The Rice Thresher | Wednesday, January 20, 2016

VOLUME 100, ISSUE NO. 15 | STUDENT-RUN SINCE 1916 | RICETHRESHER.ORG | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2016

Rice: a start-up school?

Rice is selling itself as a startup school – but should we?

see Ops p. 6 #Oscars SoWhite Lack of diversity in Oscars hurts the Academy

see A&E p. 7 Marcus the Usurper Evans beats out “future Lebron James” in scoring

see Sports p. 9

Task force seeks honor system input Elizabeth Myong and Drew Keller For the Thresher and News Editor

The Faculty Senate Task Force on the Honor System will hold student focus groups this week as part of its ongoing effort to evaluate and recommend changes for the implementation of Rice University’s Honor Code.

The Task Force will use the focus groups to help gather information as part of a yearlong process, which also included an online survey given to faculty and students at the end of the fall semester, according to Dean of Undergraduates John Hutchinson, who co-chairs the Task Force.

The Faculty Senate unanimously created the task force, which includes faculty, undergraduate students and Hutchinson, at its public meeting last April in response to concerns about whether students were abiding by the Honor Code. The Senate’s speaker, James Weston, said it had been a long time since the effectiveness of the honor system had been assessed.

“The honor code working group was deliberately created as a completely collaborative group with the participation of the administration, faculty, Honor Council and Student Association,” Hutchinson said.

While the number of reported Honor Code violations has been relatively constant even as the student population has increased, surveys have shown a decline in the confidence of the student body that the honor code is being followed, according to Hutchinson. One area in which violations have increased is in courses involving computer programming, where Hutchinson said student sharing of code and access of online code have led to plagiarism.

Alex Byrd, a professor of history and the other co-chair of the task force, said major structural changes to the honor system are 0see HONOR , page 4

photo courtesy jeff fitlow, rice media

Honoring Dr. King

The Black Student Association held its annual vigil for Martin Luther King, Jr. outside Sewall Hall with a special focus on the 50th anniversary of black students matriculating at Rice. See “MLK vigil marks 50 years of integrated admissions” on p. 2.

Rice Rally recommended for blanket tax, other clubs show financial issues Anita Alem

ganizations that request to receive blanket tax status.

News Editor

The Blanket Tax Committee will recommend to the Student Association Senate that Rice Rally be placed on the ballot so voters may decide whether or not to designate it as a blanket tax organization that will receive student funds. Rice University Splash, Rice Environmental Society and the Queer Resource Center did not receive BTC recommendations but will present at SA Senate as well. The Rice Standard and Catalyst are still undergoing review, according to SA Treasurer Sai Chilakapati.

Under the new blanket tax process implemented last year, the BTC is responsible for reviewing existing blanket tax organizations annually as well as recommending or-

Increasing overall school spirit has been a huge personal goal.

Jeremy Reiskind Rice Rally President

“Fundamentally, our role is to ensure that student blanket tax dol-

Each club was evaluated on four criteria:

STUDENT FUNDS REQUESTS

1

Requested funds would contribute to organization’s mission, purpose and goals

2

Requested funds would benefit the student body and the Rice community

3

lars are being spent appropriately,” Lovett College President and committee member Griffin Thomas said.

Chilakapati, a Hanszen College junior, said the organizations that applied were evaluated based on several criteria, including: whether the requested funds would contribute to the organization’s mission, and whether that mission benefits the student body and Rice community, whether the organization has a strong financial need, if all other reasonable means of acquiring funding have been exhausted and whether the organization’s financial need is long-term and annual. According to Chilakapati, only Rice Rally met all of these requirements.

Rice Rally President Jeremy Reiskind said he was thankful for all the board members who had worked for the past two years to grow the club, as

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All other reasonable means of acquiring funding have been exhausted

Organization’s financial need is long-term and annual

well as the students who attend athletic events to engage in the club’s activities.

“I was super excited and honored when I was informed about Rally Club being recommended to Senate to become a Blanket Tax Organization,” Reiskind, a Duncan College junior, said. “Working on increasing overall school spirit has been a huge personal goal of mine, and this is a huge step in that process.”

Chilakapati said Rice Rally does not currently receive funding from Rice Athletics and relies primarily on Student Activities/President’s Programming, or SAPP funds.

A strong financial need does not necessarily have to entail a sizeable budget, according to Chilakapati. “[The requirement of] a strong financial need is [about] whether they can function as they are now with re0see BLANKET, page 4

CLUBS RECOMMENDED FOR FUNDING Rice Rally CLUBS NOT RECOMMENDED Rice Environmental Society RU Splash Queer Resource Center

Trustee to stay after ethics investigation Miles Kruppa Senior Editor

Despite his ouster as CEO of United Airlines over a breach of ethics, Jeff Smisek is staying on with the Rice University Board of Trustees.

Smisek resigned from the company last September after a Department of Justice investigation into claims that he bribed the Port Authority of New Jersey and New York.

In exchange for expensive improvements to United’s hub in Newark, Smisek reopened an unprofitable flight from Newark to Columbia, SC, a 50-mile drive from the Port Authority chairman’s vacation home.

Smisek’s profile on the Board of Trustees webpage listed his affiliation as “United Airlines” following the ouster. His current profile does

not make any reference to United and lists his location as “Houston.”

“Jeff Smisek remains a member of the Rice Board of Trustees,” Rice spokesperson BJ Almond wrote in an email.

The 25-person governing board serves as a check on President David Leebron’s administrative powers and approves the university’s annual budget, among other administrative duties. Smisek was elected to the board of trustees in June 2013.

New trustees are elected to four-year terms that may be renewed for up to two six-year terms.

Smisek’s wife, Diana Strassmann, is director of the Poverty, Justice, and Human Capabilities minor and founder of the Rice-based journal Feminist Economics.

An article in the Jan. 18 issue of Bloomberg Businessweek detailed

United’s woes under Smisek’s leadership following their merger with Continental Airlines. Smisek had previously served as CEO of Continental.

“Three months after being named [Continental’s] CEO, in January 2010, he interrupted merger talks between United and US Airways to propose Continental as a better partner. ‘I didn’t want him to marry the ugly girl,’ Smisek said of Glenn Tilton, then United’s CEO, a comment for which Smisek apologized to US Airways CEO Doug Parker, who now runs American,” the article said.

The article also detailed Smisek’s interactions within United following the merger.

“People who worked closely with Smisek describe him as funny and extremely smart but also reserved and, on occasion, tone-deaf. One

Jeff Smisek former Continental colleague remembers Smisek getting up from the table after a meeting with pilots union representatives and immediately pulling on the leather gloves he used to drive his Porsche,” the article said.

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NEWS

the Rice Thresher

wednesday, January 20, 2016

MLK vigil marks 50 years of integrated admissions Anita Alem News Editor

The Rice Black Student Association held its annual vigil for Martin Luther King, Jr. with a special focus on the 50th anniversary of black students matriculating at Rice. The program, entitled “Dreamers and Doers — Acknowledging the Collective Work of Community As We Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Black Undergraduates at Rice” included a candlelight vigil followed by performances, speeches, including one by Provost Marie Lynn Miranda, and a reception.

Martel College junior AJ Barnes said he attended the event not only to support his friends who helped organize and participate in it, but also to recognize the major milestone that he felt was not so long ago at all.

“The vigil was a time to honor, remember and reflect on a movement that we (students) did not experience but whose legacy we do,” Barnes said. “The vigil made me think about issues related to race, especially representation in higher education, and how as a Rice student I can engage and educate myself more in these issues.”

A group of about 40 students, faculty and community members participated in the vigil outside Sewall Hall on the night of Jan. 17.

After the circle of individuals lit candles and reflected on Rice’s past, King’s legacy and the presence of black students on campus today, the student group Melodius Voices of Praise led the attendees inside to the sound of “Keep Your Eyes on the Prize.” The song gained popularity in the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s.

Martel College sophomore Keanu Mitanga, a student at the Shepherd School of Music, performed the spiritual “Deep River” at the commencement of the event. Association of Rice University Black Alumni President Akilah Mance (Jones ’05) spoke of the importance of

the day, especially to her personally while growing up in Atlanta, GA, King’s hometown.

“Year after year, we pause to contemplate how we can take the lessons of Dr. King and use them to make a more inclusive campus, city and society,” Mance said. “As we reflect on Dr. King’s legacy, let us remember that his work, along with so many others’ work, paved the way for us to sit at a university like Rice 50 years ago, and now today.”

Former BSA President Rebecca Isaac (McMurtry ’12), who now works in science education, said she hoped students would remember to never give up on their journeys, and remember the value of being at Rice.

Miranda, who was asked to speak on how she has embraced the goals of those in the civil rights movement to further justice in her community, reflected on her links to Rosa Parks, and what Parks represents.

“When I think of the civil rights movement and all the work that went into it, I [find] myself constantly asking the question: Would I have had the courage, would I have been able to work hard enough in those difficult times in the 1950s and 1960s?” Miranda said. “And I think the answer to that question every time I ask it is I’m not sure.”

Miranda, who attended college on a Rosa Parks Scholarship, said she has tried to and continues to work towards shaping a more inclusive, diverse, tolerant and loving environment in higher education. She ended her speech with a quote from King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”

Alumna Pretta Stallworth, a consultant and Adjunct Professor of Business at Belhaven University, ended the night with a reminder to rise to the call of action. “[Even with] the fear of getting involved, the fear of being afraid of what people might think, the fear of a lack of knowledge and even the fear of success … Go forward,” Stallworth said.

frankie huang/thresher

Look to the future

HTC showcases their Vive VR headsets, which allow users to experience virtual worlds, in Farnsworth Pavillion. Rice is the 21st campus on HTC’s college tour.

Network update improves speed, security Sydney garrett Thresher Staff

Nine of the residential colleges’ wired networks were upgraded over winter break to a more advanced system that will provide better security, called Identity Service Engine. The other two colleges, Duncan and McMurtry, had previously been upgraded this summer as part of a pilot program, according to William Deigaard, director of networking, telecommunications and data centers. These changes do not affect the current wireless network.

“For now, this really is just an upgrade of our older network registration system,” Deigaard said. “ISE makes it possible to deploy newer services like a game console network, and we are considering development of this in the future.”

No changes were made to the wireless network, so only students who directly plug their computer or gaming console into the network port in their room will be affected. These students will be required to re-register their computers, Deigaard said.

In addition to providing better security, ISE will make it possible to provide different levels of access to different devices, Deigaard said.

“Many gaming consoles want or need to have a direct, public connection,” Deigaard said. “Doing this, however, can create a security risk for other uses of the network. The ISE system provides mechanisms that can place game consoles into one network while placing computers into another, more secure network.”

This upgrade is part of the migration of the university’s network to RiceNet3, a major overhaul that has been in progress, Deigaard said.

“Performance is improved by the fact that every college network switch now has an uplink to the campus at 20 GB/s versus RiceNet2’s 2 GB/s,” Deigaard said. “[Also,] campus power outages will no longer disrupt the campus network. If you have a laptop or mobile device with a battery, you can stay online even when the lights blink.”

wednesday, January 20, 2016

NEWS

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New office space, parking garage to be built south of Allen Center Andrew Ligeralde Assistant News Editor

South Lovett Lot, which has been closed since Dec. 21, will give way to a new office building and parking garage located to the south of the Allen Center. The Allen Center, which houses the Cashier’s Office, Office of the Registrar and the President’s Office, will remain open throughout the duration of the project.

The new office is projected to open by the beginning of summer 2017. The parking garage is expected to open by the end of summer 2017.

The office building, designed by architecture firm Kieran Timberlake, is comprised of six stories and has enough space to accommodate 295 offices. The currently unnamed building will feature a modern exterior with protrusions to allow for natural lighting.

Kieran Timberlake also designed the LEED-certified and award-winning Brockman Hall for Physics in 2011. The contractor for the project, JE Dunn, also led the renovation work on Herring Hall.

Vice president for administration Kevin Kirby, who oversees design and construction around campus, said the new building will fulfill a need for office space.

“We’re completely out of office space,” Kirby said. “We’re currently vacating two facilities which cost us a lot of money.”

According to Kirby, the new building will feature first-floor conference rooms, which are also intended to provide another study space for students after hours.

Attached to the east side of the office building, the seven level parking garage will house 496 parking spaces, compared to the 114 space South Lovett Lot. The exterior will feature images of fig leafs on large plastic sheets, which wrap around the garage and connect it to the rear of the building. According to Kirby, the garage will accommodate employees and visitors who come for special events.

“We have a long waiting list of people who want to park in that part of the campus,” Kirby said.

According to Kirby, the garage will also be open to students after 5 p.m. and on the weekends.

Entrance 3 is also under renovation to reduce traffic congestion near Main Street. Until its reopening, the entrance will remain open only to emergency vehicles, and the sidewalk connecting the entrance to College Way will remain open for pedestrians. Additionally, the South College Parking Lot will only be accessible via Entrance 4 on Main Street.

courtesy rice public affairs

A concept of an addition to the Allen Center, along with a new parking garage, due to replace south Lovett parking lot after construction finishes in August 2017.

Until the project is completed, the Parking Office will designate other lots around campus for employees who previously parked in the South Lovett Lot. Lovett College senior Nirali Desai said the building project, while inconvenient, is ultimately worth the trouble.

“I think that a parking facility is something that Rice needs,” Desai said. “The construction of a parking lot isn’t going to be

pretty or silent, but in the long run it could solve a lot of problems related to parking capacity.”

However, Desai is apprehensive that the building might detract from the campus’ aesthetics.

“Much of Rice’s appeal comes from its natural beauty, which is one thing that the addition of another building is taking away from,” Desai said.

NEWS IN BRIEF Language certificate program to end, replacement in development Emily Abdow — For The Thresher The Center for Languages and Intercultural Communications is phasing out its Certificate in Language and Cultural Competency, according to a CLIC announcement.

The certificate, which required two 300-level courses in a chosen language, one study abroad program and a CLIC test, is not compatible with new efforts

by Rice University to approve certificates through a formal procedure.

Students working to earn the old certificate must have matriculated before fall 2014 and completed all requirements

by April 2016 for it to remain valid.

CLIC is currently working to receive recognition for a new Certificate of Language and Intercultural Communication from the Committee on Undergraduate Curriculum and the Faculty Senate, according to the announcement.

More information about the requirements for the new certificate will be forthcoming in March 2016.

Critical Thinking in Sexuality task force adds three members

Ryan Saathoff

Ethan Perez

Elana Margosis — Thresher Staff

courtesy pranav bhat

Hydrate or Die

A volunteer prepares water for Chevron Houston Marathon competitors.

The marathon, which had portions around the Outer Loop, occurred Sunday morning with 27,000 registered for the marathon and half-marathon.

The Student Association approved three new members to its Critical Thinking in Sexuality Task Force, which is working to develop a mandatory class for incoming freshmen, during the Dec. 2 Senate meeting.

The task force believes the new members will bring diverse views to the group, according to a presentation at the meeting. The group was created by an SA Senate bill after a contentious vote in November.

New member Ryan Saathoff, a Jones College senior, is from a conservative town, according to the presentation.

Bridget Schilling

Ethan Perez, a Weiss College sophomore and the second new member, hopes to bring a religious perspective to the group to ensure that members of religious and conservative communities will be comfortable in the class.

Bridget Schilling, a Lovett College junior and the third new member, is the volunteer coordinator at the Women’s Resource Center and a member of the interfaith Boniuk Council.

More information about the task force members, as well as the task force’s plans and updates, will be available on a website to be launched later this month, according to task force member and Brown College junior James Carter.

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NEWS

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wednesday, January 20, 2016

Rice Hackathon delves into politics, medicine Maurice Friediere Thresher Staff

College students from across the country participated in Rice’s annual hackathon, HackRice, over the three-day weekend. The 36-hour event ran from 9 p.m. on Friday night until 9 a.m. on Sunday morning, during which teams coded their projects.

The 2016 edition of HackRice was the biggest so far, growing from fewer than 250 students in 2015 to nearly 400 in 2016. The competition also lengthened from 24 to 36 hours and drew students from more than 25 universities.

Projects ranged from humanitarian to humorous and covered issues from addressing Alzheimer’s disease to converting Python into a Donald Trump-only language.

Lovett College freshman Matthew Mutammara and his team aimed to create a safer path for funds travelling from the United States to Somalia. This issue has become more pronounced as terrorist groups have begun intercepting funds and using them to finance their operations.

“A lot of times people who travel to the U.S. from Somalia or move to the U.S. from Somalia will be sending money back to their relatives to help their family out,” Mutammara said.

“Recently there have been a lot of restrictions on that because money is being used to go to terrorist groups like Al-Shabab. Our solution to that is to allow people in places like the

0BLANKET FROM PAGE 1 gards to the sources of money they’re using,” Chilakapati said. “Do they have a strong financial need to function on a day to day basis?”

According to Chilakapati, the QRC did not demonstrate a long-term and annual financial need, as well as a complete investigation of other sources of funds, and attributed some of the financial ambiguity to the relative youth of the organization, which was founded last year.

“QRC obviously does provide a valuable service to the student body, but we need to take in all of these other factors when coming to our decision,” Chilakapati said.

Chilakapati also said he felt the QRC could seek for financial aid from the Wellbeing Office, which the organization has not yet pursued. QRC was created with $10,000 funded by the SA40K in 2015; these funds have not been depleted.

RES is structured such that the organization redistributes funds based on proposals students submit regarding environmental ini-

United States to send money to family through bitcoin.”

The team of Duncan College juniors Chris Brown and Sam Shadwell, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill junior Daniel Korn and Jones College sophomore Cannon Lewis created a programming language based on Donald Trump’s speech patterns, named TrumpScript.

TrumpScript won the Alumni Choice Award and had the audience roaring with laughter during the team’s acceptance speech.

TrumpScript’s features include the automatic rounding of 4.5 billion to 10 billion and the lack of import statements, a reference to Trump’s platform to increase American manufacturing, and the inability to run on Windows, a dig at Trump’s disdain for political correctness, often abbreviated PC. “We’re working on a language written as if Donald Trump were speaking it,” Brown said.

“It compiles into Python but you write it like you are Donald Trump. Some words are not allowed and variables can only be words in the top 1,000 English words combined with the top 1,000 most frequently used words by Donald Trump, as well as some various words used by politicians in general.”

The first place team was SKYSync+, consisting of Texas A&M University sophomore Kaveet Laxmidas, Wiess College sophomore Yoseph Maguire, Wiess College seniors Sean Doyle and Sean Burton and University of Texas, Austin sophomore Melissa Hall. After observing that many technologies related to Alzheimer’s dis-

tiatives, which Chilakapati said contributed to why the organization is not being recommended for blanket tax status.

QRC obviously [provides] a valuable service to the student body.

Sai Chilakapati SA Treasurer

“It’s hard to have oversight over whether the money is being spent in a proper way or not,” Chilakapti said. “[We can’t verify] how they’re deciding how to distribute this money, so we had some concerns over that.”

tiffany yip/thresher

Hackathon participants programmed for 36 hours over the weekend, with some bringing sleeping bags to maximize productivity during the annual computer science competition. ease and dementia treatment were expensive and often catered directly to individual situations, the team set out to develop a program that would be more wide-reaching and could be adapted to specific needs while making the jobs of those caring for patients easier.

“SKYSync+ is a healthcare application that makes monitoring and caring for patients easier, smarter and less expensive,” Maguire said.

“The website portion of the application allows nurses and doctors to view a database of patients and do things like schedule eating and medication times, or track the movements of the patient.”

For its first place finish each member of SKYSync+ received an Oculus Rift virtual reality display as well as Major League Hacking merchandise.

Thomas, however, had other reasons for voting not to recommend RES. “I was not convinced that they had a strong financial need nor that any funding they received would further their organization,” Thomas said.

According to RU Splash Treasurer Catherine Levins, RU Splash is a non-profit organization that focuses on education development in the local Houston community and encouraging low-income students to consider college as an option from a young age. The organization was not recommended.

“I voted against RU Splash because I’m not convinced that they are furthering a unique interest of the student body that isn’t being filled by an organization like [Rice Student Volunteer Program],” Thomas said. “Additionally, it didn’t appear that they had exhausted all of their other funding sources before reaching out to us.”

Levins, a Martel College junior, said the organization was grateful for the consideration and is eager to work on addressing the committee’s feedback to update its proposal.

“We are excited to pursue add additional sources for potential funding that may better

suit the needs for our expanding outreach program,” Levins said.

The BTC itself cannot designate blanket tax status upon an organization; it can only make recommendations to the SA Senate, which does not have to follow the recommendations.

Members of the BTC also include student representatives Alex Quam and Giray Ozseker, as well as blanket tax organization representatives Makenzie Drukker and Jodie Nghiem.

Chilakapati said the organizations that applied have been instructed to attend the SA meeting as well to present their request. Additionally, the organizations have been given the opportunity to formally respond to their status and provide any further explanation that they deem necessary. The SA Senate will then vote on Jan. 27 on whether to include the organization’s request for blanket tax status on the ballot for the general election in mid-February.

The organization must obtain two-thirds votes in favor in the election and the election must have 20 percent quorum for it to obtain blanket tax status.

Recommendations for Standard and Catalyst will be determined and released later this week.

0HONOR FROM PAGE 1 unlikely, though the group is still in the process of deciding on recommendations.

Hutchinson said the task force hopes to address a desire, expressed by both faculty and students, for the faculty to be more engaged in the investigation and sanction process of the honor system.

“Students are concerned about the detachment of the faculty [during investigations],” Hutchinson said.

According to Hutchinson, another aim of the task force is to reduce the workload of Honor Council members, the number of which has not increased along with the student body. Hutchinson said the task force was also discussing change to the length of time cases take. Currently, many accusations are made long after the alleged violation, and there is no time limitation on when an accusation can be made.

A final area of focus is on the insufficient faculty training and student orientation with regards to the Honor Code, according to Hutchinson.

“The honor code represents a shared value and we all have a stake in its success and assuring its success,” he said.

Byrd said the input of the focus groups could affect the decisions made by the task force. The groups will be held Jan. 21, Jan. 25 and Jan 27.

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Honor Code deserves another look As incoming students enter Rice, many are surprised by the degree to which the university’s Honor Code extends trust to the student body. The Thresher believes the honor system has the potential to help both students and faculty, but in its current state, the system is broken: As the Faculty Senate Task Force currently working on the issue recognizes (see p.

1), cheating remains far too common and honor rules are applied unjustly and unclearly.

Potential honor code violations can stem from a lack of clarity or communication between professors and their students. Although it is a student’s responsibility to confirm the honor code policy for their courses, violations can occur despite good faith. The Honor Council does provide outlines of honor code policies for professors to implement within their syllabi, but more structure is needed. Professors must clearly indicate what level of collaboration and use of which resources is permitted on each type of assignment. A simple way for students to have coursework honor code information on hand would be to receive an automated email after registering for courses outlining the policy for each class in a standardized manner, customizable to each class. This not only clarifies the policy for students and emphasizes its importance, but also furthers the idea that there is truly no excuse for being unaware of the details of a particular course’s policy.

The honor code it grants us the freedom to have take-home exams, but students can sometimes abuse this, whether by using prohibited resources or disregarding the time limit. This is evident in courses where take-home exam scores have significantly higher averages than their in-class counterparts. It is difficult to catch this form of cheating, as students cannot report one another and there are no visible signs of cheating by extending the time limit on an exam. Take-home exams reduces test anxiety and allows students to optimize their schedule, and we should hold on to them. It is important that any changes to this system not be debilitating, lest we lose spirit of honor at Rice, which encourages mutual trust. The working group must make small changes that would decrease the frequency of this cheating, while still giving freedom to those who respect the honor code.

While the basic premise of the Honor Code must remain, the task force should incorporate input from students and professors in considering ways to improve the current system.

Changes that decrease both cheating and unfair accusations against students may have to be far-reaching, but they will ultimately serve to protect the core concept of the honor system.

The privileges of the Honor Code stem from the idea that Rice’s aim is not just to instill knowledge in its students, but also help them develop moral character. This idea is fundamental to Rice’s identity: Students can and should be held to a high moral standard, and the honor system makes life easier for both students and faculty. However, in order to succeed at these aims, the system must be implemented in a more equitable and realistic way.

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

Choosing the right way When I was a student at Rice, I used to walk the outer loop when I needed to ponder an important decision. One of those was what I was going to major in, which I remember mulling over for some hours while (seemingly) endlessly circling the hedges on a Sunday morning my sophomore year. I had already decided that I was going to become a doctor but was not satisfied with going the traditional route of majoring in biochemistry.

What drew me to medicine was the closeness to the human experience that doctors witness every day. In fact, it was the funeral of my grandfather, himself a writer, that led me to the choice to become a doctor, as I saw through his memorial my own artistic yearning. Yet as I walked around the outer loop, I pondered the task that lay at hand should I choose to major in humanities. I had already completed nearly all of the requirements for biochemistry. Did I really want to take on another major?

As I walked down Main Street toward University, noting the Medical Center on my left and the campus on my right, I realized that I would have my whole life ahead of me to develop my left-brained technical skills. The next two years offered me the chance to refine my creative abilities to express myself, giving my right brain much -needed exercise. Returning from my walk, I made the decision: I was going to major in Spanish, the language of my mother and the culture from which she came. Back in my dorm, I logged onto the course catalog and enrolled in Spanish Culture and Civilization (SPAN 340), taught by Professor Castaneda.

The following fall, Professor Castaneda would take us from the Paleolithic history of the Iberian Peninsula all the way through modern postFranco Spain. He also encouraged us to refine our Spanish language skills, which motivated me to consistently attend the Spanish tables every week at Jones. Professor Castaneda was also in the habit of giving out to students promotional material from the Spanish tourism office, and midway through the course, he gifted me with a poster from the office. It bore some thirty sketchings of Medieval churches with the inscription below: “Camino de Santiago.” Not knowing what the Camino de Santiago was, I asked a fellow Spanish enthusiast and recent friend I had met at the Spanish table, Amanda. She informed me that the Camino de Santiago, or the Way of St. James, is an ancient pilgrimage across the Iberian Peninsula to the Cathedral of Santiago, the rumored burial site of St. James the Apostle. The pilgrimage, she said, still continues to this day.

As Amanda and I continued to see each other

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

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at Spanish table, it became clear that we were more than just friends, and by spring we were seen as inseparable: “Landie,” they would call us. Having never been to Spain, we both promised each other during this early time in our relationship that should we ever get married, we would walk the Camino de Santiago for our honeymoon.

Returning home, we realized that our relationship had changed, having grown closer together than we were even as children.

Two years later, in June of 2009, we got married in the Co-Cathedral in downtown Houston, and the next day we departed for Europe to walk the Camino. Within a week we found ourselves wandering on off-beaten paths in the Pyrenees hundreds of miles away from any city with only our backpacks on our backs. Six weeks later, after many blisters, backaches, swollen ankles and knee pains, we found ourselves in Santiago. In the process, we not only cemented our lifelong friendship with a bang, we grew close to friends we made along the Way (some of whom we are still in touch with), to nature as we traversed the mountains of Basque country, plains of La Meseta and hills of Galicia and to ourselves, both of us having journaled more than we ever had in the preceding year. We also experienced much needed recovery after an extremely stressful academic year.

Back in the U.S., we moved to New York, where I returned to med school and the stresses continued to mount. Realizing the healing power of the Camino, we vowed to walk the Way again.

In 2011, while on academic leave from med school, we did, this time walking the coastal route, again finding much needed respite and growing even closer together.

A few months before this walk, I found out that my younger brother had been arrested. He had battled on and off with drug addiction since our teen years, and in a desperate place, he made a foolish choice that landed him in federal prison.

Devastated by his arrest, I found comfort in the

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.

correspondence that we would send each other.

Through handwritten correspondence we were able to begin to reconcile after over 10 years of estrangement. Still, we were not able to see each other in person, as I was living in New York and he was in prison in San Diego. Two years after his arrest, when I found out that his release from prison would correspond with my last vacation with med school prior to beginning residency, I proposed that we walk the Camino together.

In spring of 2013, just two months after he served his prison sentence, he and I departed for Oviedo, Spain. Following the less-traveled Primitive Way (“El Camino Primitivo”), we trekked through the mountains of Asturias to Santiago.

On the Way, we found much needed time to spend together, not having spent more than a day together in years. Returning home, we realized that our relationship had changed, having grown closer together than we were even as children.

Just over a year later, my brother was killed in downtown Houston.

Though grief-stricken by the news of his death, I found comfort in remembering our time on the Camino. As I sat on the plane to Houston from Boston, where I was doing residency, I recalled seeing the sun shine on the hills of Virginia, just as it had on the hills of Galicia when we were in Spain. The reminder filled me with gratitude for having the opportunity to make this journey with him just before his life was cut short so unexpectedly.

A couple of weeks after my brother’s funeral, I found myself circling the Rice hedges again, just like I used to do in college. Recalling that memory from the plane, I realized that the miracle of us being able to partake of this much-needed healing experience was too deep, too rich to truly recount on a several-page eulogy that I delivered at his funeral. The only way to recount our history was through a book. But did I really want to write a book? I was a medical resident and had a twoyear-old at home. Walking down Main Street toward University, I noticed again the Medical Center on my left, the hedges on my right, reminding me of the decision that once lie before my while taking that same walk 10 years prior. By seizing the chance to explore deeper meanings of my existence through self expression, I followed where the opportunity led and never looked back. This was my chance to do so again, and I haven’t regretted it since.

Landon Roussel, Jones ’08, is the author of “On the Primitive Way: Two Texan Brothers’ Journey to Santiago de Compostela.”

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

6

OP-ED

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

the Rice Thresher

On becoming the next Mark Zuckerberg Rice has recently reached a new level of positive PR in national media outlets. The coverage has centered around the Entrepreneurship Initiative launched in 2015, a wellfunded push to expand the academic, extracurricular and co-curricular re-sources for entrepreneurs at Rice.

The university was featured in a front-page article in the Dec. 29 issue of the New York Times. Reporting from Houston, Times technology reporter Natasha Singer writes, “The original charter of Rice University, drafted in 1891, established a school here dedicated to the advancement of literature, science and art. These days, Rice seems equally dedicated to the advancement of the next Mark Zuckerberg.”

Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard, which is okay because he’s now the founder of one of the most successful time-sucks and advertising machines ever, the seventhwealthiest person in America with a net worth of $40.3 billion and the donor behind a massively ineffective $100 million campaign to reform Newark, NJ public schools, among other, more successful philanthropic ventures. Or at least that’s how I see it.

The article does not explain why a university would want to develop a student who doesn’t graduate. Besides, Zuckerberg didn’t need a fancy initiative to create Facemash, the skeezy “hot or not” precursor to Facebook — just pictures of female Harvard students, a willing group of sexually frustrated college dudes and the programming knowledge to build it.

The article does mention, if not by name, some of the more well-known entrepreneurship torchbearers at Rice — OwlSpark, Global Health Technologies, Rice Launch — and compares them to other universities’ programs. It also mentions a Princeton advisory committee that uses square footage dedicated to incubator and accelerator programs as a metric for universities’ commitments to entrepreneurship: “Cornell has 364,000; Penn 200,000; Berkeley 108,000; Harvard 30,000; Stanford 12,000; Yale 7,700; N.Y.U. 6,000; and Columbia 5,000.”

Following the article, President David Leebron appeared on CNBC’s Power Lunch on Jan. 12 to promote the Initiative. In the interview, he explained that there are four things good Zuckerberg-producing entrepreneurship initiatives should have: An educational program, an experiential learning component, financial/other resources and good academic research. To that, the host of Power Lunch, Tyler Mathisen, says all you need is a good slogan: “Come study with Le[e]bron,” pronounced like the basketball player. Maybe Mathisen is on to something.

Thankfully, somebody at Rice is studying the effectiveness of entrepreneurship educa-

tion. Yael Hochberg, an associate professor of finance and entrepreneurship at the Jones School, recently received a $1.5 million grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to “work with leading startup support organizations in the United States to track the outcomes of a group of startups receiving a free, concentrated entrepreneurship curriculum,” according to a Rice press release.

“Very little evidence exists to support the notion that business acumen and education accelerate startup success,” Hochberg said in the press release. “We believe our study will help develop sharp inferences that will contribute to our current understanding of factors contributing to entrepreneurial success.”

But the study’s funding source complicates the motivations for and, potentially, results of the research. The Kauffman Foundation works “to advance entrepreneurship education and training, to promote startup-friendly policies, and to understand what new firms need,” according to their website. It makes sense, then, that they would invest $1.5 million in potentially self-affirming research. Like a lot of other special-interest funded research, Hochberg’s begs the question: What if the data doesn’t support the hypothesis?

At the same time, Hochberg leads the Rice Entrepreneurship Initiative, itself a big investment in the efficacy of leadership education.

When the Initiative was first announced in August, she was quoted in a Rice press release as saying that “entrepreneurship is a learningby-doing field. It’s not quite as simple as just teaching the theory.” On its face, Hochberg’s statement appears to contradict the foundation’s aims, but it really doesn’t. In the world of business and entrepreneurship schools, “education” is so broadly conceived to almost render the word almost meaningless.

I worry that Rice’s entrepreneurship efforts are a closed system — an echo chamber — immune to the needs and concerns of the rest of the university despite their best intentions. Rice has anticipated my concerns by establishing FreeStyle, a space for community members to “think broadly about entrepreneurship and innovation as part of Rice University’s new Entrepreneurship Initiative” (notice the use of the word “broadly,” not “critically”). FreeStyle has already spawned a course this semester — Thinking Differently (SOSC 250/BUSI 500) — that aims to do just that. A course next semester entitled “Learning in the Knowledge Economy” will address “contemporary changes in the organization of learning in individual lives, and society more broadly.”

It all sounds good enough, but FreeStyle still trades in the buzzy, empty questions and claims of entrepreneurial discourse. Things get weird under the “practices + performances” tab of the FreeStyle website:

“Who knows what might happen when the spontaneity of a start-up festival meets piano improvisation meets a chemistry experiment?” the website asks. “We want to know too ...” it rejoins, anticipating the normal reaction to such an absurd, obtuse question.

FreeStyle is led by Abby Larson, a lecturer in the Jones School of Business trained as a sociologist and the director of interdisciplinary learning, undergraduate education and research at the Entrepreneurship Initiative.

As part of FreeStyle, she also leads a research project investigating conceptions of innovation and entrepreneurship: “An Empirical and Multi-Site Study of Sense-making and Identity in the Context of Entrepreneurship and Innovation.” It’s fairly typical social scientific stuff, but it takes on a new context under the guise of the Jones School and the Initiative — one that prepares students to make money.

In short, while FreeStyle appears more intellectually honest than Hochberg’s Kauffmann-funded work, the inquiries of both research projects so neatly align with the interests, and not to mention money, of powerful institutions that I question both of their purposes. It’s a problem throughout academia, but it rarely comes to the fore as clearly as it does here.

The Initiative also resurfaces debates over the much-maligned professionalization of Rice University and others of its kind. In the context of Rice’s general direction — away from classroom learning and toward extracurricular, experiential learning that prepares students for jobs — the initiative makes sense.

If it gets kids jobs at Google and Facebook, or the means to secure millions of dollars in venture capital themselves, then it’s justified, so the contemporary story of the university goes. How, we now wonder, did Rice students ever earn high-paying jobs in industry or start their own companies before the professionalization of the undergraduate experience? Forget “literature, science and art” — all aboard the industry train.

Anyway, I applaud the Rice PR machine for its ability to so successfully spin a picture of the university as an emerging space for entrepreneurship (or, rather, the next Mark Zuckerberg). In reality, it’s not so simple, but they sure make it seem so.

PRIMARY PRIMER

BY ELANA MARGOSIS

Miles Kruppa is a Hanszen College senior and the Thresher Senior Editor

2016 TEXAS PRIMARIES: March 1.

Register to vote by Feb. 1.

In a caucus, voters must be in a certain location (in public places like schools or private places like someone’s living room) at a certain time for their vote to count. A primary is like the general election; you vote in a voting booth on a certain day, and the booth is open all day long.

WHEN IS IT?

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

Iowa

Feb. 1

The Iowa caucus kicks off the primary season and receives lots of media attention. As such, politicians spend much time wooing voters who are disproportionately white and evangelical compared to the rest of the country, so the Iowa winner may be less popular in other states. This caucus indicates the frontrunner, and many drop out shortly after if they poll poorly. However, a win here does not necessarily lead to the party nomination.

New Hampshire

Feb. 9

New Hampshire’s primary is the first primary — not caucus — of the campaign season. Along with Iowa, New Hampshire’s primaries receive more media coverage, which can make or break a candidate.

The state’s Republican voters are generally more socially liberal, but since 2004, every Republican nominee for the general election has also won the New Hampshire primary. Most, but not all, Democrats who win this primary also become their party’s nominee.

I often like to attend a Rice men’s basketball game, but it appears I am in the minority, especially compared to the Rice students. I have been to many Rice games over the years, and WITHOUT exaggeration, I typically cannot count more than 50 to 100 students in the stands. With an undergraduate of population of around 4,000, I don’t need my calculator to tell me the attendance figure hovers around 1 percent. So, it begs the question, why even have a team? I understand the age-old arguments (which to my knowledge cannot be statistically proven) that sports teams help boost applications and alumni donations, but at the end of the day, shouldn’t the team be FOR the students first and foremost? And, if the students have no interest in attending, what really is the point?

Don’t get me wrong, I’d love nothing more than to see Tudor Fieldhouse full (which typically only happens when opponents are the likes of the University of Houston or Texas A&M University, as their students and alums fill the place, not ours). Unfortunately, on a typical game day, it looks like there are more kids watching intramural football outside the gym than the basketball within.

If the university subsidizes men’s basketball (which it does), and students obviously don’t care about the game (which they don’t), I see two logical options: (1) Get rid of the program or (2) Get more butts in the seats. I much prefer the second option, but that is only going to happen if the student body is somehow motivated, persuaded, or cajoled to come out and support THEIR team through the proactive efforts of the administration, teachers, and the athletic dept. On a somewhat related note, why not give away the thousands of unused tickets at each game to various schools and organizations around Houston — at least the attendees will buy concessions and merchandise, and the players can then experience an unusual situation — what a true home court advantage “sounds” like with a full house.

The men’s basketball players and coaches make great efforts to do their best and win every game. If the students don’t make the effort to come out and support THEIR team, and the university makes no effort to improve the situation, I’ll still come watch, knowing I will always have the option between the peace and quiet of the Fondren Library or Tudor Fieldhouse.

Mark Davis Rice MBA ’89

CAUCUS VS. PRIMARY

STATE

Letter to the Editor: I want butts in those seats

HISTORICALLY 2008: Obama wins Dems. Mike Huckabee wins GOP (John McCain, eventual GOP nominee, comes in 4th).

2012: Incumbent Obama wins unopposed. Rick Santorum wins over eventual GOP nominee Mitt Romney.

2008: Clinton wins, Obama second. McCain wins GOP. 2012: Obama and Romney win.

THE BOTTOM LINE Anti-establishment candidates Trump and Cruz hold a clear lead in the Republican race. Trump polls at the top of all three states; Cruz is also polling high in early states. Although the more moderate Kasich and Christie poll in the top five in New Hampshire, neither are polling well nationwide and may drop out after the South Carolina primaries. A Rubio nomination is also plausible and may be more palatable for the GOP establishment. The next Republican debate will air on FOX on Jan. 28, four days before the Iowa caucus. Cruz’s eligibility to become president may be questioned; he was born in Canada to American citizens, so it is unclear if he is a ‘natural born citizen.’

On the Democratic side, Clinton’s lead over Sanders has shrunk significantly, and Sanders has surpassed the establishment favorite in New Hampshire. Although Clinton still has a good chance of winning the Democratic nomination, the contest is finally a contest, not the coronation many foresaw. The next Democratic debate will air on PBS on February 11 after the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primaries. The debate is likely to only feature Sanders and Clinton — sorry O’Malley.

Anti-establishment candidates Trump and Cruz hold a clear lead in the Republican race. Trump polls at the top of all three states; Cruz is also polling high in early states. Although the more moderate Kasich and Christie poll in the top five in New Hampshire, neither are polling well nationwide and may drop out after the South Carolina primaries. A Rubio nomination is also plausible and may be more palatable for the GOP establishment. The next Republican debate will air on FOX on Jan. 28, four days before the Iowa caucus. Cruz’s eligibility to become president may be questioned; he was born in Canada to American citizens, so it is unclear if he is

GOP POLLS

1 2 3 4 5

IOWA

NEW HAMPSHIRE

SOUTH CAROLINA

Trump, 28%

Trump, 31%

Trump, 35%

Cruz, 27%

Rubio, 13%

Cruz, 21%

Rubio, 12%

Kasich, 12%

Rubio, 12%

Carson, 9%

Cruz, 11%

Bush, 10%

Bush, 5%

Christie, 9%

Carson, 9%

IOWA

NEW HAMPSHIRE

SOUTH CAROLINA

Clinton, 47%

Sanders, 49%

Clinton, 66%

Sanders, 43%

Clinton, 42%

Sanders, 26%

O’Malley, 5%

O’Malley, 4%

O’Malley, 3%

DEM POLLS

1 2 3

DATA FROM REAL CLEAR POLITICS

arts

ENTERTAINMENT

7

#OscarsSoWhite, but who cares?

Sophie Newman A&E Editor

courtesy pitch perfect pr

Hailing from Chicago, Marrow is a troupe of young musicians looking to find their niche in the industry with the release of their first full-length studio album, “The Gold Standard.” Marrow will play at Rudyard’s British Pub Saturday, Jan. 30. Tickets are $10 online and $12 at the door.

Indie-Rock Outfit Marrow to play Rudyard’s Jan. 30 Sophie Newman A&E Editor

Liam Kazar’s only 22, but he’s already played live on the Conan Stage, toured with Tweedy and recorded an album in his own studio. Kazar, singer, songwriter and guitarist for Marrow, spoke with the Thresher about his upcoming tour and the release of the band’s first full-length studio album, “The Gold Standard,” which debuted last fall.

So how did you end up becoming involved with Marrow?

Me and Macie [Stewart] used to be in a band called Kids These Days, which we started in high school together. It sort of took off …

While all of our friends were going off to college, we hopped in a van and toured around the country with the band. After they broke up, I wanted to keep playing music with Macie. We were both songwriters, so I thought it would be an interesting environment.

I heard you participated in some pretty well-known late night comedy shows in the past, like Colbert, Conan … How was that? What did you do?

Yeah, I’ve played a lot of them now. Me and Macie did Conan with Kids These Days, but I also played with Jeff Tweedy and Wilco and his son in a band called Tweedy. With that band, we did [Jimmy Fallon], Colbert Report, Conan and Austin City Limits.

Just being like a live band on the set basically?

Yeah, you know how like at the end of the night a band plays a song …

Getting back to what Marrow’s been up to, how did you go from the sound that you guys had with Kids These Days to Marrow? Or what did that transition look like?

Getting out of the Kids These Days sound was easy. That was the type of band where you needed all the people in the room for it to sound like that. The time that [Macie and I]

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

had to spend together wasn’t so much losing the Kids These Days sound but finding common ground writing wise. That took a little while, and we’re probably still working on that. We took some time to think: What do we sound best doing together? What’s the center of this Venn diagram and how can we push ourselves to explore that area more?

How would you describe your band stylewise? It sounds like you guys have a lot going on in terms of scope.

Honestly, I just think of Marrow as being a four-piece rock band. That’s just easiest for me. I’m more interested in what instruments are in the band. That’s sort of what I ask people too, and you know sometimes you get a weird one. “It’s a three-piece, we have a bass, drums and a saxophone player.” And then that gives me some idea. That’s typically how I like to quantify it: what the people in the band are playing, as opposed to what exactly does it all sound like.

Would you say that you personally or the band as a whole has had any major influences?

Yeah, I would honestly put David Bowie right up there for us. We’re really into a lot of British bands: the Kinks, the Beatles, David Bowie of course. We’re actually working on another record right now and that stuff is really influential … But it’s interesting, because you can be influenced by someone for a lot of different reasons. You can be influenced by someone you don’t necessarily like, but you like the way they do this one thing, and you say, “I want to grab that.” There are people that I really, really respect, but I don’t take a lot of musical influence from them, but I take a lot of influence from them as a musician and as a person — like Bruce Springsteen. I just really respect his work ethic. So, I think, “Oh, I’m going to take a little bit of that, and a little of Ray Davies’ song structure ideas.”

And then you put it all together, and hopefully your own voice comes through.

BOHEMO’S Never been to Bohemeo’s Cafe in Eastwood? Now is the time! Known for its laid-back, creative atmosphere (think the charm of a hipster cafe without the intimidation of hipsters), Bohemeo’s is starting poetry open mic night every Sunday at 7 p.m. Come by this weekend for the inaugural night!

Bohemeo’s Cafe 708 Telephone bohemeos.com

You guys are celebrating the release of our first full-length album right now. How’s that going?

We’re really, really excited to have it out.

We’ve worked on it a long time — probably longer than we should have — but we were a new band, and we also recorded it in my studio, which was brand new, and we were learning how to use it. So, now it’s out and we’re really excited to be able to tour around the country. It’s been a nice reception — being able to meet people who like the music, and hit some new cities and hit some old cities.

Is this the first time you guys are touring as a band? I know you and Macie have before, but collectively?

Yeah, it’s the first time Marrow has really gone out and done some substantial touring … We’re excited to not be in Chicago for a few days; it’s like six degrees outside. And we’re starting off in New Orleans, which is always a good time. It’s a pretty simple love affair for us … We love the whole thing that is touring, and I can’t wait to do it every time.

I got really into “She Chose You,” which is also coincidentally your most popular song on Spotify and I’m assuming in general. I’m not a music expert, but it has that sound that’s really persuasive. In your mind, what do you think makes a great song?

Everything is derivative, right? Everything’s taking a little bit that’s already been done before, and hopefully doing it a new way, but I think a great song has at least one thing that is truly unique. You can reuse the song structure, you can reuse melodies or lyrical content, but I think a great song needs one truly honest, unique moment. It’s got to add something new to the collective consciousness.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

JUST EAT IT If the presentations by the Baker Institute, BISF and Housing and Dining haven’t convinced you that food waste is a problem yet, you should probably check out this documentary. Screening at 6:30 p.m. at Rice Cinema with an accompanying discussion, the film follows a series of interviews with activists, authors and food lovers on a very real problem.

Rice Cinema University & Stockton film.rice.edu

I don’t think anyone was surprised by the Academy’s startlingly white choices for their 2016 Oscar nominees. Disappointed, yes, but not surprised.

For the second year in a row, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences failed to recognize any minority actors. Not only that, but movies about black lives that were nominated (“Creed” and “Straight Outta Compton”) honored only white actors and writers (Sylvester Stallone and Andrea Berloff, respectively).

Clearly, the Academy has a problem with diversity. But what are we to expect when the voter base is an overwhelmingly old, white group of men?

A recent Los Angeles Times study found that Oscar voters are nearly 94 percent Caucasian and 77 percent male. Blacks are about two percent of the Academy, and Latinos are less than 2 percent. The median age of voters is 62.

I guess we could have hoped that even with such a grim makeup that voters, who are allegedly experts, would have sided with the talent in such films as “Beasts of No Nation,” “Creed,” “Straight Outta Compton,” “The Hateful Eight” and “Tangerine.” But then again, one can only hope.

The nice thing about the Internet, though, is that it’s quick to acknowledge when institutions, like the Academy, fail to achieve their intended purpose, or overlook their potential race and gender biases. It can declare institutions that were once respected antiquated or defunct.

In this case, the Internet has responded with sufficient outrage and condemnation, most evident in the repopularizing the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag, which was brought to fruition last year under similar circumstances.

And although society is upset, you can bet that the Academy’s nomination choices hurt no one more than the Academy itself.

Even Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs recognized the need for the institution to do a little self-evaluation.

“We’ve got to speed it up,” she said in a recent statement, regarding the failure of the Academy to address issues of diversity and inclusion.

Boone is right, but I think the plea is even more dire than she thinks. With Oscars’ viewership dwindling to historic lows (2015 was the lowest viewer attendance in six years, according to the Washington Times), it looks like the Academy’s about to face are the harsh realities of natural selection: Adapt or die.

And if we as a society want to admonish the Academy for being the bigoted, outdated institution that it is, we are already doing a pretty good job — whether it be through Internet shaming or ignoring the ceremonies altogether.

What was once the reigning patriarch of American film culture is slowly becoming that racist uncle that society is pushing into irrelevance.

Just in terms of the online buzz over this year’s upset, films that merited recognition have already been honored through millions of online comments, discussion forums and article shares — which is a better tribute than a tiny gold man, if you ask me.

So, yes, the Academy could do a better job of addressing diversity. But who cares what it thinks, anyway? Academy: Shape up, or the world will go on without you.

ACRO-CATS

IMPROV LEVEL ZERO

This one sells itself. From Jan. 21 to 30 the Frenetic Theater presents Acro-Cats: a troupe of performing cats including Alley, the Guinness World Record holder for longest jumping cat, and Tuna, frontcat of the world’s only all-cat band, the Rock Cats.

Looking to tap into your inner comedian? The Beta Theater is offering free beginners’ improv classes not just this Saturday, but every Saturday at 4 p.m. Those interested are encouraged to come try out their acting and play some improv games.

Frenetic Theater 5102 Navigation freneticore.net

Beta Theater 2420 Pierce betatheater.com/classes

8

A&E

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

the Rice Thresher

WHAT’S HIP RIGHT NOW TRENDING: Dabbing

TECH:

BOOK:

Robo-Cat

Her Universe

courtesy hasbro

courtesy youtube

In a phrase: The new Nae-Nae. Where to find it: NFL playoffs, new rap videos.

There’s a hip-hop dance move for every season: We had the 1, 2 step, then the Dougie, the Wop, the Wobble, the Nae-Nae, and now we have ... The Dab. Not to be confused with “dabbing” as it pertains to illegal substance use, this new dance move involves one taking an energetic step and essentially, well, sneezing into one’s elbow. Though my description probably makes it seem lame, trust me — when it’s set to some chill beats and performed quickly and rhythmically, it’s actually quite mesmerizing.

Where to find examples? It’s always difficult to trace the origins of trends, but according to Sports Illustrated, dabbing dates back to last summer. It’s thought that the Migos, an Atlanta rap group, used it first, and then it spread like wildfire once rapper Future started incorporating it into his performances and music video.

Its influence can be found most recently in NFL celebration dances: Cam Newton really made it popular when he dabbed for an entire eight seconds after scoring on the Titans. The real question is, will dabbing catch on at Rice? Fellow Owls, the answer’s in your hands.

by kaylen strench

In a phrase: Cats without the crazy.

Where to find it: amazon.com; hasbro.com.

Everyone knows that pets are great for loneliness. In fact, for many people (possibly myself), pets could flat-out replace interaction with other people all together. They entertain with their antics, they provide a purpose for getting out of bed in the morning (all cat owners are familiar with the hungry, meowing wake-up alarm) and they’re nonjudgmental. The problem is, just like people, they often come with issues. Take my cat, Scone. I have to scoop her box every other day; she loves to try to scratch up all my shit, and all her maintenance (vet bills, food, etc.) is pretty freaking expensive. Not every lonely person could handle a Scone.

Fortunately, thanks to the brilliant folks down at Hasbro, you can have all the joys of cat ownership without the mess and stress. For $99, you can own a companion robot that purrs, meows and cuddles just like a particularly complacent Scone. Though I would personally buy a one for myself if I lived in the dorms, these little buddies are mainly being used in care homes for the elderly, particularly to help out Alzheimer’s disease and dementia patients who love cats but can’t care for them on their own. If that doesn’t warm your heart, then you, my friend, are a Grinch.

TV:

“American Crime Story”

courtesy her universe

In a phrase: Sci-fi for gals.

Where to find it: heruniverse.com.

If you’re a girl into Star Wars, Doctor Who or science fiction novels, you probably already know that the commercial market is screwing you. Though I’m not a fangirl myself, from what I have gathered, it’s nearly impossible to find apparel, books or other gear suited both to the female gender and a love for space fiction. Fortunately, one gal has set out to fill this niche. Ashley Eckstein’s company, Her Universe, first started making waves when it launched in 2009 as a clothing merchandiser; it was one of the first companies out there to provide Star Wars, Star Trek and Doctor Who themed apparel for women.

Now, Eckstein’s making it big with another new venture: publishing. In a New York Times interview, she said she got the idea when female fans across the country began submitting their sci-fi manuscripts to her, lamenting that they couldn’t get them published. Her new company, Her Universe Press, will address this void in female-authored sci-fi, starting with the release of six new novels in 2016. So, fangirls around the campus, start celebrating — someone’s got your back.

courtesy fx

In a phrase: All the mess and glory of The People v. O.J. Simpson.

Where to find it: First episode airs Feb. 2 on FX. We all love a good, messy court case, and the king of them all? You got it, the O.J. Simpson trial. In case you need a refresher, O.J. Simpson is a super famous former pro football player and celebrity, accused of murdering his wife and her friend, Ronald Goldman, back in 1994. His trial and the verdict (not guilty), were insanely controversial, and essentially kicked off the whole public obsession over following criminal trials.

So, “American Crime Story,” the new crime drama that will dramatize this madness, is getting buttloads of hype. Not only does it cover a freaking fascinating case in the wake of true crime hits like “Making a Murderer,” but it covers a case that is even more interesting analyzed 20 years later — if just for the fact that Simpson literally wrote a book called, “If I Did It,” where he basically details how he would have committed the murders — if he were guilty, you know.

Anyway, I’m going to be watching, for sure.

Montrose Burger joint serves familiar fare with mixed results Walden Pemantle A&E Editor

walden pemantle/thresher

The Smoke House burger ($11.50) and bacon-parm fries ($5.25) at the Burger Joint at 2703 Montrose.

When the Burger Joint opened last November, few people would have said Houston needed another burger joint. The market already saturated with the delicious patties coming from low-key shacks like Bubba’s and Moontower Inn, owners Shawn Bermudez and Matthew Pak faced a definite challenge in carving out a niche for their new restaurant. The location didn’t help either. Located at 2703 Montrose, the Burger Joint is practically across the street from the Hay Merchant, another extremely popular fast-casual restaurant known for its burgers. Yet, since the beginning, the Burger Joint has risen to the challenge by offering consistently wellmade burgers and enough interesting variations and side dishes to distinguish itself, if only slightly, from the rest of the burger-flipping pack around Houston.

The Burger Joint’s decor seems eerily similar to the style of other casual Houston restaurants: a bar with a chalkboard menu, an outdoor deck filled with flat-screens, and old-timey fonts virtually everywhere to give the place a ’50s vibe. Luckily, the menu deviates from the norm a bit more, offering a number of “bowls” (essentially burger salads) and special sides like homemade chili.

The best sides tend to build on each other.

The simpler options like the potato salad and mac and cheese both taste overly sweet and boring, but the bacon-parm and chili queso fries both expand on the traditional hand-cut fries deliciously without adding too many extra toppings.

The burgers, if anything, have the opposite problem. The simpler options like the mushroom burger are incredibly good. Piled with fresh mushrooms, smoked gouda, lettuce and garlic-herb mayo, the burger lets the mushrooms shine, enhanced rather than smothered by the herbs and cheese. At the other end of the Burger Joint’s spectrum is the Smoke House. The burger is served with coleslaw, pulled pork, a fried egg, mayo and mac and cheese. To say it’s overwhelming is an understatement. As a big guy who could barely eat half of it, I marvel that they offer it (or any other burger) with a double patty. Beyond being overwhelming, barbecue pulled

pork masks all of the other flavors. The coleslaw and egg especially are unnoticeable meshed between such heavy toppings as pork and mac and cheese. There are some instances, however, where the busier burgers shine. The kimchi burger, with caramelized kimchi, cheddar and garlic mayo, is among the Burger Joint’s best. The sweetness of the normally pungent kimchi is a great match for the garlic mayo and balances perfectly with the sharp cheddar.

The other entree options are generally overshadowed in quality by the burgers. The hot dogs are all tasty, but aside from the footlong “big frank,” aren’t quite filling enough as a main course. While the salad greens in the bowls are refreshingly crisp, the bowls feel like an afterthought added for those who got lost looking for health food and stumbled into a burger joint. For those looking for something a bit less unhealthy, however, the grilled chicken sandwich is a nice alternative. Served with the standard lettuce, tomato, onions and pickles, the sandwich has a satisfying blend of textures and is just as good as some of the much heavier burgers.

The biggest advantage that the Burger Joint has over its competitors is its shakes.

The peanut butter shake, an early favorite among patrons, is likely the best, with just enough saltiness and added bits of peanuts to keep the shake satisfying and not too heavy.

The Burger Joint also offers 20-some beers on tap at any given time. The selection covers a range of familiar beers including pours from St. Arnold’s, Shiner, Buffalo Bayou, 8th Wonder and Karbach. Though the beer selection may seem uninventive, the beers it offers are popular for a reason, and most guests won’t have a hard time finding a great pairing for the burger.

In some ways, the beer list, filled with recognizable Houstonian favorites, is emblematic of the Burger Joint as a whole. It’s not as creative as it could be, and there are definite elements of pandering towards its Houston audience. I understand everything is bigger in Texas, but the kitchen might seriously want to rethink piling pork, pasta, eggs and beef all on the same sandwich. In all though, the Burger Joint’s food consistently hits the spot among Montrose diners and makes a strong case for “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

9

Marcus Evans leads nation in freshman scoring Michael Kidd Thresher Staff

courtesy rice athletic communications

What a racket

Rice men’s tennis won its first two dual matches of the season in an exciting doubleheader last week, defeating Abilene Christian University (6-1) and Prairie View A&M University (7-0) at the George R. Brown Tennis Center. Above, freshman Jake Hansen sprints to return a shot against ACU.

Men’s basketball splits first games of term Aaron Shi

Thresher Staff

In front of a wild home crowd — along with Houston Rockets superstar James Harden in attendance — the Rice University men’s basketball team closed the game on a 21-3 run to overcome a 13-point second-half deficit and win 83-73 over Western Kentucky University on Thursday night at Tudor Fieldhouse. This victory snapped a five-game losing streak for the Owls.

Freshman guard Connor Cashaw and freshman forward Marquez Letcher-Ellis led the way by both scoring respective career-highs of 20 points. Cashaw also had six rebounds and Letcher-Ellis pulled down five. Freshman guard Marcus Evans added 16 points and five assists.

According to Rice Head Coach Mike Rhoades, the key was overcoming adversity in late-game situations.

“I’m just really proud of our effort,” Rhoades said. “I thought our guys showed great resolve.

We did a good job recovering and figuring it out. It was good to see these young guys experience this and be a part of what went down the stretch.”

Entering the second half with a 35-34 lead, the Hilltoppers went on a 14-2 run to open up its largest lead of the game at 49-36.

However, the Owls responded with Cashaw and Evans scoring 10 straight points over the next two minutes to cut the lead to three points. Both teams traded points until Western Kentucky scored four straight baskets to push the lead to 65-57 with nine minutes remaining in regulation. After both teams scored five more points, the Owls exploded on a 9-0 run to take the lead at 71-70 with just under three minutes left, Rice’s first lead in the half. The Owls never looked back, finishing the game strong to seal the win, 83-73.

Rice shot 50 percent (25 of 50) from the field, which included 39.1 percent (9 of 23) from three. WKU shot only 41.2 percent (28 of 68) from the floor and 31.8 percent (7 of 22) from deep.

The momentum from Thursday could not carry over to Saturday night when the Rice Owls played host to the Marshall University Thundering Herd and fell 94-90 at Tudor Fieldhouse.

Evans led the Owls with a team-high 29 points, and Letcher-Ellis added a new careerhigh of 28 points along with six rebounds.

Sophomore guard/forward Egor Koulechov scored 11 points, and junior center Andrew Drone contributed 10 points while grabbing eight boards.

Despite the loss, Rhoades said he remains optimistic about the Rice squad.

“I thought this was maybe the best we’ve played all year long,” Rhoades said. “I just think the way we played today, we raised the bar in our program. We put ourselves in position to win a game and beat a team that’s first in our conference.”

Marshall started the game on a 11-3 run, but Rice responded with five straight points and kept the game close throughout the first half. Koulechov sank a 3-pointer to give Rice its first lead of the game, 34-32, with three minutes left in the half. However, the Thundering Herd regained the lead and went into halftime up 39-37.

The second half became an old-fashioned shoot-out, with both teams going back and forth between 3-pointers and quick points. With Marshall up 89-81 with only 3:17 remaining, Rice pushed for one last run to close the deficit to within four at 92-88 with 1:39 remaining. Evans 0see BBall, page 10

Pundits around the nation are calling Louisiana State University’s freshman forward Ben Simmons the next Lebron James.

Rice men’s basketball freshman guard Marcus Evans is beating him in scoring.

Evans is currently leading all freshmen in the nation in points per game. His average of 20.2 points per game is 0.2 points per game higher than Simmons’, who many predict may be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft.

Evans has started all 18 games for the Owls and has scored in double digits in 17 of those games. Alternating between the shooting guard and point guard position, the 6-foot-2 freshman from Chesapeake, VA is averaging 33.1 minutes per game and has continued to mightily impress both Rice fans and fans of college basketball around the nation.

According to Evans, all of the accolades are welcome, but he remains much more focused on the team’s success and continuing to get better every day. “[My success] has been a great story and it’s very humbling, but it’s still about learning the game and realizing that the college game deals with a lot more than that of the high school level,” Evans said. “[I’m] trying to improve on things every day and stay aggressive as I have been along with my teammates.”

Evans is used to getting national attention. By the beginning of his sophomore year of high school at Cape Henry Collegiate School in Chesapeake, VA, Evans was recruited as a top-tier guard who could immediately help out a Division I program with his aggressive style of play. He was recruited by over 20 schools including Old Dominion, the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, the University of St. Louis and Lehigh University.

Just a few years later, Evans chose to play for Rice because of his relationship with current Rice Head Coach Mike Rhoades, who was an assistant coach at Virginia Commonwealth University during Evans’ time in high school.

According to Evans, Rhoades has always been one of his strongest and most consistent supporters.

“I’ve known Coach Rhoades since I was a sophomore in high school and there was nobody else that I wanted to play for but him,” Evans said.

After spending over half of a season 0see Evans, page 10

Difficult road trip for women’s basketball Andrew Grottkau Sports Editor

The Rice University women’s basketball team fell back into bad habits as it lost both of its games this week to conference foes. After winning two straight overtime games last week, the Owls could not keep up the momentum and fell on the road to Conference USA rivals Western Kentucky University and Marshall University to bring their record to 3-13 on the season.

Western Kentucky, the defending conference champions, came into the game against Rice sporting a 12-2 record. The Lady Toppers had not lost in their past nine games and had outscored opponents by 16.8 points per game during that stretch. When Rice traveled to Bowling Green, KY on Thursday, they faced the task of ending that streak. During the first half, the Lady Toppers looked like the juggernaut the numbers suggested they were. Western Kentucky forced the Owls into 13 turnovers and got

25 points from its starters to take a 27-19 lead into halftime. Just over a minute and a half into the third quarter, Rice found itself down 13 points after giving up the first five points of the second half.

The Owls then began to chip away at the lead. Rice finished the third quarter on a 15-8 run to close within six points. In the fourth quarter, sophomore guard Shani Rainey took over for Rice, scoring 13 of her 15 points to close the deficit to just three in the final minute. With half a minute to go in the game, however, Rainey missed two free throws, and the Owls could not convert a desperation 3-pointer to send the game to overtime as the buzzer sounded. Despite limiting Western Kentucky to season lows in points (52) and field goal percentage (29.6 percent), Rice lost 52-49. In addition to Rainey, junior guard Maya Hawkins and freshman forward Lexie Ducat starred for the Owls, the former dishing out 10 assists and the latter recording her first career double-double with 12 points

and 12 rebounds. According to Head Coach Tina Langley, the Owls could take pride in how they fought despite the loss.

“For our young squad to be able to battle the defending conference champions on the road, you have to be pleased with the effort,” Langley said. “We still have so much to learn, but we take advantage of every opportunity to grow and that’s exciting.”

Following the loss to the Lady Toppers, Rice traveled to Huntington, WV on Saturday to take on Marshall. This game would not be nearly as close as the last one as the Herd never trailed, pulling away with a big second quarter to win 81-52. The game began with an evenly contested first quarter as both teams shot at least 50 percent from the field. Marshall led 22-17 entering the second quarter, but that lead quickly ballooned. The Herd outscored the Owls 20-7 in the quarter and led 42-24 at the half in large part thanks to 64 percent shooting. Despite the dominating effort, no single player stood out for

Marshall as senior forward Leah Scott led the Herd with nine first-half points.

The second half was much of the same.

The Owls cut the deficit to 16 points early in the third quarter, but they would not come any closer. While the Herd shot only 37.5 percent from the field in the second half, they still managed to score another 39 points thanks to 15 made free throws. Scott finished with 18 points to help Marshall to the 29-point win, its largest margin of victory in a conference game in 11 years. Rice had only two players score in double figures as Rainey led the team with 13 points. No Owl took down more than four rebounds.

The Owls will next be in action when they return home to take on the University of Alabama, Birmingham on Thursday, Jan. 21 at 7 p.m. The game will be the sixth of Rice’s 18 Conference USA games on the season as the team vies for the conference title and a trip to the NCAA tournament.

10 SPORTS

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

the Rice Thresher

sean chu/thresher

Freshman guard Marcus Evans, who currently leads all freshman NCAA Division I men’s basketball players in scoring, looks to pass the ball during a home game against LeTourneau University. The Owls are off to a 6-12 start to the season. The team hopes to redeem itself during conference play.

0from EVANS page 9

0from BBALL page 9

with him, Evans said he has gained even more respect for Rhoades.

“He’s a wonderful coach,” Evans said.

“It’s like having a friend as your coach and he gives us so much freedom to play the game that you don’t see elsewhere. All he asks of you is to give 100 percent effort and go out and play the game.”

Since this has been the mentality for the Owls all season long, they are not worrying about their records or conference records as much as changing the culture of Rice basketball and gaining more and more chemistry each game.

According to Evans, developing connections with his teammates has been crucial in his success this season.

“One of the biggest things in this game that I’ve learned and worked on is trusting and working with your teammates,” Evans said. “I got some feeling early on in the season trying to figure out the other guys, when they want the ball and building chemistry and working with them.”

The good news for the Owls is Evans and the rest of the Rice team will continue to develop chemistry for years and years to come.

There was a glimpse of the Owls’ potential on Dec. 19 when the Owls traveled to Albuquerque, NM to take on the University of New Mexico as heavy underdogs in the arena known as “The Pit.” Rice came out with the 90-89 victory.

The Owls may not secure a conference championship this year or reach the NCAA tournament like Rhoades hopes, but the goals are in sight and, according to Evans, they are possible.

“The goal is very attainable,” Evans said.

“I think by the way we’ve been playing some of the top teams in our conference we can see ourselves being conference champions [one day].”

Referring back to the New Mexico game, there is one big takeaway for Evans and the rest of this 2015-16 squad moving forward.

“We still to this day preach rising through that adversity,” Evans said.

scored a layup with 13 seconds left, but Marshall senior forward James Kelly broke past Rice’s defense on the inbounds to hit a layup and seal the victory.

We didn’t pull it off, and I hate losing — we hate losing. But now we raised the bar [for the basketball program]. Now we’ll see if we can raise it again going on the road next week.

Mike Rhoades

Men’s Basketball Head Coach

Rice shot 47.9 percent (34 of 71) from the field but was only 26.5 percent (9 of 34) from three. Marshall scored on 55.7 percent (34 of 61) of shots from the floor and a high 50.0 percent (11 of 22) from three-point land.

According to Rhoades, this game marked a turning point for Rice basketball, and the team will look to strengthen its performance.

“We didn’t pull it off, and I hate losing — we hate losing,” Rhoades said. “But now we raised the bar [for the basketball program]. Now we’ll see if we can raise it again going on the road next week.”

The Rice Owls now look to bounce back on a two-game road stint starting with the conference-leading University of Alabama, Birmingham on Thursday, Jan. 21 at 8 p.m. and then at Middle Tennessee State University on Saturday, Jan. 23 at 5 p.m.

Learn. Act. Create Change.

The mission of the Center for Civic Leadership is to foster engaged citizenship through integrated curricular and experiential learning opportunities. We offer a range of courses and experiential opportunities designed to develop your civic leadership capacities throughout your four years at Rice and beyond. Our programs are open to all Rice undergraduates and tiered in three levels, LEARN- ACT-CREATE CHANGE, to ensure that you progressively and intentionally build your leadership knowledge and skills.

Please see the following important dates for application deadlines and info sessions:

Learn Jan 20 Group International Service trip application due Feb 1

Leading Edge registration closes

Create Change

Act Feb 1

Jan 20 Rich Family Endowment Grant Writing Session, 12-1 PM. RSVP: lc40@rice.edu Feb 1 Rich Family Endowment for Student Community Service application due Feb 10, 11, 12 Certificate in Civic Leadership info sessions, 12 -1 PM.

Leadership Rice Mentorship Experience (LRME) application due

For more information, visit http://ccl.rice.edu

Contact us: ccl@rice.edu

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

SPORTS

the Rice Thresher

11

Mike Rhoades connects with fans in weekly radio show Maddy Adams Sports Editor

sean chu/thresher

Men’s basketball Head Coach Mike Rhoades talks strategy with the the team during a timeout.

Are you constantly seeking insider information about the Rice men’s basketball team? You’re in luck, because Head Coach Mike Rhoades’ radio show is back on the air.

The second season of the Mike Rhoades Radio Show premiered on Jan. 4. The show broadcasts live from the Gorgeous Gael, an Irish bar in Rice Village, Monday nights at 7 p.m. Interested fans can watch the show at the Gorgeous Gael, located at 5555 Morningside Drive, or tune in online at Yahoo Sports Radio 1560 AM or riceowls.com.

In March 2014, Rhoades left his associate coach position at Virginia Commonwealth University to serve as Rice’s head coach. During his five seasons at VCU, Rhoades helped

the Rams make four NCAA tournament appearances.

Despite a losing record (12-20) last season, Rhoades has made significant contributions to the men’s team. To help rebuild the Owls, Rhoades has worked toward signing the best possible recruits, like freshman guard Marcus Evans, and improving the team’s morale.

This season, Rice’s losing record (6-12) leaves much to be desired. Rhoades, however, said he is confident in his team’s progress.

“I don’t care about our record right now,” Rhoades said. “All I care about is that we’re moving forward, and we’re not beating ourselves.”

On the show, Rhoades discusses developments in men’s basketball and analyzes recent games. The show will run through the Conference USA season.

12

BACKPAGE

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

the Rice Thresher

IT’S TRULY ASTOUNDING that Rice has received a $50 million gift to establish the Doerr Institute for New Leaders.

As Rice anxiously awaits the upcoming rollout of the program, we can’t help but consider what other institutes could benefit Rice. Just in case there are any eager donors out there who are only need a great idea, we have prepared this list for you peruse:

The Door Institute for Accessing Edifices

The Jason Russell Institute for Nude Leaders

The Gerber Institute for New Eaters

The Trojan Institute for New Breeders

The Bill Clinton Institute for Dude Leaders

The Helen Keller Institute for Lip Readers

The Peter Cottontail Institute for Carrot Eaters

The Expensive Crapshoot That We Hope Works Out and Provides Us With a More Powerful Alumni Network, You Know, Like 30, 40 or Even 50 Years Down the Line

The Mordor Institute for Student Judicial Proceeders

The Backpage is satire and written by Joey McGlone and Riley Robertson. For comments or questions, please email thirsty@rice.edu.

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