Special Projects

T&F indoor season gets off to fast start at UH meet

For the first time this year, both of Rice’s track and field teams were in action on the same weekend, competing at the University of Houston’s Robert Platt Invitational. The meet was the first of the indoor season for Rice’s men’s team and the second for the women’s team, which sent a few competitors to UH the previous weekend. Five Owls took gold over the weekend, and seven others medaled.

Ashlee Austin discusses her journey from bench to brilliance

If you watched any Rice women’s basketball games in the past two years, you’ve seen No. 22 with pink highlights hitting shots and making plays. But if you saw Ashlee Austin as a freshman, you would be shocked to see the transformation that the forward from Johns Creek, Georgia has gone through: from the last seat on the bench to the face of Rice women’s basketball.

Quiet confidence: Travis Evee wants the last shot

In Rice’s Jan. 14 home victory over conference rival University of Texas at El Paso, junior guard Travis Evee took the last shot and did not miss. With seven seconds on the clock and the Miners leading by one, Evee got the inbound pass from sophomore guard/forward Cameron Sheffield, drove the length of the court, jumped off his right foot just inside the three-point line and floated the ball in. The buzzer rang, and the game ended. Evee ran to hug his coach and celebrate.

Rush Kappa Upsilon Kappa

Hanszenites talk new wing, ongoing improvements

Students began moving into the new wing of Hanszen College on Jan. 5 after supply chain shortages delayed the wing’s completion to late December from early August, as originally anticipated. 

Campus BCycle stations suspended indefinitely

All Rice University rentable bike share stations, except for the Biosciences Research Collaborative station, have been temporarily suspended as of December 2022 without a designated return date. The closures are part of a city-wide suspension of 75 of the 153 Houston BCycle stations.

Payment system revamped at Rice Coffeehouse, eliminates processing issues

Rice Coffeehouse instituted a new payment system, Revel, on Jan. 11. The move was prompted by frequent credit-card processing problems that the business experienced in previous semesters, Caitlin Lindsay, the associate director of facilities, events and student run businesses, said. 

Rice announces changes to May Commencement Ceremonies

Graduation ceremonies will now become one event for each graduating group, removing the all-student commencement ceremony generally on the second morning of graduation weekend, according to President Reginald DesRoches from a campus-wide email sent on Jan. 10.

Kamryn Sanamo, Martel senior, passes after battle with brain cancer

Kamryn Sanamo, a Martel College senior, died on Jan. 5 at the age of 21 after a battle with brain cancer. She was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor on July 9, 2021. 

Kiss quality TV goodbye: Best reality shows to hate-watch

Now that the semester has started, it’s officially time to procrastinate again. Here is a list of the best worst new reality television shows to hate-watch. Disclaimer: Once you start watching, you won’t be able to stop.

​​Review: New Netflix flick falls flat

The strongest part of “The Pale Blue Eye,” a collaboration between Netflix and director Scott Cooper, is its premise. Christian Bale plays a detective tasked with solving a murder at West Point in the 1830s. To solve the crime, he teams up with a young Edgar Allen Poe and discovers a web of occult, gothic horrors that underlie the seemingly simple academy. This concept is incredibly sharp — the film creates a backstory that informs Poe’s invention of the mystery genre and casts Bale, a proven actor, in the leading role. However, the film itself is unconfident in this premise and often feels hollow. The end result is a movie that is watchable (if a bit boring), but not nearly as special as it could be.

Review: Home Slice Pizza fires up new Houston location

One of the most amazing parts about coming to Rice and getting to meet people from all sorts of backgrounds and cultures is that you are exposed to a variety of opinions and ideas that help mold you into a more well-rounded individual. One of the most fascinating opinions that I feel people bring with them is their taste in pizza. Whether a debate between Pizza Hut and Papa John’s or New York versus Chicago, we all have opinions on how we like our pies.

Senior Spotlight: Hannah Usadi colors outside the lines

Rice owes much of its visual landscape to Hannah Usadi, whose art reaches from the end pages of the 2021-2022 Campanile to President Desroches’ holiday card and Pub merchandise. Although Usadi started drawing and painting as a child, her distinct artistic voice has emerged more recently. 

Weston Twardowski uses theatre to spotlight environmental issues

Both on and off the stage, theatre has long been a part of Weston Twardowski’s life. From professionally acting to directing shows to co-founding his own theatre company in Los Angeles, Twardowski has made his love for the stage into a living. Now the program manager of the Diluvial Houston Initiative and lecturer in theatre and environmental studies at Rice, Twardowski finds his passion for theatre and academic research intertwining with a pertinent issue — environmental justice. 

Evee beats the buzzer as MBB bests UTEP in chaotic final minute

If momentum really is as powerful a force in sports as countless armchair coaches and talking heads would claim, someone forgot to tell Rice junior guard Travis Evee. Up by five with 30 seconds to go, the Owls men’s basketball team allowed a quick basket, turned the ball over, allowed another layup, turned the ball over once more and committed a foul with six seconds remaining to give the University of Texas at El Paso a chance to take the lead with two free throws. The Miners’ Tae Hardy hit both free throws, and Rice, now trailing by one, appeared on the verge of a collapse of somewhere between normal and epic proportions. But Evee told “uncle Mo” to sit down, driving the length of the court to sink a left-handed floater as time expired to give the Owls a whiplash-inducing 83-82 win.

1-18-2023 Sports Cartoon: "Owl-American"

Crosthwait’s career-high leads women’s basketball past UTSA

The Rice women’s basketball team came back from an 11-point deficit in the second quarter to defeat the University of Texas at San Antonio on Monday night by a score of 78-76. Their second straight win against Conference USA opponents, the Owls are now 3-4 in conference play and have a 12-4 record overall. The Owls were led offensively by senior guard Katelyn Crosthwait, who scored a career-high 23 points against the Roadrunners while also tying the school record for threes scored in a game with seven.

Swimming sweeps SMU meet in preview of new-look AAC

Over the weekend, the Rice swim team traveled to Dallas for their first meet of 2023 against three American Athletic Conference foes. Across the two days of competition, the Owls swept the meet, defeating Tulane University 247-68, the University of North Texas 254-93 and Southern Methodist University 171.5-161.5. Following the sweep, head coach Seth Huston was really pleased with how hard the team fought.

Owls run past the hedges, into Houston

The Chevron Houston Marathon, Houston’s annual marathon hosted every January, took place on Jan. 14 and 15 this past weekend. Rice students, faculty and even president alike took part, running anywhere from 3.1 to a whopping 26.2 miles.

Oh nori they didn’t: Lovetteers try for sushi world record

It’s a frequent joke that Rice students never travel beyond the hedges of campus. But a group of students at Lovett College are trying to change this stereotype with a single sushi roll. Lovett’s sushi committee, founded by Resident Associate Naoko Ozaki during the 2021-2022 academic year, has two objectives: break a world record for the longest sushi roll and use the event as a catalyst for local outreach.