The Thresher supports Rice Emergency Medical Service’s recent proposal that EMS in-charge’s be guaranteed on-campus housing (see story, pg. 1). In-charges work hard and devote much of their time to a program we all appreciate; because our campus has an EMS in which students are the responders, many students are more comfortable calling EMS in difficult situations.
I grew up inundated in a world that built up my hope for “the One” — my idealized, perfect life partner — story by story, through every personal anecdote, movie, Jane Austen novel, fairy tale and happily ever after.
The Thresher is disappointed to hear that multiple 300-level language courses will not be offered the Fall 2014 term at Rice (see story, pg. 1). While Hebrew, Portuguese, Russian and Korean are not necessarily the most popular language courses that Rice offers, they are still important.
The Thresher would like to congratulate the Rice Program Council for throwing a successful Rondelet. Tickets sold out quickly, and students who attended were pleased with the good music and conversation space.
The Thresher is excited for the construction of an opera house on campus (see story, pg. 1), despite the fact that we think the student body, as a whole, would benefit more from other projects. However, we recognize that this money was donated specifically for the construction of an opera house. For that reason, we urge people to understand that another project that students would like to see prioritized, like a new student center, could not have replaced this project financially. Going forward, we hope that students across campus can see the benefits of this new project. We do not currently have an opera house, but we do have one of the top music schools in the country, and this can only add to the prestige associated with the program. While many of us often forget about Shepherd students and are unaware of their many accomplishments, it is important that we recognize their program and support their experience at Rice. We also hope people will consider the potential benefits of the opera house (not only for music students — free performances anyone?) before coming to snap decisions about whether or not they support the new project. Additionally, we think the choices for the design and construction firms are promising, and it is definitely nice to see that Charles Renfro (Will Rice ‘89) is a partner at the chosen architecture firm. The decision to use a construction company that has previously managed projects at Rice is also encouraging, as the firm has presumably worked well with the campus and administration before. As this project develops, we would also like to recommend that the administration heavily consider the potential parking problems that could arise with the construction of a new opera house. Adding new buildings on campus, especially those that could draw large performance crowds, could easily cause students to have more difficulty finding parking. For this reason, we support the already-being-considered underground parking near the new opera facility, in order to avoid increased patrons without increased parking options. Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Thresher editorial staff. All other opinion pieces represent solely the opinion of the piece’s author.
The Thresher is happy to see the direction that the newly elected executive team is headed.
The Rice Thresher would like to commend the administration’s decision to make changes in the Economics department. Our staff feels like the department as it currently stands is understaffed and does not offer enough courses, both at the introductory level and at more advanced levels.
The Thresher would have liked to see the Rice administration put more effort into the preservation of the Art Barn on our campus (see story, pg. 1). The building is considered by many to be a historically and artistically significant structure, and we would like Rice to recognize the potential value it could continue to bring to our campus.
The Thresher is pleased to see the number of students applying to Rice has increased (see story, pg. 1). With this increase in applicants, the admissions office can potentially become more selective during the admissions process, which could improve Rice’s rankings.
The Thresher would like to acknowledge that the election rerun is a complicated issue. We understand the University Court’s decision, because certain aspects of the previous election were undoubtedly incorrect.
