The Rice Thresher | Wednesday, September 2, 2020

VOLUME 105, ISSUE NO. 2 | STUDENT-RUN SINCE 1916 | RICETHRESHER.ORG | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2020

ILLUSTRATION BY CHLOE XU

FEATURES

Bridging the gaps: Student activists aim to protect survivors in face of new Title IX policy, express concerns about transparency MORGAN GAGE THRESHER STAFF

In early May, as a challenging spring semester came to an end, the Department of Education released the final version of a new Title IX policy, leaving school administrations across the country scrambling to adjust their own Title IX policies to reflect the federal policy before an Aug. 14 deadline amidst navigating a global pandemic. With these new rules came a slew of student advocacy at Rice as students pushed administrators to implement the new policy in a way that minimizes the harmful effects the updated federal guidelines have for survivors of sexual assault.

With these guideline changes, faculty and staff at schools are no longer considered mandatory reporters or required to report incidences of reported Title IX misconduct nationwide, although Rice employees are considered mandatory reporters under Texas legislation. The definition of harassment was rewritten as conduct that “effectively denied” someone access to an education, whereas it was previously defined as

conduct that interfered with someone receiving an education. Live case hearings are now mandated to include cross-examinations of each party, a move that student activists criticized due to cross-examination’s potential of retraumatizing survivors through already stressful hearings.

Many student activists, primarily members of Students Transforming Rice into a Violence-free Environment and the Student Association Senate, anticipated the release of the new federal guidelines for policy concerning gender based discrimination and interpersonal violence for schools across the United States. Aliza Brown, advocacy coordinator for STRIVE, was in touch with the Department of Education even before the new policy was released, after she learned about some of the policies the Department was considering from members of the SAFE Office: Interpersonal Misconduct Prevention and Support.

“I wrote a comment back to the Department of Education, as a lot of people did, telling them why these were horrible ideas,” Brown, a Will

FEATURES

Black at Rice: Calista Ukeh throws herself into the Rice community KAVYA SAHNI ASST FEATURES EDITOR

Calista Ukeh was in the middle of throwing at a track meet during her senior year of high school when she received her admissions decision from Rice. As far as the throwing went, she was not having a great day — but that changed after she read the acceptance letter.

“I literally saw [the email] right in a crowd of people, by myself, just me and the phone,” Ukeh said. “And right after that I went and threw my personal best. And it was such a funny instance, because no one knew why I was so happy and giddy.”

A few months later, Ukeh would take her event — throwing — to a new field — Rice University’s. Ukeh, a junior at Baker College, grew up in Rockwall, right outside of Dallas. She describes the town as predominantly wealthy, white and Republican. Although her own

family was not very affluent, according to Ukeh, her mom “hustled” to make sure she and her two older siblings could attend school in one of the best independent school districts. “[Having grown up in this community] gives me a lot of experience with how to talk to people from different backgrounds,” Ukeh said.

“Especially because so many people in my community that loved me and I loved were part of that demographic.”

Ukeh said that she’d been taught to have a strong work ethic from both sides of her family. Her father, who is originally from Nigeria, moved to the U.S. seeking a better future. Her mother is white and grew up in the U.S. without much money. Ukeh’s mom went back to school when she was 38, which Ukeh said has impacted her perspective of the value of education and has inspired her to want to do better for herself and for her SEE BLACK

AT RICE PAGE 4

Rice College junior, said. “When they released the actual plan, I was overall disturbed. It is a definite step backwards for survivors’ rights and makes campuses across the country less safe.”

From there, it became a question for student advocates of what Rice

I was overall disturbed.

It is a definite step backwards for survivors’ rights and makes campuses across the country less safe.

Aliza Brown STRIVE ADVOCACY COORDINATOR could do to bridge the gaps left by the new guidelines, according to STRIVE’s associate director Sara Emami, and they began to center conversations around how to make the policy ultimately implemented better suited to protecting survivors’ rights.

“A lot of things that people I know had commented against were still in the policy,” Emami, a Brown College junior, said. “We were trying to figure out what was strictly federal policy that we would have to adhere to and where were areas where we could influence the Rice policy and see how we could make it so it was most supportive for survivors at Rice.”

When the committee to write Rice’s new Title IX policy was formed, an undergraduate and graduate student representative were included to help provide a student perspective on the policy. However, Anastasia Newheart, the graduate representative on the policy writing committee, said she felt a need for more student feedback in the process.

“The most important thing is for students to be directly involved with the process,” Newheart said. “I was the only graduate student involved in this process, and, of course, I cannot represent the perspective of every single graduate student.”

Izzie Karohl, undergraduate representative on the Title IX taskforce and head of the SA’s Interpersonal Violence Policy Committee said one of the continuous challenges for activists and policy writers alike was contending with the turnaround between the federal government’s release of the new policy on May 6 and the deadline for Rice to implement the new policy on Aug. 14.

“The timing just felt a little bit cruel,” Karohl, a Will Rice junior, said.

“It’s almost like [the Department of Education] didn’t care if the policies were well developed because of how much time we had to do them.”

Time constraints were also an issue within the meetings themselves, which only lasted for an hour each week for a committee of 15 people, according to Karohl.

“It meant that some voices took up a lot of air time, and it meant that others didn’t,” Karohl said. “It was hard in the moments where you realize that you weren’t going to get your word in or really have full time to debate an idea.”

In addition to the presence of an undergraduate and graduate student representative on the policy writing committee, students were able to weigh in on the policy through regular conversations held over Zoom between members of STRIVE Executive Council, representatives from the SA, and Rice’s Title IX Coordinator Richard Baker.

However, some students who participated in those meetings said they felt ignored.

“It was good to have a line of communication between us and Dr. Baker, but gradually we started to feel that our requests were not being heard,” STRIVE Executive Director Maddy Scannell said. “Most notably, we felt like Rice did not communicate to the student body what was going on at all.”

SEE TITLE IX PAGE 5

NEWS

Petition reflects student dissatisfaction with servery food and contact tracing IVANKA PEREZ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

A student-written petition expressing concerns about the administration’s handling of fall semester has reached 442 signatures at the time of print.

Students shared dissatisfactions with the administration ranging from those listed in the petition — servery food and a new “medical hold” health status — to concerns about contact tracing.

In the petition, Jones College sophomores Jay Shisler and Harry Golen wrote about Shisler’s experience with a COVID-19 test, writing that they felt it demonstrated Rice’s lack of preparation to test students who were experiencing coronavirus-like symptoms that were likely not due to the coronavirus. (Editor’s note: Shisler and Golen declined to comment for this article, stating that the petition encapsulated their thoughts on the matter, and that they wanted to meet with Dean

of Undergraduates Bridget Gorman before discussing these issues on the record.)

“Upon arrival [at my testing location], I explained that my throat had been hurting, as it had been on and off for six months,” Shisler wrote. “I was turned away from the testing location and instructed to call Rice Student Health to determine my next steps and fill out a health form.”

After this point, Shisler wrote that Student Health Services created a medical hold category for his position — a student who had not yet tested positive, but was showing symptoms.

“Crisis Management would not be delivering my meals as they did not want to place me on an official list. Instead, a friend would carefully and discreetly deliver my meals,” Shisler wrote. “My roommate and I were instructed to move into one of the few open suites in Jones, where we could avoid a communal bathroom.”

SEE PETITION PAGE 2

THE RICE THRESHER

2 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2020

NEWS

Student-run COVID court established, sees six reports in first week HAJERA NAVEED THRESHER STAFF

ON-CAMPUS CONDUCT CASE TIMELINE

With the semester starting amidst a pandemic, one way that Rice plans to regulate student behavior and ensure adherence to this year’s new Culture of Care agreement is through the new COVID Community Court. The Court handles all low level infractions on campus such as mask wearing and social distancing.

Since the start of the school year there have been six total reports of misconduct to the COVID Community Court, according to Elaine Hwang, COVID Community Court student representative.

The COVID Community Court, in partnership with Student Judicial Programs, is a new court composed of 11 student representatives from each residential college that will help maintain safety on campus. Infractions can be reported by any student through the SJP website.

Of the six total reports of misconduct, according to Hwang, most cases were related to mask-wearing. There was one case related to a student gathering in a dorm room.

According to Hwang, when the court receives a report, a panel of three students on the court reviews the case and interviews the students suspected of misconduct. If they receive conflicting reports through interviews, they may reach out to witnesses as well to get an accurate picture of the event.

After ensuring an accurate report, the committee decides on a penalty for the student or students involved, according to Hwang.

“The penalties themselves are not very strict,” Hwang, a Brown College junior, said. “They include things like a reflection paper to show that the student understands their action and is not going to repeat it.

We also have things like a letter of apology, community service hours and a mandatory referral to the student wellbeing office to meet with an advisor to discuss the potential community impact of their actions.”

The COVID Community Court also

PETITION

CCC receives a report

CCC interviews the witnesses if necessary

A panel of three students on CCC reviews the case and interviews the students suspected of misconduct

CCC determines penalty

** off-campus conduct cases and serious on-campus infractions go directly to SJP

has the opportunity to penalize with a monetary fine, not to exceed $75, according to representative Izzy Williams. However, the court deemed this penalty unfair to low-income students and will likely not employ it unless absolutely necessary, according to Williams.

It’s not my role or our CJ’s role to be monitoring people, because we aren’t here to be the police and tell people what to do.

Rahul Popat WILL RICE COLLEGE PRESIDENT If students do not comply with the penalties they receive, their case will automatically go to SJP and will result in more serious consequences. All cases that involve more serious infractions are handled by SJP, according to Emily Garza, director of SJP. “Student Judicial Programs will resolve reports involving any off-campus conduct, in addition to on campus conduct that involves repeat offenders or behavior

Case goes to SJP if student does not comply with penalty

INFOGRAPHIC BY ANNA CHUNG

that represents intentional or flagrant disregard of the university’s rules related to COVID-19,” Garza said.

While the COVID Community Court is not responsible for off-campus misconduct, according to Garza, SJP will subject any student who comes to campus, or comes into contact with other students accessing campus, to the same penalties and expectations as on-campus students.

“All enrolled students were required to sign the Culture of Care agreement, regardless of whether they were planning to live on or off campus,” Garza said.

“Sanctions for on-campus and off-campus misconduct will be considered according to the same factors.”

According to Hwang, no student, in the court or otherwise, is contractually obligated to report misconduct they observe. College presidents and chief justices do not have the job of reporting or monitoring students, but may do so if necessary.

According to Rahul Popat, the president of Will Rice College, the college government’s role has mainly been coordinating with the public health advisors who will figure out how to navigate the realm of educating and regulating students on campus.

“It’s not my role or our CJ’s role to be monitoring people, because we aren’t here to be the police and tell people what to do,” Popat, a senior, said. “That is something

we have taken up right now, but in the long term, that is not something I see my role being and I think a lot of the CJs also don’t want that to be their role.”

Although they are not obligated to do so, students are encouraged by administration to report misconduct if necessary, according to Dean of Undergraduates Bridget Gorman.

Gorman also suggests trying to have a conversation with someone if possible to explain the consequences of their behavior.

“I think if you lead with a genuine and friendly demeanor, the conversation will go better than you might imagine,” Gorman said. “That said, it may be necessary for students to make reports, depending on the circumstances, and I hope that students will do so. No one person is responsible for reporting; everyone needs to promote accountability in their colleges and beyond to ensure that we can all enjoy a safe and successful semester.”

SJP handles more severe infractions witnessed or reported on and off campus, as well as all reports of off-campus misconduct, and penalties may include rustications or suspensions, according to Garza. Those who are referred to the COVID Community Court are not likely to be given harsh punishments unless repeated offenses are involved.

“I really think that a lot of these cases we are getting comes down to if people had thought for a minute more they wouldn’t have done it,” Williams said. “I think that for the people that we are getting, our penalties will help stop them from doing the same violation again.”

Hwang believes that students that are reported are often open to reconsidering their actions and modifying their behavior for the safety of others.

“I think a lot of times most people don’t have bad intentions, they just forget so if they are reminded by the COVID Community Court then they will remember for the rest of the semester,” Hwang said. “So I think [the COVID Community Court] is a particularly useful way to guide students.”

FROM PAGE 1

However, Shisler wrote that in the suite they lacked basic toiletries such as hand soap, which would have been provided for them in the communal bathroom they were originally assigned to use. (Editor’s note: Student Health Services would not comment on the medical hold category for this article.)

Although Will Rice College president Rahul Popat said he disagrees with many of the complaints included in the petition, he did have a concern unrelated to those listed by Shisler and Golen. Initially, he was worried that not enough people were being asked to quarantine by the contact tracing team after members of the Will Rice advising team tested positive for COVID-19.

As a result, Popat said he noticed that students were often more cautious about self-quarantining than the contact tracing team required them to be.

“Initially, a lot of people who were tangentially connected to that person selfquarantined, out of their own caution did that to be safe, and then Rice told them that they didn’t have to do that,” Popat said.

One issue with the contact tracing process, according to Popat, was that no one at Will Rice knew what the contact tracing team defined as “close contact,” which meant that they didn’t know whether they would be required to self-quarantine until a member of the team called them.

“It’s kind of really hard for us to determine who [they are] going to quarantine and who they aren’t because the definition of that isn’t super clear and it’s really up in the air to the circumstances of the situation — which I understand, but it’s also a little bit difficult for us,” Popat said.

Lisa Basgall, the Infection Control Group supervisor on the Crisis Management Team, said that the contact tracing team takes into account factors. “[If students are] less than 6 feet away for 15 minutes wearing masks, [it] would equal close contact, but things like what type of mask, what type of area and what type of activity would play a part,” Basgall said. “If someone is deemed to be a close contact, they would be asked to quarantine. Living in the same household or suite 99 percent of the time equals quarantine.”

In his petition, Shisler also brought up a concern for the nutritional options offered to vegetarian or vegan students, stating that it would take drastic measures for them to eat enough calories each day.

“At one of our daily team debriefs, I learned students with these restrictions were skipping meals as they knew they would not eat anything if they went to the servery,” Shisler wrote.

Since making the shift to pandemic operations, the dining staff has faced supply chain obstacles which have caused difficulty accessing certain ingredients, according to Johnny Curet, director of campus dining.

Curet said that in order to be able to provide consistent meals the staff has had to standardize the menus across campus.

“It’s still the same entrees, a little bit less variety than you’ve been expecting in the past, but they’re there for us to serve you,” Kyle Hardwick, assistant dining director and executive chef at Seibel Servery, said.

Hardwick said that hasn’t changed the way Housing and Dining accommodates dietary restrictions — through notifications from Disability Services as well as through

ILLUSTRATION BY YIFEI ZHANG

interaction with students themselves.

Victor Nguyen, who advised during O-Week this year, said he shared a similar view of the servery food as Shisler and Golen. Nguyen said that many O-Week advisors shared concerns that their new students weren’t eating enough due to limited food options.

“We know O-Week can be a mentally, physically, emotionally straining time, so in addition to making sure that you get enough rest, you definitely need all of the fuel that you can possibly get in order to make sure that you can get through it,” Nguyen said.

“So if that’s a concern during O-Week, I can

only imagine that concern growing even more dire as the school year continues.”

Hardwick said that if students have any special requests or need accommodations to meet their dietary restrictions, they should reach out to the chefs.

“The biggest thing that we always have addressed in the past is that people don’t reach out to us,” Hardwick said. “They just go, ‘Oh, there’s nothing for me,’ and we go, ‘Where have you been? We’ll take care of you.’”

This article has been condensed for print. Read the rest online at ricethresher. org.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2020 • 3

THE RICE THRESHER

OPINION EDITORIAL

FROM THE OPINION EDITOR’S DESK:

To our essential workers at Rice: Thank you for everything you do

On a typical morning this fall, on-campus students might drop by the servery for breakfast on the way to a class and pass contracted construction workers building the new Sid Richardson College dorms. We take weekly COVID-19 tests at centers staffed with volunteers, attend classes led by professors with little to no prior experience in online instruction and receive emails from student leaders who have had to take on enormous responsibilities beyond their job descriptions. Behind our daily actions are hundreds of people working hard and going above and beyond to ensure that we can maintain a semblance of normality in our college experience.

Without these workers, our campus could not have opened in the middle of a pandemic, and yet they have been refused such important accommodations.

But we’d be remiss if we didn’t extend the biggest thank you to our essential workers on campus — from our chefs to our custodial staffers, those who keep our surfaces disinfected and those who fill our disposable containers with food. The ones who don’t have the option to work remotely and can’t opt out of contact with students. Rice couldn’t operate without you.

Despite their designation as essential workers and heightened exposure to contagion, Rice’s Housing and Dining staffers do not receive hazard pay, as confirmed to us by Vice President for Administration Kevin Kirby. This, frankly, is outrageous. Without these workers, our campus could not have opened in the middle of a pandemic, and yet they have been refused such important accommodations. To us, this is a painful indication of where the administration’s priorities lie.

ASK THE STAFF

Your opinion doesn’t have to change the world

As students adjust to the new reality of on-campus life, it’s impossible not to notice that things are different — the way we interact with people, the spaces we live in, the food we eat. All of these are now limited; we can’t hang out without masks and six feet of distance, and we don’t have as wide of a food spread as we used to.

Although complaints about food varieties and dietary restrictions are valid, know that H&D has faced numerous obstacles in continuing to provide food for us, from pandemic-induced supply chain issues causing lapses in food availability and shipments to social distancing requirements imposing practical constraints. Despite facing these obstacles, H&D has always shared the same message: if you have a request or feedback, tell them. Even before the pandemic, the chefs at each servery went out of their way to communicate with students, wanting to learn more about our food likes and dislikes, allergies and dietary restrictions. If you’re facing an issue with food availability, you can do something — reach out to your servery’s chef, or your college’s food rep.

We know that everyone who chose to live on campus was promised some semblance of a return to normalcy, cue inspirational video. However, the quality of campus life simply cannot be the same as it’s been in years past. The agreement to live with restrictions and shortages is implicit in the agreement to live on campus. We’re all doing our best to adjust.

We want to stress the importance of following campus safety protocol and acting responsibility — not just for yourself but for all the staffers who don’t have the opportunities to avoid contact with you. Unlike some faculty and staff members who have the chance to work from home, the H&D workers who sanitize your college and prepare your food are required to be on campus and, as such, have a greater risk of exposure to COVID-19.

Editor’s Note: Thresher editorials are collectively written by the members of the Thresher’s editorial board. Current members include Rishab Ramapriyan, Ivanka Perez, Amy Qin, Elizabeth Hergert, Ella Feldman, Katelyn Landry, Rynd Morgan, Savannah Kuchar, Simona Matovic and Tina Liu.

“What hobby did you pick up during quarantine?”

“Tarot card reading #spiritualitybaby”

“Making and eating shakshuka”

“Falling off my penny board”

“Quilting (and stabbing myself in the thumb)”

- Amy Qin, Managing Editor

- Tina Liu, Design Director

- Ella Feldman, Features Editor

- Vi Burgess, Copy Editor

“My epic jump shot”

- Channing Wang, Photo Editor

“Making TikToks about my dog” - Savannah Kuchar, News Editor

courtesy elizabeth hergert

Welcome back to another year! I’ll spare you the discussion of its unprecedented nature and the challenges we’ll have to face and just say welcome.

It’s been a tumultuous summer, even for the opinion section of the Thresher. In previous years, we haven’t published any opinions over the summer, saving the hot takes for each semester. This past summer, we published 14 opinions and three staff editorials.

Members of our community, students and faculty alike, have written about anti-Blackness and anti-racism, Title IX and reopening campus, among other topics.

Including this past academic year, the opinion page has hosted 90 opinions, not counting weekly staff editorials. Some of these opinions have been met with the nearly inevitable backlash from Rice alumni who live to comment on the Thresher’s Facebook and others have been received more quietly — such is the opinion section.

In the past year especially, it seems as though the opinion section has been the starting point for student campaigns for change. While it can be a kickstarter, the opinion section can also just be a place to have your voice heard on something that’s important to you.

Not every opinion has to start a fight and change the university. You don’t have to be campaigning against the administration to write an opinion, though that’s certainly welcome, too. Some of my favorite pieces have been ones that explore something we take for granted in a new light, such as the value of our degree or how your language affects others. Yes, you should still try to change the world if that’s what you want, and if you’re a Rice student, being a try hard is inevitable.

But if you’d rather write about how we should allow pigeons on campus, be my guest.

If you’re worried about your submission being rejected, you should know we publish nearly every guest opinion we receive, except for ideas that would fit better into our other sections or drafts that don’t have enough of a factual basis. And we don’t edit without your permission. All edits are approved by the writer prior to publication, and everything is still in your own words. If you’re curious about our guidelines for publication, take a look at our opinion policy.

If you want to publish an opinion, send a draft to thresher@rice.edu and we’ll get started, no matter what you want to write about.

ELIZABETH HERGERT

Opinion Editor

STAFF Ivanka Perez* Editor-in-Chief Rishab Ramapriyan* Editor-in-Chief Amy Qin* Managing Editor

SPORTS Ben Baker-Katz Editor Daniel Schrager Asst. Editor

ONLINE Mateo D’Agaro Web Editor Audrey Yao Video Editor

NEWS Savannah Kuchar* Editor Rynd Morgan* Editor Talha Arif Asst. Editor Brian Lin Asst. Editor

OPINIONS Elizabeth Hergert* Editor

FEATURES Ella Feldman* Editor Kavya Sahni Asst. Editor

PHOTO Channing Wang Editor

DESIGN Tina Liu* Director Dalia Gulca A&E Designer Katherine Hui Sports Designer Anna Chung News Designer Yifei Zhang Illustrator Chloe Xu Illustrator

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Katelyn Landry* Editor Sanvitti Sahdev Asst. Editor

BACKPAGE Simona Matovic* Editor & Designer

COPY Vi Burgess Editor Bhavya Gopinath Editor

BUSINESS OPERATIONS Karoline Sun Business Manager Lindsay Josephs Advertising Manager Arshia Batra Marketing Manager Lily Wieland Distribution Manager *Editorial Board member

The Rice Thresher, the official student newspaper at Rice University since 1916, is published each Wednesday during the school year, except during examination periods and holidays, by the students of Rice University.

Letters to the Editor must be received by 5 p.m. the Friday prior to publication and must be signed, including college and year if the writer is a Rice student. The Thresher reserves the rights to edit letters for content and length and to place letters on its website.

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

Editorial and business offices are located on the second floor of the Ley Student Center: 6100 Main St., MS-524 Houston, TX 77005-1892 Phone (713) 348-4801 Email: thresher@rice.edu Website: www.ricethresher.org The Thresher is a member of the ACP, TIPA, CMA and CMBAM. © Copyright 2020

THE RICE THRESHER

4 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2020

FEATURES

Meet the presidents

Sidizens The Thresher is keeping up with the Sid Richardson College community. First up: Nia Prince.

See more at ricethresher.org

The 2020-2021 college presidents are preparing for an academic year like no other.

See more at ricethresher.org

FROM PAGE 1

BLACK AT RICE

family. Her parents separated when she was very young, which, in conjunction with attending a predominantly white school, affected her racial identity while growing up.

“I have a very interesting relationship with my racial identity [because] I was physically separated from my father,” Ukeh said. “I still have contact [with him] but physically not seeing him all the time and not having the home aspect, I think it really impacted how I saw myself as a biracial female and as especially too as white-passing.”

After Ukeh got accepted at Rice, she said her mom was thrilled, but nervous due to financial concerns that weighed on her mind. In March 2018, before starting her freshman year at Rice, Ukeh had filled out an application for a countywide scholarship in Rockwall, but she never received an invitation to the award ceremony — she said this is probably because the invitation got lost in the mail. She didn’t think that she had won any money, and requested an invitation to the ceremony only because she said she had already told her parents that she would be attending the event. What happened next, Ukeh said, was surreal.

“At the end of the night, I ended up getting $50,000 in [scholarships],” Ukeh said. “It’s just so crazy to me ... My mom was bawling, my whole family was there, I was shaking. I didn’t even think I was going to get anything. Each time they would call me up to the stage, it just felt not real.”

Attending a school whose students predominantly came from two-parent households and lived in two-story houses, Ukeh said that she really wanted that for her own family. Looking back now, Ukeh said that she’s able to appreciate nonmaterialistic things much more.

“We really do love each other and support each other. I feel like for a long time I didn’t really understand the breadth of what that meant,” Ukeh said.

“It makes me really feel like no matter where I am in the world, I can always go to my family.”

Ukeh first heard of Rice through her cousin, who was a thrower on the track and field team at Rice. After researching a bit more, Ukeh visited Rice on three different occasions, and said she felt at home immediately. One thing she noticed on her visits was how willing people at Rice were to help. Now, Ukeh does all she can to make sure that new students, especially new students of color, feel comfortable at Rice.

“I definitely think that I take pride in Rice now because of those moments,” Ukeh said. “I take pride that I get to be able to be a face for people, because I know there’s not a lot of people here that look like me, or that fall into this box, so whenever I do get the chance to direct somebody on campus or do anything in that capacity, I really am passionate about that.”

Another passion of Ukeh’s is bringing attention to the lack of Black faculty at Rice, which was also highlighted in the list of Black student demands published anonymously earlier this summer. In her two years at Rice, she has not had a single class taught by a Black professor.

Ukeh wants to go into hospital administration, and is going to be doing research at the Baylor College of Medicine. She’s involved in Partners in Health, which is an organization that brings attention to global disparities in healthcare and focuses on advocating for healthcare as a human right. Ukeh is majoring in social policy analysis and double minoring in business and medical humanities, and said she loves how relevant the classes are in the current social and political timeframe.

Outside of the classroom, Ukeh has found community in the Rice African Student Association and the Black Student Association. She says the groups have offered a welcoming space from the start where she’s built many friendships. She said she’s inspired by the people she’s met at these organizations, but often feels frustrated by the administration’s response to their advocacy on various issues. “[It] makes me frustrated whenever I see them advocating so hard and sometimes [the administration] doesn’t

always hear that directly, or they almost are tied or bound by alumni and what the alumni will think,” Ukeh said.

Ukeh said that she doesn’t think that discrimation necessarily shows itself in very aggressive and blatant ways, but a lot of incidents of racial discrimination that happen on the Rice campus have

I take pride that I get to be able to be a face for people, because I know there’s not a lot of people here that look like me, or that fall into this box.

Calista Ukeh BAKER COLLEGE JUNIOR come from Rice University Police Department. During her freshman year, Ukeh said she received an email from RUPD. It described a robber on campus as a “Black male with a backpack.”

“That could describe 350 people at our school who go to Rice, and they have just been deemed as a threat to campus,” Ukeh said. “At that moment, every Black male on campus would have been seen as a threat … and that is just unacceptable, to have RUPD send out a description that describes every Black male at Rice.”

Ukeh said that there have been several moments when Black students at Rice are questioned about whether or not they’re a student at Rice. She has personally experienced such a moment as well, when she was having dinner at Martel College.

“I was sitting there, and I had a Rice meal,” Ukeh said. “I look like a Rice student, I have a computer. I’m sitting there, and two [residential associates] from Martel walk up to me and ... they don’t even ask me my name. They’re like ‘Hi, do you go here?’ They were assuming that I would tell them what I’m doing here, like I have to defend myself.”

channing wang / thresher

Calista Ukeh, a junior at Baker College, is majoring in social policy analysis and double minoring in business and medical humanities. She said she loves how relevant the classes are in the current social and political timeframe.

Ukeh cares a lot about improving her residential college, Baker — she’s been an Orientation Week advisor and is currently the college’s secretary.

Ukeh said that Baker’s diversity committee and Cabinet have been very action-based and have been facilitating diversity well — the college sent out a statement about the Black Lives Matter movement and is thinking of using some of its budget to donate to charities that are dealing with the Black Lives Matter protests, she says. “[It’s] just ironic considering we’re the oldest residential college and that [we] were founded by an old white guy,” Ukeh said. “Baker has come a long way, not to say that we don’t have room to grow.”

Ukeh said that her level of involvement in Baker might appear to be in contradiction to the culture around being an athlete at Rice. She’s had this dual perspective throughout her time at Rice so far — she was considered a walkon to the team and had to go through the admissions process the same way a nonathlete applicant would.

“A lot of times people forget that I’m an athlete. I feel like I’m like a spy, almost,” Ukeh said. “I think I understand both aspects of athletics and student issues.”

In BSA, Ukeh is an athletic liaison — a position that may be added to Baker’s student government as well, according to Ukeh. She said she perceives a very big disconnect between Black athletes and other Black students, but it isn’t a divide that a lot of people are aware of.

RASA and BSA have both introduced an athletic liaison position in an effort to increase attendance at club meetings. “[Student-athletes] still have to go through SAT requirements,” Ukeh said “There’s a stigma around athletes, that they are not as smart, or they don’t deserve space if they are full scholarship. But there are criteria that they have to meet.”

Ukeh said that while the fact that Black students make up a relatively small section of the student population can be difficult, it does make people have conversations that they would not have had otherwise.

She doubts she would have had as many conversations about race and racial identity at a university with a bigger Black population. At the same time, Ukeh said that it isn’t always fair that Black students have to shoulder the burden of facilitating conversations and representing an entire community.

“There’s a fine balance between having to have these extra stresses of being a representation for your group, and also it’s a good opportunity to be able to share your adversities and share your trials and tribulations as a community, and be able to project that and have people listen,” Ukeh said. “I think it’s a balance between knowing when to step away and say okay, I need to focus on myself, and not worry about that as much, and you have to know when to stand up and speak up for your community.”

Editor’s Note: This is an installment of Black at Rice, a features series intended to highlight and celebrate Black voices on and off campus. Have someone in mind?

Nominate them at ricethresher.org.

READ MORE BLACK AT RICE AT RICETHRESHER.ORG

FEATURES

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2020 • 5

FROM PAGE 1

TITLE IX

Throughout the process, some student organizers said they felt like they needed to lead communication with the student body in the absence of transparent communication from Rice.

“We only knew [about the policies Rice was considering] because we were in the meeting, which was frustrating. We also felt like there were no kinds of attempts to solicit feedback from the student body undertaken by the administration,” Scannell, a Martel College senior, said. “We were constantly pulling teeth to set up town halls. We asked for a survey to be sent out. We asked for lots of things to be sent out that just didn’t happen. The burden was being put on us for these things rather than having it come from administration.”

According to Baker, one of the first documents the Title IX task force considered was the SA and STRIVE’s statement on the federal Title IX regulations, and there was broad agreement among members of the task force on six of their eight concerns outlined in the statement, including the standard of evidence and the scope of conduct that would be prohibited at Rice. The task force hosted three town halls to gather student feedback, and after publishing the policy and the rationale for writing it the way they did, they solicited more feedback via email, said Baker.

“I am sorry to hear that some students were frustrated with us, because our effort to include students throughout the process of writing our new Title IX policy was thoughtful and robust,” Baker said. “Student input was truly integral to our work and to the policy and processes that resulted.”

Beyond a lack of transparency on behalf of the administration, student activists had a number of concerns with some specific policies Rice implemented, and others they didn’t. On July 16, STRIVE released a statement on ways they felt Rice’s draft Title IX policy was insufficient. One such policy was a suggested 60-75 day time limit on the length that a sexual assault investigation and hearing can last, which was ultimately not included in Rice’s policy to the disappointment of activists, according to Brown.

“The reasoning behind why we asked on by both parties outside of a hearing for this [time limit] was because we already process, will work under the new policy. know that these new rules are going to Informal resolutions were not previously make it a more re-traumatizing process for allowed by Title IX, and Brown said STRIVE survivors,” Brown said. “We were trying to plans on being involved in defining the minimize that. We wanted survivors to not procedures surrounding them.

“We really need to work on ensuring we have cases that drag on for long periods of have safe informal resolution processes,” time, that become further traumatizing.”

Even with the official Title IX policy now Brown said. “It’s typically something less in effect, student activists are still doing serious, like making sure a responding work, especially concerning the yet to be student cannot go into a reporting student’s finished Title IX procedures, which is a residential college, but we really want to separate document that explains how the make sure that this informal resolution new legal guidelines will be implemented at process actually brings justice and is Rice. The administration has yet to release organized effectively by Rice in the safest and most appropriate way.” that document.

As the fall semester unfolds, the STRIVE “That’s a big first step. Can we get into Executive that procedure?

Council wants to Can we make increase overall sure the specifics transparency are traumaa n d informed and communication helpful for between the survivors at student body Rice?” Emami and Rice said. “The next administration step for our concerning advocacy is interpersonal making sure violence and that students Title IX hearings. are aware that Maddy Scannell Brown said the this policy is group is pushing in place, how EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF STRIVE for Rice to release it changes and how we can support students through this aggregate data of interpersonal violence statistics and case results. They’re also process.”

In regard to the formation of the new hoping to lead other institutions towards Title IX procedures, Scannell said a key similar efforts to protect survivors.

“Something that we’re really trying to do concern is the availability of equitable legal representation for students who are is to make sure that Rice is setting an example for other universities regarding effectively selecting advisors for the process.

“We’ve consistently been pushing for Rice upholding survivors’ rights,” Brown said. to fund attorneys for students going through “We want to be the gold standard of helping the process, and they’ve repeatedly alluded survivors and making sure that they are able to a list that exists of pro bono advisors to continue their education seriously.”

In the face of frustrations they have which includes apparently some Rice alumni who are attorneys,” Scannell said. with the administration’s handling of “But that’s not good enough for us. If one Title IX, student advocates are also doing side is hiring an attorney with specialization work beyond the policy and procedures in Title IX, having some dusty tax lawyer themselves. Education on topics such who graduated from Rice is not equitable as active and ongoing consent and what a healthy relationship should look representation.”

Another procedural aspect STRIVE is like is key to decreasing incidences of keeping an eye on, said Brown, is how interpersonal violence across campus, informal resolutions, or an agreement settled according to Karohl.

We were constantly pulling teeth to set up town halls. We asked for a survey to be sent out. We asked for lots of things to be sent out that just didn’t happen.

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“I’ve learned that for Rice, education, prevention, support are all just paramount,” Karohl said. “This is one of those things that coming into college I was like, ‘This could never, never happen — not to me, not to my friends, not to anyone.’ But it does.”

Over the summer, STRIVE and the SA released a graphic that summarized early student recommendations to protect survivors’ rights. STRIVE circulated a graphic that summarized the impact of the changes specifically in regards to Rice’s final policy and student code of conduct. Karohl also led a teach-in to review major Title IX guideline changes on May 18. Later that summer, she released a graphic that reviewed some student priorities before one of the town halls with STRIVE, the SA and select Rice University administrators.

Although advocates believe there is more to be done on Rice’s part to foster a safe environment, Scannell says the policy itself still has strong protections in place.

“Even though we have criticized the administration, they’ve put forth policy that we think will still protect students, staff and faculty moving forward,” Scannell said. “So, even though reporting will look different, there’s still strong protections in place that shouldn’t discourage people from reporting.”

Whether students report or not, Rice still offers a host of resources for survivors of interpersonal violence that can be utilized by students on or off campus, including the SAFE Office and STRIVE liaisons, which Emami highly encourages students to reach out to for any help.

“Regardless of how the official policy has changed, none of the support structures that are there for survivors have changed.

The SAFE Office is still equally as accessible.

STRIVE liaisons are equally as accessible. If anything, we’re going to try to ramp up our visibility, because we know that this hearing may be a scary process,” Emami said. “We are still there for you as much as if not more than we were before. If you’re worried about the new policy, you should come speak to us, because we are the ones that have been in the process, and we’re more than happy to explain what’s changed and walk through what your new options are, or just talk to you if you want to talk to someone.”

Disclaimer: Morgan Gage is a STRIVE liaison.

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1 Fallback?

11 Dinosaur limbs?

12 Enemy debate 13 Tritagonist of Monsters, Inc. 14 Follows Hugo or mob 15 Comes in sea and street varieties 18 Hints at 21 Love, in Spain 23 Sic [sic] 25 Gifted shirt?

28 End of litigation?

29 One who prefers a kettle to a keg?

1 Flshng Lght?

2 When mingled with fcts, facetious 3 Prefer 4 Shorter than an eon 5 ___ Aviv 6 1000 petabits 7 Rodgers, Burr, and Paul 8 Wnd, nclr, and gthrml?

9 Unlikely winners of namesake Australian war 10 When doubled, the bane of Sub-Saharan Africa 16 Portal, for 13-across 17 Legalese for regarding 19 Relating to base 8 20 Sister’s daughter 21 A Charmin Bear’s favorite body part, in the UK 22 When supersized, it becomes a plateau 24 To fall, in Mexico 25 Breakfast butter unit 26 Worldwide agreement to reduce nuc. weapons 27 Choice beverage at Boston Harbor, or hint for 1-across, 11-across, 25-across, and 29-across

THE RICE THRESHER

6 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2020

ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT Asian artists reflect on the pandemic in new exhibit JOSIE GARZA FOR THE THRESHER

“forgive but not forget” by sherry tseng hill. photo courtesy of artist.

Now on display in Fondren Library, Houston Asian American Archive’s “Faces in the Pandemic” exhibit explores Asian American experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic through dynamic visual art, fostering reflection and discussion on relevant topics of racism, isolation, history and intersectionality. The exhibit explores a history of Asian American discrimination from the early 1800s to today and prompts the viewer to think about what this moment will look like in our collective history.

The Houston Asian American Archive, managed by the Chao Center for Asian Studies and housed in the Woodson Research Center, brought together a diverse group of local artists to respond to the outright violence and subtle prejudices experienced by the Asian American community during the pandemic. The artists combined inspirations from the historical archives and their personal family histories to create a message of unity in the face of uncertainty and suffering. Works featured in the exhibit blend more traditional artforms with contemporary issues as a celebration of cultural diversity but also a demand for change.

Many of the pieces address a painful reckoning with history in order to look towards a better future. Houston-based artist

Victor Ancheta’s clock piece “The Good Hour” uses motifs of time, religion and death to portray the culmination of events in 2020. “I chose time [as the topic] really because I think what’s been happening to our society has happened before,” Ancheta said.

Local artist Sherry Tseng Hill’s horizontal scroll timeline piece “Forgive but not Forget” displays a history of events of discrimination against Asian Americans, such as anti-Filipino violence and Japanese internment camps, many of which are not taught in schools.

“If you don’t forgive people and the slights that have been done to you, not only do those things live in your head and fester in you, but you just could never come out of it,” Hill said about the title of her piece. “So you have to forgive. But... that’s something we shouldn’t forget so we don’t repeat it and that we can overcome it.”

Many of the artists embrace the process of relearning and reconciling with history in order to better conceptualize Asian American futurism, a contemplation of how the future will impact the community’s social and cultural values. Brandon Tho Harris, another Houston-based artist, uses deconstruction and reconstruction as a process of healing in his piece “Not Your Virus,” which is made out

of woven traditional Asian American fabrics, hats and gold thread. “The piece is many different slices of this traditional Vietnamese garment, which is not only traditional to Vietnamese people but even the motifs in this textile are found in China, Japan, all different ranges of Asian cultures. I deconstructed that, and then I started weaving them kind of representing people and coming together and how something can be so strong together but if it’s just one, it’s weak,” Harris said.

Be unafraid to dream of a utopia and actively work towards it alongside community members.

Antonius Tin Bui ARTIST Antonius Tin Bui’s work reflects on history through a piece that reclaims the Zippo lighters carried by American soldiers during the Vietnam War as well as through an intricate red and blue paper cutting series titled “ReModel Minority.” Bui, a former

REVIEW: “SMILE” DISAPPOINTS

resident artist at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, said that they hope to challenge ideas of patriotism and call out how the American Dream is inaccessible for many. “[The American Dream] is built on the idea that success equates to financial stability, to whiteness, to becoming apolitical, to silence and to really just becoming a puppet to the American system and the American industry,” Bui says.

The COVID-19 pandemic has given many the time and space to reevaluate their missions as individuals and institutions.

Instead of hopelessness and resignation, Bui encourages readers to be fearless.

“Be unafraid to dream of a utopia and actively work towards it alongside community members,” Bui said.

The “Faces in the Pandemic” exhibit encourages viewers to think about what this moment in history calls for and emphasizes that no amount of work towards a more just society will go unnoticed. Exhibiting both quiet activism and blatant protests, the exhibit provides a glimpse of art as a language that simultaneously acknowledges the past and demands change in our communities.

The exhibit is on display for Rice students, faculty and staff in Fondren Library until Nov. 15.

JACOB TATE SENIOR WRITER

JAMES KARROUM THRESHER STAFF

Aug. 24 was the 10th anniversary of Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream,” her generation-defining pop album.

She then delivered her first child on Aug. 26 after an engagement with Orlando Bloom last year, and two days later, dropped her sixth studio album, “Smile.” Her latest album was disappointing, nothing like the Katy Perry you know, and only the third most significant part of her week.

Read the full review online at ricethresher.org.

I listened to [The Ready Set’s “Feel Good Now” EP] exhaustively for this review, searching for a “least favorite moment.” Thing is, I don’t have one. Even the cheesiest and cringiest moments, from underthought lyrics (“Be the Hills to my Beverly”) to video game risers, are in the pursuit of pure pop fun.

Visit ricethresher.org to read the first installment of “Forgotten Gems,” a new series that takes a look back at the best albums of yonder pubescent years.

FORGOTTEN GEM: “FEEL GOOD NOW”

WEEKLY SCENES AND SCREENS OPEN DANCE PROJECT

PUBLIC POETRY

PRISMATIC TAIWAN

Visit the Moody Center for the Arts’ YouTube channel on Sept. 4 at noon CST to witness a performance by Open Dance Project, a Houston dance company, a response to Erin Curtis’s public art installation “Light Shift” accompanied by live music.

Join Houston Public Library for its final Public Poetry summer series event this Saturday, Sept. 5 at 2 p.m. via Zoom.

Enjoy free live readings from acclaimed poets January O’Neil, Khaya Osborne, Aris Kian and Alexis Mercedes.

Celebrate the past and present of queer Taiwanese cinema during Prismatic Taiwan, a virtual, six-film series.

All films will be available for streaming in the U.S. from Sept. 4 to Sept.

13. Presale series passes are available at a discounted price until Sept. 3, so don’t delay!

Tune in at youtube.com/moodycenterforthearts.

Register online at houstonlibrary.org/ learn-explore/library-events/public-poetry.

Purchase your tickets online at aaafilmfest.org/prismatic-taiwan.

AUDRE LORDE DOCUMENTARY As part of the Goethe Institut’s “Queer as German Folk” exhibit, the documentary film “Audre Lorde — The Berlin Years 1984 to 1992” will be available to digitally stream for free from Sept. 4 10 a.m. CST to Sept.

6 12 a.m. CST. To receive the streaming link by email, register at https://bit.ly/34Jhytn.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2020 • 7

THE RICE THRESHER

SPORTS Football set to start fall season Oct. 3 at Marshall University BEN BAKER-KATZ SPORTS EDITOR

In a summer that was full of uncertainty, the return college sports has been one of the biggest unknowns.

As the school year begins and decision making windows shrink, it appears that Conference USA will move forward with the plan to play football this fall.

Head coach Mike Bloomgren praised his team’s commitment throughout an extraordinarily strange summer.

“Our staff and our players have done an incredible job in continuing to adapt each time we’ve had to reset the timeline and focus on the goal of improving every day,” Bloomgren said. “They have accepted the challenges and continue to attack them with creativity and determination.”

We’ve had to accept the limitations in place because of the protocols and embrace new approaches.

Mike Bloomgren RICE FOOTBALL HEAD COACH This summer has had its fair share of setbacks and rescheduling.

On Aug. 10, Rice Football announced that it would delay the start of its season from Sept. 3, and push it back to Sept. 26. This effectively canceled their previously scheduled games against the University of Houston and Army. With Rice restricting outdoor gatherings to under 50 people and the NCAA limiting

the number of full practices they can hold, there was no choice but to delay the season.

More recently, Lamar University and Rice agreed to cancel their Sept. 26 game, the only remaining nonconference game on Rice’s schedule. However, it is possible that the Owls could add another nonconference game to their schedule, likely against Houston or Army. Bloomgren expressed frustration with the uncertainty of the current situation. “[The hardest part has been] the inability to provide the answers to those players and coaches who desperately want them,” Bloomgren said. “We’ve had to accept the limitations in place because of the protocols and embrace new approaches.”

According to players, the main challenge for the team is to abide by those guidelines. Senior tight end Jordan Myers said it has required “continuous reminders” about social distancing off the field.

“The leaders of this team, young and old, have taken it upon themselves to speak up when there is someone who isn’t following the guidelines to the standard that we, as a team, hold ourselves to,” Myers said. “With the team eager to play this fall, there’s been no issue for our leaders to come together and keep everyone safe.”

As it stands now, Rice will open its season on the road against Marshall University on Oct. 3 and will host their home opener the following weekend against the University of Alabama, Birmingham on Oct. 10. Bloomgren said that he believes the team, and university as a whole, are in a good position to start the season.

“Our sports medicine team has been tireless in their efforts to create the protocols

courtesy rice athletics

The Rice Stadium has yet to host a football game this season, as the season is set to start Oct. 3. As of now, the team has no scheduled nonconference games to play, but may add one at a later date.

needed,” Bloomgren said. “The entire campus community has come together to create the best environment possible. We’re in the best place possible to be prepared to move forward with the season.”

The team is currently conducting walk-throughs and conditioning in small groups. While wearing masks and face shields, they can line up in football formations and go through reads and plays at a walk and with no impact. Senior wide receiver Austin Trammell said that the hardest part of these walkthroughs has been the lack of competition.

“The biggest challenge of not having full practices has been not being able to compete against an actual defense,” Trammell said. “It is very different running plays on air rather than when someone is in your face trying to stop you.

Other players have echoed Tramell’s sentiment. Junior linebacker Antonio Montero said that while the smaller practices are helpful with distancing, it takes away from the social component of being on a team.

“The small practice groups are a good way to distance and diminish the risk of spreading COVID, but they take away from the social aspect of workouts and the camaraderie that comes with being on the team,” Montero said. “Overall, we have handled being in a small group professionally and with little complaints.

I think we are all just happy to be back.”

The Owls will likely start running full practices within the next week, with this Saturday, Sept. 5 being floated as a potential start date for training camp.

The NCAA allows teams 25 training camp practices (with one off-day each week) before the season starts. In order to get all of those practices in, the Owls will have to start soon. Bloomgren expects his players to be ready when the time comes.

“We have challenged the players since March to ‘Win the Wait’ and stay positive, knowing that this too shall pass,” Bloomgren said. “Our team knows that the work we do in the darkness of COVID-19 will show itself under the stadium lights whenever we [are able] play.”

Rec and IMs continue to operate, adjust to new measures DANIEL SCHRAGER ASST SPORTS EDITOR

At a time when many gyms and recreation centers across the country are shuttering their doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rice’s Gibbs Recreation and Wellness Center, which reopened from a temporary closure on Aug. 3, is taking a number of measures in order to remain open.

“We’ve worked hard to try and keep it safe, so that [students] can keep [their] health up and [their] fitness up,” Senior Associate Athletic Director for Recreation

Tina Villard said in a YouTube video posted by Rice in mid-August.

According to Assistant Director for Competitive Sports Chris Watkins, the most notable changes have been efforts to reduce the Rec’s capacity. In order to ensure that the gym does not fill beyond a safe capacity, access is available by reservation only.

Students can reserve appointments in the weight room, cardio room or pool.

Reservations are made on the Rec’s website on a first-come, first-serve basis, and can be made anywhere between 12 hours to five days in advance.

channing wang / thresher

Rice’s Gibbs Recreation Center (above) reopened on Aug. 3 with protective measures in place. Those measures include a reservation system, distanced equipment and sanitation after each workout.

“Our plan is to reopen the facility in phases, with limitations [on] occupancy and programming expanding each phase,” Watkins said. “How quickly we move through the phases will depend on guidance from the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and [Environmental Protection Agency], the regulatory laws of the state and the health of our community.”

The Rec also mandates that visitors are required to wear masks at all times.

The equipment is distanced and sanitized after each workout, and guest passes (for non-students) are no longer being sold in order to limit exposure to people who are not subject to Rice’s COVID-19 protocols.

For the most part, the reopening has gone smoothly according to most reports.

Watkins said that the Rec feels as though these measures have been working to keep students and employees safe.

One problem has appeared though: According to a number of students, reservations are incredibly hard to find.

According to the Rec’s website, reservations can be very difficult to come by. Particularly with the weight room, spots fill up very quickly. At the time of this publication, while there were as many as 24 reservations open in some time slots for the cardio room, there is not a single reservation open for the weight room in the next week. “[Appointments] fill up within 10 to 15 minutes [of being posted],” said Zach Rewolinski, a sophomore at Hanszen College who visits the Rec regularly. “[A friend and I] set alarms on our phones so that we know when to sign up.”

In all other facets, however, Rewolinski has been impressed with how the Rec has handled its reopening.

Our plan is to reopen the facility in phases, with limitations [on] occupancy and programming expanding each phase.

Chris Watkins ASST DIRECTOR FOR COMP. SPORTS “Once I get an appointment, I feel completely safe going,” he said. “[The problem] is just the reservation system.”

As for intramural sports, the Rec has created a schedule of modified events that meet COVID-19 safety standards. This schedule includes some in-person sports, as well as 15 esports offerings.

According to Watkins, in-person offerings include both individual sports that can be played at a proper distance, and modified team sports such as team home-run derby, or punt, pass and kick competitions.

“Each in-person competition has been adapted to support the current physical distancing guidelines,” Watkins said.

These measures have made going to the Rec very different than it has been in the past.

While it may take time for students to fully adjust to them, they have allowed the Rec to remain open during this unique semester.

BACKPAGE

8 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2020

LPAPs to Enroll in Before the Add Deadline This Friday, Sept. 4, is the last day to add courses online via Esther. Maybe you still have space in your schedule, or maybe you’re trying to make space by getting rid of a class you’re already somehow behind in (don’t worry, just keep dropping and re-enrolling in physics until the last possible semester when you can take it). With the Rec at limited capacity and everyone living a much more confined life, adding LPAPs is a great way to get moving.

Consider these options that still have spots open.

Monday

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LPAP -273.15: Intro to Freeze Dance Course Description: Sure, you played freeze dance at pizza parties as a kid. But the applications of freeze dance are endless in a remote environment.

This course will target the upper body: head, shoulders, no knees, no toes — no knees, no toes. Head, shoulders, no knees, no toes — no knees, no toes! Yes, eyes, ears, mouth and nose. Again, head, shoulders, no knees, no toes. Why train these areas? They’re visible on Zoom. This LPAP will provide the transferable kinesthetic skills you need to pretend to freeze in your other classes when you don’t want to answer a question or join a discussion. In doing so, you’ll regain key time for mental restoration, although you may eventually lose key points for participation.

LPAP 13: Streaking in a Pandemic Course Description: While a typical Baker 13 is not feasible under current circumstances, the spirit of Baker 13 has actually been with us throughout this pandemic. Every day, all of us observe Rule Number Five of Baker 13: Always keep the most important part of your body covered — your face. Plus, masks are much more breathable than a thick layer of shaving cream.

With gyms around the country closed and the rest at limited capacity, lots of people are taking up running — often outside of typical exercise hours to avoid other runners, when possible. This course encourages a new take on a Rice tradition that will ensure anyone you see out on the streets stays far away from you: streak. Extra credit will be awarded to students who master using the projectile of shaving cream cans to maintain six feet of distance.

Wednesday

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LPAP 69: Wait Training Course Description: Although the Weight Training LPAP is always full due to its popularity, Wait Training is an entirely new course that will teach you how to wait out your needs for physical affection in order to prevent the spread of Coronavirus.

You may not have personally been planning on “waiting until marriage,” but you’re probably going to have to wait a little longer to hook up with anyone than you thought you would have six months ago.

Instructors have gone through extensive training with Chi Alpha to best condition you to curb your urges, but let’s face it — you’re a Rice student, you wouldn’t have been feeling very much touch even if you wanted to.

LPAP 21: Intermediate Pub Dancing Course Description: While bars, including Pub, remain closed in the state of Texas, Rice students can still simulate what it’s like to attend a Pub Night at the beloved establishment in the RMC basement. This course will play slightly muffled music over Zoom in order to mimic the issues with Pub’s sound system and students can choose their own moves while attempting to speak to fellow classmates while everyone’s microphone is halfmuted. In addition, students will be required to create their very own sticky floor via a DIY project. As far as other materials, students will have to provide either their own bucket of sweat to drench themselves in (preferably a mixture of several strangers’ sweat for authenticity) or walk into a warm shower fully clothed before class to simulate what a crowded Thursday feels like.

The Backpage is satire, written by Simona Mind-Body-Connection and designed by Sweaty Matovic. For comments or questions, please email JamesJoyceLovesFarts@rice.edu

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Contact 832-428-8330 and email resume to sri.iyengar@sriacademicservices.com GARAGE APARTMENT AVAILABLE only serious, single graduate students need apply One-mile northwest of campus: walk/ bike street parking Partially furnished; carpet, QueenBed/linens, dishes/flatware/ utensils, A/C/electric heaters Three rooms; grand-room, kitchen/alcove, shower/bath NO: smoking anywhere, pets, children $650

plus gas/electricity, deposit jwsantamaria@ netscape.net/713-522-0395

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