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NEWS 4/22/15 7:30am

SJP records judicial meetings in response to student concerns

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.” 


NEWS 4/22/15 7:29am

Real food revolution prepares for seventh year of Farm to Fork dinner

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. 


NEWS 4/22/15 7:28am

Alumni vote Shamoo for Excellence in Teaching award

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.


NEWS 4/22/15 7:17am

Afghan Village serves Middle Eastern specials

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


NEWS 4/22/15 6:54am

ECON, MTEC curricula undergo major restructuring

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].”


NEWS 4/22/15 6:51am

Mackowiak wins Goliard for stars

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.” 


OPINION 4/21/15 7:00pm

SJP’s hold over UCourt thwarts student governance

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.


NEWS 4/21/15 5:37pm

SA starts discussion on grade policy

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.”


SPORTS 4/17/15 10:41am

Tennis on Top

Both men’s and women’s tennis teams start the C-USA Championships as first seed this weekend. 


SPORTS 4/17/15 10:39am

Spring game allows young players to shine

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. 


SPORTS 4/17/15 10:37am

Maryland's Tina Langley named women's coach

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.



SPORTS 4/17/15 10:35am

The Quest for the Cup

 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.


OPINION 4/15/15 10:21am

Summer does not equal an internship

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. 


OPINION 4/15/15 10:20am

SA Initiatives Program deserves more publicity

The Student Association will continue to accept proposals for the Student Initiatives Program. The program is tied to an initiatives fund populated by $18,000 Honor Council was forced to return following a Blanket Tax Standing Committee investigation into their finances. In the future, the fund will receive money from an increase in the blanket tax from $79 to $85 (see p.1). Currently, according to SA Internal Vice President Peter Yun, the SA is primarily pursuing one viable proposal to the program — an “Inreach Day” during which students will perform tasks normally completed by the Housing and Dining staff. However, currently, the Student Initiatives Program has been underpublicized and underutilized.The Thresher believes the program has great potential if the SA expends more directed effort reaching out to the student body.The success of SA40K should serve as a model for the administration of the Student Initiatives Program. The SA40K gave funding to a new Queer Resource Center, Rice Emergency Medical Services, Rice Bikes and environmental initiatives, such as subsidized reusable containers and water bottle fillers. Though the pot may be smaller, an equal, if not more, effort should go towards soliciting proposals. Nor should the amount of available funds discourage students from applying for funding.Still, publicity for the Student Initiatives Program has been lacking. While publicizing the SA40K, the Senate Executive Committee visited college government meetings, posted extensively on Facebook and constantly made students aware of the money’s potential uses. If anonymous social media is any indication of student awareness, the buzz surrounding the SA40k on Yik Yak has been markedly absent for the current Student Initiative. For the Blanket Tax Committee to effectively distribute the $18,000, students must be made more aware of its existence and purpose.The initiatives fund has the potential to be immensely beneficial for the student body moving forward. The fund allows clubs and students to apply for funding for initiatives that the yearly allocation of the blanket tax does not make provisions for. However, if the fund is not better publicized, the money will not serve its intended purpose in a timely manner; ideally, it should be spent on ideas stemming from those from whom the blanket tax funds originated. Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Thresher editorial staff. All other opinion pieces represent solely the opinion of the piece’s author.


OPINION 4/15/15 10:19am

Rice must better support low-income students to truly provide equal opportunity for success

Let me give you an example of a lower-income student at Rice University. This student has a high school diploma but no AP or IB credits, nor the background knowledge to comfortably excel in Rice’s introductory level classes. This student is also on financial aid, either on a full or partial tuition grant, has been offered student loans, and was given a federal work-study grant of about $2,500.Lower-income students like the one I describe face barriers to success that stem from these circumstances. Federal financial aid covers only four years of college, which might pressure some students to graduate in that timeframe, leaving less time for them to explore diverse interests and extracurricular activities. Additionally, students in these circumstances may feel more pressure to pursue a major leading to direct entry into a high paying field. Without AP credits, students might need to take extra courses other students can forgo, or might need to study more due to insufficient background knowledge of a subject.A lack of AP credit also limits students wanting a double major or dual degree. A student entering without AP credits must average 16.5 credits a semester over eight semesters to get a bachelor’s degree in chemical and biomolecular engineering (If this chemical and biomolecular engineering major also wanted a bachelor of arts degree, they would need to average 20.25 hours each semester, more hours than they can register). A 16.5-credit semester load might be feasible with some classes, but it might mean stacking extra hours atop difficult courses full of new material requiring substantial study time, which could compete with a 10-hour-a-week work-study job.These hours seem flexible if you only spend work-study funds on luxury items, but this money can buy textbooks and study guides, pay cell phone bills, health insurance and Saturday dinner. Since work-study funds are often capped at around $2,500 and generally hover a few dollars above minimum wage, a student must work over 250 hours to pay for these basic amenities. This is a huge time commitment for a student for little profit.Work-study sounds like a great idea on paper. It is a federal grant Rice allocates to provide a wage to students who qualify and work at university-associated jobs. It gives students who qualify for financial aid money to pay for personal expenses not covered by tuition and housing grants. Students choose the jobs they take on, often with flexible hours. However, work-study, in concert with the circumstances mentioned above, can deprive students of a good college experience. This “college experience” means more than getting an academic education and scraping by financially. As humans we need social interactions and relationships, and as students we try to build our resumes and networks as much as our transcripts. If a student needs a work-study job, it may interfere with their well-rounded education and keep them from using that time in ways that could pay off in the long run, but will not pay for more immediate necessities.With the amount of money coming in from the annual fund every year, Rice could afford to scrap its work-study program and pay students who would otherwise qualify for work-study a living stipend or allowance. This would cost the university, but it would be a cost worth providing all students the same opportunity to explore the same options.I have described some extreme circumstances, but high achievement extremes should be accessible to low socio-economic extremes. If college is supposed to be a great equalizer and Rice tries to welcome students of diverse backgrounds, we should focus on supporting success in all students as much as possible rather than setting expectations of excellence that exceed the capabilities of a lot of students. Requiring students disadvantaged financially or in their prior education to do extra work to keep up with other students does not allow these students to participate in as many of the Rice experiences as they should be able to. In a marathon, no one would think it fair to start some people miles ahead, set their times as standard, and expect the people starting at the beginning to finish within that time, so how can it go unquestioned here?


NEWS 4/15/15 10:17am

Goldwater scholars named at Rice

Undergraduates Peter Cabeceiras, Kenny Groszman, and Eric Sung were named 2015-16 Goldwater scholars for their academic achievements from a pool of more than 1,200 nominees. 


NEWS 4/15/15 10:16am

Students win BP engineering contest

A team of three Rice University juniors won the United States division of BP’s Ultimate Field Trip last week, according to BP, beating teams from six other American research universities in the final round of competition.The team, composed of McMurtry College junior Benjamin Zhang, Lovett College junior Ruth Long and Hanszen College junior Sun Ji, will travel to Trinidad and Tobago this summer to tour BP facilities with the winning teams from other participating countries.The Ultimate Field Trip is a yearly competition sponsored by BP in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Angola, in which teams of undergraduates from different universities compete to solve an energy engineering problem, according to the program’s online description. This year, the challenge was to find a way to reduce the amount of water consumed by oil, gas and biofuel production.In the final stage of the competition, BP chose the Rice team’s proposal to use microalgae to purify wastewater and then produce crude oil over projects from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania State, Texas A&M University, the University of Champagne, the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas.“We had such great synergy and fun working on the competition which ultimately culminated into a desire to settle for nothing less than winning first place,” Zhang said.Zhang credited the engineering department at Rice with helping prepare the team for the contest. Zhang, Long and Ji are all majoring in chemical and biomolecular engineering.“I would encourage every Rice engineering student to participate in design competitions outside of those offered by Rice University,” Zhang said. “There needs to be more exposure to the wonderful engineering programs offered by Rice University.”


NEWS 4/15/15 10:12am

Silva says Senate approval not needed for second-round election ballot

The Student Association did not vote to approve the ballot for the second-round elections conducted from March 23 to March 28. Former SA Parliamentarian Zach Birenbaum declined to comment; the position is currently unfilled. Director of Elections Austin Cao initially said the ballot was presented at the SA meeting on March 18, with March 23 set as the deadline for finalizing the ballot. The ballot consisted of the unopposed candidate for SA Secretary Brianna Singh. Cao said the SA made announcements at multiple SA meetings encouraging candidates and announced on its Facebook page when the ballot was released. According to Cao, the elections were also publicized on the SA website.SA President Jazz Silva said the SA presented the ballot on March 18 but did not conduct a vote.“We did not vote to approve the ballot because we interpreted that the constitution said we were not required to approve [it],” Silva said. “This election received less public attention than usual because it was an uncontested race in which quorum was not required.”According to Silva, a Sid Richardson College junior, Section XII.B.4 of the constitution requires only that the Director of Elections present the ballot at Senate. This section of the constitution states: “The Director of Elections shall present the ballot for each election, including a list of all candidates for each position and the text of all initiatives and referenda approved in accordance with Article XI (Initiatives and Referenda), to the Student Senate at its last meeting before the election. After addressing any inaccuracies, the Senate may approve the ballot by a majority vote.”Former Chair of the Committee on Constitutional Revisions Brian Baran said he does not recall any discussion of the ballot on March 18. The SA minutes for the meeting also do not include any discussion of the ballot.“I therefore believe that [the discussion] did not occur,” Baran, a Duncan College senior, said.Baran said a common-sense reading consistent with the spirit of the constitution indicates Senate approval on the ballot is necessary for a legitimate election. “If you look throughout the constitution, it’s clear that the language ‘may approve by’ along with a voting threshold... is used to specify the threshold needed to approve something, not to remove the need for approval,” Baran said. “The Senate can choose to approve it if it has enough votes to meet that requirement, or its other option — hence the ‘may’ — is to not approve it. And if Senate doesn’t approve the ballot, it’s by definition not approved and can’t be used in the election.”Baran said the SA interpretation that Senate approval is not required is unreasonable considering the wording of the article and the title of the section of the constitution, “Approval of Ballot.”“To get to the SA’s interpretation, you have to accept that the drafters of the constitution would have written this and intended that it mean that there’s two options: The Senate approves it and the election goes forward with that ballot, and the Senate does not approve it and the election goes forward nonetheless with that ballot,” Baran said.Baran said he finds this to be indicative of a larger issue of a lack of transparency from the SA. “I don’t think that burying something on a website constitutes public announcement and I think it’s important, especially with elections, and on SA matters in general, for students to be informed,” Baran said. “Part of the way for students to be informed is for the SA to tell the student what it’s doing.”


NEWS 4/15/15 10:11am

Language courses reduced to three credit hours from six

The Center for Languages and Intercultural Communication recently announced that all introductory language classes will be worth three credit hours instead of six starting next semester, though they will still offer distribution credit.The move marks a reversal from the past two years, when CLIC’s introductory language classes were increased from four to five credit hours entering the 2013-14 school year, then to six credit hours in the 2014 spring semester.CLIC director Rafael Salaberry said the center made the switch to six-credit-hour classes because these classes are easier to fit into schedules based mainly on multiples of three credit hours. Also, according to Salaberry, the center hoped longer classes would also give students a greater depth of understanding of their target language. However, students expressed concern that they would not have time to take such credit-heavy classes along with their majors, despite the fact that the classes offer distribution credit.According to Salaberry, the current administration at CLIC decided that three-credit-hour classes would be more familiar and easier for students to include in their schedules, as well as making classes more accessible to students from majors with stringent requirements. Lovett College sophomore Amber Tong said the change could increase enrollment in CLIC classes. “Reduction of hours would probably encourage more people to try out language courses considering the limited hours on our schedules,” Tong said. “But as far as learning goes, this would only work if the continuing courses are also restructured to accommodate the change.” According to Tong, who is currently enrolled in Intermediate Hindi II, restructuring would be difficult. Tong said the process of becoming familiar with a new alphabet and system would not be feasible given the shorter class period.Lovett College sophomore and linguistics major Katherine Borden also believes this change will impact the thoroughness of the language learning experience. “I’m glad it was six hours when I took beginning German,” Borden said. “It was a big time commitment, but my ultimate goal is to become fluent, and I just don’t think I could accomplish that with only three hours of instruction a week.”According to Borden, it may be difficult for students to learn languages effectively under the new system, though the classes are available to more students.“Languages are heavily nuanced, and that’s something you can’t pick up on without spending a lot of time with a fluent speaker,” Borden said. “The shorter classes make the languages more accessible, but that’s in exchange for a depth of instruction that I wouldn’t want to give up.”