was flattered by the award.“This award comes from our alumni and that is especially gratifying,” Shamoo said. “It means that when they get to grad or med school they value all our hard work together. Many of my students are pre-meds and too often they are portrayed in an unflattering light, but my students have real discipline and passion. I’d put my undergrads up against any school!”According to Shamoo, his teaching methods are tried and true.“I am unabashedly old fashioned,” Shamoo said. “There is a huge amount to know for this course series. It is a lecture course and I try to keep things funny and insightful despite the pressured nature of the course for my students. It would be very easy for the course to go off the rails.”Jones College senior Kevin Li said Shamoo was his favorite teacher in the biochemistry department.“He lets students punch him in the arm every year to demonstrate the effects of hemoglobin breakdown,” Li said.All 10 recipients will be honored on April 28, at Rice’s Teaching Award Ceremony. “Amongst the hallmarks of the Rice Education are the excellent faculty and close relationship of the faculty with their students,” Hutchinson said. “The faculty enjoy honoring their students at the end of the year, and this is the best opportunity for the students to honor their faculty. These awards are highly coveted and highly prestigious. All the faculty who receive them feel very honored.”A number of other awards are given out at the event. The George R. Brown Certificate of Highest Merit, awarded for earning multiple George R. Brown prizes for teaching, will be given to professor of psychology Michelle “Mikki” Hebl. The Nicholas Salgo Distinguished Teacher Award, voted on by current juniors and seniors, will be given to professor of bioengineering Ann Saterbak.
With all the good Middle Eastern food around Houston, it seems unlikely that Afghan Village, a small Afghani restaurant in a Gulfton strip mall, could be a standout. The quiet dining room is mostly filled with families and regulars. Larger crowds occasionally appear for the lunch buffet, but for the most part, a unique calm pervades the restaurant. It’s the kind of place where, when the waitress asks, “How did you hear about us?” she seems genuinely curious. But if Afghan Village’s vibes cause any misgivings, the food will come as a pleasant surprise. Serving consistently good mainstays of Middle Eastern cooking, as well as a number of dishes unique to Afghani cuisine, Afghan Village is a hidden gem and a great addition to Houston’s portfolio of Middle Eastern restaurants. The most noticeable difference between Afghan Village’s cuisine and other Middle Eastern restaurants is the Kashmiri influence. Fans of Indian specialties like aloo paratha will appreciate Afghan Village’s bolani, a flatbread “turnover” filled with leeks, potatoes, onions and herbs. Other Indian influences come through in the multiple dishes served with palak, a spiced blend of wilted spinach that looks unappealing but makes a great accompaniment for the rice and flatbread that many dishes come with. The complimentary flatbread also comes with bouranee baunjan, a smoky and tangy mix of eggplant, tomato and yogurt. The small selection of appetizers is consistent and on par with other Middle Eastern restaurants, but Afghani Village’s biggest draw is its entrees. The majority of the entrees are kebabs served with a heaping plate of sweet long-grain rice with raisins and candied peppers. Nearly all the kebabs on the menu are cooked perfectly, trapping in the moisture of the meat to avoid the dry chewy texture that sometimes results from their cooking method. The chicken and shinwary lamb kebabs are especially flavorful. The chicken is basted in an orange tomato-based sauce similar to Indian tandoori chicken. The shinwary lamb chops are marinated in a blend of peppercorns, spices and vinegar and crusted in more pepper before broiling. The pepper crust gives them a straightforward but satisfying flavor and locks in the moisture that makes Afghan Village’s meats so tender. Aside from the kebabs, Afghan Village serves a few specials specific to Afghani cuisine, the best of which is the mantoo. The dish is comprised of onion-and-beef dumplings tossed with housemade yogurt, topped with a chickpea-and-meat sauce and sprinkled with dried mint. The dish is a barrage of tastes but the flavors never clash; the tangy dumplings compliment their spicy beef filling, the mint adds an herb flavor to the yogurt and the chickpeas add an earthy flavor to the meat sauce. The one exception to the entrees’ success is the gosfand lamb kebab. While its flavor is not particularly bad, it is under-seasoned. The dish relies too heavily on the lamb’s flavor, leaving it bland and dried out compared to the other kebab meats. Occasionally, homemade baklava and Afghani green tea can be ordered after the meal, but both depend on availability. Overall, Afghan Village is a quaint and satisfying alternative to more bustling Middle Eastern restaurants like Istanbul Grill and Aladdin. The food’s quality and price are fairly similar to competitors, but the delicious kebabs and unique Afghani dishes endear it to patrons as an understated and overlooked gem of Middle Eastern cuisine.Address: 6413 Hillcroft St. 77018Price range: $$Website: theafghanvillage.comRecommended DishesShinwary Kebab (Broiled lamb ribs crusted with pepper): $13Mantoo (Ground beef dumpling with yogurt and mint sauce): $10
The economics and mathematical economic analysis curriculum is undergoing extensive changes for the 2015-16 school year and beyond, according to Chair of Economics George Zodrow. The changes will be mandatory only for students matriculating in and after 2015.The changes include a new introductory course, removal of the Ordinary Differential Equations and Linear Algebra (MATH 211) requirement and renumbering of upper level courses. There is also a new honors program as well as new math, statistics and advanced course requirements. The economics department’s undergraduate committee developed the changes over the course of the 2014-15 year, according to Zodrow. The committee took into account input from ECON faculty and students, and tentative proposals were presented to the faculty and a student advisory board appointed by the Student Association. The department approved the finalized changes in February.According to Zodrow, these changes are a part of the Rice Initiative for the Study of Economics, which is a program focused on improving the teaching and research of economics at Rice. RISE is led by Economics Department Chair Antonio Merlo. Zodrow said the goal of the restructuring was to meet students’ needs more successfully and provide comprehensive preparation for continued schooling or careers.“In particular, the reforms are designed to more clearly delineate our two majors, with an enhanced ECON major available to all students and an MTEC major that is designed for students who wish to pursue graduate study in economics or obtain a position in the private or public sectors that requires advanced analytical and quantitative skills,” Zodrow said.A number of major changes will be implemented, Zodrow said. One is a new introductory course for the major.“We are creating a new course, ECON 100, Principles of Economics, which will provide a non-technical intuitive introduction to microeconomics and macroeconomics,” Zodrow said.MTEC majors who matriculate in 2015 or later will no longer be required to take Ordinary Differential Equations and Linear Algebra (MATH 211) because the material from MATH 211 that MTEC majors need to know will be covered in Mathematical Economics (ECON 308, formerly ECON 401), a prerequisite for Econometrics (ECON 310, formerly ECON 409) and Advanced Topics in Microeconomics for MTEC Majors (ECON 305), according to Zodrow.Also, core courses for ECON and MTEC majors are being renumbered, according to Zodrow. The core courses are Microeconomics (ECON 200, formerly ECON 301), Macroeconomics (ECON 203, formerly ECON 303) and Applied Econometrics (ECON 209, formerly ECON 309).“The renumbering of these courses does not imply they have been diminished in any way,” Zodrow said. “[It] simply recognizes these critical courses provide the basic foundational principles required as preparation for our upper-level courses and should be taken early in a student’s progression in either major.”However, Zodrow said for students who had taken these courses before the 2015-16 school year, the courses would still be listed as 300-level courses on their transcripts.Both ECON and MTEC majors will now be required to take two semesters of calculus. Previously, ECON majors only needed one. According to Zodrow, this change will provide better preparation in mathematics for the core and elective courses. Additionally, ECON and MTEC majors must now enroll in a higher-level statistics course, Probability and Statistics (ECON 307/STAT 310).ECON and MTEC majors will now need to take courses on advanced microeconomic topics. ECON majors will have to take Advanced Topics in Microeconomics for Economics Majors (ECON 300) while MTEC majors will take the more quantitative Advanced Topics in Microeconomics for MTEC Majors (ECON 305).“ECON and MTEC majors will be required to take a new course [on] advanced topics in microeconomics critical to an understanding of recent developments in modern economics,” Zodrow said. “As a result, these quantitative tools courses should be taken earlier in a student’s career than has often been the case in previous years.”According to Zodrow, all MTEC majors must take one of the two new capstone courses based on analysis of current research topics in economics. The prerequisites for these courses provide insight into this subject. The last change is a two-semester honors program in economics.“This program will guide students through the research process and culminate in the authorship of a high-quality research paper,” Zodrow said.MTEC majors would obtain more advanced analytical and quantitative skills through the Applied Econometrics, Econometrics and Mathematical Economics courses taken earlier in their college careers, as well as through the new capstone courses, Zodrow said.“We believe all of these curriculum changes will provide students with a more comprehensive knowledge of economic principles and applications as well as a deeper understanding of the process of research in economics,” Zodrow said.Economics major Jenny Ren said despite the new changes, she will opt to continue with the previous curriculum. “You can choose which general announcements [to] go under, and it would be too much of a hassle to pursue the new track [as] I’ve already taken some of the old classes,” Ren, a Jones College freshman, said. “I am looking forward to the changes this program will bring and hopefully it will create new opportunities in the department.” Martel College junior Cathy Hu said while the changes do not affect upperclassmen, it’s interesting to see things being improved.“In the past, depending on what professors you have, you’d have a very different experience as an ECON major.” Hu, an economics and sociology major, said. “It would definitely be more rigorous and standardized [after the changes].”
Stargazing sophomore Mitch Mackowiak was recently awarded the Goliard Scholarship, a $2,500 travel grant described by the Goliard Board as a “whimsical effort … to encourage an international understanding in Rice University’s leaders of tomorrow.” In a proposal titled “Look up and try not to trip: stars and hills in Houston’s opposite” he submitted as his application, Mackowiak, a Lovett College sophomore, detailed his plans to “hang out with the sky” for at least two weeks in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. According to its website, the Goliard Scholarship stems from the definition of a Goliard as a wandering student in medieval Europe “disposed to conviviality, license and the making of ribald and satirical Latin songs.Mackowiak, an architecture major, said he felt he had stumbled upon a gem of a scholarship when he found the prompt, which merely asks, “Where would you go with $2500, and what would you do?”“The magic of the question lies in its asking,” Mackowiak said. “Even if you didn’t get the Goliard, you might still follow that proposal when you do get an opportunity to travel.”Mackowiak said he is considering pursuing a nocturnal lifestyle in Atacama, although he does have additional plans to explore Santiago and camp in the Andes. However, he will keep his belongings to a minimum.“I need to find some astronomer’s binoculars, a nice camera and as much Spanish as I can pick up in a little more than two months,” Mackowiak said. “Otherwise, [I’ll bring] as little as I can.”
UCourt was not what we thought it would be. Nor was it what Rice pretends it is.When we applied to be new student representatives, we wrote that University Court allows students to “play a major role in shaping Rice into what we want it to be,” “maintain the integrity of the university” and “promote responsible decisions” by students. Maybe our wording was a little off, but even as new students, we got the idea: The point of UCourt should be to give students a voice in Rice’s judicial process. But as UCourt has matured, it has begun to collide with the rock wall of reality; Rice restricts us to operating in such a narrow space that our voice can hardly be heard.We have both been on UCourt for the last four years; between the two of us, we’ve served in every position, from new student representative to chair. From this vantage point, we want to communicate both UCourt’s potential and the serious pitfalls of the current UCourt-SJP power dynamic.For a little background, UCourt adjudicates cases under the Code of Student Conduct (analogously to Honor Council, which administers the Honor Code) and operates under Student Judicial Programs. UCourt was essentially re-established in the fall of our freshman year (2011) and has since come a long way.UCourt is an impressive organization in its mission. It provides students the chance to have their cases heard by peers who understand both what the Rice community means and the integrity it relies on. In our time here, UCourt has heard cases with consequences as serious as suspension and had long, serious, straining conversations about the conduct we should expect from Rice students in each case that has come before us.But UCourt’s ability to be a prosocial organization is restrained by its institutional limits. UCourt is dependent on SJP for case referral and its very existence, so while it would like to, it can rarely operate as a true voice for the student body, whether by advocating on broad issues or by reviewing specific cases.“You can always appeal to UCourt” is the message students are supposed to hear when they meet with SJP. But that’s not true. In reality, you have the right to bring your case to UCourt — unless SJP doesn’t want you to.None of this comes from Yik Yak; we’ve seen it year after year. UCourt operates as a functional judicial panel but lacks jurisdiction over or knowledge of cases until SJP chooses to refer them or allow students to appeal. There are legitimate privacy reasons to limit the information available to a student panel, but SJP frequently interprets these so broadly it seems the real intent is less to protect privacy than to prevent us from weighing in on cases and campuswide issues where it worries our answer may not be one it wants to hear.Which brings us back to the central problem: UCourt is stuck sitting at the little kids’ table. For example, in the 3.5 years prior to the semi-announced Code of Student Conduct overhaul this winter, SJP made unannounced changes to the Code at least 10 times. UCourt was not consulted on changes where a student perspective would have been relevant, but that pales next to SJP’s failure to even tell us the document we adjudicate under had changed.That experience represents the larger issue with the SJP-UCourt relationship. SJP treats UCourt as a student relations operation and a pawn. It often seems that SJP uses us to ease its workload by referring cases only when it feels comfortable with what our perspective might be — and, in doing so, it can pretend students have genuine input. That’s not to say UCourt is always expected to agree with SJP (it empirically doesn’t), but that SJP only gives us the chance to disagree on select cases.Even when cases are referred to UCourt, its influence is limited. Rather than having free rein to consider situations, their social meaning and appropriate responses from a student perspective, UCourt is often confined to a framework dictated by SJP and SJP’s own view of the charges and sanctions that fit the facts and students involved.For students found in violation, UCourt must determine an appropriate sanction, but SJP unilaterally sets the baseline for what is “appropriate.” Base fines, the starting point from which the Court can move up or down based on the specific case, are set by SJP and often change (read: increase) suddenly. Even if the changes are not arbitrary, they seem like it. We’re lucky to be told there was a change, much less to get an explanation.But this is much bigger than a question of the exact amount of the fines. We have long believed that fines are rarely appropriate except to repay actual damages. Despite a lack of evidence that fines educate or deter, Rice fines students left and right. (Fines also present a social justice issue; the same dollar amount has a disparate burden.) We firmly believe SJP and UCourt should aim to educate and rehabilitate. It is harder to design effective educational sanctions tailored to each case, but it’s better to work toward doing so than to continue fining students out of ease and inertia.This issue is also an example of when UCourt officers asked to discuss a major topic with SJP and were promptly shut down.Finally, UCourt’s decisions are only recommendations until SJP accepts them. While decisions are rarely overturned outright (as opposed to through the appeal process, an integral part of any judicial system), the possibility always looms, inevitably constraining the views we can provide.All of this puts UCourt at the mercy of fickle university politics, which is the last place a judicial panel should be. UCourt cannot currently serve as a check on SJP’s power; it’s been made clear throughout our time here that we are not in a position to hold SJP accountable.This is a classic case of a lopsided power dynamic, and it’s a shame that it’s between two organizations that could do a lot of good for the Rice community by working together.To be clear, we are not bringing into question our previous case decisions; we believe our perspective has been beneficial in the cases we’ve been allowed to hear. Our goal in writing this is instead to improve the overall system in which UCourt operates.Like most graduating seniors, we didn’t want to take all our institutional knowledge with us, but we could’ve never written this piece while we were in office. Now, we worry that we waited too long to say anything, and that if the student body doesn’t continue to advocate and enthusiastically call for change, the status quo will prevail.So it is on you, students and UCourtiers alike, to be mindful of the difference between what UCourt is, and what it could be.
In light of the implementation of grade collaring policies in certain introductory courses, the Student Association hopes to initiate a discussion regarding departmental policies against grade inflation in the fall, according to Sid Richardson College senator Justin Onwenu. Onwenu, a freshman, said he noticed the issue in a statistics class, the syllabus of which stated that only the top 40 percent can receive an A, and felt a need to discuss it.The spring 2015 syllabi for Elementary Applied Statistics (STAT 280), Introduction to Statistics for Biosciences (STAT 305), Probability and Statistics (STAT 310) and Methods for Data Analysis (STAT 385) all state that no more than 40 percent of the classes will receive a grade of A-plus, A or A-minus. According to the STAT 280 and 305 syllabi, “This policy is meant to help [ensure] similar grades across sections taught by different instructors and is being implemented in a number of introductory classes in the department of statistics.”However, according to the course offering page for fall 2015, there will be only one teacher for all STAT 280 and STAT 305 classes.“I was shocked,” Onwenu said. “I brought it up to [the Student Association], and everyone was on the same page in feeling [that] grade inflation policy is an issue that is important — and I know a lot of universities are dealing with it — but it’s how you go about it that’s important.”According to Marina Vannucci, chair of the statistics department, the policy was introduced in the fall semester in response to student concerns."It was discussed and approved by the instructors, following up on concerns raised by students who took the courses in previous semesters," Vannucci said.According to Onwenu, the policy is problematic because it may discourage collaboration and engender negative competition.“The goal is to learn as much as possible and if we can work together and collaborate, that’s good,” Onwenu said. “But if I see you as competition, [I might think,] ‘Oh I’m not going to help you [as you may] get above me and I may be knocked down a grade level.’”The long-term focus should be on learning instead of besting fellow students, Onwenu said. “Students don’t have a problem with increasing difficulty of classes; students have a problem with a cutthroat environment,” Onwenu said. “I’m worried the statistics department policy [...] has the potential to disrupt Rice’s collaborative sort of environment.”Onwenu said the statistics department probably implemented the grade-collaring policy in response to a legislation passed by the Faculty Senate in April 2014. “Two years ago, the SA and the Faculty Senate launched a working group [and] conducted a tremendous amount of research in terms of how Rice compares to other universities, and how our grading policies and distribution of grades are at Rice,” Onwenu said. The report Onwenu referred to was the Final Report, published in March 2014 by the Working Group on Grade Inflation, which stated, “Every academic program that offers 100- to 300- level courses will have a faculty-wide discussion about grading practices [...] at least once every five years. [...] Each department and program should decide how to frame the discussions of grading in the courses their faculty teach.”While the subject matter is not new, Onwenu said it is crucial to keep the conversation going to ensure the spirit of the legislation translates well into implementation.“Grade inflation is a word that’s just been thrown around — faculty is probably tired of discussing it,” Onwenu said. “But now is the time that the policies are now being implemented. [...] We are finally seeing the effects of it.”Baker College freshman Leah Rubin, who is in STAT 280, said making an introductory course difficult seems contradictory to its purpose.“It is supposed to be an [introductory] low-level class, so to collar the grades doesn’t make sense,” Rubin said.Fanny Huang, a Baker College sophomore, is currently taking Applied Probability (STAT 331), which is not affected by this policy. However, she said the grading policy should not have a huge impact on individuals’ performance.“I’ll just do my best,” Huang said. “And no matter what [grading] scale the professors use, I believe I’ll get the grade I deserve.”Faculty Senate speaker James Weston said the statistics department has the autonomy to configure its own policy, independent of the Senate.“Academic assessment standards belong to the faculty, [not] the Faculty Senate,” Weston said. “Our constitution does not provide any regulatory authority over grade distributions at the class, department or university level. What standards statistics decides to set are up to them.”
Both men’s and women’s tennis teams start the C-USA Championships as first seed this weekend.
As the Rice University football team wrapped up their spring football practices, the annual Blue-Gray Spring Game took place at Rice Stadium. The game, essentially a scrimmage, featured the offense in blue uniforms and the defense in gray uniforms.
In response to Greg Williams’ recent retirement, the Rice University Athletic Department has appointed a new women’s basketball coach: former Maryland University Assistant Coach Tina Langley. Langley will be stepping down from her current position as Associate Head Coach at Maryland to join the Rice women’s team next season. The new head coach made an official visit to Rice last week to assess the campus and the team and to share her vision with the community.
April has rolled around, and with it, hockey fans around the world are buckling up for the most exciting two months of the year. It’s time for the Stanley Cup playoffs, which I would humbly describe as the most exciting playoffs in sports.
Spring: the season of rain, Beer Bike and Easter. But most importantly, the time of year when students scramble to find something, anything, to occupy that daunting, empty time without set classes, club meetings and term deadlines — summer. Springtime is a breeze for those who already have internship offers, study abroad plans or prestigious pre-professional jobs, but for those who don’t, it can feel like being the only senior without a prom date. Perhaps I’m exaggerating. But I have heard multiple stories of anguish and despair over finding the perfect summer internship. You know, the one that seems cool to friends, bolsters your resume and pleases your parents? Yikes. What a lot to ask out of a summer. What strikes me is the fact that I hear of very few people who actively choose not to pursue a traditional internship or research position. For many of my non-Rice friends, a job at a pool, coffee shop or restaurant is the norm. Granted, many students attend Rice with the goal of running headfirst into the professional world, so it makes sense that they would pursue internship opportunities over the summer. But this tendency alienates students who don’t want or need to spend their summer with this kind of position. Alternative summer experiences, aka those that don’t involve working at a nonprofit, Fortune 500 company or research lab, can be just as valuable to students as internships.Take, for example, students who love exploring new cultures. Maybe they can only travel through a baseline job in a foreign country, like a tour guide or a hostess. These jobs provide them with the opportunity to immerse themselves in another culture and potentially reflect on their experiences in a meaningful way, but they choose to pursue an internship instead, because, well, that’s the default option. Many Rice students undervalue or even completely overlook non-academic summer experiences. They disregard the potential of experience for the sake of experience, which is understandable given the temptation to fill one’s resume with appealing, professional-sounding titles. But if you’re doing something — virtually anything that requires getting out of bed and interacting with the world — your experience probably has some value to you and your future self, whether it promotes self-reflection, earns you some extra cash or simply makes you feel fulfilled. Internships are not the only way to prepare for the future.In no way do I mean to devalue the “traditional” internship experience or discredit those who truly love these kinds of opportunities. But I want to say that those who don’t want to spend their summer working their butts off in an office or lab shouldn’t feel like they are less hardworking or ambitious than their peers. After all, I can say from personal experience that some physically intensive jobs can be just as taxing and just as rewarding as hours of research. Pursue opportunities you think will add value to your person, not your resume. Your future employer won’t think you’re a bum because you chose to spend your summer on an organic farm. Internships can be an awesome way to prepare for the future, but they aren’t the only path to productive experience.
