The Rice Thresher | Wednesday, January 10, 2018

VOLUME 102, ISSUE NO. 13 | STUDENT-RUN SINCE 1916 | RICETHRESHER.ORG | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2018

WOLF OF MAIN STREET Residential college budgets demonstrate varying priorities

NO CREDIT, NO RESPECT Rice students fail to create culture of support for artist peers

MAKING WAVES Swimming starts the new year on a high note

SEE NEWS P. 2

SEE OPINION P. 5

SEE SPORTS P. 10

SPOTLIGHT

Speech and debate team dominates

ELIZABETH RASICH SPOTLIGHT EDITOR / EAR4@RICE.EDU

jiayi lyu /thresher

RIce has started the season 12-2 and 2-0 in conference play despite a roster with just nine healthy players, including sophomore center Gabby Ozoude (above).

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL SURGING INTO CONFERENCE PLAY MICHAEL BYRNES ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR / MEB18@RICE.EDU

It’s been a successful start to the season for Rice University women’s basketball. A year after winning the Women’s Basketball Invitational and notching 22 wins, secondhighest in program history, the Owls have shown no signs of letting up in a 12-2 start this year.

The Owls began the season on a five-game winning streak before dropping consecutive games to the University of Kansas and No. 18 Texas A&M University. But they have been undefeated since the loss to A&M on Nov. 29, racking up seven straight wins — their longest winning streak since the 2005-06 season. As

a result, in the most recent ESPN mid-major women’s basketball rankings, Rice rose five spots to achieve the No. 5 overall spot.

Wrapping up their out-of-conference schedule with a 23-point victory over Columbia University on Dec. 30, Rice began conference play by defeating the University of North Texas 50-49 last Friday in a backand-forth affair that saw four lead changes in the last 40 seconds of the game. After North Texas took the lead with under five seconds to play, two free throws by redshirt sophomore guard Erica Ogwumike put the Owls up for good with just one second remaining.

Rice added onto its perfect start to conference play on Sunday with a convincing 83-52 victory over the University of Texas,

San Antonio. The win was headlined by the Owls’ accurate 3-point shooting, with 14 makes on 26 attempts. Junior guard Nicole Iademarco was the top scorer, with 21 points on 8-for-13 shooting, including 5-for-9 from 3-point range.

For the Owls, the game marked a continuation of this season’s 3-point success: A year after setting a program single-season record with 242 3-pointers, the team is on pace to rewrite the record books once again, with 124 makes through their first 14 games. They lead the conference in total threes made and are second in 3-point field goal percentage.

The Owls’ overall field goal percentage is also second-best in the conference.

BASKETBALL CONT. ON PAGE 11

NEWS

Giving campaign incentives exceed fundraising target JAECEY PARHAM THRESHER STAFF / JLP9@RICE.EDU

The Rice Annual Fund aims to raise $10,000 this year through the Rice Owls Give Back campaign using incentives worth over $1,000 for each of the 11 residential college, according to assistant director Brittany Phillips.

So far, they have raised $6,500 through the campaign, which targets undergraduate donations.

Phillips said that while specific dollar amounts are important, student participation rates are the primary focus as they are instrumental for the U.S. News and World Report’s rankings. Last academic year, Phillips said the Rice Owls Give Back campaign raised over $8,000.

According to Jack Vielhauer, the other Rice Annual Fund

assistant director, the program is striving for 25 percent participation for freshman, 40 percent for sophomores, 55 percent for juniors and 70 percent for seniors this year. Currently, overall student participation is at 29 percent while senior participation is at 39 percent. Last academic year, 54 percent of seniors donated.

“We set benchmarks for all the classes, but we do look to the senior class a bit more for giving,” Vielauer said.

According to Phillips, the seniors’ gifts affect U.S. News and World Report’s ranking while the other classes’ do not. “[Rice Annual Fund] runs on a fiscal year, from July 1 to June 20, so seniors graduate before the end of the fiscal year and so they are counted as ‘alumni’ when they donate,” Phillips said.

According to Phillips, the U.S. News and World Report’s rankings essentially count each donation from an alumnus as a ‘vote of satisfaction’ toward their institution.

I can see how people might take advantage of the system’s loopholes.

Amy Tao Lovett College Senior “It shows that the alumni believe in [their institution] and no matter the dollar amount, it could be a dollar, a million dollars, it’s a

vote of satisfaction,” Phillips said.

Vielhauer said apathy is often a challenge in increasing student participation.

“Many students have a concern about where their donation money goes once they donate, but they can allocate those numbers to whatever organization they are involved with on campus,” Vielhauer said.

Student Association Internal Vice President Sara Meadow said Rice Owls Give Back effectively incentivized student-giving through free t-shirts, Coffeehouse drinks, and the ability to choose what programs the donation is given.

“College wish lists” are part of how the Rice Annual Fund incentivizes student participation.

Rice Annual Fund awards each college a prize once they reach a

GIVING CONT. ON PAGE 4

Last spring, while the rest of her classmates were throwing water balloons and cheering on their colleges at Beer Bike, Gennifer Geer was stuck in Peoria, Illinois for a national speech and debate tournament.

“I have a personal grudge against Peoria, Illinois,” Geer, a McMurtry College sophomore, said.

This fall, she competed at speech and debate tournaments five weeks in a row in every time zone in the United States and even more tournaments after that. Each tournament started around 8 a.m., but she gets up much earlier in the morning to get ready: an ironed suit, perfect hair, pristine makeup.

“I never wear lipstick at school, but it’s a trend among the women on the circuit to wear bold, bright lipstick,” Geer said.

“It’s a way of declaring, ‘Listen up, because I have something important to say.’”

The team travels frequently and the time commitment is enormous, but it’s what is expected of a speech and debate team on the top of its game: Rice’s George R. Brown Forensics society is currently ranked first in speech by the National Forensics Association and 11th in debate by the National Parliamentary Debate Association. Between two tournaments this past November, the team won a combined 42 awards.

At competitions, Geer performs original speeches that she can prepare in advance, and limitedpreparation speeches that she has to write at the competition.

“I don’t have a favorite event,” she said. “I always want to do the event that isn’t next.”

Geer’s teammate Sonia Torres competes in debate alongside her partner Jason Barton. The pair started off the fall semester ranked 8th in the nation for debate by The National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence, which tracks collegiate debate results.

Torres said that tournaments tend to be hectic. Competitors have to balance a college course load with the tournament’s demands, so they’ll alternate homework and scrolling through Reddit with working on debate preparation.

“Rounds are crazy intense, often with judges who used to be legends in the activity before they graduated,” Torres said.

David Worth is the director of the team and Shannon LaBove is assistant director.

Both are lecturers in the School of Humanities and between them have 40 years of collegiate

FORENSICS CONT. ON PAGE 7

NEWS

2

Breaking even: Residential college budget breakdown Colleges self-reported the amount of money they have each allocated for spending this academic year. Operating budgets do not include all funds a college may have. $55,934 $51,350

$49,175

$49,000

SID RICH

$46,007

LOVETT

JONES

WIESS

HANSZEN

WILL RICE

BROWN

$46,470

$45,750

BAKER

$49,100

DUNCAN

$49,400

$48,206

MCMURTRY

$55,671

MARTEL

2017-2018 Operating Budgets

infographic by sydney garrett

AMY QIN FOR THE THRESHER / AQ5@RICE.EDU

With approximately half a million dollars divided among them, colleges are coming up with unique ways to spend their budgets, from Hanszen College’s Beauty Committee to Sid Richardson College’s Brewing fund.

Each fall, Dean of Undergraduates John Hutchinson divides the funds amongst the 11 residential colleges. Since the allocation is determined by population, larger colleges receive more funds than smaller ones do, according to Vice President for Finance Kathy Collins.

In addition to the amounts they receive from the dean, the colleges can also incorporate funds from other sources, including their endowments and savings funds, into their budget.

This year, Wiess College has the largest projected budget, at $55,932, while Will Rice College has the smallest budget, at $45,750.

Every college has a set yearly budget and a monthly bank-imposed spending cap, according to Collins. Within these amounts, however, the student governments are free to design their own allocation process and decide the areas that will receive funds.

“This level of control of about a half million dollars by Rice student governments is uncommon for universities such as ours,” Collins said.

COLLEGE PRIORITIES Will Rice College Treasurer Aparna Narendrula said a college’s culture has an impact on how the budget is allocated.

“We don’t change [the budget] too much from year to year — the culture doesn’t change drastically from year to year,” Narendrula, a senior, said. “However, we try to stay flexible in case it does.”

New at Hanszen this year are a number of student-proposed initiative committees which were added to the budget alongside permanent standing committees. Among them is the Beauty Committee, which has a budget of $250 to host public hair and makeup tutorials for Hanszenites.

“Their events are actually pretty

popular,” Hanszen Treasurer Madison Grimes said.

Baker College has the largest environmental budget of $1,582, an allocation choice that treasurer Alyssa Graham said was based on a college-wide survey of priorities sent to Baker residents at the beginning of the academic year. The fund, which is 3.3 percent of Baker’s overall budget, has been used for purchases such as greenware, a service where students can borrow reusable dishes.

This year two other colleges, Hanszen and McMurtry College, have designated environmental funds. Hanszen’s set aside $200 while McMurtry allocated $900.

Sid Richardson, Brown College and Jones College all have separate floor budgets. Sid Richardson and Jones allocate $200 per floor yearly, while Brown allocates $100 per floor. “[Floor budgets] are usually used for things such as floor dinners, floor decorations, speakers and supplies to build, uh, ‘gaming tables,’” Brown treasurer Jack Weis said. “Exactly what it’s used for varies by floor.”

Following the precedent of previous years, 25 percent of Wiess’ $51,350 budget this year went toward Night of Decadence, amounting to a total of $15,000 according to Wiess’ budget, which treasurer Ashish Kulkarni said is due to expensive security measures.

The approximately $6,000 made in ticket sales go directly back into Wiess’ yearly budget, according to Kulkarni, a junior.

Wiess president Tay Jacobe said Wiess’ creativity fund and numerous event funds are examples of Wiess’ prioritization of both traditions and new initiatives.

While all residential colleges allocate funds to Beer Bike, Wiess has the smallest Beer Bike budget at $2,734, which is 5.3 percent of its budget. Jones, in contrast, is spending $8,500 this year on Beer Bike coordination and an additional $1,200 on the bike and chug teams, adding to a total of 19.6 percent of its budget.

“It’s no secret that Jones loves Beer Bike,” Jones treasurer Kyle Bartsch said. “It’s an

BUDGET CONT. ON PAGE 4

THE RICE THRESHER

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2018

NEWS

3

Rice alum nominated NEST360° wins $15

by Trump to lead NASA million to aid newborns TRACEY DIBBS

ELLA FELDMAN THRESHER STAFF / EMF6@RICE.EDU

President Donald Trump renominated Rice graduate Jim Bridenstine to lead NASA on Monday after the U.S. Senate failed to act on the initial September nomination.

Bridenstine (Lovett ’98) graduated from Rice with degrees in economics, psychology and managerial studies. He went on to have a naval aviation career and was elected to represent Oklahoma’s First Congressional District in 2012.

On Sept. 1, 2017, Trump nominated Bridenstine to serve as NASA’s next administrator. At a confirmation hearing in early November held by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Bridenstine’s nomination was narrowly forwarded to the full Senate by a 14-13 vote. The nomination was returned to the president after Senate did not act on it.

At the November confirmation hearing, Senate Democrats argued that Bridenstine is unfit to lead NASA, citing his lack of scientific and technical experience and his controversial views on climate change, among other issues.

On the 2012 Oklahoma Congressional Political Courage Test, Bridenstine said he did not believe that human activity contributed at all to global warming because there was no credible scientific evidence. At the November hearing, Bridenstine said he agreed with scientists that global warming was real and partially caused by humans, but he would not say that human behavior was the primary cause.

Neal Lane, a fellow in space policy at the Baker Institute for Public Policy, said that in a conversation he had with the congressman about climate change, Bridenstine emphasized that he accepts that climate is changing and greenhouse gases are a cause, but questions how much human activity contributes. Bridenstine could not be reached for comment.

Lane said he hopes Bridenstine will continue to evolve these views. George Abbey, another fellow in space policy at the Baker Institute for Public Policy, agreed.

“Hopefully he’ll realize that he’s got to give more consideration to the science community and their inputs,” Abbey said.

Many Senators raised concerns over Bridenstine’s lack of applicable experience at the November hearing, but Abbey said he is not concerned by these criticisms.

“A number of the administrators in the

past have not had a technical or scientific background,” he said. “I think he compares favorably to the other nominees and the other administrators that have served.”

Senators from both sides of the aisle have criticized Bridenstine for being too divisive and expressed worry over Bridenstine bringing his own politics to the position at NASA, a historically apolitical organization.

Abbey said he agrees that Bridenstine should not be partial to one political party.

“Hopefully he will go into this job with the view that he’s going to be making his decisions and recommendations based on what’s good for the country,” Abbey said.

Both Lane and Abbey said they would like to see NASA pursue increased partnerships with private spaceflight companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin, which they said would save the organization money.

In his time as Representative, Bridenstine has sat on the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Science, Space and Technology, and the Subcommittee on Space. He has supported tax cuts, pro-life legislation and anti-immigration legislation and is against same-sex marriage.

Lane said he is not aware of a better candidate than Bridenstine for the position.

“Whoever serves as NASA administrator must be trusted by the president, capable of understanding and supporting NASA’s complex mission, balancing science, technology and human space travel, and politically savvy. My sense is that Bridenstine could rise to that challenge,” Lane said. “And NASA desperately needs a leader.”

JIM BRIDENSTINE

courtesy united states congress

NEWS IN BRIEF Former employee files to reinstate lawsuit after court dismisses case Emily Abdow News Editor / esa2@rice.edu The District Court for the Southern District of Texas dismissed a lawsuit filed against Rice University by former employee Cylette Willis-Sass after Sass’s attorney missed a show cause deadline.

Willis-Sass filed a motion to reinstate the case on Dec.13.

Willis-Sass filed the initial lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, in August, alleging that Rice University unlawfully terminated her employment after she requested leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. According to the motion to reinstate the case, the plaintiff’s attorney, Ellen Sprovach, went to the emergency room in Houston Methodist Hospital the weekend of Nov. 10 following complications to a knee replacement surgery. As a result, Sprovach missed the Nov. 13 show cause deadline requiring the plaintiff to demonstrate she had served Rice with the lawsuit. The court dismissed the lawsuit on Nov. 14.

According to an email sent by Rice’s attorney, Teresa Valderrama, to Sprovach, the date agreed upon

by both parties for Rice University to file an answer was originally Nov. 9.

Valderrama requested to file one week later on Nov. 17, to which the plaintiff agreed.

In a Nov. 17 email to Sprovach, Valderrama wrote she had prepared to file Rice University’s answer that day, but then learned the case had been dismissed.

“I am not comfortable filing an answer in a dismissed case,” Valderrama wrote. “Please let me know as soon as it is reinstated, and I will file the answer shortly thereafter.”

In a certificate of conference, Sprovach stated she conferred with Valderrama prior to filing the motion to reinstate and included a directly quoted statement from Valderrama regarding the motion.

“Rice does fully oppose the lawsuit and believes it to be mistaken,” Valderrama wrote in the statement.

Rice University does not comment on personnel matters or pending litigation, according to Rice’s senior director of News and Media Relations B.J. Almond.

THRESHER STAFF /TD19@RICE.EDU

Rice University’s Newborn Essential Solutions and Technologies program won $15 million from the MacArthur Foundation’s 100&Change competition on Dec. 20, 2017, according to an official statement by the MacArthur Foundation.

NEST360°, an initiative by the Rice 360° Institute for Global Health aimed at improving newborn survival in Africa, was one of four finalists chosen from a pool of over 1,900 competitors. Each finalist presented their project to the MacArthur Foundation board on Dec. 11 for a chance to receive a $100 million grant, which was won

by Sesame Workshop and the International Rescue Committee.

“We’re doubly grateful to the MacArthur Foundation, both for its $15 million commitment and its confidence in making us a 100&Change finalist,” Rebecca RichardsKortum, Rice 360° director, said. “Our whole team is committed to continuing our work to scale NEST across Africa in order to save 500,000 newborn lives every year.”

Richards-Kortum said the 18 months spent working on the project revealed that there has never been a better time to improve newborn survival in Africa.

“The political resolve, both internationally and among African nations, has never been stronger. The technology is attainable, and it can be delivered with a market-based approach that African hospitals can afford,” Richards-Kortum said. “The award from the MacArthur Foundation will allow us to begin right away.”

Maria Oden, Rice 360º co-director, said the NEST team plans to continue efforts to raise funds for the project, which aims to provide

life-saving technologies to newborns that have been available in high-income countries for over 50 years. NEST plans to address this technology gape through creating rugged, affordable technologies, using evidence to drive demand for technologies and educating clinicians and biomedical innovators to lead the change to improve newborn health.

“It’s not the kind of project where we can say, ‘We’ll just scale it down and do 15 percent of it,’” Oden said. “We know that the key components of our plan ultimately are going to need to be done [to] address this problem in a really holistic way.”

It’s been a long road getting here, but this is just the beginning.

Pelham Keahey NEST Technologies Team Leader Past donors include the Lemelson Foundation, the United States Agency for International Development and ELMA Philanthropies, according to Oden.

“Part of this process allowed us to start exploring who additional funders might be, but we’re not at a point where we could name who those might be,” Oden said.

Oden said NEST plans to use the next several months creating a plan to overcome a key barrier to the project: not all technologies needed are commercially available.

“A big part of the $15 million will actually be to take all the technologies that are not yet commercially available and get them to that point,” Oden said. “It is my hope and

NEST CONT. ON PAGE 4

4

NEWS

THE RICE THRESHER

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2018 BUDGET FROM PAGE 2 event our college hypes up all year long and it lives up to that hype. Many of my fellow Jonesians and I believe it’s a worthy investment.”

All colleges have funds available to any students in the college who need money to finance independent ideas. These initiative funds range from $1,000 at Sid Richardson and Jones to $3,000 at Brown.

At Brown, Weis said the goal of the fund is to encourage enterprise among students who may not be involved in their college government.

courtesy brandon martin/rice university

Rebecca Richards-Kortum and Maria Oden, Rice University 360° Institute for Global Health Technology Co-Directors, stand with doctors, nurses and NEST collaborators at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi.

NEST FROM PAGE 3 dream that in 10 years, we’re going to look back on this time as the beginning of the implementation of the whole plan that we’ve put together.”

Oden said winning the award would not have been possible without support from Rice.

“Everybody at Rice, especially the students, our colleagues and the administration, just really supported us in so many ways,” Oden said. “That makes me happy to be part of this community.”

Erica Skerrett, a Rice alumna (Will Rice ‘15) who works on the NEST team, is currently developing Kasupe, a syringe pump that safely administers magnesium sulfate to women suffering from severe preeclampsia. Skerrett said the initial design tested in maternity wards in 2015 was in a large aluminum box and looked nothing like a medical device.

“During my time working in Houston and Malawi, it’s been really interesting to see how much iteration and testing it takes to have something that already functions in the lab and then translate it to the patient’s bedside,” Skerrett said.

Skerrett said she hopes the award will

GIVING FROM PAGE 1 certain number of donors. For 50 donors, the college receives a $100 prize. For 100 donors, the college receives a $300 prize and for 150 donors, a $600 prize. Each college selects specific items that they wish to receive should they reach the donor benchmarks.

The Annual Fund promises to reward $1,000 worth of prizes to each college should they reach at least 150 donors. If each college has 150 donors, the annual fund will give $1,100 worth of prizes. According to Phillips, the prizes are paid for through the Annual Fund’s budget.

According to Sarah Berton, a Student Philanthropy Committee volunteer at Martel, these prizes have been the most effective incentive. If Martel College reaches the Rice Annual Fund’s benchmarks and achieves 150 donors, their prizes include lights for the quad, a Nintendo Switch and a massage chair. “[It’s] a pretty immediate way that students can be rewarded for giving, and it stirs up some college pride and rivalry, which is always effective in getting students to give,” Berton said.

Lovett College senior Amy Tao, however,

Meaghan Bond (Bioengineering Ph.D. ‘16), a member of the NEST team, said NEST360° created an entire mock African nursery with technologies developed by Rice and a radiant warmer that came from India a week before the competition.

“We had a ton of students and staff

involved in the creation and refinement of the room, and I am so proud of how beautiful it turned out in Chicago.”

Leah Sherman, a McMurtry College senior who has worked on multiple projects including a mechanical breast pump through Rice 360° over the past two and a half years, said she is proud to be part of NEST. “I am extremely happy for all of the people who spent countless hours working towards this goal,” Sherman said. “I am excited to see how they will use this funding to increase their impact.”

Pelham Keahey, a graduate student in applied physics and a leader of the NEST Technologies team, is also the leader of the Bilispec project, one of the NEST technologies highlighted in the 100&Change pitch. According to Keahey, Bilispec is an easy-to-use, affordable machine designed to diagnose jaundice by quantifying serum bilirubin levels from a drop of blood.

“The NEST team is an amazing group of people to work with, and I couldn’t be more excited about what we are going to accomplish,” Keahey said. “It has been a long road getting here, but this is just the beginning.”

said the prizes could encourage students to give minimal amounts, making incentivized giving ineffective.

“I can see how people might take advantage of [the system’s] loopholes to win a prize for their college and end up making the whole incentive counterproductive,” Tao said.

Phillips said the Rice Owls Give Back campaign is effective due in large part to active SPC volunteers. Volunteers are trained to address specific questions such as, “Why should I give back when I already pay tuition?”

“The more active [the volunteers] have been, the more increases we have seen in [participation] stats,” Phillips said.

According to Jones Sophomore Kyle Bartsch, when he volunteered to collect donations, he asked coordinators at Jones if any amount would count towards donor participation.

“They said yes so I grabbed my coin jar and offered it to people who maybe didn’t have money to give [and] when I showed I was offering to give them money, a lot of people decided to just give their own— [coordinators at Jones] let the less than

$1 amounts count toward the prize, some [students] decided to just donate a penny, nickel, or dime, and others chose to donate 5-10 dollars,” Bartsch said.

Berton, a Martel College junior, said students don’t always understand the importance of giving back to the university while they are still at Rice.

“It is a challenge to convince them that giving their money is a worthwhile cause [but] giving back to Rice is so important because it allows us students to not only show our appreciation for our school, but also demonstrate our commitment to maintaining and improving all that Rice has to offer,” Berton said.

Vielhauer said that apart from rankings and prizes, student-giving fosters Rice’s strong culture of alumni giving.

“One way of staying connected when [students] graduate is through giving back financially—so by giving now, it’s a way to create a precedent, every dollar counts—as a vote, towards any campus account—we have to break down the stigma that a dollar doesn’t do anything and get students to understand that you truly are helping,” Vielhauer said.

assist in filling necessary full-time positions that were difficult to maintain when the team was mostly dependent on smaller-scale and device-specific grants.

“Biomedical devices are obviously extremely multifaceted,” Skerrett said.

“Working with a greater number of dedicated staff will allow us to put more time into needs-finding, engineering, human-centered design, human factors and clinical validation.”

Everybody at Rice just really supported us in so many ways.

Maria Oden Rice 360° Co-Director

ALLOCATION PROCESS Colleges allocate their budgets to both committees and line items, but the number of allocation areas varies between colleges, with 21 allocation areas at Jones and around 40 at Wiess.

Weis said he was dissatisfied with the 35 allocation areas on Brown’s budget.

“I personally think we could better serve the College by consolidating a lot of them,” he said.

Sid Richardson’s budget situation is a special case, resulting in a unique budgeting system. Because of an issue with clearing expenses, a $15,000 “debt” accumulated as rollover money over 2014 and 2015 in Sid’s budget, according to treasurer Jacob Barrios.

Barrios said the issue occurred when previous treasurers charged accounts on Rice’s financial management system, Banner, without moving funds from the General fund to clear expenses.

The unmoved funds appeared as rollover funds to the next year and increased the apparent size of the next year’s budget.

Barrios said the budgeting office and the college reached an agreement to pay off the debt through the rollover funds.

“During my second year as treasurer, we reconciled this debt with Rice, and came to the current budget of approximately $46,000, meaning Sid now has one of the smallest budgets on Rice’s campus,” Barrios said.

To adjust to its smaller budget, Sid Rich switched this year from allocating to individual committees to allocating to clusters of committees that get assigned more flexible budgets, Barrios said. Barrios also said the new system has encouraged more inter-committee cooperation.

The colleges are only able to finalize their budgets after the dean of undergraduates relays the amount they will have to allocate in the fall. Weis said the budget is not always a clear indicator of a college’s priorities.

This level of control of about half a million dollars by Rice student governments is uncommon for universities such as ours.

Kathy Collins Vice President for Finance “The amount of money we allocate to something isn’t necessarily proportional to how much we value it — some things are just inherently more expensive than others,” Weis, a senior, said. “You can’t have Bacch[analia] without paying a hefty sum to [Rice University Police Department], but Floor Olympics just don’t need to be that expensive to be fun.”

OPINION STAFF EDITORIAL

5

EDITORIAL CARTOON

Let’s be honest about why Owls must ‘give back’ Every year, the Rice Annual Fund solicits donations from students for the Rice Owls Give Back campaign (see p. 1). One reason is to foster a “tradition” of giving back; another is to measure student satisfaction and boost the school’s ranking. Many students, however, aren’t sure why they should donate in addition to the thousands in tuition they already pay. Instead, they are often pressured into coughing up a dollar or two. Contrary to how the program is often portrayed, the amount of money raised only about equals the amount spent to encourage donations.

The very name of the campaign suggests that something valuable has already been given to students. But current students, especially freshmen, might not feel that they have tangibly received anything from Rice besides admission (and attempting to enroll in 600 percent full classes).

Ideally, the Fund would be less duplicitious in their messaging and more cognizant that many paying students aren’t eager to be targeted by a fundraising campaign. Maybe when students graduate, they will “give back” to the school that boosted their careers. However, current Rice students are simply that: students, buried by mountains of loans and coursework.

Rice must “give” back cartoon by esther tang and areli navarro magallón

OP-ED

A student artist’s response to the culture erasing our names

There is a strange and frustrating feeling of detachment when your art is taken out of your possession. This was something I learned last semester, when the emcees at Camp Kesem Rice’s Mr. Rice event pointed out Mr. Brown’s auction poster — a large, laminated print of a photo I took, processed, and edited — and praised it. “This is art!” they said.

“Support student artists and bid for this poster!” The unfortunate irony was that, throughout the many weeks Camp Kesem used student photography for this event, they never gave credit to the photographers involved. The only reason the word “art” even entered the conversation that night was because Mr. Brown took the opportunity to speak up and stand up for student artists. But, while he was genuine, the others were not intentional with their words, and they were completely missing the point.

I faced a very different but equally demoralizing situation when I was hired as a photographer for a professional on-campus office. They asked me to shoot events for Families Weekend, and then spent the next two weeks working to undercut and underpay in a way that showed a shocking disregard and lack of respect for student work. In an effort to get these photos taken and delivered as quickly as possible, they were disorganized, disrespectful, made impossible demands and treated me and my work like expendable commodities.

STAFF Drew Keller & Juan Saldaña* Editors in Chief Jasmine Lin* Managing Editor Shannon Klein Business Manager news Emily Abdow* Editor Anna Ta Editor Cameron Wallace Asst. Editor

These two experiences were the embodiment of how social, academic and professional respect for student art and artists on campus (and the few departments that support us) is on the verge of extinction. If anything, appreciation for the arts has become another verbal trend, where we talk a lot but don’t do anything.

In this specific case, it’s a trend that encourages a superficial appreciation of art without consideration for what that means in practice.

Humanities majors on campus face a constant threat of ridicule. We are loudly and often told that what we do is useless, irrelevant, unimportant or too easy. The irony of this is, these things are often said by the very same people who buy Starry Night mugs and Warhol posters, who visit all the trendiest modern art museums on their spring break trips just to post about it on social media. In the end, these behaviors are simply direct effects of the fact that we’ve learned to think of art as something to be collected and displayed not by merit of its own value, but rather solely for the benefit of the consumer’s public image. It is a commodification and an appropriation of art, as these things are detached from their meanings and origins, artist and art both stripped of their significance.

The most disappointing thing is that these are the attitudes we face from our own friends and peers. I realized very

opinions Julianne Wey* Editor arts & entertainment Lenna Mendoza* Editor backpage Joey McGlone Editor Isaac Schultz Editor photo Sirui Zhou Editor Charlene Pan Editor

spotlight Elizabeth Rasich Editor

copy Sarah Smati Editor Catherine Soltero Editor

sports Andrew Grottkau* Editor Michael Byrnes Asst. Editor

online Charlie Paul Web Editor Alice Liu Digital Content Editor

quickly that Rice’s social and academic cultures are not always cultures of respect. I spent months of my freshman year pretending I was undecided about my major, because within a few weeks here I learned to feel ashamed about wanting to study English, and later art as well. These judgments and attitudes are so deeply entrenched in our general culture, we have become desensitized to them. That needs to change.

So, here’s a fact about artists: You are not doing us a favor by commissioning our work. You are not giving us the gift of “exposure.” If you’re going to argue against the worth of liberal arts, don’t do it based on your choice to ignore the fact that there are millions of people doing meaningful, impactful, and even lucrative work with humanities degrees. As difficult as it may be to believe at an institution like Rice University, what we do and what we create is not for our resumes.

We do it because it is our passion and our contribution to the spaces we exist in, and there is no reason that contribution should be inherently worth less than anyone else’s. We do not have to give you our time or our art, for any reason, ever. Camp Kesem Rice — an otherwise admirable student group — and the oncampus office I worked with are only a few examples of this oblivious discrimination.

I’m not asking you to care about art if that’s not your thing. This is not about

design Christina Tan Director Sydney Garrett News Designer Marlena Fleck Sports Designer Ellie Mix A&E Designer Tina Liu Spotlight Designer Areli Navarro Magallón Illustrator Esther Tang Illustrator business operations Tom Wang Advertising Manager Sara Lopez Marketing Manager Joey Castro Distribution Manager Greg Campo Distribution Manager Sanvitti Sahdev Business Designer *Editorial Board member

praise. This is not about being paid. It is not only about art majors, but about anyone who chooses to make art or care about it, in any and all of its capacities.

If you’re going to say you care, prove it.

Go to events, speak with substance and spread the word. But even if you’re not, know that you are still bound to think about and take responsibility for the effects of your language and your actions.

Either way, respect your friends and the people around you by crediting their work and not devaluing it. Because if we are not capable of standing by each other to support or at the very least respect the genuine and constructive efforts of our peers, what can we really say for ourselves as a collective community? This is, at its simplest, a plea for that respect.

I suppose the real irony is that we have to ask for it at a place like Rice, where we are constantly patting ourselves on the back for being diverse, accepting and forwardthinking.

I urge you to take a step back, and think again.

ANA PAULA PINTO-DIAZ

Brown College Sophomore ap51@rice.edu

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.

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 The Thresher is a member of the ACP, TIPA, CMA, and CMBAM © Copyright 2017

SPOTLIGHT

6

What is virginity, anyway?

ELIZABETH RASICH

SPOTLIGHT EDITOR / EAR4@RICE.EDU

It turns out that Rice students are pretty good at guessing how many of their peers are virgins: 44 percent was the true number and 39 percent the average estimate, according to a recent Research Methods (SOCI 381) study.

Study team member Eric Shi said this result surprised him most; he thought Rice students would underestimate the number of virgins.

The group was made up of students Shi, Thresa Skeslien-Jenkins, Bharathi Selvan, Navya Kumar and Ami Sheth. They aimed to study the origins, definitions and perceptions of virginity on campus.

“What is more taboo [than hookups on campus] is this concept of virginity, something your mother firmly believes in but you think is wonky. “Or do you?” Kumar, a Hanszen College junior, said. “That question was essential, and our findings illuminated the legacy of the more conservative view as well as the more liberal notions of choice and autonomy.”

The group collected survey responses from Oct.18 to Nov. 1. They received 809 responses and used 692 that were complete or majoritycomplete responses. The survey yielded a sample of virgins and nonvirgins who expressed their views on virginity — including whether or not it exists at all.

The survey first asked how respondents would define losing one’s virginity. For example, could oral sex count? What about penetration with a dildo or other object?

After breaking down responses by gender, the group found that women tended to think a broader range of activities constitute loss of virginity while men were less likely to choose oral sex or penetration by objects.

“We assume that’s because [men] don’t have a vagina so they have no interest in that form of losing virginity,” Skeslien-Jenkins, a Martel College junior, said. “If they were to insert something else into a woman, they would not themselves feel that they lost their virginity, whereas women would feel differently.”

Overall, the group was pleasantly surprised by the number of people who chose

anal and oral sex as definitions of losing virginity.

“I think LGBTQ and straight people alike consider the penetration of a vagina by a penis to be, for broader society, how you lose your virginity, but we had to have straight people accepting anal and oral sex [as methods for losing virginity] for that number to be so high,” Skeslien-Jenkins said. “I do think it’s good and it’s a lot better than what would have been done in the early or middle-2000s.”

The group also broke down the results by sexual orientation (using the terms “straight males,” “straight women,” “queer males,” and “queer women”) to see how perceptions varied based on the type of sex respondents might have had or potentially are having.

“There are nuances to our understanding of virginity and those understandings can vary based on identity,” Sheth said. Straight males, for example, were the least likely to stray away from the definition of losing virginity as the penetration of the vagina with a penis. Another interesting result was that only 75 percent of queer males selected anal sex as a way to lose their virginity.

Skeslien-Jenkins hypothesized that because virginity has historically been defined as a heterosexual concept, some queer men might think that if they only ever have anal sex, they will never lose their virginities—-or they may think they were never virgins in the first place.

Respondents also had the option to write in their own definition. One wrote, “The first time you are completely physically vulnerable with another person.” Another respondent wrote, “As intimate as you can get with another person.” Several others, including queer males, responded that virginity was a social construct rather than defining it using the survey categories. Skeslien-Jenkins said that choice might have contributed to the relatively low number of queer males who chose the anal sex option. There was no option in the survey for a respondent to indicate whether or not they believed virginity existed at all.

Queer men also stood out in the results as the least likely to wait to have sex with “the right person.” Only 70 percent of queer men — both virgins and nonvirgins — said

that, ideally, they would wait, compared to 85 percent of straight women, 81 percent of queer women and 75 percent of straight men.

“What we hypothesized about that is that for queer men, it’s really difficult to find a person and especially to find that first partner, and so it’s often out of convenience,” SkeslienJenkins said. “I personally have talked with queer men [who have said], ‘I want to know what that response was because I feel like I’m the only one who lost their virginity to a stranger.’”

There are nuances to our understanding of virginity and those understandings can vary based on identity.

Ami Sheth Hanszen College Junior In addition to asking respondents what virginity is and what they would consider before losing their virginity, the survey also asked who they would tell after they had done the deed. The group found that women were more likely to tell someone, and straight men were the least likely to tell someone. SkeslienJenkins attributed the difference to the fact that women tend to be more expressive, while men might be hesitant to tell someone they have lost their virginity because it would reveal that they had been a virgin all along.

“In our survey we found that men were describing [virginity] as shameful a lot more than women,” Skeslien-Jenkins said. “[There was this] idea that once you get over it, you’re a lot more proud.”

Not all straight men were so shy, however.

When asked who he told after losing his virginity, one straight male respondent simply wrote in, “Twitter.”

Part of the survey asked respondents to select words that they associated with virginity, based on a theory by Vanderbilt

University associate professor of sociology Laura Carpenter, called “the three scripts” of describing virginity: gift, stigma and process. Each response was coded as either gift, stigma or process. “Womanhood,” for example, was coded as process, whereas words like “embarrassing” were coded as stigma.

“According to Carpenter, women are more likely to see [virginity] as a gift, something they want to give to someone, something they treasure and keep for someone special,” Skeslien-Jenkins said. “Process is more likely to be applied to LGBT people and those that don’t value the idea of ‘purity’ and see losing their virginity like it’s a rite of passage, it’ll happen when they’re ready, and not really keeping it at the forefront of their mind.

Stigma is usually applied to men and is the idea is that it’s shameful or embarrassing and something to get rid of.”

The group found that the most popular word associated with virginity was “choice,” followed by abstinence and then sexual restraint. Kumar, Selvan, and Sheth said that Rice students aligned with the three scripts Carpenter described, but less strongly than they expected.

Kumar said that she thought students would deviate further from the three scripts than they did.

“Honestly, I expected Rice to be very ‘virginity is a social construct and this survey is dumb and patriarchal and backwards,’ but we got a lot of responses indicating it was in fact meaningful and a choice and a decision that is not made lightly,” Kumar said.

According to Skeslien-Jenkins, the team hopes their findings can be used to change conversations surrounding virginity.

“Right now there’s a lot of sex education around abstinence and connected to the idea that if you are not abstinent, you are less than someone else,” Skeslien-Jenkins said. “We really want to take away the worst from the idea of virginity so we can emphasize it’s a choice that you make and it’s empowering, but it has no impact on you as a person or you in society.”

This article has been condensed for print.

Read the full story online at ricethresher.org.

WHO DID YOU ‘LOSE’ YOUR VIRGINITY TO?* survey of 692 Rice undergraduates || infographic by Ami Sheth

40

PERCENT

Type 30

Virgin Friend Other

20

S.O. Stranger Acquaintance

10

*respondents could choose multiple options

0 female queer

female straight

male queer

GENDER ORIENTATION

male straight

THE RICE THRESHER

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2018

WINTER SHENANIGANS

1

Aparna Narendrula, Angela Zhang, Mari Zertuche

We spent a week on a farm in North Texas as part of a organization called WWOOF: World-Wide Opportunities for Organic Farming. Chris and Chrissy (the owners of the farm) gave us a lot of great advice, from growing our own vegetables to being financially responsible. We helped manage the greenhouse and take care of a lot of animals (a llama, horse, chickens, ducks, turkeys, rabbits and 10 dogs!). It was hard work but still a lot of fun.

2

4

Emily Shen

My roommates and I (Alex Kang, left, and Ileana Martinez, right) hosted a New Year’s Eve party in our apartment. We had a lot of fun, and for many of us, it was the first time we had spent New Year’s with friends instead of family.

FORENSICS FROM PAGE 1 speech and debate coaching experience. They train the team to focus on flexibility rather than drilling them more than 15 hours a week like some other collegiate forensics coaches do.

“More so than other schools, a Rice competitor most not only excel in challenging coursework, but also at national competitions, and to do this successfully means working smarter, not harder,” Torres said.

Geer thinks it is Worth and LaBove’s ability to channel team members’ passions that helps make Rice’s team so dominant.

“People want to watch speeches that don’t sound the same as every other speech in the room, and that’s what Rice does really well,” she said.

Lauren Palladino attributes their success to the team’s small size.

“Rice’s team is small and selective, and I think because of our size we’re able to put a greater focus on each of us individually,” Palladino, a Duncan College freshman, said.

Palladino is part of what Worth calls an “incredible incoming freshman class.”

Last spring, a large group of talented seniors graduated and left Worth facing a year of rebuilding the team, but the rebuilding year is actually turning out to be very successful.

“We have these phenomenal new people and the returners have really stepped up, so right now I’d say the team looks as good as it’s ever looked in terms

SPOTLIGHT

7

Students share how they spent their winter break

3

Victor Nguyen

My high school Secret Santa group was more wild than I thought. The gamer nerd got a bag of condoms and an iHome speaker (to set the mood). The meathead of the group said, after receiving a tub of whey protein, “It’s GAINZ O’CLOCK.” As for me, my friends apparently think I’m a weird celeb-obsessed mooch with resting bitch face.

Henry Baring

My family and I baked and decorated 90 Christmas cookies with homemade icing.

of its future prospects,” Worth said.

Murray, who is also a freshman, said that having confidence is important for a successful speech and debate competitor.

“That and the ability to speak with purpose and make people believe what you’re saying,” Murray said.

Many members of Rice’s speech and debate team started competing on the high school circuit or even earlier. Bria Murray started in middle school and has been competing ever since.

“I joined because I don’t really know what I would do with myself without speech,” Murray said. “I’ve been involved in it since I was in the seventh grade. At this point, speech is part of who I am.”

Palladino was involved in speech in high school for four years, where she said there was a “socially-prescribed range of acceptable topics” as opposed to the collegiate level, where there is much more freedom in what is considered appropriate.

“I went from a severely underfunded high school team to competing for Rice, which is one of the best in the country, so this is a huge difference,” Palladino said.

Torres said she found her voice in high school debate, but college debate was very different: faster, more technical and much more competitive. She thinks the higher intensity is beneficial, however.

“It took me years to build, but I think college debate is [where] I found my confidence, particularly in high pressure situations,” she said.

courtesy gennifer geer

Members of the George R. Brown Forensics Society show off their awards from the University of the Pacific speech and debate tournament on Nov. 3.

Torres said her involvement with the team has given her the opportunity to meet people across the country who she would never have met otherwise.

“Because of forensics, I have met incredible alumni, successful lawyers, journalists, business people, and academics, who give invaluable [advice]: anything from how to succeed balancing a college workload with debate, to how to apply to grad school, to how to find

the right career, which has made scary life decisions at Rice seem less scary,” Torres said.

Geer agrees that meeting people is the biggest impact from her participation in forensics.

“The team is full of passionate, ambitious, and intelligent people, and I’ve made amazing friends,” she said.

“We get along really well because we’re a bunch of wackadoos.”

&

ARTS entertainment

8 FILM

Sorkin delivers trademark intensity in poker biopic ‘Molly’s Game’

MADDIE FLAVIN THRESHER STAFF / MF37@RICE.EDU

MOLLY’S GAME Episode length: 140 minutes Rating: R Genre: Drama/Crime

“Poker isn’t a game of chance. Poker is game of skill.” So says Molly Bloom, the protagonist of “Molly’s Game.” For approximately a decade, the real-life Bloom, dubbed the “Poker Princess,” ran high-stakes poker games in Los Angeles and New York City. She chronicled these events, as well as her 2013 arrest by the FBI and the trial that ultimately sentenced her to probation over jail time, in her 2014 memoir, also titled “Molly’s Game.” Written and directed by legendary screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, the fast and furious energy of the film adaptation dares one to keep their head above water.

Growing up in a family of overachievers led by a domineering father, Molly Bloom is taught to equate exhaustion with weakness. Under his demands, she becomes an Olympiclevel skier and plans on attending law school. But when a spectacular accident at a qualifying run for the 2002 Winter Olympics permanently ends her athletic career, Molly puts her academics on hold to live in Los Angeles. Her family cuts her off for this decision, so Molly takes a job as a personal assistant, where her boss asks her to help him run his weekly poker games. By the time he fires her, Molly has learned enough about the game to be able to set up her own decadent game nights.

Along the way, though, the players’ insatiable desire for thrills, money and power rubs off on her, climaxing into a destructive tumble, like the one that led her to the games in the first place.

In his directorial debut, Aaron Sorkin directs the way he writes his screenplays — musically, tightly and with nonstop momentum. The dialogue, much of it voiceover from Molly, has a rhythm that commands attention, even when the viewer might not understand all of the poker or legal jargon. The film always cuts to the chase, and, once the train’s left the station, you’ve got to stay on until the very end. The lead players, Molly (Jessica Chastain) and her lawyer Charlie (Idris Elba), amaze with their insane ability to fire off lengthy passages of Sorkinian dialogue at top speed without taking a breath. Just when you think you can relax, you’re off to the races with them again.

Michael Cera, as Player X, an actor and regular at Molly’s games, is charming, but ultimately scary, when the character turns out to not be the confidant Molly thought he was. “You’re fucked,” Player X gleefully tells Molly over the phone when she’s pushed out of her own game.

Towards the end of the movie, Molly reveals to Charlie what she’s trying to protect the most as her sentencing date approaches — her name. “Because it’s all I have left!” she yells in a moment reminiscent of the finale of “The Crucible.”

In a world where people can crash just as quickly as they rise, Molly Bloom is just trying to find success her way. In the end, though she avoided prison, Molly Bloom lost everything. But, oddly, it was telling her story that gave her footing some traction again. If life is a game, then Molly will make sure that her chips stay on the table. And “Molly’s Game” is not one to lose.

SPRING A&E PREVIEW LENNA MENDOZA ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR / LMM10@RICE.EDU

01 24 THE MOODY CENTER’S 02 SECOND SEASON 02 ‘DOGFIGHT’ 02 THE MUSICAL 22 IN BLOOM 03 MUSIC FESTIVAL 24 MFAH’S EYES ON HOUSTON

The Museum of Fine Arts Houston’s annual partnership with local high schools hands the camera over to teenage artists. Inevitably, many of this year’s photos will focus on Hurricane Harvey. This is a sorelyneeded exhibition for a city that’s still processing.

This year’s Moody Center exhibitions will continue to explore science through art, including “Particle Chamber” by Leo Villareal and “Island Universe”

by Josiah McElheny, which consider physics via immersive installations. Many of the season’s featured artists will be visiting to speak on their works.

Visual and Dramatic Arts and the Rice Players combine this spring to put on the musical “Dogfight.”

At the end of the Vietnam war, a group of Marines competes to see which man can find the ugliest date. Along the way, they learn about love, cruelty and masculinity — all set to an incredible score.

It’s about time there was a musical festival in Houston during the school year. This spring, Free Press Summer Fest becomes the In Bloom Musical Festival, so you can catch acts such as Beck, Grizzly Bear and Lil Uzi Vert before it gets too hot. One catch: It’s the same weekend as Beer Bike. But you’re a trooper, I’m sure you could do it.

COURTESY NPR

THE WEEKLY SCENE

DUCK DONUTS North Carolina donut chain Duck Donuts made its Houston debut last Saturday. If you like cake donuts, the chain gets its fame from the customer’s ability to decide DIY additions to that already-delicious base.

Open seven days a week, variable hours.

3157 W Holcombe Blvd. duckdonuts.com

THELMA

THE PM SHOW

ETERNAL SPRING

After a surprising, violent seizure, sheltered university student Thelma finds herself attracted to fellow student Anja. As Thelma tries to hide her feelings, her ailment becomes supernatural. General admission tickets are $10. The showing is at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Poets and musicians collaborate at this innovative Thursday evening show at Rudyard’s British Pub and Grill. Doors open at 6:30, the show starts at 7:30.

Tickets are $12.

Rice Media Center arts.rice.edu

Rudyard’s 2010 Waugh Dr. publicpoetry.net

Artist Andrés Paredes has spent years thinking about and representing the Paraná rainforest. His patterned works surge with life, capturing the detail and diversity of the natural world. This exhibition opens Friday at 6 p.m. and will be on display through Feb. 24. Admission is free.

Samara Gallery 3911 Main St. samaragallery.com

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2018

THE RICE THRESHER

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

9

FILM

‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ builds on the ’90s original MADDIE FLAVIN THRESHER STAFF / MF37@RICE.EDU

JUMANJI Running time: 119 minutes Rating: PG-13 Genre: Fantasy/Action

People who grew up in a certain era are often territorially protective of its positive aspects. For children of the ’90s, “Jumanji” was precious, even more so in the wake of Robin Williams’ death in 2014. No wonder they were infuriated when it looked like “Jumanji” would be the next classic film in line for a reboot, in a new era that can’t resist rebooting everything from golden ages past. While most stories of cinematic reboots tend to end in disaster, “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle”’s destiny isn’t the trash bin. Instead, in a big surprise, this sequel/reboot is pitch-perfect in its execution because it is built with respectful comprehension of how to grow out of a legacy while forging its own.

One afternoon, four high school teenagers find themselves in detention for a variety of reasons. The room includes athletic Fridge and fearful Spencer, who did Fridge’s homework. The self-absorbed Bethany is there for using her smartphone in class. The shy Martha talked back to her gym teacher. When Spencer finds the old video game “Jumanji” in the school’s messy basement, he and the others decide that, instead of cleaning the basement as they were ordered, they’ll kill time by

playing the game. Their wish to totally immerse themselves in “Jumanji” is granted in a supernatural way when the game sucks them into its dangerous jungle world and they find themselves in the bodies of the avatars they chose.

Blessed with certain gifts and cursed with particular weaknesses based on their avatars’ profiles, the mismatched teenagers must return a precious jewel to finish the game, a journey that gets more difficult and deadly with each level.

At certain points, each of the teenagers, as their avatar, finds themself down to their last ‘life’ in the game, where anything could end them. Do they play it safe, or risk it all?

As the adult avatar counterparts of the teenage characters, the performances of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Karen Gillan are seamless in their integration of the younger ones’ idiosyncrasies with the different personalities of the video game personas.

Hart and Johnson proved themselves to be a duo of uproarious comedic talent in 2016’s “Central Intelligence,” and the pattern continues here. The friends find their relationship’s dynamic turned topsy-turvy since their avatars’ bodies greatly differ from their own. They also find parts of themselves they didn’t know existed. In the body of Smolder Bravestone (Johnson), the easily frightened Spencer is more courageous and confident. In the body of Moose Finbar (Hart),

Fridge realizes that he has underestimated his own intelligence. Jack Black is hysterical as Dr. Shelly Oberon, Bethany’s overweight avatar, nailing her initial selfishness while also making it clear that Bethany is learning to work well with others. Karen Gillan spectacularly uses body language and vocals to convey Martha’s discomfort with, then embrace of, herself and her body as the kickass Ruby Roundhouse avatar. Whether Gillan is speaking in an insecure teenage cadence or keeping her arms tightly crossed around her bare midriff, she’s so spot-on imitating Morgan Turner’s mannerisms as the self-conscious Martha. It makes one wonder if Gillan and Turner spent time together in pre-production to make it all flow.

At certain points, each of the teenagers, as their avatar, finds themself down to their last “life” in the game, where anything could end them. Do they play it safe, or risk it all? Fridge comes to realize that that’s real life in a nutshell.

You only live once, so who will you be? It is in moments like these that the depths of the movie’s intelligence emerge and make it so much more than just an adventure story or spiritual sequel. In the difficult choice between playing it safe and taking risks, the cast and creative teams behind “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” chose the latter and, as we speak, are reaping the delightful fruits of what they sowed.

COURTESY NPR

SPORTS

10

Swimming resumes winning ways as new year begins Rice swimming started off 2018 in Arizona, participating in two quad meets over the weekend. The Owls defeated five of the six schools they faced, falling only to No. 12 ranked University of Arizona.

Rice is currently No. 38 in the nation, best in C-USA. The team will try to win its first conference title since 2014 next month.

frankie huang/thresher

MICHAEL PRICE THRESHER STAFF / JMP12@RICE.EDU

The Rice Owls swimming team kicked off 2018 with a splash at the Arizona Wildcats Quad Meet and Grand Canyon University Quad Meet this past weekend. At the University of Arizona’s meet, the Owls defeated New Mexico State University and GCU but lost to No. 12 Arizona by 30 points.

Senior Alicia Caldwell won first place in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 50.96, while senior Kaitlyn Swinney won the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:17.86.

Head coach Seth Huston said he was pleased with their performances.

“The team swam great today,” Huston said. “We really wanted to get out and race

and we accomplished that.”

At GCU, the Owls won all three of their dual meets, beating New Mexico State, Grand Canyon and California Baptist University. Three different Owls combined to set four facility records, with Swinney swimming a 2:01.44 in the 200-yard backstroke and 2:04.41 in the 200-yard individual medley, Caldwell swimming a 51.01 in the 100-yard freestyle, and sophomore Claire Therien swimming a 10:20.40 in the 1000-yard freestyle.

Huston said this meet was especially grueling.

“It was a long session, a three-hour meet today, and the team is definitely tired,” Huston said. “We gave up a lot of points because we were second to Grand Canyon

in both relays, and we had to overcome some diving points [in events in which Rice does not compete], but individually we swam very well.”

I know I can drop times when I race at the C-USA Championships.

Alicia Caldwell Senior Swimmer Caldwell said she was happy with her performances but still needs to work on her form.

“My turns for most of my races was something I was not pleased about,” Caldwell said. “If I continue to work on [these] in training I know I can drop times when I race at the Conference USA Championships.”

Swinney said she raced well and was impressed with the team’s effort.

“I was very happy with that performance — I have never gone that fast in a training suit before and it felt very strong,” Swinney said. “The team is also looking great. The winter break is normally a rough time, because there are hard practices and 25-degree weather to get through, but we’re looking very strong.”

The team is currently ranked No. 38 in the nation, the best in the conference.

Rice is four spots ahead of rival Florida International University, which has won the past three conference championships.

The Owls have finished second each time and last won the title in 2014. They will get their chance to exact revenge next month, Feb. 21-24, at the conference championships in Atlanta.

According to Caldwell, Rice is optimistic about winning the C-USA title.

“If we are able to stay healthy and continue to have the same attitude towards our team that we have [had] all year it will definitely be an achievable goal,” Caldwell said.

In their next meet, the Owls will face the University of Houston, Louisiana State University and Tulane University at the University of Houston Quad Meet on Jan. 27.

MENS BASKETBALL IN BRIEF ANDREW GROTTKAU SPORTS EDITOR / ABG4@RICE.EDU

Rice men’s basketball continued to struggle over winter break, losing six games in a row before picking up a win on Saturday to push its record to 4-13. Despite the overall record, the Owls are now 1-3 in Conference USA, which matches last season’s start. In the 2016-17 season, Rice finished 10-8 in the conference.

The Owls began C-USA play just before the new year with a two-game trip to the

University of Texas, San Antonio and the University of Texas, El Paso. Rice dropped both of those games by double digits, losing 79-66 to the Roadrunners and 80-62 to the Miners.

The team then returned home to take on Old Dominion University and the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. Although Old Dominion entered the game with a record of 10-3 and Rice entered just 3-12, the Owls managed to push the game to overtime before falling 82-75. Head coach Scott Pera posted a tweet after the game to say he was

excited about the team’s growth following the tight loss.

Rice finally broke through with a 73-64 win against Charlotte, Pera’s first career conference victory. Sophomore guard Ako Adams put up a career-high 20 points to get the Owls their first victory since Dec. 14.

The Owls will attempt to build on the momentum from the weekend’s two strong performances on Saturday in a home game against the University of North Texas. The game will take place at Tudor Fieldhouse at 2 p.m.

frankie huang /thresher

FOOTBALL RECRUITS IN BRIEF ANDREW GROTTKAU SPORTS EDITOR / ABG4@RICE.EDU

New football head coach Mike Bloomgren signed the first players of Rice’s 2018 recruiting class during college football’s early signing period. The Owls added six players in all: defensive end Miles Adams, cornerbacks Andrew Bird and Jason White, offensive linemen Cole Garcia and Clay Servin and linebacker Ja’Quez Brattley. All six players hail from Texas

and are two-star recruits according to 247Sports.

Bloomgren and his staff will continue to fill out the class leading up to the second signing period in February. One of the notable Rice commits is running back Brenden Brady, who competed in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl this past week in San Antonio. The game honors some of the top high school football players in the nation.

Four other recruits are planning to sign with Rice alongside Brady in February.

The Owls are also looking to add more

commits before the next signing period opens. Bloomgren said he is looking forward to completing the 2018 class over the next month.

“It’s been an exciting couple of weeks, but today is a great start for us,” Bloomgren said. “We feel great about the five young men who signed today [Note: offensive lineman Cole Garcia signed the following day]. I can’t wait for our staff to get back on the road as soon as we can to lock down the players who will complete the class.”

the Southwest Conference Offensive Player of the Year as well as the SWC Male Athlete of the Year, leading the Owls to their first winning season since 1963.

“I’m just lost for words really,” Cobb said. “It’s a proud moment for the University and for my family. It means a great deal.

Hopefully, it leaves a legacy of inspiration. It goes to show that if you work hard, you can achieve anything.”

His 4,948 career rushing yards place him 24th in the all-time NCAA rankings and he holds 17 Rice school records, among them

rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, and total yards from scrimmage. After his Rice football career, Cobb played in the NFL for one year before returning to Rice and receiving his bachelor’s degree in 2001. He is currently the director of Trevor Cobb’s Helping Hands, a non-profit organization that mentors young athletes in the Houston community.

He will be formally inducted into the Hall of Fame on Dec. 4 along with others including former NFL stars Calvin Johnson, Charles Woodson and Ed Reed.

courtesy scout.com

HALL OF FAME IN BRIEF MICHAEL BYRNES ASST. SPORTS EDITOR / MEB18@RICE.EDU

Former Rice running back Trevor Cobb was selected for induction to the College Football Hall of Fame on Monday as part of the 2018 Hall of Fame Class. Cobb was a standout running back for the Owls football team from 1989-1993: In 1991, he was a consensus First Team All-American and won the Doak Walker Award, given to the top collegiate running back in the nation. The following year, he was named

courtesy rice athletics

THE RICE THRESHER

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2018

SPORTS

11

EDITOR’S COLUMN: THE FINAL KAUNTDOWN

WOMEN’S SPORTS DESERVE CREDIT We are in a golden age of Rice athletics.

I’m not kidding. Yes, I know the football team finished 1-11. I get that the baseball team just barely extended its NCAA tournament streak after starting the season 13-25. I see the men’s basketball team struggling to pick up wins.

Those teams are not the reasons for Rice athletics’ golden age. Frankly, they have been disappointing. Instead, it’s the women carrying the load.

Rice’s women’s teams have achieved an unprecedented level of success in recent years. Pick a team and look at the trophies.

Of the seven women’s sports teams, only basketball and volleyball do not have a conference championship since 2014. And it’s not like those two teams haven’t had successes of their own. Volleyball has had four straight 20-win seasons, and basketball won the Women’s Basketball Invitational championship last year.

This year might just be the best year yet. Volleyball cruised to a 21-9 record and qualified for the National Invitational Championship tournament. Soccer won the conference championship, appeared in the top-25 and made the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2014. Swimming is currently the top-ranked team in Conference USA and has a chance to win its first conference title since 2014. Basketball is 12-2 and has received votes for the top-25. The most disappointing season so far has been cross country, which finished third in the conference to end its two-year conference title run. Horrible, right?

They deserve any attention they get because they certainly do not get enough.

Much of the focus in recent months, however, has been on Rice’s shortcomings.

Sure, baseball looked terrible for much of last season, football had its worst year since the 1980s and men’s basketball took a massive step back. But if we stop focusing on the three premier men’s sports and look at the bigger picture, Rice athletics looks a whole lot better.

It’s about time we gave some attention to women’s sports. Though not surprising, it’s unfortunate that nearly every student knows about the men’s basketball team’s struggles while far fewer are aware of the women’s basketball team’s hot start. Attendance reflects the huge disparity in attention.

Men’s basketball is averaging 2,233 fans per home game while women’s basketball is averaging just 558 despite being far better.

That’s not a Rice-specific problem. Men’s athletics get far more coverage on networks like ESPN and Fox Sports. Football and men’s basketball have long generated the most revenue, so virtually all athletic departments, including Rice’s, promote and support those sports the most. Media coverage usually focuses on those sports, too. The Thresher certainly isn’t innocent in this matter.

It’s next to impossible to totally undermine that structure. We can try, though. Let’s give the women’s teams some credit. Let’s go to their games and increase their attendance.

They deserve any attention they get, because they certainly do not get enough.

It’s a golden age for Rice’s women’s teams, and most Rice fans are missing it and focusing on the men’s teams’ struggles. If you would rather watch the men’s basketball team struggle than watch the women’s team thrive, that’s your decision. But you’re really missing out.

ANDREW GROTTKAU

McMurtry College Junior Thresher Sports Editor abg4@rice.edu

courtesy rice athletics

Rice’s bench celebrates a play during the team’s 83-52 victory over the University of Texas, San Antonio on Sunday at Tudor Fieldhouse. The win extended the Owls’ undefeated start at home. They are currently 6-0 at home and have a 10-game win streak at Tudor Fieldhouse dating back to last season.

BASKETBALL FROM PAGE 1 Head coach Tina Langley said one of the team’s main focuses this year is getting quality looks on their shots.

“Our focus is efficiency,” Langley said.

“We always want to take the best available shot, and we want it to be uncontested, and a lot of times that’s a layup or a 3.”

Langley said she has been impressed with the ball movement that the Owls have been displaying lately.

“We have a really unselfish team; I’ve said that many times,” Langley said. “When we come out and move the ball and play as a unit, you see a lot of good things happen.”

The Owls’ success as a team this season has been augmented by several individual awards. Iademarco was named both the High-Major Player of the Week and the Conference USA Player of the Week by College Sports Madness for the week of

Dec. 25, and Ogwumike was named C-USA Player of the Week two weeks in a row, for the weeks of Nov. 27 and Dec. 4. Ogwumike was also voted to the NCAA.com’s Starting Five on Dec. 6, which recognizes the top five performers in the nation for the previous week.

We have a really unselfish team; I’ve said that many times.

Tina Langley Head Coach Currently, Ogwumike is averaging almost 18 points and 10 rebounds on the year,

placing her fourth and second in C-USA, respectively. Langley said Ogwumike’s value to the team is multifaceted. “[Ogwumike] impacts the game in a ton of ways,” Langley said. “The way she passes, the way she rebounds, and the way she scores the ball: She’s shooting an incredibly high percentage.”

With the win on Sunday, the Owls remained undefeated at home this season, with a 6-0 record.

“Our fans have been tremendous,” Langley said. “The support has been great, and [we’re] glad to be able to play well in front of them.”

This week, the Owls travel to the Sunshine State to play conference rivals Florida Atlantic University on Thursday and Florida International University on Saturday. Their next home game is on Jan. 26 against the University of Texas, El Paso.

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12

THE RICE THRESHER

BACKPAGE

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2018

PENNY SAVER! PENNY SAVER! PENNY SAVER! FEELING

SILLY? WEAK? Have you been cooped up with your family for four never-ending weeks? Unable to indulge in all those hip new vices you’ve picked up in college? Fed-up with facing dog-day after dogday of still pretending you are daddy’s little angel? Sounds like you’ve got a case of SOBRIETY! Well then, give Alcohol a try! Producing immediate results, Alcohol is sure to make you the apple of everyone’s eye. (Or at the very least, it’ll let you believe that when you should know much, much better.)

BEFORE

AFTER

In as little as two 1.5oz doses, Alcohol can CHANGE YOUR LIFE!* So give it a try today. *The aforementioned “change” is in no way guaranteed to be for the better. In fact, this product has a long history of ruining lives, tearing families apart, and even death. And humans actually have a natural aversion to the taste. But hey, broccoli tastes pretty gross too. And while no one has proven that broccoli has the capabilities of killing you, has anyone proved that it in no way has never not contributed to the non-continuance of lifelessness?

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FARM FRESH FOOD

Tired of being treated like just another number? Well then come on down to Baker Servery! Unlike those huge, corporate food factories down South and out West, we don’t answer to Big Servery. Conveniently located in Baker College, we here at Baker Servery treat you like we feel you ought to be – as one of the family. But don’t just take our word for it – allow us the honor of filling your face hole with our farm-fresh food!

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PORT-A-PUB Can’t get into Houston’s rave haven on Pub Thursday? Try out the newest contraption out of Willy’s factory. Ya can’t get hazed but you CAN get dazed on this movable micro-brewery. Side effects may

include alcoholism.

PREORDERS RECEIVE TWO FREE MICKEYS AND A ROLL OF DUCT TAPE!

The Backpage is satire and written by Joey McGlone and Isaac Schultz. For comments or questions, please email farts@rice.edu.

CLASSIFIEDS WANTED

TEACH FOR TESTMASTERS! Dynamic and Energetic teachers wanted. Starting pay rate is $20 to $32 per hour. Flexible schedules. We provide all training, all training is paid, and we pay for travel. Email your resume to ricejobs@testmasters.com.

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Complex pool right off patio. Coin-operated laundry room on site. 1 covered parking space. 0.5 miles to Rice campus. Elec, gas, water, internet all paid. Call or text: Carole 832-212-2026 ALUMNI SEEKING “STANDBY” PETSITTER for 4 dogs (range from XS-L) for out of town

travel, vacations, etc.. Prefer someone stay at our home while we’re gone. Crated during day. Meyerland area ~6mi from campus. Call/ Text Christina, 832-524-9692.

SPACIOUS BELLAIRE DUPLEX 2 large bedrooms. Office nook. Dining. Large living. Garage parking. Washer/dryer/stove/ refrigerator. Central air. 15 minutes to campus.

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CONDO-APARTMENT FOR LEASE $1,495 – 2 bedrooms/2 full baths. All utilities paid.

1/3 mile to Rice Graduate Apts Shuttle stop. Covered parking, bike room, laundry facilities, lots of light, walk-in closets, swimming pool. 5353 Institute #18. Contact telkotex@hotmail.com.

LOOKING FOR PART-TIME NANNY for 8-month old baby boy, 8-12 hours/week.

Five minute drive from Rice. $15/hour. Must have experience with infants. Please text 512-698-3482 to set up interview. Thanks!

GARAGE APARTMENT 11 blocks from campus, furnished, all utilities (electric, gas, cable TV, WiFi) paid. $750 monthly. $750 security deposit. Minimum one year. Contact prw@ rimkus.com

Museum District seek University students to learn our unique program combining behavior & social skills training with Montessori methods. Call 713-528-2343 or send resume to Director at marys.mcclure2@ gmail.com

P/T, F/T WORKER FOR SPECIAL NEEDS behavior/learning program. Private behavior/ academic learning program for children ages 2-12 yr, primarily those with autism, in

ADVERTISING

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Display advertisements must be received by 5 p.m. on the Friday prior to publication.

First copy free, second copy $5.

Cash, check or credit card payment must accompany your classified advertisement, which must be received by 12 p.m. on the Friday prior to publication.

Tom Wang Advertising Manager thresher-ads@rice.edu P.O. Box 1892 Houston, TX 77005-1892 (713) 348-4801