The Rice Thresher | Wednesday, October 8, 2014 by The Rice Thresher

Sex, Booze and Classical Music Tortured musical genius Paganini takes the stage in a scandalous production of vice and intrigue see A&E p. 8

On My Honor

INSIDE

Aloha y’all

Honor Council addresses concerns with blanket tax and discusses future cooperation with the SA see Ops p. 5

Following football’s defeat of Hawai’i, the team prepares for the triple-option attack of Army See Sports p. 9

Archictecture firm researches the use of student spaces on campus See P. 2

volume ic, issue no. 7

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since 1916

wednesday, october 8, 2014

SA begins review of Honor Council taxes by Yasna Haghdoost News Editor

The Student Association Blanket Tax Contingency Committee sent Honor Council a request for documents and a written statement regarding the organization’s blanket tax on Oct. 5. The Contingency Committee compiled a list of questions for Honor Council, which the organization must answer in a statement by Oct. 20. According to the oﬃcial statement released by the Contingency Committee, Honor Council must submit a budget for the coming year and documentation of the organization’s CFund and D-Fund. All registered clubs managed by students and overseen by a department have a C-Fund through which their funds are handled, and the D-Fund is used for specific activities within a department. Honor Council must also explain the amount of money spent at its annual changeover dinner, the reoccurrence of a rollover more than 50 percent, the importance of such a rollover to the organization and how a decrease in their blanket tax allocation would aﬀect spending.

Oct. 20: “Deadline to receive statement from Honor Council and other public statements; meet to review statements and finalize questions for Honor Council Interview” Oct. 27: “Meeting with Honor Council President, Treasurer, Advisor and previous SA treasurer Michael Pan (Blanket Tax Standing Committee Chair 2013-2014)”

According to SA President and Contingency Committee Chair Ravi Sheth, the Contingency Committee can recommend a decrease in funding to the Student Senate if Honor Council is found in violation three years out of a four year period. The new proposed blanket tax amount would then be placed on the ballot. However, Sheth said the current system is not feasible and does not encourage responsibility within blanket tax organizations. “Our current blanket tax processes are broken,” Sheth, a Martel College senior, said. “Lengthened, multi-year processes limit the agility and ability of student groups to respond to initiatives and new ideas; this year we are struggling to fund exciting and impactful initiatives such as Future Alumni Committee, Rally Club, Senior Committee or even Homecoming. Furthermore, these processes, in my opinion, do not encourage responsible usage of student money.” Honor Council External Vice-Chair Shayak Sengupta said the organization plans to work with the Contingency Committee to reach a viable 0see HONOR, page 3

Nov. 10: “Meet to deliberate and select an outcome. Prepare a detailed report. Send to Honor Council; they have 5 businesses days to respond with written statement which will be appended to the report.” Nov. 19: “Present report to Student Senate & publish publically.” Source: sa.rice.edu/btcc, all dates tentative

marcel merwin/thresher

27 Shades of Dirt

Japanese artist Yusuke Atai’s Yamatne is on display at the Rice Gallery. Atai painted using over 27 different shades of dirt from all over Texas.

In-class instant feedback programs pilot to test popularity against current system by Michelle Tran For the Thresher

Seven Rice undergraduate professors from various departments began piloting two different inclass instant student feedback programs, Top Hat and Poll Everywhere, at the beginning of the fall semester. The end goal of these pilot programs is to select a standardized immediate feedback system to be used by professors across campus. Though the official Rice audience feedback brand has been

Turning Point for the past five years, professors have individually branched out to implement various other student polling systems, such as iClicker, in their classes. The pilot programs exist due to professors’ expressed interest in moving towards a unified product at the end of last year, according to Carlos Solis, Assistant Director of Academic Technology Services. “Over time, faculty members have started using different products all over campus, and during a meeting with faculty members early last year, there was an expressed

desire for standardization,” Solis said. “[They wanted] a product that is more flexible than what we have right now that will add capabilities that will serve instructional purposes of the faculty better.” Solis acknowledged that professors who have already become accustomed to using particular brand products, like iClicker, might have difficulties making a system transition over to Top Hat or Poll Everywhere. However, he said there would be a benefit for everyone to find one product to fit most peo0see FEEDBACK, page 4

Leebron visits Senate, addresses state of university by Anita Alem

Assistant News Editor

geneva vest/thresher

President Leebron presents on his key ideas for education and his priorities for the new century at the Senate meeting on Oct. 1. Among the topics of discussion were rankings, facilities, curriculum and general trends in higher education.

President David Leebron presented on the state of the university at the Student Association Senate meeting Wednesday, discussing topics from long-term initiatives to changes in student makeup and priority, followed by a question and answer session. Leebron began his speech with an analysis of the mission statement and Edgar Odell Lovett’s vision of Rice as a place of both learning and teaching. “One of my favorite developments at Rice was the studenttaught courses or college courses,” Leebron said. “I can’t think of many things that represent the philosophy of this university much more than that.” Leebron introduced his key ideas in education, including: logical evolution/revolution, changing value proposition, access and affordability, financial sustainability/research funding, sexual assault and campus climate, athletics model and rankings. Leebron continued on to describe the efforts of

the students and administration on the sexual assault policy. “I think this has been a good area in which students and administration have worked together,” Leebron said. “It’s something we all have to take seriously and we all have to bring a Rice philosophy to it, which is this culture of care.” Leebron addressed Rice’s recent drop in Princeton Review’s quality of life and happiness rankings and said the control that students feel over their environment contributes to Rice historical performance in rankings. “We pay attention to [U.S. News and World Report rankings] and think about what we can do, but no we’re not going to do those things that violate our fundamental commitment, and that includes commitment to access to our education,” Leebron said. A few of the areas being considered after this year’s ranking release include the graduation rate, class sizes, and how well known Rice is. “The way U.S. News works, it makes a big difference between whether the graduation rate is 91

percent or 93 percent,” Leebron said. “That’s a big thing, and we ought to be better at that than everybody else. And we’re pretty good. We’re around a 90 percent graduation rate in six years.” Leebron said he had numerous priorities for the new century: strategic academic priorities, school investments, campus infrastructure investments, and administrative effectiveness and efficiency. School investment includes investing in overburdened departments such as psychology and economics. “When I went to school, people would say what we were paying for is what happens in the classroom and the grading of exams, a major, transcript, and degree, and that’s 75 percent of what I’m paying for,” Leebron said. “That 75 percent has been reduced in my mind to something like 25 percent.” Leebron said he stressed research and student leadership as integral parts of the Rice experience that should be given a formal and educational framework. New certificates are being created to reflect students’ efforts in a historical 0see LEEBRON, page 2

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Architecture firm examines campus spaces, solicits input by Jieya Wen Staff Writer

Rice University has hired New York architecture firm Weiss/Manfredi to conduct a two-stage Student Space Study. The first stage of the study will investigate student space usage across campus, according to Vice President for Administration Kevin Kirby. “We are to look at how [the spaces] are used and where the deficiencies lie,” Kirby said. “We anticipate [the first stage] being done in the next few months, hopefully by the end of the calendar year, or early next year.” Kirby said the second stage of the study will focus on the Student Center and will address space usage, in addition to proposing changes and providing possible construction plans with different price points. The plans will also ensure the construction will not interfere with regular student activities. “We want to have [the results] by the end of the academic year,” Kirby said. “By May, we want to know what program we are going to have and what policy making should we change.” The administration has formed a Student Space Study Steering Committee which consists of student and administrative representatives. Student Association President and committee member Ravi Sheth said he has tasked college presidents and senators with gathering student opinions to best represent the undergraduate student body on the Steering Committee. “I have had our SA leadership assemble and analyze a wealth of survey data going back five years, with regards to student opinion around space use across campus,” Sheth, a Martel College senior, said. “This data, along with the opinions of student leaders, inform my representation to the Steering Committee.” The study includes interviewing and sur-

veying students, touring walking spaces around campus and researching Rice Memorial Center reservation forms for how various rooms in the Student Center are currently used. “At the end of September, the architects visited campus and met with focus groups, including a panel of campus-wide organization leaders, the college presidents and college masters,” Sheth said. “Through these meetings, the collective student opinion was voiced and communicated.” Kirby said part of the funding for future construction comes from the money gained from selling KTRU’s broadcasting license in 2011. The university will fundraise further while conducting the study. “If we finish raising all the money next summer, it takes us about nine months to do the design and start construction and we can start maybe the following summer,” Kirby said. “But you almost never raise money that quickly.” McMurtry College sophomore Isabella Yang said she thinks the Student Center has good use of space but the fact that student events are divided into each residential college makes the Student Center less popular. Yang participated in a New Student Representative project about the Student Center last year. “In other universities, they have a pretty populated Student Center, since students couldn’t go elsewhere for events,” Yang said. “According to the surveys we collected from students, most want some more study areas; prices of all the stores should be lowered and it is recommended to get more study rooms there so that students can go for study[ing].” Martel College junior Nick Merritt said since the Student Center is a hub for students, the university should prioritize it when considering where to make improvements. “Coffeehouse sometimes gets too crowded,” Merritt said. “We should also improve the staircases in [the] RMC because the two stairs are very confusing.”

0from LEEBRON page 1 record after they have graduated. Since fall 2003, the student body has gone from 55 percent caucasian to 43 percent caucasian and Asian-American students comprise 26 percent of the student body, up from 15 percent. The international student population represents 12 percent of the student body; it represented 3 percent of the student body in 2003. “The most dramatic is the change in the diversity of the undergraduate student body,” Leebron said. “This particular calculation takes out international students, [who] don’t count as part of the diversity; they’re just international students. That gives you the sense of a very changed student body.” Duncan College Senator Louis Lesser asked Leebron about his four priorities for the new century and whether any of them were more pressing than the others “Those are a little more like buckets than priorities you have to pay attention to,” Leebron said. “Originally, the first formulation of this didn’t have [school] investments. When we saw the success that we had in economics, we realized that sometimes what the school most needs is not part of some university-wide vision: building a

Wednesday, October 8, 2014 great economics department may be the next thing we need.”

We pay attention to rankings and think about what we can do, but we’re not going to do those things that violate our fundamental commitment to access to our education. David Leebron President

Leebron said he hopes to develop more interaction between the graduate and undergraduate departments, such as with the Jones school and the creation of the business minor. He said collaborations between the SA and the Graduate Student Association were also important in this process.

courtesy president david leebron

A slide from President Leebron’s state of the union presentation shows the increase in overlap between universities’ three missions: education, research and service.

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

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Rice alum gives lecture on SA seeks to improve CUC climate-change skepticism outreach with student representative position by Sarah Frazier Staff Writer

Andrew Dessler (Lovett ’86), a professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at Texas A&M University, gave an overview of the rhetorical practices used by climate change skeptics at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy on Oct. 1. Dessler said a small number of scientists are cited frequently by skeptics, giving the impression that there are more skeptical scientists than there really are. The idea of climate change as primarily human-caused is supported by 97 percent of climate scientists, he said. “There are so few of these [skeptical climate scientists] that they’re endlessly recycled,” Dessler said. According to Dessler, climate change skeptics put out alternative publications to share their ideas. However, Dessler said the body of reports supporting the science of climate change outweigh the relatively few skeptical reports. “There are so many of these reports written, and they all say the same thing,” Dessler said. “It is extremely likely that human influence is a dominant cause [of global temperature increase].”

0from HONOR page 1 solution. “The Honor Council looks forward to working closely with this new committee to resolve the blanket tax issue as quickly as possible,” Sengupta, a Will Rice College senior, said. “We hope to develop a feasible, transparent solution to the challenges that have arisen. Furthermore, we hope that this solution is fair and equitable, first and foremost to the

Dessler said it is unlikely climate change skeptics are motivated by money. “In the debate — on both sides — very few people are getting rich,” Dessler said. “People see the facts they want to see. Giving people facts is not the solution to this issue.” According to Dressler, the risks of rising temperatures make climate change a pressing issue. “I’m not sure [the effects of climate change are] going to be bad, but there are lots of ways it could be really, really bad,” Dessler said. Dessler said rhetoric that emphasizes doubt about climate change tends to delay policy changes that could stave off negative effects of climate change; however, scientific doubt of climate change is overstated “Everyone basically agrees,” Dessler said. Sid Richardson College senior Maddie Camp said she thinks it is important to examine skeptics’ viewpoints to make progress on climate policy. “Because climate change is really a policy issue, skeptics bottleneck the whole process of beginning to address climate change, so it makes sense to understand that barrier and think about how we can move past it,” Camp said.

student body and to all blanket tax organizations.” The Contingency Committee met on Oct. 3 to address the concerns raised by Honor Council’s blanket tax review. However, the meeting was invalidated because it was not publicly announced, violating the SA Constitution. All information regarding the Contingency Committee, including future meeting times and locations as well as public documents, can be accessed at sa.rice.edu/btcc. The Contingency Committee will meet with Honor Council the week of Oct. 27 and is currently accepting public comments.

by Anita Alem

Assistant News Editor

The Committee on Undergraduate Curriculum influences student curricular issues ranging from the creation of new minors to the archiving of syllabi on Esther. Student Association members who are representatives of the Committee on Undergraduate Curriculum are adopting a new practice this year and updating the SA after every CUC meeting, according to CUC Student Representative Nicole Moody. CUC Chair Susan McIntosh moderates the meetings. McIntosh said the CUC and the Faculty Senate, which is made up of only faculty members, often receive proposals simultaneously. Sometimes, problems are brought to the CUC by the Faculty Senate, but the CUC itself has also raised issues in the past, such as classroom size. “I ask the [Faculty Senate] senators or the executive committee to have a quick look [to see] if they have major issues right at the beginning, so that as we work on the proposal, we’re taking those into consideration,” McIntosh, a professor of anthropology at Rice, said. “That certainly would be the time that we would anticipate, as the proposal comes before the CUC, and our student [representatives] are aware of it, that they would be looking to make any suggestions for modification of the proposal.” Vice President of the Administration and Registrar David Tenney (Sid Richardson ’87) said the CUC oversees proposals regarding the undergraduate curriculum, including creation of a new major or new minor and distribution, transfer and advanced placement credit. Tenney serves as a non-voting advisor to the CUC and said he was involved in the add-drop proposal, as well as the creation of the neuroscience minor and the new Center for Civic Leadership certificate. Student Association President Ravi Sheth said the SA appoints four representatives to the CUC each year who are responsible for gathering and representing undergraduate opinion, as well as sharing the activities of the CUC with the undergraduate body. “While student opinion is certainly of utmost importance with any decision that aﬀects the undergraduate curriculum, students should understand that any change to the curriculum is ultimately a decision left to the faculty,” Sheth said. “This is reflected in the current structure of the CUC: Students are well-represented in the process, but ultimately the final decision and authority lays with the faculty through Faculty Senate.” Moody said the CUC student representatives will give an update about the CUC after every meeting at Senate. “We’re trying to get thev word out a bit more, trying to be more open to the student body,” Moody said. “I think that’s been pretty eﬀective.” University Court Chair Brian Baran was one of the student writers opposing the CUC’s adddrop proposal. Baran said the student representatives to the CUC are one piece of providing student input, but those students may not be able to represent every perspective in the student body without additional input. Baran said good

communication depends on the SA executive committee as well. “It’s not just the CUC deciding when to provide information, it’s when the SA members feel the need to bring something before the larger student body,” Baran said. “There are choices both on the part of these faculty committees or university committees and on the part of the SA leadership that’s involved as to when proposals come in front of the student body as a whole.” According to McIntosh, the Faculty Senate recommends potential CUC members to the president, who appoints them, after which the Student Association is asked for nominations for student representatives. The CUC is further broken down into subcommittees, each of which has a student representative.

While student opinion is certainly of utmost importance...students should understand that any change to the curriculum is ultimately a decision left to the faculty.

Ravi Sheth SA President

CUC Student Representative Kristi Fu said she believes the CUC likes to have student input, but that the 90-minute meetings may not be long enough to achieve student input. “The meetings aren’t long enough to actually have suﬃcient input from everyone who wants to speak,” Fu, a Brown College senator and sophomore, said. “They have to get the agenda moving.“ McIntosh said faculty members have difficulty scheduling times to meet as the CUC, which is why more frequent or longer meetings are not possible. She also said while some committees may not have faculty representatives from all academic departments, the committees try to contact all stakeholders. The committees also bring topics to the CUC as a whole, which has more representation. “We may end up hearing from engineering, for example, that their particular circumstances were not taken into consideration,” McIntosh said. “Then it’s back to the drawing board, and we work with the engineers at that point.” According to McIntosh, some issues that the CUC has addressed recently include a way to create international exchange programs for Rice students. Tenney said the CUC had also been working on a Rice Center for Engineering Leadership certificate.

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Wednesday, October 8, 2014

H&D solves Village property changes management leaking ceilings at Brown by Jieya Wen Staff Writer

by Rafael Butiong For the Thresher

Brown College’s fourth floor of the tower had persistent leaks two weeks ago from the ceiling in front of its elevator areas that lasted three days, according to Brown College fourth-floor representative Alex Cerda. According to Cerda, fourth-floor residents placed trash cans under the drips as a temporary solution because they thought the leaks were due to the rain. Cerda said because the dripping continued for two more days and both the trash bins and the large recycling bins were filling up quickly, fourth floor residents decided to contact Housing and Dining. Housing and Dining responded to the work orders and eliminated the leaks within one day, according to Cerda. “They responded right away; they saw it and they came and fixed it up, nice and fast,” Cerda said. “I think H&D did a good job once we contacted them.” According to H&D Senior Operations Manager David Brown, the source of the leaks was condensation from the air conditioning unit. Brown said these condensate drips can be caused by wear and tear of the air conditioning unit’s insulation.

If [the students] have concerns, they can bring them to the student maintenance representative. Susann Glenn FE&P Manager of Communications “We try to do our best [to] maintain these things, but that’s something that is really unpredictable,” Brown said. “There are certain things that we can do, like change the insulation.” Brown said insulating material on the air conditioning units may only last for long but will function effectively for 10 years after replacement. The college is scheduled for maintenance activities during the summer of 2015, according to Brown. However, the air conditioning leak was not the only problem that fourth floor had that day, according to junior exchange student Kimiko Nakajima. “The sinks were not draining at all,” Nakajima, a Brown College resident, said. “It was draining so slowly, you could actually see the whole thing getting filled up with water. You can’t really use it, because it’s almost going to be overflowing. The fact that they repaired [the clogged sinks] a year ago and it happened again means that they might [need] to make more serious repairs.” According to Cerda, the two events appear to be unrelated, as the leakage turned out to be a problem in the air conditioning unit and not in the plumbing. This is not the first time that similar plumbing issues have occurred. Last year, the men’s bathroom of the fourth floor had similar problems when the sinks filled up with stagnant water. “A lot of the problems we’re having are a result of a bunch of things stacking up on top of each other rather than just one big problem,” Cerda said. “I don’t think that extensive repairs need to be done, but I do think that over the summer or winter break, [H&D] should just gloss through everything.” Facilities, Engineering and Planning Manager of Communications Susann Glenn said she considers these events to be isolated cases. “With weather changes and with other factors, you never know what could happen,” Glenn said. “I would stress though that if [the students] have concerns, they can bring them to the student maintenance representative, who has authority to help fix things and facilitate the process faster.”

The Rice Management Company has hired Trademark Property Company to oversee asset and property management, leasing and repositioning of the Village Arcade in Rice Village. The Village Arcade, part of the Rice University endowment, is managed by the Rice Management Company, according to company president Allison Thacker (Baker ’96). “We have not made any decisions yet on plans for the Village Arcade, but we have hired Trademark to manage the property and help us plan for the long term,” Thacker said. According to Trademark’s website, the company will improve the Village Arcade by enhancing streetscape, landscaping, storefronts and facades. “Additional Rice-owned property in the Village (approximately seven acres) is available for future mixed-use development,” the Trademark Property and Strategic vision overview stated. Rice acquired the Village Arcade from its former owner, Weingarten Realty Investors, earlier this year. The Rice Management Company said they hope to have more specific plans for the Village Arcade in 2015.

0from FEEDBACK page 1 ple’s purposes. “We want to get to the point of standardization where students do not need to be carrying different clickers or applications on their cell phones or using one product in one class and another in one class,” Solis said. Rice IT identified products on the market and narrowed the choices down to Top Hat and Poll Everywhere after considering the systems’ features and reviewing feedback from other academic institutions and Rice faculty members who have previously used them, according to Solis. Having utilized iClicker in his previous classes, Professor of Physics and Astronomy Paul Padley is one of seven professors piloting one of these two programs. “If I just think about my experience as a professor, I would prefer iClicker [over Top Hat],” Padley said. “However, when I imagine the student perspective, I think Top Hat is better because of the [free] cost and the [reduced] burden of students losing their clickers.” Martel College freshman Jorge Whitley has been using Poll Everywhere in General Chemistry I, a class that has previously used iClickers for instant feedback. “Though I see where it might be useful, it seems to be used primarily as a method of taking attendance,” Whitley said. “I think the polling system itself is clean and easy to use. It’s a question with four answer choices and that’s it, but many of the questions asked in the class have more than one right answer, which can be frustrating given the single-response restriction.” If Rice transitioned towards using one of these systems, there would be no additional individual monetary cost for students beyond the single annual payment that the university would make for a site-wide license. According to Solis, the price of this annual

courtesy trademark property

The Rice Management Company owns multiple parcels of property in the Rice Village area, including the Village Arcade (pictured). The Management Company recently hired Trademark Property Company to manage and make improvements to the property.

payment is yet to be negotiated and will be largely determined by the choice of response system and the final total volume needed as dictated by the quantity of users. Both systems being piloted offer attractive, user-friendly features that add to the range of interactions professors can have with students, Solis said.

While the use of iClickers is rooted in good intentions ... their minimal use at such a high cost oﬀsets most of their good. Sean Dilliard Sid Richardson College sophomore

“With your typical clicker, you can answer ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’ or ‘E’,” Solis said. “With these clickers, you can submit full-text answers, so you can have open-ended questions. There is also the opportunity to ask questions using images and point on the parts of the image for the different answers.” The range of interfaces on which these downloadable programs can be accessed gives professors more room to include all students in this immediate-response-mediated learning. “We do a survey at the beginning of the year that lets us know what students are bringing to Rice,” Solis said. “Students are,

on average, bringing one laptop plus two to three wireless devices with them.” Sid Richardson College sophomore Sean Dilliard said he has tried multiple forms of feedback programs and is glad to hear that professors are using programs other than iClickers. “Considering the high cost I paid to make use of the technology once, maybe twice in my time during the class, I found the iClickers to be rather impractical,” Dilliard said. “While the use of iClickers is rooted in good intentions, to engage the class and increase interactions with the curriculum, their minimal use at such a high cost offsets most of their good. There are and always have been better alternatives to the clickers; I made use of them in one of my CHBE classes.” According to Solis, Top Hat and Poll Everywhere allow students to use specific applications that they can install on their phone, either iOS or Android. The programs can also be accessed through a browser on a phone, laptop or tablet. Student may also use text services and submit answers via SMS. The opinions of faculty members and students will have weight in the final institution-wide decision, according to Solis. In November, both groups will be invited to attend a presentation made by current professor users who will discuss their experiences with Top Hat and Poll Everywhere. “We feel that if we bring vendors to do a sales pitch to the faculty, we will get always get the rosy picture, and it is important to have the users present their experiences to make decisions based off of real-world usage scenarios rather than vendors’ self-serving interests,” Solis said. “Towards the end of the semester, we also want to survey the students in the classes where these products are being tested.” The IT department would like to act quickly after a faculty and student-driven choice is made. “We would like to have this decision taken care off so that by the fall of 2015 we can move forward with a unified system,” Solis said.

THIS WEEK ONLINE:

Student reflects on Ukrainian heritage amid recent conflict by Tina Nazerian

Assistant News Editor

During the summer of 2013, Baker College junior Alex Sokolyk was at a dance camp. However, the dance camp was not in his home state of Texas, much less in the United States — it was in Ukraine, just before the Russia’s military invaded. Sokolyk, a New Braunfels native whose paternal grandfather was Ukrainian, said his family is an active member of the Ukrainian Society of Texas and Zorya, a Ukrainian folkdancing group. “We know a lot of Ukrainians through these groups, some of which are natives and some are first- or second-generation Americans,” Sokolyk said. “My father, being a sin-

gle child of two single children, has kept in contact with his extended family over there as well.” Sokolyk said the best friend of a Zorya member’s dad has already died in the invasion, and two of his cousins are eligible for the draft. “I know her and her dad personally, but I never met his best friend,” Sokolyk said. “Furthermore, my cousin served in the Ukrainian military for four years and another cousin of mine was in an ROTC program in school. Luckily, they have not been called in yet.” Sokolyk said he has only been to Ukraine once. “My dad’s been quite a number of times,” Sokolyk said. “He was actually there when it was still part of the Soviet Union. I’ve been

to Europe before, and I’ve always just liked the feel of old cities and towns that have been there for generations. Really, you feel that in Ukraine. Ukraine has always been a very fallow and lush area. Whenever you’re just going through the countryside, you see these beautiful landscapes. It’s just green, everything is well taken care of, naturally. It’s just a beautiful country overall, I would say.” During his visit, Sokolyk said though he spent a lot of time at the camp, he did have time to visit his family. “[It] was actually really nice, because I hadn’t met any of them before except my cousin, because he actually came to visit the [U.S.] a few months before,” Sokolyk said. Read the rest online at ricethresher.org

5 Letters to the Editor: Contingency Committee progress on Honor Council case shows potential Following their inaction in addressing Honor Council’s blanket tax status, the Student Association Blanket Tax Contingency Committee sent a request for documents and a written statement about the organization’s blanket tax on Oct. 5. The Contingency Committee has also made public their planned meeting dates and times (see p.1). The Thresher commends the SA for finally taking action on Honor Council’s case. The SA now has the opportunity to set precedent for the future handling of similar procedures. In addition, hopefully the committee’s activity will encourage a broader discussion on the issues surrounding the blanket tax process in general. The system, as it exists now, is broken and does not encourage accountability and responsibility within blanket tax organizations. The questions the SA has posed to Honor Council directly and succinctly address its financial issues — the amount of money spent at its annual changeover dinner, its consistent practice of rolling over more than 50 percent of its blanket tax revenue and the effect a cut in its blanket tax would have on the organization. Hopefully Honor Council’s responses will shed light on the confusing aspects of its case. The Thresher also commends the Honor Council for cooperating with the SA throughout the review process. Honor Council has shown that they are willing to address their financial indiscretions moving forward — further cooperation can only improve the outcome for all parties involved. In the future, the SA should strive to achieve the same level of transparency has now implemented for the Contingency Committee’s meetings and projected timeline. Making SA information more public, especially when the information must be made public for official purposes, allows the student body to hold the SA more accountable to its promises and procedures, including those involving student money. Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Thresher editorial staff. All other opinion pieces represent solely the opinion of the piece’s author.

Corrections In the Oct. 1 issue of the Thresher, the names of Dr. Luis Duno-Gottberg and Dr. Jenifer Bratter were misspelled in the article entitled “Forum on Ferguson draws large crowd”. The photo and caption accompanying “Baker Institute hosts panel discussing lessons and applications of World War I” were attributed to the incorrect event. The photo was of the Baker Institute event “The crisis in Ukraine.”

Honor Council will amend past errors to better serve students As a 102-year-old institution, the Honor System is one of Rice’s oldest traditions. While we may think of privileges such as take-home and unproctored exams as the most direct, tangible benefits of this system, the Honor System means much more than that. The Honor Council and the Honor Code have been central in maintaining the academic integrity of the university. The system fosters a community based on trust and openness between the faculty and the student body. Ultimately, the Honor System upholds the integrity of the Rice degree and the university’s reputation. To be one of the few universities nationwide to have an entirely student-run Honor System, let alone an explicitly stated Honor Code, illustrates that Rice students are capable of handling high levels of responsibility. A recent article in this publication shook the confidence many students have placed in the Honor Council. While the article unfortunately did not represent our views extensively, it did repeatedly cite a former officer in our organization who was responsible for our budget. Let it be clear that this individual is no longer a member of the Council. Furthermore, as a completely new officer team this year, we are committed to correcting and improving the poorly prepared reports and budgets submitted to the Blanket Tax Review Committee. Moving forward, we will use a transparent and efficient process when organizing our budget, and we are also very open to working with the SA to reevaluate our blanket tax and associated processes. While actions of previous individuals holding responsibility are not an excuse, we must recognize that the Council’s first responsibility is to ensure every accused student who comes before us receives proper due process. To distract ourselves from this important task would erode the foundations of our community’s Honor System. Regardless of last year’s events, some have asked whether the Honor Council’s costs warrant our current level of blanket tax funding and if we are prudently spending our allocated funding. Let us first note that the Honor Council’s blanket tax of $2.00 per student per year is less than other blanket tax organizations, including the Thresh-

news Andrew Ta* Editor Yasna Haghdoost* Editor Tina Nazerian Assistant Editor Anita Alem Assistant Editor Justin Park Designer opinions Mitch Mackowiak* Editor

Hurst Williamson Chair Senior, Hanszen College Alex Metcalf Internal Vice Chair Sophomore, Will Rice College Shayak Sengupta External Vice Chair Senior, Will Rice College Michael Jin, Secretary Senior, Jones College

Some spaces ‘neglected’ for a reason Rice’s neglected spaces are only neglected if you take human regard and human presence as the only measures of worth. Certainly sitting on a bench under a tree is pleasant, but if every tree has a bench, none of them is special. The introduction of benches or paving in the open or naturally landscaped spaces destroys the natural aspect of the space that is so essential to making it fundamentally different from the more formally structured spaces on campus. Follow a pattern of adding structure to spaces for convenience, and soon there are no empty spaces left at all, and the campus becomes one big parking lot or formal garden with no clear separation of one space from another.

Editorial Staff Miles Kruppa* Editor in Chief

er at $14.30, the SA at $2.45, and KTRU at $5.50. It is true that the Honor Council has maintained a surplus, but this surplus is a tool to ensure we have funding for unexpected costs. In the last three years, the Honor Council has needed to buy new computers, printers, scanners and tablets to efficiently handle the 65 to 80 cases we see on average every year. Moreover, a large portion of our fixed costs do come from our annual changeover dinner. This tradition is one of the only two times the Honor Council meets as a whole to foster unity, thank our outgoing officers and elect new officers. Our tradition (and associated costs) are no different from changeover or leadership development events for other student organizations on campus, including the residential colleges and the SA. The 2013-14 Annual Review Report states, “the Blanket Tax Standing Committee finds no evidence to suggest that a violation of Rice University rules and regulations may have occurred with regard to the Honor Council’s use of blanket tax funding.” The Honor Council considers it an honor to serve the student body in upholding our Honor System. To have the confidence of our peers shows the effectiveness of the system we have put in place at this institution. While there are challenges we face, we are committed to working with the SA and other blanket tax organizations to ensure that every organization receives and spends their fair share of money. To not do so would be a disservice to us and the wider student body.

sports Maddy Adams Editor Evan Neustater Editor Sarah Nyquist Designer art Claire Elestwani Art Director Marcel Merwin Photo Editor arts & entertainment Sophie Newman Editor Kaylen Strench Editor Carrie Jiang Designer

copy Christine Jeong Editor Megan Seidel Editor backpage Reed Thornburg Editor business William Byers Manager advertising Cynthia Bau Manager * indicates member of the Editorial Board

I do not advocate a prohibition on entering or using the neglected spaces, though. Respect and enjoy the difference these spaces provide. Enter the sacred groves and neglected spots. Have a picnic. Sit on the ground. Lean against a tree. Play a game of midnight football in front of Lovett Hall. When you are done, take all you brought in with you out again. Robert Duffield Baker College ‘87

Remembering life outside Rice A broken laptop saved my life this week. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was in desperate need of some time outside of Rice University. My eventual venture off campus gave me a vitally refreshing reminder that life still exists outside of Rice. Something awful was brewing in my psyche in the days leading up to my laptop’s malfunction. I couldn’t name my state of mind, but I could tell that I was on the brink of a major meltdown. I had only been at Rice for a few weeks, but the monotony was already becoming overwhelming. Having exactly two, unchanging schedules (MWF, TR) is agonizing. Waking up, seeing the same crowds at breakfast, taking the very same path to class each day, eating the same food with the same people and doing the same, boring work until late at night takes a toll on a body. I was getting fed up, but could not put my finger on why. Luckily, my laptop started buzzing ominously one day which forced me to go off campus to get it repaired. I paid my uber driver to take me from Gate Four to the Apple store. He was not simply driving me, though. He was like Willy Wonka escorting me on a crazy boat down a chocolate river called Main Street. The only difference was that I had been to this crazy place before; I’d just forgotten about it since coming to Rice. After convincing myself that life was solely comprised of classes, working, the occasional Super Smash Brothers break and roughly one public party per week, I must have developed some sort of amnesia that wiped my memory of everything that occurs in the world outside of Rice University. When I arrived at the Apple store, I was almost taken aback by the sea of consumers of all ages and swaggers. My laptop was fixed in no time, but I needed more time in public. I was only beginning to taste the elixir of the OC, and I was not yet ready to put down my cup. I worked in a coffee shop nearby for about an hour or so. During the hour, I picked up delicious fragments of the diverse conversations around me — I wanted to download as much “real life” as I could before going back to Rice. I do not intend to say that Rice is a terrible, drab place. Rather, I am merely conveying the joys of tasting what life is like for people that are not college students. The week that followed my trip to the Apple store was great. I focused on switching things up, taking different paths, engaging with new people and generally doing things differently. All the while, I could recall the pleasant fact that I learned off campus: The entire world is still just as busy as it was before, even though I may not feel like I’m interacting with it as much. This may sound painfully obvious, but I’m sure that, on some level, most Rice students can derive some sort of satisfaction from this fact. That’s why I implore all Rice students to wade out into the territory beyond Rice.

Riley Robertson is a Hanszen College freshman.

The Rice Thresher, the oﬃcial student newspaper at Rice University since 1916, is published each Wednesday during the school year, except during examination periods and holidays, by the students of Rice University. This issue marks the first of volume IC, though issues published last year were incorrectly marked as volume CI.

Editorial and business oﬃces are located on the second floor of the Ley Student Center: 6100 Main St., MS-524 Houston, TX 77005-1892 Phone (713) 348-4801 Email: thresher@rice.edu Website: www.ricethresher.org

Letters to the Editor must be received by 5 p.m. the Friday prior to publication and must be signed, including college and year if the writer is a Rice student. The Thresher reserves the rights to edit letters for content and length and to place letters on its website.

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 a member of the ACP, TIPA and CNBAM © Copyright 2013 YikkinYakkin

arts

ENTERTAINMENT Rice Players’ dreamlike Paganini elicits range of conflicting emotions by Allie Schaich Thresher Staff

Some plays strive to make audiences laugh, some try to invoke tears, others try to foster deep and insightful thought. The Rice Player’s production of Paganini boldly attempts to achieve all of the above throughout the play, but risks leaving viewers uncertain of how to feel. While the exact time period in which Paganini takes place is vague, the production, set in various European cities, is about a young, once world-renowned violinist whose soul belongs to the devil. Paganini has somewhat of a dreamlike quality throughout, making it diﬃcult at times to distinguish what is real and what is not. The play, directed by Aaron Garret (Wiess ’12), opens with the introduction of Nicolo Paganini, a poor, hopeless man who was once a famous violinist but had to sell his violin due to debt. A stranger gives him a high-quality violin, free of charge, on the condition that the stranger will be repaid. The remainder of the play follows Paganini through, as the Rice Players describe it, “a series of depraved adventures in love and music.” He finds himself

B+

in a slew of sticky situations, including, but not limited to, a jail cell populated with crazy men, a somewhat psychedelic clock shop, the operating table of a kooky quartet of singing doctors and a jealous fit of rage upon finding out that his lover is cheating on him. The mood of the play varies greatly: Some scenes are dark and almost scary, while others are lighthearted and comical. Throughout the story, Paganini is trapped in a continual attempt to decipher which actions will lead him to salvation and which to damnation. As emotionally confusing as Paganini is at some points, the play is largely redeemed by the talent and passion of the actors and actresses. Jones College freshman Rob Katz, who plays the troubled musician Nicolo Paganini, convincingly represents the whirlwind of emotions his character experiences. Throughout the entire two-and-a-half-hour production, Katz remains energetic and engaged, which is quite a feat considering how animated his character is. Conveying a believable performance of someone losing his mind is no easy task, but Katz’s acting successfully reflects how his character is feeling. In addition, multiple members of the supporting cast do a phenomenal job playing multiple roles, such as Baker College senior Alyssa Dugar, who portrays many characters, ranging from a poor woman selling apples to Paganini’s mother to a washed-up, desperate call girl to a “professional” singer whose singing could be better described as screeching. While each of these roles is very diﬀerent, she conveys each one with just as much passion as the last, giving the audience reasons to both laugh and cry. A n o t h e r standout character in the Rice Player’s production of Paganini

is Baker sophomore Paul Dingus, who plays three completely diﬀerent fatherly figures. In one role, he appears as an old, hunched-over man: a slightly crazy clockmaker and father to one of the multiple girls whom Paganini becomes obsessed with. This scene takes on an especially dreamlike quality, enhanced by Dingus’s representation of a charismatic and outlandish clockmaker and creator of eerily lifelike wind-up toys. He also does a remarkable job playing both an ignorant father who does not care for his daughter’s well-being and a cruel but stupid father who abuses his daughter. One enjoyable feature of the play that helps clear up some of the time period and scene location ambiguity was the quick monologues from the supporting characters before specific scenes about how Paganini entered their lives. These short speeches inform the audience of where exactly the scene is happening, especially because the exact location and situation tend to change quite rapidly throughout the production. The Rice Players make great use of the stage, quickly transitioning between scenes and bringing out new and elaborate props, including ones from which members of the cast emerge, surprising the audience. While the lighting does a great job highlighting what is happening on stage without being too over- or underwhelming, it seems as if some parts of Paganini were heavily accented by a musical soundtrack, while others were surprisingly quiet. For a play that is centered around the life of a world-famous musician, it would be nice to have a heavier emphasis on the musical aspect. While the play is a bit lengthy, the entire cast of Paganini does an excellent job portraying a tumultuous cycle of emotions and situations. However, some scenes portray a little too wide of a range of reactions and feelings, which have the potential to confuse the audience as to what, exactly, the scene is trying convey. Paganini is being performed by the Rice Players Oct. 9-11 in Hamman Hall at 8 p.m. Student tickets are $5, faculty, alumni and senior citizens are $8 and general admission tickets are $10.

cade ritter/thresher

THE WEEKLY SCENE The editors’ picks for this week’s best events. Time to explore the wonderful world of Houston.

Going meatless at Houston’s top meat stop by Walden Pemantle Thresher Staff

Since opening in 2012, Chris Shepherd’s Underbelly has arguably been the quintessential Houstonian restaurant. The menu, which boldly proclaims, “Houston is the new American Creole city of the South,” even won Shepherd a 2014 James Beard Foundation Award for its seamless integration of Houston’s many ethnic influences with traditional southern techniques. Shepherd is perhaps best known for his butchering and charcuterie which, at Underbelly, are embodied by an entire aging room and back-of-house butcher’s shop devoted to butchering, curing and aging the house meats. Shepherd’s expertise is nearly unquestioned in the realm of pork, beef and all things red meat. But in light of the growing number of gourmet diners and chefs moving away from the heavy use of red meat, I wanted to sample the menu without any of the meat to see if Underbelly’s appeal could be as broad as its influences.

Shepherd may be a world-class butcher, but his menu proves that he’s a cook first and capable of serving some remarkable, if inconsistent, seafood and poultry. Underbelly does have a significant amount of fish and poultry on the menu. There are even a few vegetarian dishes as well, but the restaurant is by no means vegetarian friendly. While some of the veggie plates — like the crispy market vegetables and spiced okra — are surprisingly good, other items — like the crusty slow dough bread with fig butter (which at most restaurants would have been complimentary) — are fairly unremarkable. Even the popular market vegetables, which tend to linger on the menu as other dishes are rotated out, are prepared with caramelized fish sauce, meaning they have to be specially prepared for vegetarians with a key ingredient omitted. For those simply looking to avoid red meat, however, there are a few more options. Though the menu frequently changes, there’s always at least one familysized fish plate, usually a large portion of crispy-fried bycatch and four or five smaller dishes centered on poultry and fish. The bycatch platter, a generous helping of three whole-fried snapper with eggplant and corn on the night I visited, was undeniably delicious but lacked anything to distinguish it from the other great fish platters that can be found around Houston 0see UNDERBELLY, page 8

LEGO HAPPY HOUR

BLOCK BASH

CAESAR SALAD

Rice isn’t the only Houston university with amazing arts. Check out what the University of Houston has to oﬀer at the Red Block Bash, an arts festival spotlighting local art with dance performances, food trucks, live music and more. The festival will take place Oct. 9, from 4 - 8 p.m., and admission is free.

The Houston Food & Beverage Managers Association is sponsoring a Caesar Salad competition featuring Houston’s best chefs, who will be whipping up top-notch Caesars that you can enjoy. The event is Friday, Oct. 10 from 5 - 8 p.m. and costs $40, with proceeds going to provide education endowments.

I think we can all agree that Legos and alcohol are great individually, but combined, they create an entirely new level of awesome. On Thursday, Oct. 9 from 6 - 9 p.m., Aurora Picture Show presents adultsonly LEGO happy hour, complete with blocks and booze for those 21 and over.

Blaffer Art Museum, UH 120 Fine Arts Building uh.edu/uh-arts

Hilton, University of Houston 4800 Calhoun Rd. caesarsaladcompetitionhouston.com

Aurora Picture Show 2442 Bartlett St. aurorapictureshow.org

SPACE FILM On the 45th anniversary of humankind’s first steps on the moon comes a new film exploring Apollo’s missions through astronaut interviews and live NASA footage. Rice Cinema and the Rice Space Institute Arts Initiative will present the world premiere of One Small Step on Wednesday, Oct. 8 at 7 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.

Rice Media Center/Rice Cinema

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

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A&E

Rice Gallery video installation deals in the uncanny by Sophie Newman A&E Editor

Singing clouds with faces, walking tree women and bowls of pasta that breed reptiles may be the stuﬀ of nightmares, but there is something strangely satisfying about seeing such uncanny images unfold in real time. Creature Worlds, the latest video installation at RG Cubicle (also known as Rice Gallery video space), is both bizarre and intriguing. It’s the kind of art that makes you question whether or not you need hallucinogens to understand it properly. Situated to the left of Rice Gallery, RG Cubicle is a converted oﬃce space that now operates as a small theater. Eight to 10 gray foam cubes serve as seats for moviegoers, and the screen, which spans an entire wall, fosters an almost 3-D experience. Creature Worlds is a compilation of six short animated videos from professional working art-

ists. Using simple techniques, such as stop-motion animation, each artist creates a universe full of creatures (both imaginary and recognizable) that move, grow, shrink, morph, disfigure and refigure to form unconventional patterns of evolution. Produced in black and white, KUNCHI is the shortest of the bunch. It is best described as a procession of biotic blobs, ranging from triangles with eyes to what appear to be walking mushrooms. The musical accompaniment, a series of dissonant xylophone sounds, is both upbeat and disconcerting. Cloudy, the longest of the six shorts, is also the lightest in tone. Created by FriendsWithYou, it centers on a factory in the sky in which singing clouds and smiling raindrops perform their “daily duties.” Although bizarre in conception, I found this short strangely satisfying. The harmony of tasks and happy music lend the film a productive and fulfilling feeling, like watching a video of Santa’s

elves at work. Ever wonder what happens when you abandon a bowl of noodles for a minute? According to No Noodles, it erupts into a chorus of aquatic and prehistoric creatures. No Noodles is produced using claymation, which allows the animator to transform one creature into another in one fluid motion. The Leaf Woman and the Centaur serves as an expression of diﬀerent creationist theories. Set against a black, cosmic backdrop, a mythical leaf woman is the creator whose seeds give birth to life in vibrant colors. Accompanied by a classical soundtrack, The Leaf Woman is both beautiful and expressive. In Dissimilated Vision, a single pencil line becomes a myriad of human features that morph from faces to hands to eyes to mouths. The takeaway is that the human form can be tactfully reduced to a series of similar and interconnected shapes. With

dissonant, soft music, the film becomes eerie, but the sketches are simple yet elegant. Similar to KUNCHI, USAWALTZ features a parade of creatures in black and white, this time swimming across the scene as if trapped in an aquarium. The soothing, a cappella music is catchy and triumphant without being overwhelming. What is Creature Worlds but a picture of raw imagination? Although none of the mini-universes converge, they each capture some aspect of life beyond reality, something uniquely envisioned. When I stepped into the exhibition on a quiet Saturday morning, temporarily frozen by the utter pitch-blackness of the theater, I was at first skeptical. But, overwhelmed by such fantastic images, I had no choice but to dive headfirst into the bizarre and wonderful. Creature Worlds is on display in RG Cubicle through Nov. 23 during normal Gallery hours.

A&E

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

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This Week in Entertainment

Dracula Untold

by Louis Lesser

courtesy universal pictures

X-Men: Days of Future Past

courtesy 20th century fox

IN THEATERS

DVD and BLU-RAY

This action-horror film marks Universal Studios’ first step in rebooting their classic Monsters franchise. This interpretation of the classic character shies away from following the story of Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel and instead tells the origin story of the famous vampire (Luke Evans, The Hobbit), who uses his abilities to save his family and his kingdom from a supernatural attack. PG-13. 92 minutes. Also in 3-D and Imax.

The seventh installment in the X-Men film series is the first to combine the casts of the original films in the series with their younger counterparts and was considered a box office success this past summer. The plot follows Wolverine (Hugh Jackman, Prisoners) as he travels through time to save the future of mutants and humankind. Bonus features include a gag reel, behind-the-scenes documentaries and deleted scenes with optional commentary.

courtesy republic nashville

courtesy warner bros

Anything Goes – Florida Georgia Line

The Judge

ALBUM

IN THEATERS

Quickly establishing themselves as one of country music’s biggest acts, as shown by the crossover success of their double platinum debut Here’s to the Good Times, the duo returns with their sophomore eﬀort. The collection includes 12 new songs, including five songs written by the band members themselves, “Dirt,” the gold-certified lead single that has already topped U.S. Country charts, and follow-up single “Sun Daze.”

Robert Downey, Jr. (Iron Man) produces and stars in this courtroom drama opposite Robert Duvall (Get Low). When a successful lawyer (Downey) returns home for his mother’s funeral, he learns that he must defend his estranged father (Duvall), who is suspected of murder, in a case against a determined prosecutor (Billy Bob Thornton, Fargo). The film already premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival to mixed reviews. R. 141 minutes.

0 UNDERBELLY from page 6 for $30 instead of $60. Over-seasoned and salty, the triggerfish was even more disappointing. The seared snapper, on the other hand, surpassed even the pork dishes my party ordered, spiced with an excellent blend of southern seasonings and served with okra that was far better than the okra I’ve come to expect from creole establishments. The duck was also a surprisingly good example of Shepherd’s genre-bending abilities: the meat was cooked in the classic French-confit style and served with not just candied pecans, but also southern-braised collards that paired exceptionally well with the duck fat. Not surprisingly, Underbelly’s extensive wine list has many options, both red

Channeling Sun Ra

and white, that pair well with their lighter dishes. Although the sign at the door declares it “Riesling season” at Underbelly, the hard ciders and light red wines are far more complex and pleasant than the off-dry Rieslings, which pair poorly with even the lightest dishes. The French ciders’ crisp acidity is a perfect match for the greasier plates, like the bycatch and duck, and the light, fragrant Grenaches and Dolcettos, both available by the glass, are especially well suited to the other fish and vegetable plates. All in all, the meal was quite good even without Underbelly’s star ingredient. Shepherd may be a world-class butcher, but his menu proves that he’s a cook first and capable of serving some remarkable, if inconsistent, seafood and poultry. While Underbelly may still be a pork lover’s haunt, it can certainly deliver a satisfying dinner to those looking for something else.

claire elestwani/thresher

On Oct. 2, Chicago jazz band Loose Assembly performed at the opening of The Graphic Cosmos of Sun Ra and El Saturn Records show, held at the Rice Media Center.

Sports is on Twitter. Get the scoop at twitter.com/ThresherSports

Basketball trains with Navy SEALs by Kevin Mohanram For the Thresher

marielle brisbois/thresher

Sophomore running back Darik Dillard cuts upfield in a 28-14 victory over the University of Hawai’i on Saturday, Oct. 4. Dillard rushed for 141 yards and two touchdowns on the night. The Owls are now 2-3 on the season and will play Army on Oct. 11 in West Point, New York.

Football prepares for Army game by Evan Neustater Sports Editor

Rice vs. Hawai’i

28-14

The Rice University football team (2-3) defeated the University of Hawai’i on Saturday, Oct. 4, winning 28-14. Tied at 14-14 entering the fourth quarter, the Owls scored the go-ahead touchdown with 4:18 remaining on a four-yard touchdown run by sophomore Darik Dillard, his second of the night. Hawai’i then received the ball and failed on a fourth-down attempt, giving the Owls the ball back with 2:55 remaining. On a fourth and 13 play with 18 seconds remaining on the Hawai’i 31-yard line, junior quarterback Driphus Jackson found senior wide receiver Jordan Taylor for the game-winning score. Jackson completed 10 of 23 passes on the night for 248 yards, two touchdowns and one interception; 105 of those yards went to Taylor, who had his first 100-yard receiving game of the season and the fifth of his career. Dillard also had his first 100-yard rushing game of the year, going for 141 yards on 23 carries and two touchdowns. Rice’s sophomore running backs Dillard and Jowan Davis have now combined for 784 yards and seven touchdowns on the season, averaging nearly five yards per carry. According to Head Coach David Bailiﬀ, having both running backs with diﬀerent running styles adds versatility to the team’s rushing attack.

“[Dillard’s] running style is so different than [Davis’},” Bailiff said. “[Davis] is more of a slasher, and [Dillard] is going north. They’re both very special; they truly are. They’re both every down backs. No matter if it’s running with the ball, they’re great catching the football, and they’re also great in pass protection.” According to Taylor, Rice’s offense still has room for improvement despite recording consecutive victories. “We’re not by any means where we want to be as an offense,” Taylor said. “We’re starting to click, we’re starting to come together, but we’re a long way from where we want to be, and that just comes week-by-week, practice-by-practice. We just try to get a little better every day.” Bailiff said the team’s defensive play was critical to the team’s victory, particularly with the offense struggling in the first half. “We held them defensively to their lowest output of the season [with] 261 yards,” Bailiff said. “We got seven sacks, 12 tackles for loss and two turnovers. We’re really proud of our defense; we needed that type of performance from that side of the ball.” According to senior defensive back Malcolm Hill, the defense has improved over the course of the season and is reaching its potential. “After Southern Miss, I think the defense got its groove back,” Hill said. “We’re out there talking, communicating, and even though we had a couple mishaps, it was kind of overshadowed by our confidence and guys making plays.” Rice will next head to West Point, New York to face Army. Army runs a triple-option offense, which is uncommon in the modern game. The triple-option offense revolves around the quar-

terback either handing the ball off to the fullback, pitching it to the halfback, or keeping it himself to pick up rushing yards. Although they have the third-overall rushing offense in the nation at 338.2 yards per game, they also have the worst-overall passing offense in the country, throwing for 82 yards per game. Hill said the defense remaining focused on their assignments is critical to stopping an unconventional offense. “We have to tackle the ball carrier, we have to stay sound and we have to stay committed to our jobs,” Hill said. “This week, more than any other week, we all have to do our [part]. We can’t get beat, [and] we can’t get bored with the game. [We want interceptions], [and] we want pass breakups, but it’s about tackling, about staying focused on your job and keeping your eyes on the right spot.” Army will be the first academy school Rice has played since the 2012 Armed Forces Bowl, in which the Owls defeated the Air Force Academy 33-14. According to Bailiff, whose father served in the Korean War, playing Army has special significance to him and the team because of the players on the other side. “What those young men do for this country when they graduate … they’re headed to Afghanistan and Iraq, and they’re letting guys like me be football coaches,” Bailiff said. “You look at what those academies stand for, and it’s an honor to stand on the same field and play those guys.” Rice will look to even its record and earn its third victory of the season against Army, before returning to conference play against the University of North Texas on Oct. 25. The game against Army will kick off at 11 a.m. in West Point.

Volleyball sweeps conference opponents by Juan Saldana For the Thresher

Last week, the Rice University volleyball team won three consecutive matches against conference opponents. On Wednesday, the Owls faced oﬀ against the University of North Texas, winning 3-1. The Owls then bested the University of Texas, El Paso and the University of North Carolina, Charlotte at home on Friday and Sunday, respectively. Senior middle blocker Jillian Humphrey was named the conference player of the week, and sophomore setter Sara Blasier, the fourth-

Rice vs. UNT

3-1 Rice vs. UTEP 3-0 Rice vs. Charlotte 3-0

leading assist creator in the country, was named setter of the week. According to Head Coach Genny Volpe, the team had a strong week of play. Volpe said the game against UNT was an especially impressive performance for the team. “We had a solid week in general as a team, especially with a tough win at [UNT],” Volpe said. “It was a really diﬀerent environment with a very small gym and [a] loud crowd. [UNT] jumped out really fast on us and shook us up quite a bit, so the fact that we could come back and win the match was very impressive to me.” 0see VBALL, page 10

After the Rice University basketball team went 12-48 over the last two seasons, the athletic department hired Mike Rhoades, a former head coach at Randolph-Macon College and former assistant head coach for the Virginia Commonwealth University team, which made it to the Final Four in 2011, to be its new head coach. Rhoades helped guide VCU to a 26-9 record last season and a spot in the NCAA Tournament, and he is instituting his own system and training regimen, which includes the same training that the Navy SEALs go through. Although official practices did not begin until Saturday, Oct. 4, Rhoades has had the team working hard since summer, including training with Navy SEALs. According to Rhoades, undergoing rigorous training is the first step in changing Rice’s basketball culture to a culture of winning. “We needed from day one to change the culture of the program and get it to be an overachieving, hard-working approach,” Rhoades said. “We did Navy SEAL training, and it just gets you out of your comfort zone; it puts you in an environment that’s really hard. It’s taxing on your body [and] taxing on your mind. We thought that if we could do this stuff outside of basketball, it will help us when we get on the court.” Senior forward and team captain Seth Gearhart said the coaches also participated in the training. “Our whole staff and all of our players did it,” Gearhart said. “Most coaches wouldn’t put themselves through Navy SEAL training if they’re the ones in charge. It’s different.” According to Rhoades, the training was split into two hours. The first hour took place in the pool, conducting strenuous water-based activities. “We had to be at the pool at 6 a.m.,” Rhoades said. “From 6 to 7 [a.m.], our instructor put us through water exercises like sit-ups in the pool and human canoes where [we] connect five or six guys together 0see BBALL, page 10

Soccer snaps unbeaten streak by Michael Kidd Thresher Staff

Rice vs. UTSA

3-0 Rice vs. UTEP 0-1

The Rice University soccer team went on the road this past weekend to face two Conference USA opponents. On Friday, the Owls defeated the University of Texas, San Antonio 3-0. Rice then traveled to face off against the University of Texas, El Paso on Sunday; the Owls lost to the Miners 1-0 in overtime. The Owls are now 7-2-2 on the season with a 3-1 conference record. The Friday night showdown between the Owls and the UTSA Roadrunners started with Rice scoring within the first minute. Junior Holly Hargreaves, the all-time leader in goals for Rice, scored 21 seconds into the game. Hargreaves scored again 22 minutes later off of a header for her eighth goal of the season. Junior forward Lauren Hughes had two assists on the day, bringing her total of the year to six. Senior midfielder Quinny Truong also found the back of the net off of a deflection in the 64th minute of the match for her first goal of the season, securing the 3-0 victory for the Owls. For the thirdstraight match, senior goalkeeper Amy Czyz and the Owls defense secured the shutout. 0see SOCCER, page 10

10 SPORTS

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

the Rice Thresher

0from SOCCER page 9

ningxing cheng/thresher

Senior libero Daniela Arenas closely watches the ball against the University of Texas, El Paso on Friday, Oct. 3 in a 3-0 shutout win. The Owls are now 14-5 on the season, including 4-1 in Conference USA. The Owls will next go on a three-game road trip.

0from VBALL page 9 Volpe said she was impressed with the players’ ability to focus with the added strain of travel. According to Volpe, the team benefits from the familiarity of Tudor Fieldhouse and the support from fans. “We have been on the road quite a bit this season, and I was so impressed with how the team maintained their composure and focus

while trying to keep up with their studies,” Volpe said. “We do play well on the road, but the comfort of home and the fan support is huge.” Volpe said she is confident in the team’s ability to best any competitor. According to Volpe, the team’s biggest hurdle is bringing its talents together cohesively and successfully. “We believe that we can beat anybody,” Volpe said. “At first, I think the team understood we have the talent but weren’t quite sure they could put it together day in and day out. We have been in some tough situations and

fought out of them, so we have gained confidence through that.” This week, the Owls will face oﬀ against Middle Tennessee State University, the University of Texas, El Paso and the University of Texas, San Antonio. According to Volpe, the team is ready for the challenges they will face on the road this week. “This team has a strong desire to win and to be the best,” Volpe said. “This three-match road swing will have its challenges, but we will be ready and prepared.”

On Sunday afternoon, the Owls faced UTEP riding an unbeaten match streak of nine games. For 90 minutes of play, Rice remained at 0-0 with the Miners. Despite an 8-3 corner kick advantage and a 15-8 shot advantage, the Owls did not score and ultimately allowed a goal to UTEP forward Jeanna Mullen in the 96th minute to lose in overtime, giving the Owls their first loss since a 1-0 defeat against Baylor on Aug. 22. Following the UTSA victory, Head Coach Nicky Adams said she was pleased with how well her team has played, not just individually, but as a whole. “Everybody has been playing well,” Adams said. “UTSA is a very good team and … our defense came up with its third-straight conference shutout. [Hargreaves] has been putting herself in dangerous offensive positions, and her teammates deserve credit for their part in getting the offense to work as well as it has.” According to senior midfielder Gabriela Iribarne, the team is excited to take on the University of North Texas next weekend despite ending their unbeaten streak. “Although the score didn’t come out the way we wanted, [we] feel confident and excited for this upcoming weekend,” Iribarne said. “[UNT] will be [an] extremely tough game, but we will come out for a battle on Sunday and not let anyone beat us on our home turf.” Senior defender Ashton Geisendorff said she believes Rice is playing excellent soccer because of the chemistry they have established. “Our mentality is better, and our work ethic is phenomenal,” Geisendorff said. “When Rice soccer gets on that field, we are ready to take care of business. Our offense is on fire, our midfield has world-class skills, and any one of our defenders would lay their body on the line to keep the ball out of the net. It’s just great team chemistry.” The Owls will return home to take on the C-USA-leading University of North Texas in the only game of the weekend. The game is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 12 at 1 p.m.

0from BBALL page 9 and we have to learn how to stroke in the same direction at the same time. And we raced. Everything was a competition, [such as] swimming [and] jumping off the high dives. Some guys couldn’t swim. We had to help each other across the water.” Rhoades said the second half of training occurred at different stations across campus. “We were running to a place to do exercises,” Rhoades said. “We had seven places on campus where [the instructor] had hoses and filled up mudpiles and water holes. We were in there, and we were dirty and grimy.” Rhoades said he thought the intensive training was necessary for the team’s work ethic and ability to overcome adversity. “It just made us very uncomfortable,” Rhoades said. “Our big thing was that we [have] to become comfortable when it is uncomfortable. We had missions we had to do and complete. There was competition, and your team had to win and you had to do your part.” Rhoades said the SEAL training is critical to rebuilding Rice’s basketball program and instituting a winning mindset in the players and coaches. “We’re rebuilding this,” Rhoades said. “We’ve struggled the last two years. We have a lot of work to do, but we’re trying to build it one block at a time. You’ve got to build the foundation first of a great work ethic and a team-first philosophy and get better after that.” According to Gearhart, the SEAL training was difficult, but also fun at certain points. “The SEAL training was pretty hard,” Gearhart said. “There is a little bit of a fun aspect when you’re doing stuﬀ like crawling through trenches and mud tunnels. But it’s also harder than a lot of people realize. It’s just two hours of whatever grueling things the SEAL [instructor] could come up with.” According to Rhoades, SEAL training was not a one-time deal. He said he plans to make it a customary thing for the basketball team to do before each season in order to bring them closer together every year. “[It will be a] new tradition,” Rhoades said. “This is going to be what we do. We did it at VCU and it really worked. Our guys took great pride in it.” The Rice basketball team opens their season Nov. 8 against LeTourneau University at Tudor Fieldhouse.

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

SPORTS

the Rice Thresher

Conference assist leader credits teammates for success by Sean Youn For the Thresher

Redshirt sophomore Sara Blasier, Rice University’s all-conference setter, has been playing volleyball for most of her life. Now midway into her second season on the team, Blasier is the Conference USA’s leading assister and has the fourth-most assists in the country.

It is nice to get noticed for doing a good job, but at the same time I don’t really need it. I would credit most for my success to the passers on our team for getting me the ball and making my job as a setter a lot easier. Sara Blaiser Redshirt sophomore

courtesty rice sports information

Redshirt sophomore setter Sara Blasier volleys an assist to senior middle blocker Lizzy Bache. Blasier is first in the conference and fourth in the nation in assists with 771 on the year.

Despite redshirting her first year, Blasier garnered recognition for her talent and leadership skills, earning accolades last season as a redshirt freshman. Blasier earned a spot on the Conference USA Second Team and the C-USA All-Freshman Team, all while record-

ing 10.3 assists per set as a setter. According to Blasier, awards and accolades are appreciated but not necessary. Blasier also said she attributes the majority of her success to her teammates. “It is nice to get noticed for doing a good job, but at the same time I don’t really need it,” Blasier said. “I would credit most for my success to the passers on our team for getting me the ball and making my job as a setter a lot easier.” Blasier said the most rewarding experience, however, was being given the team’s Most Improved Player award at the end of last year. “I didn’t really expect [the award], but it shows that my teammates thought I grew a lot during the season, which is such a huge compliment to get since I value their opinions so much,” Blasier said. According to Blasier, she and her teammates fostered a strong bond over the summer. Blasier said this was due, in part, to “The Program,” during which the team was trained by two Marine Officers. “We became so close over the summer and especially bonded over The Program,” Blasier said. “It was [a] great experience because we were dying, but dying together and pushing through it.” According to Blasier, Head Coach Genny Volpe expects more from Blasier as a redshirt sophomore than she has in the previous year. “I think as a [redshirt] sophomore now, my coach definitely pushes me in practice and during games,” Blasier said. “She expects me to run things and be the main leader on the court.” According to Blasier, varsity volleyball has had a positive impact on her undergraduate career and she counts members of the team among her closest friends. “Volleyball has been a huge part of my life at Rice, and it allowed me to make so many great friends,” Blasier said. “To have a close bond with other girls is really awesome.”

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Wednesday, October 1, 2014

the Rice Thresher

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