The Rice Thresher | Wednesday, October 7, 2015

VOLUME 100, ISSUE NO. 7 | STUDENT-RUN SINCE 1916 | RICETHRESHER.ORG | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2015

REMEMBERING MALCOLM GILLIS

Students deserve transparency

The sixth president of Rice University passes away at age 74

Rice administration should share information openly

see Ops p. 7

Drew Keller News Editor

Much Ado About something

Malcolm Gillis, the sixth president of Rice University, died of cancer on Sunday, Oct. 4. He was 74.

Gillis served as president from 1993 to 2004. His tenure was marked by growth of the university’s faculty, facilities and student body, including the establishment of Martel College, according to Fondren Library’s Woodson Research Center. Gillis also worked to increase Rice’s connections to other institutions locally and around the world through initiatives such as the Baker Institute for Public Policy.

In an email sent to faculty, current President David Leebron recognized the lasting legacy of Gillis’ work.

“His efforts bettered not only the university, but the city of Houston, Texas, the nation and the world,” Leebron said.

“His enthusiasm and friendship spanned the entire university — and globe. We will deeply miss him here at Rice.”

Rice Theatre adds Western flair to Shakespeare’s classic

see A&E p. 8 Batter Up! Baseball releases 2016 schedule as fall ball begins

see Sports p. 13

SA looks into economic inequality Maurice Frediere

Gillis was born in 1940 and spent his childhood in rural Florida. He attended Chipola Junior College, transferred to the University of Florida and later earned a doctorate in economics from the University of Illinois, according to his wife Elizabeth Gillis. She said the junior college system held an important role in his life and influenced his later ideas about higher education.

“He had to work his way through college,” she said. “[He believed] education is possible even for those who come from a humble beginning.”

Malcolm Gillis served appointments at both Harvard and Duke Universities, engaging in economic research and teaching, according to the Woodson Center.

He was Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Duke before his 1993 inauguration at Rice.

Friends of Gillis at Rice, such as current Provost Marie Lynn Miranda, described him as a leader dedicated to the university and its students.

0see GILLIS, page 5

For the Thresher

The Student Association is taking steps to address the challenges faced by low-income and first-generation college students.

Lovett College President Griffin Thomas has proposed the creation of the Student Access and Success Working Group, which would aim to make the Rice experience more accessible for all students.

photo courtesy tommy lavergne

Rising number of student clubs prompts scrutiny from administration, SA Jieya Wen

Thresher Staff

Low-income and first-generation students face challenges other students don’t face.

Griffin Thomas Lovett President “The idea is to reach out to the entire student body to collect information and create a list of a lot of the issues that first-generation and low-income students face,” Thomas, a junior, said. “Ideally it would be a completely comprehensive list. That’s going to be very difficult to do but we want to get a wide sample about these huge issues that they’re facing.”

Thomas has clear goals for what he wants for the initiative by the end of the academic year.

Once he gathers more information, Thomas said he aims to start helping low-income and first-generation students directly, working with organizations like Generation College in addition to the serveries and leadership development programs on campus.

“Once that comprehensive list is created, our goal is going to be to try to rectify some of these problems,” Thomas said. “It could be small changes or large system 0see ACCESS, page 3

Student Activities plans to address the increasing number of student clubs according to Olivia Barker, Associate Director of Student Activities. This semester, there are 49 new student clubs and 239 reregistering clubs, while 42 clubs from last year did not complete their renewal or registration process.

“I want to see where we are at comparing to our peer aspirational colleges,” Barker said. “Rice’s ratio of students to clubs is lower than that of peer institutions.”

Barker said the overabundance of student clubs undermines their function of bringing together students with similar interest.

“Where that hurts us is that [student clubs] are fighting for members,” Barker said. “Some of our clubs only have two to three people, which is fine, but they could have other members [who join similar clubs instead].”

Current student clubs can be divided into nine genres: academic or honorary, cultural, political, recreational or sport, religious or spiritual, service, social and special interest. According to Barker, student clubs’ missions can sometimes overlap. “[For example], we have 20 mentoring clubs on campus,” Barker said.

“They all serve mentoring purpose but everybody has their club started because they have a niche group they want to work with. But you can have one mentoring club and have one committee on that group that is specific to the niche area.”

Barker said although annually 20 to 30 student clubs do not apply to reregister, the total number of clubs is increasing because 40 to 50 new clubs are created each year.

“In total last year, we had 40 or 50 new clubs started,” Barker said.

“Close to half of the new clubs didn’t come back this year. A lot of our students want to start a club because you want to have that on your resume. Our goal is that we also want this club to be sustainable after you leave.”

According to Barker, another prominent issue is students taking multiple leadership positions in different clubs. Currently, 553 individual students serve leadership positions as president, vice president and treasurer at around 300 student clubs.

Barker said she thinks this overlapping among student leadership roles presents a huge challenge to the student body.

“One, you are not giving your all to every single club because you don’t have that capacity,” Barker said. “Second is it takes away the opportunity from someone else to be part of a club, find their connection point and really develop themselves as a leader. Lastly, from a well-being perspective, you all are already spread so thin. Could you be a leader of three different clubs and do it really well?”

Currently, starting a new club requires a club to have a president, a vice president and a treasurer, as well as a faculty or staff sponsor. Barker said Student Activities will determine whether it is necessary to set a lower bound on the number of members in order to start a new club.

“That’s a pretty easy way to start a club,” Barker said. “Philosophically I believe [student clubs] can have leadership but [student clubs] need to have followership too.”

Club renewals begin in April, Barker said. New club registration is only available in the fall semester. A new club must undergo training in risk management and club development. The leaders also meet with Barker.

“At the new club meeting, you would need to fill out a club registration form, a sponsor form and a president’s form,” Barker said. “Your sponsor has to be risk-management trained.”

Once a new club has completed the above process, the Student Association 0see CLUBS, page 5

GROWTH SPURT: The proliferation of student clubs NUMBER OF CLUBS AT RICE OVER TIME

RATIO OF STUDENTS TO STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS UNIVERSITY of CHICAGO

315

262 250

RICE

252

HARVARD 2012-2013

2013-2014

2014-2015

2015-2016

7.22

MIT 2.68

40 to 50 new clubs are created annually 1/2 of new clubs go unrenewed each year

5.02

11.5

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wednesday, October 7, 2015

STRIVE Coalition to spearhead sexual violence prevention efforts Mengjia Liu

Thresher Staff

In response to the need for a strong sexual violence prevention program, the Wellbeing Office recruited students to create the STRIVE Coalition: Students Transforming Rice Into a Violence-Free Environment in spring 2015. The group seeks to promote healthy relationships and connect students with resources on campus and is hoping to enact change following the release of results of the Survey on Unwanted Sexual Experiences.

STRIVE is led by an undergraduate executive committee consisting of Jones College junior Alma Almanza, McMurtry College sophomore Madison Blattel, Hanszen College sophomore Rachel Bowyer, Jones College junior Melissa Rodriguez and McMurtry College junior Madhuri Venkateswar. Additionally, the coalition works with student liaisons including the Rice Health Advisors, the residential college Chief Justices, the leadership of the Graduate Student Association and members of the Women’s Resource Center.

Venkateswar said STRIVE is currently focused on creating a sustainable program to address sexual assault prevention.

“We’re going to be a recurring student group to increase communication about sexual assault prevention, serve as an event planning group [and] create something sustainable at the residential college level to make sure that students have resources at their fingertips when it comes to sexual misconduct and sexual assault prevention,” Venkateswar said.

According to Venkateswar, the formation of STRIVE was inspired by Meghan Davenport (Lovett ’15). Davenport worked with Associate Dean of Undergraduates Matthew Taylor on drafting a new sexual misconduct policy last year when she noticed a lack of coordination and focus regarding sexual assault at Rice. “[Davenport] saw communication between

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administration and students as a gap, and she saw that a lot of groups on campus were focused on sexual assault as a tangential concern but no group saw it as their primary concern,” Venkateswar said. “That’s what the goal of this group is. This is our primary concern.”

Davenport said she is excited to see the formation of the group and hopes STRIVE can generate positive change.

The numbers that came out of the survey [are] unacceptable. All of us will be working together to move forward.

Madhuri Venkateswar STRIVE committee member

“I hope everyone on campus eventually knows the group and what it does and feels that it’s an issue that is discussed out in the open and ultimately that the climate is improved as a result,” Davenport said.

Almanza said STRIVE will operate by coordinating existing resources.

“We can connect students to resources, but we personally do not offer counseling or other services,” Almanza said.

Venkateswar said STRIVE is still working on establishing connections among various groups on campus and plans to have a point

person at each college who can be a resource for students on sexual misconduct policy.

“We are in the process of talks with the head RHAs, and we will eventually take this to the Student Association and college governments,” Venkateswar said. “[College representatives] will also serve as a liaison between the CJs, the presidents and the RHAs, and as a sounding board with the adult team.”

Once the connections are established, STRIVE intends to hold various events to encourage students to play an active role in eliminating sexual violence, according to Venkateswar.

“We envision the college liaisons holding a lot of events at the residential college level which can span from study breaks to having discussion about community values to holding events together with the RHAs,” Venkateswar said. “We also envision holding maybe one big event during the year so people can connect themselves with the Title IX Office and know that it is not a scary place, that it is a resource for students.”

Bowyer said the group plans to reach out to incoming students in the future.

“We also hope to be involved with [Orientation Week] next year with potential talks and affiliates,” Bowyer said.

According to Rodriguez the group not only aims to reduce incidents of sexual misconduct but also to encourage healthy relationships.

“We want not only improvement in the sense that we are not seeing these kinds of issues arise but that people are experiencing their relationships, sexuality and sexual lives positively,” Rodriguez said.

Venkateswar said STRIVE is looking forward to the campus-wide effort to end sexual violence at Rice.

“The numbers that came out of the survey [are] unacceptable,” Venkateswar said. “All of us will be working together to move forward and create a safer environment here.”

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0ACCESS FROM PAGE 1 changes. One of the ideas that has been thrown out is leadership development, because some of the low-income students can’t necessarily participate in some of the leadership activities on campus because they also have to work.”

Griffin, however, said he believes Rice already does aid low-income and first-generation students, pointing to many of the resources that Rice provides.

“At all universities low-income and firstgeneration students face challenges that other students don’t face,” Thomas said.

“Rice actually has a lot more programs for these students [in comparison to other universities]. Our Office of Academic Advising and Office of Student Success Initiatives are very robust, as well as our peer academic advising network, our academic fellows program [and] our Center for Written, Oral and Visual Communication.”

The SA will vote on the Student Access and Success working group on Oct. 14.

While the working group is currently a oneyear initiative, Thomas sees it as a potential springboard for future change on campus.

The future of the initiative itself is dependent on what SA leadership decides at the end of the year. “[The future of the program] depends on how the working group goes this semester,” Thomas said. “Putting these issues into the hearts and minds of students and administrators may be enough but I could also see it expanding into a standing committee or have an organization that works on it.”

For now, Thomas said spreading awareness is the group’s primary objective.

“We’re not going to be able to fix everything in one year — that’s just not feasible,” Thomas said. “[I want to be able to say] that we developed a list that brought the issues to light so that future students and administrators can’t say, ‘I didn’t know this was an issue.’ Second, ideally we’re going to start the process of trying to correct some of these things.”

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NEWS IN BRIEF Student Association to hold Senate meeting discussing results of Survey on Unwanted Sexual Experiences The Student Association will hold a Senate meeting to discuss the Survey on Unwanted Sexual Experiences results, titled “It’s Up to Us.” The meeting will take place today at 8 p.m. in the Rice Memorial Center Grand Hall. Dean of Undergraduates John Hutchinson, Associate Vice Provost Matthew Taylor and representatives of the Wellbeing Office will be in attendance. The Women’s Resource Center, Students Transforming Rice Into a Violence-Free Environment Coalition, and SA Wellbeing Committee will review the SUSE results prior to a group discussion.

SA Wellbeing Committee Co-Chair Sanjana Ranganathan said she believes students have learned from the survey that many are affected by sexual misconduct.

“I would highly recommend all students to attend, listen and participate,” Ranganathan, a Wiess College junior, said. “These issues aren’t gender-specific; they affect all of us as student and as humans, and it’s so important to remember that.”

The residential college with the highest attendance will win a 50-inch flat-screen television.

drew keller/thresher

Stay true, KTRU

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Houston indie band Deep Cuts performs at KTRU’s Return to FM concert Oct. 1. KTRU began broadcasting on Oct. 2 at 96.1 FM, ending four years on the HD-2 format.

McMurtry, H&D plan to create design space Komal Agarwal For the Thresher

McMurtry College is planning to create a Design Space in its current TV room, which will be open to students across campus early next semester. This space will house a variety of design tools and software for students to create personal projects and host design-related gatherings.

Rice Housing and Dining approached the McMurtry College student body in October last year to create a committee to plan the space. The college government approved the space this March.

According to Eli Wilson, a member of the McMurtry Design Space committee, the function of the space is to be a creative area.

“The McMurtry Design Space will be basically a combination of the [Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen] and art studios,” Wilson, a senior, said. “We’re combining their functions and relegating them down to the residential college scale.

The Space is going to be where people will be able to realize their creative ideas.”

Isaac Phillips, another member of the planning committee, said he envisions the Design Space as an interdisciplinary resource for students to use tools they might not have access to in class. According to Phillips, a junior, students want more interdisciplinary collaboration, but there is not currently any place on campus for student groups to work together on a project. He hopes the Design Space will meet that need.

“If you’re not in the right major, you can’t gain access to certain buildings like the [Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen],” Phillips said. “Students want to widen their horizons and get hands-on experience, and the Design Space will help them do so ... At the McMurtry Design Space, students can work on individual projects and have access to tools for art, engineering and technology.”

According to Wilson, the Design Space will have four uses: creating art, building models, giving students access to technology and holding gatherings. It is set to feature a wide variety

of tools, including a laser cutter, Adobe Creative Suite, music writing programs and coding platforms such as Rhino. In addition to these tools, the committee plans to allocate ample space to potentially hold group meetings, so that students can hold design workshops in the future.

“Students want to widen their horizons and get hands-on experience, and the Design Space will help them do so.

Isaac Phillips

Design Space committee member

All of the funding for the space has been provided by H&D. According to Phillips and Wilson, the planning committee has not been given a specific budget but everything the committee requested to purchase has been approved by H&D so far. “Once the space opens in spring 2016, access to the Design Space will be available to all interested students after taking a training quiz similar to that required for OEDK access,” Wilson said.

According to Wilson and Phillips, the committee in charge of creating it has already received interest from members of other colleges to help create similar spaces at their own colleges. Therefore, the success of the McMurtry Design Space could set a powerful precedent for future residential college design spaces to follow.

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Administration defends increasing tuition costs Sydney Garrett For the Thresher

Rice tuition has increased roughly 142 percent in the last 15 years, according to Rice’s archived tuition records. The cost of tuition for students entering Rice in 2000 was $17,150, while the cost for students entering in the fall of 2015 was $41,560.

Vice President of Finance Kathy Collins said that the rise in tuition is due to increasing costs of supporting Rice’s faculty, staff, facilities and other expenses.

“Costs go up every year because people get pay raises and benefit costs increase,” Collins said. “Other operating costs increase.

Just like in a household budget, things are not flat from year to year.”

However, Collins said these increases are not simply due to growing costs of previously existing institutions or positions. Each year, Rice adds more facilities and resources. Each of these expansions entails additional shortand long-term costs.

“We’ve added any number of buildings, and each of those buildings brings a new cost to the budget, both the debt service for those buildings paid for with debt, and then the operating costs of the utilities, custodial staff and regular maintenance,” Collins said.

“Rice continually looks for ways to improve and update the educational experience and courses offered to students.”

One professor, who requested to remain anonymous, said Rice is implementing changes that appear major but may not actually improve the learning environment.

“The money is going to things like new buildings, paying the interest, giving students a much bigger experience,” the professor said. “There are many of these facilities that have appeared, but if you actually look at the number of classrooms or the quality of the classrooms, those have not changed that much. The total student [to] faculty ratio has gone up, not down.”

According to Collins, Rice has had to bring in more revenue and expand facilities in order to remain competitive with other comparable institutions.

“In thinking about revenues to support the university, we want to remain a top na-

0GILLIS FROM PAGE 1 “He loved, loved this university,” Miranda said. “And most importantly, he loved the students here. He had something new to brag about yet another student, or yet another faculty member every time I talked to him … I’ve never experienced a person who loved a place as passionately as Malcolm loved Rice.”

Miranda said she met Gillis more than 30 years ago through his daughter Nora, with whom she went to school. Gillis later helped Miranda join an Indonesian economic development program after her second year of graduate school, and often talked about Rice while they were both on the Duke faculty. In addition to Rice, Gillis’ family was always a focus of his life, according to Miranda.

“He loved his family,” Miranda said. “He did so much professionally, achieved so much professionally, and in every single interaction with him you knew that his family was the center of his life.

For me, that just models the way for who I want to be as a person … He makes you believe that it is possible.”

In a feature published in the April 20, 2001 issue of the Thresher, Gillis said his style of leadership was based on honesty.

“Truth-telling is very important in building trust, and in one of these jobs, if you don’t have trust, you don’t have anything,” Gillis said. “You’ve got to have the trust of the board, the faculty, the students. They may not like what you do, but if they think you’re lying to them, then they have a right to get up on their hind legs and scream.”

Gillis also offered advice for students.

tional university,and that requires having significant revenues to support everything we do,” Collins said. “We recruit globally.

We offer the high-quality educational experiences of schools that are charging more than Rice.”

The average tuition of private universities that are members of the Association of American Universities for 2015-16 is $48,011. Rice tuition has remained approximately $6,000, or about 12 percent, lower than the average over the years.

However, according to the anonymous professor, this $6,000 difference in cost on average is insignificant, compared to the burgeoning cost of tuition.

“Right now that $6,000 benefit is really pretty minimal,” the professor said. “15 years ago, that was a huge decision for people, especially in the middle class, because they could afford Rice whereas they couldn’t afford somewhere else.”

Additionally, increasing tuition cost has a long-lasting impact on those students who do choose to attend Rice.

“20 years ago, people weren’t leaving universities with $100,000 in debt,” the professor said. “Families weren’t going broke, and that’s changed. It’s not that you’re getting a better education; you’re just getting more stuff. The question is if that is really worth leaving a huge amount of the population saddled with debt.”

However, Collins said that the guiding principle of tuition discussions has always been affordability, despite the constant trend of increasing tuition. She said the financial aid budget increases each year and 54 percent of entering first-year students are receiving financial aid this year.

“Rice should be affordable to all students, and that influences both how we think about the price and also our recruitment and financial aid practices,” Collins said. “Rice’s tuition has always been lower, on average, than the peer universities we compare ourselves with.”

Rice’s tuition has grown at a higher rate than these same private institutions in the AAU. The average increase in tuition from 2014-15 to 2015-16 was 3.5 percent, while Rice’s tuition increased by 4.2 percent. Col-

lins said this is due to mathematical reasons.

“Our tuition is lower than our peers, so we have to increase by a larger percentage to generate the same incremental growth in revenue,” Collins said. “Because Rice’s [tuition] base is lower, for the same dollar increase Rice is always going to have to charge a larger percentage of increase.

Collins said the Board of Trustees approves a range of percentage increase for undergraduate tuition and room and board in December based on its Finance Committee recommendation, the president makes a decision on the rate within the recommended range, then the Board ratifies the rate in March. According to Collins, the Finance Committee includes the board chair, the president and at least five trustees.

“Rice students work too hard,” Gillis said.

“And I’m comparing them to Duke students and Harvard students. I’d like to see more people involved in exploring different things, like drama and music. I’d like to see students slow down a little bit and smell the flowers.”

Antonio Merlo, chair of Rice’s economics department since 2014, said Gillis continued to leave an impact at Rice after he left the presidency in 2004. Gillis resumed teaching economics and university-wide courses at Rice in 2005 as a university professor, according to the Woodson Center.

“He’s been a phenomenal contributor to the intellectual life of the department,” Merlo said.

“It’s pretty rare to see somebody who, after having been president, has gone back to the faculty and been so dedicated to the students … He was an influential scholar, an outstanding teacher and a game-changer in every administrative position he held, not just at Rice when he was president, but also at Duke.”

Elizabeth Gillis said teaching was always central to his personality.

“He was an outstanding teacher and that continued to the time of his death,” she said. “He extracted a promise from our granddaughter, Caroline Bynum, a sophomore at Northeastern, that she would take an [economics] course.”

Merlo, who has led a reorganization and expansion of the economics department, said Malcolm Gillis’ vision for the department guided him as he came from the University of Pennsylvania to implement the improvements at Rice last year.

Merlo and Leebron both said Gillis’ mentorship was valuable to them as they moved into their current positions at Rice.

Gia Merlo, M.D., Antonio Merlo’s wife, became Rice’s first associate dean of health professions

this year. As part of her efforts to improve premedical education at the university, she has implemented a large physician shadowing program in conjunction with Houston Methodist Hospital.

She ascribes the program’s conception to Gillis.

“The affiliation between Houston Methodist Hospital and Rice University was conceptualized and developed in November 2014 as I was telling [Malcolm and Elizabeth Gillis] of my new role … when we were out to dinner ,” she said in an email to shadowing students. “They are the founding catalyst, so to speak, and it is now a part of Malcolm’s legacy.”

Gia Merlo attributed the Gillises’ ongoing contributions to Rice to their care for all parts of the university.

“They loved being a part of the Rice community,” Merlo said.

Besides his wife, Gillis is survived by his children Nora Bynum, Heather Salter and Stephen Gillis, and his grandchildren Jessica Streets (Martel ’09), Travis Streets, Elizabeth Bynum, Caroline Bynum and Sarah Salter. Speaking for her family, Elizabeth Gillis said he identified deeply with his work at Rice.

“Malcolm always said that being president of Rice University was the job he was born to do,” she said. “He loved and appreciated the unique culture of Rice and its students — from jumping in the pool at O’Connor House after Beer Bike, to bravely answering the door on the 13th and 31st of the month for Baker 13 … He was beloved by students, faculty and staff alike.”

Gillis’ memorial service will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 28 at 2 p.m. in Stude Hall at Alice Pratt Brown Hall.

Assistant News Editor Amber Tong contributed to this article.

[Rice] has become much more businesslike ... It’s going from a place that was about teaching and an educational environment to a business. We’re now in the business of higher education.”

Anonymous Rice Professor

Rice has experienced a net revenue growth of roughly 6 percent per student because of tuition, though the rate of increase has slowed in the past year, Collins said. She said costs have also increased by 6 percent annually.

“Tuition is only one piece of the revenue to support the operating costs of the budget,” Collins said. “Undergraduate tuition revenue, net of financial aid, accounts for 20 percent of our revenues. Tuition does not support 100 percent of the operating budget of the university.”

The costs that are not covered by tuition are paid for by the endowment, which in July 2014 was $5.5 billion. The endowment provides approximately 40 percent of the operating revenues, according to the 2013 endowment report.

Collins said tuition only covers approximately 44 percent of the cost of education, which was roughly $80,000 per student in 2014. She said the full cost of education includes a number of additional expenses. “[The cost of education] is the cost of faculty and staff salaries and benefits,” Collins said. “It’s the cost of supporting facilities on campus, the utilities, the depreciation of facilities, the interest and debt service on the borrowing to support facilities. It’s operating costs of the library, and other operating costs.”

The budget for operational costs covers the salaries of the college coordinators, the faculty, the custodians, and other staff members. In addition, it pays for the college masters’ stipends and the costs of running and maintaining the buildings on campus.

The anonymous professor said the increasing budget and new facilities go hand in hand with a change in Rice’s priorities since the turn of the century.

“The entire university has become much more business-like in the last 15 years,” he said. “It’s going from a place where the goal was really about teaching and an educational environment rather to a business. We’re now in the business of higher education.”

The professor said the way Rice’s increasing cost of tuition parallels national trends has made him question Rice’s claim of uniqueness.

“Despite our mantra about how unconventional we are, I think we’re very much the same as all universities,” the professor said.

“You can’t say Rice is so different from everyone else when we do the exact same things as all the other schools.”

0CLUBS FROM PAGE 1 and Graduate Student Association then review constitutions to ensure certain policies and procedures are included in the constitution, according to Chair of the SA’s Committee for Club Approvals Annabelle McIntire-Gavlick. The constitution is then passed to the Committee for Club Approvals.

She said the committee examines whether there is any overlapping of the proposed club with current clubs on campus.

“This is primarily based on their mission and purpose,” McIntire-Gavlick said. “[We want to see if] they are providing anything different.”

Bethany Fowler, president of Rice Oceans Club, said club success is typically measured by the number of students at events, but small clubs can play important roles on campus.

“A club can be just as successful catering to a smaller niche, so long as the students who are involved are taking it seriously,” Fowler, a Jones College junior, said.

McIntire-Gavlick said the SA is considering creating a task force to investigate this issue.

According to SA Secretary Brianna Singh, the SA may designate different committees to approve different club types. The current Clubs Approval Committee has four members.

“We want to see if it’s going to be better if there are more people running the whole process,” Singh, a Hanszen College sophomore, said. “For example, an academics clubs approval committee only looking at academics clubs.”

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$8 million endowed to Students launch club for entrepreneurship center women in business Amber Tong

Assistant News Editor

With an $8 million endowment from the Robert and Janice McNair Foundation, Rice University recently established the McNair Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation to act as a bridge between researchers and entrepreneurs.

The McNair Center is housed in the Baker Institute of Public Policy. Director Edward Egan, previously an assistant professor of entrepreneurship at Imperial College Business School in London, said the center will be equally focused on academic research and government policy recommendation and advising the local business scene.

“We are policy first and foremost; policy also takes a couple different forms though,” Egan said.

“At the ecosystem level, we start calling it strategy rather than policy. ” The center will devote much of its efforts towards web infrastructure, including creating a site which consolidates the center’s research projects. In order to build and present the knowledge properly, Egan said, the center will recruit a large number of student workers and volunteers.

One of the center’s first projects is to host a database for patent data and present it in a format with which academics can do analysis.

“One of the biggest challenges in research is [joining] data sets together and a single research takes a huge amount of time,” Egan said. “If a center is willing to step up, it can spread the cost [and generate] enormous gains.”

The McNair Center will partner with the Doerr Institute for New Leaders to provide more comprehensive guidance to the student community.

“Leadership is a crucial part of entrepreneurship,” Egan said. “Most of our input into the Doerr Institute will be in terms of student referrals and trying to build up the entrepreneur ecosystem.”

The founding of the McNair Center coincides with a timely opportunity to drive change in the nation, Egan said, with elections coming up.

“Politicians love to talk about jobs and small

businesses,” Egan said. “Despite [all the] innovation policy and talk about entrepreneurship policy, there is not actually a lot happening.”

Egan said he calls for students to come forward and get involved with entrepreneurship.

“We can put all the resources in the world in place, [but] it is very hard to drive engagement,” Egan said. “We want students to be a part of driving entrepreneurship here at Rice.”

Senthil Natarajan, managing director of student-led entrepreneurship platform Rice Launch, said he has concerns about the McNair Center’s effectiveness given the multiple existing groups also dedicated to entrepreneurship, including Entrepreneurship @ Rice, Jones Graduate School Entrepreneurs Organization and OwlSpark.

“From a practical standpoint, I’m worried about the over-saturation of so-called ‘initiatives’ all over campus,” Natarajan said. “It seems like at some point, there will be diminishing returns, and the startup community at Rice will become more fragmented than unified.”

According to Natarajan, what Rice needs is consolidation of the system.

“We need to focus on developing the pieces that we have, rather than trying to just brute force the development of our startup ecosystem by adding more and more pieces to the puzzle.”

Edward egan, director

Abigail Panitz For the Thresher

Rice’s women are preparing to run the world as a part of the new club Rice Women in Business.

Seniors spoke on a panel at the club’s inaugural event last Tuesday about their past internships and answered questions.

Baker College sophomore Leah Rubin, Jones College senior Rachel Li and Lovett College senior Nicolette Groen founded the club last year.

According to Rubin, they put the plan into action with the help of President and Chief Investment Officer of the Rice Management Company Allison Thacker, who serves as RWIB’s faculty advisor.

According to Rubin, the organization was founded in response to the difficulties of the internship search for women in business.

“When you look up employees on LinkedIn and limit your filters by Rice alumni and company, it would be 15 male Rice alums and one female Rice alums for Barclays,” Rubin said. “And I found this to be the case for most banking firms.

So hopefully through this I’ll be able to give women at Rice more resources to access information, alumni and companies.”

Rubin said she was inspired by University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School’s networking opportunities. She expressed hope that young women who attend RWiB events will learn from the female speakers and gain confidence to enter the field of business themselves.

“I think we tend to undervalue ourselves, to think we’re not qualified for things, and hearing from successful women who are in senior positions … I hope this will be a good first step in getting women into business,” Rubin said.

Panelists at the event had experience in the fields of strategy and management consulting, venture capital and investment banking. They answered questions such as how to prepare for interviews, what extracurricular activities to highlight on a resume and how to find a company that fits your career goals.

Groen, who was an intern this summer at

Citigroup, pushed attendees to think beyond the prestige and basics of a company. She emphasized that each company’s culture is different, and applicants need to understand how the team functions before choosing where to work.

Julia Sunderland, who interned with Boston Consulting Group, said it was important to find role models at company information sessions and think of long-term goals.

We tend to undervalue ourselves, to think we’re not qualified for things.

Leah Rubin

Founder, Rice Women In Business

“Could I see myself being this person in two, five, 10 years?” Sunderland, a Duncan College senior, said.

Hanszen College freshman Priya Kane said the event gave her more information on how to enter the business world.

“I feel inspired and reassured because it seems like you can start from any background and still end up figuring out what [field of business] is the right fit for you,” Kane said.

Panelist and OwlSpark co-founder Isabel Scher voiced her hopes that the organization will really take off.

“One of the things Rice has been missing is not just an event-throwing group but a member group,” Scher, a Wiess College senior, said. “I think it would be awesome if it [RWIB] could transition from an events-throwing group to a membership organization.”

7

Rice has too many clubs, apparently. This semester alone, Rice approved 49 new clubs, bringing the grand total to 316 (see p. 1). The more troubling matter is that, if past trends hold true, nearly half of those clubs won’t renew. Clearly, the ratification process for clubs does not thoroughly verify whether they’re serving an unmet and persistent need in a sustainable manner.

Clubs play an important role in student life, but they cease to be useful when their functions overlap and they don’t contribute to the Rice community. Rice does not necessarily need 20 mentoring clubs, as Olivia Barker, associate director of student activities, points out.

But it’s not an easy fix; there are several factors to consider like club size, whether a club is a chapter of a larger organization and a club’s target demographic. However, certain clubs should consider consolidation as a method to pool resources and leadership to strengthen their impact.

Comparisons with peer institutions may not be an accurate measure for whether Rice has too many student organizations. Clubs exist to serve the interests and needs of students, and these vary widely with each school.

At Rice, the residential colleges provide an alternative platform for students to gather and pursue interests, and Rice prides itself on student leadership, resulting in organizations that fulfill needs otherwise met by staff at other universities. Instead of looking to our peers, we should turn inward and examine whether Rice students are adversely affected by this supposed oversaturation of clubs.

The current process of examining a club has two metrics: novelty and contribution to the community. Although reasonable, these criteria don’t take sustainability into consideration, which explains why half of these clubs disappear after a year, every year.

A system of goals and reflection must be institutionalized, for both old and new organizations. Club leadership must delineate tangible goals each year; these goals need not be quantitatively measurable, but should serve as a check for whether a club is necessary and fulfilling its mission. This serves as an opportunity for reflection and growth for club leadership, as well as evidence of club efficacy to student activities in the renewal process.

However, if at the end of the year approved clubs are not accomplishing their goals, they should still be forced to confront their failures. Clubs should be required to complete end-of-year reports on their yearly activities and goals, and those that fail to justify their existence should have to meet with Student Activities to discuss their possible elimination.

We do not mean to minimize the important differences and innovations that spur the creation of new clubs. However, student organizations must be held to higher standards to maintain their integrity.

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

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

Rice University Police Department has been subject to open records requests for more than a month now.

Put another way, that means anybody can request information about RUPD’s law enforcement activities. It’s the result of a Texas Legislature bill that extends the Texas Public Information Act to all private university police forces in the state.

This has been exciting for multiple reasons. For one, students have been able to view RUPD incident records and gain clarity on their cases. Most importantly, though, students can now hold RUPD accountable for their policing practices. RUPD can no longer hide behind Rice’s status as a private university when their actions affect the immediate community, as they did when they came under scrutiny for their treatment of a bike thief last year.

RUPD’s new transparency is a step in the right direction for a more publicly accountable Rice, but the university can do more.

After all, Texas state legislation forced the university’s hand on this.

I want to ask you, now, to imagine a world where Rice University — all of it — is subject to open records requests.

This is not a practical call to action, but a thought experiment. Texas public universities have been subject to open records requests since the Texas Public Information Act was passed in 1973, so why not imagine a private university that must answer to more people than its board of trustees?

Transparency can reveal much about an institution’s pathology. In 2010, open records requests made to the University of Houston revealed how Rice and the University of Houston collaborated to keep secret the sale of the KTRU’s license, broadcast frequency and tower for as long as possible. Because the University of Houston is a public university, it had to comply with requests for all e-mail correspondence with Rice about the sale. In this case, the public’s right to know revealed exactly how far Rice will go to keep information from the public. We, as students, must resist administrative secrecy when their decisions so directly affect us.

Transparency can be empowering. Students already have a right to request their education records through the Family Edu-

cational Rights and Privacy Act, and while you can only request to see your own records, individual examples can still reveal broader trends. When the Fountain Hopper, a student-run Stanford website and newsletter, publicized that students had the right to view their admissions files, many were able to learn specifics about how the admissions process operates and what traits universities value. (Hint: Many of these “traits,” such as legacy status and donation histories, disproportionately favor privileged applicants.)

How did the Rice Office of Admission respond to Fountain Hopper-inspired FERPA requests? With an aggressive shrug. According to the Office of Admissions, Rice throws away almost all material used during the review process. Imagine: In an age where it is so easy to securely store large quantities of information digitally, Rice throws out valuable data it could use. More importantly, Rice throws out information students have a right to request. Many would argue otherwise, but I believe the college admissions files are fundamentally “education records.”

I want to reiterate that a completely transparent Rice isn’t an imperative, but a provocation. Even if Rice may not need to answer to a public, it must answer to students and other community members. A more transparent Rice would not discard student records. A more transparent Rice would not issue decisions about Orientation Week without better informing and involving the student body throughout the process. And a more transparent Rice would definitely not protect its police amid allegations of excessive force.

Miles Kruppa is a

Hanszen College senior and the Thresher Senior Editor

To read a response to John Lennox’s “Has Science Buried God?” talk given on Sept. 28, visit ricethresher.org/opinion

ONLINE

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

“

But even supposing we had evidence of immaterial things, or even a higher godlike intelligence, as Christopher Hitchens has said: The theist has all his work ahead of him. It remains for Dr. Lennox to show that this god is the Christian one since that is what he wishes to do. This is where his case weakens further . . . It is a clear feat of circular logic to expect faith to justify our evidence, and the evidence to justify faith.

Mathieu Simeral Sid Richardson College junior

copy Jasmine Lin Editor Julianne Wey Editor backpage Joey McGlone Editor Riley Robertson Editor *indicates member of the Editorial Board

“

Club registration must verify sustainability

Thinking toward a more transparent Rice University

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.

R2

RICE WRITES

Editor’s Note: Choosing a winning piece for this month’s contest was a challenge, as we received so many unique interpretations of the theme “unlikely encounters.” The notion of an unlikely encounter tends to have a magical, somewhat fate-driven quality about it, and what stood out about this piece is the way it perfectly captures that feeling. There’s something remarkably poignant yet hopeful about the idea that, in the midst of fear and doubt, one unlikely encounter can change everything.

Hope you enjoy this piece as much as we did!

—Bailey Tulloch Turbulence

by Molly Garrison If you want to say that you met God, say you met him on an airplane. Say that, as the flight attendants gave you your complimentary beverage, United music jingling in your ears, you realized the stranger next to you was all too calm through the turbulence. Say that your Pepsi spilled across your hands and he offered napkins to wipe it up, nodded when you thanked him nervously. Say that you glanced at your side through the hours only to see his eyes firmly fixed on the tray table in its locked position, his hands gently resting on the armrests.

If you want to say that you met God, don’t say it was in passing. Don’t say that, when you disembarked, you clambered from your sticky seatbelt and glanced tentatively in his direction before you were glared at by the struggling father behind you. Don’t say you slipped out of the terminal gates and saw him staring out the window on the other side of the moving walkway, newspaper in hand, overcoat slung over his forearm. Don’t say you watched him disappear out of view on the shuttle, suitcase neatly under his chair.

For if you want to say that you met God, swear that you are still in the turbulence, clutching your tray table and wondering if it would be weird to use his name while he was present. Swear you are still waiting for the plane to land, debating whether you should open your mouth and ask if he has the time, even if your watch is visible on your wrist.

Swear you didn’t watch him disappear between the flight attendant’s watchful grins, between the father and his three whining toddlers. Swear you worked up the courage to stutter out a question – any question – as though asking would affirm his existence, as though the time of day would give you more than just a set of numbers.

If the little foil-wrapped pretzels will give you solace, eat them and wonder if he judges you based on the crumbs on your thighs – but swear that if you met God, it was in a metal container, ten thousand feet in the air, as you felt the floor drop beneath you for the first time, as the fasten your seatbelts sign flashed red above you and you reached for your sides and prayed it would snap shut.

October Theme: Secrets You’re Taking To Your Grave. We welcome everyone to submit a piece. Email a short story or poem up to 400 words in length to r2ricereview@ gmail.com. Winners receive a $25 Coffeehouse gift card.

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.

The Thresher is a member of the ACP, TIPA and CNBAM © Copyright 2015

arts

ENTERTAINMENT

8

Concert Preview: Five Essential October Shows Lydia Dick

For the Thresher

Mad you couldn’t get tickets for ACL? Fortunately there are plenty of good acts coming to Houston this October. Here are five concerts you won’t want to miss.

Who: BORNS, Avid Dancer Where: Walter’s Downtown When: Oct. 9, 8 p.m.

Tickets: $25 general admission on stubhub.com If you’re in for more indie-pop, be sure to check out BORNS. He has been dropping numerous catchy singles over the past few months including “Electric Love,” and is releasing a new album, “Dopamine,” on Oct. 16. See him cheap before he gets big. jessica kelly/thresher

Left: Beatrice, played by Hanszen College junior Rachel Buissereth, holds Hero, played by Sid Richardson College freshman Abby Sledge. Middle: Claudio, played by Martel College freshman Alan Kim, sits with Leonato, played by Sid Richardson College junior Samuel Pearson, and Don Pedro, played by McMurtry College senior Juan Sebastian Cruz. Right: Borachio, played by Jones College sophomore Robert Katz, delivers lines on stage.

‘Much Ado’ brings a classic with a Western twist Cannon Lewis For the Thresher

Modern adaptations of Shakespeare face many hurdles on the road to success. When directors try to update or adapt the play in some way, so as to make it more approachable, they risk doing more to harm the message of the play than to help it. Too much consideration for contemporary humor and fashion can cheapen or distract from a play’s intended effect. In the Rice Theatre Program’s production of “Much Ado About Nothing,” director Amelia Fischer skillfully navigated this pitfall by retaining the original script and simply shifting the setting to the more familiar 19th-century Texan countryside. The result is a thoroughly enjoyable version of the play that allows the audience to appreciate the literary aesthetic of each Shakespearean turn of phrase, while also breathing new emotional and comedic life into the script.

“Much Ado About Nothing” features two couples: the witty and combative Benedick and Beatrice, played by Jones College sophomore Justin Bernard and Hanszen College junior Rachel Buissereth, and the more emotional and lovestruck Claudio and Hero, played by Martel College freshman Alan Kim and Sid Richardson College freshman Abby Sledge. The main action in “Much Ado About Nothing” revolves around Claudio’s love for Hero, but the play is much more an ensemble piece than it is a story of two lovers. Indeed, the play would be nothing if not for the plotting of Don Pedro, played by McMurtry College senior Juan Sebastian Cruz, the scheming of his brother Don John, played by Brown

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

College senior Chris Sanders, and the stubbornness of Benedick and Beatrice. As with many Shakespeare plays, “Much Ado About Nothing” relies heavily on secret plots and mistaken identities, and has enough twists and reversals of fortune to keep any audience member’s interest in the fast-paced plot.

“Much Ado About Nothing” contains superb acting across the board. Even minor characters, such as Hero’s handmaid, Margaret, played by Baker College freshman Sriparna Sen, deliver their lines with conviction, move around the set with purpose and hit each comedic beat with impeccable timing. Cruz, in the role of Don Pedro, is a singular standout in this aspect, as he recites even the most obscure and inscrutable of his lines with an ease and depth of understanding that makes the difficult 16th-century English seem perfectly natural. Bernard is another notable presence on the stage, as his larger-than-life physicality and sardonic line reading fit his character, Benedick, perfectly.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Jones College senior Qingyang Peng’s hilarious rendition of Dogberry, the incompetent constable of the story, whose malapropisms and over-the-top bravado had me tearing up with laughter. “Much Ado About Nothing” is a relatively dialogue-heavy play, and the whole cast did a fantastic job handling the hefty script.

In fact, for a play that is mainly dialoguedriven, the physical direction is amazing.

All actors make full use of the stage, and the more over-the-top characters such as Benedick and Dogberry move around with a manic intensity that corresponds perfectly to

their words. Nowhere is this physical presence put on display more than during the scenes where Benedick and Beatrice overhear others talking about them. The sheer hilarity of their physical comedy would border on upstaging if it were not executed so skillfully, and it is worth seeing the play just to witness these two excellent models of physical acting.

Since the Rice Theatre Program’s production made few, if any, changes to the script of “Much Ado About Nothing,” the setting change is entirely conveyed through costuming and set design. There are no set changes in the course of the play, but it is clear that the crew spent a lot of time and energy perfecting the single hacienda that takes up half of the stage. In fact, the proportion of stage given to set is perfectly calculated; the design works both as the adobe estate comprising Hero’s home and the open expanse that is the Texas countryside. Actors are able to shift their positions and attention between the contexts, so the set never feels too small or underutilized. Lighting changes also help set the mood, communicating the passage of time in a subtle gradient reminiscent of a setting sun. The costumes are also quite faithful to the setting, and help to communicate allegiances relevant to the plot.

In short, the Rice Theatre Program’s rendition of “Much Ado About Nothing” is everything one could want from a Shakespeare play, masterfully interpreted with an appropriately light touch. Every scene had the whole audience laughing uproariously, as befits a comedic play by the master of theater.

Go see it and experience the joy that comes from a classic play done perfectly.

Who: Run the Jewels, Jewel Runner Fall Tour Where: House of Blues When: Oct. 13, 8 p.m.

Tickets: From $22 on songkick.com Ever since Atlanta-based rapper Killer Mike and rapper/producer El-P teamed up to form Run the Jewels, their hip-hop duo has received praise from critics and listeners alike. Also, you have to love their sense of humor. Their latest album “Meow the Jewels” remixes their 2014 hit album “Run the Jewels 2” entirely with the use of cat sounds.

Who: The Internet, Ego Death tour Where: Warehouse Live When: Oct. 14, 8 p.m.

Tickets: $20 general admission on ticketfly.com Drifting away from traditional R&B, the Internet draws from a unique mix of hiphop, jazz and soul. They are currently on tour for their latest album “Ego Death,” which was released in early June.

ITALIAN FESTIVAL

RIP THE RUNWAY

TRILL COMEDY

Even non-Italians cannot help but love Italian culture. Regardless of your heritage, you’re sure to have a blast this Thursday - Sunday, Oct. 8-11 at the Houston Italian Festival.

Everyday from 5 - 10 p.m. there will be tons of festivities including a grape stomp, Madonnari chalk art and even a pasta-eating contest.

If you like dogs, fashion and food trucks (i.e. if you’re human) cancel your plans this Saturday, Oct. 10, from 5 - 7 p.m., for Rip the Runway, a fashion show for dogs. Not only will the show feature adorable finely dressed canines, but six food trucks will offer bites and drinks for guests.

University of St. Thomas 3800 Montrose houstonitalianfestival.com

Discovery Green 1500 McKinney rockyandmaggies.ticketleap.com/ glamourdogs

From Oct. 8-11, the Station Theater will become home to the annual Trill Comedy Festival. Boasting 75 comedians and over 20 hours of programming, the festival features the best of improv, sketch and stand-up comedy. Tickets for the whole festival are currently $60 but individual shows start at $10.

Station Theater 1230 Houston trillcomedy.com

0see CONCERTS, page 11

SET & SETTING Bummed you missed out on tickets to ACL this weekend? All is not lost — Set & Setting is hosting an electronica day party. Featuring seven different acts and a curated art show, the show starts at 2 p.m. this Saturday, Oct. 10, and goes until late in the night.

Avielle’s Garden 805 William on.fb.me/1JPpun1

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

the Rice Thresher

A&E

9

12 hours in a coffee shop inspires reflection on daily routines Melody Yip

Thresher Staff

The goal was to spend 12 hours in a coffee shop, an idea inspired by a man who spent a whopping 24 hours in Portland’s Southeast Grind. I sat in Montrose’s Siphon Coffee to observe my surroundings — the people, the atmosphere, conversations, my own dwindling attention span — for the sake of understanding why these places are so popular and what a coffee shop’s day looks like. So, here’s a play-by-play review of my enlightening experience: 8:07 a.m. I am a grouchy zombie. At least I have a cranberry scone and a caramel latte to kick off the siege — I figured I’d indulge at least once that day. (And Siphon doesn’t charge extra for soy milk? Hallelujah.) So far, the only people in here are a man staring intently at his laptop, an elderly gentleman perusing the newspaper with a cup of drip and

myself. Baristas with their Herschel backpacks and cute, bobbed haircuts are streaming in. An athletic grandma briskly powers through the door.

8:45 a.m. Lots more people are sauntering in. Orange Headband Guy, women in Lululemon, couples in their own workout gear, men in their twenties wearing V-necks. Is it a thing to drink coffee before or after working out? Or do we just wear workout clothes to look like we’re productive? I’m rationing my scone and my latte art has transformed into blurry leaves. All the people working on laptops have rather grim expressions. Two women are chatting and I want to steal Cortado Lady’s classy white blouse.

9:08 a.m. A line’s forming — the morning rush has officially begun. A barista’s explaining the siphon method of coffee brewing to a starry-eyed couple. Med students are arriving to camp out for the day, scrolling through PowerPoints cluttered with a thousand body diagrams. The latte has transformed my veins into electrified wires. Thank goodness, friends from out of town have come to keep me company after I voiced a plea for human interaction.

10:04 a.m. I’ve finally started working on homework, blasting mandopop music and jamming to the espresso machine’s rhythmic prattle. A female med student parks next to me with a thick test prep book. Godspeed.

Also, this is sort of awkward because she can probably see what I’m typing. Now she’s

powwowing with the other med student guy down the counter and they’re conversing about Ryan Adams’ cover album of Taylor Swift’s “1989.” Hipster med students?

12:05 p.m. Just saw a couple making out.

The woman was intently reading “To Kill a Mockingbird,” then I looked over again and she certainly wasn’t reading the book anymore. On a happier note, I just saw two guys wearing almost matching plaid shirts and it was adorkable. And there’s a guy that’s been literally hugging his laptop for a while.

12:46 p.m. I just saw the largest Louis Vuitton bag I’ve ever seen. You could put a child in there. Med students are still cranking away, and I’ve never seen so many Macs in one place. (Real hipsters have PCs though.)

Now I’m devouring an overpriced but delicious caprese panini as Hugger Guy finally gives his laptop personal space again.

1:54 p.m. I’ve seen only one family since I arrived. The kids are savoring milk and cookies (probably vegan and gluten-free because that’s what coffee shops are raving about) while I’m guessing the dad’s sipping a cappuccino. What’s a typical dad type of coffee drink? Straight up black? Wait, I’m already halfway through?

2:27 p.m. Siphon is abuzz with noise, and I have developed a magnificent headache. I’ve also been looping four songs on repeat the whole time I’ve been here. There’s a guy poring over a book called “How to Make Money in Stocks.” More PDA from another couple. Why.

3:05 p.m. I’ve finally finished a paper draft and am wondering if I should treat myself to a snack. I also need an outlet (the perpetual struggle). The man sitting across from me is drinking his macchiato index finger up, and I just noticed an influx of muscled men in bro tanks.

3:19 p.m. I FOUND AN OUTLET. This rarely happens this fast. I also caved and bought a vanilla latte and lemon tart (I scream basic), then proceeded to successfully spray crumbs all over my poor neighbor.

4:06 p.m. I’m alarmingly hyper-jacked on caffeine. And craving Chipotle. I probably need to start on my other paper.

4:33 p.m. The place still feels crowded but the counters are starting to free up. The med students went home, bless them. And the barista finally unearthed the bathroom key, thank goodness. But the caffeine and sugar (caffegar?) crash is looming upon me.

5:33 p.m. I finally polished off my lemon 0see COFFEE, page 11

10 A&E

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

the Rice Thresher

WHAT’S HIP RIGHT NOW TECH:

AlcoHawk PT500

FILM:

“Transformers” 5-8

by kaylen strench

FASHION: Jon Boy tattoo

HEALTH:

Support pets

courtesy hasbro courtesy alcotesters.com

In a phrase: “Are you ACTUALLY okay to drive?”

Where to find it: breathalyzers.com/alcohawk-pt500/ I have to say, I’m kind of with the crowd that says if you need to take a breathalyzer test, you probably shouldn’t be driving anyway. That said, sometimes you’re at a party at 2 a.m., your boyfriend just dumped you, you really, really, just want to go home and not have to deal with going back and getting your car the next day.

You’re 95 percent sure you’re sober enough to drive but you also really just cannot get an DUI. If you frequently find yourself in these types of situations, well, you might just want to put the AlcoHawk on your holiday wishlist.

This little guy is Wired Magazine’s pick for best handheld breathalyzer on the market. It reads as close to a police breathalyzer as they come, and at $150 it’s competitively priced.

Wired notes it is a tad bulky compared to its smartphone-friendly counterparts, but it makes up for its size with its dead-on readings (other models are far less accurate). I’m not exactly sure how you’ll go about asking for this one from your grandparents this holiday season, but if you can convince them, it’s a nice little tool to have at your side on your wild nights out.

In a phrase: “NO.” Where to find it: Hitting theaters at various times in the next five years.

If I can give the “Transformers” brand any credit (and I’m not sure I can), I will at least say they have succeeded in delivering some low-level controversy to the entertainment world. Some people feel deep, personal attachment to the machine-robot-people hybrids: They played with them as kids, they gained their first exposure to Megan Fox when the franchise hit the big screen and they played all the spinoff video games.

Some of us, however, just lament the spread of consumerism from toys to the big screen, longing for a day when people spend money on movies for the plot and the actors.

Alas, Hasbro has confirmed that “Transformers” is here to stay, at least for a good, long while.

At a recent conference in Cannes, a top Hasbro executive confirmed that not only will the company be rolling out a fifth “Transformers” film, but, *gasp*, three more sequels will follow in close succession. Though only limited information has been released of now, representatives confirm that director Michael Bay and film company Paramount will be involved in future projects, as well as “highly creative writers,” whatever that means. Let’s just say at this point, I’ll call it as I see it.

courtesy jon boy tattoo

courtesy sonoma humane society

In a phrase: “Look rad and p*** off your parents.”

Where to find it: Actual Jon Boy’s in NYC, but you can check his Insta, jonboytattoo, for ideas.

In a phrase: “Cuddles for stress relief.”

Where to find them: The Humane Society — if you can convince Rice to OK this.

As a tattooed individual myself, I can answer most of the typical questions about permanent ink. They hurt, you will get annoying questions about what they mean for the rest of your life and they can look really cool. (At least, I think mine does.) Though tattoos have been in style, at least among some groups, for decades, new design trends are moving them into the mainstream. Celebrities like Kendall Jenner and Ireland Baldwin, customers of NYC artist Jon Boy, are showing off a new type of tat starting to spread like wildfire: subtle, artistic and effortlessly simple.

Jon Boy’s style, which can be replicated by other artists, features fine, delicate lines, geometrical shapes, tiny icons (paper planes, flowers) for ankles, fingers and toes, elegant script, nostalgic imagery (storybook characters, superheroes) and minimalism (ink bands around wrists, Picasso-eque faces). These images can be large and eye-catching, but most are easily hidden and discreet, making them more palatable for the less bold. Just be careful — they’re addictive.

Though I did not adopt my nine-year-old tortoiseshell kitty, Scone, to help me combat stress and anxiety, she can help with both. There’s nothing more soothing than curling up next to her after a stressful day; in fact, she’s lying next to me now, purring away, and I feel quite relaxed.

Some universities now, however, are debating whether students should be allowed to have their pets on campus, in the dorms.

In fact, students are even suing schools who have denied these requests, stating that animals are treatments for disabilities — namely anxiety and depression — and that banning them constitutes discrimination. Critics argue that pets pose risks: They may cause allergies, they can spread diseases and they can act out aggressively. I don’t know about all of these criticisms, but I take issue with the premise of keeping a pet to help with anxiety. Scone sure is cute, but when she got fleas this past month, it didn’t make me less anxious. In fact, it stressed me out of my mind.

Pets are responsibility, and responsibility is a cause of stress — just something to keep in mind if you decide to start lobbying the school or keeping a pet on the down-low.

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

A&E

the Rice Thresher

11

CONCERTS The making of feature film “Clinger”: A labor of love 0 from page 8 Ryan Lee

For the Thresher

Not many of us can relate a personal experience to a visit from the undead. On the other hand, the haunting persistence of an obsessive first love, undead or otherwise, hits everyone close to home. This is the premise of “Clinger,” an upcoming film co-created by Rice alumna Gabi Chennisi Duncombe (Wiess ’12). As the title suggests, “Clinger” is about an overly attached boyfriend who dies in a tragic accident, only to return to the land of the living bent on killing his now-ex-girlfriend in the hopes of a posthumous reunion. The film made its debut earlier this year at Slamdance Festival.

“Clinger” is the passion project of Gabi Chennisi Duncombe, Michael Steves and Bubba Fish. Duncombe worked on the film as co-writer and director of photography, and her filmography includes “Babushka,” a documentary on the lives of elderly Russian women living in Kazakhstan. “Clinger” stars Jennifer Laporte and Vincent Martella as the two leads, and the entire film was shot in Houston.

The making of “Clinger” in and of itself is a story that belongs in an inspirational biopic.

Three high school pals pledge to one day create a feature film together, split off to their respective colleges, and, four years later, find themselves fulfilling their pact right where it all began: their old high school. In hindsight, reunion seems inevitable.

While Fish went to college in the East Coast, Steves headed for the West and Duncombe herself had not intended a film career when she began at Rice. Although filmmaking has been a childhood passion of hers since elementary school, Duncombe maintained her desire to go into medicine throughout her first semester of college.

Eventually, however, she changed her mind.

“The thing that I’ve been wanting to do my whole life was film,” Duncombe said. “I did a lot of soul searching.”

A central theme throughout the production process of “Clinger” was the tight-knit relationship between the three friends. Nothing was done in isolation. The trio utilized an alternat-

ing system of writing, where they interchanged roles between one of two writers collaborating on a draft, while the third polished and critiqued that draft.

“You need someone removed from the process to really tell you what’s bad,” Duncombe said. “It was nice actually working with friends because … we could say, ‘This doesn’t work’ without getting mad at each other.”

The filming process also benefited from a healthy rapport between Duncombe and her co-workers. “What was unique about ‘Clinger’ [was that] if there was a scene that wasn’t working, we would just pause shooting for 10 minutes,” Duncombe said. “And the three of us would just go into a room and try and fix [it].”

Rice students should be excited that “Clinger” is recognizably Houstonian and was made possible by the local community. She compares the warm reception of the Houston support to the jaded response of Angelenos. “For ‘Clinger’ it was definitely smarter to shoot in Houston because there’s so many people who were helping out free of charge,” Duncombe said.

“In [Los Angeles], [this] never would happen.”

St. John’s School, located just two miles from Rice, provided the “Clinger” team free access to its grounds, which serviced a major portion of the film. The communal hospitality worked both ways as well. Will Rice College freshman Priyanka Jain was a student at St. John’s School when she interned as a production assistant for “Clinger.” She noted that she felt included as part of the team.

“Normally when you are an intern it seems like you’re not very involved on set and it’s not the vibe I got,” Jain said. “[For example,] there are a lot of handcrafted decorations in a scene that … everybody spent hours working on … so you’re really involved in all of the aspects in the film.”

As with any fledging indie, the limited budget presented a challenge, yet Duncombe and her collaborators managed to work around financial obstacles and were even able to allow these restrictions to function as an outlet for creativity. In fact, the framing of the premise was in part inspired by the team’s small budget.

“We wanted to write a story that was enhanced by being low budget instead of stretching our budget way too thin,” Duncombe said.

“So it was supposed to be campy — the effects were reminiscent of the ’80s.”

With a limited budget comes a narrow margin for error, and the daily supply of crises never ceased to end. At one point, the team learned that one of the filming locations they were initially promised was denied to them on the day before shooting.

If anything, “Clinger” is a labor of love. It is labor in that it demands the sweat and blood of its crew and creators.

“When you don’t have a big budget you can’t just pay to fix a problem,” Duncombe said. “We had to figure another way out …

It was just madness all the time.” She mentioned that sometimes these problems could be solved in the script before they escalated during production, but other times they were simply unavoidable.

If anything, “Clinger” is a labor of love. It is labor in that it demands the sweat and blood of its crew and creators, or more specifically, the copious amount of Vincent Martella’s arterial blood that showers from some unhinged human sprinkler. Yet, it also epitomizes love in how we find ourselves drawn to the community that supports us, not unlike a first love. Watch “Clinger” for its heart, and if not that, then watch it for Jennifer Laporte’s delivery of: “It’s a ghost laser — it lasers ghosts.” The theatrical release of “Clinger” will be Oct. 23 at the Alamo Drafthouse Vintage Park. The Rice Media Center will hold a screening on Oct. 22.

Who: Mac Demarco Where: Warehouse Live When: Oct. 18, 8 p.m.

Tickets: $22 general admission on ticketfly.com Expect to hear quirky, guitar-based tracks from singer/songwriter Mac Demarco. His latest album “Another One” came out Aug. 7.

Who: Oddisee, The Good Fight World Tour Where: House of Blues When: Oct. 27, 8 p.m.

Tickets: $19.33 on livenation.com DC-based hip-hop rapper and producer Oddisee stands out in hip-hop world for his insightful and relatable lyrics backed by quality production reminiscent of A Tribe Called Quest. Be sure to listen to his April release “The Good Fight,” which will be featured on the tour.

0 COFFEE from page 9 tart. Siphon’s vibes have definitely mellowed; the espresso machine’s whirring less. I think everyone’s about that drip coffee at this time of the day. I keep staring at a breathtaking view of the parking lot.

6:21 p.m. I’m slowly dying. My mom just called me and I explained this project to her.

She was horror-struck at first because why on earth would anyone spend a beautiful Saturday living a coffee hermit life? But talking to her has somewhat revived me. I’m starving for human interaction again.

6:38 p.m. I’m bored but restless; Macklemore’s new song “Downtown” is playing in my head. Tiramisu, tiramisu. I’m so ready to leave. This level of noise is optimal though — a bit of a hum, occasional clinks and clatters.

A sweet couple asked me to move down one chair and I wonder if the woman feels apprehensive about sitting on a pre-warmed seat.

7:00 p.m. It’s a tundra in here. My fingers are gradually numbing. I even put on a fleece jacket. Word to the wise, always bring a sweater or jacket to a coffee shop.

7:30 p.m. The sky is dimming as Siphon’s lights grow brighter. My hand feels like a dementor’s. The couple next to me really needs to stop kissing. What is it about coffee shops and PDA? 7:40 p.m. Ed Sheeran is playing in Siphon? Time to rejoice. But everyone’s brows here are furrowed in focus, headphones plugged in. Also my phone is miraculously still alive.

7:45 p.m. Oh heavens, finally. It’s time to bounce. This rounds up to 12 hours, right? I’m off to Chipotle.

Some final thoughts: 1. Coffee shops somehow create a need for PDA. 2. You can drink only so much coffee in one day before you crash and burn.

3. Outlets are guarded like the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London.

4. Workout gear makes you look instantly impressive.

5. There are baristas who can spell your name correctly.

6. Lots of people will not budge from their seats.

7. No one wants to sit next to each other unless it’s a last resort.

8. Coffee shop ambiance is like music with lots of crescendoes — peak crowds occur after optimal mealtimes and gradually die down just to increase again.

9. Leave at some point.

12 Football suffers loss to Western Kentucky Aniket Tolpadi Thresher Staff

sean chu/thresher

Junior defender Jenny Fichera clears a ball during a 1-2 loss against Florida Atlantic University. Senior defender Jasmine Isokpunwu sent in a game-tying goal with two seconds remaining in the game to send the game to overtime, where Rice fell 3-2. Rice is now 6-5-1 on the season and 2-2 in C-USA.

Soccer splits weekend matches at home Michael Kidd Thresher Staff

The Rice University soccer team played two consecutive matches at home for the first time since Sept. 6. The Owls either tied or broke a school record in each game resulting in an exciting weekend of games.

On Friday night’s 4-2 victory over Florida International University, senior forward Lauren Hughes registered three assists, tying a school record. In Sunday’s matchup against Florida Atlantic University, Rice was trailing 2-1 leading up to the final moments of the match. In a frenzied finish, Rice tied the game at the 89:58 mark of the match, just two seconds from the final whistle for what became the latest goal in Rice history. However, Rice eventually lost in double overtime 3-2.

The Owls are currently 6-5-1 (2-2 in C-USA) on the season.

At the 1:21 mark of the first half, Hughes drove in a ball to sophomore Nia Stallings who secured a touch and put it past the keep-

er into the back of the net to open up the scoring. After FIU tied the match up in the 19th minute of play, the Owls quickly responded with a goal in the 21st minute. Junior transfer midfielder Madeleine Lundberg fired in a shot from just inside the 18-yard box to reclaim the lead for Rice. Following halftime, Rice scored again to make it 3-1 on Hughes’s third consecutive assist. The scoring for the afternoon was complete in the 58th minute when Hughes scored a goal of her own to give her six on the season to put the game away for Rice. The four goals scored were not only by four different players but were more goals than Rice had scored in their previous four road games combined. The Owls held on for a 4-2 final.

The Sunday matchup featured a battle of the two Owls squads in Conference USA. Rice delivered the first blow in the 30th minute of the match. Freshman forward Marissa Topolski navigated her way around a defender on the outside of the box and fired in a low cross to senior midfielder Danielle Spriggs who

had the easy tap-in right in front of goal for her second goal on the weekend. FAU then responded by scoring two goals in the 34th and 39th minute of the match to take a 2-1 lead into halftime. Rice played the entire second half looking for the equalizing goal and outshot FAU 14-5 but continued to come up empty. As the stadium announcer counted down from 10 seconds to the final buzzer, Rice was busy trying to redirect a bouncing ball into the net. After multiple deflections from players on both teams and a shot by Hughes, senior defender Jasmine Isokpunwu fired it home with two seconds remaining in the game to stun FAU. In the 99th minute of the match, Rice looked like they had the game-winning goal on a put-back shot by Hughes, but an offside call negated the goal and sent the game into a second overtime where FAU would score and hand Rice the 3-2 loss.

Head Coach Nicky Adams said she credits the execution of the game plan and the play 0see Soccer, page 14

Playing at home for the first time in a month, the Rice University football team was defeated by sixth-year senior quarterback Brandon Doughty and Western Kentucky University, snapping a five-game home winning streak and dropping the Owls to 2-3 (1-1) on the season in a 49-10 loss.

The Hilltoppers got the ball to open the game and the Owls’ defense promptly forced a three-and-out, after which Rice would march down the field and strike first with a field goal. The lead, however, was short-lived. Western Kentucky would go on to score four touchdowns on its next five possessions, while the Owls’ next five drives yielded two punts, two lost fumbles and an interception.

A game with a promising beginning quickly turned awry for the home team.

By the time redshirt senior quarterback Driphus Jackson was benched in the second quarter in favor of junior backup Tyler Stehling, the team trailed 28-3 and would do little the rest of the game to decrease the deficit.

In the first-ever meeting between the Conference USA schools, Rice was outgained in total yardage, possessed the ball four minutes fewer than the Hilltoppers, and gained nine fewer first downs than their opponent. While the Owls were unable to force a turnover, they committed five of their own, off of which Western Kentucky scored 21 points. The Rice defense faced an NFL-caliber quarterback for the second straight week, and proved not to be up to the task again. Doughty threw for 409 yards and four touchdowns in a typically strong performance.

Head Coach David Bailiff, who expressed concern following last week’s 7017 loss to Baylor University about putting the big loss behind his team, said his team was not ready to play the Hilltoppers, and took the blame for it.

“We didn’t play very [well] today, and that’s on me,” Bailiff said. “I didn’t have those guys ready to go. It’s my job to make sure the offense is ready, the defense is ready, and the special teams is ready.”

According to Bailiff, the Owls’ turnovers and poor tackling on defense exemplified unusually poor play, and that the team would need to return to form soon.

“We have more turnovers already this year than all of last season,” Bailiff said.

“We’ve got to stop that. We have to tackle defensively. We’ve had more missed tackles in the last two games than in the first three. The formula for success has always been take care of the football, get points at the end of drives offensively — we’re not doing that. You just can’t win football games this way.”

In years past, the Owls have gained a reputation as a disciplined team that does not commit many penalties. Bailiff said this year’s team has not been playing like it has in recent years.

“We had eight penalties, and that’s not who we are,” Bailiff said. “We’ve been one of the least penalized teams in Conference USA since I’ve been here. Some of them were late. We need to work on those. It’s not who we are, and it’s not how we’re going to do this.”

According to Bailiff, spectators should not to read too much into his decision to bench Jackson after the quarterback turned the ball over on consecutive drives in the second quarter.

“I was just trying to stimulate the offense,” Bailiff said. “Driphus [Jackson] is our starter. He’ll be right back here as our starting quarterback. [Benching Jackson] was just to rally the troops and throw the ball down the field.”

Rice will next face Florida Atlantic Uni0see Football, page 14

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

SPORTS

the Rice Thresher

13

Baseball announces 2016 schedule Andrew Grottkau Thresher Staff

Seeking their 21st consecutive conference championship, the Rice University baseball team has begun their fall training and have announced their season schedule. According to the Owls’ newly released 2016 schedule, they will open their season with a home game against the University of Arizona on Feb. 16. That will be the first of 54 regular season games, 31 of which will be at Reckling Park.

Rice will begin its slate of Conference USA games on March 18 in San Antonio against the University of Texas, San Antonio. They will then play a three-game series against conference foes Old Dominion University, Middle Tennessee State University, the University of Alabama, Birmingham, Western Kentucky University, the University of Southern Mississippi and the University of North Carolina, Charlotte.

The Owls will face off against defending Conference USA champion Florida International University May 6-8 in Miami before playing Florida Atlantic University, which ranked No. 24 in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll at the end of last season. Rice will finish conference play with a three-game series against Louisiana Tech University May 19-21.

According to senior pitcher Blake Fox, the Owls cannot overlook their conference schedule despite the limited number of nationally ranked teams.

“You’ve got to give credit to our conference,” Fox said. “We definitely have some teams that are tough opponents and we’ve seen that in the past.”

Strong opponents will come from both inside and outside Conference USA. The Owls will take on seven different teams that ranked in the top 25 of the USA Today Coaches’ Poll at the end of the 2015 season. The first of those games will come on Feb. 23 against Dallas Baptist University, which finished the 2015 season ranked No. 17 in the country and qualified for the NCAA tournament for the fourth time in the past five years. Then, beginning on Feb. 26, the Owls will take part in the Minute Maid Classic held at Minute Maid Park, home

of the Houston Astros. During this event, they will play three opponents that were ranked last season: the University of Arkansas, Texas Christian University and University of Louisiana, Lafayette.

Senior infielder Grayson Lewis said many of the players are especially excited to play Louisiana-Lafayette because the Ragin’ Cajuns eliminated the Owls from the NCAA tournament regionals last season.

“We definitely owe Louisiana-Lafayette a little something after regionals,” Lewis said.

Rice will begin its annual series against the University of Houston with a game at Cougar Field on March 22. The Owls will play Houston two more times, on May 10 and 17. The Cougars ranked No. 23 in the coaches’ poll at the end of the 2015 season with a record of 43-20, but the Owls eliminated them from the NCAA tournament with a 3-2 win in 20 innings. Houston, however, won last season’s regular season series over Rice two games to one. According to Fox, the games against Houston will be some of the most fun for him as a player.

“Just because of the way the [Houston] games went last year, I’m definitely looking forward to those games,” Fox said. “I’d say those games are the ones I’m looking forward to most.”

Rice will finish its slate of games against last year’s top 25 with matchups against Texas A&M University on April 5 and conference foe FAU in mid-May. Other non-conference opponents include Texas State University, Sam Houston State University, the University of Central Florida, Lamar University and East Carolina University. While the schedule is long and full of highly ranked opponents, the players feel optimistic. When asked about his hopes for the season, senior infielder Connor Teykl said only two words.

“Obviously, Omaha,” Teykl said, referencing the city that hosts the College World Series.

The Owls will hope to make a trip to the College World Series for the first time since 2008.

While the regular season does not start until February, Rice’s journey to Omaha has already begun. The Owls will play an exhibition game against Lamar, one of their 2016 opponents, on Saturday, Oct. 17 at Reckling Park.

nicholas mcmillan/thresher

RFND: Go Owls!

Freshman flyer Alexa Davidson soars during a cheerleading routine at Rice football’s 49-10 loss against Western Kentucky University. Rice’s cheerleading and dance teams appear at every home football game. The next home football game is Saturday, Oct. 24 against Army.

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14 SPORTS

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

the Rice Thresher

0from SOCCER page 12

sean chu/thresher

Redshirt freshman running back Samuel Stewart evades a gang tackle during a 49-10 loss against Western Kentucky University. Stewart recorded 60 yards on 11 carries, and now has 282 yards on the year. The loss dropped the Owls to 2-3 on the season and evened their Conference USA record to 1-1.

0from FOOTBALL page 12 versity, who are 1-3 overall, but 1-0 in Conference USA play. The two teams last faced off in 2013, when Rice was able to pull out an 18-14 home victory. While FAU redshirt senior quarterback Jaquez Johnson sustained an injury in the team’s second game

of the season, FAU boasts a pair of running backs in sophomore Greg Howell and junior Jay Warren that average above five yards per carry.

Following the loss to Western Kentucky, Bailiff said the team needs to turn the page and focus on winning out the remainder of the schedule.

“We have to get better,” Bailiff said. “We

have great seniors in here and we have some great leaders on this team. We’re not going to let it go the wrong way; it’s not going to happen. There’s nobody left on our schedule that we can’t beat. We’re going to expect winning, and it’s what’s going to get done.”

The Owls will look to halt their two-game losing streak in a road matchup against FAU at 1:30 p.m. in Boca Raton, Florida.

of her forwards up top to the victory on Friday night.

“I thought we had a great game plan going into it,” Adams said. “Lauren [Hughes], Nia [Stallings] and [senior forward Holly Hargreaves] up top were amazing for us. [Hughes] with three assists just shows what a dynamic player she is where she can score goals and can also put people in front of goals.”

Adams said the last-second goal represents the essence of her team.

“We outshot them 14-5 [in the second half] which is really tremendous,” Adams said. “We knew a goal was going to come but it was just a matter of time. It just shows the character of those girls … how amazing they are and their commitment to this team and to the game itself.”

Lundberg, a transfer from the Air Force Academy, said all the goals scored originate from team effort.

“For me, it’s all a clean state [being at Rice],” Lundberg said. “I’m out there with my teammates and we’re working together so well to the point it shows in our scoring. The goals were 100 percent team effort which is the way it should be.”

Spriggs, a team captain for the 2015 season, has started in 45 of the last 47 games for the Owls. She said the perseverance shown by her team to fight down to the final second in Sunday’s match will benefit the team as they look ahead to two road games this upcoming week.

“I think our resilience showed that our team is a team that’s not going to shy away when down a goal or when things get tough,” Spriggs said. “That’s something that is going to help us as we move forward in the season.”

The Owls will head back on the road for the next two games to face Old Dominion University and the University of North Carolina, Charlotte in more C-USA competition.

On Friday night, Rice will face an ODU team coming off a weekend of two rain-suspended matches. Rice will then face Charlotte, who were on the losing end of back-to-back 1-0 games this weekend.

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

the Rice Thresher

SPORTS

15

16 BACKPAGE

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

the Rice Thresher

MIDTERM RECESS: TIPS AND TRICKS

We know it can be confusing and scary to think that you’ll be away from everything you love about Rice for so long. But don’t worry: Fondren, classes, serveries and midterms will all still be here when you get back, so go out and enjoy yourself! We’ve made this helpful flow chart to consult before your separation anxiety sets in.

:Ūŭŭ źŰŜ ţŌ ŴžŢźŪůŨ Űů ŤŢŎŹŜŴ"

YES

Do you handle loneliness well?

OH YEAH

You’re in luck! Get ready for some quality “you� time. Make sure you’ve got your roommate’s Netflix password if you haven’t already, and be sure to stock up on lotion, tissues and ice cubes.

NO

What are your thoughts on using one of Houston’s premiere escort services?

127 '2:1

'2:1

PAPA DON’T PLAY THAT GAME

Grab your swim trunks, a boom box and your crew. Hit the fountain outside the Baker Institute and have a beach day! Or, for the more adventurous types, consider taking a late-night skinny dip.

YOU BETCHA

NOPE

The Backpage oers a historical rooftop tour of Rice. See the famous sites like Dell Butcher, the supposedly haunted Fondren roof and the scenic roof of Brown. (They say on a clear night you can see all the way to chez Leebron!) We meet at Willy’s Statue on the second Wednesday of every other month. (Check Yik Yak for details.)

How hard do you YOLO? (How comfortable are you with the risk of rustication?)

620(:+$7 HARD

So you’re going to ACL?

Are you afraid of heights?

Email thirsty@rice.edu for promotional oers.

NOT VERY HARD

NO

Ha, nerd.

YEEE

Are you sure?

FUCK IT, YOU’RE RIGHT

NO

HARD AF

The steam tunnels are great for exploring. Make sure to bring water (it can get hot), bread crumbs (to find your way out) and lotion, tissues and ice cubes. (You know the drill.)

If you’re going to do the music festival scene, make sure you do it right. Fellas get your tanks, and gals don’t forget those flower crowns! And remember, Facebook and Instagram exist for a reason. Seeing your favorite band?

Post it! In line for a $7 grilled cheese?

Post away! #KeepAustinWeird

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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BUSINESS STUDENT UNDERGRAD RU *UDG Small business in Rice Village needing a parttime bookkeeper (3-5) hours weekly for quickbooks. Must be tech savvy to download files to support accounting. Pls email or text Debbi at debbibrod@gmail.com or 713-705-6262.

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