VOLUME 104, ISSUE NO. 15 | STUDENT-RUN SINCE 1916 | RICETHRESHER.ORG | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2020
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illustration BY YIFEI ZHANG
First week of school: Campus has no cool TALHA ARIF THRESHER STAFF
Due to ongoing construction at the Central Plant, the campus has experienced disruptions in air cooling at both residential and academic buildings over the past week, exacerbated by a heat wave that culminated in a record-high 83 degrees on Wednesday. Amna Ali, a junior at Wiess College, said she left campus and went to her family home in Houston to avoid the indoor heat.
“I had to keep my window open because my room was so hot,” Ali said. “I actually got heat rashes because I’m pretty sensitive to the heat, so I ended up just going to my home. A rat actually got on the windowsill because my room window had been open all day.” Before the start of the semester, the Facilities Engineering and Planning team for Rice University sent an email to all students and faculty to limit their air conditioning use until Feb. 14. FE&P sent two follow-up emails during the first week of the semester with a more urgent
NEWS
request for staff and students to limit their air conditioning use in order to supply critical cooling needs on campus such as for temperature-sensitive research in labs. The reason for the project was to fix a compromised pipe which is integral to the air cooling capacity of the Central Plant, according to Richard Johnson, the director of the Administrative Center for Sustainability and Energy Management at Rice. “The pipe that connects the Central Plant to its cooling tower is in danger of
failing,” Johnson said. “If it were to fail, we would lose the entire cooling capacity of the Central Plant for an extended period — weeks, maybe even months. If that were to happen during the summer, the impact on campus would be severe.” Without sufficient cooling capacity to both preserve critical research in labs as well as cool residential colleges and administrative buildings, the FE&P team has had to decide how to allocate the limited resource across campus, according to Johnson. SEE HEAT WAVE PAGE 3
FEATURES
Vigil honors Dr. King’s legacy DesRoches races toward provostship RACHEL CARLTON SENIOR WRITER
Over sixty people gathered Sunday evening in the Rice Memorial Chapel for the annual Martin Luther King Vigil, put on by the Rice Black Male Leadership Initiative with the theme “Keeping the Dream Alive”. Incoming Provost Reginald DesRoches served as the keynote speaker for an evening that included a performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by Sid Richardson College sophomore Toluwani Taiwo, a rendition of excerpts from one of King’s speeches by McMurtry College junior David King, and a closing prayer from Baker College sophomore Patrick Aghadiuno, all followed by a reception in the Multicultural Center. Milkessa Gaga, the director of alumni relations for Black Male Leadership Initiative, said that the club had taken on the responsibility for the annual vigil. “[The vigil] wasn’t always our responsibility as a club, but since it’s fallen down to us, we always try to show out,” Gaga, a Martel College sophomore, said. “It’s something important to us, and we care about it. We want the event to go well, so we put effort into it.” During his introduction of DesRoches, President David Leebron distinguished Martin Luther King Day from other holidays as one that looks forward more than it looks backward. “[MLK Day] challenges us to recognize what has been achieved but also what has
not been achieved,” Leebron said before officially introducing DesRoches as the incoming provost. Leebron said DesRoches’ appointment as Rice’s first African American provost was a significant milestone for the university, but also sent an important message. After approaching the podium to a standing ovation, DesRoches began his speech by talking about his connection to King, who also grew up in Atlanta as an avid church member. DesRoches followed with notable historic firsts. “Standing here today as the dean of engineering at Rice, and the incoming provost, in the most diverse city in the United States, it’s hard to imagine that just 50 years ago, Rice had its first Black student graduate,” DesRoches said. DesRoches, whose parents moved from Haiti to the United States, said that he realized when he was growing up that while America was the land of opportunity, Black and Brown people were still treated differently than their White counterparts. Mathias Adamu, the vice president of BMLI, said he related to DesRoches’ life story and wanted to be like him when he grows up. “He was born in Haiti. I was born in Ethiopia. He came here. He’s a mechanical engineer. He’s already doing great things,” Adamu, a Brown College junior, said. “He killed it as a dean. He came in, had his two-year stint as a dean, and now he’s a provost.” This story has been condensed for print. Read the full story online at ricethresher.org.
ELLA FELDMAN
DesRoches first came to Rice in 2017 as dean of engineering. Before his appointment, he worked at the Georgia Closing in at a swift one hour, 50 Institute of Technology in Atlanta for minutes and 34 seconds, Reginald 19 years. Adjusting to an entirely new DesRoches set a personal record at campus and culture was a challenge the Aramco Houston Half Marathon DesRoches took on eagerly. “That was the biggest thing to on Sunday, beating last year’s time by overcome, just six minutes. Next really learning summer, DesRoches about how things will break another are done and record. On July 1, learning about the current dean the Rice culture,” of the George R. The people here are DesRoches said. Brown School of phenomenal. Extremely “They talk about Engineering will bright. The students are the culture of become the ninth bright, the faculty are caring, and I know provost to take it sounds like just a office — and the clever. We have great phrase, but it really first Black provost staff. is true. Although in Rice’s history. it’s really hard and D e s R o c h e s ’ Reginald DesRoches rigorous, people appointment comes DEAN OF ENGINEERING here work together after former Provost and want each Marie Lynn Miranda stepped down in May and the role was other to do well. And that’s something I temporarily filled by interim Provost think that’s very unique to Rice.” As dean of engineering, DesRoches Seiichi Matsuda. The provost is the university’s chief academic officer and rolled out a strategic plan for the oversees academic, student and faculty school that included efforts to get more engineering students abroad, programs affairs, according to DesRoches. “Being a provost — similar to being a intended to foster a more diverse and dean except you’re doing it more broadly inclusive environment and plans to hire — it’s about helping people to achieve more faculty. “We’ve hired some exceptional their goals. And I really enjoy doing that,” DesRoches said. “I’m looking people, which I’m really proud of,” forward to the opportunity to do that at DesRoches said. a grander scale.” SEE PROVOST PAGE 6 FEATURES EDITOR