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Rice administration faces student, faculty concerns over rising tuition

As students fret over their GPAs, they can rest assured that there is one number that will not be dropping anytime soon. Concern is growing across campus in light of the administration’s recent announcement that the cost of tuition will rise to $41,560 for the next academic year, a 4.2 percent increase from this year’s cost of $39,880. Over the last 15 years, tuition has climbed by 135 percent, with the new total cost of attendance amounting to $55,903. Brown College Student Association senator Andrew Gatherer, who is leading an initiative in response to the tuition increase, said the administration must provide more information when addressing the rising costs. “I think it would be useful to see where the increased tuition is going,” Gatherer, a freshman, said. “You don’t really see the effects of [increased tuition] in the university. We don’t really know where it goes.”Professor of earth science Jerry Dickens stated in a letter to the Thresher that the administration must clearly explain the tuition hikes, referring to Vice President of Finance Kathy Collins’ statement that the money will be used for “educating students, faculty salaries, library resources and other operational expenses.”“The Rice community, especially students and parents, deserve at least an accurate answer for the skyrocketing tuition,” Dickens said. “I think most professors at Rice would be happily amazed by anything close to a salary increase rate of 135 percent over the last 15 years.”According to Collins, however, tuition increases help cover a number of costs beyond faculty salaries. “I did not say faculty salaries have increased 135 percent over the last 15 years,” Collins said. “I explained that tuition increases help cover a number of costs, and I cited a few examples, including faculty salaries, library resources and other operational expenses.”Vision for the Second CenturyCollins said tuition increases over the past decade have helped expand resources like the Program in Writing and Communication, create new undergraduate minors, bolster academic advising and wellness services and build projects like the Moody Center for the Arts, to be unveiled in 2016. “Inspired by our strategic plan known as the Vision for the Second Century, Rice has invested in strengthening and expanding the quality and range of its educational, research, recreational and community service opportunities,” Collins said.Rice’s operating expenses increased by 129 percent from 2001 to 2014 as a result of the investment in the Vision for the Second Century, according to Collins. Three major revenue sources — endowment distribution (57 percent), net tuition revenue (26 percent) and overhead recovery on grants (5 percent)  — account for 88 percent of the revenues to support the core budget.  Keeping the Cost AffordableAccording to Collins, Rice has tried to keep the rising tuition costs affordable through financial aid and loan programs. Rice’s financial aid packages currently require no more than $2,500 a year in loans and require no loans for families making $80,000 or less in annual income. According to data from the Federal Student Aid website, the unsubsidized federal loan maximum for first-year undergraduates is $9,500.“Rice has made an effort to keep its tuition about $5,000 to $6,000 less than most of its peers while also providing a generous financial aid policy to keep Rice affordable to qualified students from all socio-economic backgrounds,” Collins said. According to Gatherer, despite these efforts, there are still issues with transparency between students and the Office of Financial Aid that he is looking to address through the SA.“A lot of students have trouble connecting with the office,” Gatherer said. “They have to speak to many people before they actually realize how much money they owe and where it’s coming from.”Shaian Mohammadian, recipient of the Beverly and Donald Bonham Scholarship, said he experienced a lack of communication with the Office of Financial Aid.“I didn’t even know there was a tuition increase, and no one from the office has notified me about anything,” Mohammadian, a Jones College freshman said. “The transparency doesn’t seem to be where it needs to be, for sure.”Gatherer said that in light of the tuition increase, students should be aware of how rising costs affect their financial aid plans. “A lot of information is available on their website, but a lot of the time, you don’t realize the specifics for you until you’ve talked to about four or five people at the office,” Gatherer said. “We want to make sure students don’t feel like they’re sinking.”Gatherer said the SA also wants to ensure that the university expands their financial aid and loan programs to accompany rising tuition costs. “It’s not really the SA’s place to complain to the university about how much tuition is,” Gatherer said. “But what the SA is doing is, we’re trying to nullify the bad effects of increasing tuition. Some people come in with so much money in scholarships, and they feel that over the four years they see that money disappear, and if not marginalized, because of the increase in tuition.”Gatherer said despite the current problems with financial aid, he is confident that the office is willing to cooperate with the SA.“I know they’re very busy dealing with all the students who need financial aid,” Gatherer said. “But they are receptive to student concerns. It’s just about having that outline and knowing how much money you’re going to pay.”

SA seeks proposal for student initiatives program

Yun said he cannot guarantee whether they will be executed following approval due to complications from involved parties, although those are easier to solve than issues with funding.“Following through with an initiative is 80 percent planning and working with campus departments and 20 percent actual implementation,” Yun said. “However, students should not be discouraged. Rice staff and faculty are all very supportive, and in the past initiatives were halted due to cost.”Yun said feasibility and timeline were the main criteria for evaluating proposal ideas. Yun said he has received ideas on a wide variety of topics, including mental health resources and physical changes to the Rice Memorial Center. “If initiatives fall in line with the mission statements of already existing standing committees, then I move them forward to work with those committee chairs,” Yun said. “If it does not and requires significant manpower, like the potential ‘Campus Appreciation Day,’ which is still in the design phase, the student will get its own committee with its own [New StudentRepresentatives].”However, Yun said he agreed publicity for the Student Initiatives Program was not as successful or far-reaching as possible. He said the SA will push for publicity again in the fall semester. Campus Appreciation DayFalade said she has centered her proposal around giving back to the Housing and Dining staff and appreciating community members who support campus beauty and sustainability. To this effect, a new Campus Appreciation Committee would plan a staff appreciation week that culminates in an “Inreach Day.”“For Inreach Day, I see a group of willing and hardworking Rice students gather as a team and tend to our campus and take on some of the responsibilities that we are otherwise never faced with here — things like taking out the trash or tidying some of the areas around campus,” Falade said. “According to Falade, the planning process is still tentative and in early steps. She said she has had full support and approval of the proposal, but understands that not everything can be executed as imagined. Falade said she first thought of the idea for Inreach Day while at the Impact Rice retreat, although she had considered the privileged nature of Rice students ever since arriving on campus.“Volunteering and community outreach might not be such a priority to a lot of students because its importance [is] lost on some of us,” Falade said. “[I thought,] ‘Charity begins at home.’ How could we foster a desire of community serve if we didn’t create that feel for the Rice campus? I believe that once we learn to give back to our immediate community, doing the same for the Houston community will come more naturally.”

Graduate school mentorship introduced

The graduate/undergraduate mentorship program that intends to facilitate interaction and mentorship among graduate and undergraduate students attracted 207 undergraduate student applicants according to Chris Sabbagh, a former Jones College senator.Once the Graduate Student Association collects applications for graduate student mentors, the Student Association Academics Committee will pair graduate and undergraduate students before the program official begins next semester, Sabbagh, a Jones College sophomore, said.“The idea is to pair at most three undergraduate students with a graduate student,” Sabbagh said. “We will be considering the location of college, hopefully keeping them at a close area. Then we will also be considering the academic specialization that they want to go into.”According to Sabbagh, there will be an introductory kickoff event for undergraduate and graduate students to socialize in next semester. The program suggests the paired students meet three times during a semester. “We don’t want people signing up for this program and having nothing come out of it,” Sabbagh said. “We are thinking of sending out follow-up surveys saying, ‘Did you meet with your graduate students,’ ‘Did you feel this was beneficial to you’ and ‘What would you like to see in future meetings.’”The program will close with a “celebratory mixer” event, recognizing the work people did for this program and the students who get into graduate school.Sabbagh said he realized that Rice lacks in certain graduate programs, such as medical schools or journalism school, so the mentorship program cannot satisfy every students’ needs.  “The goal is to ultimately utilize the [graduate programs] that will be most beneficial to undergraduate students,” Sabbagh said. “I think what we are doing is focusing on what we do have right now, seeing if that is going to be successful and then in the future expand on that.”According to Director of Academic Advising Brian Gibson, statistics show about 70 percent of students at Rice will attend professional programs within five years after they graduate. Graduate students will be a good resource for students who want to apply for graduate schools, Sabbagh said.“One [aspect of this program] is a mentorship side, which is a way for undergraduate students to talk to graduate students about advice on how to apply to graduate school and what the culture of graduate school is like,” Sabbagh said.Sabbagh said the second aspect of the program is to increase interaction among graduate and undergraduate students. The mentorship program integrates graduate students into the associates program. “So through this program, graduate students will be like associates in the sense that they will be able to eat a limited amount of free meals at the colleges,” Sabbagh said. “They will be able to attend associates nights at their colleges. This would increase the personal connection between the graduate and the undergraduate students here.”Amritha Kanakamedala, former SA external vice president, said the program was initiated by students. The idea for the program was suggested by Mitchell Massey, a Jones College senior, who has worked on this program with Kanakamedala and Sabbagh since last semester. “This program has received a lot of support from students, both undergraduate and graduate students, as well as the administration,” Kanakamedala said. “We have support from the [Office of Academic Advising], Dean Hutchison’s office, as well as from the office of Dr. Matsuda, the Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Students.”Sabbagh said there are more applicants than expected, as well as support from the administration that will ensure the longevity of this program.“Our hope is that we are formalizing this process so that it can happen every year,” Sabbagh said.Cassie Peretore, a Martel College junior, said she applied for the program, which she thinks would be beneficial for students who want to apply for graduate schools. “Rice has always had great resources for students on pre-med tracks or pre-law tracks,” Peretore said. “But those of us who are interested in different types of grad schools struggle a little more to find mentors. I’m really excited about this program because it’ll give me an opportunity to meet a grad student I never would have met and get valuable advice I never would’ve gotten. For those of us who applied to this program and are interested in grad school paths that are less ‘paved out,’ this will be really beneficial.”

What's hip right now

The Thresher picks the hippest stuff you should know about right now.

Confessionals give outlet for campus

A dear friend recently told me about a weekly New York Times column gaining widespread popularity. Bored and lonely last Tuesday night, I remembered the recommendation and decided to read through a few posts. Within minutes, I was immersed. “Modern Love” features reader-submitted essays about love, in all its forms and iterations. Though anyone can submit, the stories selected are well-written, moving and, most strikingly, deeply personal. For instance, “Finding Equilibrium in Seesawing Libidos” ties the familiar marriage quandary of unbalanced sexual needs into a couple’s struggles with Parkinson’s (A wife’s libido, once low, skyrockets as a result of her medication). The beauty of the piece lies in the author’s description of the pain he feels watching a loved one suffer. Similarly, “To Fall in Love with Anyone, Do This” catches reader attention with a wacky premise (Can scientists make people fall in love?) but stayed with me due to its intimate personal story about the moment when two people begin to realize their feelings for one another.“Modern Love” corresponds with a campus trend of using the written and spoken word to express deep emotions. This past March, a group of students put together “The Speak Up Project,” a documentary-theater performance in which students submitted personal narratives about sexual harassment and assault that were read aloud by actors. Anonymous confessionals “Rice Confess” and Yik Yak similarly include various posts detailing the emotional lives and personal concerns of students. The fact that these forums exist and are utilized, seen and discussed demonstrates a dual need: the desire for catharsis and the yearning for authentic connection in an exceedingly inauthentic world.I would suspect that this trend speaks to a disturbing sense of isolation among the population — particularly those who have been through trauma or have certain emotional needs. Sharing pain and confusion with new acquaintances is taboo, yet emotional release and the need for understanding is critical. Anonymity allows release without judgment. Viewing others’ stories makes one feel connected by providing reassurance that feelings and struggles are universal and legitimate. In our celebration of these mediums, however, we must be careful not to use them as total replacements for sharing with other humans. As much as they can comfort us, there is nothing comparable to intimate sharing with real people, in the flesh. Thus, I encourage students: Use anonymous outlets and read confessionals, especially if they help. At the same time, however, be open to removing the veil over your identity and pursuing authentic connection with another human being. 

BRC welcomes student exhibition

The Bioscience Research Collaborative is known as a facility strictly devoted to science. This spring, however, the building has experienced an infusion of art. Until May 2015, the BRC’s pop-up gallery will house “Not Born Yesterday,” an exhibition created and curated by Duncan College senior Lydia Smith. The show is especially notable because it is the first student exhibition ever displayed in the gallery.Smith’s work consists of three strange, textured ovals propped delicately off the wall. Smith said she has been experimenting with tyvek, a construction material used to wrap houses. She said she likes it because it is simultaneously delicate and strong. “I work with thin materials a lot; most of my work is portable and malleable,” Smith said. “I was drawn to tyvek because it’s thin, like paper, but it’s fabricated out of plastic, so it’s a very strong material and cannot rip. You can wash it; there are clothes made out of it. It lends itself to many uses.”Smith uses a process that involves burning the tyvek with a heat gun set to 500 degrees. The high temperature warps the material so it bubbles. Then, she paints and shapes it. The final product is strange and indistinct, in between a painting and a sculpture.“They’re a really big departure from anything I’ve done in the past,” Smith said. “They’re much more ambiguous, to be interpreted by the viewer in any different way. If you walk into the space, you could see them as planets or even cells under a microscope.”Smith was invited to showcase her work in the BRC by Rice Public Art. Smith said while she did not design her pieces specifically for the space, they fit together perfectly.“I’m always so excited when I see this kind of relationship between the architecture and the work,” Smith said. “The works and the space are interconnected. You could have pieces that don’t fit with a space, and it could completely ruin the exhibition even it’s great work.”Smith also curated her exhibition, drawing on experience she has gained as director of Rice’s Matchbox Gallery. She used a mock-up of the space to try out different arrangements of the pieces. She also decided to install the pieces with small rods so they hang slightly off the wall, casting shadows.“I think there’s some gravity relevant in the way they’re shown; they’re dynamic,” Smith said. “Also, there are holes in the pieces, allowing light to be involved in the work.”Smith has continued to experiment with tyvek, and will display new works along with 13 other visual and dramatic arts majors in the senior showcase on April 23 in Sewall Hall. She was also recently awarded the prestigious Watson Fellowship, which funds a year of personal exploration and study. She says she will use it to study cemeteries in six countries.“Not Born Yesterday” will be on display in the BRC pop-up gallery until May 2015.

Indian fusion soars at Pondicheri

Parts of Pondicheri’s menu seem like they could only be a breakthrough hit or a disaster. Replace the fried dough wafers in a papdi chaat with semolina crackers and you get either a healthier, hipper version of the original, or a mealy multigrain imposter.  Adding a pumpkin bun to the black garbanzo bean veggie burger could be a stroke of genius or a mark of overzealous experimentation. Luckily, the chefs at Pondicheri are serious about their fusion cooking. With influences from French bakeries to South America’s produce, Pondicheri is all about laid-back twists on Indian favorites. Though the curries and other classics can be underwhelming, the attention paid to innovations like the masala burgers and Madras chicken wings make Pondicheri well worth a visit. Known as a great breakfast spot around River Oaks, Pondicheri keeps many of its best dishes off the dinner menu. The green dosas, omelets and aloo paratha with house-made jam are all great alternatives to the diner food and breakfast tacos that form the usual Houstonian breakfast. The bake lab offers the best of Pondicheri’s French influence in its pastries. The chocolate brioche bun rolled in orange saffron sugar and the gulab jamun donut spiced with mace, cinnamon and cardamom and soaked in a cardamom-rosewater syrup highlight what may be one of the most inventive bakery menus in Houston.The lunch and dinner menus are just as inventive, but a bit uneven. Pondicheri’s strength lies in their fusion dishes. The semolina papdi chaat is as refreshing as the Indian original, and the addition of tamarind lends a sweet and spicy element to the traditionally tangy dish. The lamb mint burger, quite possibly the best item on the menu, is a delicious blend of Indian, American and French conventions. The lamb patty is served with an Indian version of pub cheese atop a brioche bun with cilantro chutney and onion masala spread. Throughout the fusion dishes, Pondicheri’s broad influences and love of casual Indian harmonize into a peculiar and wonderful homage to Indian street food. In the more traditional curries, however, some dishes miss out on Pondicheri’s anything-goes attitude. The lamb curry, served with an overabundance of parsley and drab chunks of carrot and potato, seems especially plain compared to the rest of the menu. Still, other curries like the goat kofta, which pairs spicy goat meatballs with ginger, papaya and almonds, have all the exotic allure of Pondicheri’s best cooking.An added feature of Pondicheri’s lunch and dinner experience is the smart and concise drink menu. Sangrias and shandies are served with a number of unexpected ingredients ranging from hibiscus and lavender in the sparkling rosé Whist to the ghost peppers and black salt in the Hot Stuff shandy. The Lovely Leech is a particularly elegant blend of Chardonnay, lychee, pear and apple juice available by the glass or pitcher. The eclectic wine list focuses on unoaked whites and fruity reds that pair well with the spice and earthiness of Indian cooking. The Ernest Loosen Gewurztraminer, with exotic notes of rose and lychee, and the clean and crisp Merry Edward’s Sauvignon Blanc, are both exceptional wines that pair well with a number of Pondicheri’s lighter offerings. The non-alcoholic drink menu is equally extensive and interesting. Hibiscus soda, mint lemonade, lassis and teas are all made in house and complement the food nicely.With such a comprehensive and ambitious menu, dining at Pondicheri feels far more like an experience than meals at Houston’s other causal fusion restaurants. But while it does aim higher than many of its peers, Pondicheri never feels overly formal or frustratingly hip. Instead, it is the best of both worlds: a relaxed vibe, a moderate price and food that’s fun, exciting and, above all, tasty. 

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‘The Heidi Chronicles’ falls flat

A Letter from your new Editor in Chief

Dear Readers,

Life's a Mitch: Stand up

How long have you been sitting there?

RiceX prepares for first rocket launch

RiceX completed a major milestone in the form of a successful motor on March 22, a large step towards their goal of creating and launching a hybrid rocket this summer.RiceX began the year with less than $1,000 in their budget and no set goals for the year. Lovett College junior and RiceX president Sarah Hernandez said Brown College freshman Andrew Gatherer’s interest in the club helped spur their growth.“Andrew emailed me even before school started with questions about how to get involved in RiceX. The club wasn’t serious at all back then, but after getting his messages, I felt like I couldn’t let this kid down,” Hernandez said.With a keen desire to build a functioning rocket, Hernandez, Gatherer and other committed team members actively recruited members and generated interest in the club. These efforts allowed the club to expand significantly. They were able to recruit many younger undergraduate students in particular: The team consists mainly of freshmen and sophomores, alongside one junior and one senior.According to Hernandez, one of the factors limiting their success was the lack of funding for the project. To raise money, they worked to get sponsorships from outside organizations. “At certain points, students were paying with personal funds for parts to build the project in hopes that, as their project grew, it would acquire more funding,” Hernandez said.The two biggest successes of RiceX so far have been the model rocket launched about a month ago, as well as the more recent successful motor test.At their single allotted table in the Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen, members of RiceX constructed the engine. According to Gatherer, each piece of the engine was machined in house, including the nozzle, body and ejector plate. Additionally, they made the fuel out of a mixture of candle wax, rubber and nitrous oxide.“Not more than approximately 10 other universities in the nation have been able to construct a hybrid rocket motor,” Gatherer said.As members of RiceX’s avionics and aerodynamics teams work toward a launch this summer, they hope to gain greater funding from the Brown School of Engineering and outside organizations, as well as acquire a larger workspace, accoording to Gatherer. Additionally, they plan on traveling to the Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition, where they will see the different kinds of rockets that other top universities around the country are developing.

Environmental studies minor to launch fall 2015

A new environmental studies minor will be available to undergraduate students next fall, according to Dominic Boyer, co-chair of the Environmental Studies Faculty Working Group. Rice currently offers several degree programs related to environmental issues: an energy and water sustainability minor, an environmental earth science track within the earth science major and an environmental studies second major. However, the second major requires students take at least thirteen 300-400 level courses, making it  difficult for students from other majors to add.Boyer, director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences and a professor of anthropology, said there is room for a holistic environmental studies minor in Rice’s current offerings. “[The environmental studies major is] very very heavy on the science component and lighter on the humanities and social sciences component, so we kept hearing from students that these programs were all very effective in a more narrow sense, but if a student wanted to get an introduction to environmental problems more holistically and comprehensively, they were not as effective,” Boyer said.The new environmental studies minor will serve as an introduction to environmental issues for students of all majors. Boyer said the working group designed it to be interdisciplinary, with  courses from a wide variety of departments. “38 different departments and programs [teach] courses related to environment and sustainability issues, which is a lot of departments,” Boyer said. The minor will use current faculty and will not require Rice to hire, according to Boyer.To develop the minor, the working group asked for student and faculty input on current environmental studies course. Boyer said he never heard anyone oppose the idea of a more holistically conceived minor, and that both students and professors were overwhelmingly in favor of an environmental studies minor. The working group also placed questions related to the minor on the fall 2014 Survey of All Students. “When we asked if students supported forming an environmental studies minor, 61 percent said yes and about 300 students said they would have considered taking the minor had it been available to them when they started at Rice,” Boyer said.Rice Environmental Society president Ashley Ugarte said the minor was a great step for Rice. She and other students participated in the town hall meeting and showed student support for the minor.“I’m really excited. It’s great. You know something that students and the administration have been working on,” Ugarte, a Martel College senior, said. “If I could start over and take this minor, I would.”Boyer said in the past few days, six or seven students have contacted him about the minor. Seniors who have already taken the courses cross-listed in the minor and in their own degree programs need to take only the new Environment, Culture and Society (ENST 100) core course to complete the minor. Boyer said he cannot determine how many students will be taking the courses next year, but is hopeful because the numbers on the survey show there is demand for the minor. The working group consists of faculty from the schools of Architecture, Engineering, Humanities, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences.

Budde named commencement speaker

Dennis Budde, a Baker College senior, will speak about improvisation as the student convocation speaker at the commencement ceremony on May 16. “[My speech] is about improvising and making sure that you leave some room for improvisation in your life,” Budde said. “But you also need to make sure you’re sticking to your plans and working hard. … Appreciate the balance.”Budde said he plans to talk about how he discovered improvisation in college. His experience in comedy groups, particularly Rice’s Kinda Sketchy, will be a major part of his speech. “I’m in the sketch comedy group here and I joined it freshmen year,” Budde said. “The people that I met in theater are the ones who encouraged me to start doing sketch comedy, and if I had just been just trying to stick to my plan, I wouldn’t have done that – it wasn’t anything I ever thought about doing. But instead I went for it. I improvised and it turned my life around.”Budde said he has always been interested in performing and writing. One of his writing principles, “the smaller you go, the bigger your audience ends up being,” helped him decide on the content of his speech. “If you are trying to make some big blanket statement then you will just get something wrong,” Budde said. “So I decided that I’ll just talk about something that’s important to me that I’ve personally learned and hoped that it worked.”One of the messages he wants to deliver to the graduating class is the balance between planning and improvisation, Budde said. “People don’t really think about improvising in their lives so much,” Budde said. “You want to set up your five-year plan and leave no room for improvisation. Maybe what you are doing next is what you had always been planning on doing, but don’t force yourself to stick with it if it’s not what you want.”Budde said it is important to him that the audience has fun listening to his speech. “One of the problems is that commencement speeches in general don’t keep people interested,” Budde said. “With that in mind, I really tried to make [my speech] entertaining as well.”

Rice alumnus Josh Earnest recalls path to White House

When Josh Earnest first moved from Houston to Washington, D.C. in January 2001, he spent about six weeks sleeping on the floor of a friend’s spare bedroom.He had no job prospects, only a few contacts and friends and had left the life he had known since graduation — working in politics in Houston.What he found, however, were new possibilities.“I drove here from Houston,” Earnest (Sid Richardson ‘97) said. “And I still remember driving around town and even driving in front of the White House at that point sort of thinking about how what a tremendous experience and honor it would be to work at the White House.” Now, as White House press secretary, the 40-year-old Kansas City, Missouri native wakes up early to prepare for the White House’s daily press briefings, where he answers reporters’ questions about both the administration and its reaction to current events. Meetings pack his mornings, such as a 7:45 a.m. meeting with senior White House staff during which he asks them questions about news he had read about the night before.“It’s an opportunity for me to … ask the national security advisor or the president’s top homeland security advisor about news that occurred overnight that’s related to national security,” Earnest, dressed in a dark suit and green tie, said in his West Wing office.  Earnest said he received thorough academic training and learned a lot about writing as a political science and policy studies major at Rice. His extracurriculars included some writing for the Thresher and serving as campus-wide Beer Bike coordinator. “My Rice experience ... genuinely broadened my horizons,” Earnest said.During his senior year, Earnest took a course that sent him to Israel and Gaza for spring break. In Jerusalem, he went to a memorial dedicated to the Holocaust’s lost children at Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust museum. In Gaza, Earnest visited locals and learned about the territory’s public health conditions when he went to a center for deaf children. One of his first times overseas, the trip deeply impacted him. “I learned a lot about [the Israeli-Palestinian] situation, and it continues to form the basis of a lot of my knowledge about that situation that I draw upon in the context of this job in particular,” Earnest said.However, Earnest did more than just advance his knowledge of public policy and politics in and out of the classroom. His favorite memory at Sid Richardson College was going to what used to be an annual early-winter “tower party,” in which every floor would have a different theme, such as a piano bar theme or a country western theme.  Prior to being named White House press secretary, Earnest’s jobs included being then-Senator Barack Obama’s Iowa communications director and working for Jay Carney, now his predecessor, as the principal deputy press secretary. “I wouldn’t say that every step of my career has been easy, by any means,” Earnest said. “But I don’t think there’s anything that I regret.” Earnest’s ascent to the press secretary position became a real possibility when Carney left the White House. Very few people knew Carney was stepping down. “I had been involved in an interview process that had only involved a small number of people,” Earnest said. Right before he found out he got the job, which he assumed on June 20, 2014, Earnest was in the middle of an energetic discussion in his office with Jonathan Karl, the chief White House correspondent for ABC News. Brian Mosteller, one of the president’s assistants, opened his office door and told him he was needed upstairs, not wanting to say the president wanted to see Earnest in front of the reporter. Earnest asked Mosteller if he needed to come up immediately, and Mosteller said he did. As Karl started to leave the office, so did Earnest. Earnest, who was not wearing his suit jacket, had taken one step out of his office when Mosteller looked at him and said, “Don’t you think you should put on your suit jacket?” “I thought, oh, yeah, I guess I probably should,” Earnest said. “So I reached for my jacket, and went into the Oval Office and had a conversation with the president, where he offered me the job.”After Earnest returned to his office, he saw that he had missed calls from his wife, Natalie Wyeth, who was then six months pregnant with their first child. She was dealing with an air conditioning repairman at their new townhouse in Alexandria, Virginia. “I called her back, and I said — she obviously knew what was going on — and I said, sweetheart, I’m sorry I wasn’t here to take your calls, but I have the best possible excuse for not being by my cell phone,” Earnest said. “And she knew exactly what I was talking about and she was very excited.” Earnest has had to answer hundreds of questions during his time at White House press briefings, but his favorite response came after 2015 Super Bowl semi-playoff. Referencing New England Patriots’ Tom Brady’s press conference after “DeflateGate,” Earnest answered a CNN reporter, “The one thing I can tell you is that for years it’s been clear that there is no risk that I was gonna take Tom Brady’s job as quarterback of the New England Patriots, but I can tell you that as of today, it’s pretty clear that there’s no risk of him taking my job, either.” His line on Brady elicited comments from many people, including emails from Earnest’s two brothers and friends from other jobs — and a response from the president on Air Force One before traveling to India.  “I was sitting in the conference room,” Earnest said. “And I could hear the president get on the plane and bellow down the hallway, ‘Josh, why [are] you being so mean to Tom Brady?’” Earnest encouraged Rice students to take their academic pursuits seriously, but not too seriously, and to take advantage of as many opportunities at the university as they can to expand their horizons — including faculty. Earnest, who was not a “political junkie” as a teenager, said he got his first political job because of his advisor at Rice, Robert Stein, the Lena Gohlman Fox Professor of political science. Stein not only influenced his interest in public policy and politics, but also introduced him to people involved in politics around town.  “You can’t put a price tag on something like that,” Earnest said. “Somebody who’s willing to inspire you in that way, and who’s willing to mentor you in that way.” Stein said Earnest was a smart and empathetic student whom “everybody” wanted to work with on class team papers. And Stein’s reaction when he found out his former student had become the White House press secretary? Not shocked at all. “Trust me, this kid was born to have a political career.”Edit (4/13/2014, 11 AM): It was previously stated Earnest was 38. This is incorrect. He is currently 40.

Baseball takes series against conference leader

Club rowing to host women’s speaker series

Students debut 'Fissure Price' exhibition

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KTRU prepares for 24th annual outdoor show

In the wake of announcing its return to the airwaves, Rice’s official student-run radio station, KTRU, now prepares for the 24th Annual Outdoor Show, which will be held on April 11. KTRU prides itself on exposing local, underground artists, and the 2015 show promises an indie-electro beat with headliners Objekt, Bok Bok, GoldLink and Ex Hex. Fat Tony, Stalls, Deep Cuts, Heaven Spacey and Battle of the Bands winner Fire Alarm. Returning artist FLCON FCKER will be providing visual entertainment. Concert manager Jake Levens said his goal for this year’s show is to incorporate more electronic music into the lineup, something the station hasn’t done in years past. “One of the things that I had in mind this year was bringing in more representation of electronic music,” Levens, a Will Rice College senior, said. “In the past we’ve had XXYYXX and FLCON FCKER, but in general, it’s skewed more toward indie rock. There were a lot of reasons to do that in the past, but this year, I thought, what if we explore some different options?”Levens predicts that the headliner GoldLink will be a crowd favorite. “GoldLink, I think, is going to be one of the biggest hits at the show,” he said. “[GoldLink] calls it ‘future bounce music,’ and basically it’s these really wild beats that he kind of just flies through rapping. It’s a lot of fun and it’s really high-energy.”Accompanying the EDM will be local visual artist and musician FLCON FCKR, who played at last year’s show.“As soon as it gets dark enough to be projecting, we’re going to have some weird, glitched-out madness going on behind the artists,” Levens said. “It’s especially important because we’re using [disc jockeys], and that’s a major audio-visual experience.”Levens hopes that the risks KTRU is taking with the EDM lineup will pay off. “We’re taking some risks this year with the lineup by having Objekt and Bok Bok there,” Levens said. “But ultimately I hope it works out, and that people stick around and watch the whole thing.”In addition to the music scene, the show will also feature student organization booths, sponsor booths and food trucks. Outgoing station manager Sal Tijerina said KTRU has plans to make this year’s show especially attractive with the food truck lineup.“We are aiming to make this a huge event,” Tijerina, a Lovett College senior, said. “We’ve got some really awesome food trucks, like Oh My Gogi, that everybody loves. So that could even be an attraction in itself.”According to Tijerina, KTRU also wants to make a special effort to connect to the Houston community this year, who has greeted KTRU’s return to the radio with enthusiasm. “We’re definitely going to make an effort to really tap into the community this year, especially in light of recent news of us returning to FM,” Tijerina said. “A lot of the community was very excited to hear that we’re coming back, and we want to make sure that they know we appreciate it.”

Fantastic Wines and Where to Find Them

Tired of beer? Freaked out by Franzia? According to a class-action lawsuit filed last Thursday, student favorites Franzia and Charles Shaw may have up to five times the amount of arsenic the EPA allows in drinking water. So given the alternatives, now seems like a better time than ever to highlight some of top low-cost bottles available at the local Spec’s, HEB and even Target.