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SPORTS 2/4/15 4:04pm

Basketball drops two conference games

By Kevin Mohanram

The Rice University men’s basketball team suffered two consecutive losses on the road this week to the University of Houston 48-59 and the University of North Texas 65-75.Although Rice and Houston were tied 22-22 at halftime, Houston managed to pull away in the second half, outscoring the Owls by 11 points despite Rice shooting 55 percent from the field. Head Coach Mike Rhoades said loss of focus was an important factor in the defeat against Houston. “Once again we got off to a good start,” Rhoades said. “I thought it was one of our games where we just lacked enough focus to continue through the game. We did some good things early, got it going a little bit, but we just allowed Houston too many extra shots. We weren’t as aggressive on both ends of the court as we have been in the near past.”Rhoades also said the team came out strong against North Texas, but once again played a weaker second half. Despite scoring a season-high 15 three-pointers and recording their highest-scoring first half of the season, Rice’s offense stagnated in the second half. Rice led 45-37 at halftime, but was held to only 20 second-half points on 21 percent shooting while the Mean Grean scored 38 points. “We played a great first half, but they are a very talented team,” Rhoades said. “Our defense was just okay. We had a lot of confidence going into the second half … We just did not get off to a good start [in the second half]. Then it became a dogfight, and we just allowed them too much confidence [and too many easy scores] throughout the second half. The Owls have two upcoming road games against Marshall University and Western Kentucky University. Rhoades said the team needs to improve its practices to win key road conference games.“We just [have] to have a really good week of practice and prepare to pull these games out,” Rhoades said. “They’re both good programs, but you know it’s league play, so you have to find a way to win on the road.”Rice’s next home game is on Thursday, Feb. 12 against Middle Tennessee State University.

OPINION 2/4/15 3:49pm

Blanket Tax Crack Team proposal remedies current system’s failures

By Thresher Editorial Board

The SA Blanket Tax Crack Team has petitioned a revamp to the existing blanket tax system with a new “pot of gold” proposal. 200 student signatures are required for the petition to be included in the General Election ballot, where a 20 percent referendum and a two-thirds majority vote will put the measure into effect (see p.1). The Thresher strongly supports the Crack Team’s new proposal and encourages students to sign the petition and to vote for it in the General Election. Currently, organizations petition to qualify for blanket tax status and specify a requested amount of annual funding through a ballot in the General Election. If a blanket tax organization’s budget appears questionable in the Annual Review, they are brought to a Contingency Committee, which can determine if the organization has violated blanket tax laws and if a decrease in funding is warranted. The existing process has proven inefficient at and inconducive to encouraging fiscal responsibility among blanket tax organizations. Since a Contingency Committee must find three violations within a four-year period to decrease a violating organization’s blanket tax, it currently takes years to effect any change in funding, even if an organization demonstrates excessively large surpluses or fiscal irresponsibility. Fleeting institutional memory coupled with a bureaucratic quagmire renders the process infeasible; no subsidiary organization has ever seen a decrease in its funding. The “pot of gold” proposal, which calls for a standing committee, provides a welcome change to a broken system. The standing committee, to be comprised of students and advisors to subsidiary organizations, would predetermine which organizations qualify for priority funding and would conduct annual reviews on these organizations’ budgets. Additionally, new organizations can petition to become subsidiaries and qualify for priority status through the general ballot as before. The proposal also calls for surpluses higher than a predetermined amount to return to the “pot of gold” for use by other student organizations. The mechanisms outlined in this proposal will encourage fiscal responsibility in subsidiary organizations and will ensure student governance can preemptively address issues in blanket tax funding instead of undergoing a cumbersome process. Previous ballot measures have been defeated by a lack of quorum. The Thresher strongly encourages students to voice their support for the proposal by signing the Blanket Tax Crack Team’s petition and by voting for it in the upcoming General Election. If passed, the new measures usher in much-needed blanket tax reforms that promote greater fiscal responsibility and accountability among blanket tax organizations. Editor in Chief Miles Kruppa and Faculty Advisor Kelly Callaway are members of the Blanket Tax Crack Team. They did not contribute to this editorial. Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Thresher editorial staff. All other opinion pieces represent solely the opinion of the piece’s author.

SPORTS 2/4/15 3:46pm

Casey Clark qualifies for US Olympic Trials

By Juan Saldaña

Casey Clark excels in both the classroom and in the swimming pool. The Baker College senior will be graduating in May with a degree in civil and environmental engineering and already has a job lined up with Shell. With her friendly personality and relaxed conversational style, anyone speaking with her would not expect her to be the same person whose competitive drive and skill makes her one of the most accomplished swimmers in Rice history. Clark began swimming competitively year-round at the age of nine, but in about two months, her demanding schedule of two-a-day practices and traveling for meets might be over. She says the reality of the impending shock of not swimming competitively again has not hit her yet. “[Swimming] has been such a large part of my life,” Clark said. “Swimming takes so much time and it becomes your identity. People know me as ‘the swimmer.’” From the moment she came to Rice as a graduate of Klein High School, 45 minutes north of Rice, she took the pool by storm and made an immediate contribution to the Owl’s swim team. She shared the team’s Rookie of the Year award, won three individual bronze medals and broke a Rice record in her first season as an Owl. That summer, Clark competed in the United States Olympic Team Trials. Commonly referred to as “Trials,” the meet is held every four years before the Summer Olympics to select the participants for the U.S. swim team. Clark competed in those Trials in both the 100-meter butterfly and the 200-meter freestyle. According to Clark, her goal was to achieve Olympic Trials cuts in order to compete in more events at the meet and simply enjoy the experience. “Obviously, going into Olympic Trials, I didn’t think I was going to make the team,” Clark said. “It was more about the experience of going and trying to maximize the amount of swims there.” Clark said despite not placing very highly, she recalls the thrill of competing on one of the highest stages. “It was really cool to just be at that high-profile meet,” Clark said. “They had fireworks on the pool deck and everything. It was just cool to be in a setting in which swimming was getting the attention that I feel other sports get.” In a long-course meters (Olympic-size 50- meter pool) meet in Austin two weeks ago, Clark posted two lifetime best marks in the 100-meter freestyle (57.08) and the 100-meter butterfly (1:00.42), the latter being an Olympic Trials cut.  Despite qualifying for the Olympic Trials once again, Clark is leaning toward not competing in the meet once again in 2016. According to Clark, going to the Trials would require her to train rigorously for over a year more than she would otherwise.  “It is kind of a tricky situation because I am graduating in May and I accepted a job in New Orleans,” Clark said. “With that, I don’t think I would be able to train or compete at the level that I need to be at.” However, Clark said she has not completely shut the door on swimming in Omaha with the nation’s best once again in July 2016.  “I am just going to start working, but I could take a couple months off and then train again,” Clark said. “If I decide that it is something I can do, then I might.” Clark’s current focus, however, remains her college meets which take place in a short-course yards competition pool. While international meets such as the Olympics take place in 50-meter pools, most meets in the United States occur in 25-yard pools, which make for faster times due to the differences with the metric system and the larger number of turns in the races. Right now, Clark is working on tapering, or gradually beginning to rest, for the Conference USA Championship Meet in Knoxville, Tennessee on Feb. 18-21 and for the NCAA Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina a month later. As possibly the only Owls swimmer to compete in both meets, Clark said she has to find a way to be rested yet prepared. “I am sort of half-tapering for conference and half-tapering for national,” Clark said. “Just points-wise, it does not make sense for me to not be rested and conference and not try to swim at the top level, but at the same time, I can’t put all of my eggs in that basket and not do well at nationals.” Clark is looking forward to bringing back a second consecutive conference championship to Rice. In last year’s meet where she was named the Swimmer of the Meet, the Owls won the conference. This year, she said it will be much more difficult to attain that level of success. “Our conference is going to be way more challenging,” Clark said. “Last year we won it handily by about 300 points. It is going to be a lot more challenging, but we are definitely a stronger team this year.” With a conference championship meet, NCAA championships and even possibly another Olympic Trials left for her, she currently sits atop the Rice swimming record books with individual school records in the 100 yard freestyle (49.26), 100 backstroke (53.86), 200 freestyle (1:45.69), 200 butterfly (1:57.28) and in her favorite event, the 100 butterfly (52.70). In addition, she has been a member of four of the school’s five record setting relays. Clark said it might take another record-breaking swim for her to attain her goal of reaching the finals at the NCAA championships this year. “I’ve been twice before but I didn’t make finals,” Clark said. “My goal is to final and score points at NCAAs.”

NEWS 2/4/15 4:16am

Faculty Slide Jam opens VADA season

By Kaylen Strench, Arts and Entertainment Editor

When class is dismissed for the day, the Rice visual and dramatic arts professors are far from packing up and heading home. Though devoted to their students, these faculty members are not just teachers. In fact, they are all talented artists in their own right, putting in long hours to construct creative pieces worthy of national and international acclaim. Slide JamThis Thursday, Feb. 5, they will get a chance to show what they’re made of at the fourth annual Visual and Dramatic Arts Faculty Slide Jam, a rapid-fire presentation of faculty art. The event, organized by VADA professor Christopher Sperandio, will showcase recent research, paintings, drawings and other projects created by Rice professors in a series of rapid-fire presentations. “[The visual and dramatic arts department] is comprised of a really diverse and  exceptionally talented group of people,” Sperandio said. “However, we’re often exhibiting nationally or internationally, very rarely in Houston. So this is a fun and informal way to get to see what we’re all up to.”Each professor will have only five minutes to present their latest creations, some of which are colossal projects spanning over multiple months. Therefore, the event is fast, exciting and necessarily accessible to students, regardless of major or background in art.“It’s really a snapshot of what the faculty are working on when they’re not in the classroom working with students,” Natasha Bowdoin, another VADA professor, said. “I think in a span of five minutes you can really only give a general overview. There’s no time to get into a lot of heavy art speak.”Sperandio said the event is intended for all Rice students and that it has something to offer those of all art backgrounds.“If you’re studying art, if you’re taking an art class or interested in taking one, or even if you’re just interested in what’s going on in the [visual and dramatic arts department], this is a great way to get information quickly,” Sperandio said.Once the presentations conclude in Sewall Hall, VADA will serve sliders from Little Big’s and the night will continue with other art-centered events at the surrounding Sewall galleries. A Description of the Sun8-10 p.m., Rice alumnus and emerging artist Logan Sebastian Beck will be introducing his new piece, “A Description of the Sun,” in the Emergency Room Gallery, located inside Sewall Hall. Sperandio said the piece, a sculpture that tracks the position of the sun as it moves across the sky, will have particular appeal for engineers.Everything All at OnceAt the same time, in the student-run Matchbox Gallery, located in the Sewall courtyard, new artist Melinda Laszczynski will be opening her new exhibition, “Everything All at Once.” Laszczynski’s work is an intriguing amalgam of painting, sculpture and installation that features bright colors and diverse textures and materials. She said the paintings in her show are inspired by cakes she saw at Wal-Mart. “I liked how, though I wasn’t interested in eating the cakes, they still made bright and interesting sculptures,” Laszczynski said. “So when I started these paintings over the summer, I used the same color palettes and pipetted out of pastry bags to create that cake aesthetic.”Laszczynski’s work will also feature a variety of mixed materials, including everything from hair clips to glitter. “I’m very interested in this contradiction between materials,” Laszczynski said. “I wanted to combine low-craft materials — things found around my studio, or purchased in hardware or dollar stores — with high-art aesthetics. The effect, I hope, ends up being this immersive, playful thing you want to explore.”Laszczynski also said that although she is a graduate student at the University of Houston, she thought Matchbox was a perfect place to display her work.“Since I’ve been working more with installations and sculptures [versus two-dimensional paintings], I’ve been much more interested in the space where my work is being shown,” Laszczysnki said. “The small scale of Matchbox is really appealing, especially that window-front, because when you’re looking at the work from the courtyard it flattens out the view and makes the installation look like a painting, but when you’re inside the space it makes the work larger-scale for the viewer, it pulls them in. It’s just a really nice little space.”Along with the exhibition openings, a DJ will be playing live music in the courtyard and food and drinks will be served. The Faculty Slide Jam will start at 7 p.m. in Sewall 301. Matchbox Gallery will open at 7 p.m. and Emergency Room will open from 8-10 p.m. 

NEWS 2/4/15 4:08am

The pick list: Netflix indie gems to satisfy every taste

By Sophie Newman, Arts and Entertainment Editor

Indie films can be a bit of a gamble for the avid Netflixer. Fortunately, the Thresher has done some of the grunt work for you in sorting through the Netflix filler to find some high-caliber (or at least highly entertaining) titles to fill your beginning-of-the-semester free time. If you’re tired of watching Mean Girls or Friends reruns for the umpteenth time, check out these obscure yet worthy picks.  

NEWS 2/4/15 4:03am

Taking Hong Kong one dish at a time

By Melody Yip, for the Thresher

I visited Hong Kong this past winter break, a bustling hubbub of activity. I would step out into the streets and hear Cantonese chatter everywhere. I dodged red taxis that veered past and surrendered to the mercy of the hordes of people cramming the trains. Nevertheless, if there is anything that stuck with me most, it was the culinary experience — Hong Kong is a true haven of stellar cuisine. Even the McDonald’s boast sleek, sophisticated cafes with latte art and macarons. If you are looking to study abroad in Asia or you just catch a whiff of wanderlust, Hong Kong is a wonderful place to explore some of the finest and most unusual eats in the world. The cooking culture varies from casual, hearty comfort food to exquisite banquet fare that includes suckling pig, roast goose and Alaskan king crab. There are numerous restaurants that serve typical comfort foods, such as variations of fried rice, chow mein and wonton noodles (pork or shrimp dumplings bobbing in a rich broth and mixed with thick egg noodles). Iconic drinks like lemon tea, milk tea and yin yeung (“phoenix and dragon,” a mix of milk tea and coffee) can be added to most meals for less than $1. Hong-Kong-style milk tea also differs from British tea. Instead, people whip out evaporated and condensed milks to concoct a smooth, creamy texture that enhances the notes of black tea.Little food carts hover on many street corners as well. These serve all sorts of steamed snacks like pork intestines, curry fish balls and gelatinous rice crepes dipped in a sweet, dark oyster sauce. My favorite snacks are these egg puffs called “gei dan zai” that taste like waffles but are shaped in honeycomb-like molds with round hollows so that the finished product looks like bubble wrap. I always eat them piping hot, and they never disappoint.Dim sum is another significant part of Hong Kong food culture. It sort of defines leisure dining. Elderly people love to wake up at the crack of dawn and head to restaurants to feast on little plates and metal tins of dumplings and steamed meats. Many people also opt to sit down for dim sum at teatime as well. Some of the most popular options are “siu mai,” “ha gao” and “cheung fun.” “Siu mai” are pork, shrimp and mushroom dumplings often dotted with bright orange crab eggs on top. These are my favorite; I love the rich and savory flavors of the hot meat juices that spill over with the first bite. “Ha gao” features shrimp dumplings where the dough is a soft, opaque-colored rice flour. The dumpling shell has a rather bland flavor, but that allows the salty and strong shrimp taste to shine. “Cheung fun” are gelatinous rice flour crepes stuffed with meats from barbecue pork to shrimp, then doused in soy sauce. The soy sauce adds a slightly sweet and salty flavor to the dish, which is often what makes it so popular. The steamed chicken feet, an interesting alternative, are served in a rich red sauce and have a rather fatty texture. Other iconic items are sticky rice covered in lotus leaves, fried squares of Chinese turnip cakes and steamed barbecue pork buns. For dessert, the bakeries offer rich, mouthwatering treats. The celebrated egg tarts melt in the mouth when fresh out of the oven and are baked in buttery, flaky tart shells with a hint of vanilla. Pair these bites of heaven with a hot milk tea; welcome to the breakfast of champions. Bakery shelves are also loaded with heaps of coconut-stuffed buns and soft breads topped with savory bits of dried pork or baked pineapple crust. They just do not taste the same in Houston’s Chinatown.

NEWS 2/3/15 2:08pm

SA passes 40K, splits on NROTC

By Drew Keller

 The Student Association Senate finalized the allocation of $40,540.92 of blanket tax money at the Senate meeting last Wednesday and rejected an initiative that would have granted NROTC midshipmen guaranteed on-campus housing. Following a deliberative process starting in the fall, the SA unanimously approved Resolution #7, which distributes the funds to the Rice Environmental Society, Queer Resource Center, Rice Emergency Medical Services, Rice Bikes and a Student Initiative Fund. The second piece of legislation the Senate considered was “Midshipmen Housing.” This bill proposed reserving on-campus housing for Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps midshipmen in a similar manner as EMS’s housing guarantee. The legislation received an equal number of votes for and against. However, the SA constitution requires a two-thirds majority for resolution approval, and the legislation was not passed.

NEWS 2/3/15 2:08pm

Baker Institute among premier think tanks

By Aparna Narendrula

Rice University’s Baker Institute ranked 18th-best think tank in the United States, rising two spots since 2013, according to the 2014 Global Go To Think Tank survey. “Despite our small size, [in addition to the U.S. ranking,] we have succeeded in being ranked in the top 10 of university-affiliated think tanks in the world,” Baker Institute Founding Director Edward Djerejian said.The Baker Institute is a 22-year-old nonpartisan public policy think tank focusing on domestic and foreign policy issues. Ranked the fourth-best global think tank on energy studies, the Baker Institute’s competitive advantages are mostly linked to its Houston location because most top-tier think tanks are located on the east and west coasts of the U.S., according to Djerejian.“We do health policy because right across the street from Rice is the Texas Medical Center,” said Djerejian. “[We do] the Middle East largely because of my experience as a former American diplomat and Secretary Baker’s experience in the Middle East … We do space policy because NASA is just to the south of Houston and George Abbey [senior fellow in space policy] is the former director of the Johnson Space center. We just created a Mexico center because ... we think location, location, location.”The Institute engages in cutting-edge policy research, but Djerejian emphasized the importance of Rice’s undergraduates becoming more engaged with the think tank.“We call ourselves Rice University’s Baker Institute,” Djerejian said. “We have always wanted to gravitate toward being part of the education role of Rice with the student body. We just like to get students as fully engaged as possible. We have created this thing not just for the decision makers, but also for the students.”Rice students are involved with the Baker Institute through the Baker Institute Student Forum, internships with fellows and scholars, internships through the Jesse Jones Washington, D.C. intern program and as students in courses taught by Baker Institute fellows. In addition, this year, the Baker Institute will begin to offer a graduate Masters of Global Affairs, according to Djerejian.“The Institute has always been very supportive of us and always very supportive of students engaging with public policy,” Nathan Joo, president of the Baker Institute Student Forum, said. “[They] do a lot on student outreach and student support. They offer really great internships; they offer other great opportunities for students to do policy work ... [Fellows are] enthusiastic about meeting students.”

NEWS 2/3/15 2:07pm

Six-floor parking garage to be built on Lovett Lot within three years

By Amber Tong

A 500-spot, six-floor parking garage will be built on the Lovett Lot within three years, according to Student Association Parking Committee members Jazz Silva and Jacob Hernandez. The new parking garage offers a net gain of 350 spots over the current 150-spot Lovett Lot.The garage will benefit both faculty and students by providing more spots in a prime location, Silva, Sid Richardson College Senator, said.“The goal is to move parking toward the front of the campus,” Silva, a junior, said. “Because right now it’s pretty focused on the back, which is really inconvenient for faculty and staff — and also a lot of students. Greenbriar lot has 1,800 spots, and it’s only 32 percent full right now.”According to Silva and Hernandez, a Sid Richardson senior, the new garage is part of a plan to reorganize parking space on campus.“With the addition of the new tennis court, and possibly the opera house, we are just looking at a change in the distribution of parking,” Silva said. “Rice doesn’t have a shortage of parking spots; we just need to restructure the location and pricing of the spots.” According to Hernandez, the administration is in the design stage, and it is expected that most of the construction will be done in one summer, at most three years from now.“It’s a little bit more than just putting in a lot; you have to change the road by Lovett College, you have to widen the entrance, so there’s a couple logistical things that they have to do as well,” Hernandez said. “But I think the plan is to do it in just one summer.”Meanwhile, Silva said the Parking Committee is looking to recruit student consultants to work on restructuring the prices of each parking lot in a way that will be both convenient to students and economically viable for the parking office.“[The parking office is] actually in a deficit right now that they are slowly pulling themselves out of,” Silva said. “So whatever models students come up with [are] going to have to make economic sense.”Citing a previous unexecuted proposal of building a garage under the new tennis court as an example, Silva said discussion about adding parking spots has been going on for a few years, but this year the SA gave particular attention to the issue.“Parking has been an issue on campus for as long as I can remember,” Silva said. “But I’d say in the last year and a half it’s really taken off.”Hernandez said it is important for the student body to keep up the commitment to parking issues.“I think we may face a problem with lack of student involvement,” Hernandez said. “Since parking is an issue that crosses over year to year, the SA needs to make it a point for members to stay involved.  Without making parking an undergraduate priority, it could be overlooked in the future.” Silva said she is confident that as long as SA takes the lead to stay on top of parking issues, other stakeholders will also do their part to make things work for students.“The administration [wants] to help so long as it is a priority for the student body,” Silva said. “If there’s one message I think the students should know, it’s that everyone wants to help, and being optimistic is the best way to get things done.” 

NEWS 2/3/15 2:06pm

WRC publishes monthly magazine "Engender"

By Andrew Ligeralde

The Women’s Resource Center released the first issue of its new monthly publication, Engender magazine, last week. Referred to as a “zine,” Engender features original content such as personal reflections, music and movie reviews, surveys, research papers and original artwork. According to Editor-in-Chief June Deng, the content in current and future issues will represent a diverse set of backgrounds and perspectives. “The goal of a lot of these articles is really broadening the definition of feminism and feminist issues so that it’s more inclusive,” Deng, a Duncan College senior, said. “We are emphasizing the fact that there’s more than one definition of feminism and you should identify with whichever one you feel comfortable in. That’s why we’re reaching out to a lot of different departments, hoping to get stuff from different majors, not just people involved with the [WRC].”The writing in Engender spans a variety of disciplines, including a study of changes in Rice’s campus architecture due to the university’s shifting demographics and a personal essay regarding the author’s experience in the class Gender and Transnational Asia (ASIA 452). The zine also features several pieces of artwork concerning the influence of pop culture in social view of gender.“There [aren’t] really hard and fast rules about what can and can’t go in,” Micaela Canales, a Will Rice junior and this month’s guest editor, said. “It’s not like only students can submit. We’re really interested in what’s coming out of the whole Rice community.”According to Canales, the zine originally began as a monthly newsletter for volunteers only. However, the coordinators saw the publication as an opportunity to inform the community about today’s gender-related issues.“Some people hear feminism and they get a negative emotion, or they think about historical things, like how the women’s rights movement took place a long time ago,” Canales said. “There are current movements happening right now that people are unaware of.”According to Canalaes, the goal of the magizine extends beond simply presenting the issues; the WRC seeks to promote involvement as well as an ongoing community discussion through the publication.“While one of the purposes of the magazine is to inform people, it also provides a platform to share their thoughts,” Canales said. “It was much more like, we were having these cool ideas — why not write them down and share them with other people?”As the publishers prepare to release the March issue, they are already planning to expand the zine’s circulation and further the discussion. According to Deng, the WRC is considering adding an online blog along with the print publication to make it more accessible. Canales said the coordinators also want to increase their funding to support future efforts. “This was published using funds that come out of the [WRC]’s operating budget,” Canales said. “Our account used to be under student activities, so now our account is under well-being. But this funding is limited, given the scope of things we want to do, so we’ve recently applied for Student Activities President’s Programming funds.” For now, however, the primary aim is raising awareness of the magazine, Canales said.“Let people know that it’s there,” Canales said. “That’s the goal this semester, to hopefully increase submissions.”The zine is now available for free at the Women’s Resource Center and online at issuu.com/ricewrc/docs/engender_2015feb_page

NEWS 2/3/15 2:05pm

Committee considers two-week spring break

By Isabella Bender Zevallos

After gathering student opinions regarding possible calendar modifications, the Committee considering the 2017 academic calendar now contains a subcommittee considering the possibility of a two-week-long spring break. President David Leebron first presented this idea at a Faculty Senate meeting in November.The Academic Calendar Committee, which consists of student representative Lovett College Senator Aishwarya Thakur and several faculty members, was appointed by the Faculty Senate in early November, according to Thakur, a sophomore. Initially, the committee was told to consider a two-week spring break, but was later told to consider one-week options in which Rice’s spring break would align with that of the Houston Independent School District. Thakur said she sought feedback from college senators, then  briefed the Student Association to include student feedback in the decision. Thakur said the general student feedback reflected a preference for starting on a full week in order to not shorten class time. The Committee reported its three options of calendars to the SA on Jan. 14. “I heard that people really like the midterm break we have in April, so if we did move to the 10th week, we would have to put a break in February around the fourth or fifth week to break up those 10 weeks,” Thakur said. “[The 2017 Spring Calendar Committee] decided that we would get rid of that April break and just have a two-day break in February and then move spring break to the tenth week, start on a Monday [and] end on a Friday.” According to Thakur, the Committee has decided on a calendar, based on student responses, to propose to the Faculty Senate, and the Committee made their suggestion to the Faculty Senate, although the vote was not unanimous. The Faculty Senate then recommended the Committee return to considering a two-week spring break. Thakur said an extended break could potentially allow for more frequent and extended learning experiences outside the classroom, including internships and Alternative Spring Breaks.“Would we just expand these programs?” Thakur said. “You could go on the service trips in week one and have a break in week two, or have a break in week one and go on a service trip in week two. Or we could have programs that run one and a half weeks or two weeks, such as international trips, which require more time.”Thakur said the Committee is considering the possibility of providing academic credit for programs completed during spring break as well. However, the Committee may not begin or end the calendar earlier.Professor of mathematics and Faculty Senator Michael Wolf said students should see the positive aspects of moving spring break.“Particularly, one should not imagine that the situation is we align these spring breaks at the cost of many other things,” Wolf said. “Unlocking spring break from where it is moored between two apparent chronological halves of the class schedule provides all sorts of opportunities beyond the lining of spring breaks.”Wolf said he hopes the calendar will be finalized by March, and the Committee recognizes that the decision is important to multiple groups at Rice.“It affects everyone, and [all affected feel] they’re an expert because they live it — and they are,” Wolf said. “[We must] take all of the effects of the calendar on student life, on pedagogy, on family life for the workers, and try to weigh each factor in terms of its importance and in terms of the importance of the mission. There is no formula for that, but we’re sincerely trying to do an honest job.”

NEWS 2/3/15 2:04pm

Blanket tax crack team finalizes proposal for ballot

By Jieya Wen

Jieya WenThresher StaffThe Blanket Tax Crack Team is currently collecting student signatures for a petition to bring the “pot of gold” blanket tax proposal to a vote, according to Nick Cornell, chair of the BTCT. The petition requires the signatures of 200 students, or 5 percent of the student body, to be included on the General Election ballot. The proposal requires a 20 percent referendum and two-thirds in favor to pass.Under the proposal, current blanket tax organizations would become subsidiary organizations. The estimated total blanket tax fee will be $85 per student, not including a $20 intramural fee. Subsidiary organizations would have their budgets approved by the standing committee and would not be allocated less than 75 percent of its budget from the previous year. Organizations could apply for further funds from the “pot of gold,” which would consist of unallocated funds. If funds are not used in their entirety, surplus above 125 percent would be returned to the pot of gold. “The biggest risk is we don’t have enough turnout at all,” Cornell, Sid Richardson College president, said. “The Crack Team will be visiting college government meetings to talk to students who want to know more or have questions about the system.”The BTCT presented details of the proposal at the SA meeting on Jan. 28, including the timeline of the blanket tax process, the composition of the blanket tax standing committee and ways to handle blanket tax surplus. “The standing committee is chaired by the SA treasurer, [who is a voting member,]” Cornell said. “The voting members [also include] two student members that are officers, treasurers or presidents of blanket tax organizations, two students in at large positions who are not officers of blanket tax organizations, a college president or senator and one staff advisor to a blanket tax organization. Two members of the committee are non-voting: a SA parliamentarian and the SA advisor, who advises on the process.”The standing committee would review subsidiary organizations’ budgets in April. Initiative funding applications will be available in late September for fall semesters and late February for spring semesters. On Jan. 21 and 22, the Crack Team held sessions to answer questions and gather feedback on the proposal. Cornell said students were interested in how new organizations could become a subsidiary organization under the new system. Under the current blanket tax system, organizations must petition through the General Election in order to gain more funding.“An organization can become a subsidiary organization without necessitating a funding increase,” Cornell, a senior, said. “Simultaneously, a funding increase can happen without adding any new organization or tying that funding increase to a specific organization. So, now the blanket tax funding serves student interests.”The Crack Team addressed how current blanket tax organizations would apply for more funding. Cornell said the standing committee can sign off on organizations’ requests for more money.“In the case that it’s a significant increase, they would meet with the standing committee to discuss [the budget],” Cornell said. “The committee’s job is to evaluate the proposed increase and how well it serves its missions and the mission of blanket tax, in line with Rice’s spending policies as well. So it’s not a competitive process.”Cornell said subsidiary organizations have priority on funds, and any other student organizations requiring funding for events can apply for funds from the remaining initiative fund. Julie Neisler, advisor of Rice Program Council, said RPC is excited about the new blanket tax proposal and is confident that RPC’s budget will receive full funding under the new blanket tax model. Neisler said RPC does not get enough funding under the current blanket tax process and that it is hard to convince students to vote for an increase in their blanket tax.According to Neisler, RPC requires extra funding beyond blanket tax in order to provide sufficient programming, but the proposed model will make funding requests easier for subsidiary organizations. “With the opportunity for additional funding, RPC would be able to bring back some programs that were cut, create new programs and not need to depend on Student Activities President’s Programming funding for late-night substance-free programming,” Neisler said.

NEWS 2/3/15 2:02pm

LGBTQA advocacy finds home in Queer Resource Center

By Isabella Bender Zevallos

After a kick-off party and first official meeting, the Queer Resource Center has been newly inaugurated at Rice University. The launching event was held on Jan. 29 and attendees included LGBTQA+ community members and allies from the undergraduate and graduate student bodies, as well as staff members.According to QRC co-founder Nick Hanson-Holtry, the event served as a thematic continuation of the Queer State of the Union event hosted by Queers and Allies,  which occurred the day before the inauguration. “The purpose of it was to get everybody on campus who [might not] usually come to events on campus to come out and give us input,” Hanson-Holtry, a Sid Richardson College junior, said. “We are a resource center and we want to be getting at what resources people care about and which ones they don’t.” To conclude the initial activities of the QRC, the QRC task force held its first official meeting on Feb. 3. Hanson-Holtry said the purpose of the meeting was to organize committees and allow any interested members to get involved — as facilitators to a committee or solely as members who contribute with their presence and opinions. Hanson-Holtry also said the QRC aims to work with as many diversity groups on campus as possible, but their closest relationship will most likely be with the Women’s Resource Center. While the QRC is officially located in an office in the Rice Memorial Center basement, members of the QRC will volunteer with the WRC in its more visible office. “The QRC has a three-pronged mission statement [including] activism, visibility and support,” Hanson-Holtry said. “Visibility is huge, and if we are underground, no one is going to see us, no one is going to know who we are. [But we will] start doing speaker events and start doing activism and more — and having a space is kind of a secondary concern.”Hanson-Holtry said the QRC is not a completely new initiative; another Queer Resource Center was founded about 15 years prior, but, upon merging with the current Queers and Allies group, eventually disappeared. Hanson-Holtry said the QRC aims to remain a part of Rice just as the WRC has in past years. “We wanted to make sure that queer activism [doesn’t] go away on campus,” Hanson-Holtry said. “Maybe four years from now Query will disappear, maybe four years from now Q&A will disappear, but we wanted to establish something more permanent.” Hanson-Holtry said the QRC will be sustained through direct oversight from both the Office of Student Wellbeing and the Office of Multicultural Affairs, who will provide them with $1,000 each year if they hold an annual event aimed at promoting diversity on campus. According to Hanson-Holtry, the $5,000 awarded to the QRC from the SA40k will be used to bring in speakers and host events that relate to activism, although the plans have not been completely finalized. Nonetheless, Hanson-Houltry said he is thankful for the support and reaction from the student body.“It’s amazing that the student body has supported us and given $5,000 and [been] on board with everything,” Hanson-Holtry said. “I think it’s really exciting, and I can’t wait to see what happens in the course of the next semester.”Duncan sophomore Maria Emilia Duno said the creation of the QRC impacts the discussion on queer issues on campus overall.“I think that because Rice is so progressive in so many ways, people assume that there aren’t still queer issues that need to be addressed,” Duno said. “This space gives people who need their voices heard a platform from which to speak.”

NEWS 1/31/15 8:48am

Deans discuss teaching and technology at Rice

By Mengjia Liu

At a lecture sponsored by Scientia on Jan. 27, Dean of Humanities Nicolas Shumway and Dean of Social Sciences Lyn Ragsdale discussed challenges faced by their respective schools and the impact of technology on teaching at Rice.According to Ragsdale, the School of Social Sciences faces the challenge of large class sizes due to the popularity of its majors.“We have over 200 psychology majors and almost 200 economics majors at Rice,” Ragsdale said. “The average class across the entire curriculum in economics has 43 people in it and almost 50 in psychology. In addition, our intro classes are sort of bursting at the seams with 700 students a year in Intro to Psychology [(PSYC 101)].”Ragsdale said the school considered offering its large introductory classes online when the first wave of Massive Open Online Courses began, but the idea did not take off because faculty members were not enthusiastic about videotaping and creating online versions of their courses.“The social sciences currently have two summer classes that are solely online, but they are teaching very small numbers of students — roughly between four and eight students per summer,” Ragsdale said.However, Ragsdale said the School of Social Sciences has adopted technology in other ways to facilitate active learning and to allow students to study human behavior more effectively.“While we haven’t done the online component in the last five or six years, we have a number of courses across departments that are either flipped classrooms or are classes that take place outside of a truly academic setting,” Ragsdale said. “There is also an opportunity to actually engage students based on the way in which they like to communicate, such as through Facebook.”Shumway said technology will impact the educational system and research by enabling access to information and new methods of assembling information in ways that were inconceivable before.“Looking at a dissertation in music history now, [using technology,] you can actually see the score, hear the music and parse out the parts all at the same place and at the same time,” Shumway said.According to Shumway, the vast amount of information made available by technology poses new challenges.“When we generate knowledge, the first thing we do is eliminate all the information we cannot possibly deal with,” Shumway said. “We have to interpret, eliminate and organize. Technology has made that task so much more complicated because we have so much more information available.”Lecture attendee Mackenzie Nettlow said she expected more discussion on specific uses of technology in the classroom rather than generalizations."I thought the lecture was interesting, but I expected them to focus more on the actual classroom than what people would study outside the classroom or in research areas,” Nettlow, a McMurtry College junior, said.

NEWS 1/28/15 3:12pm

Kinder Institute expands to campus-wide think tank on urban research, community engagement

By Aparna Narendrula

The Kinder Institute for Urban Research is currently in the process of transitioning from being a part of Rice University’s School of Social Sciences to being a multidisciplinary campus-wide think tank, like the Baker Institute, according to Director of the Kinder Institute Bill Fulton. The institute was founded four years ago by professors Stephen L. Klineberg and Michael O. Emerson of the department of sociology.“The Kinder Institute is designed to use the resources on the Rice campus to do research into urban issues [and] issues of cities, particularly Houston,” Fulton said. “[The institute] then finds ways to work with politicians, civic organizations, private business and so forth to try to take the solutions to those urban challenges out into the real world and try to implement them and see whether they work.”Currently located in Sewall Hall, the expansion involves collaboration with the School of Architecture and the departments of civil engineering and computer science, among other disciplines. Fulton said the Kinder Institute will now broaden its approach to solving urban issues in order to achieve more visibility and a wider-reaching practical impact.“Certain aspects of its [past research] have had a very important impact. Professor Klineberg’s survey … has had a very important impact helping people in Houston understand what the city really is today,” Fulton explains. “Thirty years ago Houston was almost entirely white; today it is 45 percent Latino. It’s very multi-ethnic. There are various issues associated particularly with educational attainment of non-whites, so the Houston area survey has highlighted that.”The survey quantifies Houston area residents’ attitudes and beliefs in response to changes in the area. The institute aims to share the information found from the annual survey with scholars, leaders and the public.In the past, the Kinder Institute also worked on projects such as the Houston Education Research Consortium, through which scholars work with the Houston Independent School District to help administrators understand the effect of their programming.Fulton said he hopes for a future of collaboration between Rice’s two think tanks. Allen Matusow, academic director of the Baker Institute, also serves on the advisory board of the Kinder Institute. According to Fulton, the Kinder Institute emphasizes quantitative research, unlike the Baker Institute, although future plans involve more policy analysis.“The Baker Institute, as you may know, focuses largely on national and international issues. But we are beginning to talk about what the overlap is,” Fulton said. “The Baker Institute does very good work on health policy, for example. We do work on urban health here, particularly health in the urban areas. And so we are currently trying to identify areas of collaboration [between] local city and metropolis [analysis and their] state national and international stuff, so there will be some overlap and we are trying to identify how we do that.”For now, the 4-year-old institute will remain housed primarily in the basement of Sewall Hall. Fulton is thinking about future research on education, health and strengthening the global cities program. Fulton said he is particularly interested in the growth of the Houston region.“Houston is going to take its place as one of America’s and the world’s greatest cities,” Fulton said. “I think Houston is highly underappreciated. It’s a big, complicated, sophisticated cosmopolitan city. Our job is to help everybody else in the U.S. understand that Houston is a big, important city, and that lots of really great ideas about how to improve city life and how to deal with urban problems can come out of a city like Houston in addition to a place like New York or LA.”

NEWS 1/28/15 3:10pm

'Green dorm' promotes students' roles in environmental sustainability

By Drew Keller

The Rice University EcoRep Program is preparing for the February launch of the Green Dorm Initiative 2015, its biggest annual event, with hopes of educating Rice students about environmentally sustainable living through a contest designed to increase interactivity compared to past years.The Rice EcoRep Program, which includes members of all residential colleges, implemented the first GDI in 2011 as a means of gathering more information about the environmental habits of the student body. This year, however, the GDI has expanded to include more of an emphasis on sharing information on sustainability with students, according to Head EcoRep Zach Bielak.“This year, the structure of the competition has changed massively,” Bielak, a Sid Richardson College senior, said. “We took a step back and re-examined the purpose of GDI, and we decided to make it more focused on teaching students new things every day and also getting them to carry it through in their daily lives.”GDI 2015 focuses on three themes: Energy and Water, Wellbeing, and Waste. Each theme lasts one week and includes specific daily activities to complete. Participants can win prizes based on their involvement with the program. Bielak said the activities are no longer simply based on recording energy and water usage. “We are not really concerned just with dorm life anymore,” Bielak said. “We are focused on greener lifestyles in general, lifestyles that reach beyond just living spaces. We have days that are focused on biking to places, on building community and on getting outside.”EcoRep Lindsy Pang, a Martel College junior, said the daily activities are designed to encourage sustainable practices without taking up much of students’ time.“Sustainable living is easy,” Pang said. “It is all about paying attention to what you do and creating new habits. They say it takes 21 days to develop a new habit. GDI helps with this by making the process educational, fun and interactive.”Bielak also said the GDI hopes to promote lifestyle changes, which would have a lasting impact beyond the three weeks of activities.“Our sole goal in hosting [GDI] is to get participants to start critically examining their lifestyles and behaviors and perhaps start to change them,” Bielak said. “There are so many irresponsible and wasteful actions that we commit every day without even thinking about it, and we [hope] that GDI will start shedding some light on these actions and issues.”Richard Johnson, the director of the Administrative Center for Sustainability and Energy Management, said the GDI has the potential to not only improve environmentally friendly practices at Rice, but also to inspire students to pursue sustainable research and careers.“I’ve not met a Rice student who isn’t interested in the betterment of the world,” Johnson said. “The GDI will give students an easy way that they can pursue this from an environmental perspective.”According to Bielak, the EcoReps’ goal is to have 500 students involved  in this year’s program, which would mark an increase from last year’s total number of participants. Students have until Jan. 31 to sign up for GDI online, after which the contests begin.“We believe that this year will be the best yet,” Bielak said. “I think the change of structure will get more people involved on a daily basis and will also retain the interest of people who have done GDI in the past by giving them new things to think about.”Johnson emphasized the collective nature of this year’s GDI as one of its most important attributes.“It will foster a shared culture of sustainability on campus,” Johnson said. “It’s not just an individual activity; it’s also a community activity, a shared experience.” Brown College freshman Radhika Sharma said the community aspect of the GDI drew her to the program.“What really appeals to me is the opportunity to participate in an activity with a bunch of friends and like-minded people who want to support environmental causes,” Sharma said. “[The GDI is] a chance to work for a common cause that is important to our collective values – sustainability [and] the environment.”

NEWS 1/28/15 3:09pm

FERPA records requests reveal little

By Drew Keller

Rice University students hoping to gain access to admissions records through a 40-year-old federal law may not find the revealing information they expect, according to Director of Admissions Dan Warner. A website started by Stanford University students, the Fountain Hopper, recently piqued interest in accessing admissions records by publicizing the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act and urging Stanford students to request their records. This 1974 law, known as FERPA, allows students to request access to their admissions records at any university receiving federal funding, but has rarely been used for this purpose historically. Warner said he had not received any FERPA requests at Rice until the Fountain Hopper published its article; since then, the admissions office has received around a dozen.“The law has been in place for 40 years,” Warner said. “I’ve been in admissions for 25 years, and it’s been 20 years since I’ve gotten a FERPA request at any of the schools where I’ve worked. So it’s not a usual thing.”By law, the university has 45 days after a request to comply and provide the students with their records. The information provided depends on the department from which it is requested; for example, a student would receive different information from the registrar’s office or the admissions office.“Different offices retain different information at the same institution, and the same office might retain different information at different institutions,” Warner said. “We might, for example, keep different information on file permanently [from] Stanford.”According to Warner, the admissions office does not keep most of the records used during the consideration process, including teacher recommendations, internal notes and almost all material authored by the student.“It’s interesting for students to exercise  [their FERPA] rights,” Warner said. “Frankly, it’s a nice professional development opportunity for my staff – but at the same time, there’s not a whole lot of information of the nature I suspect students are wanting.”Warner said the admissions office does keep demographic information such as name and address, as well as test scores, while the registrar’s office also retains students’ high school transcripts and test scores. Additionally, the admissions office keeps records of messages sent out to prospective students, including whether messages have been opened by students, according to Warner.“We can do some analysis on how many messages were opened, how many students actually came, so we can assess the efficacy of different messages and our process,” Warner said.Warner also said the office keeps certain pieces of information about matriculated students to generate a profile of the incoming class for publicity, with information such as the number of class presidents or students involved in community service.“We aggregate that information,” Warner said. “[But] there’s really not any need for [most records]. Once a student is admitted and matriculating to Rice, we don’t have a need to keep [the information].”According to Warner, students wishing to see records must submit a request to a particular office. The admissions office is developing a process to provide information to students. “We’re not going to get 1,000 requests like Stanford has gotten, but we obviously want to facilitate multiple requests,” Warner said. Under the new system, Warner said the admissions office would likely schedule appointments during which they would show students their electronic records. However, the office is not required to and will not provide a hard copy, partially to protect the proprietary software used to organize student information. According to Warner, students who made information requests should receive a response from the admissions office detailing next steps sometime in the coming week.Warner said the increased attention to FERPA requests will not have any effect on the practices of the admissions office in the future.“We’re still going to ask for the same information we asked for in the past,” Warner said. “Every year we try to improve on what we do but it’s largely going to be the same.”

NEWS 1/28/15 3:08pm

Class size growth prompts concerns

By Jieya Wen

The size of Rice University’s student body has increased by 36 percent over the last 12 years as called for by President David Leebron’s Vision for the Second Century; however, the growth has prompted some students and faculty to express concerns about class sizes. According to Leebron and Dean of Undergraduates John Hutchinson, the administration has addressed this by hiring more faculty and looking further into optimal class sizes.

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