The Rice Thresher | Wednesday, January 18, 2017

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VOLUME 101, ISSUE NO. 15 || WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2017 RICE UNIVERSITY WEEKLY NEWSPAPER

BEYOND THE HEDGES Road trip explores different Texan landscapes

STUDENT-RUN SINCE 1916

RICETHRESHER.ORG

21 HOURS, PLEASE

TEXAS TOAST

Committee reworks course overload petitions

Rice eclipses the century mark in demolition of North Texas

see News p. 2

see A&E p. 5

see Sports p. 6

DEFACED STUDENTS RESPONSIBLE FOR BERLIN WALL GRAFFITI

Yasna Haghdoost, Drew Keller and Isaac Schultz Editor in Chief, News Editor and Thresher Staff

Rice students committed three acts of vandalism, two of which referenced President-elect Donald Trump, on campus Friday morning. The students used blue spray paint to deface the segment of the Berlin Wall outside the Baker Institute for Public Policy, the Moody Center Student Collaborative’s art installation and a dormitory wall of Hanszen College, which are all within 500 yards of each other.

vidya giri/thresher

The Rice University Police Department has identified the students responsible for the graffiti, according to an email from President David Leebron and Provost Marie Lynn Miranda to the Rice community. Dean of Undergraduates John Hutchinson declined to comment on the disciplinary procedures for the students involved. According to RUPD Chief Johnny Whitehead, officers on patrol noticed the graffiti on the art installation and the Berlin Wall on Friday morning, and later received a call about graffiti on Hanszen’s “old section” dorm. The words “Trump 16!” and what appears to be “ALOHA” or “∆LOH∆” were scrawled across the segment of the Berlin Wall. The vandalism covered an original message which read “love” above a drawing of a heart, and partly covered the words “Salut mes amis” on the bottom of the wall. The vandalism remained in view until Rice University employees covered the wall with a tapeddown cloth around 2 p.m. Friday. According to Director of News and Media Relations B.J. Almond, the wall will remain covered until a professional art conservator can work on its restoration. The timeline of the restoration process is currently undetermined, he said. An art installation by the Moody Center Student Collaborative was also vandalized with the phrases “TRUMP BABY!” “#DeportSpanos” and “Cali Chargers,” in addition to a drawing of the state of Texas and a penis. Dean Spanos, the owner of the Los Angeles Chargers,

announced the Chargers’ move from San Diego to Los Angeles Thursday yesterday. Another segment of the art installation was covered with the phrases “Trump 2020” and “Fuck Hillary!” The installation, which was created on wooden panels placed on shipping containers, was removed later in the afternoon. The original artwork was a mural painted by local Houston muralist Michael C. Rodriguez as part of a graffiti workshop in which students also contributed to the piece, according to Moody Student Collaborative Chair

This historic monument has been defaced. What else can you say? Edward Djerejian Baker Institute Director Heather Wright. “I’m disappointed,” Wright, a Lovett College junior, said. “I didn’t expect to walk to class and see ‘Trump baby’ and ‘Deport Spanos’ on the side of something that was supposed to be a very inclusive space and that bridged the gap between the differences within the student body.” The message painted on Hanszen

read “HFH,” which is also an initialism for one of the college’s cheers, “Harry Fucking Hanszen.” Hanszen junior Bowie Lin said he took a photo of the graffiti before noon, when he also saw a member of the custodial staff scrubbing it off. When Lin returned at 1 p.m., the graffiti had been completely removed. In an email to the Thresher, Leebron expressed disappointment at the vandalisms, especially at the fact that they were carried out by Rice students. “Now that the students have been identified, we need to let the procedures we have in place for student violations of Rice norms take their proper course,” Leebron wrote. In November, Leebron said in an email to the Thresher that a student had reported seeing two unidentified students wearing clothing with what she believed were swastika symbols. At the time, Leebron said the university was following up on the incident. Director for the Baker Institute Edward Djerejian expressed disbelief over the vandalism. “This historic monument of the Berlin Wall has been defaced in this irresponsible manner,” Djerejian said. “What else can you say?” The segment of the Berlin Wall was given to the university in 2000 and erected outside the Baker Institute in a ceremony which included German Ambassador to the United States Juergen Chrobog. The namesake and honorary chairman of the Baker Institute, James A. Baker 0see VANDALISM, page 2

vidya giri/thresher

courtesy bowie lin


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