Avi Shlaim, a historian of Israel and Palestine, spoke April 6 at Rice in a talk titled “Gaza in Context: Reflections of an Arab Jew.” The event was a collaboration between the Rice history department, Jewish studies program and Arab-American educational foundation chair of Arab studies Abdel Razzaq Takriti.
A new chapter of Spectra is being introduced at Rice this spring semester. Spectra is a professional association for LGBTQ+ mathematicians, originating as a protest after the 1995 Joint Mathematics Meeting conference was scheduled to take place in Colorado, which had recently passed a state amendment prohibiting anti-discrimination laws for lesbian, gay and bisexual people.
The Center of Teaching Excellence announced the winners of the George R. Brown Teaching Awards. Ten professors were awarded, with nine winning the Superior Teaching Award, and one winning the Excellence in Teaching Award.
This February, current director of the Baker Institute, David Satterfield, invited former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to speak on Rice’s campus. Condoleezza Rice is infamous for her central role in launching the illegal U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. After an introduction by President Reginald DesRoches — where he celebrated Condoleezza Rice’s bloody legacy — Satterfield and Condoleezza Rice sat together as two never-elected bureaucrats with decades of experience directing colonial violence between them to discuss the ongoing genocide in Gaza and “the delicate balance between free speech and incitement.”
The March 26, 2024 Thresher article “Senate debates resolution to boycott, divest SA funds from Israel-aligned companies” does not accurately or completely characterize my opposition to S.RES 02 as I expressed during the March 25 Student Association meeting. S.RES 02 empowers an “ethical spending advisory board” to prevent student organizations from spending Blanket Tax funding on corporations deemed to be “complicit in the violation of the human rights guaranteed to Palestinian civilians.” Because Rice University’s Jewish student cultural organizations are inextricably connected to the State of Israel through programming and professional staff, there is no protection that Blanket Tax funding would be withheld from these student organizations, should the resolution pass.
At 10:02 a.m. on March 27, students across campus received an email with the subject: “Honor Council Confidential Accusations.” Students — many of us included — feared the worst upon seeing an Honor Council email in their inbox.
Five players from the men’s basketball program entered the transfer portal since head coach Scott Pera’s dismissal March 14. The group of potential transfers is headlined by freshman forward Keanu Dawes, a former four-star recruit, and sophomore guard Mekhi Mason, who has reportedly engaged in conversations with at least a dozen Power 5 programs. Other transfers include sophomore forward Andrew Akuchie, junior guard Cameron Sheffield and sophomore guard Camp Wagner.
Both Rice tennis teams entered this week ranked. The men are the 51st-best team in the nation and the women are the 68th-best team in the nation as ranked by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
Sophomores Alexa Vela and Brayden Bowin often golf at Memorial Park, down the road from Rice campus. The two sport management and business majors established the Rice golf club on Feb. 14 of this year. According to them, their leadership reflects a vision that seeks to broaden the appeal of golf, making it more accessible and meaningful to a diverse group of people.
While waiting for a train last summer, Gabby Franklin realized what her senior project would be: a modern play retelling the myth of Pandora’s Jar. Franklin, a Brown College senior, is required — like all seniors majoring in English — to participate in a yearlong seminar course, where students produce long-form writing projects.
With spring semester rapidly approaching its end, students are beginning to look at fall course offerings. If looking at the general announcements is making you feel generally unhappy, consider adding one of these humanities courses for a little spot of joy in a sea of despair.
Beyoncé’s much-anticipated country album is more than just country. Instead, “Cowboy Carter” defies the genre, sprawling to include country and non-country covers alike, R&B tunes and acoustic ballads.
Rice Cinema presented three films as part of the Glorious Things series, a collaboration between Rice Cinema, Rice Humanities Research Center and FotoFest, on March 22 and 23. Organized by assistant professor of art Sindhu Thirumalaisamy, the films detail stories from the perspectives of marginalized groups that are connected by a common theme: the intensifying of authoritarianism at Indian universities. “Does Your House Have Lions?” focuses on university suppression of queer students, while “We Have Not Come Here to Die” and “A Night of Knowing Nothing” center on student protest movements that swept India after the death of Rohith Vemula, a student, activist and Dalit, the lowest ranking group in traditional Indian caste hierarchy.
ktru hosted its 32nd annual music festival, the Outdoor Show on Saturday, March 30, with student cover band Sunset Blvd opening and Philly-born artist Binki headlining.
Whether looking to frolic, study, pretend to study or just indulge in some serious snacking, springtime beckons for you to picnic. So grab your backpack (because who actually owns a picnic basket?) and head outdoors to one of these charming locations.
While Lifetime Physical Activity Program courses at Rice are required for graduation, they’re a far cry from your dreaded high-school gym class. Not only do the classes range from tai chi to fencing, but their requisite nature and one-semester duration create a special kind of environment for instructors and students alike.
