The Rice Thresher

10/27/2024

BREAKING: Rice Athletics announced the firing of football head coach Mike Bloomgren on Sunday, less than 24 hours after a 17-10 loss at the University of Connecticut.

“As I evaluated our program and compared our current and desired trajectory, I determined new leadership is necessary to guide us into the future,” said athletic director Tommy McClelland in a statement.

Bloomgren, 47, was in the middle of his seventh season as the Owls’ head coach at the time of his firing. Through six full seasons, he has never led the program to a winning record. His best finish came in 2023 when Rice went 6-6 and lost their bowl game to Texas State University.

Read our full story here. Will be updated with more to come: https://www.ricethresher.org/article/2024/10/rice-fires-football-head-coach-mike-bloomgren

08/30/2024

Rice students and staff paid their respects to Andrea Rodriguez Avila in a candlelight service, held Aug. 28 in the Rice Memorial Chapel. Over a hundred attendees, including Andrea’s family, filled the chapel’s pews while dozens more stood to the side.

The ceremony, hosted by community faith members, opened with remarks from Provost Amy Dittmar. Dean of Undergraduates Bridget Gorman and Rice University Police Department chief Clemente Rodriguez were also in attendance.

“Lamento mucho tu pérdida,” Dittmar said, addressing Andrea’s family. “We are so very sorry for your loss, and hold you and everyone in your family in our thoughts and in our prayers.”

https://www.ricethresher.org/article/2024/08/rice-gathers-for-vigil-honoring-andrea-rodriguez-avila

08/22/2024

The Muslim Legal Fund of America filed a complaint against Rice with the U.S. Department of Education, alleging the university violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 through “discriminatory treatment of its Muslim and Jewish students advocating for Palestine,” according to an MLFA press release. The complaint was filed Aug. 12, on behalf of two unnamed Rice students, in response to the university’s indefinite tabling of S.RES 02, a resolution urging the Student Association to boycott and divest its spending from Israel-aligned companies.

MLFA — which has previously filed Title VI complaints on behalf of Harvard and Brown University students — declined to provide a copy of the complaint upon request. At time of publication, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights has not yet opened an investigation in response to MLFA.

The Department of Education has already opened a separate Title VI investigation into Rice, launched July 30, according to the OCR’s database of pending cases. The specific nature of the complaint is unknown. A spokesperson for the Department of Education denied a request for comment.

Check out the full story: https://www.ricethresher.org/article/2024/08/mlfa-files-title-vi-complaint-against-rice

06/06/2024

After 50 years of decadence, Wiess College’s infamous underwear party is no more.

Born in the early 1970s after a group of Wiess students poured all their alcohol into a bathtub — creating a brew “so potent it removed the varnish” — Night of Decadence has spent years in the national eye. Allegedly recognized as one of Playboy’s top college parties in the nation, NOD has also been subject to mounting scrutiny over alcohol use and an “explicitly dangerous and sexual atmosphere.”

Rice has now permanently canceled the public, Dean of Undergraduates Bridget Gorman and Wiess magister Flavio Cunha announced in a message to campus June 5.

After 50 years of decadence, Wiess College’s infamous underwear party is no more.  Born in the early 1970s after a group of Wiess students poured all their alcohol into a bathtub — creating a brew “so potent it removed the varnish” — Night of Decadence has spent years in the national ...

04/24/2024

As student protests erupt across the country, Rice Students for Justice in Palestine launched a “liberated zone” on Rice campus, announced a two-day series of events and started construction on an “apartheid wall.”

The “liberated zone” opened Tuesday afternoon at the Solar Studios exhibit, across from Kraft Hall and next to the PCF tents. The schedule posted on Rice SJP’s Instagram account says the events will run through 10 p.m. Tuesday, then resume from 10 a.m. through 10 p.m. Wednesday, April 24.

A few dozen students, faculty and community members were present throughout the day.

As student protests erupt across the country, Rice Students for Justice in Palestine launched a “liberated zone” on Rice campus, announced a two-day series of events and started construction on an “apartheid wall.”

04/12/2024

The 24-hour challenge is almost over, and we need your help to meet our goal!

In reporting a general news article, a journalist will do research, conduct interviews, listen to recordings, write and respond to edits. That’s hours of work — but we can only afford to pay $10-15 for the entire article.

For students who need to work to pay the bills, our journalism can be inaccessible. That’s why we introduced the Kelley Lash Accessibility Fund, named after our beloved former director of student media who unexpectedly passed away two years ago.

The Kelley Lash Fund will help us pay, as best as we can, staff members who need a higher stipend to continue to dedicate long hours to the Thresher. Please consider a donation in honor of Kelley Lash today.

Through wars and pandemics and everything in between, the Rice Thresher has tirelessly reported on the state of the campus and its students for well over a century. Visit the Rice Thresher’s 24-hour challenge page to donate today.

04/11/2024

Today is Rice's 24-hour challenge, and the Thresher's student journalists need your support.

In reporting a general news article, a journalist will do research, conduct interviews, listen to recordings, write and respond to edits. That’s hours of work — but we can only afford to pay $10-15 for the entire article.

For students who need to work to pay the bills, our journalism can be inaccessible. That’s why we introduced the Kelley Lash Accessibility Fund, named after our beloved former director of student media who unexpectedly passed away two years ago.

The Kelley Lash Fund will help us pay, as best as we can, staff members who need a higher stipend to continue to dedicate long hours to the Thresher. Please consider a donation in honor of Kelley Lash today.

Through wars and pandemics and everything in between, the Rice Thresher has tirelessly reported on the state of the campus and its students for well over a century. Visit the Rice Thresher’s 24-hour challenge page to donate today.

03/21/2024

Posters are now required to be taken down 10 days after they’re first put up or two days after the event they advertise, according to a new Rice policy. Administrators are working on additional guidelines for putting up and taking down posters in shared building spaces, Kelly Fox, the executive vice president of operations, finance and support, said.

Rice issued Policy 856 on Feb. 27. Previously, poster rules were loosely established across other policies and documents, according to Provost Amy Dittmar.

Dittmar added that posters now require certain pieces of information and must be in designated spots.

Posters are now required to be taken down 10 days after they’re first put up or two days after the event they advertise, according to a new Rice policy. Administrators are working on additional guidelines for putting up and taking down posters in shared building spaces, Kelly Fox, the executive vi...

03/20/2024

Singer-songwriter Jeremy Zucker will headline the second annual Moody X-Fest on April 19, according to Jeremy Miller, Rice’s communications director for Development and Alumni Relations.

Zucker is known for songs like “comethru,” “you were good to me” and “all the kids are depressed,” which have each garnered hundreds of millions of streams on Spotify.

“I am so excited to come to Rice University,” Zucker wrote in an email to the Thresher. “Houston I’ll see you soon!”

Singer-songwriter Jeremy Zucker will headline the second annual Moody X-Fest on April 19, according to Jeremy Miller, Rice’s communications director for Development and Alumni Relations.

03/19/2024

The spring 2024 Rice Undergraduate Research Symposium has been replaced with new events specifically for the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences.

RURS is an annual research symposium hosted by the Office of Undergraduate Research and Inquiry since 2002. RURS previously housed oral and poster presentations for engineering, humanities, natural sciences and social sciences research. In 2023, OURI hosted additional events the week of RURS highlighting student academic projects in different departments, which has expanded this year to two Inquiry Weeks.

The first annual Humanities Day will take place April 9, while the first Social Sciences Undergraduate Research Showcase and Natural Sciences Undergraduate Research Symposium will each happen April 11.

The spring 2024 Rice Undergraduate Research Symposium has been replaced with new events specifically for the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences

03/18/2024

From Grammarly and Quizlet to SparkNotes and Spotify, artificial intelligence is now a major feature of nearly every website — and the archives of Fondren Library are no exception. The use of AI has been a notoriously hot-button topic for the last few years, involved in artist exploitation debates and the terms of the Writers Guild of America strike, but in the Woodson Research Center, its role has been to facilitate greater ease and expediency in many of their preservation and transcription processes.

From Grammarly and Quizlet to SparkNotes and Spotify, artificial intelligence is now a major feature of nearly every website — and the archives of Fondren Library are no exception. The use of AI has been a notoriously hot-button topic for the last few years, involved in artist exploitation debates...

03/18/2024

BREAKING: Rice women's basketball will face reigning national champions Louisiana State University in the first round of March Madness.

The game will tip off Friday, March 22 at 3 p.m. Baton Rouge, La.

The Owls are the No. 14 seed in Region 2 in Albany. Rice WBB went 19-14, then won the American Athletic Conference tournament in their first season in the AAC.

LSU lost the Southeastern Conference tournament championship game against the University of South Carolina last week. Tigers' forward Angel Reese won SEC player of the year after being named most outstanding player in LSU's 2023 championship run.

The Albany 2 region also includes No. 1 University of Iowa, led by NCAA Division I all-time top scorer Caitlin Clark.

03/17/2024

Midterms got you burnt out? Work-life balance tipping more to the former end? Check out some of these Rice clubs for some social enrichment and cultural edification.

Midterms got you burnt out? Work-life balance tipping more to the former end? Check out some of these clubs for some social enrichment and cultural edification.

03/16/2024

REVIEW: "'Madame Web' is terrible. This movie has no redeeming factors. It isn’t even worthy of a fantastical, provocative introduction. It just sucks."

“Madame Web” is terrible. This movie has no redeeming factors. It isn’t even worthy of a fantastical, provocative introduction. It just sucks. 

03/15/2024

Former Rice president David Leebron has been named the incoming president and CEO of Texas 2036, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that uses data and research to address issues in Texas policy.

Texas 2036 focuses on issues of Texas’ education and workforce, health, natural resources, infrastructure, government performances and various other areas with the mission of “[enabling] Texans to make policy decisions through accessible data, long-term planning and statewide engagement,” according to their mission statement.

Former Rice president David Leebron has been named the incoming president and CEO of Texas 2036, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that uses data and research to address issues in Texas policy. 

03/14/2024

Julie Fette, an associate professor of French Studies, was named a chevalier in the Ordre des Palmes académiques, the Order of the French Academic Palms, by the French Ministry of National Education on Bastille Day, a French national holiday, July 14, 2023.

According to the French Embassy in Houston, the honor is given as an acknowledgment of an “individual’s merit, talent, and exemplary efforts” in providing education on French culture.

Fette said that she pursued French studies in graduate school because of its interdisciplinary nature. Her dissertation examined racism and antisemitism in French professions such as law and medicine, which turned into her book “Exclusions: Practicing Prejudice in French Law and Medicine, 1920–1945.”

Julie Fette, an associate professor of French Studies, was named a chevalier in the Ordre des Palmes académiques, the Order of the French Academic Palms, by the French Ministry of National Education on Bastille Day, a French national holiday, July 14, 2023. 

03/14/2024

Rice men’s basketball head coach Scott Pera has been dismissed, athletic director Tommy McClelland announced March 14.

The Owls ended their men’s basketball season March 13 with a loss in the American Athletic Conference tournament opener. They fell 88-81 to Wichita State University, finishing their season 11-21 overall and 5-13 in the AAC. They concluded their first year in the AAC with a second-to-last placement and a tie for the worst record in the conference.

Rice men’s basketball head coach Scott Pera has been dismissed, athletic director Tommy McClelland announced March 14.

03/14/2024

BREAKING: Rice women’s basketball is headed to March Madness for the first time since 2019 after winning the American Athletic Conference tournament in their first year in the conference.

As the tenth seed in the AAC tournament, the Owls played four games in four days. Rice defeated ninth seed ECU 61-41 in the AAC Championship on March 13 at Dickies Arena.

Rice women’s basketball is headed to March Madness for the first time since 2019 after winning the American Athletic Conference tournament in their first year in the conference.