VOLUME 104, ISSUE NO. 21 | STUDENT-RUN SINCE 1916 | RICETHRESHER.ORG | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2020
C R O S S W O R D S O N P A G E
6 Beer Bike, major events canceled for semester CHRISTINA TAN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
For the first time in its 64-year history, Beer Bike is canceled with no current plans to reschedule. As part of their response to the emerging crisis of COVID-19, Rice has prohibited all on-campus public events with more than 100 people, following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to a Rice Alert sent on March 8. Beer Bike’s cancellation is one of many — KTRU’s Outdoor Show and spring dance Rondelet have also been canceled.
illustration by chloe xu
Rice suspends classes after positive COVID-19 case RACHEL CARLTON & RISHAB RAMAPRIYAN SENIOR WRITER & NEWS EDITOR
Rice Crisis Management canceled all classes for the week of March 9, along with all on-campus public events with more than 100 attendees through April 30, according to an alert sent on Sunday afternoon. The cancellation follows the confirmation of a Rice employee testing positive for the novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, which was reported last Thursday. CANCELLATION OF CLASSES Kevin Kirby, vice president for administration, said one of the reasons for suspending classes before spring break was to give faculty time to think about the logistics of moving classes online if social distancing becomes necessary. “We have a lot to work through,” Kirby said. “We originally thought we would have four, five, six months to do this. Now we have a bit more urgency around understanding what that looks like.” Kirby said there are currently discussions in the Faculty Senate about what it would take to put all classes online in two weeks, but no decision has been made yet. “Things are accelerating, not just here in Houston but nationally,” Kirby said. “There hasn’t been a decision yet that we’re going [to put all classes online]. It could be as early as two weeks [from now]. We might decide we’re gonna do it a month from now. We might decide we’re not going to do it until the fall.” Citing the volume and variability of class instruction, Kirby said that moving to online classes is logistically challenging. “It’s not so easy as just saying ‘We’re going to put everybody on Zoom’ because that accounts for maybe a third to 40 percent of all the classes [and] there are all kinds of other instructions,” Kirby said. According to Kirby, the confirmed coronavirus case at Rice created the need for heightened precautions. “Even if it’s only one confirmed case, you want to put in place measures that are a little bit different than some university that doesn’t have a confirmed case,” Kirby said.
“Although I think most experts think it’s only a matter of time before most campuses have a confirmed case. I’d say we’re just a little bit ahead of where everyone’s going to be in another week or two.” Other universities such as Stanford University, University of Washington, Vanderbilt University and Princeton University have already announced that all classes would be taught remotely for either part or all of their remaining terms. Yesterday, Harvard University, which has no confirmed cases on campus yet, announced the migration of all classes online and asked students not to return after their spring break. CONFIRMED POSITIVE EMPLOYEE CASE Crisis Management alerted the Rice community on Feb. 29 that a research staff member had been possibly exposed to the coronavirus while on overseas travel and noted that individuals in contact with the employee on Feb. 24 and 25 had been asked to self-quarantine. The 17 individuals, including faculty, doctoral students and staff, were self-isolating off campus, but no undergraduates were in contact with the research staffer, who also did not enter any other buildings or ride the shuttles. Kirby said the employee self-reported her coronavirus exposure to Rice officials on Feb. 29. He added that all the other members asked to self-quarantine did so voluntarily, and praised their sense of responsibility. “Our employee has been incredibly responsible and caring about the health of the Rice community and she’s been doing all the right things,” Kirby said. Harris County Public Health said the employee, along with all the other positive cases in Houston, was exposed to the coronavirus while on a cruise in Egypt. Kirby said the employee is now in stable condition at the hospital. When reporting that the employee had tested positive last Thursday, Crisis Management noted that the employee’s time on campus had been limited to one building which was sanitized, but the location was not initially disclosed. On Friday, Crisis Management clarified that the employee
had spent time in a suite on the first floor of Keck Hall during their time on campus. “It’s not because we believe that there’s any greater risk,” Kirby said. “But because people have been asking, and so we’re trying to respond to a large number of people who’ve been asking about that. So it’s, you know, we’re trying to be responsive to our community and still protect the privacy of the person.” Students, especially those who identify as immunocompromised, expressed concerns about the initial lack of disclosure. Elijah Lipkin, a Will Rice College junior, said that he was alarmed by Rice’s lack of transparency over the location. “[Not informing all students] is to potentially put everyone, especially those who are immunosuppressed, at grave risk,” Lipkiin said. “If another case is reported, I will not feel safe going to campus.” Bart Salmon, assistant vice president for facilities, said that Rice custodial staff, under the supervision of the assistant director for custodial and the custodial manager, conducted the sanitation and disinfecting efforts in Keck Hall. According to Salmon, custodians wore rubber gloves prior to and during the cleaning process. While research is set to continue as long as it is conducted in small groups, Kirby said that Rice is committed to the needs of both undergraduate and graduate students and that further research precautions for graduate students will be soon released. “Just like we’re trying to make sure that undergraduates aren’t being inappropriately asked to do certain things, we want to make sure [of] the same for graduate students,” Kirby said. To anyone wanting more information, Kirby said all they need to do is ask. “We’re trying to be as transparent as possible [and] to consult as widely as possible,” Kirby said. “In general there are no secrets. There’s very [few] things that we can’t talk about that involve protected health information. For example, we had some people demanding to know who our confirmed patient is, and that’s protected health information under the law.” SEE CORONAVIRUS PAGE 3
BEER BIKE The races were canceled one other time in 2007 after a student’s sudden death, but the men’s and women’s races were rescheduled for a later date. The campuswide Beer Bike coordinators said they found out about the event’s cancellation at the same time as everyone else — via the Rice Alert. “We were not given much indication that such a cancellation was so imminent and it was pretty saddening to see that all the hard work that was put into this won’t culminate into an event,” campuswide co-coordinator and Lovett College sophomore Shreya Menon said. “I understand the need for the cancellation and that the administration is dealing with the crisis the best they can, but that doesn’t make it any less sad or frustrating.” Eddie Tang, the other co-coordinator, said he felt that he and Menon should have been included in the conversation to cancel Beer Bike. “[I] felt like the [college-specific Beer Bike coordinators] and I should’ve been included in the conversation about potentially delaying or changing the race so that races could still happen as it is a student-planned event,” Tang, a Baker College junior, said. “[I] felt blinded actually, as we were told [Beer Bike] was not under consideration of being canceled, and all of a sudden [Beer Bike] was.” With Beer Bike’s cancellation, originally-planned campuswide Willy Week events will also be canceled, according to Petre Freeman, associate director of campus events. “The colleges worked really hard on their Willy Week risk management plan and they were well-detailed,” Freeman said. “Unfortunately, all Willy Week original planned events have been canceled.” ATHLETICS EXEMPTION Rice Athletics, club sports and intramural sports will continue hosting outdoors athletic competitions, including spectators, in an apparent exemption to the 100-person capacity rule, according to Chuck Pool, assistant director of athletics. “Consistent with the communication from the Rice Crisis Management Team, SEE BEER
BIKE PAGE 4