The Rice Thresher | Wednesday, February 2, 2022

VOLUME 106, ISSUE NO. 18 | STUDENT-RUN SINCE 1916 | RICETHRESHER.ORG | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2022

MICHELLE GACHELIN

ASST A&E EDITOR

To many, Rice PRIDE events are just that — capitalized and in technicolor.

Last Thursday, the undergraduate club’s Open Mic Night offered students a more intimate setting to express themselves and connect with listeners, who received them with earnest applause and words of support. Throughout the night, the energy ebbed and flowed as students presented their art with topics ranging from sobering to inspiring. Guidelines were purposefully left open-ended, since the event was intended to provide a communal space for performers to make the night their own.

According to Anthony Nguyen, Rice PRIDE co-president, the idea for the event had been floated around for a while before being brought up again at a recent meeting.

“Open Mic Night sort of came up in conversation at one of our executive

Pub reopens, plans temporary location for next year

board meetings last week,” Nguyen, a Hanszen College senior, said. “We wanted a new event to kick off the semester and the new year. A lot of our bigger events tend to be social events, so we figured we would change it up a little bit.”

Gargi Samarth, one of the organization’s general leads, said in anticipation of the event that they were looking forward to the connection it can enable in real time, as well as the feedback that the audience can organically deliver.

“I’m really excited [that people could] share their thoughts and feelings and individual experiences especially relating to their queer identities,” Samarth, a Brown College junior, said. “I feel like it’s really important to provide a sort of formalized space where people can hear from each other, and express their art [or whatever other creation you want to call it] and have other people listen and give feedback.”

SEE PRIDE OPEN MIC PAGE 8 Willy’s Pub resumed their normal operating hours Jan. 31, serving both food and alcohol, according to Elizabeth Groenewold, Pub’s general manager.

Earlier that Monday, Kevin Kirby, chair of

PRAYAG GORDY

SENIOR WRITER

t h e Crisis

BEN BAKER-KATZ / THRESHER

Management A d v i s o r y Committee, announced the end of indoor dining restrictions, allowing Pub and Valhalla to return to normal operations. On Tuesday, Bridget Gorman, dean of undergraduates, sent her own email permitting indoor alcohol consumption in the residential colleges. “[This is] definitely a pleasant surprise,” Groenewold said. “From my last contact with admin I wasn’t expecting

Rice PRIDE hosts first Open Mic Night

CHANNING WANG / THRESHER

us to be able to open for at least another two weeks, so I am super excited that they decided it was safe to move up the opening and loosen COVID restrictions.”

Gorman said she is happy to see fewer COVID cases than at the beginning of the semester. Publics may return as early as mid-semester, she added.

“I’m not sure yet, but I’m hopeful [we can have publics] by mid-semester,” Gorman wrote in an email to the Thresher.

“This will be an important topic to discuss with magisters and student leadership, as decisions around timing, the number of publics allowed and rules for re-starting these events need to be worked out.”

At the end of the semester, Rice will begin reconstructing the Rice Memorial Center, requiring Pub to find a temporary location for the coming academic year, Groenewold said. Potential sites for Pub include the Roost — the concession stand at the baseball stadium — and two spaces on the second floor of Tudor Fieldhouse.

“It hasn’t been totally finalized yet,” Groenewold said. “I assume by the end of February, it’ll be pretty much finalized.

That would be my timeline if I had to guess.”

Tanner Gardner, the athletics department’s chief operating officer, said his team is working to resolve logistical concerns.

“There’s really nothing that’s a finality,” Gardner said. “We’re working through logistical topics as to how we’d

Outgoing presidents look back on their terms Rice’s 11 college presidents began their terms last spring, in the midst of a pandemic and an unsure school year. Since then, they have had to lead their residential colleges through many changes, from Constitutional rewrites to relaxed or heightened public health regulations. As their terms near their end, the Thresher invited the presidents to reflect both on themselves and their important role.

Interviews have been edited for clarity.

Rice Thresher: What accomplishment from your term are you most proud of?

Kennedy Coleman, Brown College junior: I think my proudest accomplishment is helping to bring some of Brown culture back through more events and activities, but the most tangible [is] the addition of an Announcement GroupMe that many people had asked for in the past.

Sarah Mozden, Sid Richardson College senior: The transition to New Sid was really hard on our community. We

were still struggling to find our sense of community when I started my term, and I’m proud of the work I’ve done to bring Sid together and create a new culture.

Lila Frenkel, Duncan College senior: This year we reinstated Duncan Week, a celebration of Duncan’s dedication/ birthday. We had 11 events for the 11 years since Duncan’s dedication, and it was a really special week for our college. It’s incredible to see the community and energy that’s formed at Duncan this year, and Duncan Week is something Duncan students have expressed interest in continuing in future years. On a campuswide level, I’m really proud of the extended study hours in Duncan Hall, Rayzor Hall and Kraft Hall.

This was a president-led effort, and it was a great opportunity to work with multiple offices and tangibly improve conditions on campus for students!

Jayaker Kolli, Will Rice College junior: I campaigned on constitutional reform, because Will Rice has had some issues with the lack of clarity in

our governing documents. I formed a committee last spring to review and rewrite our Constitution and By-Laws, and the new documents were passed in a referendum in December. I’m excited to see how the new Constitution and By-Laws are implemented over the next year or two.

SEE COLLEGE PRESIDENTS PAGE 6

make it work given [that] we host a number of events in each of those venues throughout the year. Secondarily, there are some rules from the [Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission] around licensing.”

Gardner said he does not have a timeline for finalizing any agreement, which he said is partly due to the TABC licensing process.

“I can say if it’s possible for us to make it happen, we will make it happen,” Gardner said. “We’d like to collaborate with Pub on this, we think there’s a mutually beneficial outcome to it. But ultimately, at this point, I think it’s still hard to say given the TABC questions.”

Frank Rodriguez, the board president of V&W Permits, which oversees Pub, said he has been in contact with TABC. “There are TABC permitting issues that would need to be resolved,” Rodriguez wrote in an email to the Thresher. “The basic problem is that both Pub and Athletics may not be permitted to the same location. I’m certain that most any location will pose logistical challenges, but our first order of business is finding a landing spot … We hope to work something out with Athletics if that is possible. Otherwise, we will continue to search.”

The Roost is Pub’s preference, Groenewold said, even though it is farther away from the residential colleges than the RMC.

SEE PUB REOPENING PAGE 2 ZOE KATZ

SENIOR WRITER JAYAKER KOLLI / THRESHER

2 • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2022

THE RICE THRESHER

FROM FRONT PAGE

PUB REOPENING

NDIDI NWOSU / THRESHER

New drinking buddy?

Wasp species discovered outside of Valhalla HAJERA NAVEED

ASST NEWS EDITOR A new insect species, a type of cynipid gall wasp, was discovered right outside Valhalla, and subsequently described in a paper published this month in the journal of Systematic Entomology. The wasp was named Neuroterus Valhalla, after the location of its original discovery.

Pedro Brandão-Dias, lead author on the paper, said he first collected this gall wasp from the branches of a live oak tree on campus in 2018.

A graduate student in Scott Egan’s evolutionary biology lab, BrandãoDias was collecting a separate gall wasp species to sequence its genome when he encountered the new species.

“We found this weird looking bug, and the reason we knew it was new immediately is because Egan has been working with [gall wasps] for ten years now and he … knows all the species described in the system,” BrandãoDias said. “When he saw that it was galling the flowers, he was like ‘I’ve never seen anything in the museums galling the flowers that looks like this, it has to be new.’”

Egan, associate professor in Biosciences, said that when they sent the sample of gall wasps collected to be sequenced, they noticed something unexpected.

“There was this very genetically distinct group that no one had ever seen before,” Egan said. “We put it on the backburner and kept doing other things.”

In 2019, Kelly Weinersmith, an adjunct assistant professor at Rice, collected a sample of gall wasps on a trip to Florida, and from it emerged a species of wasp that she said she had not seen before.

“The things that I expected did come out, but then additionally this other wasp came out that I couldn’t identify,” Weinersmith said. “It sort of looked like the gall wasp I was looking

for, but it was clearly not the same species.”

Weinersmith sent the unidentifiable gall wasp to a collaborator at the University of Iowa, Andrew Forbes, who confirmed that the wasps were a different species that he could not immediately identify.

“For a while, that was sort of the end of the story,” Weinersmith said.

“Until Pedro found something else that sort of put the life cycles together.”

Brandão-Dias said that he decided to take initiative on this project because he thought it was a great opportunity.

We found this weird looking bug, and the reason we knew it was new immediately is because Egan has been working with [gall wasps] for ten years now and he … knows all the species described in the system.

Pedro Brandão-Dias LEAD AUTHOR He collected more wasps from the live oak trees on Rice’s campus and continued to study them.

“I always wanted to describe a species,” Brandão-Dias said. “That is kind of the dream for any biologist, so when I saw the opportunity I said yes.”

When it came time to name the species, Pedro said he wanted to name it something related to Rice since it was found in the tree next to Valhalla.

The wasp itself is a small, onemillimeter-long insect that does not sting. Egan said that because of the size of the wasp compared to the tree it resides on, it is not surprising that new species are still being found.

“When you think about how big a live oak tree is, and how many

different gall wasps are on there, it’s not surprising we found something that hasn’t been described by science,” Egan said. “But at the same time, [I am] very surprised that we are discovering new species right out the front door of the biology building in the fourth largest city in the United States.”

According to Egan, many species of insects that have yet to be discovered are likely residing on Rice’s campus right now. In 2017, Egan and Weinersmith collaborated to describe a predatory gall wasp that had been right outside Egan’s lab at Rice for millenia.

Camila Vinson, an undergraduate researcher in Egan’s lab, contributed to the discovery of the new species when she joined in 2020. She said her role consisted of collecting samples from the branches, and observing whether the new species emerged out of them.

Vinson, a Brown College senior, is writing her senior thesis on the behavioral changes of these wasps as a result of climate change. Vinson said she was surprised that new species were still being found at Rice.

“To me, it was like how could we possibly not know that this species was around,” Vinson said. “But on the other hand it was really cool because it shows that in an urban environment new species … have the opportunity to form all the time, which is really awesome from an evolutionary perspective.”

Egan said that this discovery was a result of efforts from individuals trained in a variety of fields.

“These types of discoveries are team events,” Egan said. “First off, Pedro, the graduate student in the lab … he was the one really pushing all of this and helping all of this happen.

Andrew Forbes, from Iowa and his graduate student, Anna, made a contribution. Kelly, doing rearing and being familiar with the systems over in Florida. Everyone on that list made an important contribution.”

“We mostly felt the Roost was the best choice,” Groenewold said. “I am worried. It’s not an ideal location, but the issue is, there is no ideal location other than the RMC, like we couldn’t exactly ask [Fondren] if we can put Pub in the basement, that just wouldn’t work out. I am grateful that athletics is helping us, [as] they had zero obligation to, they just said they were willing.”

Whether Pub is at the Roost or at Tudor Fieldhouse, they would not be able to open while athletics events are running, according to Gardner.

“When our basketball games are going on, or when our baseball games are going on, those areas would be unavailable,” Gardner said. “However, we did have conversations with [Groenewold] around if, let’s say it’s a Thursday, and we have a basketball game from seven to nine, they would possibly be able to open right afterwards.”

Another concern Groenewold said is that Tudor Fieldhouse may not have an accessible elevator during Pub’s hours.

“Tudor is often closed at night,” Groenewold said. “When we’re open, it would be hard to find an elevator that students could use to get to the second floor.”

It’s not an ideal location, but the issue is, there is no ideal location other than the RMC, like we couldn’t exactly ask [Fondren] if we can put Pub in the basement, that just wouldn’t work out.

Elizabeth Groenewold PUB GENERAL MANAGER The athletics department could open another door to make the Tudor Fieldhouse locations accessible, according to Gardner.

“Our building is accessible,” Gardner said. “There is an elevator that goes upstairs; however, it would require opening some different doors. I guess that could require extra staffing, but it would certainly be an option to make it happen.”

The athletics department plans to also make their spaces available for some of the events that normally take place in the RMC, according to Gardner.

“With the student center going offline, we’ve already hosted one one student event, the Dhamaka event, back in December,” Gardner said. “I think to the extent that we can accommodate those events within our program, we will. That goes for the student body and just generally on campus, there are some other events that are typically hosted in the grand hall that have inquired with us about the opportunities to use Tudor Fieldhouse for those as well.”

“We have contracts in place with our concessionaires already, as to their ability to operate at our venues,” Gardner said.

“Possibly there’s some leeway in those contracts, but I think then that also gets into licensing and the time periods under which kind of a given entity has the alcohol license for the facility. TABC has some unique rules.”

Gardner said the athletics department hopes to increase their connection with the rest of Rice by providing event space.

Gardner said the athletics department hopes to increase their connection with the rest of Rice by providing event space.

“We see ourselves as part of campus, and the more that we can serve our student body, we absolutely want to,” Gardner said.

“I think the more that our students are in athletic venues, the more it connects us to campus.”

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2022 • 3

NEWS

Woman sues Rice, former Shepherd instructor for childhood sexual assault claims that Rice did not inform the parents of Pawlas’ other students.

FOR THE THRESHER Pawlas confessed to the misconduct in Content warning: this article contains early September of 2016, but was allowed to continue teaching through the end of the references to sexual assault.

A Houston woman has launched a civil month before the university announced lawsuit against Rice University and Dariusz that he would be taking a leave of absence.

“Even after Rice was confronted with an Pawlas, a former Shepherd School of Music inescapable truth about Dr. Pawlas [they] instructor, alleging assault and neglect.

The woman, who is identified as I.R. in never informed parents about his admitted court documents, was ten years old when abuse,” attorney Anna Greenberg wrote in she said Pawlas first began to assault her an email to the Thresher. “Instead, Rice during her piano lessons at Shepherd. spoke in vague terms about his leave of Attorney Anna Greenberg said in the lawsuit absence and him no longer being employed by the University. that despite a formal This betrays the complaint of sexual trust of families misconduct from and robs them of another student the opportunity years later, Rice She has been irreparably to learn if their allowed Pawlas to harmed. Rice University children suffered continue teaching needs to reflect and take abuse.” on and off campus responsibility for the Jeff Falk, for months. .

Rice’s director of I.R. began taking mistakes made in the past National Media piano lessons with before it can start to think Relations, declined Pawlas in 2011 when about the future. to comment due to she was eight years pending litigation. old.

According Anna Greenberg Pawlas was to the lawsuit, ATTORNEY charged in Pawlas began inappropriately touching her in 2012 and November 2016 with felony indecency continued the abuse for years. I.R. said with a minor. He is currently serving a she did not fully understand what was five year sentence in Rusk County. He is happening at the time and did not report scheduled to be released in 2023 but is currently eligible for parole. the abuse to her parents.

“I feel betrayed,” I.R.’s mother said in In May of 2016, a fourteen-year-old student launched a complaint of sexual a news release last week. “We had been misconduct towards Pawlas. The lawsuit with Rice for many years, and I thought

KENNEDI MACKLIN

SOLOMON NI / THRESHER A Houston woman has launched a civil lawsuit against Rice University and Dariusz Pawlas, a former Shepherd School of Music instructor, alleging assault and neglect.

we were doing right by our child the whole time, when what we were actually doing was putting her in danger.”

The petition, which was filed last Monday, is alleging gross negligence on Rice’s part. It states that the university failed to alert parents of the alleged misconduct, did not terminate Pawlas in a timely manner and did not disclose the reason for his leave of absence.

I.R. is now over 18 years old and is suing for more than $1 million in damages that include physical pain, mental anguish and medical expenses. Greenberg said she is most concerned about her client’s future.

“She has been irreparably harmed,” Greenberg said. “Rice University needs to reflect and take responsibility for the mistakes made in the past before it can start to think about the future.”

Rice student businesses reopen in light of new COVID-19 policies KEEGAN LEIBROCK

THRESHER STAFF

Student-run businesses Rice Coffeehouse, The Hoot, Rice Bikes and EastWest Tea are reopening for the semester, in light of new and evolving COVID protocols.

Jinhee Shin, general manager of Rice Coffeehouse, said that business had been especially high since reopening on Wednesday, Jan. 26.

“It’s normally pretty busy [at Coffeehouse during] reopening week, and so trying to get a better gauge on our demand has been fairly challenging,” Shin, a junior from Martel College, said.

“We also have new hires that are soon going to be added on to our permanent schedule so hopefully having more hands on deck will be helpful in controlling the higher traffic.”

As of Monday Jan. 31, Rice administration has removed restrictions on indoor dining, including for studentrun businesses such as Coffeehouse and Willy’s Pub. In an email sent on Monday, Vice President for Administration Kevin Kirby announced that indoor dining could return immediately in all venues without restriction.

Shin said that she is glad the Rice COVID policies have changed to allow for indoor seating at Chaus and other studentrun businesses.

“With the shortened time that Coffeehouse is open due to the [Rice Memorial Center] construction, I am glad that Coffeehouse can be a centralized space where students can come and relax now that indoor seating and dining is available,” Shin said. “... many [Coffeehouse employees] and Rice students live off-campus, so I look forward to Coffeehouse being a safe place where people can go if they don’t know where to go on campus.“ East-West Tea is planned to open for the semester this Thursday, according

JOSH DAVIS / THRESHER Student-run businesses Rice Coffeehouse, The Hoot, Rice Bikes and East-West Tea are reopening for the semester, in light of new and evolving COVID protocols. to Jesus Cisneros Estrada, the general manager for East-West. The teahouse will run regular hours from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m.

Tuesdays and Thursdays.

“The planning process for reopening has been going smoothly,” Estrada, a senior from Sid Richardson College, said.

“We do our staff changeover in the Spring semester so it’s been a lot of getting the current manager team on board with everything and then also making sure hiring staff goes well.”

Later this semester, Coffeehouse, the Hoot, East-West and Willy’s Pub are all expected to relocate for the construction of a new Rice student center. Theo Vadot,

the general manager of The Hoot, said his employees are preparing for the move while appreciating their current location in the RMC. “This semester is definitely going to be a different one for The Hoot and other businesses in the RMC in that it’s going to be a transitory-like semester as the current RMC will eventually be closed down,” Vadot, a junior from Jones College, said. “We’re kind of just taking it step by step and enjoying the last time we’ll be in our current space.”

Vadot said that he expects business for The Hoot to be higher than last semester.

“I think we’re definitely going to have more consistent traffic now that pretty much all classes are in person,” Vadot said. “That will help us to get more consistent numbers. I think we’ve seen with COVID-19 that The Hoot’s business has fluctuated night to night … this semester we will likely see a much more consistent traffic flow.”

Diego Casanova, the general manager of Rice Bikes, said that business has been steady since reopening earlier this semester.

“The amount of people that have come through has been really fantastic,” Casanova, a junior from Martel, said.

“We’ve been pretty busy with just doing appointments only but hopefully later in the semester we can see more walk-ins so we can help anyone who’s passing by.”

Casanova said that the demand for appointments has been so high that Rice Bikes has had to stop accepting appointments to catch up and avoid back-ups.

“With the return to in-person [this semester] we definitely saw a lot of demand for appointment slots and they filled up like a week in advance, 10 slots every day,” Casanova said. “Right now, [Rice Bikes] is going to roll back on scheduling appointments so that we can make sure that everyone gets their bike back in a faster amount of time.”

Shin said that she is hopeful Coffeehouse and other student-run businesses in the RMC can maintain safe operations through the remainder of their time in the RMC. “Coffeehouse has adapted its policies in response to university’s guidelines and the state of the pandemic for the past two years,” Shin said. “Operating around COVID is always a challenge, but I am hopeful that we’ll continue to remain operational in a safe manner in the RMC until we relocate to our temporary space.”

4 • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2022

NEWS

New study spots opened up on campus

CHLOE XU / THRESHER

BONNIE ZHAO

ASST NEWS EDITOR Rice expanded its study space options since Jan. 18, opening up selective rooms in Rayzor Hall, Duncan Hall and Kraft Hall on a reservation basis.

Rayzor Hall rooms 106, 113 and 123, Duncan Hall room 1046 and Kraft Hall rooms 103 and 104 will be accessible for students. The Rayzor Hall lobbies will continue to be open until 1:45 a.m. via swipe access.

Clemente Rodriguez, chief of the Rice University Police Department, said that Rayzor and Duncan Hall rooms can be reserved by checking out a key from Fondren library from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Sunday to Thursday.

“For [Rayzor and Duncan], you can check the key out at Fondren library because the Fondren staff is there after hours. They’re been very gracious in helping us with this project,” Rodriguez said. “[Kraft Hall] has [its own] online reservation system that students can go online and reserve the space at, so you don’t have to check out a key, and the hours are a little more expanded.”

Lila Frenkel, Duncan College president, said that she advocated for more study spots after seeing a lot of traditional study spaces being much more crowded than in the past when she returned to campus last fall.

“As a senior, I [also felt like] I had exhausted many study spots on campus and was looking for new ones,” Frenkel wrote in an email to the Thresher. “With the increase in the student population size over the next few years, it seemed like an issue that was worth resolving.”

Frenkel said that the college presidents met with Dean of Undergraduate Students Bridget Gorman and presented the idea of expanding study spots.

“I sent her a more formal proposal in writing with the request to specifically open Kraft Hall, Rayzor Hall and Duncan Hall. These study spaces spanned different areas on campus, and already have lounges or nooks that make them conducive to study,” Frenkel wrote. “Dean Gorman then presented our proposal to the provost and the deans of each school (engineering, social sciences, etc.).”

According to Gorman, the proposal was reviewed by Provost Reginald DesRoches, Vice President for Administraion Kevin Kirby, Rodriguez and herself.

“We started discussing this last semester. It took a bit longer than expected because of some scheduling complications, but it proceeded rather quickly once conversations on their request happened,” Gorman said.

According to Rodriguez, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, only Rayzor Hall allowed students to study there after hours.

“So this time around, we looked at expanding it to make some options available for students that are more convenient on the north side of campus, which is why we selected Duncan Hall,” Rodriguez said. “We also are using Kraft Hall for people in the furthest south side of the campus residential area.”

Rodriguez said that even though COVID-19 was not a huge factor in their decision, the new study spots can help with the administration’s effort to increase social-distancing.

“Adding [these] additional spaces, it allows for large groups to maybe break up a little bit and study in separate spaces, and in a way that people feel more comfortable,” Rodriguez said.

“Most of the [Fondren study rooms] are pretty small. And these [new] spaces are large enough that people can safely study in a group together.”

Rodriguez said that opening up more study spots on campus is a possibility, but the safety and security of students are his biggest priorities.

“You want to be careful about having too many buildings open. [If] somebody needed help, we might not be able to know that because there’s too many spots to be checked,” Rodriguez said.

“For example, as long as we know students are in [the new spaces] working after hours, or could be in there working after hours, our security folks will do a few rounds just to make sure everybody’s okay.”

Frenkel said that university administration was extremely supportive of this proposal.

“They helped arrange meetings with the correct offices to get it done as quickly as possible,” Frenkel said. “This project is a great example of students and administration working together to improve campus.”

Fourth Datathon held last weekend VIOLA HSIA

assistant manager of appreciative inquiry and design, BakerRipley’s challenge helped Rice University, along with the D2K club, redistrict Houston City Council’s districts, hosted its 4th Annual Datathon this past in an effort towards more equitable local weekend. The directors, Caleb Huang, Gazi government representation.

“We really like the interdisciplinary Fuad and Michael Kelley, said that this year’s event was the biggest yet. The Datathon is focus of the lab and this event,” Deppe Rice’s annual data science competition, and Burbridge wrote in an email. “It is a where participants have 24 hours, in teams, great platform to showcase how data can to design and also implement data science- be used outside of business and traditional industries that are represented at events related projects.

According to Huang, a sophomore from like this.”

One of the teams who participated in the Will Rice College, this year’s bigger budget BakerRipley challenge ended up winning helped expand the competition.

“We didn’t want it to just be like another first place in the competition overall. Ankit competition where the best data scientists Patel, a Martel College junior and one of the won, we wanted to make it also a learning team members, said the challenge’s topic opportunity where everyone could leave was really interesting to approach.

“We were really interested in tackling being a better data scientist,” Huang said.

Fuad said this year’s event featured two [Houston City Council redistricting] using workshops on the days leading to the event some of the skills we’ve learned and used as a way to highlight the importance of data before,” Patel said. “I think we were really science as an industry and also in the world. happy to be able to tackle a challenge like “I think data science has its advantages, that.”

Patel’s teammate, Zach Rewolinski, a and I feel like it does have a lot of power in improving or making a good social impact junior from Hanszen College, also said that and improving people’s lives,” Fuad, a the challenge was a great way to contribute Will Rice sophomore, said. “You can see to the Houston community.

“Winning in the first place was cool. But I winners, they took think there’s just on the BakerRipley something to be challenge, which I think data science has its said for working was to redistrict advantages, and I feel like on a project that Houston city actually contribute council, and they it does have a lot of power s o m e t h i n g did a really fantastic in improving or making to society,” job with it to try to a good social impact and Rewolinksi said. make Houston more improving people’s lives.

Gail Oudekerk, equitable and more a third place represented in their Gazi Fuad winner at the event city council.”

DATATHON CO-DIRECTOR for the project Oh, This year’s event was sponsored by 12 corporations, Well, said she found ways to implement including Google, Goldman Sachs, Chevron her data science knowledge in the event, both in the real world and towards her data and Aimpoint Digital.

Carolina Osuna, head of data engineering science minor.

“I really want to see the practical and infrastructure at Aimpoint Digital, said that as a former Rice undergraduate, she is applications both at the level where I looking forward to meeting students who am and the level where a lot of these are interested in the field of data science, really advanced coders are,” Oudekerk, a McMurtry College sophomore, said. “I want and providing her own tips and expertise.

“I know that there is a lot of great talent to get a view of the future, and a view of the on campus, so I wanted to get involved present, and what opportunities there are with Datathon to meet students at varying for data scientists.”

Tom Sun, a master’s student in statistics levels of interest and to increase our brand awareness,” Osuna (Sid Richardson College and one of the second place winners for the project Link and Recommendation, said ’15), said.

One of the workshops at the Datathon that the event allowed them to apply their was hosted by Goldman Sachs’ Engineering data science knowledge and skills to real Recruiting Team, whose representatives, life situations.

“We entered the event with some basic Jessica Harrison, Alicia Price, Ashleigh David and Maribel Velazquez, said they knowledge or understanding of the model were also looking forward to finding future itself, but we never have a chance to apply the model or apply the knowledge from data science engineers at the Datathon.

“The talent at Rice University Datathon class or lectures,” Sun said. “The datathon is phenomenal,” they wrote in an email to really gave us a good chance to interpret the Thresher. “We are excited to meet the real world questions, and really apply the talented engineers who participate in this model to solve real world problems.”

Patel said she would participate again Datathon and hope that many will join Goldman Sachs and help us build solutions and that the directors did a great job organizing the event. for our incredible clients.”

“With the growth of the D2K Lab and Besides sponsoring workshops, these corporations, including BakerRipley, also data science at Rice, it’s a really useful sponsored certain challenges. According to field for people to at least understand, Kristen Deppe, assistant director of research because it can really be helpful to and evaluation, and Chris Burbridge, everyone,” Patel said.

SENIOR WRITER

ANDREA GOMEZ / THRESHER

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2022 • 5

THE RICE THRESHER

EDITORIAL

GUEST OPINION

Alumni: If the statue news Theatre at Rice must commit to inclusivity upset you, think about why In truth, there is nothing hypocritical It has finally happened. After 18 months of protests, Facebook arguments about deciding that the relocation of the and countless feedback forms, the Rice Founder’s Memorial is a bridge too far and University Board of Trustees announced choosing to withdraw one’s emotional last Tuesday that the statue of William support from Rice. Perhaps you loved this Marsh Rice would be relocated to a less school while you were a student, but you central location within the Academic disagree with this decision and no longer feel that affection.

Quadrangle.

Yet implicit in the The decision, act of donating to viewed as a your alma mater is compromise by the notion that you nearly everyone, To withdraw your feel a strong enough understandably financial support from an connection to the received mixed institution that chooses university that you r e v i e w s , want to see it prosper including from to prioritize [students’] even after you’ve Rice community concerns says more about walked out of the members who you than it does about the Sallyport.

Indeed, have long since institution. that feeling is so graduated: strong that you have President David Leebron said that while some alumni placed a monetary value on it. The decision responses were “very angry,” others called to relocate and contextualize the statue was made in an effort to better the university the decision “thoughtful.”

Those “very angry” responses are for current and future students; the Board surprising to no one, as many alumni wouldn’t have made it for any other reason. have made their position on the statue’s To withdraw your financial support from an removal very clear since the idea was institution that chooses to prioritize those proposed by students in mid-2020. But concerns says more about you than it does now that the move is official, we feel it is about the institution. It says that you value time to address these criticisms. To those your resistance to change over the wellthat are outraged by this decision, we being of Rice and its student body.

To the person that said “The spirit of have two simple questions. Does your love of Rice University really boil down to Rice University sure has changed! Let’s the placement of a statue? And if so, how focus more on higher learning,” we couldn’t deep could that love have been in the first agree more. This decision was made for the same reason almost every decision is made place?

It is hard to succinctly cover the array on this campus: to help students feel more of opinions expressed over the statue’s at home at Rice and to facilitate a stronger removal, but the overall theme boils down learning environment. To the alumni upset to the following. One alumni wrote that the by this announcement, it is time you take statue’s move will “end all my support to a long look in the mirror and ask yourself Rice,” while another added that “this will if you truly care about the future of this university. only stop when people stop donating.”

Read more at

ricethresher.org

Own your career – no one else can do it for you

Although offices across campus exist to support students, it is ultimately up to students to take ownership of their own careers.

Madison Bunting

MARTEL COLLEGE JUNIOR

CORRECTIONS The photo for “Rice to move Founder’s Memorial within Academic Quadrangle” was taken by Katherine Hui, not Channing Wang, for the Thresher.

In “Socials committees grapple with loss of institutional knowledge,” Eliot Solomon is the head of the McMurtry College External Socials Commitee, Duncan College’s public party is DuncStep and the photo is courtesy Kathryn Gonzalez.

In “‘Soundwaves’ opening at Moody,” there were not student performances at the student-only opening, but there will be student performances throughout the semester.

EDITORIAL STAFF * Indicates Editorial Board member

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Morgan Gage* Editor Michelle Gachelin Asst. Editor

Savannah Kuchar* Editor-in-Chief Ben Baker-Katz* Managing Editor

SPORTS Daniel Schrager* Editor

NEWS Talha Arif* Editor Hajera Naveed Asst. Editor Bonnie Zhao Asst. Editor

BACKPAGE Timmy Mansfield Editor

OPINION Nayeli Shad* Editor FEATURES Nicole Lhuillier Editor Nithya Shenoy Asst. Editor

COPY Bhavya Gopinath Editor Jonathan Cheng Editor PHOTO, VIDEO, & WEB Channing Wang Photo Editor Katherine Hui Asst. Photo Editor Jasmine Liou Video Editor Brandon Chen* Web Editor

“You need to make your hair bigger” were the director’s words I overheard upon logging into one of my Zoom rehearsals for the department of visual and dramatic arts’ “New Voices” – a collection of scenes from a variety of shows, performed on Zoom in the middle of the pandemic.

The sentence wasn’t spoken to me, but I felt discomfort upon hearing them during this dress rehearsal and at some later rehearsals. One of my peers was playing a Jewish character in a different scene; the student was not ethnically Jewish (and many Jewish people aren’t), but the character is explicitly written as Jewish going back for “generations and generations.” As a result, the director asked this student to alter her appearance to fit the Jewish part.

The experience of sitting at my laptop, watching my peer tease her hair so that she could look more like me, the only Jewish girl in the cast, felt ingenuine and even sinister. What struck me as oddest about the situation was that it could have been avoided —the scenes were neither chosen nor cast until months after auditions. Yet there I was, feeling isolated because of a less-than-sensitive directing decision.

At the time, I considered saying something to the director or the head of the VADA department, but I was scared to make a fuss over what seemed like an isolated incident. Furthermore, I was getting course credit from being in the play and did not want my grade to be affected.

I haven’t acted in a VADA department play since, but my experiences running tech for later shows and participating in college theatre and Rice Players shows has taught me that theatre at Rice must become more inclusive and accessible to students.

Through talking with other VADA play participants, I’ve found that some students have the courage to speak up about their concerns to the director.

However, the onus should not be on students, many of whom receive course credit for participating in these plays, to speak to their professional directors and professors about their problematic decisions. A student should not have to talk with a director to remove a transphobic joke from the script, as did happen in the spring of 2020. In fact, a script with transphobic jokes in it should not be chosen to begin with.

Rice theatre producers, including the VADA department and beyond, have historically chosen plays that do not fit the Rice community well. As a coordinator for the Rice Players, I have helped make play decisions, during which the group wants to prioritize telling stories that represent the Rice community. While that normally manifests in choosing plays with queer themes, we neglect to consider shows that explicitly call for many actors of color. We have discussed concerns over the inability to appropriately cast people in diverse roles, but shying away

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from those stories creates a cycle in which students of color feel discouraged from auditioning because they do not see roles for them in the shows that we choose. However, I know that Rice has a host of diverse and talented students – I have seen them perform at Dhamaka, the Lunar New Year Festival and even at the low-commitment and student-written shows produced during Play in a Day. Rice theatre producers just need to put in the effort to reach out and encourage them to participate.

Nevertheless, even with diverse students interested in participating in theatre, many are unable to because of the time commitment required. Especially for STEM majors, who consistently must take over 15 credit hours each semester, students do not have the time for around 15 hours of rehearsals a week. This problem is exacerbated when poor scheduling results in students spending hours in rehearsal waiting to be needed onstage, as had happened in both the VADA and the Rice Players plays last semester. I remember days when I would have class until 6:30 p.m., rehearsal from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m., and then going back to my dorm to start my homework. I would routinely get four or five hours of sleep each night and fall asleep in my classes because of it. No student, no matter how committed to theatre, should have to sacrifice their physical and academic well-being for an extracurricular.

All of these experiences show a need for change within Rice theatre to make plays more accessible to student participation. I harken back to the Rice mantra of “unconventional wisdom” – while theatrical precedent has been set for 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. rehearsals every weekday, nothing is stopping us from experimenting with this format. Theatre groups can commit to producing shows with characters representing our diverse Rice community and getting input from Rice students about what they want to perform in and see onstage. Perhaps VADA can hire someone to sensitivity-check their plays, so no student must be in the uncomfortable situation I was in last year.

However, I am only a single participant in the Rice theatre community, and my insights are restricted by my own identity.

The Rice Players recently held a Town Hall to discuss diversity and inclusivity in theatre, and a range of experiences and opinions were expressed during that event. It is only with the input of many that we can structurally change Rice theatre into a community that prioritizes everyone’s wellbeing over that of any play.

Bria Weisz

BROWN COLLEGE JUNIOR

The Rice Thresher, the official student newspaper of 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. on the Friday prior to publication and must be signed, including college and year if the writer is a Rice student. The Thresher reserves the right to edit letters for content and length and to place letters on its website.

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 2022

6 • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2022

THE RICE THRESHER

Driving-distance trips to make over break landmarks are several homes that survived the 1916 fire that destroyed 264 acres of land and countless buildings.

MORGAN GAGE

A&E EDITOR

The city of Houston and the state it calls home are bustling with places to explore and things to do, offering many ways to spend the upcoming spring recess, spring break and the rare weekend without reading to catch up on or problem sets to complete.

Consider stepping away from Rice campus and the museum district to go on one of these trips, all accessible by car, to fill your spare time.

Camp or backpack in a Texas state park With Rice’s recreation center boasting an array of outdoor gear for rent, camping or backpacking in a Texas state park is just an Outdoor Adventure Center appointment and a car ride away. From Enchanted Rock in the hill country to Caddo Lake State Park – home to the only natural lake in Texas – the second-largest state in the United States is home to 80 state parks, each with unique features. For those who don’t want to commit to an overnight stay, state parks are still options for a day trip.

A roughly 45-minute drive from campus, Brazos Bend State Park offers campsites with electricity, water and restrooms with showers nearby. The park boasts about 5,000 acres of bottomland and coastal prairie southwest of Houston, with diversity in plant and animal life, from white-tailed deer to alligators. (Check out their alligator safety tips.) It’s an attractive outing for people who want to experience Houstonarea wetlands and native prairie grasses.

Guests can embark on hikes, make a trip to the nature center or wildlife observation deck and visit the Houston Museum of Natural Science’s George observatory, which is open on Saturdays from 3 to 10 p.m.

If the 5,000 acres of Brazos Bend isn’t enough to sate someone’s appetite for the outdoors, Big Bend Ranch State Park in west Texas encompasses 300,000 acres of land and is just shy of a nine-hour drive from campus. With the Rio Grande accessible in the park, visitors can canoe along the river or take a swim in the nearby hot springs that are only a quarter mile walk from the parking lot. Would-be archaeologists can visit the Fossil Discovery Exhibit, and hiking enthusiasts can explore the trails, like the 1.7 mile round-trip walk into the Santa Elena

FROM FRONT PAGE

COLLEGE PRESIDENTS

RT: How has COVID-19 impacted your presidency and the choices you have made?

Coleman: COVID has unfortunately impacted everything that occurs on this campus in one way or another. I ran on the campaign that I was going to try to bring events and traditions back to Brown, but with COVID, accomplishing anything with a social aspect has been difficult.

Austin Hushower, Martel College junior: [Like with] last year’s cohort, COVID has been one of the defining themes of this presidency ... COVID alters everything about your Rice experience as both a student and a president, as it changes what your classes look like, shapes event possibilities for your college, and dominates conversations both at an interpersonal level and at the administrative level. That being said, I am optimistic following [the Jan. 31] announcement from Kevin Kirby and I look forward to what the rest of the semester holds.

CHLOE XU / THRESHER Over university holidays, students with access to cars can go camping at one of Texas’s many state parks.

Canyon. For adventurers who decide to make the lengthy drive out west, Big Bend Ranch presents an opportunity for a crossTexas roadtrip.

Explore the Natural Bridge Caverns Make the roughly three-hour drive to the Natural Bridge Caverns State Park to venture below the earth’s surface and see natural underground rock formations in the largest cavern system in Texas. For students who were never able to fit an introductory geology course into their schedule, this could be a more entertaining way to remember the difference between stalagmite and stalactite without any exams attached.

When the weather turns warmer, visitors can also witness the flight of Bracken Bats at night.

Above the surface, there are still plenty of ways to occupy one’s time. Try outdoor mazes, rope courses and ziplining to get a taste of adrenaline that midterm anxiety doesn’t quite offer. There are fossil discovery options, too. Texas in fact offers fossil enthusiasts more sites to explore, like Dinosaur Valley State Park, Mineral Wells Fossil Park and the Waco Mammoth National

RT: Have you leaned on other college presidents? If so, in what ways?

Coleman: I have leaned on other current presidents quite a bit because most of what we do, we complete as a team. We work together on campus wide residential college changes, as well as give advice on a college level on problems that others may have already experienced. The other presidents are a wealth of knowledge that should be taken advantage of. None of us are alone in the role.

Mozden: One thing people don’t tell you coming into this role is you’ll be leaving with an entire set of new best friends. The current presidents have been some of my biggest supporters throughout my entire term. We’ve laughed together, cried together, and leaned on each other when we had no one else … I’m so proud of us. I couldn’t have done this without [them].

Frenkel: The current cohort of presidents on campus are genuinely some of the best people I have met at Rice. I can’t imagine the last year without them. They have been supportive in difficult times, but we also just have a lot of fun together. The past two presidents at Duncan were also a

Monument, home to the largest known concentration of mammoths to have died in one event.

Pose for photos with the Eiffel Tower Can’t afford a trip to France? No problem.

Texas offers a Paris of its own. Paris, Texas is over a five-hour drive from Rice but much closer than the European alternative. The town even has an Eiffel Tower of its own, topped with a cowboy hat as a reminder of its home state.

Unveiled in 1995, the Eiffel Tower replica was originally dubbed “the second largest Eiffel Tower in the second largest Paris.” The moniker proved problematic when another replica debuted in Paris, Tennessee around the same time and stood five feet taller than its Texan counterpart. However, everything is bigger in Texas, so the cowboy hat was added atop the replica to address the height discrepancy (at least until another replica was built in Las Vegas).

While in this Northeast Texas town, visitors can also check out local historical sites and the town square.

Among the

part of my support system throughout the year, and I would text them every so often to get advice. I hope to do the same for the next presidents if they ever need advice or a place to vent.

Kolli: For sure — this year’s president cohort is tight-knit, and I’ve really enjoyed getting to know everyone. There are very few people on campus who understand the demands of this job and can offer advice on issues, so other college presidents are great resources (and great friends).

RT: What is some advice you have for future presidents?

Coleman: Don’t forget that you are also a student with things to get done. Your education is important and sometimes the job can seem overwhelming, but putting yourself first when you need to is not a bad thing.

Mozden: This role is exhausting. But it’s also the most rewarding experience I’ve had during my time at Rice. On the times where days get hard, remember the college you’re doing this for, and lean on each other. I promise it’s worth it. (And don’t be afraid to set boundaries and step back when you need to. You are a person before you are a president).

Visit nearby Galveston While the Kemah Boardwalk and Moody Gardens give the opportunity to relive childhood amusement park dreams, Galveston is an escape from Houston that caters to a variety of interests just around an hour from campus. Visit the stretches of beaches along the Galveston Bay when the weather is tolerable for an attempt at a beach getaway, or explore the city’s historical district, known simply as the Strand, which stretches down to the wharf and is home to museums, restaurants and shops.

For Victorian architecture enthusiasts, the Bishop’s House (also referred to as Gresham’s Castle) is a former private residence built in 1893 that is now open to the public as a museum. An in-depth tour available to book on Saturday mornings allows visitors to take in the woodwork, furnishings and everything else all the house has to offer, from the attic to basement.

Moody Mansion offers more Victorian architecture as well as grounds covered in tropical plants and vintage Cadillacs on view.

Take a dip in Jacob’s Well Jacob’s Well, just over a three-hour drive from campus, greets casual swimmers and adventurous rock jumpers year after year.

However, it’s perhaps more infamously known for its network of caves that often prove deadly to thrill-seeking scuba divers.

Don’t take this as a hearty endorsement to sample all that the pond and second-largest fully submerged cave in Texas offers!

For those who don’t want to get wet, there are trails close by. Hiking-only hours are offered from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. each morning.

This story has been condensed for print.

Read more at ricethresher.org.

Frenkel: Really invest in communicating with your teams. This job is stressful and draining at times, and I wouldn’t have been able to get through it without so many of the people I worked with. The other college presidents were an incredible support system, as were several members of my Executive Committee, and my A-Team. Invest in communicating effectively and frequently with each of these groups, and you’ll be able to accomplish a lot more while saving yourself a lot of stress.

Kolli: Remember that you’re a person and student outside of being a president.

It’s very easy to let the role consume a lot of your time and energy, but it’s okay (and necessary) to say no sometimes.

Hushower: You need to be extremely adaptable and open to new ideas. Whether it is navigating the changing COVID regulatory scene, putting on events with a limited budget, or dealing with a wide range of issues at the college level, crazy things can and do happen and you need to be prepared for that and must be quick to adapt your plans when needed.

This story has been condensed for print.

Read more at ricethresher.org.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2022 • 7

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IZZI REYNOLDS

FOR THE THRESHER

1 Fireplace residue 4 Like a spoken exam 8 Plain text 13 CAAM 210 helper 14 “Lmao” alternative 15 Mint brand 17 milk + espresso + chocolate + caramel 19 Exam that might give college credit 20 Lake skipper 21 Sizable 23 Walkie-talkie ending 24 “___ the Walrus” by The Beatles 26 Home of the Baja Blast 29 milk + chocolate powder 33 Wild way to run 34 Garfield’s owner 35 A way to get free content online 39 Morning grass cover 40 ____ Mubarak; common saying at an Islamic festival 41 FedEx competitor 42 Company big guy 43 Critter 45 Common pasta ending 46 Light brown shade 47 milk + espresso + white chocolate + salted caramel 50 Actual expenditures 53 Sometimes something noble, sometimes something your uncle has 54 “Hot singles in your ____” 55 Ship’s distress call 57 Man-goat hybrid 61 Axe target?

64 milk + espresso + honey + hazelnut + vanilla 66 Common landlord rule 67 “I guess I didn’t get the ____!”

68 Feeling one may have when the servery is out of almond milks 69 Cattle show 70 Michael’s receptionist, for a time, in The Office 71 Expert

DOWN

1 Bearable things?

2 Cut 3 Angelic headwear 4 “Of course!”

5 Common Gordon Ramsey complaint 6 Fictional obsessive whaler 7 Flatter exceptionally much 8 School meeting org.

9 Cartoon tombstone’s lettering 10 Spooky month 11 Main character in Minecraft 12 Canvas stand 16 Shortcut keyboard key 18 _____-knack 22 Gadot of Wonder Woman 25 Minty, limey cocktails 27 Saying you won’t close the orange juice while you do?

28 Singer Redding 29 “____ only known!”

30 Foreboding sign 31 Drags 32 Halo rival, abbr.

36 It comes in savings and checking varieties at a bank, abbr.

37 Michael of “Superbad” 38 “____ mom” 40 Cave response 41 College in the U.K. 44 Like a convict on the loose 45 Bill payers’ words 46 Common assignment for humanities majors 48 NFL tiebreaking periods 49 Arrogant hunk in “Beauty and the Beast” 50 Indian bread 51 Mistake 52 What a metronome keeps 56 One looking for reparations in court 58 Baking measurement 59 Time between birthdays 60 Start over 62 Mineral or chemical ending 63 General ___’s Chicken 65 Texter’s “I don’t need that many details bro”

Unique perspectives: Rice students’ experiences at unique ages The 40-year-old business major said age doesn’t matter to him when it comes SENIOR WRITER to socializing.

“The most unique benefit [of any Rice prides itself on its unconventional students, including the non-standard university experience] is building a paths that many of them take to get here. network of diverse people, so I haven’t For some Owls, that path includes military really given any thought to how old service before returning to the classroom — someone is,” Soliz said. “At Rice, we years of life experience that provide them get to meet a bunch of diverse people from different backgrounds. The one with a unique perspective on our commonality is that we’re all college campus. intelligent.”

Dec. 1 is decision day Jose Soliz for spring transfers.

Jones College Soliz said that before junior Jose decisions came Soliz said the out, he took a day residential off from work to college system visit campus and was one of imagine himself as the reasons a student. When he he wanted to got home, though, apply to Rice as he found out his it reminded him youngest son had of his time in the gotten injured and thus military. took him to the hospital.

“In the military, COURTESY JOSE SOLIZ He put a pause on Rice’s you have these small Jones College junior Jose Soliz admission decision to companies and said he enjoys the way the take care of his family. battalions. They have professors engage their students “So here I am … in the their own unique in conversation.

ER, and I have this email traditions, their history from Rice saying my and their background stories, which is the same thing with each decision letter is in,” Soliz said.

Soliz said that later that night, once his residential college,” Soliz said. “At the end of the day, we are all part of the same team.” son was all right, he finally opened the Soliz transferred to Rice this semester. email and learned about his acceptance.

“Your heart skips a beat. Even for An entirely online Orientation Week followed by two weeks of remote learning someone who’s older, this stuff is a big meant his visit to campus two weeks ago deal,” he said.

Soliz said he enjoys the way the was his first since he was accepted. Soliz said besides exploring Jones’ off-campus professors engage their students in lounge, he went on a short tour and had a conversation, and also that interacting with other Rice students has been one of meal from North servery.

“I found the off-campus lounge [at the best parts of his experience so far.

“I feel like I am a fly on the wall, Jones], which was great to have. I don’t live on campus, but it’s nice to have a place I getting to sit back and observe the next can go, throw my bags down and hang out generation of people,” he said. ”Learning for a little bit in between classes,” Soliz what matters to [the younger generation] will make me a better leader in the future.” said.

ZOE KATZ

Avalos said he embraced being older than average on campus. His first semester in the spring, he tried his best to participate in many social events and activities hosted by his residential college, such as Lovett’s Fun Fridays and flag football team. However, his full schedule last fall made staying involved more challenging.

Thomas Avalos “This past semester, I tried to do more Thomas Avalos, a 32-year-old Lovett College junior, was drawn to Rice by its [extracurriculars], but I was just so busy,” outstanding sports management program Avalos said. “I also have a full-time job, and I just got another job on top of that, and tight-knit community.

“I originally knew that I wanted to so it was very, very busy.”

According to Avalos, his favorite get into sports, I had looked at other schools, and I had noticed that Rice had experiences at Rice so far have been in the classroom. the best sport management program “The very first time out there,” he said. “Rice was I stepped foot in a kinda like a pipe dream. classroom, and realized I honestly didn’t think that this is my school that I was gonna have now, it really meant the academics to get a lot to me,” Avalos in, but when I did, said. “I really try it was an absolute to engage my no-brainer.” classmates in A v a l o s conversations transferred to when we are Rice mid-year, talking in class. I in the spring of am super interested 2021.

After his in hearing what virtual O-Week had anyone at Rice has to ended, Avalos wanted say.” to experience an inCOURTESY THOMAS AVALOS He said he enjoys person hallmark of Rice Lovett College junior Thomas talking with his O-Week: matriculation.

Avalos said he embraced being classmates because it He said Chloe Oani, the older than average on campus. broadens his point of Lovett president at the view. time, supported the new “I come from a Lovetteers like him. “[Oani] made it a point to get the background where kids were supposed magister there,” Avalos said. “She to be looked at, not heard,” Avalos said. showed up with the Lovett colors, the flag “When I graduated high school, I joined and whatnot, and there were a couple of the Marines, where it was just the exact students, too, to help walk us through the same thing … Here at Rice, students feel Sallyport. It was really cool to have that so empowered to stand up for what they as my first experience at Rice. That was think is right, and that’s something that … when I knew that Rice was going to be fascinates me.”

This story has been condensed for print. totally different than anything else I had Read more at ricethresher.org. done.”

Soliz said he considers himself someone who is bridging a generation gap as a result.

“I’m taking in … what issues matter to the people in this age range,” Soliz said.

“When I go back to the corporate world, I can take note of what matters to them.”

8 • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2022

THE RICE THRESHER

Yiyi Yang, who performed a song by was in high school I even went to some LGBTQ specific open mic nights. So to a Taiwanese band in Mandarin Chinese, me, those two things — spoken word and said that the audience’s support helped While members say they are used to engagement with the LGBT community — her to overcome any initial hesitancy.

“I was a little nervous at first … but communicating through online chats, have always been interconnected.”

Thomases said they especially [the] people are really nice. Once I started sharing experiences in person is newer appreciated the intersectionality to sing, I just got into that mood, and given the last couple of years. everything was “Rice PRIDE has a very strong online represented at the fine,” Yang, a community. At least, our group chat show.

Lovett sophomore, “One thing is super active,” Samarth said. “But said. “This was especially because of the pandemic, I that was really Oftentimes, I find that a chance think people have been very limited in incredible about LGBTQ circles can be fairly really to express myself opportunities to connect in person, so this event, and and get to know I feel like we’ll have a good turnout and hopefully speaks white, fairly cisgender ... other people and I’m excited to see everyone there get to the inclusivity of But I felt that Rice PRIDE’s what they are Rice PRIDE, is that Open Mic Night really together.” bringing to the Members and other attendees may a lot of performers showed a broad range of stage. I’ve always not have been as accustomed to the in- h i g h l i g h t e d been passionate different LGBTQ experiences. person format, but many performers felt the about sharing my of at home sharing their spoken word or intersections Alexa Thomases own culture with identity,” songs because of previous experience their LOVETT COLLEGE JUNIOR other people, so performing in front of live audiences. Thomases said. “A this was a great Some revisited poems they debuted years lot of people spoke ago, while others tested out new ones about how their gender or their sexual opportunity.”

Quincy Tate, a Sid Richardson College written only hours before deciding to orientation sort of interwove with either a racial or ethnic identity, [or] their ability, freshman, also appreciated the crowd’s perform on the spot. encouragement when presenting their Alexa Thomases, who presented an perhaps.”

A c c o r d i n g poetry about mental health. original spoken “I felt like it was a crowd where what to Thomases, word piece, said the complexity I said would be accepted, especially that she is familiar in students’ because it’s PRIDE — I mean, everything’s with the unique I was a little nervous at p e r s p e c t i v e s accepted,” Tate said. “[That] definitely energy found at first, but the people are contrasts with the helped me take that final step.” open mics after Several performers said that they one-dimensional getting into them in really nice ... This was stories they are would love for PRIDE to organize another high school. They really a chance to express used to hearing open mic, especially because anyone joined Rice PRIDE myself and get to know about the who did not initially feel comfortable as early as their enough to perform might be inspired to community. orientation week other people and what “I thought participate in the next one. and immediately they are bringing to the Samarth said they hope that the it was really knew she wanted stage. I’ve always been refreshing to community’s acceptance of all kinds of to be a part of passionate about sharing see that because narratives will be imparted on audience PRIDE’s open mic oftentimes I find members. after receiving a my own culture with other “I hope that they will leave that the LGBTQ message on the people, so this was a great circles can be recognizing the sheer amount of diversity Listserv calling for opportunity. fairly white, fairly and different experiences and talent performers. cisgender and that exists within the queer community “I started doing Yiyi Yang sort of deliver at Rice,” Samarth said. “And [have] an spoken word poetry LOVETT COLLEGE SOPHOMORE a streamlined, appreciation of how it’s hard for people in high school and found that it was a great forum for self watered-down message about the to get up there and share something that expression,” Thomases, a Lovett College LGBTQ comunity,” Thomases said. “But they’re passionate about or feel strongly junior, said. “The open mic scene has I felt that Rice PRIDE’s Open Mic Night about, so I think to recognize the value always historically been very inclusive really showed a broad range of LGBTQ of being part of that experience is really important.” of the LGBT community, and when I experiences and a lot of nuance.”

FROM FRONT PAGE

PRIDE OPEN MIC

Review: ‘Alone Together’ Early in the “Alone Together” documentary, Charli XCX reflects on her early career at a time when people knew her songs but not her. Constrained by typical pop fare like “I Love It” and “Fancy,” Charli XCX didn’t shine until she charted her own path with the experimental PC Music collaborative in 2016’s “Vroom Vroom.”

Ironically, the documentary makes the exact same mistake by flattening Charli XCX into a cut-and-dry popstar narrative that destroys the beautiful nuance of her pandemic-era musical production.

Set on the backdrop of the global pandemic we know and love, Charli XCX decided to record and release an album within weeks while quarantining in her Los Angeles home. This recording process sets the stage for the documentary, promising an insight into her creative process. Since Charli XCX’s run up to “how im feeling now” sustained my early pandemic malaise, I was hyped. In spring 2020, I listened to the singles the second they dropped and danced around in my room to the album.

But instead of capturing that transcendent, fleeting euphoria amongst pain, “Alone Together” opts for heavy-handed cuts of newsreels and simplistic interviews with fans. Even touching moments like Charli’s discussion of her mental health struggles fall flat due to overwrought scoring.

The works of art whose creation the documentary supposedly tracks remain much more interesting than the documentary itself. The music videos for early singles like “forever” worked because they lacked narrative. They were smorgasbords of fan-submitted emotion that lacked stable categorization, allowing fans to find meaning. “Alone Together,” meanwhile, never misses an opportunity to tell viewers just how special the moment was. The producers pick the corniest lines from fan interviews and intersperse them with the clunky Tweets with the tone of a forty year old marketing manager. Only when the documentary shuts up and shows clips of fans dancing on Zoom does it begin to encapsulate the essence of the album and the experience surrounding it.

The documentary also fails to address the tensions between Charli XCX and her fanbase that are so defining of the artist’s career. Charli XCX is infamous for having unfinished versions of her tracks released online by fans, leading to entire scrapped albums and emotional duress for the singer. Even her most ardent fans made memes of it (a fan in the documentary has the scrapped album cover as a screensaver). This leads to an uncomfortable dynamic where Charli XCX gains popularity and infamy from the leaks at the cost of her mental health.

These are exactly the nuanced themes a

Valen-tunes MORGAN GAGE

A&E EDITOR

Maybe Valentine’s Day is a corporate scam to sell heart shaped boxes of chocolate, but how can I care when they’re so cute? Here’s my confession: I’m a hopeless romantic at heart despite my cynicism (one true love? I’m gagging).

In that vein, here are some songs that hopefully encompass the conflict between romanticism and disillusionment around the holiday.

You can listen to the full playlist on Spotify in the lead up to Valentine’s Day this year.

“1-800-DATEME” mxmtoon

“Cassiopeia” AnJu

“boys r dumb! duh!”

Sophie Cates

“On My Mind” Namasenda

“Cotton Candy” spill tab

Listen to the full Spotify playlist here:

Read more online at ricethresher.org.

JACOB TATE

SENIOR WRITER Charli XCX documentary should address beyond the surface level.

“Alone Together” does criminal injustice to one of the most brilliant, boundary pushing pop stars of our generation. It flattens Charli into the exact narrative she’s spent the last half decade trying to escape. Instead of spending an hour with this nothingburger, go

COURTESY GREENWICH ENTERTAINMENT

watch the videos Charli put out during the quarantine period, from the jubilant “claws” to her wonderful Minecraft set to her Alphaville visions remix. I paused the documentary multiple times to do just that. Charli XCX is about finding your own meaning amongst her chaos, not being instructed by exaggerated visuals and music drops on how to feel.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2022 • 9

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Senior Spotlight: Laura Semro discusses transience in art

ZEISHA BENNETT / THRESHER Laura Semro, a Sid Richardson College senior, creates art with a variety of material and mediums, sometimes focusing on ideas of transience in her creations.

ADRIAN AMY

THRESHER STAFF From illustrating Bible stories in the first grade through competitive on-site drawing as a teenager to transferring to Rice as an art history and visual and dramatic arts double major, art has always been a part of life for Laura Semro, Sid Richardson College senior.

“I’m one of those artists that’s like: ‘Oh yeah, I’ve been drawing as far back as I can remember,’” Semro said.

Despite having been heavily involved in the visual arts scene in high school, Semro said she had not originally planned to continue doing art.

“Once I started college, I [thought] that [art] was not really a sustainable thing, so I was planning to be an English major. The first couple of years I went to community college, got my associate’s degree and then transferred here,”

Semro said. “But I had a whole panic right before transferring where I thought ‘I don’t want to be an English major.’”

Semro said that she ended up applying to Rice as an art history major.

“I took a drawing class for fun, and [I] ended up being convinced by the professor to pursue it a little more deliberately,” Semro said. “Since then it [has become] the focus. I would say I’m more of an artist than an art historian at this point.”

While her current focus is mostly on printmaking, Semro uses a wide range of media to create art, ranging from ink to poetry to a sculptural performance piece.

“For my final project for senior studio last semester, [I made] a couple of humanoid sculptures made of really, really weak armatures that aren’t meant to last, so it would not create a sculpture that would last very long,” Semro said.

Review: Estrada delivers with raw, rich ‘Marchita’ For all her songwriting brilliance, she sings like she has to force secrets out Genre: Indie of herself, pushing melodies outwards Top Track: “Te Guardo” until something gives and her gorgeous voice can flow freely. Even when full Más o menos technically translates to instrumentation pulls in the climax of more or less but, like Silvana Estrada’s early standout “Te Guardo,” Estrada’s latest album “Marchita,” any kind of stilted enunciation of the heartbreaking technical explanation does it injustice. “Te guardo un po-qui-to de fe” rings The key difference is that in Spanish más like there’s nothing else in the mix.

Her voice, often o menos is a state unprocessed, of being, an answer breaks into a to a cordial “how million pieces are you?” Silvana From this voice comes the f a t a l i s t i c a l l y, Estrada’s new best break-up album since like there was no album Marchita, other way it could beginning with the “Fetch the Boltcutters.” be. appropriate “Más But while Fiona Apple From this o menos antes,” sounded self-assured voice comes studies that state the best breakof being, the pain and biting, Estrada up album since obscured behind drowns in persevering “Fetch the the phrase (Más loss. On the title track, Boltcutters.” o menos usually she opens starkly with But while Fiona implies a bit Apple sounded more menos than “Te he perdido tantos self-assured and más).

Fittingly, veces que inevitable es el biting, Estrada the album also recuerdo/Y la angustia del drowns in explores the reencuentro con tu piel persevering loss. tensions of On the title track, mistranslation, the contra mi piel.” she opens starkly communication breakdowns, the nuances lost in the with “Te he perdido tantos veces que inevitable es el recuerdo / Y la angustia process of romantic communion.

Marchita begins and ends with Silvana del reencuentro con tu piel contra mi Estrada herself, a centralizing force piel.” On the next track, she begs her over typically sparse instrumentation. own sadness to allow her to love again,

This is also why Semro said that she has “[I] covered that in like wet plaster, and then I put it on the ground, wrote some recently preferred to work in ink and print stuff around it, and asked a group of my making.

“I always liked the permanence of peers from the class to tear it apart.”

Semro said this ties into the themes it. There’s always a tension between permanence and impermanence and the that carry across most of her work.

“A lot of the themes behind my work cyclical nature of feelings,” Semro said. “So revolve around mental health and mental ink was a really great way to have a very quick illness and an exploration of myself,” and fluid expression of things, but it’s also Semro said. “I have ADHD, [and] there very permanent. Once it’s there, you’re not are a lot of elements to it that end up taking it away. It’s not like a pencil drawing to being spoken about there from like object obsess over. It’s just there.”

Semro also impermanence considers this aspect to rejection of permanence versus sensitivity.

It impermanence in her always feels like a printmaking. very heavy thing I sometimes will write one ”Printmaking is to explain, and word over and over and just obsessive cycles I don’t feel like I over again until you can’t where you draw am a very heavy see what it says, and then I one thing, transfer person.” it to something else, “In the case of forget what it says. I really carve it out, and this, it was almost like illegibility leading to then you’re printing accidentally it over and over,” symbolic,” Semro even [myself] forgetting Semro said. “Right said. “I didn’t what was so intense in the now I’m printing on fully realize the moment ... There’s a construction paper, meaning of it until comfort in that, and because it’s a little afterwards, [when mundane and not I thought], ‘It is there’s also a comfort in made to last forever. so much easier just completely giving in I really like that when you ask for to the bad feelings and element. I have a bad support and have expressing them in this habit of using nonother people help lasting materials in you break down frenzied way. what I make, and I the things inside Laura Semro think it [speaks] to a your head that SID RICHARDSON COLLEGE SENIOR lot of my motivations are breaking you behind [my art].” down.’”

As for what comes after graduation, Semro The impermanence of this sculpture is also characteristic of the art Semro has says she doesn’t know, but she is looking forward to being able to see new places. been making over the last few years.

“I’ve lived in Houston since I was seven, “I sometimes will write one word over and over and over again until you can’t so I would really like to go somewhere else,” see what it says, and then I forget what it Semro said. “But, like everything else in my says,” Semro said. “I really like illegibility life, [my plans] are very transient and unclear, leading to even [myself] forgetting what and that’s okay because something will was so intense in the moment. It’s this happen, and I can’t stop what will happen idea of transience and bad feelings not from happening.”

The one thing that is clear though, Semro being made to last. There’s a comfort in that, and there’s also a comfort in just said, is that her path will definitely involve art.

“I can’t really escape it,” said Semro. “I completely giving in to the bad feelings and expressing them in this frenzied tried for a couple of years, and I don’t think it’s going to work.” way.”

JACOB TATE

SENIOR WRITER

her voice cracking over her pleas. Even in the upbeat-sounding “Carta,” Estrada breaks down the brutal logic used by a partner to end a relationship before they might get hurt. Maybe Silvana Estrada would tell you her life is “más o menos,” but she carries the burdens thrust upon her by a nostalgic heart.

Estrada is cursed to replay these scenes of pain, wondering what could have gone differently. Lovers become

the goodbyes, the excuses, the secrets that they left behind as she tries to sort through the wreckage to find the meaning or, better yet, the solution.

Often, she’s left with nothing, apparent on tracks like “Ser De Ti,” where she offers her partner the moon only to be met with radio silence. When things fall apart, there is so much to sit in and sift through and no one does it better than Silvana Estrada.

COURTESY GLASSNOTE RECORDS

10 • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2022

THE RICE THRESHER

Simpson-Sullivan discusses unlikely journey to stardom REED MYERS

SENIOR WRITER

Lake District, so the outdoors and nature was pretty much all around you,” SimpsonSullivan said. “My family have always been my biggest supporters, especially my mum.

She carted me and my sister up and down the country by herself for multiple years and for various different sports, and I would never have been in the position I am today without her dedication to us.”

When the time came for Simpson-Sullivan to decide her next move for her academic and athletic careers, she evaluated her options. According to Simpson-Sullivan, she

Tara Simpson-Sullivan is a star by any standard. Last June, she earned a gold medal in the women’s hammer throw at the British Championships and placed fourth in the same event at the NCAA championships.

Given her recent successes, it might surprise you to learn that she didn’t even know what the hammer throw was until one fateful meet when she happened to stumbled upon it.

“I first started back in 2014,” SimpsonSullivan said. “I remember having just finished a sprint hurdles race when the team manager asked if I could throw the hammer to get extra points for the team. I said yes, although at the time I had never heard of the wanted to go to a place which hammer and didn’t have a clue how to go understood that she was relatively new to about throwing it. One of the dad’s of another the event, while also finding the right group of people to call her athlete showed me next team. the basics of what “I knew that I to do and in my first wanted to be coached ever competition The team manager asked by someone who that day I threw 18.75 if I could throw hammer understood how little meters.” training I was doing Following this to get extra points for the before I came to meet, Simpson- team. I said yes, although college and to be in a Sullivan realized at the time I had never group that was close that she enjoyed and supportive,” competing in heard of the hammer and Simpson-Sullivan this event and didn’t have a clue how to said. “When I spoke was intrigued to go about throwing it. to [throwing coach learn more about Tara Simpson-Sullivan Brek Christensen] it. According to during recruiting, I Simpson-Sullivan, SOPHOMORE THROWER really liked his plans her love for the sport for our training, and when I came to visit, the became apparent in the following years.

“After going to a coach, I quickly girls who hosted me are now some of my best progressed within the event,” Simpson- friends.”

Simpson-Sullivan’s visit to Rice included Sullivan said. “I knew within that first season that I really enjoyed the hammer. But it was not only meeting her future teammates probably the next couple of seasons where I and coaches, but it also allowed her the decided that the hammer was what I wanted opportunity to see Houston and Rice’s to do as I stopped playing other sports like campus. According to Simpson-Sullivan, when she first got to Rice’s campus, it rugby so that I wouldn’t get injured.”

As Simpson-Sullivan traveled further reminded her of Penrith.

“I remember thinking on my visit that the along her hammer throwing journey, which started in Penrith, England, she did so with school’s campus was so beautiful and was her family accompanying her along the way. a nice contrast to the busy life of Houston,” According to Simpson-Sullivan, her family Simpson-Sullivan said. “Coming from are her biggest supporters, and have been Penrith, there was always so much nature, so I think the campus was a nice balance of influential in her career.

“Penrith is a quaint little town near the the city life of Houston. Plus, coming from the

U.K., I knew I wanted to be somewhere warm, so Houston was a tick in that box too.”

At Rice, Simpson-Sullivan has enjoyed much athletic success, winning the 2020 Conference USA indoor weight throw and 2021 C-USA outdoor hammer throw while setting school records in both events. Her fourth place finish at the NCAA championships earned her first team All-American honors. In addition to her collegiate success, SimpsonSullivan her winning throw of 67.38 meters at the British Championships helped her reach the No. 50 spot of the world hammer throw rankings. According to Simpson-Sullivan, being able to come away on top at an elite

competition was a surreal moment.

“It was a solidifying moment for me that I can continue to compete at a championship level and still be able to compete well and throw far,” Simpson-Sullivan said.

“It’s these kinds of competitions that you see Olympic athletes winning, so to win it myself at 20 years old was a surreal moment, but one that I knew I could do by focusing on what I do best, which is competing.”

As Simpson-Sullivan gets deeper into her career, she has identified a few clear goals. According to Simpson-Sullivan, there are many championships that she hopes to compete in in before including the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

“The 2024 Olympics, in Paris, is a big goal for me,” Simpson-Sullivan said.

“But there are a lot

of championships before then, such as this year there’s three major championships that I hope to be [selected] for. Especially the Commonwealth Games as it is [in England this year].”

Until then, Simpson-Sullivan continues to perfect her craft on Rice’s campus, where she is also working towards a double major in psychology and sport management. With the rest of her time, Simpson-Sullivan said she enjoys taking in the outdoors doing her childhood hobby.

“I love walking around Hermann Park or sitting on the hill outside the outdoor theatre and reading my current book,” SimpsonSullivan said. “I love reading.

Fiction books more so than anything but it was always something I enjoyed growing up and I just got back into it last year. My goal this year is to read 22 books in the year 2022.”

That 2014 meet when she u n k n o w i ngly entered the ring to compete in a new event would eventually take Simpson-Sullivan on a journey from Penrith to Houston.

According to SimpsonSullivan, she still has a lot to learn, and she’s excited to see where it takes her next.

“I love learning and I love competing,” Simpson-Sullivan said. “Having so much still to learn within the event is great and is what pushes me to continue to be the best possible athlete I can be, [and] I know I am nowhere near my ceiling.”

COURTESY RICE ATHLETICS Sophomore thrower Tara Simpson-Sullivan attempts the hammer throw during a meet last season.

Simpson-Sullivan, a first team all-American, won a gold medal at last year’s British Championships.

Schmidt reflects on coaching career after 200th win SAVANNAH KUCHAR

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

As of last week, Rice women’s tennis head coach Elizabeth Schmidt now has 200 career wins to go along with her six conference championships and nine NCAA tournament appearances. But according to Schmidt, it’s the people with whom she’s shared these accomplishments that have made them special.

COURTESY RICE ATHLETICS Rice women’s tennis head coach Elizabeth Schmidt celebrates a win with her team.

Schmidt won the 200th match of her career last week in the Owls’ win over Lamar.

“[I’ve] been fortunate to have been a part of really great matches and achieve a lot of some really cool milestones,” Schmidt said. “But those milestones don’t happen without the student-athletes, the assistant coaches, the support staff that come to work every day and work really hard and really love representing Rice.”

A five-time conference coach of the year, Schmidt started her coaching career as an assistant at Rice in 2004,

after which she left to coach for two years at the University of Notre Dame.

She returned to Rice in 2008 for her first head coaching position, a move that she said was fueled by her time already spent here as an assistant coach.

“I knew how much Rice could be capable of,” Schmidt said. “When I came in, I knew what some of the positives of Rice [were] and I knew what some of the challenges were going to be. So I felt like I definitely started on the instead of first step, the second step.”

An Austin native, Schmidt said the proximity to home was also an advantage for her in coming to coach at Rice.

“When you’re looking at jobs, obviously you’re trying to find the job that’s going to be a good fit for everybody,” Schmidt said. “But it was a bonus that I could be that close to home and my parents are only a couple hours away and they can come watch a lot of matches and help out with the family.”

It was her own experience as a player at University of California, Los Angeles, that made Schmidt pursue coaching as a profession. Additionally, Schmidt said she has been inspired by two strong women in her life — her Westlake High

School coach Elsa Hinojosa and head coach at UCLA, Stella Sampras Webster.

“Those two women I feel really helped pave the way for me to be where I am today, for sure. I will have so much gratitude for them, always,” Schmidt said.

After college, Schmidt played professional tennis for three years, making it to doubles qualifying at Wimbledon in 2003. As a kid, she said she first picked up the sport by following the lead of her two older brothers once they started playing tennis.

“Like the younger sister, I wanted to be like my brothers. And I’m the one who stuck with it,” Schmidt said. “They were solid players themselves … I just wanted to be like them.”

The relationships built on and off the court are most important to Schmidt, who says she still keeps in touch with not only her own coaches but also many former players from Rice.

“It’s really fun to just really build those relationships and obviously work hard together and continue the friendships past college,” Schmidt said.

“The student-athletes are what make this job so special.”

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2022 • 11

SPORTS

WBB takes down LA Tech for first conference win of the season DANIEL SCHRAGER

“Basketball is a game of runs,” Edmonds said. “There’s always going to be runs, you’re hoping that you’re the It took six games, but the Rice women’s team that makes more runs. I think LA basketball team was able to get into the Tech made a little bit of a run there, and win column in Conference USA standings we needed to get stops.”

After a Rice timeout, they were able on Thursday when they took down Louisiana Tech University by a score of to hold off the late push and seal a 72-64 72-64. The game was the first conference win. Sophomore forward Ashlee Austin win in the tenure of first-year head coach led the Owls with a game-high 27 points.

Lindsay Edmonds, who guided the Owls to Austin, who added four blocks on the a 5-3 record in non-conference play before defensive end as well, was joined in the team hit a five-game skid. According to double figures by three teammates. While Edmonds, the win meant even more given both teams shot around 40 percent from the floor, Rice held a 24-9 advantage in all that it took for the team to get there.

“I’m just so happy for this team,” points scored from three-point range and Edmonds said. “We went through a lot. outshot LA Tech from the free throw line We’ve had adversity with injuries, with 22-11.

The win came just five days after COVID, with low numbers, and with the the Owls took four-overtime the University of game this past North Carolina at weekend. We could Charlotte to four have easily come We could have easily come overtimes, only to in here feeling like in here feeling like ‘woe lose by a score of ‘woe is me, we’re 88-83.

According 0-5’ and just not is me, we’re 0-5’ ... I’m so to Austin, the Owls performed the way proud of them coming in spent all week that we did. I’m tonight and comepeting recovering from so proud of their the way that they did and the longest game in effort, I’m so proud program history in of them coming being rewarded for their order to be ready for in tonight and efforts.

Thursday. competing the way Lindsay Edmonds “We were all in that they did, and the training room being rewarded for HEAD COACH getting treatment, their efforts.”

After a back and forth first quarter left just trying to get back [and] get ready,” the game tied, Rice rode a 16-4 run in the Austin said. “I know I was getting a lot of second quarter to take a 12-point lead into sleep this week, eating really good, just halftime. After an even third quarter, the trying to get ready to get us rolling. It was Lady Techsters went on a 10-2 run to bring tough, but we bounced back taking care the game within four with 5:10 remaining. of ourselves.”

While they had yet to win a conference According to Edmonds, the team knew they had to focus and tighten up their game prior to Thursday, the Owls had managed to decrease the margin of their defense to close out the game.

SPORTS EDITOR

COURTESY RICE ATHLETICS Sophomore forward Ashlee Austin celebrates a basket in Rice’s win over Louisiana Tech.

Austin led the Owls with 27 points as they got their first conference win of the season.

loss in every game leading up to the LA Tech game. According to Edmonds, after they’d had chances to win in recent weeks, it was gratifying to finally close out the game.

“I know we [were] 0-5, but with the exception of [a 24-point loss to Middle Tennessee State University in the C-USA opener], I feel like we’ve been in every game,” Edmonds said. “For them to be able to learn from those mistakes we’ve made in other games and finish the game

out with a win, I’m so excited for the players and so proud of how tough they are.”

The Owls were unable to repeat the trick on Saturday, when they took on the University of Southern Mississippi. After a close first quarter, USM pulled away for a 78-55 win, dropping the Owls record to 1-6 in conference play. Rice will look to bounce back when they hit the road to face the University of Texas, San Antonio on Thursday at 7:00 p.m.

Men’s basketball misses opportunity to knock off second place LA Tech PAVITHR GOLI

SENIOR WRITER

Last Thursday, the Rice men’s basketball team traveled to the Thomas Assembly Center in Ruston, LA to face off against then conference co-leaders, Louisiana Tech University. The Bulldogs defeated the Owls 80-63 in the first matchup between the two squads this season. The Bulldogs were able to sustain an Owls push at the beginning of the game and put together several significant runs to put the game out of reach. According to head coach Scott Pera, the Owls played with plenty of effort, but weren’t consistent enough.

“We only played well in stretches,” Pera said. “The beginning stretch was very good. Our kids kept fighting to cut it to [nine] and I’m really proud of that. Our effort was really good. Our discipline with the ball was really good.”

Held to a 32.8 field goal percentage and 15.4 percentage from three-point range, the Owls struggled shooting the ball against a stout defense. The poor shooting, according to Pera, played a key role in the Owls’ loss.

“We just couldn’t make a shot,” Pera said. “We had some guys who have produced for us a lot and didn’t produce [tonight]. That makes it really difficult to beat anybody, let alone one of the best teams on their home floor. We had to play a really good game to beat them.”

Rice led for much of the opening ten minutes, but a 19-3 LA Tech run in the closing minutes of the first half gave the Bulldogs a big lead going into halftime.

Rice was able to narrow the deficit to nine at one point, but a late LA Tech push brought their lead back to 17 and seasled the game. According to graduate transfer guard Carl Pierre, the energy that the Owls started off with and their overall defensive effort are some positives that they can take away from the game.

“I think we really wanted to come out with energy and play hard,” Pierre said.

“That is something that Coach Pera talked about a lot. To start the game, I think we did that. We really put our hat on the defensive end and I think it showed a little bit. At the end though, it just didn’t go our way.”

Some of the other positives that the Owls had, according to Pera, included limiting turnovers against a strong defensive unit along with the team’s ability to gather offensive rebounds.

“The other positive is that we only had eight turnovers on the road against a very good defensive team and sixteen offensive rebounds, meaning our kids were playing hard the whole time,” Pera said. This helped us come back.”

The loss dropped their conference record to 4-4 on the season. However, they

followed it up with a 76-62 win against the University of Southern Mississippi on Saturday to get back above .500. With 10 games left in the regular season, the Owls will mainly face off against their conference rivals as they aim to qualify for the Conference USA Tournament in early March. As the team enters the home stretch of their season, they are finding ways to improve so that they can end the campaign on a high note.

According to Pera, the team could most improve by focusing on their energy, especially in the road environment.

Although the team started off strong, Pera said that he wants the team to be able to keep this energy high throughout the game.

“You have to play for forty minutes on the road,” Pera said. “The energy is

with the home team most of the time.

We have to provide our own energy. We have to withstand runs a little bit better and we just have to play defense for forty minutes.”

Pierre emphasized the need to limit runs from opposing offenses to prevent games from getting out of hand.

“I think the biggest thing for us is, rather than letting runs get to 11-2 or 13-2, we need to keep the runs to be at 5-2 or 7-2 and just stopping other team’s runs,” Pierre said.

The Owls, who are currently 12-8 and have a 5-4 conference record, return to action at home this Thursday at 7 p.m. when they face off against the University of Texas, San Antonio. The Roadrunners are 8-14 overall and 1-7 against conference opponents.

COURTESY LA TECH ATHLETICS Freshman forward Mylyjael Poteat dribbles the ball past a LA Tech defender. The Owls fell to the Bulldogs 80-63 to bring their conference record to 4-4 on the season.