The Rice Thresher | Wednesday, September 23, 2015

VOLUME 100, ISSUE NO. 5 | STUDENT-RUN SINCE 1916 | RICETHRESHER.ORG | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015

Addressing Unwanted Sexual Experiences

SEXUAL MISCONDUCT SURVEY AT RICE UNIVERSITY

RothGo to the museum!

See Mark Rothko’s work at the Museum of Fine Arts

72.3% of ALL RICE UNDERGRADS & GRADS RESPONDED TO THE SURVEY 26.8% did not wish to participate in the survey 0.2% did not open survey; 0.7% gave consent but inserted no data

see A&E p. 6 RetrOspectiveWeek, Part 2 McMurtry O-Week coords respond to last week’s ops

see Ops p. 5 MOB’s Clipped Wings Big 12 prevents band’s travel to game vs. No. 5 Baylor

see Sports p. 9

Professors reflect on distribution classes

Anita Alem News Editor

According to Rice’s Survey on Unwanted Sexual Experiences, 18.9 percent of female and 4.9 percent of male graduate and undergraduate students have experienced unwanted sexual contact in their time at Rice.

On the survey, conducted in spring 2015, students selected one or more of six nonconsensual behaviors depending on their personal experiences.

Provost Marie Lynn Miranda said the survey is a step toward understanding the dimensions to this issue on Rice’s campus.

“These numbers confirm our belief that we have more work to do,� Miranda said. “The objective here was not just to get more information, [but also] to inform better programs that we need to put into place to make sure that all of our students are safe, protected, happy and prospering on this campus.�

The Results Students could open the survey and choose whether to participate: A total of 72.3 percent of students chose to participate, while 26.8 percent refused. The remaining students either did not open the survey or gave consent but did not enter any data.

7.4% 24.2% UNDERGRADS UNDERGRADS

Andrew Ligeralde Assistant News Editor

Any Rice undergraduate who has sought academic advice from other students will more likely than not have heard the words “easy distribution credit.� It should come as no surprise that positively skewed grade distributions, light work loads and generous course reviews are tantalizing features to students looking to knock out graduation requirements.

From the student’s point of view, it is entirely clear why taking a low effort “blow o â€? instead of a more demanding course is a desirable, even strategic option.

But for the professors teaching distribution courses, the process is anything but low eort.

Peer over the sea of heads in Herring Hall’s auditorium during one of Jeery Kripal’s lectures, and you will be hard-pressed to find a student with an open laptop or cellphone. “I decided to ban technology from the classroom,â€? Kripal, who teaches Introduction to the Study of Religion (RELI 101), said. “I’ve seen students on Facebook or YouTube or shopping for whatever.â€?

Kripal prohibited laptops and cellphones four years ago to combat what he calls student apathy. “I am very aware that the majority of students in [my] class really don’t care,� Kripal said. “It’s very dispiriting.�

At a current enrollment of 196 students, RELI 101 is one of the university’s most popular undergraduate courses. Oered every fall, the course features a lecture format in which the final grade is based on 10 reading quizzes and two multiple choice examinations. Last year, more than 80 percent of students who took the course finished with an A. Upon successful completion of RELI 101, students receive three hours of humanities (D1) distribution credit. “The requirements are not onerous,â€? Kripal said. “There’s no paper ‌ So they take it as a class that they think will be easy.â€?

0see CREDITS, page 3

2.0%

7.4%

The data was directly sent to the National Opinion Research Council, an independent institution at the University of Chicago. NORC has yet to provide qualitative results from sections in which students provided more information on their experiences. “It was important to us to use a third-party data analyst so there was someone external and purely objective looking at our data,� Miranda said.

In fall 2014, the federal government recommended that universities complete climate surveys before the end of 2015 as part of a report regarding sexual assault on college campuses. However,

according to Dean of Undergraduates John Hutchinson, Rice took this step of its own accord.

Of those providing responses, 35.9 percent overall indicated they had no experience with unwanted sexual experiences. Among responding undergraduates, 24.2 percent of females and 7.4 percent of males had unwanted sexual experiences at Rice.

Among responding graduate students, these numbers were 7.2 percent of females and 2.0 percent respectively. Out of the total student population, 5.0 percent of females and 1.1 percent of males experienced penetrative sexual assault.

0see SURVEY, page 2

ON AT LEAST ONE OCCASION, SOMEONE ... kissed me touched, fondled or rubbed against my private areas removed some of my clothes put a penis or inserted fingers/objects into my vagina/anus performed oral sex on me or made me give them oral sex put my penis/fingers or objects in their vagina/anus

GRADS GRADS reported unwanted sexual contact

... WITHOUT MY CONSENT�

% of undergrads who have experienced completed acts of the following sexual misconduct:

21.0% 6.2%

touching, fondling or rubbing against private areas

3.0% 0.8%

forced oral sex

5.6% 0.3%

anal/vaginal penetration design by justin park

Student behavior can help reduce servery food waste, says Housing and Dining Hannah Che

Thresher Staff

The six serveries at Rice are among the most frequented places on campus, yet most students are unaware of what takes place behind the scenes in order to produce and serve roughly 1.3 million meals per school year.

One factor that plays a significant role in all the serveries’ decisions is sustainability, according to Housing and Dining Senior Business Director David McDonald. McDonald said a key part of being sustainable is finding ways to reduce food waste.

According to McDonald, food waste can be broken into two categories: pre-consumer and post-

consumer. The former involves the production of food in the kitchen before it goes to the line. “There are a couple ways to reduce pre-consumer food waste, the easiest of which is to buy food that’s already pre-made, which we don’t do, since 90 percent of our food is made from scratch,� McDonald said. “The other way is to have excellent chefs.�

McDonald explained that the serveries are run by 15 American Culinary Federation certified chefs, who are equipped with the knowledge and experience to prepare raw ingredients with minimal waste. “This level of expertise in the kitchen is one of the main reasons, if not the best reason, that we have very little pre-consumer waste in

the kitchen,� McDonald said.

Richard Johnson, director of the Rice Administrative Center for Sustainability and Energy Management, said employing high-quality chefs is essential. “This is not your traditional school cafeteria ‘reheat’ staff who are making minimum wage,� Johnson said. “These are knowledgeable workers. They know how to cut pineapple to minimize waste, how to utilize whole plants for multiple dishes and how to transform trimmings into fruit slushies and soup stock. Our chefs literally try to find a use for everything, and that’s the culture that is emphasized here.�

Another method of reducing preconsumer food waste is found in the 0see SERVERIES, page 4

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NEWS

0SURVEY FROM PAGE 1 Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Seiichi Matsuda said information on graduate students’ experience with sexual assault is harder to understand, since some incidences of sexual assault may not take place in the Rice environment.

Director of Sexual Assault Prevention Allison Vogt said this is the first year graduate students have had consent and Title IX support information as a part of orientation and had the information included within their handbook. Associate Vice Provost Matthew Taylor said the graduate students also undergo an online sexual harassment prevention training.

“It’s a more complicated challenge to figure out what we need to do to ensure graduate students’ health and well-being,” Miranda said. “But the fact that it is complicated doesn’t deter us.”

Hutchinson said in the future, longitudinal studies must be conducted following groups of students to better evaluate educational programs and learn about students’ experiences.

According to Vogt, it is difficult to determine the rate of reporting or underreporting of sexual assault from these numbers because of the many different paths of reporting and prosecuting.

Chief of Police Johnny Whitehead said the university releases the number of forcible sex offenses reported to Rice University Police Department each year, as required by the federal Clery Act. Whitehead said in the last year, RUPD received 11 such reports on campus; the number

the Rice Thresher was two per year for the three previous years.

However, Whitehead said he sees the jump as a sign that recent initiatives like Project SAFE have increased the number of reporting students.

“There’s more awareness, more training,” Whitehead said. “I see more reporting as a positive, because people are more comfortable, more willing to come forward and report.”

Whitehead said it is important to note that this statistic does not take into account the disciplinary outcome of the complaint, or complaints directed to Wellbeing, Student Judicial Programs or other campus resources without notification of RUPD. The number of reports is not released by these other resources on campus.

Vogt said many survivors may not report incidences of sexual assault.

“People who experience these behaviors underreport ... because they are afraid,” Vogt said. “Afraid that they will be shamed, that they will be judged, that they will be asked questions about what they did in order to cause this to happen.”

Combating Sexual Assault Vogt said she and Title IX Resource Navigator Kate Hildebrandt recruited interested undergraduate and graduate students for a group that has named themselves STRIVE: Students Transforming Rice Into a Violence-Free Environment.

According to Vogt, the group works with different organizations such as the Women’s Resource Center, Queer Resource Center, Rice Health Advisors and residential college Chief Justices. The group is looking for volunteers including faculty and staff. “[STRIVE] is part of our overall coordinated community response to have our students really

help us,” Vogt said. “Without students, we’re really not able to do much. They will be providing us with a way into college life and the university to tell us what the culture is and how to change it to make it a violence-free environment.”

Sam Love, co-director of the Women’s Resource Center, said students find it hard to accept that their peers are perpetrators or victims of sexual assault. Love said Rice should focus on preventative programs rather than the aftermath of sexual assault.

“I hope that the release of the survey results acts as a catalyst for critical discussion and the creation of impactful initiatives and programs that educate students on consent and sexual assault, prevent sexual assault, and provide support and justice for victims,” Love said.

The WRC will be holding an event for students to discuss the results on Wednesday evening.

Vogt said representatives from the Wellbeing Center will visit college masters and resident associates to discuss healthy relationships, including breakups and long-distance relationships.

Faculty and staff are being educated about sexual violence prevention and responses to students who disclose experiences to them through Project Community Awareness and Response Education, or Project CARE. Much of the faculty and staff has also already undergone mandatory Title IX education in addition to this, and ongoing sessions for training are held every other week.

Hutchinson said future surveys will be longitudinal and may alter survey questions in order to obtain the most useful results to improve programs.

Matsuda said future surveys for graduate students could be significantly more useful if they

wednesday, September 23, 2015 determined whether experiences occurred at Rice or off campus.

“This [survey] forms a baseline for us,” Hutchinson said. “We would have loved to have a baseline that was five years ago. We would have loved to have a baseline that was two years ago.

How we conduct future surveys depends on [the question of] what more we need to learn to help us address these problems.”

Peer Institutions A different climate survey conducted across 27 campuses by the Association of American Universities was released on Monday, Sept. 21. This survey found that 27.2 percent of female college seniors reported experiencing unwanted sexual contact. A total of 150,000 students responded.

Miranda said Rice’s results come down to making Rice better, regardless of national statistics.

“We’re not interested in making a comparison between Rice and other institutions,” Miranda said. “We’re interested in making a comparison between who Rice is now and who we want Rice to be.”

Deputy Title IX Coordinator Don Ostdiek said Rice made a decision not to treat sexual assault as a compliance and regulatory issue, unlike many other universities.

“This is a human, public health issue and instead of investing money in lawyers and legal issues, we invest it in [well-being programs],” Ostdiek said. “Instead of talking about dry definitions, we’re going to talk about sex — not just scare tactics, but how [to] have healthy sexual relationships. Let’s help people who are victims and survivors and help people have healthy, good relationships.”

wednesday, September 23, 2015

Mayoral candidates discuss health policy Hannah Todd Thresher Staff

Houston is in the midst of an obesity epidemic, and it is time for the Houston government to respond with solutions, according to Lan Bentsen, founder and president of Shape Up Houston.

Shape Up Houston collaborated with the Rice University Kinder Institute for Urban Research to host the Houston Mayoral Candidate Forum on Urban Health and Wellness on Sept.

17. The mayoral candidates present were Chris Bell, Steve Costello, Adrian Garcia, Bill King, Marty McVey and Sylvester Turner.

Jonathan Lack, the founder and president of health website Wellnicity, moderated the forum. In his introduction to the forum, Lack shed light on the power that the candidates have to change public health in Houston for the better.

“As a businessman, a father and a concerned Houstonian, I feel that it is critical that our next mayor makes Houston a healthy place for those of us living here,” Lack said.

The candidates all agreed that, if elected, they would collaborate with the Texas Medical Center and other groups, such as health-based nonprofit organizations, during their first 100 days in office to determine how leadership could impact public policy to encourage health.

However, not all the candidates were ready to implement a vending machine policy that would replace unhealthy products and terminate contracts with noncompliant vendors.

McVey said he is in favor of managing vending machine content, but wants it to be a collaborative decision.

“Obviously, [my answer] is going to be yes,” McVey said. “However, when we make the selections, I hope there is a lot of input on what the ‘healthy’ products are.”

King also did not endorse the policy.

“It would be somewhat of a challenge to decide what is healthy and what is unhealthy,” King said. “Choices should be available.”

None of the candidates supported passing an ordinance requiring beverage advertisers to state that drinking sugary beverages contributes to diabetes, obesity and tooth decay.

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However, Turner and Bell were open to further conversation and Costello saw this as a national issue. Garcia said he thinks this could potentially be too big of a step for Houston at the moment.

“I like the idea [of a sugary beverage warning label],” Garcia said. “I don’t think Houston is there yet, though.”

On the subject of workplace wellness, McVey referenced his vision for a comprehensive plan for the city of Houston.

“We need to have good streets, a great police force, great trails,” McVey said. “This includes healthy people because a healthy workforce is productive and happy. It is a really holistic plan to be a welcoming and opening city, to offer opportunities to other parts of the world as to why they should relocate here.”

Turner said he sees individual responsibility for personal behavior as essential to maintaining health, but this requires more quality stores and community gardens in neighborhoods to serve as sources for healthy diets.

“Give people meaningful choices,” Turner said. “Don’t tell people to eat healthy when they are living in food deserts. To tell people to make choices without access, making minimum wage and working very hard, it is not fair.”

Bell has envisioned building 200 miles of sidewalk during his first term, an increase from the current annual construction of 76 miles. By making Houston more walkable by providing more sidewalks, fitness becomes easier to integrate into Houstonians’ daily routines.

“Walkability is a huge issue,” Bell said.

“When you talk about fitness, there is no simpler option than that.”

Caroline Krawczyk, a Duncan College sophomore who attended the forum, said she saw the candidates’ manner of handling the issues of urban health and wellness as more indirect than she expected.

“I learned that at the city level, the approach to health and wellness is about creating options more than anything,” Krawczyk said. “For example, the candidates advocate for building sidewalks and parks so people can get healthy if they chose, but they do not propose concrete wellness goals for Houston for the future.”

tiffany yip/thresher

Mayoral hopefuls Marty McVey and Sylvester Turner shared their stances on urban health and wellness in a forum featuring four other candidates. The event was co-hosted by Shape Up Houston and the Kinder Institute for Urban Research.

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SA to lead campus dialogue on concealed carry law Isaac Schultz SA Beat Writer

A conversation regarding gun laws has begun in Rice’s Student Association in light of Senate Bill 11, which the Texas Legislature passed in early June.

The bill states that concealed carry of firearms will be legalized on all public and private university campuses statewide beginning in August 2016. While public universities cannot reject S.B. 11’s stipulations, private universities including Rice have until the summer of 2016 to opt out.

Rice’s firearm policy, which was most recently updated in 1996, prohibits the possession of concealed weapons and firearms on campus. Until now, the issue has not been revisited.

Rice University Vice President and General Counsel Richard Zansitis spoke at the SA Senate meeting Sept. 16 to discuss the changes in how firearms are treated on college campuses. Zansitis said the university must follow a consultation

0CREDITS FROM PAGE 1 Minh Nguyen, a chemical engineering major who took RELI 101 last year, said the course provided a break from her more demanding major requirements.

“I needed a D1,” Nguyen, a Jones College sophomore, said. “And I heard it was easy. You read, you get a basic comprehension, and that was it. And I wouldn’t have to put in much effort to getting a good grade.”

But according to Kripal, he is not striving for course difficulty.

“I made a conscious decision to keep it big,” Kripal said. “If you can get 200 to 250 young people ... to read serious discussion about what religion is or isn’t, some of them will be moved by that, and their minds will open. They’ll be changed by that experience.”

According to Kripal, while this process can be frustrating, he believes it is the best way to get students interested in his field.

“Lecturing in RELI 101, the image that always comes to my mind is throwing a Kleenex off the Grand Canyon,” Kripal said. “And yet, every time we teach that course, we get half a dozen majors out of it each time. We teach it big to plant as many intellectual seeds as we can.”

On the other end of the pedagogical spectrum lies Greek Civilization and Legacy (HUMA 107), taught by Harvey Yunis. Like Kripal, Yunis has taken measures to keep his students interested in the material. However, Yunis’ teaching style differs from Kripal’s in virtually every way.

“I refuse to look at passive students and lecture at them,” Yunis said. “Students who are being lectured at sometimes fall asleep — literally ... The only way at my disposal to get students interested is through serious and direct engagement.”

Yunis’ class, also a D1, features a discussionbased approach, in which 50 percent of the grade is based on classroom attendance, preparation and participation. Around 20 percent of students who took the course received an A in fall 2013.

“Students who do not show up, are not prepared and do not participate in class discussions on a regular basis are, naturally, liable to fail the course,” Yunis said.

procedure before opting out.

“We must demonstrate clear and documented discussion and consultation,” SA President Jazz Silva said. “The SA has decided to create a working group to gauge student opinion.”

A working group including the Vice President of Administration Kevin Kirby and Dean of Undergraduates John Hutchinson will begin the discussion with the Rice population, Zansitis said.

They will work with the SA to hear from the undergraduate population, the Graduate Student Association, the Rice Faculty Senate and the Staff Advisory Committee, according to Zansitis.

The SA Senate will vote on legislation to create the working group this Wednesday, according to Silva, a Sid Richardson College senior. She said she will appoint members of the working group.

According to Zansitis, the committee will also hold conversations with residential college presidents and the masters of each college.

Then, it will present the information gathered to President David Leebron.

Yunis said he does not consider his course to be particularly difficult, but HUMA 107 does not draw nearly as many students as RELI 101. Currently, five students are enrolled in the class, a figure that falls significantly short of the 40 student maximum.

According to Yunis, the level of apathy toward coursework among students is regrettable. However, he said the problem does not lie in the distribution system itself.

“It is just a fact of academic life that some students will fulfill the requirement while blowing off courses,” Yunis said.

Yunis said Rice undergraduates should value the opportunities to learn distribution offers.

“The student’s purpose here is not merely to pass the courses,” Yunis said. “If you’re just at Rice to acquire a kind of qualification stamp, you’re not using Rice properly.”

Kripal and Yunis face opposite problems — one with engagement, and one with retention — but share the same goal of inspiring students with their subject. According to Kripal, neither pedagogical approach is necessarily better to than the other.

“I’m not a weed-out kind of guy,” Kripal said.

“I’m a reach-as-many-people-as-I-can kind of guy.”

Yunis said he tries to engage students but knows he does not control their behavior.

“Students are busy, have other majors, have their lives to live,” Yunis said. “If they are unwilling to buy into the way I teach my Greek [Civilization] course, that’s no problem. There are other courses they can take to meet the requirement.”

According to Kripal, pedagogy can do only so much to address the larger cultural forces that are responsible for widespread apathy.

“I think the apathy is not a Rice problem, it’s a cultural problem,” Kripal said. “The role of the arts and literature and philosophy and religion — those are not rewarded financially or professionally the way technology is. And those are choices our culture has made. I don’t blame the administration or the faculty or the students. We’re all swimming in the same sea.”

Both Kripal and Yunis said despite cultural apathy, they believe the humanities should thrive at Rice.

“We can be entirely different human beings if we chose,” Kripal said. “Those are cultural and social choices. I couldn’t do what I do if I didn’t believe that.”

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NEWS

wednesday, September 23, 2015

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New club to sell Rice students, faculty join Houston unused produce, activists for Black Lives Matter event reduce food waste Elana Margosis

Amber Tong

For the Thresher

Professor of religious studies Anthony Pinn spoke to community members, including several Rice students, as a panelist at a Black Lives Matter event hosted by the Houston chapter of the movement. The event, entitled #BLMHTX, took place at St. John’s United Methodist Church on Friday night and featured an art exhibit, artist talks and a panel discussion with artists, religious leaders, activists and academics.

The panel covered topics including the intersections of art and activism, the role of the black church and the different forms of that oppression affect black Americans. Panelists and audience members called attention to police brutality, violence against black women, and the murder of black transgender women. Pinn criticized the mass incarceration of black Americans.

“Although slavery is over, it is still happening,” Pinn said. “They just replaced plantations with prisons.”

In addition to Pinn, the panel featured Houston-based artists Robert Hodge and Lovie Olivia, St. John’s pastors Rudy and Juanita Rasmus and Black Lives Matter activist X’ene Sky. Activist and Senior Editor of media company Mic Darnell Moore moderated the event.

During the artist talk, Hodge advised the audience to use their individual talents and skill sets in their activism.

“Your voice is necessary and needed,” Hodge said. “You are the missing voice. Make that work, make that song, do that poem. That’s your activism right there.”

Imani Butler, a Jones College junior who atteded the event, said she connected with the idea of being active in a movement in personal ways.

Butler said she has researched the movement for over a year and recently chose to put her research

0SERVERIES FROM PAGE 1 batch-style cooking process, according to McDonald. Food is par-cooked in batches and prepared without its finished sauce, which is added only when it gets put on the line. The batch-cooking process reduces waste by providing an intermediary stage where unfinished products are stored and can be reutilized; McDonald said once food has been served, it must be discarded to comply with the health code.

“Once food has been served, we cannot pull it back and reutilize anything. This is when it potentially becomes the most wasteful, as any unused food must be discarded due to health code reasons,” McDonald explained.

“Take grilled chicken breast as an example,” McDonald said. “As long as I don’t put the chicken out on the line and sauce it, we can reuse the ingredient. It becomes tacos, chicken noodle soup, enchiladas — you name it.”

McDonald said another way to reduce preconsumer food waste is by consolidating serving lines. Toward the close of the meal service, as the count of students entering the servery decreases, larger serveries will reduce identical serving lines down to one.

“Rather than maintaining three pans of the same food, we consolidate down to one pan in one serving area,” McDonald said. “This way the odds of having less food waste go up tremendously.”

Portion control is also fundamental to reducing waste, according to Susann Glenn, manager of communications for Housing and Dining.

“By reducing portion sizes, and even having different-sized portions available in one pan, we can help students as they’re building their plates,” Glenn said. “Smaller portions then lead to less waste on the post-consumer side.”

Assistant News Editor

photo courtesy izmail glosson

Rice University professor of religious studies Anthony Pinn and artist Lovie Olivia address the crowd at St. John’s United Methodist Church. They served on a panel to discuss the direction of the Black Lives Matter movement with members of the Houston community. into action. She led a discussion on the Black Lives Matter movement at St. Paul’s last weekend.

“I liked how [the artists] said no matter what your skill set is, there is a way to contribute to the movement,” Butler said. “I was trying to find a way to get the movement going towards the church.”

Blaque Robinson, a Wiess College senior, and Chavonte Wright, a Martel College senior, both attended the event. They said they plan to host a conference for Rice and the Houston community in the spring called Reimagining Blackness: Channeling Passion into Action. The two said #BLMHTX motivated them to rework their conference’s objectives.

“It inspired us to cater not only to Rice, but to Houston because we saw that Houston is aching for

[open dialogue],” Robinson said.

Robinson hopes to provide a safe space where differences can be discussed.

“My goal and intent is to make spaces for students who feel they need to outwardly express emotions and feelings about issues facing black people,” Robinson said. “This upcoming conference will ... disrupt typical Rice discourses that say that talking about difference is unacceptable.”

The #BlackLivesMatter hashtag began in 2013 when activists began tweeting after George Zimmerman was acquitted of murdering Trayvon Martin. The movement has grown offline to include chapters around the world, including the Houston group that held Friday’s event.

According to McDonald, kitchen equipment plays an important role. All the serveries are equipped with combination ovens with humidity regulators that allow chefs to simultaneously steam and bake food.

“Anytime you bake something, it loses its moisture about 10 to 20 percent, which reduces the portion size,” McDonald said. “By adding steam in certain proportions with combi ovens, our chefs are able to reduce the amount of volume loss when they prepare food, and they’re also able to reheat foods like chicken breasts for future use without sacrificing moisture.”

McDonald said both combi ovens and blast chillers, which aid in storing food for future use, make reconstituting ingredients possible.

“The technology used in the serveries plays an important role in eliminating food shrinkage and facilitating ingredient reuse,” McDonald said. “As a result we have achieved an almost waste-free pre-consumer environment.”

Initiatives have been taken to reduce post-consumer waste as well. According to Johnson, a trayless initiative reduced the amount of food wasted by students by 30 percent. Students enrolled in Environmental Issues: Rice Into the Future (ENST 302/SOCI 304) developed the initiative seven years ago, and it was passed in 2009 with support from the Student Association. Johnson said eliminating trays had benefits beyond student food waste.

“The realization that we didn’t have to purchase and cook the same amount of food in order to meet the same appetite reduced pre-consumer production by 11 percent, and by eliminating the need to wash extra plates and trays we also saved on water, electricity, cleaning chemicals and labor costs,” Johnson said.

Sustainability should be an ongoing conversation, Johnson said. Initiatives are currently in progress with students enrolled in the same course this fall to measure food waste in the servery and find ways for further improvement.

“We’re continually looking for ways to improve in the kitchen,” McDonald said. “But students themselves can play a significant role in reducing post-consumer waste as well.”

Travis Kwee, a Baker College sophomore, said the effects of food waste often go unrecognized by students.

“The trayless meal system is a fantastic idea,” Kwee said. “But the amount of food we waste at Rice is still high.”

According to Kwee, Rice’s buffet-style meals contribute to the food waste problem.

“It’s way too easy for students to approach each meal by taking copious amounts of anything that looks interesting, and scraping whatever they don’t eat into the trash,” Kwee said. “The perception is the extra food is either a ‘free’ or sunk cost.”

As leader of the Food and Energy Waste committee of the Rice Environmental Club, Kwee said the committee’s mission is to find effective ways to connect with people and inform them about the effects of wasting extra food so they can make small, easy changes to their lifestyle.

“We’re working on increasing awareness through food waste reduction campaigns, competitions in the serveries, presentations at college government meetings and gathering and posting real-time statistics on food, water and energy consumption online,” Kwee said.

McDonald’s message to students was similar.

“Student behavior directly affects pre-consumer waste,” McDonald said. “If you are taking less food on the plate, that means we are producing less food in the kitchen.”

With this in mind, McDonald advised students to be cognizant of the amount of food they take at meals.

“We get the idea that students want to experiment with food, and we’re okay with that,” McDonald said. “But you can always take smaller portions and then come back for seconds. Take what you want, but eat what you take.”

When the Rice Community Growers first came together after their community garden class, they had a simple mission in mind: create a small operation that supplies locally grown produce to the community on one end and generates profit for Rice gardens on the other.

The club plans to work around the concept of “subscribers” who will pay for produce harvested from the Rice community gardens biweekly, according to co-founder Andy Miller.

Anyone can be a subscriber: Rice students, faculty, staff and Houston community members.

While the initial operation, which is launching in three weeks, will be small, Miller said he sees the potential of developing.

“We’re pretty limited right now in terms of the space; we’re really hoping to expand pretty soon,” Miller, a Jones College senior, said.

“Right now we probably will not have too many subscribers but it’s the idea that we are trying to get started this year and have it grow.”

The subscribers will help financially support the development of community gardening, according to Ellen Diemert, another founder. “[The proceeds will] go back towards the club to plant more seeds,” Diemert, a Lovett College junior, said.

The club is inspired by Joseph Novak’s Community Garden course (EBIO 204) on the design and practice of community agriculture, according to Miller.

“The inspiration was to have a club that could [use] the produce that was grown really well in Dr. Novak’s class,” Miller said.

Emma Livingston, who has also taken Novak’s course, said Rice Community Growers solves a major issue that arose in the class: food waste.

The club founders are also looking into side projects that align with their goals of eliminating waste and promoting community agriculture, according to Jones junior Zoe Oldham. Oldham said she has been working closely with Housing and Dining to bring composting to Rice.

“We are hoping to put bins in the kitchens so that when there is food waste [or] vegetable waste ... we’d put them in the bin and then we would use it for our compost,” Oldham said.

Acknowledging that this is not Rice students’ first attempt at composting, Oldham nevertheless said the current project has a greater chance of succeeding than its predecessors.

“A lot of different groups have started trying to compost on campus,” Oldham said. “[But] we’re starting smaller scale than others have.”

The club also coordinates volunteers from and outside of Rice to maximize usage of the land, according to Diemert.

“We are also working with the Wiess Garden that’s not being used by the class,” Diemert said. “Even people from the community can come in and help us garden at specific times.”

The ultimate goal of the club is to help people enjoy growing and eating fresh produce, George Han, another club founder, said.

“Gardening is both a relaxing and rewarding exercise, and there’s few things as satisfying as eating fresh, wholesome produce,” Han, a Sid Richardson College junior, said. “We want to share that.”

Han said the club avoids talking about official positions to encourage new members to step up with their initiatives.

“The idea is that anyone can join in any capacity they want and take on as many responsibilities as they can,” Han said. “So we’re all ‘leaders’ of the club.”

Students interested in the club can contact ricecommunitygrowers@gmail.com or meet at the Wiess gardens at 10 a.m. on Mondays.

5

RetrOspective-Week continues: More gratitude than grievances

Sexual misconduct survey results call for action On Monday, the Survey of Unwanted Sexual Experiences results were released (see “Sexual Misconduct,” pg. 1), providing the first concrete quantitative insight into this campus-wide issue. The Thresher concurs with the statement President Leebron released in his email to Rice: These numbers are completely unacceptable.

The administration has shown dedication to improving educational programs and addressing sexual misconduct from a collaborative viewpoint. The Thresher commends the Office of Sexual Violence Prevention and Title IX Support for creating the student group STRIVE long before survey results were even released.

Additionally, programs addressing sexual misconduct bridge gaps in students’ education while serving as preventative measures. However, the fact that 24.2 percent of female undergraduate survey respondents experience anything from nonconsensual touching to rape is clear evidence that our campus is still not safe.

Unfortunately, there is little administration can do without knowing students’ personal experiences and the culture surrounding sexual misconduct on campus. Although qualitative results from the SUSE may not necessarily be appropriate for release to the public, it is essential that administration access them and study these results carefully. It is also important for administration to collect data from all nonconfidential sources on the reporting rate of sexual misconduct at Rice and explore the reasons students may choose not to report.

This is an opportunity for students to come forward with the changes they would like to see. First, it is important to affirm that this issue is relevant to everyone. With the creation of STRIVE, students can share their input, not just through official channels like the Wellbeing Center, but with peers as well. These peers then pass these opinions to administration while maintaining confidence. It is time to examine Rice’s culture with an unforgiving eye. This could range from considering the potential for a toxic social environment within the residential college system to questioning the complacency engendered by metrics such as “Best Quality of Life” or “Happiest Students.”

The SUSE results demonstrate that sexual misconduct at Rice cannot be treated as the victim’s problem or the perpetrator’s problem: Sexual misconduct is our entire community’s problem and our entire community must develop a solution. Whether you know it or not, you are almost certainly friends with students who have experienced unwanted, nonconsensual sexual conduct in their time at Rice, and you have a responsibility to prevent them from becoming faceless.

Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Thresher editorial staff. All other opinion pieces represent solely the opinion of the piece’s author.

Errata In the Sept. 16 issue of the Thresher, the article “Mayoral candidates present platform” incorrectly states date of the local election as Nov. 13. Election day is Nov. 3.

Editorial Staff Andrew Ta* Editor in Chief Yasna Haghdoost* Managing Editor Miles Kruppa* Senior Editor news Anita Alem* Editor Drew Keller* Editor Andrew Ligeralde Asst. Editor Amber Tong Asst. Editor Justin Park Designer

The 2015 McMurtry College coordinating team responds to last week’s op-eds penned by their fellow coordinators.

After reading last week’s articles from other Orientation Week 2015 coordinators, we hope to share another perspective of coordinating in order to provide the student body with an alternate opinion of the experience.

Ultimately, we think this article will help provide a more comprehensive and multifaceted understanding of coordinating. As the 2015 McMurtry O-Week coordinators, we had an overwhelmingly positive experience and learned a lot from the position.

We understood our role not as a voice for current students but as an advocate for the interests of the incoming class. The most obvious controversial instance of this was the removal of Cheer Battle. Despite our varying personal views, we knew the event made a significant number of students uncomfortable each year, and that it did not make or break anyone’s OWeek experience. Several Murts who applied to advise this year made it clear in their applications and interviews that Cheer Battle was, in fact, their least favorite part of O-Week. We acknowledge the removal was an administrative decision not to be left unchallenged, but for us, the pros of removing the event greatly outweighed the cons. Once we had developed our vision for McMurtry’s O-Week — one of

support and inclusion — we realized Cheer Battle did not fit our vision anyway.

Our vision for supporting new students also played a key role in how we conceptualized, planned and executed our O-Week events. We had complete control over 16 events for 160 people over the course of six days, and that was plenty. We carefully considered the meaning behind each event and how it would contribute to new students’ success at Rice. We understood we didn’t have the power to change large campus-wide events (e.g., matriculation and Rice Rally), nor did we want such an immense responsibility. Still, in the case of RICE Groups, we enacted sweeping structural changes: The number of colleges in a RICE Group was decreased, and we decided to include more structured activities (e.g., trivia, “Minute to Win It” games) during the first RICE Group event. In this instance, our influence as coordinators was undeniable. We had the power to create events that both fit our vision for O-Week and addressed the needs of new students. Yes, we planned events, but we weren’t just event planners.

O-Week wasn’t — and can’t be — perfect.

This job is hard. It won’t pad your resume or make you rich, and that’s how it should be.

The people you want as your college’s O-Week coordinators are the people who would volunteer to do it. Still, we wouldn’t have turned down a full meal plan in addition to our free housing. To enjoy this job, we had to find self-satisfaction and small gestures of appreciation, and that led us to fall in love with McMurtry all over again. Demonstrations of support were not always obvious, but when we looked hard enough, they were there. Being coordinators was one of the hardest things each of us has ever done, but it was also one of the greatest.

Makenzie Drukker, Seth Berggren and Leah Topper are McMurtry College

juniors and senior

Service as a habit, not an extracurricular As Rice students, we are repeatedly reminded of the degree to which the university serves the local community. And for the most part, we embrace that reputation happily enough. The barrage of notices about service opportunities and large number of students who volunteer in some form conveniently provide an illusion that perhaps we do all care for those we perceive as disadvantaged and disenfranchised.

As a chair of the Rice Student Volunteer Program, I interact with many students who treat civic engagement as more of an extracurricular activity than a central aspect of the Rice experience; they punch in and out for the two hours they allot to volunteering every week and give it no consideration in the interim. At worst, civic engagement is used merely to bolster a CV. But it can be a much more integral part of our lives irrespective of what we study and what interests us, whether it be music ensembles, drama troupes, sports teams or heritage organizations. Yet why should it?

Civic engagement, in my experience, gives us a more accurate grasp of reality, and presents us opportunities to more comprehensively fathom how social issues we otherwise only learn about from our courses and the media impact human lives. Contrasting with the popular but flawed notion that civic engagement exists to allocate resources from the privileged to the underprivileged, the true spirit of civic engagement is a desire to meaningfully connect with needy individuals in our community.

It should be an exercise of our empathy and compassion to actively improve the lives of those around us, practiced as a way of life, of

opinions Mitch Mackowiak* Editor sports Maddy Adams Editor Evan Neustater Editor Sarah Nyquist Designer art Carrie Jiang Director Jake Nyquist Photo Editor Jessica Kelly Asst. Photo Editor arts & entertainment Kaylen Strench Editor Walden Pemantle Editor Samantha Ding Designer

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seeing and feeling the world, and not as a diversion punctuating our day-to-day academic routine. “Making the world a better place” may appear a vapid banality, but its underlying tenets of solicitude and charity, honed through civic engagement, should infuse our campus ethos and become unconscious instincts informing our thoughts, decisions and actions.

Civic engagement can be just as satisfying as conquering a demanding physical chemistry exam, or as fulfilling as completing a rigorous paper on the themes in “Ulysses.” It promotes a true sense of pride more enduring than an A in calculus provides, and an awareness of responsibility more substantial than being president of a student group produces.

We discover we can make a difference, and this realization fosters tremendous self-confidence and self-efficacy that easily spreads to other facets of our lives. Civic engagement is thus a greatly reciprocal venture: Rice and its students are threads in the larger fabric of the Houston community, and the relationships we form with those we work with both nourish our personal growth and sustain positive changes in this community.

I’m not claiming civic engagement is some kind of duty — in fact, the exact opposite is true — or that we are somehow morally inferior if we don’t volunteer. Even so, it is lamentable how many individuals I know who chose to forgo civic engagement and later looked back wistfully, conscious of having had and lost some magnificent inner capacity for “making the world a better place.”

The four years we spend at college are the best time to cultivate a habit of service, for we

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.

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.

are given numerous opportunities to perform a surfeit of service activities spanning all varieties of civic engagement. For example, the Center for Civic Leadership is dedicated to challenging students’ leadership abilities through civic engagement with established community partners, while the Rice Student Volunteer Program now accepts student proposals to sponsor innovative civic outreach initiatives.

Many of us are volunteering. But we can do better. We should do better. It’s not enough to participate in civic engagement; we should be living a civically engaged life. All this can be initiated by embracing civic engagement as a core component of our education. This is the foundation upon which we can become stewards of the quality of life for ourselves and others. Looking for opportunities to make positive changes and solving problems with our wits and strengths ultimately give us a lasting sense of worth and happiness. Let us reinstitute a Rice education imbued with civic engagement and realize the infinite promises to our worldview this can afford us.

Henry Bair is a Baker College junior

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 Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Thresher editorial staff. All other opinion pieces represent solely the opinion of the piece’s author.

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arts

ENTERTAINMENT

6

Ramen goes gourmet Melody Yip

Thresher staff

jake nyquist/thresher

courtesy museum of fine arts, houston

Left: An advertisement for a new Rothko retrospective at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, that will run until Jan. 20, 2016. The exhibition will feature over 60 pieces spanning the entirety of Rothko’s career. Right: Two Rothko pieces on display at the museum.

An abstraction of being: Seeing Rothko Henry Bair

For the Thresher

Perhaps you’ve heard of the name, or perhaps you recognize those monolithic hazy blocks of color. Mark Rothko has long been considered one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.

An austere earthy-colored painting of his, descriptively titled “Orange, Red, Yellow,” sold for a record price of $86 million in 2012, and remains, to this day, one of the most expensive works of modern art.

This past weekend saw the opening of a retrospective of Rothko at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. According to assistant curator Althea Ruoppo, “[This] is the largest presentation of Rothko’s work seen in the United States since the National Gallery retrospective of 1998.” But how did such simplistic pieces reach such a high status in the art world? What is the point of these abstract compositions? Here is a primer to understanding Rothko.

Rothko, born in 1903 as Markus Rothkowitz, grew up in a Jewish family that emigrated from Dvinsk, Russia, to Portland, Oregon in 1913. The value his family placed on education enabled him to commence his studies at Yale University, yet he dropped out after his sophomore year and moved to New York, where he began painting under the tutelage of Max Weber in the Art Students League; here, Rothkowitz was exposed to modernism and the American avant-garde and befriended Jackson Pollock and others whom the world would later know collectively as the abstract expressionists.

The early works of Rothkowitz were strongly inspired by cubism, fauvism and German expressionism, and featured dynamic brushwork, saturated colors and distorted shapes characterize these paintings. In 1940, he began to use the name Rothko, and early in that decade produced paintings influenced by the surrealists, in particular Joan Miró. Rothko was fascinated with the surrealist concept of mining the subconscious to produce art that was deeply provocative and visceral. His art during this period were full of ideograms and

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

motifs, a testament to his intellectual exploration of religious and mythical symbols, which he felt could reveal obscure and intricate inner truths, a postulation perhaps inculcated in Rothko by the Jungian notion of the “collective unconscious.”

[This exhibit] provides an unrivaled opportunity for Rice students to explore the most compelling works from this most enigmatic and extraordinary of artists.

In June 1943, Rothko, with fellow artists Adolph Gottlieb and Barnett Newman, penned a now-famous letter to the New York Times articulating their artistic beliefs: “We favour the simple expression of the complex thought … There is no such thing as good painting about nothing. We assert that the subject is crucial and only that subject matter is valid which is tragic and timeless.” From then on, Rothko began to move toward abstraction as he, in his words, “pulverized the familiar identity of things.” Ethereal patches of color and chromatic clouds suffused his paintings and swept away discernible relationships of form and structure. As he manipulated its space, volume and lambency, color replaced figure as the subject of the canvas and became a portal for the search of universal truths. By 1950, Rothko’s compositions were constituted of two or three rectangular slabs of color, layered and hovering above one another and filling up enormous ver-

FRINGE FESTIVAL

tical canvases. These would later be recognized as his mature style. The simplicity of these paintings, according to Rothko, allowed him to “[eliminate] ... all obstacles between the painter and the idea, and between the idea and the observer.”

Rothko proclaimed, “I’m not interested in the relationship of color and form or anything else.

I’m interested only in expressing basic human emotions: tragedy, ecstasy, doom and so on.”

This emotional content was conveyed through the tone, depth, contraction and expansion of glowing masses of hue. Viewers experience psychological tension at once disembodied yet absolute, attesting to his work as transcending the physical and becoming a conduit to a higher spiritual plane.

Rothko preferred smaller rooms to museums for exhibitions, such that “the largest pictures … must be first encountered at close quarters, so that the first experience is to be within the picture.” He also insisted that his paintings be hung as close to the floor as possible, unframed, in groups, never together with works by other artists, and in lowlit spaces with off-white walls. 18 inches was, according to him, the ideal viewing distance. When we look at them under these conditions, Rothko’s paintings seem to swell beyond the borders of the canvas, enveloping us.

The MFAH’s retrospective includes more than 60 of Rothko’s works, drawn from his entire career and tracing all of his major artistic developments.

It provides an unrivalled opportunity for Rice students to explore the most compelling works from this most enigmatic and extraordinary of artists.

“Rothko’s works are so important ... because they are timeless and universal,” Ruoppo said.

“Rothko made the viewer his priority; he wanted you to have a personal experience with his paintings. Perhaps his greatest achievement was creating an art that continues to resonate with you.”

Through his art, Rothko wanted us to face the mysterious abyss in our souls and grapple with the indescribable nuances of human tragedy.

The exhibition will be on display at the MFAH until Jan. 24, 2016.

THE VELVETEEN RABBIT

The Houston Fringe Festival returns this week for a five-day “performance feast.” Until Sept.

27, Frenetic Theater, The Barn and Super Happy Fun Land will host a range of performances including dance, original theater and an updated version of Rice’s Speak Up Project.

Looking for a sophisticated performance of a childhood classic?

Opera to Go! is performing an adaptation of Margery Williams’ children’s book, “The Velveteen Rabbit.” The show will run from Sept.

23 - 25 and is free to the public.

Multiple venues freneticore.net

Miller outdoor Theatre Hermann Park milleroutdoortheatre.com

It’s 2 a.m., my eyes are fatigued after staring at hydrocarbon structures for the past 12 hours and my stomach whines in hunger. What rises to the occasion? Beloved Shin ramen.

Nothing is more blissful than the crinkling sound right before the iconic red package bursts open. Ever since it evolved from the traditional East Asian noodle dish to the widely available product sold today, Shin has become quite the collegiate favorite. College students adore Shin because it’s a comfort food staple that is simple, easy and delicious. It consistently delivers quality and quantity.

But what about the newfangled rise of gourmet ramen? Restaurants are popping up all over America and serving a taste of Japan’s famous noodles. Customers can enjoy steaming, large bowls of handcrafted ramen in sleek, vibrant nooks that definitely surpass eating instant Shin in a dingy dorm room. However, classy ramen usually costs around $11 to $12 while a pack of Shin is cheaper than a dollar — yet people are still flocking to these noodle destinations in droves. What makes gourmet ramen so popular?

I recall the very first moment I faced off with a fancy bowl of ramen. It looked stunning, with thin noodles bobbing amid a light pork broth with pork belly, bean sprouts and green onion adorning the top. It was a scrumptious, hearty meal created with plenty of meticulous detail.

Since then, I have scarfed down many more bowls and come to believe that ramen has gained such a delectable reputation because it manages to blend versatility with simplicity.

The dish basically consists of noodles in a soup or broth, which are topped with a couple slices of meat and a sprinkle of vegetables. Yet there are multiple kinds of broths, noodles, meats and toppings, like the infamous soft boiled egg. The possibilities are endless. More components can be added and some can be removed. I’ve been to numerous ramen restaurants and come to expect staring contests with the menu. Will it be spicy miso or low-sodium chicken? Braised pork or seafood?

With the horde of options, ramen manages to cater to every customer’s taste. Gourmet ramen doesn’t just stick to the curly, wavy noodles like Shin does; there are thick noodles, thin noodles and even ones that resemble spaghetti. Noodle style changes from restaurant to restaurant, and many places boast ornate noodle-making machines. There are ramen bars in Japan that serve noodles almost the size of udon while the noodles at Jinya Ramen Bar here in Houston are vermicelli-thin.

Broths, on the other hand, are judged based on their degrees of savoriness and spiciness, hints of dashi (the base for miso) and thickness.

Some ramen spots serve soups with a disconcerting film of oil on top, but Kukai Izakaya in Portland presents a sublime concoction that is tinged with the right amount of salt and tonkotsu richness. To be honest, I always leave a ramen restaurant satisfied even if I do not end up loving that particular place, because certain components of the meal are still stellar if others fall flat.

That’s the beauty of ramen. Since every restaurant’s take on these noodles differs, a wide audience can be reached. Japan may look at ramen as a common staple, like how Americans view hamburgers, but America is catching on to ramen’s marvelous versatility and ability to please many people’s palates. Check out some of Houston’s popular ramen places, such as Tiger Den, Ninja Ramen, Samurai Noodle and the aforementioned Jinya to discover ramen’s deliciousness for yourself.

SLAVIC HERITAGE Get in touch with your Slavic roots this Sunday, Sept. 27 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the 52nd Annual Houston Slavic Heritage Festival. For $5, you can celebrate the history and culture of Slavic peoples through traditional food, dance, music and much more.

Knights of Columbus Council 607 East Whitney houstonslavicheritagefestival.com

OKTOBERFEST HOUSTON 2015 Celebrate the arrival of Fall this Saturday, Sept. 26 at Oktoberfest Houston 2015, running from 12 - 6 p.m. The festival will feature live country and polka music, games and, of course, plenty of beer. Be sure to pre-register online to join in the fun.

Northwest Mall 9500 Hempstead Hwy oktoberfesthouston.com

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

the Rice Thresher

A&E

7

Fall fashion: From denim to dad sweaters Thu Nguyen

For the Thresher

1. Denim denim denim If you haven’t noticed from recent lookbooks and ads, denim is making a huge comeback this fall. While classics like jean jackets and mom jeans have been floating around in mainstream trends for a couple of years now, pieces like overalls and flare, if not bell-bottom, jeans are making statements. I once said flare jeans would make a comeback “over my dead body,” but seeing them on the streets at New York Fashion Week has changed my mind. For example, one can wear high-waisted flare jeans with a ruffle-sleeved, off-the-shoulder crop top, a fringed crossbody bag and Chucks or flatform sandals, or with a ribbed turtleneck and suede boots. Overalls are the easiest to style, as just about any top can work underneath — my favorites are white oxford button-downs, formfitting turtlenecks and old graphic tees. You can go for a classic look with both straps buttoned properly, or more rugged or street with one of the straps unbuttoned and just hanging (then roll up the hems a little, and pair with Chucks or leather ankle boots).

2. Flannel I don’t know about you, but I’ve been wearing flannel since my freshman year of high school.

Maybe it was because my school was popularly known as the “redneck” high school, where everyone owned a farm or ranch, and flannel was the uniform of the fall. Really, though, what else can you wear to go tractor riding besides flannel?

For fall and winter 2015, this warmer version of the linen button-down has become a hit on the runways, layered over tanks and other loosefitting tops, or tied around the waist in the most ironic runway-copies-hipster-Tumblr fashion.

Off the runway, flannel can be worn in more than those two ways. Guys, upgrade your business and business casual with a jewel toned flannel shirt and solid-colored tie under a coordinating suit or chinos (or, if you’re daring, a pair of corduroys). Girls, avoid pairing your denim overalls with your flannel. As comfortable as this combination sounds, friends don’t let friends walk out in public looking like lumberjacks, and you are my friends.

3. We’re bringing camel (and suede) back The color, I mean. What exactly is the color camel like? Well, it’s exactly all the different shades of tannish, lightish, darkish browns that you can think of when you think of the color of camel hair. Just as khaki describes the various shades of lighter tannish browns for the summer, camel is the slightly deeper, more earth toned version for the fall. Find this trending color on trench coats, turtlenecks, bomber jackets, long wool coats and suits. For you hip-hop heads, or followers of Kanye West in general, the combination of the season is a pair of Timberlands and a camel coat. While camel is also a trend in women’s wear, suede can be considered the lady’s counterpart to the men’s camel.

Suede now comes in skirts, overalls, ankle boots and shoulder bags. I strongly suggest a bottle of waterproof spray to go with those suede boots though, given our rainy Houston weather.

4. Wide-legged pants As far as everyday, wearable fashion on a college campus goes, this one might be a stretch for most of you guys and a lot of you gals. Wide-legged pants may seem far-fetched and too “high fashion,” but in reality, they’re super comfortable and aren’t that hard to dress. In fact, the billowy silhouette of the pants is similar to that of a skirt, so you would pair the same things with the pants as you would with a flowy maxi or midi skirt. My two go-to tops are a form fitting turtleneck tucked in or a thick fuzzy sweater untucked. I usually pair both with pointy-toe heels, but these pants definitely go well with the ankle boot trend as well.

5. Chunky knits and all sweaters retro I can already hear all the self-proclaimed hipsters complaining about how they were the first ones to introduce this trend last year. But yes, sweaters are another highlight of the season, especially if they are ribbed or cable-knit.

The fuzzy sweater hasn’t gone away either — it has come back in an oversized form. The most noticeable addition to this year’s sweater trend is the turtleneck. Ditch the blanket-sized scarf for a thick turtleneck sweater and you’ll never

courtesy polyvore

have to worry about chasing after your precious wool ever again. Those scarves have always been too heavy and unmanageable anyway. (Although scarves are still nice to have and I’d never actually ditch them for real — they’re a staple in my closet.) While cable and ribbed knit sweaters are also a thing for guys, another huge thing for menswear this winter is retro patterned sweaters.

Keep yourself from looking too grandpa-like by wearing properly fitted pants hitting right

at or a little past the ankle, and avoid the wiry frames if you can. Throw on a puffer vest (which is also trending this season) or jean jacket to complete the retro look.

New York Fashion Week was last week, and for those of you who don’t know, they showed the spring/summer 2016 collections.

Some trends to look out for this next semester include bucket hats, body suits with widelegged pants, more shirt dresses and sheers.

8 Running back bursts onto scene as freshman Michael Kidd Thresher Staff

With only one carry to his name headed into the Rice University vs. University of Texas game hosted in Austin on Sept. 12, not too many people knew who redshirt freshman running back Sam Stewart was. Following his breakout performance against the Longhorns, Stewart was not only a hot topic on the Rice campus and in the state of Texas, but also in football circles across the nation.

Stewart rushed the ball 25 times for 130 yards and two touchdowns. He also brought in a duo of receptions and had a kick return of 46 yards. By the time the game was over, Stewart single-handedly racked up 193 total yards, an unexpected surprise for a player with virtually no prior game experience. Stewart’s playmaking ability directly led to both scores, and all who were watching took notice. His second touchdown of the night came on a 22-yard pitch play to his left in which Stewart hurdled a Texas defender from the four-yard line to secure the score. The play received a “SportsCenter Top 10” distinction that aired that night and for the remainder of the weekend.

Stewart grew up in Cypress, Texas and began playing football in the third grade. He realized he had a real talent for the sport when he began playing for Cypress Woods High School in 2011. In his time there, Stewart ran for nearly 1,800 yards while racking in 947 receiving yards.

As a versatile running back, receiver and kick returner, Stewart scored a combined 36 touchdowns for his team.

Stewart, Baker College sophomore and an economics major, said he chose to play football at Rice despite receiving offers to play at schools such as Mississippi State University, Duke University and Texas Tech University.

0see Stewart, page 10

Sam Stewart photo courtesy meagan sullivan

Redshirt senior quarterback Driphus Jackson surveys the field during a 38-24 victory over the University of North Texas. Jackson, who had a career-best 373 passing yards, threw for three touchdowns on the afternoon. The Owls are now 2-1 and will next play the No. 5 team in the country, Baylor University.

Football wins conference opener Aniket Tolpadi Thresher Staff

Rice vs. North Texas

38-24

Led by career days from redshirt senior quarterback Driphus Jackson and senior wide receiver Dennis Parks, the Rice football team defeated the University of North Texas, 38-24 in its first Conference USA matchup of the year.

The game had an uneven start for Rice, as their first two drives resulted in a missed field goal and a punt. The punt, however, proved to be the turning point of the game: Redshirt junior linebacker Tabari McGaskey forced a fumble on the punt return, and sophomore linebacker Emmanuel Ellerbee recovered the ball, igniting the Owls’ offense and giving them a first down at the North Texas 18-yard line. Three plays later, Jackson found Parks in the endzone to give Rice a 7-3 lead early in the second quarter. Though the defense allowed a touchdown on the ensuing North Texas possession to give the Mean Green a 10-7 lead, the Owls retook the lead for good by scoring 31 unanswered points over the next 20 minutes of play.

Rice’s methodical, ball-control offensive strategy was on full display as they possessed the ball for 41:50 of the game. Jackson had one of the best statistical games of his career, passing for a career-high 373 passing yards and three touchdowns. Statistically, Parks had by far the best game of his career, as his 162 receiving yards and two touchdowns similarly set career highs.

Junior running back Jowan Davis also had a strong game, eclipsing 100 rushing yards for the fifth time in his career in his return from injury. The difference in the game, however, was likely the turnovers. Rice’s defense and special teams were able to force three turnovers, which led the Owls to 17 points.

Head Coach David Bailiff said he was very satisfied by the victory over a program and coach he deeply respects.

"We knew this was going to be a tough game,” Bailiff said. “Anytime you play a Dan McCarney-coached team you’ve got to earn it, and you’ve got to earn it for four quarters.

We realized that, and even when we got up 28 points you knew they were going to keep playing. That’s what they’ve always done. I am so proud of these guys.”

According to Bailiff and Jackson, Parks’ connection had a substantial impact in settling his team down after the rocky start to the game.

“Dennis [Parks] is a big play guy, he always has been, and I’m really happy with the way he’s played the last two weeks,” Bailiff said. “Driphus [Jackson] all of a sudden got his momentum and started finding him. For whatever reason, when that happened, we relaxed and started playing a good brand of football. That’s what we’re capable of.”

Jackson, who was critical of his own performance in the first two games of the season, said he was pleased with the improvement in his play, but was not totally satisfied.

“I was better this week,” Jackson said.

“There’s always room for improvement. I didn’t complete every pass; I went 29 for 39 today, so I’ll focus this week on the passes I didn’t make. We’ve got a good team, so I look forward to correcting my mistakes and playing a good Baylor [University] team.”

Bailiff recognized the strong offensive output of his team, but he said his team ultimately won due to the turnover margin.

“The difference today was the three turnovers that we were able to turn into 17 points,” Bailiff said. “That is where the separation came.”

Redshirt junior linebacker Alex Lyons elaborated on the defense’s effort, pleased with the turnovers generated by the Owls, but said he is seeking improvement elsewhere.

“Defensively, we did a good job,” Lyons said. “We have a lot of room for improvement.

We limited them to 24 points, and most of them were on really big plays. But still, we did a great job of getting turnovers and it actually proved to be a big emphasis in this game.”

The team’s strong showing against North Texas should help it build momentum prior to playing nationally ranked No. 5 Baylor, who will likely be the Owls’ toughest test of the season. Led by Head Coach Art Briles, the Bears are nationally viewed as a contender to qualify for the College Football Playoff. Baylor is currently ranked No. 1 in the country offensively with 754 yards per game. Additionally, Baylor has the second highest scoring offense in the country, averaging 61 points per game.

According to Bailiff, the team has to enter the Baylor game with confidence and keep Baylor’s offense off the field.

“We have to believe that we can do it and we have to play like we can do it,” Bailiff said. “They are going to throw it down the field. That’s what Baylor does. We’re going to try to do all we can to keep it out of their hands. But, we’re looking forward to it.”

The Owls will look to upset No. 5 Baylor and push their record to 3-1 on Sept. 26 at 2 p.m. in Waco, Texas.

Redshirt Freshman Cypress Woods High School Running back

Rice Career

Three games played 199 yards rushing Three touchdowns 5.2 yards per carry

Volleyball falls in Baylor Classic championship Romil Patel

For the Thresher

Coming off a win against Stephen F. Austin State University in the semifinals of the Baylor Classic Tournament, the Rice volleyball team looked to add to their string of success as they faced Baylor University in the final game of the Baylor Classic.

Rice started the game strong taking a 1-0 set lead, but Baylor rallied back to win the next three sets to take the match 3-1 (25-16, 1525, 24-26, 16-25).

Rice was outhit by the Bears .353-.214 and committed 10 more errors (21-11) throughout the course of the game. Senior libero Kimberly Vaio and junior outside hitter Leah Mikesky, who led both teams with 18 kills, earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team. Senior outside hitter Noelle Whitlock recorded a double-double with 10 kills and 14 digs, while freshman setter Julianna Dole had 44 assists, raising her total of 40-assist 0see Volleyball, page 11

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

the Rice Thresher

SPORTS

9

Policies restrict MOB travel Andrew Grottkau Thresher Staff

When the Rice football team took on the University of Texas, Austin on Sept. 12, they were missing some supporters in the stands.

Rice students, alumni, family and fans showed up en masse for the game. But the Marching Owls Band, more commonly known as the MOB, did not.

Their absence was not due to a lack of enthusiasm for the football team. In July, the Big 12 Conference — the conference in which two of Rice’s 2015 opponents, Texas and Baylor, play — decided that each school would charge visiting band members for their seats.

At Texas, the fee is $100 per seat. This fee was enough that Rice decided not to bring the MOB to the game for financial reasons. According to band director Chuck Throckmorton, the MOB was disappointed to not have the chance to go.

“It’s really a neat experience for [the band members] to be at these big-time college football stadia, and UT is our favorite,” Throckmorton said. “So, yeah, it was a disappointment.”

News broke earlier this month about the new Big 12 policy when the Texas Tech University band revealed that it would not be able to attend the school’s game against Texas in November due to expenses. Outraged fans and media quickly began bashing the policy. According to Throckmorton, this outrage was justified.

“These athletic programs want to be like professional athletics, so they keep taking things that used to be part of the fan experience and then selling them back to you,” Throckmorton said. “That’s what the problem is.”

While Throckmorton said the MOB had known for two months that it would not be traveling to Austin, fans only learned this news once word about Texas Tech’s band spread during the week leading up to the Texas game. Over the course of that week, fans from around the country — including many Texas fans and even some Texas A&M University fans — contacted Throckmorton with offers to donate to support the band’s trip to Austin. The MOB had to decline.

For similar reasons, the MOB will not travel to Baylor University this weekend. While the outrage over the new band policy has caused Baylor to withdraw the $45 charge it

was planning to levy on band members, the news of the change came too late for the MOB to alter its plans. According to Throckmorton, this incident should remind people of the dangerous path down which college athletics are heading.

“What bothers me is that college athletics is supposed to be about the students,” Throckmorton said. “And if you’re pricing everybody out of that, something’s wrong.”

The MOB has been commenting on the influence of money in college athletics for several years. During Rice’s last football game at Texas in 2011, the band spelled out “$EC” on the field, in reference to Texas A&M’s recently planned — and now completed — move to the Southeastern Conference. In 2013, the MOB wore shirts emblazoned with the signature of Texas A&M’s star quarterback Johnny Manziel while he was embroiled in a scandal for allegedly breaking NCAA rules by selling his autograph. Throckmorton said the band has a duty to bring these issues to light and raise awareness among fans.

“Big picture-wise, we need to make sure that money is not the only important thing in college athletics,” Throckmorton said. “We need to be the ones that say that because [the athletic programs] aren’t going to say it.”

Based on the events of the past week, the MOB’s message is spreading. The Big 12 has announced it will reconsider the policy requiring band members to pay for tickets.

Additionally, University of Texas Athletic Director Steve Patterson resigned days after the Rice-Texas game. He was forced out of the position following months of discontent from Texas students, alumni and fans over his push to raise funds for an athletic program that is already the richest in the country. According to Throckmorton, these changes had to be made and long overdue.

“The big bad wolf is the Big 12 for deciding to charge for bands,” Throckmorton said.

“And the next bad wolf is the Texas athletic director’s administration that set the ticket price at $100 apiece.”

In the landscape of college athletics — full of multimillion dollar television deals, staggering new stadium costs and ever-increasing ticket prices — the MOB will not run out of opponents anytime soon.

Their next performance will be on Saturday, Oct. 3 at Rice Stadium during halftime of Rice football’s game against Western Kentucky University.

photo courtesy chuck pool

Hit the ball!

Freshman Jake Hansen rallies during the 2015 Rice Fall Invitational tournament. Rice took seven of eight doubles matches and five of seven singles matches during the first day of the tournament, which was played at the George R. Brown Tennis Center. Hansen and fellow freshman Emanuel Llamas captured the B Flight doubles title in the tournament.

10 SPORTS

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

the Rice Thresher

0from STEWART page 8 “I wanted to find a place with great academics and where I could play D1 football as well,” Stewart said. “It was about 30 minutes from my house … and my mom wanted me to be prepared for future after football and [I] knew that I could have a degree to fall back on if football ever ends.”

Before talking about his individual accomplishments from the Texas game, Stewart said his offensive line performed well, providing him with sizeable gaps to run through.

“The [offensive line] was working hard all week and it [came] from a mindset that we were just as good as they were,” Stewart said. “We went into it knowing we were going to run our plays … and not [fold] under the pressure of who we were playing against but continue to get downfield and to the second level.”

Regardless of how many touchdowns Stewart had in his high school days, Stewart said his two highlight reel touchdowns

against Texas came primarily from instinct and a determination to reach the endzone.

“It was honestly a great feeling, very hard to describe,” Stewart said. “The first one was really just instinct that I got back on my feet and kept running … because in the heat of the moment that’s all you can do. And on the second run, my thought process was to get [into the end zone] and he was going low so I had the option of going out of bounds or taking the leap.”

Despite losing to Texas 42-28 that Saturday night, Rice had multiple positive takeaways from the game including an advantage in first downs, total yards and dominating time of possession.

Stewart commented on what the focus of practice was following the UT loss but also said his team and particularly the Rice offense can compete with any other team out there.

“We knew we had to cut down on the turnovers and … we focused on having good ball security at all times,” Stewart said.”We know we are a dangerous offense and have a great rotation of running backs out there [that] always put forth maximum effort [to] get yardage in certain situations.”

This past weekend, Rice took on the University of North Texas and won 38-24. The Owls applied what they had worked on in practice by committing zero turnovers in the afternoon and had a healthy dose of the ground game once again.

Stewart ran for 48 yards on 12 carries with a touchdown, giving him three scores on the season.

The next game for the Owls is a matchup in Waco to face Baylor University. Stewart said he believes Rice will treat this like any other game and must remain focused if they wish to come out victorious.

“We really just want to stick to our game and not let them make us do something that we would normally not do,” Stewart said. “We’re going to play hard and treat them like any other team on the schedule to hopefully get the win.”

Stewart and the Owls are in action again this upcoming Saturday as they take on the No. 5 nationally ranked Baylor Bears in Waco, Texas. Baylor is currently ranked 91st in rushing defense in college football, allowing close to 190 rushing yards per game. Stewart and his crew of running backs will look to exploit this potential weakness of the Bears. Kickoff for the game is scheduled for 2 p.m.

CALENDAR

photo courtesy rice sports information

SEPTEMBER 25

OCTOBER 27 Women’s Tennis Rice Invitational Women’s Soccer at Marshall Volleyball vs. Florida Atlantic

28

29

30

1

26

Women’s Tennis Rice Invitational

Women’s Tennis Rice Invitational

Women’s Soccer at Western Kentucky

Women’s Cross Country at Texas A&M Football at Baylor

Volleyball vs. Florida International

2 Women’s Soccer vs. Florida International Volleyball at North Texas

3 Football vs. Western Kentucky

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

the Rice Thresher

photo courtesy rice sports information

Rice’s volleyball team celebrates after a win. The Owls are coming off a loss against Baylor University in the final of the Baylor Classic Tournament. Rice is now 10-4 heading into conference play.

0from VOLLEYBALL page 8 games to three.

The Owls looked like they could take the third set when the score was 23-21, but the momentum shifted. Baylor proceeded to score five of the next six points to take the set 26-24. After losing the third set, the Owls hit only .135 in the fourth set and lost the final set 25-15.

According to Head Coach Genny Volpe, the team could not capitalize on their opportunities.

“Baylor played well and attacked us from all areas of the net,” Volpe said. “We had opportunities to close out set three and Baylor

kept pushing back. The third set loss drained us a bit and we didn't respond well in set four.”

Despite the loss in the final, Volpe said the team improved over the weekend on the defensive side.

“I am proud of how hard we fought defensively,” Volpe said. “We made some strides there this weekend for sure.”

Prior to the match-up with Baylor, Rice had defeated Stephen F. Austin and the University of North Carolina, Greensboro to advance to the final game.

The Owls will have a few days to regroup and get ready for the University of Texas, San Antonio, who come into town on Tuesday.

Following the match, Rice will face Florida International University on Friday, Sept. 25 at 6 p.m. at Tudor Fieldhouse.

SPORTS

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BACKPAGE

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

the Rice Thresher

was the night before Baker Christmas, when all through the commons, Boys and girls working late were eating their ramens.

They were hoping and praying to the gods of their choosing, That the weekend would come so they could get down to boozing.

The students were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of spiced rum twerked in their heads.

Their dreams were all sweet, special and tender; Their chances of sobriety tomorrow were slender.

When out in the quad there arose such a clatter, They sprung out of bed to see what was the matter.

Some jumped, some screamed, when they saw what was there: A drunk Logan Crowl, wearing St. Nick underwear.

Belching along, oh so out of tune, To a song that would get old, long before noon.

And among the crowd – is it you that I see here?

Santa himself! Wait, no, that’s just a drunk first year.

Merry

Chris

tmas!

And for non-Bakerites, the night couldn’t come sooner: “Sweaters in Houston – I don’t quite see the humor.

Right now I’d rather hear Slob on my Knob, It’s not very PC, but fuck Feliz Navidad!�

Now night had fallen, and with carols still calling, All had come to Baker, and spirits were falling. “This party is lame, there’s no room to breathe, There’s too many people, he just barfed on my sleeve!�

Indeed it was time, the party’s ending was near, No going inside, no getting a beer.

With foreheads, armpits and backs rather sweaty, We all had one question: “Sid Kwanzaa already?�

When RUPD came to assess damages done, The students had scattered, no one having much fun.

And the oďŹƒcer reminded his partners with sorrow, “Merry Christmas to all, we’ve got Hanszen tomorrow.â€?

7KH %DFNSDJH LV VDWLUH DQG ZULWWHQ E\ -RH\ 0F*ORQH DQG 5LOH\ 5REHUWVRQ )RU FRPPHQWV RU TXHVWLRQV SOHDVH HPDLO thresher@rice.edu.

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