The Rice Thresher | Wednesday, January 15, 2020

VOLUME 104, ISSUE NO. 14 | STUDENT-RUN SINCE 1916 | RICETHRESHER.ORG | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2020

Women’s, men’s basketball take on C-USA opponents over break

Willy’s Pub faces TABC infractions, remains closed for first few weeks

Women’s basketball (4-0) is undefeated in Conference USA. Men’s basketball (1-3) scored a victory over Florida International University but lost three other games in the tournament. Read more on the women’s team on page 14.

For the first time in history, Willy’s Pub has been found in violation by the Texas Beverage and Alcohol Commission, the body overseeing their license to serve alcohol. After receiving a complaint from a community member, TABC performed an undercover investigation at the last Pub Night of the decade and issued two charges. Pub will stay closed for the first few weeks of school following the investigation. See more on page 2.

Classes hosted in Kraft Hall for the first time Construction on the Kraft Hall for Social Sciences was mostly completed over winter break. At least 50 social science class sections are being taught in the new building, according to Rice’s course catalog. The building also houses office space and conference rooms for the Office of the Dean of Social Sciences, sociology department and economics department. See more on page 2.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Happenings from Dec. 4 to now

Engineering dean Reginald DesRoches becomes Rice’s first Black Provost DesRoches will replace interim provost Seiichi Matsuda, who took over the role after former Provost Marie Lynn Miranda stepped down. With his appointment, there are now three schools in need of a permanent dean: engineering, architecture and social sciences. See more online at ricethresher.org.

Clemente Rodriguez appointed new Rice University Police Department chief

New foodie spots open on Rice campus and beyond McNair Hall’s coffee shop, Audrey’s, is now open at the west end of Woodson courtyard after delays with permits prevented a September launch. Offcampus, cult-favorite fast food spot In-N-Out opened two locations in Katy and Stafford. For sweet tooths, gourmet ice cream chain Jeni’s opened a location in the Heights and 24-hour pastry shop Voodoo Donuts will open today.

Captain Clemente Rodriguez will replace James Tate as police chief after Tate’s departure for George Washington University. Rodriguez has been part of RUPD since 2001 and has served as interim chief two times before. See more on page 2.

CLOCKWISE from top: PHOTO COURTESY RICE ATHLETICS Sophie Pereira / THRESHER PHOTO COURTESY ERIC SANDLER PHOTO COURTESY JAMALL ELLIS PHOTO COURTESY RICE NEWS CHANNING WANG / THRESHER

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY TINA LIU, text by christina tan

NEWS

Rice admits 19 percent of Early Decision applicants to the class of 2024 BRIAN LIN SENIOR WRITER

Rice welcomed 385 students into the class of 2024 through the university’s binding early decision program, according to Vice President for Enrollment Yvonne Romero da Silva, as well as 55 students through QuestBridge National College Match. This year, Rice accepted around 18.9 percent of the 2,042 applicants on Dec. 12, according to Romero da Silva, a higher percentage of students admitted than last year.

A total of 440 students were admitted through early decision and QuestBridge, 32 more than the 408 students admitted through these programs last year. This year’s ED admission was also less competitive compared to last year. Around 18.9 percent of ED applicants this year were admitted to Rice, compared to 15.5 percent of those who applied last year.

Romero da Silva said this year’s ED round may have been less competitive due to the 13 percent decline in ED applications the university received. Compared to the record-high 2,628 ED applications Rice received last year, 2,042 ED applications were submitted this year, according to Romero da Silva. According to Romero da Silva, the number of ED applications at Rice’s peer institutions have also declined, and that the number of applications has grown overall by 30 percent from 2017 to this year.

“Early decision applications are down [from last year],” Romero Da Silva wrote.

“But that’s not surprising given the huge surge in applications last year after the publicity surrounding the introduction of The Rice Investment.”

The Rice Investment had an impact on the number of both ED and regular decision applications Rice received last year. The program, which has been in

effect since 2019, waives full tuition for families making under $130,000 and half tuition for families making between $130,001 and $250,000 per year. In the 2019 admission cycle, when The Rice Investment was introduced, there was an increase of 39 percent in early decision applications and a 29 percent increase in applications overall.

“The Rice Investment continues to be a strong inspiration for many students to apply,” Romero da Silva said. “Anecdotally, many students share that they were inspired to apply because they see a Rice education being affordable for them and their families.”

Of these 440 students, 44 percent are from Texas, another 44 percent are from elsewhere in the U.S. and 12 percent are international students, according to Romero da Silva.

“We’re delighted with our early decision and QuestBridge students,” Romero da

Silva said. “They represent a broad range of talented scholars from across the country and around the world.”

More than 21 nationalities and dual nationalities are represented among those accepted into the class of 2024 through ED and QuestBridge, according to Romero da Silva. She said that the most heavily represented nations among the international applicants accepted are China, South Korea, Mexico, Japan and Vietnam.

High school senior Jose Oviedo from Waller, Texas, who applied early decision to Rice and plans on majoring in French and neuroscience, credits the Rice Investment for his decision to apply ED, in addition to academic and social aspects of Rice.

“It really made applying a lot less scary in terms of finances,” Oviedo said. “The people at Rice are so nice and caring. The academics, the research, it all just kind of came together and got me to apply.”

THE RICE THRESHER

2 • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2020

NEWS

First classes held in Kraft Hall as construction continues KELLY LIAO THRESHER STAFF The new four-story home for the School of Social Sciences, Patricia Lipoma Kraft ’87 and Jonathan A. Kraft Hall for Social Sciences, completed a substantial portion of its construction over the break, according to Larry Vossler, senior project manager for Facilities Engineering and Planning. While classes have begun in the building, extractors and remaining debris can be seen on the grounds next to the building.

“The most prominent punch list items and other remaining work are landscaping on the back side of the building, lobby stair treads and the integration of the building card readers,” Vossler said. “Work crews are in the process of getting these things done, and none of it is affecting the functioning of the building.”

The remaining punch list work that will be completed at night and on weekends as necessary, according to Vossler.

“The building does indeed remain accessible when the construction crew works at night,” Vossler said. “They’re working at night to avoid disturbing the building’s occupants during the daytime.”

The Office of the Dean of Social Sciences, the sociology department and the economics department moved from Sewall Hall and Baker Hall, respectively, into Kraft Hall on Monday and Tuesday of last week, according to Susan McIntosh, interim dean of social sciences. The

Channing Wang / THRESHER

The Kraft Hall for Social Sciences now hosts classes after being mostly completed over the winter break.

building also holds space for the Kinder Institute for Urban Research, the Houston Education Research Consortium, the Boniuk Institute and the Texas Policy Lab, according to Vossler.

McIntosh said that Kraft Hall marks an important new phase of increased visibility and opportunity for the social sciences at Rice.

“As part of the ‘policy corridor,’ with the Baker Institute for Public Policy across the street, Kraft Hall houses two academic departments engaged in research related to policy issues,” McIntosh said. “We envision that these developments will expand the opportunities for student engagement with policy-related research.”

Economics lecturer James DeNicco

RUPD names new chief

said he appreciates that social sciences has its own space to call home now.

“Everything is new and has the latest in technology,” DeNicco said. “My new office is really cool and has a great view.”

According to the School of Social Sciences’ website, the building includes classrooms, seminar and conference rooms, a multipurpose space that can hold nearly 300 people and undergraduate and graduate student lounges. The undergraduate lounge, which is a closed space with a seating area, white board and TV, is accessible 24/7 to social science students with their student ID, according to the social sciences undergraduate mailing list.

DeNicco said he has already seen students taking advantage of the lounges.

Last semester’s TABC charges delay Pub opening CHRISTINA TAN & AMY QIN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & NEWS EDITOR

CHARLENE PAN / THRESHER

Following the departure of Chief of Police James Tate, Captain Clemente Rodriguez, who has served twice as interim chief, was announced as the new chief of police.

SAVANNAH KUCHAR ASST NEWS EDITOR Captain Clemente Rodriguez will assume the role of Rice University chief of police starting this Thursday, following the departure of current chief James Tate to George Washington University.

Rodriguez said he has been at Rice for 18 years and has served as interim police chief twice in the past. He said he believes this experience will greatly help him in his new role.

“Because I’ve been here for awhile, I’ve worked closely with everyone in the department and I think that has been the key to helping me be successful,” Rodriguez said. “People have got behind me each time that I have had the opportunity to be the interim, and we were able to do some really great things, even in those periods of time.”

As the new chief, Rodriguez said one of his biggest responsibilities will be setting the direction for the department as a whole. “[My job is] creating or fostering a culture where everyone in the department feels valued and has trust in what we’re doing, and feels that they are part of the success of the department,”

Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said he plans on finding ways to support and improve relations between students and Rice University Police Department by encouraging officers to be more visible and accessible to the community.

“One of my goals would be to emphasize to our officers the importance of engaging the campus community, engaging students,” Rodriguez said. “I really feel like the success of safety on our campus can’t be done with RUPD alone, we definitely need our students, our staff, our faculty, our community to be engaged in helping us with that.”

Rodriguez said that he has been trying to make this effort to be more connected with students and the Rice community throughout his 18 years here.

“I always say my favorite part of the job is getting out in front of the students and talking to students. I want to be accessible,” Rodriguez said.

“I’ve already had some conversations about going to some of the student leadership meetings coming up and just introducing myself for those that don’t know me and answering questions and trying to be somebody that is easy to approach and talk to.”

“That is much different from [my former office in] Baker Hall,” DeNicco said. “I like to see students hanging around and doing their work. It creates a nice vibe.”

Arshia Batra, a Hanszen College sophomore studying cognitive science and economics, said she thinks the student lounge is a great place to study with friends.

“It gives students the option to go beyond the library or common spaces to study in a group, yet also allows for room reservations so that all students have the opportunity to use the room,” Batra said.

Students had classes in Kraft Hall starting Jan. 13, the first day of the semester, according to Chris Higgins, classroom and scheduling manager for the Office of the Registrar.

Higgins said Kraft Hall will hold classes mainly from departments that have already moved their offices to the building, such as economics.

However, Kraft Hall is not limited to use by the School of Social Sciences, according to Higgins.

Lecturer Elizabeth Cummins-Munoz, who currently teaches “A Question of Style, Rhetoric and Popular Writing” in Kraft Hall said the classroom was very accessible to her and she was pleased to teach there.

The building’s official opening ceremony in the multipurpose space will be on Thursday, Feb. 27, kicking off the school of social sciences’s 40th anniversary, according to Debbie Diamond, senior director of development and alumni relations.

Willy’s Pub will remain closed for the first weeks of the semester as management begins to implement changes to improve its compliance with Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission policy, according to an email from General Manager Emily Duffus.

The closure follows TABC’s firstever undercover investigation and subsequent leveraging of charges against Pub in December, after infractions of underage drinking were observed at the last Pub Night of the year, according to TABC records.

Duffus, who took over as general manager this semester, said Pub management has not yet been notified of the consequences of TABC filing charges.

“We are still waiting to hear from TABC about the citations issued against Pub, so we aren’t sure of the implications yet,” Duffus, a McMurtry College junior, said.

Following the undercover investigation, TABC decided to issue two charges against Pub: one for selling alcohol to a minor and the other for permitting a minor to possess or consume alcohol on the premises.

Although multiple students claimed they were breathalyzed or saw breathalyzer tests occur the night of the undercover investigation, TABC official Chris Porter denied these claims. Pub management in December declined two requests for comment.

Multiple students reported seeing officers ticket students, which Porter confirmed. If convicted, the ticketed

students would receive Class C misdemeanors and up to $500 in fines.

“We issued three citations for minors in possession to some of the individuals at the bar,” Porter said. “These folks were given their citations and released.”

Another student, whose identity has been anonymized to protect them from punishment, said they saw the officers standing outside of Pub for the majority of the night, occasionally entering Pub and walking around.

“I personally saw them go up to someone who was 21 and drinking a beer and they asked to see her ID,” he said. “A few minutes later they walked back in and it looked like they asked a student to step outside Pub, but I’m not sure if he was drinking or of age or anything about that.”

Typically, TABC conducts follow-up investigations following community complaints, according to Porter.

According to TABC public records, multiple complaints have been filed against Pub in the past, including one in May for selling and serving to a minor, but none of those complaints resulted in TABC citing administrative violations.

Duffus declined to comment on the status of the legal proceedings in regards to the TABC charges, but said that management is actively working on implementing changes following the investigation.

“We are currently working with our staff to improve TABC compliance, but cannot comment on exactly what those changes will look like at this time.”

Editor’s Note: Part of this story was originally published online on Dec. 7, 2019 and has been updated for print.

NEWS

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2020 • 3

FIRE takes aim at Rice free speech, judicial policies RACHEL CARLTON SENIOR WRITER The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education rated Rice as a “yellow light” school with respect to its free speech policies for the second year in a row, according to FIRE’s “Spotlight on Speech Codes 2020,” released on Dec. 4.

Apart from 2019 and 2020, Rice had received a “red light” rating from FIRE each year since the organization began publishing their annual Speech Code Reports in 2006.

FIRE brands itself as a non-partisan legal non-profit dedicated to “defend[ing] and sustain[ing] the individual rights of students and faculty members at America’s colleges and universities,” according to its mission statement. FIRE also receives significant funding from conservative groups like the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Sarah Scaife Foundation and the Charles Koch Institute, according to the New York Times.

Of the 471 universities surveyed by FIRE, 63.9 percent earned an overall yellow light rating on their “traffic light” scale. Rice was one of 49 private schools to receive this rating out of the 105 surveyed; the majority of the schools surveyed were public.

Five of Rice’s policies were given a yellow light speech code rating, including policies from the Code of Student Conduct, two general Rice policies, and a policy on student responsibility from the General Announcements.

According to Laura Beltz, the senior program officer for policy reform at FIRE, some of Rice’s policies include language that doesn’t track with the Supreme Court’s legal standards.

“There are a couple of policies that ban verbal abuse,” Beltz said. “That’s a prime example of a yellow light policy because verbal abuse could just be something that was said with a rude tone that would be constitutionally protected. When you have a ban on verbal abuse, it means that an administrator could hear that subjectively rude speech and apply that policy to censor the speech.”

Emily Garza, director of Student Judicial Programs, said that she is confident that Rice crafted its policies to be legally compliant while also prioritizing the safety of students and the Rice community.

“Rice drafts policies related to expectations of students with input from various professionals, including those that have experience and legal expertise in the nuanced areas of freedom of speech and expression, sexual misconduct and harassment, and general issues related to student behavior,” Garza said. “I will also say that no one from FIRE has contacted our office to discuss the nuances of how our policies are implemented.”

Last semester, the Rice University Federalist Society hosted FIRE’s vice president for procedural advocacy, Samantha Harris, according to Sage Simmons, the society’s president. The Federalist Society aims “to provide a forum for legal and policy experts of opposing views to interact with members of the Rice community,” according to the chapter’s constitution.

Simmons, a Martel College senior, said Harris came to campus for a conversation with Rice students and Cathryn Councill from the SAFE Office: Interpersonal Misconduct Prevention and Support about sexual assault and campus due process under Title IX. FIRE gives the yellow light rating to schools with “at least one ambiguous policy that too easily encourages administrative abuse and arbitrary application”.

Beltz, a University of Pennsylvania Law School graduate, said vague and confusing policies may encourage students to self-censor in order to avoid punishment from their universities.

Beltz said that she believes universities

infographic by Dan helmici

sometimes intentionally use more vague language to allow for greater discretion to censor speech.

“But sometimes I think it was just an error in drafting,” Beltz said. “Perhaps they were intending to ban harassment and stuff like that that isn’t constitutionally protected, and they wrote verbal abuse and didn’t think about how that could be including protected speech.”

As a private university, Rice is not legally bound to protect free speech in the same way that a public university is, according to Beltz.

“Rice University does promise their students free speech,” Beltz said. “That means that they should be living up to their promises in the rest of their policies.”

Rice received a red light rating every year since FIRE began conducting surveys in 2006, apart from 2019 and 2020.

Beltz said the policy that previously earned Rice a red light rating was an “Appropriate Use of Computer Resources” policy. “[The policy] banned ‘profane language’ and material that ‘panders to bigotry, sexism, or other forms of prohibited discrimination,’” Beltz said.

“The Supreme Court has explicitly held that speech may not be banned simply because it is subjectively profane or offensive to others, so this policy clearly restricted a broad range of speech that is protected under First Amendment standards.”

In 2009, FIRE featured Rice as part of a series on the state of free speech at the top 25 universities in the United States.

Rice’s red light rating that year prompted a Thresher staff editorial in defense of the university.

FIRE, for their part, responded with an article stressing that Rice had policies that were “facially unconstitutional,’’ regardless of whether students felt their right to free speech was protected by the administration.

Rice has since revised the policy, instead banning communications that are “defamatory, harassing or that interfere with others’ use of resources or that disclose protected or sensitive personal data,” according to Beltz. She said that this change led to the upgrade in Rice’s rating from red to yellow.

FIRE also gives schools due process ratings based on their inclusion or exclusion of 10 due process safeguards.

This year, Rice received an “F” for its nonsexual misconduct policies and a “D” for its sexual misconduct policies.

“The procedural safeguards that Rice does have are pretty much among the more common ones that schools are more likely to have,” Susan Kruth, the senior program manager for legal and public advocacy at FIRE, said. “They guarantee a way to challenge [fact finders] and a right to appeal, but other than that they’re missing everything that we’re looking for.”

The Federalist Society invited FIRE to campus because they were concerned about the inadequacies of Rice’s due process protections, according to Simmons.

“At Rice, the Honor Code is a huge part of our culture; however, I think most students would agree that the probably impossible goal of preventing every single instance of cheating shouldn’t mean an accused student is presumed guilty or denied the active counsel of

an experienced adult,” Simmons said.

“Replace ‘cheating’ with ‘sexual violence’ and ‘Honor Code’ with ‘Culture of Care’, and the conclusion should be the same.”

Simmons said this was especially important in situations where a Rice student faces the life-altering consequence of expulsion from school.

Kruth said the most essential problem with Rice’s policies is the type of hearing that students accused of either non-sexual or sexual misconduct are provided.

“It looks like at Rice that the accused student is actually excused from the socalled hearing before the witnesses or the evidence is really presented, and that’s not really a hearing,” said Kruth. “That also means that the student is not directly presenting their own evidence. A student or his or her advisor is going to be [the student’s] best advocate, and they should be able to present that evidence.”

Garza said that Kruth’s statement is a mischaracterization of Rice’s disciplinary process.

“It appears that whomever made that statement has a fundamental misunderstanding of the way that Rice

handles disciplinary matters,” Garza said.

FIRE supports many parts of the Title IX regulations recently proposed by the Department of Education, such as the live hearing model in cases of sexual misconduct. Following the announcement of the proposed changes, the Student Association issued a resolution protesting the changes.

According to Garza, Rice has designed the disciplinary process for sexual misconduct to prioritize the safety of both the responding student and the reporting student.

“Rice’s process as it currently is implemented does not require the reporting student and the responding student to meet face-to-face or be in the same room, and it does not require that the students communicate with each other directly,” Garza said. “There are further examples of how Rice prioritizes both the rights and protections of the reporting and responding students in the Sexual Misconduct Policy, such as the availability of Resource Navigators through the SAFE Office that are provided to each student.”

Kruth said she thinks it is important that students feel safe to report and that their school will take their complaints seriously.

At the same time, Kruth said that the considerations of the complainant can’t supersede the goal of helping the fact finders appropriately adjudicate a case.

“I think it is very unfortunate that people have to be uncomfortable in these situations,” Kruth said. “But without [proper investigations] we would just be punishing people based on this idea that if someone is accused then they must be guilty, and we can’t start doing that.”

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NEWS

4 • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2020

Nine cars burglarized in North lots over finals CHRISTINE ZHAO FOR THE THRESHER

Five cars from North Lot and four cars from a lot near Duncan College were burglarized on Sunday, Dec. 15 around 7:24 a.m., as detailed in a Rice University Police Department crime alert sent that afternoon.

At the time of publication, the department has identified no suspects due to a lack of surveillance footage and eyewitness testimonies, which are most often used to solve burglary cases like these, according to RUPD Captain Clemente Rodriguez.

“At this time, those who have been notified reported only one piece of clothing stolen from one of the vehicles,” the email, sent at 1:17 p.m., said. “In each incident the unknown suspect(s) smashed the car window to break into the vehicles.”

Last February, 17 cars were burglarized in the First Christian Church and School parking lot, which is near North Lot. Rodriguez said RUPD usually witnesses elevated levels of crime around Christmas.

According to Rodriguez, though officers performing routine patrols quickly noticed the damage from this incident, they were unable to catch the burglars in action.

“These things happen relatively quickly. You’d be surprised by how quickly someone can smash a window and go to the vehicle real quick, and then move onto the next, in a relative matter of minutes and then be gone from the area,” Rodriguez said. “[Burglars] just do these smash and grabs and they don’t know if there’s anything in there so they just take their chances and rummage through the vehicle. It’s difficult to guard against something like that.”

Jones College senior Matthew Brehm said he lost one day to work on finals after

Channing Wang / THRESHER

Five cars from the North Lot and four cars from a lot near Duncan College were burglarized during the finals period last December. No suspects have been identified at the time of print.

bringing his car into the shop that same Sunday afternoon and considers himself lucky to have fixed it in time to drive home.

Other students, either absent or occupied with finals, had their windows temporarily covered up and moved to campus garages, Rodriguez said. Martel sophomore Davyd Fridman said he was one of those students.

Fridman said he received a call right before his 9 a.m. final alerting him that his car windows had been smashed and a $300 coat had been stolen. He recalled dealing with the stress before and after the exam.

“The stress of my car being broken into and learning about it just hours before an exam distracted me from focusing on performing well,” Fridman said. “The damage done to my car as well as the stolen item were quite expensive, and the university never offered any sort of reimbursement in spite of their lack of surveillance.”

Cody Staab (Brown College ’19), another victim of the burglary, said this North Lot burglary hardly came as a surprise to him.

Staab said that during his four years at Rice, property safety issues were always a concern. He thinks the North College

parking lots’ proximity to a busy Rice Boulevard coupled with subpar lighting and few surveillance areas have made them frequent targets for thieves. Staab said even increasing the lighting around that area would go a long way. With North Lot passes going for $400 a semester and West Lot passes going for $500 a year, Fridman and Staab were both frustrated with the value they were getting for their money.

“If we’re going to spend that much money for a parking spot on campus, wouldn’t you think that the safety of our vehicles should be somewhat of a priority?” Staab said. “They do say that they clear themselves of anything that happens; vandalism, if someone breaks into your vehicle, the school’s not liable.”

Brehm, Fridman, Staab and McMurtry sophomore Jackson Savage all agreed that more cameras, surveillance and lighting around campus would prevent these repeated burglaries, especially since property damage victims are often entirely responsible for repair costs. Some students, such as Staab and Savage, reported paying at least $300 out of pocket to fix smashed windows because they still had to pay up to the $1,000 insurance

deductible. Rodriguez said this is due to budget constraints on his department that RUPD is unable to cover these damages.

“When I talked with RUPD, they just said, ‘Sorry, this is an inconvenience, but these things just happen,’ which I felt was a weird response,” Brehm said. “I think that occasionally when we come back later at night, we see sometimes an officer just sitting there at Brown Lot, so more patrolling late at night when the campus gates are closed [would help].”

According to Rodriguez, installing surveillance cameras requires not only choosing an optimal location but also building the infrastructure of the parking lot to support it. Putting cameras around campus entrances is an option that is being discussed, according to Rodriguez.

Rodriguez said the best thing students can do is follow the guidelines set in the email, such as securing their locks and removing valuable objects from the vehicle.

“The biggest thing that we can do as RUPD is to be seen, to be highly visible on campus, to deter people from coming onto campus, but in a large city, it’s difficult to be 100 percent successful all the time,” Rodriguez said. “I wish there was a foolproof solution to keeping people’s property safe all the time, but unfortunately that’s not really realistic to believe.”

‘CRISPR babies’ scientist sentenced RILEY HOLMES FOR THE THRESHER A Chinese court sentenced He Jiankui (Ph.D. ’10), who revealed that he had genetically edited twin girls last year, to three years in prison on Dec. 30. The questions surrounding the involvement in He’s experiments of his doctoral advisor, Rice University bioengineering professor Michael Deem, remain unanswered.

In November 2018, Rice began a full investigation into Deem’s role in the research.

According to the New York Times, He pleaded guilty to forging documentation from ethics committees approving the study, which he used to recruit participants. Additionally, Chinese media outlets revealed his work on a previously undisclosed third child.

Since Rice’s Nov. 2018 statement, no more public updates on the internal investigation of Deem have been given.

The Office of Public Affairs declined to comment for this article.

Dr. Christopher Scott, chair of medical ethics and health policy at Baylor College of Medicine, studies ethical, legal, social and policy implications of biotechnologies similar to the ones He used. Scott formerly taught a required research ethics course to National Institutes of Health grant recipients, and also discussed He’s project with an ethics class at Rice last fall.

Infographic by Dan Helmeci

“The thing that is troubling about the China case is that it’s not a China ethics problem, it is an international problem,” Scott said. “So, the question from an ethics point of view is what are the professional and ethical obligations of those folks, who have either direct knowledge of intent or knowledge that the experiment was conducted, to report this fellow?”

A Chinese scientist associated with the project claimed Deem was “more than just a bystander,” according to an article posted on STAT news in Jan. 2019.

The study’s manuscript lists Deem as an author. After He announced his work at a conference in Hong Kong in Nov. 2018, Deem told the Associated Press he had met the twins’ parents. According to the

Houston Chronicle, however, he attempted to remove his name from the paper after it was sent to journals such as Nature. The study was ultimately rejected and never published. Deem advised He when he was a doctoral candidate at Rice between 2007 and 2010.

“Even though this was an uncomfortable and unfortunate event, it’s really one of those teaching moments,” Scott said. “You have to ask the question institutionally, what can be done to up the level of ethical foresight in teaching universities and research universities?

That’s a hard question to answer.”

Deem did not respond to requests for comment. This story has been condensed for print. Read the full story at ricethresher.org.

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OPINION

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2020 • 5

OPINION

OPINION

STAFF EDITORIAL

New year, new(s)paper In the spirit of the new year, we as the Thresher’s editorial board have set a few resolutions and invite y’all as the readers to hold us accountable. Going forward, we want to be more transparent about our operations as well as maintaining the standards and policies we’ve created this year in the spirit of transparency.

Through our recent readership survey, many respondents raised questions about how our opinions section operates.

Recognizing it as an area for improvement, we recently created an official opinion policy to help future writers and provide clear guidelines. The Thresher editorial board (marked on our masthead) write each week, but all other opinions published do not reflect the Thresher’s perspective. As stated in our policy, we do not reject opinion pieces, other than those that contain hate speech or represent a conflict of interest. While we always aim to further improvement, we hope that creating clear, explicit policies has helped us cover some ground.

Some conversations, like whether we should capitalize races, are ongoing. Currently, we capitalize all races (i.e. Black and White) in accordance to the Diversity Style Guide and at odds with the Associated Press Style Guide (widely used in journalism). We recognize that the backgrounds of our staff make us less equipped to answer questions like these and report on less-represented groups on campus.

In the next decade, we will strive to hire more diverse staff, bring these conversations to our audience and solicit feedback where we might be lacking. As always, we aspire to hold ourselves accountable to our readers and be as transparent as possible.

Campus should support dialogue, not destruction

Courtesy baird campbell

During the first week of December, as undergraduates were making their final course selections for the upcoming semester, graduate student instructors arrived on campus to find that the posters for their upcoming classes had been defaced or taken down altogether.

The flyer for one of our classes, “Masculinities,” depicted a well-known drag queen, her face only half painted, and a few questions that animate the class — namely, what exactly is masculinity and what does it mean? Posters for this class were flipped over in Rayzor Hall and torn down throughout Sewall Hall and Herring Hall. What might have been brushed off as a coincidence seemed to be confirmed

as a targeted action, as one poster was left intact with a booklet of Bible verses perched on top of it. This same booklet also appeared in Herring Hall on flyers for “Sex and Money: The Species Divide,” which featured a 15th-century image of a demon on a bed with a woman.

That anyone would vandalize course posters is upsetting, but that this act was carried out in such a purposeful way — targeting classes that apparently contradict personally held religious beliefs — is inexcusable. Rice rightly guarantees free religious practice on its campus. Students may meet to worship or pray in many campus spaces, often using university resources to do so. However, this freedom extends only so far as it does not impinge upon the freedoms of others. Classes like these are offered as part of a wellrounded, liberal arts education, one of the great advantages in attending a small, intimate university like Rice. Students are encouraged to take courses and participate in discussions that push the limits of their thinking and ask them to engage with new and sometimes challenging ideas. The promise of a Rice education is that this will happen in a safe and nonjudgmental environment, where alternate views are explored and respected, if not personally adopted.

The person or people who targeted these posters — and by proxy hoped to discourage enrollment or make these classes disappear entirely — violated this contract in a most blatant way. If religious groups on campus can freely advertise

their meetings (complete with free Chickfil-A), students and instructors whose worldviews differ from their own must also be respected. While they are invited to take these courses and engage in debates from their own points of view, they are not obligated to do so. No one is required to take a class about demons or drag queens, but they are required — by both written and social contracts — to not interfere with the free expression of ideas by other members of the campus community.

Rice is a small, close-knit community made up of people from all walks of life and from around the globe. For a community like this to thrive, we must guarantee mutual trust and respect for others. We cordially invite those responsible to a safe and open dialog, so that we may better understand their motivations for such acts.

As two of the affected graduate instructors, we ask our fellow Rice community members to be vigilant about targeted harassment and violence in all forms.

BAIRD CAMPBELL ANTHROPOLOGY GRADUATE STUDENT

LAYLA SEALE ART HISTORY GRADUATE STUDENT

OPINION

Building a more financially inclusive Rice undergraduate experience At universities across the U.S., including Rice, conversations about inclusion and the affordability of college are ongoing.

The last few years have seen growing attention to financial accessibility and the inclusiveness of the Rice experience, and we are impressed by the positive spirit and heartfelt care that so many members of our community have shown toward others.

What is notable is how this attention and care cuts across all levels of the university, ranging from the launch of The Rice Investment (designed to expand access to a Rice education for low- and middleincome undergraduates) to student leaders working to facilitate equivalent access to experiential opportunities by establishing accessibility funds within each of the residential colleges.

Providing a transformative collegiate experience requires continual attention to how we are helping students thrive at Rice. Over the last year, the Dean of Undergraduates division and the Student Association have expanded discussion and activity surrounding the Rice experience for lower-income and first-generation FLI undergraduates. In response to conversations with members of our community, we added two new staff

members to the Office of Student Success Initiatives to provide targeted programming and advising to our FLI students and expanded SSI’s programming (e.g., we launched The Pantry, and expanded FLI Friday to help build community amongst FLI students). Programs in other university areas were launched as well (e.g., a needbased stipend program for Orientation Week coordinators and free menstrual products across campus through the Student Association).

Now, we’d like to bring student attention to two new initiatives that need community buy-in: First, in collaboration with Housing & Dining, a new guest swipes sharing program is starting this semester. Inspired by SA leaders, this program will allow students to donate guest meal swipes to peers who face food insecurity. This effort joins the SSI Pantry as another move forward in our efforts to reduce food insecurity on our campus. We encourage you to share your swipes that might otherwise go unused when the form is released this week to the colleges.

Second, the new Access and Opportunity Portal just went live at aop.rice.edu. This is a one-stop location for students to learn about funding resources at Rice.

Undergraduate students with financial need can use the portal to request support for various educational, experiential, career-building and social activities. It also provides information on how to request emergency aid in periods of a financial crisis. It is our hope that the portal will provide clarity about available resources and help undergraduates more fully access the Rice experience. We are immensely thankful to those who worked to make this portal a reality, including student leaders and especially our dedicated staff in the Office of Academic Advising, the Center for Career Development and SSI. We encourage you to access this portal as well as normalize seeking financial help in your communities by encouraging others to do the same.

Finally, at the close of last semester, the SA released a report on financial accessibility at Rice. The culmination of a year of research, it provides a thoughtful assessment of different ways we can continue to promote a successful experience for all students — including expanding student access to professional opportunities, enhancing recruitment of financially diverse students, building our academic support infrastructure and

continuing to expand resources in support of low-income and first-generation student quality of life. We encourage everyone to read it. Together, we are working collaboratively with leaders across campus to use this report as a guide for further growing activities around financial inclusion at Rice. If you are interested in joining these conversations, we encourage you to reach out via email.

We hope that each of you will join us in these efforts, as success requires ongoing and thoughtful attention to how all opportunities — big and small, formal and informal — can be designed so that every student, no matter their financial background, benefits from the full range of curricular, co-curricular and social opportunities at Rice.

BRIDGET GORMAN DEAN OF UNDERGRADUATES

GRACE WICKERSON

SA PRESIDENT, BROWN COLLEGE SENIOR

STAFF Christina Tan* Editor-in-Chief Anna Ta* Managing Editor NEWS Rishab Ramapriyan* Editor Amy Qin* Editor Rynd Morgan Asst. Editor Savannah Kuchar Asst. Editor FEATURES Ivanka Perez* Editor Ella Feldman* Editor ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Katelyn Landry* Editor & Designer OPINIONS Elizabeth Hergert* Editor

SPORTS Michael Byrnes Editor Madison Buzzard* Editor BACKPAGE Simona Matovic* Editor & Designer PHOTO Channing Wang Editor Haiming Wang Asst. Editor COPY Vi Burgess Editor Bhavya Gopinath Editor Phillip Jaffe Editor ONLINE Ryan Green Web Editor Priyansh Lunia Video Editor

DESIGN Tina Liu* Director Dalia Gulca A&E Designer Joseph Hsu Features Designer Katherine Hui Sports Designer Anna Chung Ops Designer Dan Helmeci News Designer Yifei Zhang Illustrator Chloe Xu Illustrator BUSINESS OPERATIONS Karoline Sun Business Manager Lindsay Josephs Advertising Manager Mai Ton Social Media/Marketing Manager Jackson Stiles Distribution Manager

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.

First copy is free. Each additional copy is $5.

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 2019

THE RICE THRESHER

6 • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2020 LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Invisible opportunities: Reframing accessibility at Rice

When I read last December’s Thresher news article, “Invisible Burdens,” and the accompanying staff editorial, highlighting the apparent lack of accessibility on campus, I was disappointed, a bit angered and saddened. Reading that Thresher editorial that day was the first and only time I have felt alone and completely misunderstood at Rice. I did not want to identify with the kind of “disability” the editorial portrayed. I felt alienated.

I felt guilty. I felt ashamed. As a wheelchair user and someone living with a disability, that was not the experience I had received on campus, nor was it the voice of real advocacy.

I felt the Thresher painted an incomplete picture by reporting only from a few students, and subsequently, failed to report that accessibility is different for everyone, and solving it, let alone defining it, is a complex, multifaceted issue. And to actually address these issues around campus, we need to openly acknowledge these differences.

How do we define accessibility? I’m not sure there’s a perfect answer, and some may discredit this letter because of that, but maybe that’s the point — maybe

accessibility will forever be a gray area.

There are no laws or rules or regulations that can adequately address and mend every obstacle. Rather, true accessibility is the openness and willingness to embrace change. Everyone here, from staff to professors to students, has had such an incredibly open and willing attitude toward addressing accessibility and accommodations that I have felt wholly accepted and appreciated. True accessibility is accepting individuals as they are, and true advocacy is honoring and creating space for all to thrive.

Exposing Rice’s accessibility issues in a critical and instigatory manner is no better than being exclusionary in the first place. If we speak harshly of disappointment and critique, should we not expect to get those in return? If the Rice community is given only criticism in response to their attempts to make our campus more accessible, I worry that we, the disabled community, further isolate and alienate ourselves.

Instead of guilt and hostility, let’s have a conversation. Let’s sit down and share our stories and experiences. We need to communicate what does and does not work, what is accessible and what is

not. And we must do so in an organized and constructive manner, not one that is meant to elicit a guilt or pity response from a supposed victim-oppressor situation. Because these situations are exclusionary, they draw lines instead of erasing them.

Rather, true accessibility is the openness and willingness to embrace change.

In the end, I want to express my feelings of gratitude and appreciation toward Rice in regard to their accessibility on campus. There are countless individuals that have helped make my transition to college and greater independence a resounding success. I am thriving here, despite my physical challenges, and I hope the Rice community knows that.

I strongly believe we can make our campus better by sharing and listening to each other’s experiences, and then, building collaboratively off of what we’ve

accomplished and creatively improving what still needs to be fixed. We need to acknowledge that we aren’t perfect and we cannot solve every accessibility burden; instead, we need to foster open dialogue and willingness to ensure progressive changes. We must retain the attitude to try and keep trying.

The purpose of this letter is not to minimize the voices who spoke out in the “Invisible Burdens” article, but rather to offer the Rice community a different opinion on campus accessibility and how I believe we can make impactful, meaningful and lasting change. I would be more than happy to share my experiences with you in person — whether you’re concerned, curious, or just want to know more. Be willing to embrace change and be brave enough to engage in dialogue. Remember, it’s okay to ask!

LING DEBELLIS MARTEL COLLEGE FRESHMAN

OPINION

The Trump administration directs an assassination and calls it peace

President Donald Trump’s disdain for foreign policy was once merely a joke. No one believed him when he attempted to buy Greenland, and the U.N. openly laughed at his supposed accomplishments.

These included a shakedown with NATO allies on budgetary matters, a nonsensical travel ban and a dramatic decrease in refugee acceptions. The shame he regularly heaps upon the U.S. ensured that the joke was never funny, but recent actions threaten to cost us more than just respectability. The president’s decision to launch a drone strike killing Iranian Major General Qassim Soleimani as he was leaving Baghdad’s international airport created a highly volatile crisis in the Middle East and threatens to ignite yet another war. The Trump administration’s response? A statement straight from Mar-a-Lago in Florida saying, “We took action last night to stop a war, we did not take action to start a war.”

Meanwhile, thousands of protesters have gathered in Iran, shouting “Death to America”— a call that was echoed even

by Iranian MPs. The Iraqi parliament voted to stop hosting American troops within the country for brazenly ignoring Iraq’s sovereignty. Iran declared it was now fully committed to ignoring any remaining limits on uranium enrichment stipulated by the Iran nuclear deal.

Trump announced (via Twitter, no less)

that 52 other locations had been chosen as targets in the event of hostilities, including cultural sites protected by international law. Is this what peace looks like?

Make no mistake, Soleimani’s death will do nothing to improve America’s presence in the Middle East. Though he was responsible for the deaths of many Americans, this execution will no doubt pave the way for more casualties. Iraq’s decision to expel American troops will hamstring the fight against threats like ISIS. Without a local base of operations

We have put our foot down — straight into a moral, legal and strategic quagmire. to conduct missions, train allies or collect intelligence, the U.S. will find it much harder to combat violence in the region. This will lead to an increase in terrorism both in the Middle East and abroad. Furthermore, by setting a precedent that the termination of national figures is an acceptable part of “peacetime” activities, the U.S. makes it easier for countries like Russia, North Korea and others to justify harsh internal

and external security policies.

In addition, Iran has already launched missile attacks on two Iraqi bases quartering American troops, and nothing prevents them from escalating the situation further. Evidently, Trump seems to believe a combination of blatant provocations and Twitter bullying is enough to cow Iran into submission.

This is ludicrous. The administration’s obsession with deterring Iran has reduced the problems of the Middle East into a childish competition of strength versus weakness. Patience becomes indecisiveness. Caution becomes a sign of doubt. Iran becomes little more than a spoiled child in this frame of mind, and they would retreat only if the U.S. put its foot down. Well, we have put our foot down — straight into a moral, legal and strategic quagmire.

Perhaps the most poignant lesson from this error is that it is only a continuation of a much longer series of mistakes. Going back to the Iraq War, it seems to have been common sense to all administrations that America must do whatever was necessary to the Middle East in order to save it. Drone strikes, economic isolation as well as conventional warfare have all been tools in America’s arsenal of “democracy,” with little to show for it. Trump himself made a campaign promise to end these “forever wars.” Like so many other promises of his, it has gone up in

smoke, taking with it the little progress we’d made in areas like Iraqi-American relations and the Iran nuclear accords.

We are thus faced with a choice.

On one side, we can continue to be complicit in Trump’s self-destructive hawkishness. Or, we can choose to stand up to this reckless, short-sighted and criminal behavior and have our voices determine what peace looks like. Though Trump may be the commander-in-chief, the responsibility of war still rests with the legislative branch. The House of Representatives understands this and has approved a measure rebuking the president for his ill-advised action.

It now heads to the Senate, where its odds of passing are slim. But we can help. Reach out to elected officials and ask them to support the resolution.

We can help create real peace without assassinations, brinkmanship or Twitter ultimatums. With the stakes so high, we cannot afford to do anything less.

FREDERICK DRUMMOND

DUNCAN COLLEGE JUNIOR

EDITORIAL CARTOON

ILLUSTRATION BY YIFEI ZHANG

THE RICE THRESHER

7 • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2020

FEATURES

Amongst ‘happiest students,’ dissatisfaction persists RACHEL CARLTON THRESHER STAFF

Last semester alone, students wrote over 35 op-eds and letters to the editor, addressing particularly controversial events at Rice and other salient issues facing the student body: from students donning U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent costumes to the use of the n-word at Rice to the university’s decision to let a student who was found guilty of assault by Student Judicial Programs graduate.

Throughout the semester, students proved that they would do more than just put pen to paper, protesting against the presence of certain politicians and demonstrating in solidarity with sexual assault survivors.

But a dive through past opinion pieces shows that while the campus has not been lacking in passionate students, change seems slow to some.

During the 2018-2019 school year, students asked for safe spaces for Black students in the wake of Ralph Northam’s blackface scandal and called out the pervasiveness of yellow fever on campus. They wanted their classmates to walk the walk at the Houston March for Black Women and to support their peers after sexual assault.

In the 2017-2018 school year, opinion pieces covered the same topics. Students asked their peers to not speak for or over marginalized groups, show up to the March for Our Lives and change language during Orientation Week to promote LGBTQ+ inclusivity and properly address the idea of consent. The year before: give a voice to lowincome students, get out the vote and gear up the discourse on sexual assault.

One can look even further back: in 2014, an opinion about the culture around sexual assault at Rice and one on campus apathy; in 2012, one student tackled Rice’s “happiest students” status head-on, writing about how abuse and struggles with mental health led the Rice administration to push her out of the university.

As students discuss prominent and contemporary issues year after year, many repeat the same language and bring up the same concerns, especially in discussions about Culture of Care.

In 2018, one student wrote, “[W]e pride ourselves on our Culture of Care; this means we need to be active about supporting and caring for all of our students.” Another wrote in 2019, “Will I finally get to see the ‘Culture of Care’ that I’ve only ever heard about but never been privileged enough to experience?”

And in 2016, “we are told Rice actively works to build inclusive and diverse spaces and a ‘Culture of Care.’... In practice, we often fail to translate these ideals into reality.”

But more importantly, each of those opinion pieces is authored by, or pertains to, students with a similar story — one of a college experience that wasn’t all that they had hoped it would be. The Thresher spoke to four students about their struggle to feel satisfied with the status quo on campus.

RANKINGS VERSUS REALITY For Alvin Magee, disillusionment started as early as the first week of school. Magee said he didn’t expect the dynamics he encountered during mealtimes.

“It was hard walking to the servery and seeing tables split down race lines almost perfectly,” Magee, a Duncan College senior, said. “As a Black person it was hard since the Black people get split up, and then ... in your college ... if there’s a table of Black people it won’t even be full.”

Nina Lahoti, a Brown College junior who matriculated right before Hurricane Harvey, spoke to the insensitivity of some of her peers when she first got to Rice.

“I had multiple very close friends and their entire families had their houses destroyed [by Harvey] and lost everything and were staying

ILLUSTRATION BY CHLOE XU

in shelters,” Lahoti said. “But the whole time people were like, ‘Hurricane Harvey did nothing, Harvey Party!’ And I was like, within this 10 mile radius, a lot of people have died.

This isn’t fun.”

Additionally, Lahoti said she had been made aware of and was sensitive to her socioeconomic privilege before entering Rice, but noticed that many students at Rice didn’t seem to try and cultivate that same understanding.

Rice has previously touted its high ranking for “lots of race/class interaction,” but Magee said he didn’t feel as if there was a lot of interaction between groups and that most people, regardless of race, seem to stick with those who are similar to them.

Summar McGee, a Hanszen College senior, questioned the term “interaction” itself.

“Interaction and engagement is not the same,” McGee said. “There are quite a few people in my class who are quite wealthy, and I am not. We interact, but we don’t engage.”

Other students talked about the lack of acknowledgment from their peers. Anu Ayeni, a Brown College junior, said she frequently faces this issue.

“People don’t acknowledge you when you’re working in groups,” Ayeni said.

“Walking down the street, people don’t move out. I’m expected to move out of their way.”

For Lahoti, interactions with peers in regards to her sexuality have been especially difficult. While Lahoti said outwardly homophobic or transphobic language is mostly absent at Rice, she said that coded language is commonplace.

“A lot of the people who are prominent can say not directly homophobic things, because if you’re directly homophobic [or] transphobic, Rice does have that culture where they’ll attack you for it,” Lahoti said.

“If you say things kind of hidden a little bit, like ‘oh, I don’t like when people act so flamboyantly,’ people won’t attack you for it.”

Lahoti also talked about specific instances in which her sexuality became the focus of the conversation.

“One of the clubs I was in, [at] every social event I was the only girl who was openly out to that group, and it was a majority female group,” Lahoti said. “And so every crawl when we would play a drinking game, it would be ‘Nina, who would you hook up with here? Who do you find attractive here?’”

Lahoti said this kind of behavior creates

spaces where some people are uncomfortable while others can’t understand why.

According to McGee, the environment at Rice can sometimes lead students to relocate off campus.

“Even though it’s not the dominant Rice narrative, people know that marginalized students don’t feel at home at Rice,” McGee said. “They move off campus. This is the same thing we repeat over and over again.”

Ayeni said she doesn’t believe that the Culture of Care exists and cites the number of sexual assault cases at Rice as an indicator.

Magee felt similarly.

“People just don’t really care,” Magee said.

“The general vibe is that ‘I’m not going to … do things to make sure that Black people, gay people, poor people feel supported.’”

THE UNIVERSITY’S ROLE McGee pointed to issues beyond Rice students, citing the university administration’s attitude as a reason for the current environment.

“What incentive do they have to improve if [Rice is] already number one, while [it is still] shitty?” McGee said. “It’s not lack of care, it’s just hedonistic calculus.”

The spaces at Rice devoted to students are political in nature, according to McGee. She gave the Multicultural Center as an example, saying that its eventual location in the Rice Memorial Center basement even after advocacy from Black faculty and students reflects the values of the administration.

“In terms of [Rice’s] actual commitment to diversity and inclusion, the proof is in the pudding,” McGee said. McGee noted that her invoking the administration did not include administrators within the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the Office of Student Success Initiatives.

“The marginalized administrators and staff members do more than their fair share,” McGee said.

McGee said that Rice’s current environment could lead some students to choose other universities over Rice.

“I was having [some issues] in terms of being upbeat or positive or encouraging to new Black students on campus because it feels like on one hand, I can tell you that it’s going to be better,” McGee said. “But the real reality is, I don’t want to say that it’s going to be bad, but I also don’t want to give you false

hope. I don’t want to be the person who has to break it to you, but I don’t also want to give you a lie.”

LISTENING AND LEARNING McGee said that while Rice has stayed the same in a lot of ways, she has seen change since she matriculated four years ago.

“When I came in 2016, there’s no way that we would have been having protests for people at the Baker Institute [for Public Policy],” McGee said. “There’s no way that there would have been a critical mass of people outside screaming ‘Black Lives Matter.’ Those are things that have tangibly changed, but they’ve changed with the course of society.”

Ayeni, for her part, said she has formed great friendships at Rice and has a community at the university.

For McGee, past members of the Black Student Association, of which she was formerly the president, took the initiative to make space for others.

“The Black freshmen who are on campus now have no idea what Rice was like in 2016,” McGee said. “They have no idea that because of people making just a little bit more space for them, they can be a little bit more themselves than when we got here.”

According to McGee, many of the problems at Rice can be solved with a humanistic approach. Her main message is to engage with people as people, but said that it requires a degree of introspection.

“I think part of [engagement] takes enough reflectiveness to realize you have some implicit bias in who you interact with or why you interact with them the way you interact with them,” McGee said. “That’s a level of honesty I don’t think everybody has reached, and it takes practice.”

Lahoti said that cancel culture can lead to people being intimidated by the prospect of acknowledging their biases, but notes that no one will ever be a perfect person.

“Most people, if they find out that you’re trying your best to better yourself, [are] probably willing to help you,” Lahoti said.

She also pointed to the internet as a resource to unlearn prejudices by oneself.

“If you listen to the voices of people of color, of LGBTQ+ people, people of different socioeconomic backgrounds, you can learn to be better on your own,” Lahoti said. “You just have to listen.”

FEATURES

8 • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2020

Booked: Day in the life of a Fondren librarian ELLA FELDMAN FEATURES EDITOR

When Joe Goetz’s 10-year-old daughter started learning to play piano a few years ago, he knew exactly what he needed to do: skim the Fondren Library stacks for a book written by a pianist.

“If I have to learn anything new, whether it be an academic subject, or taking care of the house, or anything, my first impulse is to find a book about it. It’s not to Google it,” Goetz (Brown College ’98) said. “So I’m finding books written by pianists to help me, which is easier to do than learning the piano.”

Luckily for Goetz, Fondren’s robust music media collection is only minutes away from his desk.

For the last five years, Goetz has served as an information literacy librarian for Fondren, which makes him responsible for helping visitors access the library’s resources. This includes books, of course, but also a number of other assets, like films, journal articles, old newspapers and online research tools.

Some days, this looks like giving interested students and community members a drop-in tour of the library, bringing to light the nooks and crannies they might otherwise never stumble across.

Other days, it means meeting with students doing research in English or anthropology — Goetz is the point librarian on these subjects — and helping them unearth relevant materials. He sometimes requests books for the library’s collection and spends a couple hours every day at the reference desk, where he fields all sorts of questions.

“Before Google, there were librarians. You could call up the reference librarian and ask any kind of question,” Goetz said. “I still get those kinds of questions. So that’s always an interesting part of the job, because you never

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Fondren recently revamped their online resources with a new integrated library system, which features a comprehensive search tool for students to more easily access all points of the library.

“A lot of times I hear people say that they don’t really use the library, but they’re using Google Scholar all the time,” Goetz said.

“It’s really the same thing. It’s that access to those resources that we provide.”

After graduating from Rice, Goetz went on to get a Master of Fine Arts in English from the University of California, Irvine and began teaching writing and English classes at various universities, which he describes as “kind of FWIS-like.” When Goetz would collaborate with librarians for those classes, he quickly realized he wanted their jobs more than the one he had. He got a degree in library science from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and worked as a librarian at the University of St. Thomas in Houston’s Montrose before landing at Rice.

Sitting in Goetz’s Fondren basement

office, I asked him what his favorite book is. “I thought you might ask that,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m very committed to the poems of Emily Dickinson, so ‘The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson,’ I guess.”

“What’s one book you think every Rice student should read?” I countered.

Goetz fell silent. He looked around his office, scanning book after book — the small space is covered in them. He glanced at the spines of books about architecture, politics, acting and philosophy. After almost a minute, he broke the silence.

“Rather than give a direct answer to that, I’d want every Rice student to feel able and to feel empowered to find the books that are going to stimulate and challenge and inspire them. I want them to be able to do that through the library, and I want them to be able to see our books as waiting to serve that role for them,” Goetz said.

He paused for a second.

“And if it’s a book we don’t have, we hope you’ll let us know.”

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Fondren librarian Joe Goetz reorganizes the leisure reading collection, which he manages.

Answers will be posted on ricethresher.org and on the Thresher Facebook page. Bolded clues and colored squares correspond to the theme.

Crossword by Sam Rossum Thresher Staff

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know what’s gonna come up.”

Goetz also visits the leisure reading collection, located on the library’s first floor, nearly every day. He manages the collection, which highlights recent, prominentlyreviewed and popular books across genres.

Goetz tries to keep up with this sort of reading himself (he recently read a dark story from Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s “Friday Black” and recommends it to those who aren’t faint of heart), but notes it’s not as easy now as it once was.

“I think people have less time to read for fun now than they used to,” Goetz said. “I know I do.”

Fondren was a special place for Goetz long before he joined the staff in 2015. He graduated from Rice in 1998 — he fondly remembers Kurt Vonnegut’s graduation speech — and spent his time at Rice studying English, acting with the Rice Players, rowing crew, working on a now-obsolete literary magazine and biking on behalf of Brown at two Beer Bikes. He visited the library often, usually the lounge on the fourth floor.

More often, he’d check out books and take them over to Rice Coffeehouse, because the library used to be less cozy, he said.

“I think it’s different these days. There are many more student spaces now, and I think it’s a much more open and comfortable place to spend a lot of time,” Goetz said.

These changes are a result of feedback the library processes in their user experience office, he added.

“We put that feedback into action in a lot of ways,” he said. “Like, in the past few years we’ve changed our food and drink rules. They’re a lot more open than they used to be.”

The most extraordinary differences between Fondren in the ’90s and Fondren now have been spurred on by the internet, which has allowed the library to provide a greater breadth of materials to students.

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24) Beat the buzzer?

26) Inc., in London 28) “Straight Outta Compton” rap group 29) U.S. bond opt.

30) Key figure in CPR 31) However

ACROSS 1) Not a pro 5) Ancient Carvings 11) Some govt. lawyers 14) “Interstellar” robot 15) Flirtatious ones 16) World Series mo.

17) Elusive cat that can have a lot of salami?

19) Master of Minions 20) Happen next 21) Jiffies 22) Like some cheddar 23) Give an ocular patdown 25) “Oo-ee-oo I look just like Buddy ____” 27) Housecat from the British countryside?

32) One of 16 in a chess set 33) Hang loose 34) Accessory for a Girl Scout 38) ____ Ching, spiritual text

by Laozi

41) “Time to Pretend” band 42) Mt. Everest locale, partially 44) Willy’s statue e.g.

46) Big cat with its paw on the Bible?

51) Star-bursts?

52) Maroon 55) Bear living in Jellystone Park 57) Dongle, for one 60) Kojima who created Metal Gear Solid 61) Before, poetically 62) Fast cats basking in the sunlight?

64) Religious Fort Worth sch.

65) Over the moon 66) Shrek or Fiona 67) Need for www access 68) Is nostalgic for 69) We, for someone who says oui

34) ‘Celebrity Jeopardy!’ show 35) Start of a vowel movement 36) Mop some liquid 37) Vietnamese capital 39) The Blue Jays, on scoreboards 40) My Chemical Romance fans, probably 43) Word on a candy heart 45) Scrub in the tub 47) City rhymed with ‘scuzza me’ in “That’s Amore” 48) Change symbols, in math

49) Ariel’s father in “The Little Mermaid” 50) Tried 53) India’s first prime minister 54) Apothecary amounts 55) Monster from 42-Across 56) Tolkien henchmen 58) End of tear ducts?

59) Bombay butter 62) Do some tailoring 63) Christina Tan and others: Abbr.

FEATURES

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2020 • 9

Senior Spotlight: Freddy Cavallaro talks growth at Rice IVANKA PEREZ FEATURES EDITOR

Freddy Cavallaro reads a Bible verse daily. He has a 138-day streak on his Bible app, which he said would have been longer if not for a camping trip. He doesn’t take the Bible lightly, and yet his favorite Bible verse is from Romans 14:2, which goes, “For one believeth that he may eat all things. Another, who is weak, eateth herbs.” “[The verse] makes fun of vegetarians, which I think is hilarious,” Cavallaro, a Will Rice College senior and vegetarian, said.

Cavallaro isn’t afraid to make fun of or humble himself, an attribute he seems to apply to all aspects of his life. Last Beer Bike, at the same time he decided to become vegetarian, Cavallaro started not wearing shoes when walking around campus, partially in an effort to remain down to earth.

“I was trying to force myself into humility,” Cavallaro said.

Despite reading the Bible every day, Cavallaro said he doesn’t consider himself strictly religious. Growing up in a Catholic household, Cavallaro found he disagreed with many aspects of the Catholic church.

He now identifies as Christian.

“My attitude is, find your own path, figure out religion on your own. Maybe you like it, maybe you don’t … Maybe there’s an afterlife, I don’t know,” Cavallaro said. “My opinion is, God is a chiller.”

When Cavallaro matriculated, he was considering a psychology major. He was particularly interested in the functions of the brain and neurological causes of addiction, depression and human actions. After taking a neuroscience class, he was hooked on the subject and became one of the first people to sign up for the neuroscience major when it became available in late 2017.

However, Cavallaro doesn’t limit himself to taking neuroscience classes —

CHANNING WANG / THRESHER

Freddy Cavallaro, a Will Rice College senior, spends his free time drumming and making art.

last semester, he took Advanced Organic Chemistry just out of curiosity.

“I’m very stubborn. I take a course and I say, ‘I don’t care what the grade is — I’m happy to be here and I wanna learn,’” Cavallaro said.

Despite being a neuroscience major, Cavallaro said he no longer wants to pursue a career that focuses on the brain because of scientists’ relative lack of knowledge about the organ. After doing cancer research at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Cavallaro has set his sights on working on cancer pharmaceuticals.

“I want to apply myself to a field where we are closer to a ‘cure,’” Cavallaro said.

Cavallaro’s interest in health also spans to his job as parliamentarian in the Student Association, a role he applied to after unsuccessfully running for SA President last year. He is currently working on a project to improve students’ relationship with the Student Health Services.

Another aspect of Rice life that

Cavallaro wants improved is rustication and how it affects students. During his sophomore year, Cavallaro’s suite was rusticated for an alleged alcohol policy violation that occurred under confusing circumstances.

Rustication involves revocation of some or all of the privileges of living within the college system, and may only be imposed only by the student’s magister.

Cavallaro said rustication was the hardest challenge he faced at Rice. He said that although he’s grateful he was rusticated instead of given a minor in possession charge, being prevented from attending college events — even intramural sports games — made him feel distant from his friends living on campus.

“The part that I hated the most about it was the social isolation,” Cavallaro said. “I was like, ‘Where are my friends? I’m lonely — I feel really fucked up inside.’”

However, Cavallaro said the situation ultimately helped him bond with his

suitemates and other off-campus friends, gave him a chance to cook for himself and helped open his eyes to the community outside of Rice.

“If anything, I think it made me more mature,” Cavallaro said. “I’m on campus now, right, but I kind of miss living off campus.”

When dealing with such stressful situations, Cavallaro turns to drumming.

When he’s not in class, spending time with friends, or working with the SA as parliamentarian, Cavallaro enjoys playing the drums, saying it helps him relieve stress.

“I like to express myself,” Cavallaro said.

“I am a big believer in musical therapy.”

Additionally, Cavallaro finds solace in another creative outlet: pour paintings. His Instagram page @readyisfreddy is filled with photos of his pour paintings, which he makes by mixing paint in a cup and pouring it onto paper. Cavallaro said he likes pour paintings because they are quick to make and the result is always unexpected.

Cavallaro said that he thinks art is one of the most important aspects of life.

“If you don’t have art in your life in some form, you’re going to go insane,” Cavallaro said. “If you ask me ... [what makes humans unique] is the ability to create art and music.”

Although Cavallaro has had his ups and downs during his time at Rice, the one topic he is unabashedly excited about is “Cooking with Chef Roger” with Roger Elkhouri. Since moving back to campus, Cavallaro said he’s had fewer opportunities to do one of his other hobbies: cooking. Cavallaro said the class is his favorite memory from Rice.

“My water bottle has one sticker on it — it’s the Chef Roger sticker,” Cavallaro said.

Editor’s Note: This is an installment in Senior Spotlights, a series intended to explore the stories of graduating seniors, who are chosen at random to participate.

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THE RICE THRESHER

10 • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2020

ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT KATELYN LANDRY A&E EDITOR

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston tells the story of how Norman Rockwell’s iconic depictions of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms — freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from fear and freedom from want — changed American society forever with “Norman Rockwell: American Freedom.” The exhibit opened at the MFAH last month as the fifth stop on the acclaimed exhibition’s nationwide tour, organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum.

Kaylin Weber, MFAH’s associate curator of American painting and sculpture, explained during a press preview event that the MFAH chose the name in an effort to capture a broader image of the national culture in which Rockwell’s work served: not only as the foundation for contemporary Americana, but also the springboard for ideas about freedom that would continually evolve and sprawl into new corners of American consciousness.

Before FDR spoke the Four Freedoms into existence in his 1941 State of the Union speech, Rockwell was capturing the emblematic aspects of American culture.

The exhibit opens with a gallery devoted to Rockwell’s cover illustrations for the Saturday Evening Post where he worked for nearly 50 years. Beginning in 1916, Rockwell was able to extract slices of life from the world around him and distill them so vividly that the Post earned millions of subscribers across the nation. Saturday Evening Post readers adored Rockwell’s talent for transforming the most mundane moments of life into romantic testaments to American life in the 1930s. The illustrator captured the small comforts and joys of Americans despite straining under the weight of the Great Depression.

Rockwell’s talent for suspending a single moment in time is evident in the meticulous details in his illustrations.

Covers like “Family Home from Vacation” offer something of a scavenger hunt to the eye, inviting viewers to explore tiny morsels of life seemingly strewn about by Rockwell’s fictional subjects wilted flowers, a deflated balloon, a shirt peeking out of an overly full suitcase and a frog prying itself out of a child’s box all adorn the exhausted family, giving the illusion that they lived a life before they came to rest on Rockwell’s canvas.

While works such as “Norman Rockwell Visits a Ration Board” were heralded for the variety of life he captured, they are noticeably whitewashed images of an idealized, conservative American society.

According to Weber, who led the exhibit tour, the Saturday Evening Post did not allow people of color to be depicted in illustrations unless they were in positions of service, an appalling sign of the times.

Rockwell remained with the magazine until 1963 and unfortunately kept his artistic lens largely restricted to White Americans for the first major half of his career. As evidenced by his later works which depict significantly more inclusion and diversity, Rockwell’s artistic attitude toward race relations seemingly evolved in a fashion on par with

Freedom reigns in new MFAH ‘Norman Rockwell’ exhibit

courtesy mfah press

“Golden Rule” by Norman Rockwell. This cover illustration was published in the April 1, 1961 publication of the Saturday Evening Post, marking one of the first times in the magazine’s history when people of color were prominently featured not in positions of service. the rapid societal changes of the era.

As one moves through the first room of Rockwell’s magazine illustrations into the second gallery space, the rosy optimism drains from the walls as the exhibit shifts its attention away from the comforts of domestic life to the hardships of World War II. Rockwell largely avoided illustrating war violence, so this portion of the exhibit is mostly populated by other artists of the 1940s. By including official World War II photography from the U.S. Armed Forces and works such as Margaret BurkeWhite’s globally recognized photograph of Holocaust survivors, “The Day After Liberation, Buchenwald, Germany,” the exhibit allows Rockwell himself to momentarily fade into the background and focus on the world around him which was dramatically changing every day.

This act of zooming out from Rockwell and including work from a range of artists engaged with wartime themes and the principles of Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms

speech is a significant strength of the exhibit.

Visitors have the opportunity to see the work of Rockwell’s contemporaries such as graphic artist J. Howard Miller, who coined Rosie the Riveter in his iconic painting “We Can Do It!” which hangs amid other 1950s graphic art and labor propaganda. The MFAH capitalizes on their vast gallery space and builds a comprehensive glimpse at not just the work of Rockwell, but also the world he was living in and drew inspiration from.

Even with the vast collection of accompanying artists, Rockwell’s Four Freedoms undoubtedly remain the focal point of the exhibit. The poster illustrations are massive, welcoming visitors to spend more time with the iconic images than likely ever before. Each scene fosters a sort of calm, their colors subdued yet rich and their details soft yet striking. In “Freedom from Fear,” Rockwell paints a warm light that pours into the stairwell behind the family, seemingly emanating from downstairs.

As in his earlier magazine illustrations,

Rockwell’s trademark talent for suggesting that life continues beyond the canvas is evident in his most prolific works.

The final portion of the exhibition showcases Rockwell’s artistic foray into the theme of civil rights and the postwar legacy of the Four Freedoms, introduced by another of Rockwell’s most recognizable creations, “The Problem We All Live With.”

This portrait marked the end of Rockwell’s employment with the Saturday Evening Post and the beginning of his time with Look magazine. From 1963 forward, Rockwell’s work shifted to include many more people of color, rejuvenating and expanding upon his passion for capturing the variety of life. In a departure from his earlier work, Rockwell began to illustrate graphic violence in order to convey the severity of racial discrimination during the civil rights era with works such as “Murder in Mississippi.” “Blood Brothers” was one such work, an illustration depicting a Black man and a White man lying dead side by side that Look ultimately refused to publish.

Weber made a point of explaining that the politics of what was published and wasn’t says equally about American culture of the time as the paintings themselves.

Rockwell not only forayed into American civil rights but also sought to represent an American perspective of a world forever changed by massive destruction and on the doorstep of globalization. According to Weber, Rockwell was enamored with the idea of the United Nations, which he hoped would rally people around the goal of avoiding future warfare. An unpublished study illustration titled “United Nations” shows people from a wide range of cultures gathered behind world leaders. Many of the personas created for that study were transferred over to Rockwell’s cover illustration, “Golden Rule.” Rather than depicting the world’s cultures at the foot of the United Nations negotiating table, Rockwell ultimately rallied the vibrantly colored crowd around the universally recognized principle written in gold: “Do unto others what you would have them do unto you.”

The inclusion of Rockwell’s rough sketches, studies and unpublished work is the other significant strength of the exhibit.

By offering visitors a glimpse at the inner workings of Rockwell’s creative process, the exhibit reminds viewers that revision and rejection is inevitable for even the most prolific artists.

The turbulent times of Rockwell’s career are captured through a variety of illustrations, photographs and artifacts that immortalize a culture in dramatic flux. “Norman Rockwell: American Freedom” captures not only the artist, but his world and mind. This act fosters an appreciation of Rockwell that doesn’t stem from his titular reputation, but rather for his ability to listen to the riotous noise of a tumultuous and violent world, and congregate an ever changing society around its most fundamental beliefs by stilling the transience of life, if only for a moment.

“Norman Rockwell: American Freedom” will be on view at the MFAH in the Audrey Jones Beck Building until March 22.

THE WEEKLY SCENE

WORDS ON PAPER

LAWNDALE WINTER OPENING

Join the visual and dramatic arts department for the opening reception of “Works on Paper 2009-2019” by Randall McCabe, this Thursday, Jan. 16 from 6-8 p.m. The exhibit will feature a selection of paintings and drawings by McCabe, who retired in 2019 after 22 years as VADA’s studio manager and lead preparator.

Celebrating the opening of their Winter 2020 Exhibition season, the Lawndale Art Center will host an opening reception for exhibits “SKY LOOP” by Virginia Lee Montgomery and “Folie a Deux” by Shawne Major this Friday, Jan. 17 from 6-8 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.

RICE MEDIA CENTER

Lawndale Art Center 4912 Main St.

SATANTANGO This Saturday, trade your eight hours of Netflix for a viewing of critically acclaimed Hungarian drama “Satantango.” Heralded as one of the greatest achievements in recent art house cinema, the 1994 film follows members of a recently collapsed agricultural collective as they seek new lives in a post-Communist world. The eighthour film will be shown with intermissions and is free and open to the public.

RICE CINEMA

CHAMPAGNE, ART AND SONG Enjoy an evening of colorful Latin American and African visual art from 5-8 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 17 as part of Latin Week Houston 2020, an annual citywide celebration of traditional and contemporary Latin American art. Experience free live musical performances and enter to win tickets to the upcoming Latin Week Houston events. RSVP online at latinweekhouston.org/ shows.

Gite Gallery 2024 Alabama St.

ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2020 • 11

Review: ‘Little Women’ refreshes timeless tale courtesy sony pictures

IVANKA PEREZ FEATURES EDITOR

LITTLE WOMEN Genre: Drama Run time: 2 hours 15 min Now showing at: Edwards Greenway, AMC Studio 30

When I got home after watching Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women,” all I wanted to think about was “Little Women.” I dug up my old copy of the novel from middle school, replaying moments from the movie in my head.

Five minutes after I found out that there was a TV adaptation of the story on Amazon Prime Video, I snuggled up on the couch with my mom and a cup of hot chocolate. But it didn’t take long for me to realize that no iteration of the classic story could compare with Gerwig’s adaptation.

The story, at its core, is a tale of four sisters with different dreams and diverging lives. Rather than adopting the chronological timeline of the original story and all of its previous adaptations, Gerwig tells the story in flashbacks — an ingenious choice that makes the storytelling seamless and poignant. At the most heart-wrenching points in the film, this provides a mirroring effect, emphasizing the fact that things can never go back to the way they were.

Looking at the star-studded cast list — Saoirse Ronan as Jo March, Timothée Chalamet as friendly neighbor Laurie, Emma Watson as Meg March, and so many more — it’s no surprise that the acting in this film is outstanding. What stands out even more than the caliber of actors is the chemistry between them. Although Beth and Meg’s story arcs are less central to the plot than the Jo and Amy, they are perfectly cast; Eliza Scanlen shines as meek, shy Beth March, and Emma Watson is engaging as motherly Meg. The March sisters’ interactions are especially authentic as they interrupt, ignore and talk over each other like most siblings do.

Portraying authentic, complex relationships is what this film does best. At the heart of “Little Women” is the loving yet competitive relationship between Jo and her younger sister Amy, played by Hollywood’s newest rising star, Florence Pugh. The two sisters are so similar — stubborn, passionate artists in their own right — that their desires often compete.

But even when their squabbles over theater tickets, novel manuscripts and

ice skating culminate into more serious conflicts, the two never lose their respect for each other. In one of the final scenes of the film, Jo and Amy reunite after a period of being apart and illustrate that, despite their differences, their sisterhood is more important than anything that might come between them.

Unsurprisingly, Ronan is brilliant as Jo in the film — but I didn’t realize just how brilliant until I saw an adaptation without her as Jo. Rather than stealing every scene she’s in, Ronan’s brilliance is more subtle, giving the film heart with a rebellious and relatable heroine and earning the Irish American actress her fourth Oscar nomination.

Rather than stealing every scene she’s in, [Saoirse] Ronan’s brilliance is more subtle, giving the film heart with a rebellious and relatable heroine and earning the Irish American actress her fourth Oscar nomination.

Before seeing this film, I never liked Amy’s character — an opinion that many readers of the novel share. But Pugh turns a spoiled, often unlikeable character into a flawed yet endearing girl who matures into a confident woman by the end of the film in a performance that has earned the British actress her first Oscar nod. Pugh and Chalamet expertly embody characters who push each other to be better people while supporting each other’s aspirations, painting a portrait of Amy and Laurie’s relationship that makes more sense on screen than in the original novel.

In this film, Gerwig does justice to what may have been Alcott’s original intentions, while also staying true to the storyline. Professor Bhaer, rather than appearing at the end of the story as a convenient love interest, is present from the very first scene. But rather than ending the story with Jo getting married, Gerwig ends the film with Jo having a discussion with her publisher.

Her publisher insists that the heroine must be married by the end of the book.

Jo acquiesces, but only if she is allowed to keep the copyright to her novel — something Louisa May Alcott did in real life for “Little Women.”

I can’t remember the last time I loved a movie as much as I loved this one.

Maybe I’m biased — I’ve loved “Little Women” ever since I can remember — but if I could only recommend one movie this Oscars season, it would be this one.

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ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT

12 • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2020

about the (somewhat heavy-handed) “one-take” approach that makes “1917” impossible to look away from as it portrays the unparalleled cruelty of the conflict infamously known as “The War to End All Wars.” Cinematographer Roger Deakins, known for his frequent collaborations with the Coen brothers, does a fantastic job at imbuing the lifeless battlefield with a sense of desolate beauty and chaos, skillfully employing bombs, flares and fires to his advantage as unique sources of light and color in an otherwise brutally monochromatic stretch of scorched earth.

‘1917’ is an emotional journey that leaves little time for mourning or reflecting by its own characters, lest more lives be needlessly wasted. courtesy universal pictures

Review: ‘1917’ triumphs in uncharted territory SAM VENKER FOR THE THRESHER

1917 Genre: Drama / Action Run time: 1 hr 59 min Now showing at: Edwards Greenway, IPIC Houston

Coming fresh off of two Golden Globe wins for best director and best drama motion picture, Sam Mendes’ “1917” earned immense critical acclaim and seemed destined for box office success before the film even hit most American theaters Jan.

10. This praise is well deserved; “1917” proves to be a breathtaking piece of filmmaking, using a “one-take” technique where the entire film is made to appear as one continuous shot (previously used in 2014’s best picture-winning “Birdman”) to craft a harrowing, exhausting depiction of a war that has been largely unexplored by modern cinema.

The last mainstream World War I drama to make headlines would have to be the 2011 film “War Horse.” The eightyear gap between Spielberg’s six-time Oscar nominated war movie and Mendes’ Oscar hopeful “1917” has prompted critics and moviegoers alike to question why Hollywood chooses to glorify and gush over World War II like a favorite child while World War I, the disappointing younger sibling whose existence is periodically forgotten in this bizarre analogy, doesn’t even get an invitation to the family reunion dinner.

My theory behind this apparent dismissal of one of history’s most significant wars is that World War I is nearly impossible to justify in comparison to World War II. You can’t really call upon John Wayne to give a rousing, patriotic speech about freedom and bravery in your movie when 300,000 people died fighting to win six miles of dirt in the Battle of the Somme. What’s more, trench warfare is incredibly difficult to portray as even remotely exciting. A war movie where the heroes spend the majority of their time sitting in a hole six feet below ground surrounded by disease and filth does not offer much in the way of action or excitement: a major deterrent for studios looking to make a box-office success.

“1917” deftly avoids these problems and is nothing short of riveting. There’s something undeniably captivating

At times, the dramatic cinematography can become overbearing and borders on gimmick: The one-shot approach calls attention to itself, parading technical ability over content. Nonetheless, the film succeeds on a grand scale as a war epic — seeing hundreds of soldiers simultaneously ascend the trenches and approach the certain death promised by no man’s land was certainly one of the more dramatic shots of 2019’s filmography.

Yet “1917” manages to remain remarkably human, exploring the bond between two young British soldiers tasked with delivering a message to prevent the massacre of 1,600 men walking into a deadly trap.

A poignant reflection on the senseless, industrial-level slaughtering of human life in World War I, “1917” is an emotional journey that leaves little time for mourning or reflecting by its own characters, lest more lives be needlessly wasted. An intense adrenaline rush, an unexpected tearjerker and an altogether extraordinarily impressive piece of film: I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Review: Poppy trades cute for calamity JAMES KARROUM THRESHER STAFF

I DISAGREE Genre: Pop/Metal/Prog Rock Top Track: “Don’t Go Outside”

Internet personality and musician Poppy declares her transcendence from the confines of genre with her third studio album, “I Disagree.” Released Jan. 10, “I Disagree” establishes itself as the antithesis of the dainty, pastel Poppy she first showed the world.

Poppy first went viral in 2015 with a 10-minute YouTube video of the then-20 year old repeatedly saying “I’m Poppy” and continued to captivate the internet with bizarre skits, which often include her prolonged, uncomfortable staring and the occasional conversation with plants and mannequins. The internet star made her musical debut the same year with her single “Lowlife” and went on to release her first studio album “Poppy.Computer” in 2017. She has since had increasingly dark aesthetics on social media and music videos — and it’s crept into her songs, most notably “Play Destroy” on her sophomore album “Am I a Girl?,” where she collaborated with dreampop/synth-pop artist Grimes.

At first glance, Poppy’s gruesome getup and dead stare on the album cover for “I Disagree” might make fans expect a metal

album. Her previous forays into the heavy metal genre and friendship with rocker Marilyn Manson strongly suggest that Poppy has defected to the dark side. But Poppy said in an interview for rock and metal magazine Kerrang! that her new album is beyond genre.

“A lot of people who have written about the new music have said it’s metal and pop, but I think that’s because they like the juxtaposition of that,” she said. “I’ve never said my music is metal, but I do listen to that music. To clarify: post-genre. Or prog rock or pop. We’re turning a new page.”

“Welcome to the new starting line”, she sings in “Sit / Stay,” paralleling the new direction she’s gone in with her work. “I Disagree” opens with “Concrete,” the first single to be released from the record back in August 2019. The track is a juxtaposition of two personas, her earlier, cheery self and new aggressive, metal vibes. “Some people like candy / Some people like coffee / But these lifeless flavors / Don’t satisfy me ... I need that taste / Of young blood in my teeth,” she intonates while the instrumentation fades to the background. She concludes the song with unsettling lyrics, “Bury me six feet deep and just / Cover me in concrete please / Turn me into a street” which strikingly contrast an upbeat instrumental reprise of the intro.

“Concrete” distinctly establishes a central theme of the album: Poppy either clashes sweet lyrics with the distortion and feedback characteristic of metal, or dark lyrics with a cheery beat.

Title track “I Disagree” is the only song with Japanese lyrics on Poppy’s newest album, reminiscent of other J-pop inspired songs like “Moshi Moshi” from her first studio album “Poppy.Computer.” In the

music video, she climbs on the desk of music industry bigwigs and shouts at them, “I disagree / With the way you keep preaching insanity / I disagree / With all of the reasons you’re mad at me” before lighting them on fire. For most of the rest of the album, she follows a formula of calmly singing for the majority of each song and interjecting with a screaming chorus or shouting backup singers. The last minute of “Bite Your Teeth” sounds like Nine Inch Nails’s album “The

courtesy sumerian records

A lot of people who have written about the new music have said it’s metal and pop, but I think that’s because they like the juxtaposition of that.

Poppy, Kerrang! Magazine MUSICIAN Fragile” with its industrial and noise rock vibes. “BLOODMONEY” is similar and has a whole 30 seconds of pure instrumental noise rock goodness in the middle, with all the distortion and feedback one could want.

These songs lean into the theme and are the album at its best.

“Nothing I Need” and “Sick of the Sun” are laid-back and feel like interludes, but don’t stand alone very well. The inclusion of these two makes the best case for calling the album genreless, but Poppy likely

spread herself too thin by diversifying in this direction. The final song, “Don’t Go Outside,” is a striking six-minute symphony with an extended outro that calls back lyrics from “Concrete” and “I Disagree.” It’s best heard in a chronological playthrough of the album, tying the sounds of the prior songs together for a finale, but not outside of that context.

“I Disagree” can be seen as an answer to Poppy’s previous album “Am I a Girl?” as she continues to question and reflect on her identity in terms of gender and beyond with experimental sounds that fall somewhere between the stylistic realms of Grimes, kawaii metal girl group BABYMETAL and industrial rock outfit Nine Inch Nails. The 10 tracks work amazingly together, and live up to Poppy’s designation of them as progressive pop/rock as well as her refusal to let them be defined as solely pop/metal. Her sweet-butpsycho attitude permeates the entire album and gives Poppy a unique spot between genres and the niches of established artists.

“I Disagree” is available on all major streaming platforms.

THE RICE THRESHER

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2020 • 13

SPORTS Baker Powderpuff 2019 Recap REGULAR SEASON v. Wiess

W, 13-0

v. Sid Richardson W, 18-0 v. Martel

L, 18-13

v. Hanszen

W, 19-12

v. Will Rice

W, 6-0

v. Lovett

W, 26-7

DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS v. Lovett COURTESY GABI GOMEZ

The 2019 Baker College powderpuff team poses for a group photo after defeating Lovett College 20-13 in the championship semifinal and McMurtry College 7-6 in the championship. The win capped a 7-1 season record for the Baker team, who posted three shutout victories on their way to the title.

POWDERPUFF CHAMPS: BAKER CLAIMS TITLE IVANKA PEREZ FEATURES EDITOR

In December, the Baker College powderpuff team defeated McMurtry College 7-6 to win its first women’s college flag football title since at least 1999. Baker’s victory broke a four-year streak during which Hanszen and McMurtry each claimed two titles.

Described by head coach and senior Cannon Armistead as “small but mighty,” the Baker team featured only around 12 consistent players, just four more than the eight required to play. Senior Paul Ryu, an assistant coach, said it was difficult to find times when the entire team could meet. As a result, only five players on average could make it to each practice.

“Sometimes there were more coaches than players [at practices],” Ryu said.

Since not everyone on the team could make it to every game, team captains and Baker seniors Erin Kilbride and Sarah Downing said they almost had to forfeit a game when not enough players showed up.

But Kilbride said the size of their team didn’t

work against them — she said the team’s small size actually worked in Baker’s favor.

“The quality of players was high because we had a small team,” Kilbride said. “Each person who showed up to a game actually cared and wanted to win and tried their best.”

The team’s size also meant that players got more playing experience than they would have on a larger team.

“People got to play both sides — offense and defense,” Kilbride said. “Whoever showed up to a game always got a lot of playing time, so it was fun.”

Baker sophomore Indya Porter said having a small team was part of what encouraged her to continue to remain an active player. “[The coaches] really wanted [players] to play because we have a small team,” Porter said. “So because of that you feel really important — you feel like you’re meaningful in the team.”

Although Baker’s powderpuff team hadn’t recently won a championship, both Baker captains said this year’s winning squad built upon last season’s strong foundation.

“Last year was [our coaches’] first time

coaching, and a lot of people’s first times playing [our new positions],” Kilbride said.

“So last year was kind of like getting started with our coaches and new positions. This year, it really clicked.”

Downing said part of the team’s performance should be attributed to the five coaches on the team.

“I think we had a more solid coaching base than we’ve had in the past, with pretty knowledgeable coaches who showed up and cared about how we were doing,” Downing said.

Armistead also said the chemistry between the coaches and the players factored into the team’s success. “[All the coaches are] all really good friends with the girls,” Armistead said.

“We’re on the same wavelength.”

According to Downing, the individual players’ performances also made an impact on the team’s success. Downing said the players’ athleticism and experience contributed to the team dynamic.

“I think part of it is that we have a lot of players who have played sports in the

W, 20-13

CHAMPIONSHIP v. McMurtry

W, 7-6

INFOGRAPHIC BY MADISON BUZZARD

past,” Downing said. “We just have a lot of pretty naturally athletic people who have played sports like soccer that kind of match the aggressiveness and athleticism that powderpuff requires.”

After moving players to different positions, Armistead said he realized putting the right players in the right positions had a huge impact.

“We put [Kilbride] as [wide receiver] and she turned out to be the best receiver in the league,” Armistead said.

Although the team dynamic may have led them to win the championship, Kilbride said that Baker powderpuff doesn’t focus on winning.

“It really [isn’t] about winning or being competitive at all,” Kilbride said. “The relaxed, fun environment is what makes [being on the team] cool.”

Despite the team’s laid-back attitude, Ryu said the players delivered during some of the championship game’s most pivotal moments. “[The players] made some insane plays,” Ryu said.

WOMEN’S TENNIS SET TO FACE LAMAR SPENCER MOFFAT SENIOR WRITER

The Rice women’s tennis team prepares to face Lamar University in its first home match of the year on Saturday, Jan. 18 after opening its spring season this past weekend.

The two teams’ recent history has been extremely lopsided: Rice has won its last 26 meetings against the Cardinals.

But according to head coach Elizabeth Schmidt, the team needs to focus on what it can control in its next match despite its strong historical record against Lamar.

“We have a pretty strong history against Lamar and we don’t know what team they are going to put out on the court this year,” Schmidt said. “What we need to do is take care of ourselves and take care of what we want to do and work on.”

The match against Lamar will also give the Owls the opportunity to prepare for an upcoming match against North Carolina State University, whom the Owls face on Jan. 25. Coming into this spring season, the Wolfpack placed 8th overall in the Oracle/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division I women’s tennis rankings.

According to Schmidt, Rice’s overall

schedule this year will be challenging.

“If you look at our schedule, [it’s] pretty hefty and competitive,” Schmidt said. “Every team we have to play is always looking to be better as well.”

Rice began their season last weekend in the Orlando Invitational against opponents from the University of Kansas, University of Missouri, North Carolina State University and Texas Tech University. Overall, the Owls posted a 12-10 record in singles play and went 5-5 in doubles, with juniors Linda Huang and Anna Bowtell leading the way with a combined 6-0 singles record over the weekend’s matches.

Prior to beginning the spring season, Rice spent a week in Orlando to practice before the Orlando Invitational, which helped ease the Owls back into a productive atmosphere, according to senior Priya Niezgoda.

“It’s really great that we can all come back a little early and get in some pretty good practices and get back into that team mindset,” Niezgoda said.

Niezgoda will look to build on the rapport she established last year with sophomore Anastasia Smirnova.

Smirnova and Niezgoda finished last fall as the No. 37-ranked doubles pair after going 5-2 on the season. According

COURTESY Rice Athletics

Senior Priya Niezgoda and sophomore Anastasia Smirnova survey the opposition during a doubles match. Niezgoda and Smirnova went 0-2 as a pair during the Orlando Invitational.

to Niezgoda, she quickly developed a strong partnership with Smirnova.

“I think we kind of had a good chemistry from the start,” Niezgoda said. “I think it just grew stronger as we were playing so much last season, and especially the fall.”

Smirnova finished the fall with a 8-1 mark in singles play and cracked the ITA singles rankings for the first time, placing No. 86 out of 100. According to Smirnova, her ranking was a surprise.

“I definitely wasn’t expecting to be ranked in singles,” Smirnova said. “I just wanted to play the best I could.”

Last year, the Owls won their sixth Conference USA championship in the past seven seasons by defeating No. 37 Old Dominion University in the C-USA final. Rice then lost their first-round NCAA tournament matchup against Texas A&M University, 4-3. According to Schmidt, even though the team fell short against Texas A&M, Rice’s players are currently focused on match-to-match improvements rather than postseason play.

“We really keep our focus small,” Schmidt said. “Our [team’s goal] is to be one percent better than we were in our last practice.”

SPORTS

14 • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2020

BASKETBALL ON 4-GAME WIN STREAK BEN BAKER-KATZ THRESHER STAFF

Rice women’s basketball will aim to extend its current four-game Conference USA winning streak when the Owls take on Louisiana Tech University and the University of Southern Mississippi at Tudor Fieldhouse this week.

Rice started off the season 5-6, failing to score 50 points during three of its six losses. But according to senior guard Erica Ogwumike, the team has coalesced around its defensive effort in recent games. “We’re learning our identity,� senior guard Erica Ogwumike said. “We’re taking pride in our defense, knowing that we’re one of the better defensive teams not in the country but in the nation, and that makes us want to work harder.�

As Rice prepares for its two home games this week, head coach Tina Langley said the Owls will continue to look for offensive improvement against upcoming tough defensive competition. “We have a lot of new players, so one of the things over this season that we’ve had to develop in is our knowledge of one another,�

Langley said. “[Louisiana Tech and Southern Miss] are two really good, really intense defensive teams, and when teams put pressure on us we have to know how we’re going to play together. I think we’ve grown a lot in that area, but it’s something we’ve got to continue to grow in.�

Rice’s current record sits at 9-6, after a successful trip this past weekend to Florida, where it beat Florida Atlantic University 7869 and Florida International University 6847. Against FAU on Thursday, Rice was led by C-USA Player of the Week Ogwumike, who scored 30 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.

According to Langley, Ogwumike’s positive impact is felt both on and off the court. “Erica can do everything on the court,�

Langley said. “She’s a tremendous scorer, rebounder, defender, there’s really nothing she can’t do from a basketball standpoint.

But she’s an even better leader. She’s a person who sets the tone in how we prepare, and takes care of the team.�

The team continued its momentum into their next game against FIU on Saturday, a contest that Rice won convincingly after breaking the game open with a 14-0 run in the third quarter. Three Owls scored in double digits, led by 12 points apiece from sophomore guard Jasmine Smith and freshman forward Lauren Schwartz. Ogwumike picked up her fourth consecutive double-double with 11 points and 1o rebounds.

The win against FIU marked Rice’s fourth straight win and 23rd consecutive victory in C-USA play, after the Owls posted a losing record in non-conference play to begin the season. According to Langley, the team managed to take away positives even when they weren’t able to come away with a win. “One of the core values of our program is growth, and we chose that value based on mindset,� Langley said. “Learning that failure is not a negative thing, it’s something that propels you to do better if you use it the right way. All throughout non-conference, wins and losses, this team did a great job of reflecting and learning the areas we need to grow in.�

One area of growth stems from this team’s relative youth: The Owls feature five freshmen and four sophomores. Ogwumike said one of her roles as a team leader has been to help the underclassmen adjust to the competitive collegiate atmosphere. “I’ve been able to help the freshman and the people who haven’t been in these big moments by talking to them before games, and trying to calm their nerves,� Ogwumike said. “I’ve helped them visualize those moments and [shown them] that we can compete, and we can win.�

The Owls will play Louisiana Tech (9-5, 1-2) on Thursday at 7 p.m. before battling Southern Mississippi (10-4, 2-1) on Saturday at 2 p.m. Both games will take place at Rice’s Tudor Fieldhouse.

Courtesy Rice Athletics

Freshman forward Lauren Schwartz squares up to release a jump shot. This season, Schwartz has started in all 15 games for Rice and is averaging 9.9 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.

Happy New Year and Welcome Back!

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2020 • 15

BACKPAGE

16 • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2020

20 Predictions for the 2020s

With the Roaring 20s upon us, a lot of change is sure to happen within the hedges in the next decade. We have some ideas about the major differences that will come about at Rice — to put our clairvoyance to the test, feel free to stow away a copy of this Backpage and dig it up in 2030.

1.A CRISPR baby will go on to be a significant Rice donor and have a residential college named after them. Crisp Richardson College will be riskily edited with no regard for building codes or safety.

2.Top sponsors for the CCD Career Expo will pay for titles on a scale from “Crude” to “Premium” rather than “Gold” or “Platinum” to better represent these companies.

3.To address concerns over parking limitations, Rice will buy up more real estate in the Third Ward near the Ion to build a satellite lot and shuttle students back and forth.

4.Rice’s reliance on Facebook will become a target for hackers — the SA presidential election will be interfered with.

5.Eventually, the SA will create an infinite and unbreakable loop of committees overseeing working groups that manage projects within working groups until all positions and hierarchies are obsolete. Every member will put “president” on their resume as a result.

6.Beer Bike will gradually transform into Water Walk through a series of university policy changes.

7.These policy changes will be due to Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission’s pet project to take down Rice University, “Knowledge for Narcs”: a college preparatory program for teen tattletales to gain admission to Rice on the condition that they tip off the presence of beer within a ten-yard radius of any underage student to TABC. 8.The new registration system will undergo tweaks every year until finally in 2028, it diverges into a two-site system identical to Schedule Planner and regular registration.

9.The football bubble will be inverted to be repurposed as an emergency raft for when rising sea levels engulf Houston.

10.At least one servery will serve exclusively Soylent.

11.While most colleges will undergo countless renovations, Hanszen will remain unchanged but still standing.

12.Willy’s Statue will be rotated again, but all documentation of the statue’s original direction will be preemptively altered. The collective memory of the statue facing toward the Sallyport will become a famous example of the Mandela effect.

13.Football will win at least one (1) game.

14.Thresher readers will continue to leave outraged comments about how opinions cannot be submitted anonymously despite staff editorials going nameless. The name of literally every staff editorial writer will continue to be clearly labeled in the masthead on every opinion section.

15.Due to its popularity, the Thresher crossword will grow to fill a two-page spread every week.

16.A Baker 13 LPAP will be offered, in which participants must run in every Baker 13 for the registered semester.

17.Matriculation will take place in the Opera House, just to get some use out of the Opera House.

18.The Jones School of Business will expand beyond having its own in-house cafe to also have an in-house pub, radio station and bike repair shop.

19.The admissions rate will continue to decrease, and it will be inversely correlated with the trend in average purity scores.

20.The Backpage will somehow end up on Fox News again.

The Backpage is satire, written by Simturning30thisdecade Matovic and designed by Simona Mat2020vision. For comments or questions, please email JamesJoyceLovesFarts@rice.edu

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