The Rice Thresher | Wednesday, March 4, 2020

VOLUME 104, ISSUE NO. 20 | STUDENT-RUN SINCE 1916 | RICETHRESHER.ORG | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2020

How did Inferno Gallery lose its flame?

ELLA FELDMAN FEATURES EDITOR

First, it was an office. Then it transformed into Matchbox Gallery, a 1,600-squarefoot gallery nestled into the Sewall Hall courtyard. The space was the only studentrun art gallery at Rice, overseen by the visual and dramatic arts department. In 2018, after a decade that saw numerous exhibitions, renovations and leadership changes, Matchbox rebranded as Inferno. During the 2018 - 2019 school year, Inferno hosted six exhibitions and evening gallery openings that featured music, wine and a delectable array of snacks from Trader Joe’s.

Then, the fire quietly went out. This academic year, for the first time since its inception in 2009, Inferno Gallery has been on a non-construction-related hiatus, with no student gallery director to chart its course.

According to Rachel Boyle, an administrator in the VADA department, the

department initially had conversations about putting Inferno on hold in May 2019, when they thought Sewall Hall might undergo construction to make space for VADA faculty displaced by the destruction of the Rice Media Center. Despite learning in fall 2019 that the Media Center demolition is slated for the end of 2020 and the gallery space would be available for at least another year, they decided to move forward with temporarily closing Inferno in order to rethink the gallery’s organization and mission. Boyle said the department plans to appoint a new student gallery director in time for the 2020 2021 academic year.

Christopher Sperandio, associate professor of painting and drawing and founder of Inferno, said that getting Inferno back up on its feet is a top priority for VADA. “I think it’s a shame that the gallery wasn’t up and running this year, but we all had a lot on our plates,” he said. “We want to get it going again … it’s always been really important to the department.”

THROUGH THE CRACKS Sperandio turned his office into Matchbox Gallery and Art Space in 2009 to rectify Rice’s lack of a student-run art space. He said the decision to rethink Inferno was the result of many factors.

“We had a lot on our plates and it fell through the cracks,” Sperandio said.

Although Sperandio said he noticed a lot of student support for Matchbox in its early years, he said that recently, student enthusiasm and attendance has dwindled.

“Without a lot of student energy, things like this just can’t exist. The students are driving Matchbox, so they need to drive,” Sperandio said.

Last fall, Sperandio was awarded teaching release by the Humanities Research Center and took the semester off to spend time in Leipzig, Germany and prepare two books for print release. He places some of the fault for the VADA department’s inability to get Inferno Gallery up and running this year on his absence at the start of the school year.

SEE INFERNO PAGE 8

illustration by tina liu

Rice bans travel abroad SA advocates for COVID-19 RACHEL CARLTON SENIOR WRITER

The Rice Crisis Management Team announced on Tuesday morning that all university-sponsored international spring break travel and any other official international travel would be suspended due to the concern over COVID-19, colloquially known as coronavirus.

“We wanted to have a general policy that said … our most important thing is the safety of our students,” Kevin Kirby, vice president for administration, said. “So it was an easy decision to say no international travel.”

Domestic spring break trips — including Alternative Spring Breaks — as well as domestic and international summer programs are not currently subject to the suspension, according to Caroline Quenemoen, associate dean of undergraduates and director of inquiry-based learning.

Kirby said that the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hasn’t yet provided guidance regarding domestic travel.

“If we ever got to that point [of highly restricted domestic travel], our country’s in trouble,” Kirby said. “We’re not contemplating that at all for anything. We expect normal operations until something gets dramatically worse.”

Quenemoen said in an email to Center for Civic Leadership-affiliated students that international travel through the CCL for the upcoming summer will proceed as planned, barring any further expansion to the university’s travel ban.

Longer-term plans for summer and next

fall are in the works, but Kirby said that the administration has been focusing on the current semester.

“We’re making plans for a whole bunch of eventualities,” Kirby said. “What happens if around graduation … it seems unwise to have a mass gathering? Or even now, we know people from China or Italy won’t be able to come and see … their child graduate. Could we do it virtually?”

According to Beata Loch, director of the study abroad office, the suspension of international travel does not affect students who are currently overseas.

“For now, the most prudent decision is to advise students to stay on their programs, where they can be best supported as needed,” Loch said. “We have received assurances from all of our overseas partners regarding health notices shared with their student population, the implementation of precautionary measures and close monitoring of the local situations.”

Some students have seen changes in their international plans. Jennifer Fu, a Duncan College senior, said that Fulbright China suspended her program based out of Wuhan University indefinitely.

“There was a monthlong window in February when I didn’t know if the program would get completely canceled for 2020-21,” Fu said. “[It] was really stressful because I began the application process in July 2019 and have gone through several hurdles to get to the semifinalist stage. It’s a strain on time for something that might not even happen.”

And Lorraine Singleton, a Jones College SEE TRAVEL PAGE 3

accomodations for students ANNA TA MANAGING EDITOR

The Student Association introduced a new resolution recommending that Rice implement student accommodation policies in the case of an outbreak of COVID-19 cases, colloquially known as coronavirus, at Monday’s SA Senate meeting. Resolution #15 also calls for Rice to “strengthen its public health efforts in response to the concerns surrounding coronavirus.”

Will Mundy, current SA external vice president, added the resolution to the agenda late Monday night in response to the events over the weekend, which included a report that a Rice staff member was quarantined and others were asked to self-isolate.

“I think Rice should start to think about how we should respond to [a potential outbreak] now rather than later,” Mundy said. “[The accommodations would allow] students who need to be quarantined to still engage in the classroom without sacrificing their academics for their safety. It does seem like the administration is willing to listen to what we need for accommodations and that what we propose will be taken into account when they’re making their final plan.”

According to SA President Grace Wickerson, they were invited to be a part of the Crisis Management Team’s contingency planning group, which is charged with planning for a potential outbreak of

coronavirus on campus.

The resolution explicitly points to the University of Virginia’s responses to the global outbreak. A Feb. 6 memo from UVA directs faculty to provide services to selfisolating students returning from abroad, including providing class notes and leniency on attendance and late policy.

The SA’s recommendations for accommodating affected students follow UVA’s model, including implementing live streaming service in classrooms for students unable to come to class due to quarantine, relaxing attendance and late assignment policies and increasing mental health services for those directly or indirectly affected by the coronavirus epidemic.

According to Wickerson, the resolution could pass as early as next week as long as there are no requested edits. “[Passing this resolution next week] might be a necessary action as the contingency planning is happening over the next couple weeks and we want to make sure that this [resolution] is a part of that plan,” Wickerson wrote in an email.

Mundy said any feedback on the resolution can go through college SA senators or directly to him. The resolution was not originally on the SA Senate agenda, but the document was disseminated through the SA Listserv and will be available online at the SA website in the Senate presentation, according to Wickerson.

THE RICE THRESHER

2 • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2020

NEWS

96% of employee donations went to Democrats for 2020 SERENE LEE THESHER STAFF Rice faculty and administrators have donated $791,014 to various political campaigns and organizations since the 2012 election cycle, with the majority of donations going to Democratic candidates, according to a review of the Federal Election Commission Records.

The sum was comprised of more than 6,000 individual donations made by 330 different members of faculty in the past eight years. Top recipients of these donations include TX-07 Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher and presidential candidate and senator Elizabeth Warren.

In the current election cycle, 96 percent of all contributions have gone to Democratic campaigns, with 4 percent going to the Republican Party. The 2012 election cycle saw the highest percentage of donations to the Republican Party, with 29 percent, during the eight-year period between 2012 and 2020.

Nathan Cook DIRECTOR OF GOV. RELATIONS This heavy skew toward the Democratic Party is representative of the political alignment of Harris County, which is becoming increasingly Democratic in recent years, according to research by the Rice Kinder Institute. For example, in the 2018 Senate election, candidate Beto O’Rourke received 700,200 votes from Harris County, beating Ted Cruz by more than 200,000 votes, according to the New York Times.

Rice Director of Government Relations Nathan Cook said he was glad to see Rice faculty and students get involved in politics at Rice.

“The great thing about our community is that we remain a welcoming place where everyone — regardless of political affiliation

Democrats Republicans

Congressional Contributions in 2020

Contribution Totals

Total Donations to Democrats and Republicans Since 2008: TopIndividual IndividualRecipients Recipients in Top in 2020: 2020:

Lizzie Fletcher......................................... $22,700

Amount of Contribution

The great thing about our community is that we remain a welcoming place where everyone ... can visit and engage in civic discourse.

2020 Presidential Candidates

Top Five Highest Democratic Presidential Candidate Recipients in 2020

House: Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX)...............$22,700 Elizabeth Warren..................................... $14,627 Senate: Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).........$14,627 Beto O’Rourke...........................................$8,070 President: Beto O’Rourke (D)................$8,070 Shannon Hutcheson................................... $7,100 House: Shannon Hutcheson (D-TX)........$7,100 Mark Kelly................................................. $6,765 Senate: Mark Kelly (D-AZ).....................$6,765 Colin Allred............................................... $6,550 House: Sri Kulkarni (D-TX).....................$5,920 Sri Kulkarni............................................... $5,920 Senate: Sara Gideon (D-ME)..................$5,600 Sara Gideon.............................................. $5,600 Lindsey Graham........................................ $5,600 Senate: Lindsey Graham (R-SC).............$5,600

Democrats

Republicans

or ideology — can visit and engage in civic discourse and not be subjected to threats, obscenities, harassment or disruption,” Cook said.

Anne Chao, adjunct lecturer in Humanities, was one of the top donors during this eight-year period, donating more than $140,000 to various political organizations and campaigns. Her top donation of $25,000 went toward Hillary Clinton’s Victory Fund in 2016. Chao said she found it valuable to support candidates she felt strongly about, and was determined to help candidates like Clinton win the election.

Maddy Scannell, president of the Rice Young Democrats, said she would like to see more faculty involvement.

Year of Contributions

“I think being in a liberal environment isn’t just ‘we vote for Democrats,’” Scannell, a junior from Martel College, said. “It’s also a question of how we want society to work for us, and what ideas we want represented in our education and society.”

Representatives from Rice Republicans said that the large Democratic population at Rice is nothing to be surprised about.

Morgan Bates, a sophomore from Wiess College, mentioned that although this majority leaning comes at no surprise to her, she feels heavy criticism for being part of the Republican Party.

“It’s no secret that conservative students on campus are heavily stigmatized,” said Bates. “The most important element

infographic by Dan Helmeci

of political engagement on campus is bipartisan communication and unfortunately, that may just be Rice’s weakest link in our student body.”

Thomas Keller, interim chairman of Rice Republicans, also noted he doesn’t see the importance of his professors’ political alignment.

“As long as the professors do their jobs well, I couldn’t care less who they donate to in their own time,” Keller Said. “The majority of my professors do a good job of keeping irrelevant and disruptive political nonsequiturs outside of the classroom. However, classes are not completely free of these annoying distractions, and whenever they do occur, they are always liberal in bent.”

RUPD urges calm after coyote sightings on campus BRIAN LIN SENIOR WRITER The first on-campus coyote sighting in two decades prompted Rice University Police Department to issue a warning, according to Chief of Police Clemente Rodriguez.

In a campuswide email, RUPD urged students and staff to avoid approaching, feeding or running away from an coyote.

Rodriguez, said that the growing presence of urban coyotes around the campus and in Houston poses minimal harm to Rice, and that the coyotes are becoming a natural part of the city ecosystem.

“I want to be sure everyone understands at this time the coyotes on campus have posed no threat to our community and we simply want people to be aware of their presence so we can respect them and coexist with them for as long as they are on campus,” Rodriguez said.

Neither Harris County Animal Control nor RUPD will catch wildlife coyotes, Rodriguez said. Trapping or killing coyotes is ineffective in reducing the coyote population of an area, as such measures upset the hierarchical balance of coyote packs and cause an increase in their rate of reproduction.

“This is where their home is and we

ILLUSTRATION BY Yifei Zhang

need to learn to respect them and live with them without too much worry of cause for concern,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t think anybody should have any worries about the coyotes, no more than you think about other wildlife on campus.”

An RUPD officer reported seeing two coyotes on campus on Friday, but the department is uncertain of the total number of coyotes in the area, Rodriguez said. RUPD did not receive any further reports of coyotes on campus over the weekend.

The coyotes, which have been spotted near Kraft Hall for Social Sciences, North

Annex Lot, north colleges area and Sewall Hall, likely followed the Buffalo Bayou into the heart of Houston, Rodriguez said.

A coyote can be seen sprinting across the north colleges area near McMurtry College in video captured by McMurtry sophomore Alyson Resnick.

“Coyotes tend to follow water paths like rivers and creeks and bayous as they move around, so It’s possible that they were just naturally moving along the [Buffalo] bayou and made it onto campus,” Rodriguez said.

“To get to campus, they had to have navigated through some part of the city.”

Rodriguez said that this is the first instance in his 18 years of service at RUPD that coyotes have been spotted on campus, but said there have been recently been reports of coyote sightings in other areas of Houston. The rising presence of urban coyotes in Houston may be attributed to the expansion of housing developments into the city’s outer-lying areas and the displacement of coyotes from their natural habitat.

“I do know there have been several neighborhoods around the city of Houston that have also seen coyotes in the area,” Rodriguez said. “It could be related to natural habitats being diminished due to construction and growth.”

In most instances, coyotes are apprehensive of people and will shy away from crowds, Rodriguez said. Those who are jogging or walking with a pet during sunset or sunrise have a higher likelihood of encountering a coyote, Rodriguez said. If someone encounters a coyote they should not feed the coyote or run away from it, Rodriguez said.

“You don’t want to run away or anything like that, but just try to let them move along,” Rodriguez said. “If they’re not moving along, just kind of shoo them [away] and usually they’re gonna want to avoid you.”

NEWS

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2020 • 3

Panel discusses xenophobia sparked by coronavirus CHRISTINA TAN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF After six Rice Alert emails about the novel coronavirus COVID-19 and rising fear about the spread of the disease, student clubs on campus organized to address another aspect of COVID-19: xenophobia toward Asians and Asian Americans. Last Thursday, faculty members and students gathered to listen to panelists speak about the topic and offer potential solutions.

The event, co-hosted by the Asian Pacific American Student Alliance and the Chinese Student Association, featured four panelists associated with Rice and the University of Houston. Alina Zhu, an undergraduate from Shanghai, China, spoke about xenophobic incidents she witnessed on campus that she had previously mentioned in a Thresher op-ed, such as a professor asking a Chinese student to stop coming to class.

“I think a lot of us can be put in uncomfortable situations,” Zhu, a Will Rice College sophomore, said. “I don't know how many times, if I cough, I hear someone say, 'Hope you don't have the coronavirus.'

Recognizing that even at an institution like this ... discrimination against Chinese students is still too common.”

Panelists compared the xenophobic reactions to COVID-19 to previous racist incidents, such as the Angel Island

christina tan / THRESHER

Immigration Station and the Chinese Exclusion Act. “Everyone from this whole section of the globe was kept out because of the stereotypes and sentiments — that these people are different from us, and therefore they bring disease or they eat dogs,” Stephen Chao (Will Rice '02), a family physician, said.

English professor Alden Marte-Wood said that rhetoric around closing borders and restricting travel reflects the racism towards Asians and Asian Americans seen throughout history.

“What's fascinating is ... the subtle ways in which these kinds of rhetoric from the past get transformed and reemerge in relatively innocuous ways, ways you might not necessarily associated with outright xenophobia [or] blatant racism,” Marte-Wood

said. “We're hearing the kind of rhetoric — that what needs to happen is insularity — exclusion to keep everything out.”

Marte-Wood also said that fear around COVID-19 can be traced back to general anxiety in America in the 21st century.

“Think about the slippage between the terms fear and anxiety ... when you read something — public policy, the newspaper, a YouTube clip, a meme ... symptoms [of anxiety] are emerging,” Marte-Wood said. “So if you think about the fear around COVID-19 [and] relate it to anxiety, it's also an expression, a manifestation, a symptom of certain kinds of 21st century American … anxiety.”

Panelists agreed that American education has not done enough to inform Americans about the discrimination historically faced

Coronavirus Updates Timeline: Jan. 29

Rice announces a travel ban for any sponsored travel to China

Feb. 28

Feb. 29

March 1

March 3

Rice Rice clarifies Rice cancelled Rice suspends announces the situation sponsored university possible about staff international travel to Coronavirus member with travel over countries exposure possible spring break that the CDC by a staff Coronavirus and suspended placed at risk exposure all other foreign levels at 2 or 3 member travel infographic by Dan Helmeci

FROM PAGE 1

TRAVEL

junior, said that the possibility of her going to Italy this fall is shrinking.

“The whole situation is very stressful, as I have planned to study abroad since freshman year,” Singleton said. “I am unsure of how to fill some major requirements because I could only get some classes abroad. Right now, I’m just trying to have a lot of backup plans.”

The message on Tuesday followed three prior alerts from Feb. 28, Feb. 29, and March 1, respectively, updating the Rice community about travel ban changes as well as a suspected coronavirus case of a Rice staff member.

On March 1, the Crisis Management Advisory Committee clarified that the individual had contact with a possible positive case of the coronavirus, but that the individual’s contact with the Rice campus was limited. The individual in question had contact with 17 people, who have been recommended to self-quarantine. The test results regarding the individual’s health status will return later this week, according to the latest alert.

Some non-undergraduate students have taken issue with communications from the university. Maryam Elizondo (Brown College '19), a full-time research scientist, said that the alerts regarding the Rice employee’s self-quarantine were not inclusive of graduate students. “[Crisis Management] said that the person who may be affected did not come

into contact with the undergraduate students or go into any residential college,” Elizondo said. “They said this with the intention that the student body was not affected, but the student body also includes about 3,000 graduate students. They also didn’t disclose where this person did have contact, which may include the [Biosciences Research Collaborative] or lab spaces which the [graduate] students frequent.”

Elizondo said that the university statement didn’t acknowledge that the graduate student population was at risk.

“It’s like being concerned about something and believing that your employer doesn’t care about it at all,” Elizondo said.

“I think that even though it’s important to protect the identity of the person involved, I also think that they shouldn’t just brush the feelings of graduate students under the rug.”

Undergraduate student Tomás Jonsson said that he thought the administration has done a pretty good job at updating students, but that the alerts have left out some information.

“When news first broke of the possible case, I was concerned that the [administration hadn't provided [information] on which residential colleges or buildings were affected,” Jonsson, a Will Rice sophomore, said. “After the most recent message, those concerns were mostly assuaged, [but] it might be beneficial for Rice students to know what that country was in case they have friends or family there, or if they are thinking of studying abroad.”

by Asian Americans. Panelist An Nguyen, an Asian studies professor at the University of Houston, emphasized the need for shifts in higher education, in particular in hiring tenure-track faculty in Asian studies.

“When I got this gig at the University of Houston, I was so happy,” Nguyen said.

“48,000 students — 17 percent of a student body of Asian descent. [But] the Center of Asian American Studies over there has existed for 26 years ... and they have never, ever hired a full-time faculty [trained] in Asian American studies or ethnic studies.”

While the Thresher cannot confirm the full history of hiring at the UH, there are currently no full-time tenured professors at the center and the center only offers a minor in Asian Studies.

After over an hour of conversation, audience members were asked to make comments or raise further concerns.

Peter Wang, the vice president of APASA, said that he began to plan the event with co-president Jiayi Sun after seeing a viral post about the virus from University of California, Berkeley. The post in question lists “xenophobia” as a “common” and “normal” reaction to disease outbreak.

“The overall discourse about the coronavirus, jokes and comments made toward Asians and Asian Americans inspired us to host an event,” Wang, a Sid Richardson College junior, said.

NEWS IN BRIEF

Water main break affects Rice campus

Faculty senates removes 60-hour rule

RYND MORGAN ASST NEWS EDITOR

SAVANNAH KUCHAR & RYND MORGAN ASST NEWS EDITORS

Following the burst of a major water pipe in east Houston, some locations on campus and some students off campus lost access to clean tap water for 24 hours.

In addition, classes were cancelled on Thursday after 5 p.m., and several offcampus students were impacted by a boil water notice to Houston residents.

The city of Houston sent out a notice warning people to boil water due to concerns about contamination.

According to Rice Crisis Management, the filters on campus were still working and the water in certain campus buildings, such as residential colleges, was still safe to drink.

Associate Vice President for Facilities Engineering and Planning Kathy Jones said that the residential colleges and the Rice Memorial Center had clean water during the water main break and boil water notice because they are serviced by a water well on campus. All of the buildings west of Alumni Drive, except Kraft Hall, and a few buildings east of Alumni Drive are only served by City of Houston water lines, according to Jones.

Kelly Dong, an off-campus student, said that the boil water notice sent by Rice could have done a better job of explaining the implications of the water main break for students.

“The texts that we received mentioned the water boil notice in passing but didn't give any real detailed instructions. I know a lot of OC people who skimmed over it and either didn't understand what a water boil is or simply ignored the text and continued to drink the water in their homes,” Dong, a Will Rice College junior, said.

The Faculty Senate voted to remove the requirement that undergraduate students complete 60 credit hours outside of their major coursework, at their Feb. 19 meeting.

The Committee on Undergraduate Curriculum presented this recommendation to the Faculty Senate for discussion in January. Their two other proposals, one to create a working group to study what a broad liberal education means for students at Rice and another to require CUC approval for any major department’s attempts to raise their required number of credit hours, were also approved at the Feb. 19 meeting.

The previous 60-hour rule affected some Natural Science students and a few Engineering students, driving the degree requirements for those students beyond the 120 hours normally required, according to David Caprette, co-chair of CUC and neuroscience professor. According to General Announcements, the previous exceptions to the 60-hour rule were students pursuing Bachelors of Science in Engineering, Bachelors of Music and Bachelors of Arts in Architecture, who were required to complete only 45 credit hours outside of their major.

At the January Faculty Senate meeting, Senator Dave Messmer said he thinks the working group should complete their research on broad liberal education before the 60-hour rule is removed. According to the minutes from this meeting, Caprette responded to this concern by saying that the rule should be removed immediately because of its negative impact.

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THE RICE THRESHER

4 • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2020

OPINION STAFF EDITORIAL

read more online:

Clubs need sustainable funding Basmati Beats, one of the a cappella groups on campus, recently won first place at a national competition, an already impressive feat made only more difficult by the lack of funding received from the university (see p.5). They’re not alone: Most clubs are not consistently funded by the university on a yearly basis except for some club sports and blanket tax organizations, which include the Student Association, the Thresher, Rice Program Council and eight other organizations.

We as a blanket tax organization appreciate the funding we receive — without the security of guaranteed funding, it would be difficult for us to grow as an organization and provide quality content to the campus from year to year. However, because blanket tax funds come from mandatory fees that every student pays, in order to become a blanket tax organization, clubs must be voted on by the whole campus and ostensibly must serve a large portion of the student body. The high standards set for blanket tax organizations means that the last time a blanket tax organization was formed was likely over 30 years ago, when the Rice Student Volunteer Program was created.

In the meantime, smaller clubs like Basmati Beats often have to raise funds by themselves, either by charging members yearly, fundraising through ticket or food sales or seeking funding elsewhere. But these clubs are making incredible strides as well: winning awards and competitive

titles for a university that won’t take the time to recognize or compensate them for their success, at least not outside of Twitter or university marketing. Rice’s Student Center website sets the expectation that clubs are solely responsible for coming up with creative ways to fundraise, suggesting nominal fees for students’ group membership as a potential means of raising additional funds.

While we agree that fundraising can be a vital factor in a club’s success, the time and workload required to find money for travel and housing should not take away from the already numerous creative endeavors that are undertaken to further the substantive value of the club. Furthermore, the prospect of placing yet another financial barrier in front of students trying to pursue passion projects outside the classroom is a glaring backpedal from the university’s recent strides toward financial inclusivity. Additionally, offering grants to student organizations in an attempt to cover these kinds of financial costs isn’t helpful when the grants are either strictly capped or only offered for hyper-specific costs and exclude funds for travel for competition.

Given Rice’s willingness to capitalize on students’ talent and creativity, it seems only natural that Rice also help fund opportunities for students and student organizations so they’re able to showcase what Rice has to offer beyond the hedges. With sustainable funding, clubs with serious potential can continue to thrive unencumbered by financial strain.

Why I don’t want to be a Republican “The reason that I’m a Republican is not that I don’t care about people, but because I believe in people’s ability to succeed on their own.”

NOAH FONS

JONES COLLEGE FRESHMAN

Russia tampers with American democracy: the sequel “The president is setting the stage for Russia to make a killing on their sequel to disrupt democracy. In an attempt to obfuscate how he has benefited from their assistance, Trump is abandoning his responsibilities in favor of becoming Russia’s useful idiot.”

FREDERICK DRUMMOND

DUNCAN COLLEGE JUNIOR

Do-err or Don’t-err?

“Leadership, the nebulous and ever-changing buzzword that it is, gets thrown around so frequently these days that it means practically nothing—so what does this institute actually do?”

RACHEL LISKER

MARTEL COLLEGE SENIOR

want to submit a letter to the editor or an opinion? email us at thresher@rice.edu with a draft by Sunday night.

OPINION

It’s time for Rice Management Company to get serious about a CBA On Monday, Feb. 17, the Student Association passed Resolution #8, calling on the Rice Management Company to make the Houston Coalition for Equitable Development without Displacement an equal decision-maker in the negotiation of a Community Benefits Agreement for the South Main Innovation District. The resolution also urges Rice Management Company to publicly release updates and information on their progress with developing and signing the CBA. In the two weeks since the Resolution was passed, Rice Management Company has been silent.

The last public contact Rice Management Company had with the student body was Monday, Jan. 27 when the SA hosted an Innovation District community impacts dialogue, which included a presentation by Rice Management Company representatives Allison Thacker and Ryan LeVasseur.

Thacker and LeVasseur argued that working with a community group would make it difficult for them to do their job. They tried to portray HCEDD as a random group of agitators with baseless demands that could not represent the communities adjacent to the Innovation District. They explained their stance condescendingly, with the aid of childish clip art that cast HCEDD as one person in a line of people asking

Rice Management Company for favors. In actuality, HCEDD is a broad-based coalition of at least 28 organizations with strong credibility for community-driven work.

I have attended HCEDD’s public community meetings since the fall because I believe in the democratic and inclusive community organizing HCEDD is doing. They hold meetings after working hours in Wesley AME Church, a familiar space in the Third Ward community, and stream meetings live on Facebook. Every week, they welcome new members from across Houston and spend time catching them up. Decisions are made with consensus, and people speak their mind. Members bring in years of personal experience with development and systemic injustice in Third Ward, as well as expertise in urban planning and development. At meetings, local politicians, professors in urban planning, affordable housing developers and neighborhood residents all converse and ideate together. The coalition’s working groups are creating realistic, wellresearched goals for development that meet the needs of people across Houston. Last week, the coalition democratically elected a negotiating team composed of experienced community leaders. In the next few weeks, they will continue finalizing a detailed list of community priorities for the Innovation District in collaboration with a team of

lawyers. HCEDD is building on years of hard work by residents, community-based researchers and the City of Houston, not to mention generations of resilient community building, to do more meaningful community engagement than Rice Management Company could hope to do alone. HCEDD is the community, and they are serious about coming to the table to negotiate a CBA. But that night, Thacker and LeVasseur refused to even say the name HCEDD. It felt like they were trying to make our new neighbors in Third Ward — and their tireless work to protect and revitalize their community — into a joke. Rice Management Company’s current plan will cut HCEDD out of the picture — they proposed to negotiate a CBA exclusively with the City of Houston.

Mayor Sylvester Turner has appointed the city’s chief development officer, Andy Icken, who has a track record of neglecting community interests, to oversee the process.

Rice Management Company is conveniently forgetting that a development agreement that does not include a community coalition is, by definition, not a true Community Benefits Agreement.

In response, many students like me have attended SA meetings and asked our college senators and presidents to support Senate Resolution #8. The Student Association, representing the Rice student body, has

made clear that we affirm HCEDD as rightful negotiators and signatories of a CBA. Students have done what they are “supposed to do” to express their will on campus, yet there remains a deep divide between the course of action that Rice students support and the one that, as far as we know, Rice Management Company still plans to take.

That’s why the past two weeks of silence from President David Leebron and Rice Management Company have been deafening.

It’s time for Rice Management Company to alter its course of action to align with the student body’s position. HCEDD and the student body have given Rice Management Company everything it needs to be what it claims to be — a good neighbor. If Rice Management Company doesn’t take this opportunity, Rice will leave a legacy of destroying communities in our name.

ALEC TOBIN MARTEL COLLEGE SENIOR

STAFF Christina Tan* Editor-in-Chief Anna Ta* Managing Editor

OPINIONS Elizabeth Hergert* Editor

NEWS Rishab Ramapriyan* Editor Amy Qin* Editor Rynd Morgan Asst. Editor Savannah Kuchar Asst. Editor

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Katelyn Landry* Editor

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THE RICE THRESHER

5 • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2020

FEATURES Basmati Beats overcomes challenges to win first place at national competition GRACE WEI THRESHER STAFF

Basmati Beats’s journey to the top hasn’t been easy — along the way, they’ve struggled to find resources on campus similar to those available to groups at other universities. But on Feb. 22, the group worked past these challenges to win the first place prize at Gathe Raho, the University of Iowa’s national South Asian a cappella competition.

In the two weeks leading up to the competition, they practiced for three hours each day in the two weeks leading up to the competition, according to team captain Jiya Ghei.

“Our practices are frequent and grueling, so when the moment comes, we’re beyond excited to perform and leave it all on the stage,” Ghei, a Wiess College sophomore, said.

All their time and effort ultimately paid off in their win among five other groups.

“Winning was obviously the highlight of this competition and I think almost all of us cried on the stage when it was announced. It was like a dream,” Ghei said. “We also were asked to perform at the airport by the Southwest [Airlines] employees, because they saw our trophy, which was so fun.”

Laura Fagbemi won the best soloist award for a non-South Asian song for her performance of “Stone Cold” by Demi Lovato and “Havana” by Camila Cabello.

Fagbemi had previously won the best soloist award at Jeena, another South Asian a cappella competition that took place last November in Austin.

“It truly felt amazing to win the solo award because there was another nonSouth Asian soloist who we all thought was really incredible … so [winning] really validated the amount of soul and emotion that I worked to put into my solos,” Fagbemi, a Hanszen College sophomore, said.

Although Basmati Beats won two major awards at the competition, Fagbemi said that the highlight of the trip was spending time with the group afterward.

“After the competition, we all went to [a team member’s] house, where we were staying for the night, and we just celebrated and hung out until nearly 5 a.m.,” Fagbemi said. “I think that was my favorite part of the whole Gathe Raho experience.”

The group includes members from all

channing wang / THRESHER

Basmati Beats performs at Dhamaka on Nov. 23, 2019. Last month, the South Asian a cappella group took home a number of prizes at a national competition despite funding issues.

backgrounds, including Akash Majumdar, a Masters of Business Administration student. Majumdar, who revived the a cappella group Vandy Taal at his undergraduate university, Vanderbilt, said that he found Basmati Beats on Facebook, listened to their Spotify and reached out about joining.

“I’m in the business school, so the typical age of my classmates isn’t around what mine is. I turn 23 in September,” Majumdar, the music director of Basmati Beats, said. “I found a similarly aged community in Basmati Beats and made a lot of really good friends in the team.”

As music director, Majumdar is responsible for picking and mixing the songs that the group will perform.

Majumdar said that the process is democratic and said that this year the group has emphasized singing songs in Tamil and Bengali in addition to more commonly used Hindi songs.

“We typically start with the one song that we’re all really excited with [and] then find a South Asian song that matches the tempo, matches the theme,” Majumdar said. “And [then we’ll] see if there’s a cogent way to make them work together.”

Many members, like Majumdar — who has been on the team since 2018 — stay for multiple years. Bharathi Selvan (Hanszen ’19), who joined in 2016, said that the team has improved significantly over the past three years.

“I was on the team when we first competed. I would’ve never thought that in three years, we would be a team that not only placed, but also won a competition,” Selvan said. “I also feel that Basmati Beats has grown to be a team that is taken seriously at these competitions and by other more established teams … We can no longer say we’re the underdog, and that is something I wouldn’t have expected if you asked me freshman year.”

However, team members say that their rise to the top has been filled with obstacles, in particular the small amount of resources available to them in comparison to the teams they compete against.

While groups at other universities have rehearsal facilities with instruments and sound equipment, Basmati Beats has to reserve spaces at the Gibbs Recreation and Wellness Center or public spaces at residential colleges, according to Ghei.

According to Fagbemi, these difficulties have put Basmati Beats at a disadvantage for competitions.

“While the other [teams] at the Gathe Raho competition were able to consistently rehearse at their campuses with the necessary equipment and facilities, we had our first run-through with the piano at the competition,” Fagbemi said.

Additionally, Basmati Beats has to fundraise for the majority of their expenses, according to Ghei. Ghei said

that the lack of consistent funding for travel and competitions available for clubs makes it harder for Basmati Beats to attend national competitions and bring recognition to Rice’s arts and music.

Selvan also said administrative support would help give Rice more name recognition.

“We’re a team from a school of [around] 4,000 undergraduates competing against other huge state schools like [The Pennsylvania State University] and [University of California,] Berkeley,” Selvan said. “Many students at the competition we won either didn’t know where Rice was or hadn’t heard about Rice.

Given that our success inevitably elevates Rice’s name in the musical sphere, I wish the Rice administration would support Basmati Beats more.”

Fagbemi said she feels that the success of Basmati Beats merits more support and recognition from the university.

“This year alone, we’ve won five awards, but [President David] Leebron didn’t even know we existed. [After Acapellooza this year,] he tweeted, ‘Who knew we have four (maybe five) a cappella groups on campus?’ and a member of our team had to tweet back that, yes, we exist, and we are an award-winning team.”

Selvan, the member who responded to Leebron, said that Basmati Beats’ success contributes to Rice’s image but the group feels unsupported by Rice.

“I don’t blame Leebron for forgetting about us — I’m sure it was unclear at Acappellooza how many teams there are at Rice,” Selvan said. “While I wish he had responded to my tweet or given a shoutout to Basmati Beats and our win on Twitter, the lack of response points to a larger issue of teams that aren’t club sports not getting funding and the arts at Rice in general not being valued or funded.”

Despite these obstacles, Ghei said that Basmati Beats is looking ahead to their next project: working on putting out an EP on Spotify. This EP will be their third, following 2017’s Prakasa and 2019’s Sakti.

In addition, they will perform at a concert in April. With all these events, Ghei said that it can get stressful and hectic.

“At the end of the day, however, all of the stress goes away when you’re singing with the people you love and acknowledging you’ve come so far with all your hard work,” Ghei said.

Editor-in-Chief Christina Tan contributed to this story.

Hidden treasure: Rice Escape room brings adventure to campus ELLA FELDMAN & IVANKA PEREZ FEATURES EDITORS

Imagine this. After hearing rumors of a treasure hidden somewhere on campus

by William Marsh Rice, you and your friends decide to venture down into the storied steam tunnels to search for it.

While you’re down there, you realize that the place is booby trapped. You and your friends have one hour to unlock a series of puzzles to find the treasure without setting off any traps.

That was the plot of the latest project from Rice Escape, a student-run club that designs and engineers escape rooms — a type of adventure game where a group solves a series of puzzles in an attempt to “escape” a room — on campus.

The Rice Escape team was kind enough to open up a coveted escape room time slot just for the Thresher. On the morning of Feb. 21, our managing editor, Anna Ta, and our photo editor, Channing Wang, joined us features editors in a puzzle-solving journey that would test

our patience, creativity, intelligence and teamwork skills. “Easy,” we thought to ourselves. “We solve problems all the time at the Thresher. This will be a breeze!”

We were terribly, terribly wrong.

In the hour and a half that followed, we fumbled around the dimly-lit room tucked into the lower level of the Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen, hunting for clues that would help us solve a series of puzzles. We deciphered a verbal code in a tape recording, found a secret language using a blacklight flashlight, used an electronic tuner to decipher the notes that emitted when we banged on open pipes with a ping-pong paddle and vigorously played a computer game that looked like it was from the ’90s.

On three occasions, we requested a hint from Samuel Cheng and Myra Ramdenbourg, the co-founders of Rice Escape, who were watching us struggle via video camera. By the time our allotted hour was up, we were still quite a few puzzles away from completing the room.

We got a couple steps closer in the 30

channing wang / THRESHER

Samuel Cheng and Myra Ramdenbourg, the founders of Rice Escape, stand in their latest escape room. The adventure game was open earlier this semester for groups of students.

extra minutes Cheng and Ramdenbourg granted us, but we did not escape. Yikes!

We’ll stick to solving crosswords.

At least we weren’t alone. The escape

room was open in the OEDK from Jan. 22 to Feb. 22 to groups of students with a suggested donation of five dollars.

SEE ESCAPE PAGE 6

FEATURES

6 • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2020 ESCAPE FROM PAGE 5 Groups of three to eight students could sign up through a link shared on Facebook, which was fully booked within hours after it went live. Around 50 percent of students who attempted the escape room were unsuccessful, according to Cheng and Ramdenbourg. And regardless, successes and failures are entertaining for them to watch.

“I feel like some people might think that the game master — the game masters are the people that run the room — is a boring role, but it’s actually super fun,” Cheng, a Hanszen College senior, told us when we sat down with them after our time was up. “It’s like running a reality show.”

Cheng grew up watching Japanese escape room shows, but didn’t discover his passion for escape rooms until he met Ramdenbourg, who became obsessed when she did her first one in high school.

“After that one time, I kind of fell in love,” Ramdenbourg, a Will Rice College junior, said. “I started making escape rooms at my last internship. I made an escape room for the whole company. I just, I’m obsessed.

And after I graduate, I also want to [make] an escape room.”

Ramdenbourg, who says she’s done about 40 to 50 escape rooms by now, has a website where she ranks the escape rooms

she’s done based on multiple factors.

“I really like solving puzzles,” Ramdenbourg said. “And so when I rank escape rooms, I think about the storyline and then the set design and the puzzles. I feel like all of those make up a really good escape room.”

Ramdenbourg was so passionate about escape rooms that she submitted a proposal to Rice Ventures, a student-run startup accelerator that aims to give students’ entrepreneurial ventures a platform, asking to start an on-campus escape room. The proposal was declined, but Cheng, who was a member of Rice Ventures, reached out and expressed his interest in helping her start an on-campus escape room.

For their first gig, the two partnered with the Center for Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences, a graduate school program. They only had a $200 budget to create their first escape room in the Solar Studios, the storage containers outside Hanszen, yet both said they loved the experience.

“They had a moldy room and they were like, ‘Use this moldy room.’ So our theme was to escape the mold and it was literal mold,” Cheng said. “But it was a lot of fun because we just ran it and … we got to meet a lot of people, talk to people and they seemed to like it.”

This year, Cheng and Ramdenbourg turned their passion for escape rooms into a club, and began gathering members from various academic disciplines at Rice, such as visual and dramatic arts, electrical engineering, architecture and music, to channel their academic interests into the escape room.

I started making escape rooms at my last internship. I made an escape room for the whole company.

Myra Ramdenbourg WILL RICE COLLEGE JUNIOR Their team had all the elements to make a great escape room — except for a room.

After their agreement with the CENHS fell through, the team no longer had a place to host their escape room and spent most of fall semester searching for one. By chance, they were invited to an event at the OEDK to discuss their project.

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ACROSS 1) It rises in el este 4) Cookie also known as a Caramel Delite 6) Wearable Lemon 8) Some wearable tech, briefly 9) Like many succulents 11) Relieve

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Crossword by Sam Rossum Thresher Staff

“I was just there like, ‘Hey, we build escape rooms, but we don’t have a room,’” Cheng said.

The presentation turned out to be a twist of fate. After the event, the OEDK reached out to their club and offered to let them build an escape room in their student lounge. Once they secured the room, the team began booking reservations, giving them only nine days to actually create the escape room. Over Thanksgiving break, the team built an entire wall to partition off the escape room from the rest of the OEDK, using burnt styrofoam to mimic concrete.

Although their partnership with the graduate school program didn’t work out, it did inspire their theme: steam tunnels. “[From the beginning] we already knew that we were going to do steam tunnels, partly because that was [our] grad association with environmental science, and the director [of the program] at the time did research on how [Hurricane] Harvey affected the steam tunnels,” Cheng said.

However, they aren’t short on ideas — Ramdenbourg has filled a book with her own ideas for escape room themes, and says she’d love to make one with a Rice Coffeehouse theme. The steam tunnel escape room will be open at the end of this week for a few final runs before the club moves on to its next themed room: space.

12) Plasticky paramour 13) Have some foie gras, e.g.

14) “I’m afraid I’m not ___ to discuss that” 20) “Brokeback Mountain” director Lee 22) Time’s 2006 Person of the Year

23) ___ d’etat 25) Go baaaaaa 27) “What are you waiting for?!”

29) Pond gunk 31) Chugged 33) Ouija response 35) Nirvana tune “Come As

1) Use a skillet 2) Meditation syllable 3) Soft spot for a couple?

4) _ _ _-mo 5) With vigor 7) Skyward 10) Goose-nap?

15) Controversial Midtown construction project 16) Bay bobber 17) Car or Cola preceder 18) How-_ _ _: instructional books 19) Mexican peninsula 20) Distant 21) New Jersey’s largest city 24) Stickler 25) Business Development Loan, briefly 26) Thompson of “Westworld” 28) Sociologist Du Bois 30) Poetic rhythm 32) Word sometimes repeated twice before goose 34) Wall St. watchdog 37) “Annabel Lee” poet 39) Sushi tuna 41) Tin on a table

You ___” 36) Fills with cargo 38) “Scram ye foul goose” 40) “The School of Athens” and others (Alt.) 42) Wild goose ___ 43) Sea beasts of lore 44) Like 101 courses: Abbr.

FEATURES

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2020 • 7

Black at Rice: Elhadji Diop weaves stories through art THOMAS RUSSO FOR THE THRESHER

With Travis Scott moving into the sneaker world and Rihanna taking over the realm of beauty, more and more unexpected people have been dominating the world of fashion.

But Elhadji Diop is here to prove that it’s not only celebrities who can start their own fashion lines with the recent release of his new streetwear brand, MOO.D. “For me, fashion has always been something I’ve struggled with,” Diop, a Duncan College junior, said. “I still don’t think I’m fashionable, but I really appreciate it as a form of art and expression.”

Diop recently dropped his first wave of customized and designed hoodies, the Lazy.

Line, in January. The mission of his line, he said, is to help others overcome negative and stigmatized feelings by wrapping them up in the cozy embrace of a comfortable hoodie.

“I think a lot of people have a perception of being lazy as a negative thing,” Diop said.

“I wanted to make these hoodies to express something I struggle and deal with. Being lazy is okay — don’t feel ashamed to be lazy.”

In addition to releasing his own clothing line, Diop is triple majoring in sports management, managerial studies and kinesiology.

When Diop wants to unwind, he dances.

Diop is involved in various dance clubs at Rice but mostly dances at Soreal Dance Studio, an off-campus studio where he performs in showcases and competes in competitions.

“I dance a lot; dancing is a big part of my identity,” Diop said. “I love salsa, merengue, bachata, all those Latinx dances, they’re so much fun.”

Diop is also a professional photographer.

In addition to taking students’ graduation photos, covering Rice cultural events and working in the Houston community, Diop

created the Students of Rice University Instagram account. Though he no longer manages the account, Diop said he would feature an assortment of Rice students and their often-overlooked stories.

“Being a Rice student, you can talk about whatever you want and it’s just as valid of an experience,” Diop said. “That is an authentic Rice experience and people want to hear about that … we’re interesting individuals.”

Diop’s eclectic extracurriculars parallel his diverse upbringing. Diop grew up in a majority-Hispanic area of Atlanta with francophone Senegalese parents.

“French is a really good way in which I connect with my family,” Diop said. “Spanish is more how I connect with my general community as I did grow up in a large Hispanic community and wanted to find a way to tie in with that.”

The large Korean presence in Atlanta and the Korean supermarket next to his house were similarly influential for Diop, propelling him to study Korean in high school and later participate in the study abroad program, Rice in Korea.

“My goals and aspirations are to try to learn about other people’s cultures through their language,” Diop said.

Despite Diop’s interest and best efforts to immerse himself in the diversity and stories of the people that surrounded him, Diop said he was often a minority among minorities.

“I was very much a minority in a lot of cases,” Diop said. “No matter where I went ... there were very few people who had my complexion or my experiences.”

Even though Diop was born in Atlanta proper, a majority-Black area, he moved to the suburbs when he was six years old. Since then, Diop has been in schools and neighborhoods that were majority White, Hispanic or Asian. Due to the demographics at Rice, Diop said he once

‘The Bachelor’ builds community IVANKA PEREZ FEATURES EDITOR

In 2002, the first episode of “The Bachelor” aired, capitalizing on the elements that made romantic comedies such a big hit. Eighteen years later, the show still has a captive audience.

Although some of the watchers have stayed with “The Bachelor” since its inception, the show has also gained new watchers along the way — including students all across Rice, many of whom attend weekly “Bachelor” watch parties at their residential colleges to keep up with this season’s bachelor, Peter Weber.

The Hanszen College watch party began as an informal gathering, according to Morgan Seay, who hosts the watch party in her suite. As more people started joining, one person suggested getting the Hanszen movie committee involved to fund and publicize the event.

“Now it’s just like 20 people shoved into our suite,” Seay, a Hanszen sophomore, said. “We’re sitting on the floor, sitting on our couch, people will bring pillows and stuff and we’ll just eat snacks and watch ‘The Bachelor.’”

At the Baker College watch party, Spoorthi Kamepalli said students are always chatting throughout the show, discussing the events that occur.

“There’s definitely dramatic gasps. We all have commentary going on throughout, and we do random polls like, ‘Who do you think is going to make it next round?’ so I think it’s definitely very interactive,” Kamepalli, a Baker junior, said. “We all love talking through the episode.”

Becky Shepherdson, an exchange student from Cambridge University, said she discovered “The Bachelor” after her Orientation Week advisor described it as the American version of Love Island, a similar show based in the United Kingdom.

For Shepherdson, part of the appeal of the show is watching it with a group.

“I wouldn’t watch it by myself. I know I

wouldn’t,” Shepherdson, a Martel College senior, said. “But I think it’s a really good social excuse to bond over something which just doesn’t matter.”

Chris and Jaime Mize also prefer watching “The Bachelor” in a group. The resident associates at Brown College used to watch the show by themselves before realizing that many students at their college were watching as well. Now, their Bachelor watch party hosts up to 25 people in the elevator lobby of the Brown tower.

“It’s way more fun with a group,” Chris Mize said. “Honestly, without the group, I’m pretty sure we would fast forward through some of it — like the date parts.”

For Jaime Mize, watching “The Bachelor” with students amplifies the experience because of how passionate they can get.

“It [used to be] just Chris and I screaming at it, but now it’s like 25 people screaming at it,” Jaime Mize said.

The Mizes aren’t the only RAs who host “Bachelor” watch parties. Before they became RAs, Kerri Barber, Jones College RA, was already hosting “Bachelor” watch parties. She initially used to host watch parties for “Scandal,” but found that there was low attendance. The next year, she switched to “The Bachelor,” and there was hardly enough space for all the attendees.

“That movie room — I mean, there’s 15 chairs — [and] it was packed,” Barber said.

“People were sitting on the floor ... people were sitting in between [chairs], people were sitting on the stairway. I probably had like 30 students in there.”

To keep in theme with Jones’s motto, JIBA, Barber calls the watch parties “JIBAchelor watch parties.” She’s created a “JIBAchelor nation” Facebook page with Jones students and alumni, listens to four podcasts on “The Bachelor,” and even has a fantasy league for the show. Now, she’s found that even students who don’t watch “The Bachelor” get involved.

This story has been cut off for print. To read more, visit ricethresher.org.

again finds it difficult to open up about his experiences.

“You look in a room and like, ‘Wow, I’m the only Black person here.’ It’s not a bad thing but sometimes it’s isolating,” Diop said. “I’m not able to talk about my experience. I’m Black, but I’m more so African American. And I’m not just African American — I’m Senegalese.”

While being different has at times been difficult for Diop, it has also led him to value authenticity and individuality. Being underrepresented at Rice has pushed Diop to become comfortable with his background and himself.

“I may not always be the most represented person in a room, but I can always be the most representative of myself and give that authentic experience of myself so that people can learn … my perspective,” Diop said.

Diop said he is proud of all of his Black peers for engaging in activism, spreading awareness of the Black experience and just being authentic — endeavors which increase

channing wang/ THRESHER

the voice and representation of the Black community.

“There are few of us ... but for those who are here, we are proud and representing,” Diop said. “I know a lot of other... Black students who are doing so much and achieving a lot as Black students.”

Diop encourages everybody to strive to learn more about the diverse cultures that surround them.

“If you don’t understand something, just ask someone about their experiences,” Diop said. “People should just be genuinely interested in hearing about experience they’re unfamiliar with.”

The embroidered hoodies, the photography, the dancing and the languages are all interwoven by a common thread: Diop’s desire to tell stories.

“I’m a storyteller, that’s common in all the things I do,” Diop said. “I love telling my story and the stories of other people, especially people without voices and who can’t do so.”

THE RICE THRESHER

8 • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2020

ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT

Travis Scott’s store opens Sneakerheads and students flocked to the opening of the ASTROWORLD rapper’s lifetyle boutique last month in Rice Village.

See more at ricethresher.org

Women making waves: A women’s history month playlist LIA PIKUS THRESHER STAFF

March is a wonderful month. Spring peeks its head around the corner, break provides a respite from the chaos of college life, and once again I get to make what I believe to be the one perfect March Madness bracket (which, despite my conviction, always flops immediately). Another amazing and arguably more important thing about March: It’s women’s history month, a time to formally celebrate the brilliance and bravery of women of the past who have paved the way for women present.

Like most spaces, the music industry is a space in which male voices have been systemically privileged over women’s, a reality which continues to affect artists and listeners alike. Although the field is surely becoming more equitable, I still sometimes find myself scrolling through playlists, some of them my own, in which only a small fraction of the included artists are women.

Shifting power dynamics starts with simply listening to more women, especially queer women and women of color. Thus, this March, I decided to bring together some of the women that are changing the way music is created and consumed in the present into one huge, glorious playlist. I would love to write about every single woman included, but that would most likely take the entire day to read, so here’s a little bit about five of my current favorite artists and artists that

FROM PAGE 1

INFERNO “My energy wasn’t there to help move things along, and that’s probably the biggest culprit,” Sperandio said. “Usually, everybody says, ‘Hey Christopher, what’s going on with the student gallery?’”

The students behind the gallery This isn’t the first time student interest in the position of Inferno Gallery director has been sparse. As former Inferno director Suzanne Zeller (Lovett College ’19) neared the end of her junior year, she said she heard similar murmurings.

Zeller, who graduated with art history and VADA degrees with a concentration in film and photography, said she had dreamed of leading Matchbox since her junior year. She emailed VADA to inquire about the position and a few weeks later, in May 2018, Zeller assumed the responsibility of rebranding the gallery as director.

After coming up with the name Inferno and a new logo over the summer of 2018, Zeller assembled a team of students to help her oversee the gallery in the coming school year. Throughout her tenure, Zeller and her team presented six exhibitions at Inferno, featuring both student and Houston community artists. The art that cycled through the gallery featured

THE WEEKLY SCENE

ARCHI-ARTS: DUO This Saturday at 7 p.m., Anderson Hall will transform into a dynamic display of sculpture, art, architecture, music and dance for Archi Arts, Rice Architecture Society’s annual interdisciplinary arts event. This event is free and open to the public. anderson hall

are making particularly notable waves both in and outside the world of music: Charming, witty and confident, Megan Thee Stallion has enamored audiences all over the world, growing to global prominence after introducing the viral phenomenon of “hot girl summer” in 2019. Hailing from our very own Houston, Megan grew up listening to chopped and screwed rap, a homegrown genre created by the legendary DJ Screw.

Even while directly continuing Houston’s musical legacy, Megan also effortlessly flips male-dominated narratives of the past, embracing her sexuality with open arms and empowering her female audiences to do the same. From her clever lyricism to her flawless execution, Megan Thee Stallion is hands-down one of the best rappers making music right now, and she’s only on the rise.

The best way to describe Indian American artist Raveena’s music is the feel of a gentle hug on a firefly-lit summer’s evening. Sweet and enveloping, Raveena’s mellow psychedelia draws her listeners into her own little bubble of reality through softhearted lyrics and tender soundscapes.

A survivor of trauma, Raveena has made it her artistic mission to foster vulnerability and love through her music, giving others the space and care they need to bloom out of their own lived experiences. If you’re looking for strength in softness, Raveena is your woman.

Drawing from her roots performing spoken word poetry, Chicago poet and

rapper Noname’s music has been acclaimed by a wide audience since her feature on Chance the Rapper’s mixtape “Acid Rap.” However, after announcing her retirement from music (for reasons which I don’t have the proper space to get into in this article), Noname now dedicates her time to activism, hosting a nationwide book club with meetings all over the country, selecting books that uplift voices of color and “speak on human conditions in critical and original ways.” You can follow the club on Instagram to keep up on the selections or subscribe to the club online — all proceeds go towards establishing chapters of the book club inside prisons nationwide.

For somebody like myself who grew up on ’70s psychedelia, Weyes Blood is an artist whose music hits especially close to home. Mixing psychedelic pop with thought-provoking lyrics, Weyes Blood is ushering in psych-rock’s future by looking

an array of mediums and messages — exploring everything from Filipino and Latinx identities to reproductive rights.

“When I was selecting artists, I really wanted to focus on marginalized identities,” Zeller said. “I personally am a queer person, and I thought it would be really great if we could bring artists to Rice that would actually be informative and educational to the student body.”

Zeller said she perceived plenty of support and enthusiasm for the gallery from Rice students. “When we had our opening events, the turnout was always fantastic, and I really, really felt supported by the student body at Rice,” Zeller said. “The overwhelming support that I got from students on campus was fantastic, and I just loved seeing everybody at the openings and having conversations with them about the art. It was very rewarding.”

Zeller also said working with a gallery team was tremendously rewarding. Her most consistent team member was Julia Fisher, at the time a Lovett sophomore.

Zeller said she left Rice and the gallery thinking Fisher, who is now a junior, would fill her shoes as director — a prospect Fisher was thrilled about.

“I was instantly super, super excited about [becoming gallery director], because I had been working so hard because I wanted the director position,” Fisher said.

Zeller recommended Fisher to the VADA staff members she’d worked with throughout the year, including Boyle and Maria Martinez, an events and programs coordinator in the department. After a number of email exchanges between Zeller, Fisher and the VADA department, the students last heard from the department in September, when Fisher said Martinez told her that the status of the gallery was up in the air and that she’d keep her updated. Martinez did not respond to request for comment.

“I apologize and deeply regret that I failed to let the students know that the gallery has been paused this academic year and reasons why,” Boyle said. “The department has so many exciting things happening, I forgot to respond during this busy time.”

OPENING: SLOWED AND THROWED

towards the genre’s past. Her 2019 album “Titanic Rising” was the soundtrack to my 2019 fall semester, and you know what: I think I listened to less George Harrison for it.

Brittney Denise Parks, known by her stage name as Sudan Archives, is the exemplar of a triple threat. A self-taught violinist, singer-songwriter and self-producer, Sudan Archives draws her inspiration from Sudanese fiddling and R&B, making music that has carved out its own unique niche in the avante-garde. Her first full length album “Athena” was released in 2019, and although I only included one track on the playlist for consistency’s sake, I highly recommend a full album listen-through.

This article has been condensed for print.

To read the full story, visit ricethresher.org.

WOMEN 2020 To read more and listen to our Spotify playlist of women making waves, visit ricethresher.org.

Relighting the fire Today, Zeller works at a photo gallery in Montrose and although she’s no longer on campus, she said she feels the absence of Inferno.

“I would still be going to the openings as a graduated alumn[a] if they were still happening,” she said.

In Zeller’s eyes, Inferno’s benefit to students was twofold. For student-artists, it provided an opportunity at a solo show that was in reach, which she said can go a long way on a resume. And for everyone, artists or not, it made the creativity and

RTA NIGHT MARKET

Celebrate the legacy of late Houston legend DJ Screw at the public opening of “Slowed and Throwed: Records of the City Through Mutated Lenses” this Thursday from 7-9 p.m. See unconventional photography while enjoying live chopped and screwed mixes from DJ Red and a vegan-friendly menu from Houston Sauce Co.’s food truck.

Join the Rice Taiwanese Association for their biggest event of the year this Saturday from 6-9 p.m. and enjoy games and food from Tainan Bistro and Kamalan Bakery. Presale tickets are $5 and may be purchased online via Google Form (Venmo @RTA886). Tickets will be $7 at the door.

All tickets are good for five food vouchers and five game vouchers at the festival.

contemporary arts museum houston 5216 Montrose Blvd.

Rice Memorial Center Grand Hall

culture brewing in Houston accessible and easy to witness.

“A lot of students don’t have a car, a lot of students don’t want to ride the Metro late at night and openings are generally around 7 p.m.,” Zeller said. “Sometimes it’s hard to get to places, but when you have awesome art opening on campus, with food and drinks and music, there’s no reason not to go to that, and students really did show up for that.”

For Fisher, as a non-VADA major, Inferno provided an unique opportunity to explore her interest in museums and art.

“I’m pretty bummed,” she said. “It’s important to have these kinds of spaces on campus where students can gain firsthand experience in these museum or gallery spaces … and it’s upsetting to not have these spaces on campus anymore.”

Sperandio said this dearth won’t last much longer. He said VADA students have been extremely active in other projects this year and predicts that finding a VADA major to take the reigns of gallery director will be a “piece of cake.” The professor intends to make a decision in April so that programming can resume in the fall. “[Inferno is] a physical form for student voice, and that’s the job of the university ... to help young people find their voices,” Sperandio said. “Hopefully, we can get some good candidates from within VADA and find somebody who wants to relight the fire.”

FOTOFEST BIENNIAL 2020 Don’t miss the grand opening of the United States’ longest-running international celebration of photography this Saturday from 8-11 p.m. The 2020 Biennial will center on the theme of “African Cosmologies: Photography, Time and the Other,” with a focus on artists of Africa and the African diaspora. This opening is free and open to the public.

Silver Street Studios 2000 Edwards St.

ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2020 • 9

Rice Village’s Half Price Books to shutter Sunday

RICE’S CRITICAL APPROACH TO THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES

illustration by chloe xu

JENNIFER LI FOR THE THRESHER

Rice Village’s Half Price Books, two stories tucked away in a cozy corner filled with shelf after shelf of gently loved books, prepares to close March 8. To the dismay of local bookworms, the beloved bookstore will be closing due to a 40 percent increase in rent according to Oz Longford, a bookseller of 10 years.

Countless people, young and old, frequent Rice Village’s Half Price, which has stood at the intersection of University Boulevard and Kirby Drive since 1981.

Andrew Perez, a bookseller of seven years, recalls that over the years, a tightknit community has developed around the quaint bookstore. Children who had gotten their first books at this exact Half Price are still going back, now as parents, to get their own kids their first book, according to Perez.

“It’s a special place,” said Perez. “It’s very heartbreaking that after so long of doing business and being a part of the community and making friends with some of these customers, now some of them have become … kind of like family. It’s very sad that we’re not going to see everyone’s nice smiles and faces anymore.”

Much of Rice Village underwent changes in management earlier this year, as various investment companies have enacted their new visions for the district. Changes in the landscape surrounding Half Price, such as the opening of upscale eateries like Politan Row and Sixty Vines, have increased the overall rent in the Village.

“Rent costs in the area have gone up to the point where we can no longer afford to stay in our current location,” Emily Bruce, Half Price Books’ public relations manager, said. “We’ve looked for another location nearby, but have not been able to find a viable option, as of now.”

Bruce said that the bookstore’s management team discussed its future with the building owner, Dutch Line Properties, but were unable to come to a compromise.

“Our development team had several conversations with them, and even explored an opportunity to sublease part of the space, but there was no clear path for the location to be profitable with the skyrocketing rents,” Bruce said.

Since the Houston Chronicle broke the news of the store’s closing last November, many in the Rice community have shared fond memories of spending time among the shelves with friends.

“Half Price Books is my favorite place in Rice Village,” said Lisa Lin, a Baker College freshman and native Houstonian.

Vi Nguyen (Lovett College ’18) said that growing up in West University

meant that she spent a lot of time around the Village, and remembers Half Price Books fondly.

“I have a lot of good memories just wandering around the second floor of Half Price and just existing around so many books,” Nguyen said. “Thinking about Half Price always gives me a general nostalgic vibe that brings me a lot of joy. The science section of Half Price on the second floor was pretty formative in my burgeoning interest in science.”

It’s gonna be ... an empty void in the Village that can never be [filled] again.

Andrew Perez HALF PRICE BOOKS BOOKSELLER As a significant source of affordable books and media, the store’s closing will greatly affect both the Rice community and the Houston community at large with its closing. Perez predicts that one of the most immediate effects could be a decrease in customers at surrounding stores such as Gap, since according to him, many customers report going to Rice Village mainly for Half Price. Devin Sadler, a bookseller of about two years, predicts a slight but noticeable drop in the local literacy rates and an increase in the local crime rates to follow Half Price’s closing. Even with a Barnes & Noble nearby on West Holcombe Boulevard, Longford, Perez and Sadler agree that there is just no replacement for everything that Half Price embodies.

“It’s gonna be ... an empty void in the Village that can never be [filled] again,” Perez said.

Nevertheless, the community will recover together as customers and clients are already trying to assist Half Price Workers by offering references and jobs, according to Longford, Perez and Sadler.

The store is offering sales going on up until March 8, ending their last two days with an offer for readers to take home a bag of books for $10. Even as the shelves slowly empty, Perez said he still holds a positive outlook.

“It’s time to turn the page and see what the next journey will bring and what will become of this building … [though] I wish we could’ve stayed longer for everyone.”

Half Price Books is located at 2537 University Blvd., and will be open every day until this Sunday, March 8 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Writer James Karroum contributed reporting to this story.

photo by yi luo Fern Horrillo, a Sid Richardson College senior, performs at the Rice Women’s Resource Center’s annual performance of Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues,” a collection of monologues reflecting on the femme experience, last weekend in the Sid Rich basement.

THE RICE THRESHER

10 • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2020

SPORTS FOKAM JUMPS FOR C-USA GLORY

courtesy rice athletics

Senior jumper Michelle Fokam slides to a halt after completing a long jump. Fokam is known as one of the premier talents in Conference USA women’s track and field competition: Fokam has twice been named the C-USA Female Field Athlete of the Year. This season, Fokam advanced to the NCAA Championship where she earned All-American status in the triple jump and the long jump.

DANIEL SCHRAGER FOR THE THRESHER

Michelle Fokam triple-jumped 13.32 meters at last week’s Conference USA Track and Field Championships — soon, she’s hoping that her triple jump will land her over 6,600 miles away. That’s because Fokam, a three-time NCAA AllAmerican finishing up her senior season, has her sights set on Tokyo for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.

“This summer, I will be competing at the Olympic trials in hopes of becoming an Olympian,” Fokam said.

If all goes according to her plan, a trip to Tokyo would be the latest addition to a resume that already includes two C-USA Field Athlete of the Year awards and eight C-USA Championship first-place finishes, among many other awards.

Fokam says that her consistent success at Rice can be attributed to a combination of her confidence, competitiveness and work ethic.

“I love to compete and I love the pressure of meets,” Fokam said. “I always use it to my advantage to push myself.”

But according to Fokam, her academic achievements have been even more important to her.

“I have been on the [C-USA] Commissioner’s Honor Roll every single year,” Fokam said when asked to name her most significant personal achievement.

Fokam, a psychology major from Lovett College, also said her community service work is very important to her. She said that she volunteers weekly with The Forge, a Third Ward-based organization that aims to “inspire and empower participants’ spiritual, educational and economic growth.”

Fokam first became involved in track as a hurdler. However, according to Fokam, after her coach suggested she switch from jumping over hurdles to jumping for distance, she quickly discovered her natural proficiency in distance jumps.

“I first started triple and long jumping when I was a seventh grader,” Fokam said. “In all honesty, I wanted to be a hurdler, but my coach, Coach Lance, forced me over to the runways and told

me that I am a jumper and this is where I should stay, and I did stay. I have been a jumper since then.”

From there, Fokam said that it took her some time to understand just how good she was.

“I have always competed well in the [jump events],” Fokam said. “Though I knew I was actually good my junior year of high school.”

This season, in addition to her customary personal success, Fokam has been a crucial part of Rice’s team success. This season saw the Owl women’s track and field team win its first indoor conference championship in a decade, and Fokam finished first and second in the conference in the triple jump and long jump respectively. For many, in a sport as individually oriented as track and field, that level of personal accomplishments would overshadow team success. But according to Fokam, for her that was never a question.

“My success does mean a lot to me, but the team’s success means so much more,” Fokam said. “When I found out we won the conference championship

meet my eyes [welled] up and a few tears came out, tears of joy.”

While that kind of success can lead to increased expectations, Fokam said she doesn’t allow that to affect her mentality during competitions. She says that she goes into each meet armed with headphones while listening to the entire Megan Thee Stallion discography, which helps her maintain the same focus every time she steps out onto the track.

“I do not necessarily go into [a track and field] meet with set expectations for marks that I would like to meet,” Fokam said. “What I expect myself to do is execute my technique correctly and make sure that I enjoy myself and have fun.”

Before Fokam takes on her Olympic goal after achieving so much success at Rice, she’ll look to cap off her Owls career with a strong finish to the season. How her season will end remains to be seen.

But according to Fokam, if she maintains her mindset, the rest will fall into place.

“My goals for the rest of the season are to stay confident, believe in myself and jump far,” Fokam said. “If I do [that], good things will come.”

Santiago, age 9, ‘signs on’ to Rice’s Track and Field team MICHAEL BYRNES SPORTS EDITOR

On Saturday, Rice Athletics announced the signing of a new member of the men’s track and field team: Santiago White, from Sugar Land. The athletic department prepared a typical day of signing festivities: a press conference, some short speeches, an official backdrop for photos. But one thing was different: Santiago is 9 years old.

No, Santiago (or Santi, as he’s known by the team) won’t be running for Rice this year. Instead, he’s become part of the team through a joint effort between Rice Athletics and Team IMPACT, an organization that pairs children suffering from chronic illnesses with college athletics teams across the country. According to JP Abercrumbie, assistant athletic director for student-athlete development, the program helps give children like Santi an additional

MICHAEL BYRNES / THRESHER

Santiago White signs his commitment to Rice’s men’s track and field program on Saturday, surrounded by his mother, sister, grandfather and head coach Jon Warren.

community to be a part of while they battle their illness. “[Santi] has recently discovered a passion for running, so when Team IMPACT reached out … it was a great opportunity for us to see [how] our men’s track team was willing to be that big brother and support network for him,” Abercrumbie said. “And now he has about 40 new family members that he can lean on for [additional support].”

Rice has been working with Team IMPACT for a few years, and Abercrumbie said Santi joins two other children who have been partnered with Rice’s soccer and volleyball teams. In Santi’s case, he is battling cystic fibrosis, a lifelong disease primarily affecting the lungs. According to Abercrumbie, one of the men’s track and field team’s primary roles in the relationship will be to help Santi out when he’s undergoing care at the nearby Texas Medical Center.

“When he may be going through treatments and [feeling] a little down, it’s an opportunity to provide a support network for him to uplift him, so that he knows he’s not going through these treatments alone,” Abercrumbie said. “So instead of getting bogged down with the treatments or being in the hospital rooms alone, our guys … can go over [to the medical center] and visit him.”

Freshman track athlete Travis Dowd, who helped organize the signing day event, said the track and field team really got to know Santi when he spent a Saturday afternoon with the team earlier this year. “[On] Saturday, we do long runs in the morning and then we eat brunch together as a team … and then go and play horse pool,” Dowd said. “[Santi] played [horse pool] with us, and now he’s into it too. He [beat] a lot of people — it was really funny; he had us all cracking up. Hopefully we can get him out to a lot more brunches and meets [this year].”

The signing day was a lighthearted event, with Santi fielding entertaining questions from the audience after his official signing.

At one point, a track and field athlete asked “If you couldn’t run for the rest of your life, what sport do you think you’d play instead?”

Without missing a beat, Santi replied “Horse pool.” The team roared its approval.

Overall, Dowd said Santi has had a positive effect on the team.

“He’s definitely made [the team] more lighthearted,” Dowd said. “He’s always upbeat; he’s always energetic and willing to try new stuff. Like we’ll just be walking around campus and he’s jumping off little ledges and making his mom yell at him … [he’s] really funny.”

SPORTS

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2020 • 11

Women’s basketball aims for C-USA No. 1 seed BEN BAKER-KATZ

session,” Langley said. “There’s a lot of youth on the team this year, and there was a lot of learning of one another. I’m proud of the way we’ve taken it day by day and steadily improved.”

Ogwumike said Rice learned from its uneven performances against nonconference opponents.

ASST SPORTS EDITOR

As we’ve gotten to know each other and grown over the course of the season, I think we’re peaking at the right time ... Now is the right time for this team.”

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL HEAD COACH

Freshman forward Lauren Schwartz dribbles the ball with her left hand near several opponents from the University of North Texas. Schwartz averages 9.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.

overtime earlier this year, 66-59.

One point of emphasis for Rice in practice this week will be ball control, because the team failed in that department early in the season, according to Ogwumike.

“Controlling our turnovers is something that we were pretty bad at during the beginning of this year,” Ogwumike said. “I think we’ve gotten better at every game as the season has gone on, but it’s something to think about in the coming games.”

Langley said she is happy that the Owls have overcome their rocky non-conference display, in which they registered a 5-6 record.

Now, Rice holds a 19-8 record.

“This team learns from everything, whether it’s a win, a loss, practice or a film

Visual and Dramatic Arts Department Rice Theatre Program presents

All in the Timing and more...

by David Ives

Directed by Jack Young

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Short plays with romance, reality and monkeys writing Hamlet

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“I think we were forcing tough shots,” Peterson said. “If we just remain poised SENIOR WRITER and relaxed out there, I think we can hold The Rice men’s basketball team will that lead next time and get the win.”

This past Sunday, Rice defeated Middle conclude its regular season this week with a pair of matchups, first facing the Tennessee State University in a game that University of Southern Mississippi in a proved to have a very different storyline Wednesday road game before returning than the loss against UTEP. After going home on Saturday to match up against the into halftime down five with only 24 University of Texas, El Paso in the Owls’ points scored, the Owls came out slowly season finale. Rice’s seniors — forwards in the second half but soon found their Tim Harrison and Robert Martin and guards footing. Martin and Peterson each hit a Ako Adams and Addison Owen — will suit 3-pointer to tie the score and then took the up for their final game in Tudor Fieldhouse. lead after following a defensive stop with Adams said he is looking forward to a Peterson basket. Unlike the last game finishing his career with his fellow seniors. against UTEP, however, the Owls would not surrender this “[During] my four lead, as sophomore years here, there’s guard Trey Murphy been a lot of ups III and Martin each and downs,” Adams It will be an emotional scored 21 points to said. “It will be an help power Rice to the emotional game, game, but I’m going to try win. Murphy hit four but I’m going to try my best to put those threes and Martin hit my best to put those emotions to the side and two, but one basket in emotions to the side just go out there and particular by Murphy and just go out there and compete for my compete for my teammates. seemed to draw the most attention from teammates.” the crowd. Peterson Rice has won Ako Adams lobbed an inbounds two out of its last SENIOR GUARD pass to Murphy, who four contests after beginning February with three consecutive caught the pass in midair and dunked the victories. But the final two games of the ball over a Middle Tennessee defender. season will be crucial for the Owls, because Rice finished the game with a 77-66 win only 12 out of the 14 teams in Conference to come within one win of an overall .500 USA will qualify for the post-season winning percentage.

Despite being tied for No. 12 in the conference tournament. Rice is currently tied with UTEP at No. 12 in C-USA. The two C-USA standings, Adams said he believes teams have faced each other twice this Rice can compete with anyone in the season, with UTEP winning both. UTEP C-USA Tournament.

“We can play with any team,” Adams beat the Owls 72-64 on Jan. 23, and followed that up with a 68-62 victory on Feb. 22. said. “We beat [the University of] North One strong point from Rice’s recent loss to Texas, and they’re a top team.”

However, the Owls will first need to UTEP was the performance put together by sophomore forward Drew Peterson, who solidify their spot in the C-USA tournament notched his third double-double of the by winning at least one of their next two season with 18 points and 12 rebounds. games against Southern Miss and UTEP. According to Peterson, some aspects of the The C-USA Championships will take place March 11-14 in Frisco, TX. team’s performance must be fine-tuned.

“Our whole non-conference schedule was a pretty big learning experience,” Ogumike said. “We played a lot of Power Five schools, and coming off of a season where we only lost four games, it was pretty tough to play that and still have that confidence and want to grow from every single game. They were hard teams, and we competed close with them. It was a little sad, but I think we grew from that.”

Now, just two games away from the C-USA tournament, Langley said she believes Rice can win the C-USA Tournament and qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

“As we’ve gotten to know each other and grown over the course of this season, I think we’re peaking at the right time,” Langley said.

“From everything I’ve seen, now is the right time for this team.”

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two games of the regular season, they first meet UTEP, a team they beat 69-61 on Jan. 23. The Miners played good defense against Rice, including holding the Owls to just three made 3-pointers on 16 attempts and forcing 21 turnovers. Langley said UTEP used aggressive defense in the teams’ last matchup.

“UTEP is a team that presses [on defense] the entire game,” Langley said.

“I think we could handle that a little better than we did last time. They change up their defense a lot in the half-court and I think we could value the ball and get better shots than we did last time.”

Following UTEP, the Owls will end their regular season against fellow C-USA giant Old Dominion, a team they lost to in

MEN’S B-BALL WRAPS UP C-USA PLAY SPENCER MOFFAT

Tina Langley

ALLEN SELLERS / THRESHER

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Rice women’s basketball plays two crucial games at home this week, one against the University of Texas, El Paso on Thursday and the other against Old Dominion University on Saturday. Rice and Old Dominion are tied for the best record in Conference USA, which means that if both teams win their respective Thursday games, the Sunday matchup will decide both the conference champion and who gets the No. 1 seed in the C-USA tournament that starts next week.

The Owls are currently on a three-game win streak, the most recent of which came last Saturday against Louisiana Tech University.

The Owls were losing for most of the game against the Bulldogs, but a strong fourth quarter followed by a dominant overtime period allowed them to pull away for the 73-60 victory. According to senior guard Erica Ogwumike, Rice lacked tenacity in its performance against LA Tech.

“We were a bit stagnant offensively throughout the game, and it took us a while to get into a rhythm,” Ogwumike said. “But towards the end, we knew we didn’t have much time, and we had to pull it through.”

The Owls were able to win that game thanks to a strong team defense that held the Bulldogs to just 36 percent shooting from the field. That performance mirrored the team’s season-long defensive output (57.3 points per game allowed). They were also led by junior center Nancy Mulkey, who provided 22 points. Head coach Tina Langley said Rice’s comeback against LA Tech was impressive.

“Besides [a Feb. 13 loss against ODU], we hadn’t been in that position of being down the entire game like we were against LA Tech,” Langley said. “So to come back and win, it was a great feeling for our team.”

As the Owls turn their attention to the final

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SHOW TIMES FEB 28-29 MAR 1 MAR 5-7

8 PM 3 PM 8 PM

Ticket Information: Call 713-348-4005 or email hamman@rice.edu. hamman hall at rice university, theatre.rice.edu.

BACKPAGE

12 • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2020

How to very reasonably respond to the COVID-19 Rice Alert This past week, there was a lot of unrest on campus after Rice notified the community of a staff member self-quarantining due to contact with a possible positive coronavirus case. There has been a wide range of reactions from students and parents, which makes sense — coronavirus is a growing global health issue and lots of people are worried and confused. To ease some of that confusion, the Backpage has a 100% accurate and indisputable guide to some steps absolutely everyone at Rice should be taking.

Go abroad If the situation has you stressed and confused, go abroad to really find yourself. Sometimes you just have to escape to make sense of everything. Not to mention, flights to certain countries may be canceled soon, so now is your limited-time shot to see the world.

Trivialize a global health issue with super original jokes

Panic

It is absolutely hilarious that coronavirus sounds like Corona beer. Please, go out of your way to make this mind-blowingly creative observation. People who are at extremely little to no risk of contracting COVID-19 while death rates rise in other countries are in the optimal position to joke about “coronavirus and lime” — it can’t be offensive if it doesn’t offend you personally!

Plus, it’s totally not an obvious joke at all, so make it 20 times minimum, just to make sure everyone hears your super sick joke.

Corona sounds like corona! Wow!

Freak out. Have your parents call Rice University 10 times. Demand the personal information of everyone associated with the Rice Alert specifically. What’s more important, another human being’s privacy while the situation is already under control, or your desire for unnecessary information to make you feel better? That’s right, you feeling better. Bulk buy hand sanitizer and cleaning products to the point where HEB limits the number of items you can buy at once — it’s not rational but it just feels right, man.

Another great angle for jokes is that the coronavirus originated in China. Treating entire nationalities, and even races, as punchlines for coronavirus jokes is not at all racist or xenophobic — it’s not about the people themselves, it’s the abstract concept of disease! Can’t anyone take a joke anymore? A joke like this is bound to be super nuanced and innovative and requires so few words. Saying “coronavirus” when someone coughs? Comedic genius.

Don’t wash your hands — you’ll strengthen your immune system Why listen to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention? They’re the ones telling healthy people not to buy face masks because it will create a “shortage” for “sick people” who “actually need them” or whatever. They say one of the best ways to prevent the spread of viruses is handwashing, but that doesn’t make any sense, either! How will your immune system get strong if it doesn’t learn to fight off all the germs? Lick your hands! Touch your face! Deep fry stuff you find on the ground at the Rodeo then eat it! It’s basically self-vaccinating, right?

The Backpage is satire, written by Sickmona Matovic and designed by Simona Matosick. For comments, questions or health tips please email JamesJoyceLovesFarts1@rice.edu.

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