The Rice Thresher | Wednesday, February 16, 2022

VOLUME 106, ISSUE NO. 19 | STUDENT-RUN SINCE 1916 | RICETHRESHER.ORG | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2022

Willy’s Pub rebrands as The Pub at Rice PRAYAG GORDY

SENIOR WRITER

Willy’s Pub is formally changing their name to The Pub at Rice, according to Sophie Call, Pub’s marketing manager.

Pub has considered renaming since the racial justice protests of summer 2020, Call said.

Elizabeth Groenewold, Pub’s general manager, said this change shows Pub’s support of the Down With Willy movement, which has called for removing the statue of William Marsh Rice from the Academic Quadrangle.

In January, the Board of Trustees announced that the statue would be relocated within the Academic Quadrangle.

“I’m glad that we’re able to support BLM and the Down With Willy movement this way,” Groenewold said. “Do I think it’ll make drastic changes in campus life or the way people perceive Pub? No. But still, it’s nice to be in solidarity, and especially since other student-run businesses have come out saying that they support Down With Willy, I’m glad we’re able to do it in this way.”

Pub’s previous management team consulted their Black staff members as they worked through the logistics of the renaming process, according to Call.

“As time went on, some of us specifically reached out to a few of our bartenders, specifically, we wanted to reach out to our Black bartenders and say, ‘Hey, here’s what we’re thinking about doing, we would love your input,’” Call said. “Everybody who we reached out to was amazing about it, helped guide us in terms of making sure that it didn’t come off as an optics thing, making sure we were doing it for the right reasons. [The name change] technically came from the top down; the management were ultimately the people who decided that

this is how it was going to be, but we did absolutely consult the people who really matter most in this situation.”

Of the 35 total bartenders and managers currently on Pub’s staff, two are Black, Groenewold said. According to Call, Pub is taking steps to increase diversity among their management team, which is all white.

“These past two application cycles, we have hired the most diverse staff that Pub has ever seen to our knowledge,” Call said. “We’re hoping that in the future, like as time goes on, having a wider pool, a more diverse pool of people to choose from will encourage a more diverse management team to crop up.”

Call said she will specifically reach out to cultural groups at Rice to recruit the rest of Pub’s staff.

“Usually in the past, all I do is just post on social media, try to get the word out as much as possible just across campus,” Call said. “I think this next upcoming round, we’re going to try and reach out specifically to different cultural groups on campus to say, ‘Hey, we really would love for you guys to come work at Pub with us.’”

Regarding the name change, Call said Pub’s leadership does not expect this rebrand to significantly affect Pub’s reputation on campus.

“I feel like most people just refer to Pub as ‘Pub’ anyway, so we’re actually hoping that it doesn’t really change that much in that sense,” Call said. “We just want everybody to keep thinking of Pub as Pub, we just don’t need the connotation with Willy anymore, not that we ever did.”

CHANNING WANG / THRESHER The start of the official season for women’s flag football was delayed to the spring semester this year, after having been put on pause in 2020 due to pandemic-related restrictions.

CHARLIE WELLS / THRESHER

Powderpuff season set to start after long delay KAITLYN CROWLEY

FOR THE THRESHER

After the cancellation of the 2020 women’s flag football season due to COVID-19, students across Rice have been looking forward to the return of powderpuff this year. According to Vaidya Parthasarathy, a Powderpuff coach at Wiess College, the coaches and players are just excited to be back on the field.

“We just want to get out there and play,” Parthasarathy said. “I hope we can get back to it without many more administrative delays.”

Powderpuff, which is made up of one team from each residential college and one from the Graduate Student Association, is typically played during the fall semester.

According to Isaac Goforth, a Will Rice College senior and one of the three Powderpuff coordinators for this year, the coordinators are usually chosen in the spring of the preceding year for the fall season.

However, this year, delaying the recruitment of the coordinator team to the fall semester led to the official season starting in the spring instead.

“We got a much later start than what the coordinators are supposed to have … and we weren’t chosen until well into the fall semester,” Goforth said. “Also, OwlNest and iO Web Clock were both new things within the past two years so previous coordinators couldn’t help us with that since [these systems were not] there when they were in the position … so it was a very steep learning curve navigating the new club registration process.”

Though Powderpuff was put on pause from the spring of 2020 to the spring of 2021 due to pandemic-related restrictions, COVID-19 isn’t the only reason the season was delayed, according to Goforth. “[The lack of interest in IM sports] is understandable with the shutdown happening … and since there were no regular intramural sports going on during that time, it sort of disrupted the pipeline of people that were interested in signing up to be officials,” Goforth said. “But the delay was actually a problem in the last two seasons too before all the shutdowns happened because the coordinators got off to a late start since they were chosen late … that is a problem we are trying to fix for next year. The delay hasn’t had anything to do with the level of participation player-wise or coach-wise, but we’ve definitely had a leadership vacuum and some administrative issues.”

This article has been cut off for print. Read the full article at ricethresher.org.

SEE

BASEBALL SEASON PREVIEW PAGE 10

2 • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2022

THE RICE THRESHER

SA resolution introduced to address swim coach comments

Sonia Nazario named this year’s commencement speaker KELTON KECK / THRESHER The Student Association Equity Council introduced a resolution on Feb. 7 denouncing Rice swim coach Seth Huston’s comments after he made statements regarding an NCAA policy change.

NCAA and USA Swimming in reviewing and updating policies to create fairness, opportunity and equity in women’s The Student Association Equity competitive sport.

“Respectful, but differing views on Council introduced a resolution on Feb. 7 denouncing Rice swim coach how we reach competitive fairness and Seth Huston’s comments after he made equity in sport is and should be open for statements regarding an NCAA policy discussion,” Huston said. “Censoring or change. The NCAA’s new policy states that dismissing an opinion as offensive shuts transgender policies in the sport are now down respectful public discourse and the to be determined by the sport’s national free flow of ideas.”

Huston also made clear that he fully governing body, along with commenting on University of Pennsylvania swimmer supports and respects Lia Thomas as a person.

Lia Thomas’ right to compete.

“My intention was to ensure “Lia has every right to compete,” Huston said in his original comments competitive fairness, not to combat or to SwimSwam. “But I think, black and harm the transgender community. The Rice community white right now, should be you compete as encouraging what you were r e s p e c t f u l biologically born Respectful, but differing dialogue, not until we get to views on how we reach shaming or a point where intimidating we’ve expanded competitive fairness c o m m u n i t y opportunities, you and equity in sport is members into know for instance, and should be open for silence,” Huston in transgender.” said.

The resolution discussion. Censoring or Members of calls for Huston dismissing an opinion the Rice swim to publicly as offensive shuts down released apologize to Lia respectful public discourse team a statement Thomas and the f o l l o w i n g student body for and the free flow of ideas.

Huston’s original his transphobic Seth Huston comments, saying comments, for that Huston’s Rice to make RICE SWIM COACH opinions are a monetary donation to the Houston Trans-Legal Aid echoed throughout most of the NCAA Clinic and for Huston to undergo allyship world, and that he was not speaking out training and an anti-discrimination against Lia Thomas.

“We believe his intention was to course.

Huston wrote in an email to the protect the sanctity and integrity of Thresher that the opinion he shared women’s sports,” they wrote. “That said, addressed the lack of governance by the his views are not necessarily reflective of

VIOLA HSIA

SENIOR WRITER

the diverse views of our team. Our main goal is to create an environment in which people feel comfortable both being themselves and speaking their minds.

We don’t believe that [Huston] was in opposition of that goal.”

At the Student Association meeting on Feb. 7, students discussed Rice’s overall treatment of transgender students, and whether the university is taking enough steps to ensure a safe space for these students.

Morike Ayodeji, a McMurtry College senator, said she thinks the resolution is very important and is glad there is discourse about it.

“No matter what the impact or intention of the coach [voicing] his opinion about the NCAA’s policy about trans athletes, there is an impact on how it comes across to members of the trans community,” Ayodeji said.

According to William Tsai, a Will Rice College senator, the comments made by Huston have also affected the swim team members themselves.

“Members of the swim team have since received threats posted on their doors, been shunned in their college commons, and received other forms of mistreatment,” Tsai said. “This is not acceptable; we need to be better.”

Individual members of the women’s swim team declined to comment.

Ayodeji said the resolution is still under discussion.

“I can’t say too much about the specifics of the resolution,” Ayodeji said. “[But] I also feel it’s more important to amplify the voices of the trans community.”

The SA will be discussing the resolution further at their Feb. 21 meeting.

TALHA ARIF

NEWS EDITOR Pulitzer Prize winning author and journalist Sonia Nazario will deliver the 109th commencement speech for the class of 2022, according to Jeff Falk, Rice’s director of national media relations.

Nazario began her career at the Wall Street Journal, and later joined the Los Angeles Times, according to her American Program Bureau biography. She is best known for Enrique’s Journey, the story of a Honduran boy’s struggle to find his mother in the U.S. Enrique’s Journey won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 2003, was turned into a book by Random House and became a national bestseller.

She presented at a President’s Lecture Series at Rice in Sept. 2014, discussing her reasons why she believed the U.S. needs to take a new approach to solving their immigration crisis.

“This is such an important issue here in Texas,” Nazario said in her presentation. “You have the secondlargest undocumented population in the country, nearly 7 percent of everyone in the state is undocumented and 40 percent of the population is Latino/Hispanic.”

She was selected as the 2015 Don and Arvonne Fraser Human Rights Award recipient by the Advocates for Human Rights for her efforts to get lawyers for unaccompanied migrant children. She was also named a 2015 Champion of Children

by First Focus and a 2015 Golden Door award winner by HIAS Pennsylvania. In 2016, the American Immigration Council gave her the American Heritage Award and she also received the National Peacemaker Award from the Houston Peace & Justice Center.

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Nicholas Kristof spoke as the commencement speaker last year for the Class of 2020 and 2021.

Nazario is currently working on her second book. She is a graduate of Williams College and has a master’s degree in Latin American studies from the University of California, Berkeley. She has honorary doctorates from Mount St. Mary’s College and Whittier College.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2022 • 3

NEWS

Bunting, Franklin vie for Student Association presidency HAJERA NAVEED

ASST NEWS EDITOR Madison Bunting, current Student Association internal vice president, and Gabrielle Franklin, current Brown College SA senator, are the two candidates running for Student Association president this year.

Bunting said her platform emphasizes people over policy and that her main goal is to increase awareness of and accessibility to the Student Association.

“For me, it matters more that I am encouraging and empowering other people to make a difference, than that I specifically am able to pursue certain goals, because the SA makes a broader impact when everyone in it is intrinsically motivated to do the work,” Bunting, a junior at Martel College, said.

“You don’t necessarily have that if the person in charge of the organization is trying to mandate … what we’re going to work on.”

Bunting said she decided to run because her past involvement in the SA has shown her what it can do and the areas in which it needs to grow.

Aside from IVP, Bunting was involved in SA as the co-chair of the academics committee.

“I think I am the best person that can help create some of that change and help the SA become something that actually makes a difference across campus,” Bunting said.

Franklin said she witnessed a deprivation of student knowledge, rights and resources across campus, which inspired her to run for president.

She said that her previous roles in the SA, as allow her to realize its issues and how to address them.

“After participating in the work of my cohort, I understand where these weaknesses are and the changes that my [peers] wanted to make and were unable to, and I want to fix these issues not only for them but for those that follow and the whole of campus that is affected by these shortcomings,” Franklin, a sophomore at Brown College, said.

According to Franklin, the biggest issues facing students now are a lack of accountability by the administration and student leaders, a reduction of student agency and a loss of transparency in SA functions. She said that there also is a lack of inclusivity of marginalized communities on campus that must be addressed.

“I want to increase racial, LGBTQ and FGLI resources, run destigmatization campaigns on gender, sexuality, sexual health and mental health, increase student access to food and academic resources, and create greater recognition and allowances for mental health and eating disorders as a start,” Franklin said.

Bunting said her priorities as president would be informed by what she has noticed students care most about. She said that based on her conversations with students these priorities are high-quality academics, career resources and wellbeing.

“Those are the things that I’ve heard the most from students, but my platform is dynamic and flexible because, for me, it’s not about the specific issues that I see,” Bunting said. “It’s about empowering people, because everybody is

focused on their own issues … because that’s who we are.”

Bunting said she wants to focus on making sure everyone feels comfortable voicing their opinion at Senate. She said that as president she would add QR codes to each Senate slide with a link to an anonymous feedback form so that students have ample opportunity to give feedback.

“There have been times that I have perceived that there are students who tried to talk or wanted to talk, and didn’t have a designated position in the SA, and they didn’t end up getting to voice their concerns,” Bunting said. “And often their perspective was contrary to [the popular opinion].”

Franklin said she believes a large barrier towards engaging with the SA is the knowledge and bureaucracy that needs to be engaged with to work on student solutions to

campus issues. She said she would prioritize better communications with the student body to mitigate this barrier.

“To help mitigate this, I am working on a guide for SA advocacy and informal student advocacy and revamping our digital outreach by redesigning our website and Canvas page, providing live updates and previous materials in full, and normalizing attending Senate and communicating with SA members for students starting with Orientation-Week and campus-wide events over my term,” Franklin said.

Voting in the SA elections opens Feb. 23 at 12 p.m. and closes March 2 at 12 p.m.

PHOTOS COURTESIES OF GABRIELLE FRANKLIN AND MADISON BUNTING Bunting (left) and Frankling (right) are the two candidates for SA President.

Gupta, Unegbu square off in election for SA IVP BONNIE ZHAO

ASST NEWS EDITOR Trisha Gupta, current Student Association chief of staff, and Crystal Unegbu, current new student representative for Hanszen College and a member of SA’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, are the two candidates running for SA internal vice opresident this year.

Gupta, a Sid Richardson College junior, said that she’s been involved with the SA since her freshman year and had served as an NSR and senator for Sid Richardson College.

“I feel like a lot of my experiences have led me to consider what could be changed within the SA, and those changes can tangibly be made through the role of IVP,” Gupta said.

Gupta said that the issues of transparency and accessibility, which consistently come up in the SA, are things that she has specifically tried to work on in her role as a senator and as chief of staff.

“I’ve really tried my best to make [SA] projects widely available to undergraduates to show people pipelines of proposing an idea and getting involved with leading the idea or handing it off to someone else in there,” Gupta said.

“So we can take those experiences and

institutionalize them in a sense that really puts projects out there and gets people involved in the SA as a whole.”

Unegbu, a Hanszen freshman, said that she chose to run for IVP because her current roles as an NSR and a committee member allow her to work closely with the IVP, which helps her have the ability to influence and plan events to foster an environment that achieves the great plans many students have.

“I think that by participating in senates and retreats, I know what ended up working well and not so well,” Unegbu said. “By hearing other people’s perspectives on that, I know I will be able to utilize that to make the necessary changes for better retreats, better communication and better engagement.”

Unegbu said that the majority of the work she wanted to accomplish this term she has been a part of through the diversity and inclusion committee.

“The work I was doing to help our multicultural student body find their niches is not over. I really

want to carry over my diversity plans by ensuring the diversity and inclusion committee continues to keep our student body’s cultures at hand,” Unegbu said.

Gupta said that the three pillars of her platform are accessibility, collaboration and structure, which she thinks especially play into the three parts of the SA that the role of IVP oversees. “[Accessibility] means collecting feedback more thoroughly from students who are underrepresented, like student athletes, or transfer students or nontraditional students … and [letting] students who have things to say about certain issues can attend our meetings and express their opinions without any fear or any barriers,” Gupta said.

According to Gupta, in terms of collaboration, she thinks that the SA can do a better job of including all undergraduates students involved and not keeping initiatives to itself.

And in terms of structure, she wants to introduce structural changes in order to enfranchise NSRs more. “[NSRs] do all the same things

PHOTO COURTESIES OF CRYSTAL UNEGBU AND TRISHA GUPTA Unegbu (left) and Gupta (right) are the two IVP candidates.

that senators do, and they come to the Senate as frequently as presidents do, but they don’t have the right to vote on legislation,” Gupta said. “And another really important structural change to be made is to connect a long-term faculty member to serve as [NSRs’] mentors to help them navigate administration and help them advance all their projects throughout the school year.”

Unegbu said that her platforms are focused on transparency via publicity, committees’ reformations and influencing future leaders.

“My first platform is going to address the lack of knowledge our student population has with the student association, which leads to misconceptions across many,” Unegbu said. “I believe the SA becoming a more prominent organization at our school is the first step. My second platform is to reform the current framework of committees because in my experience it can feel like no progress is being made in committees due to not knowing what step to take next in projects or who to refer to.

My third platform is to work on improving the new student representatives’ responsibilities so that their role in the student association and senate can better influence their leadership skills to help them excel in their projects.”

4 • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2022

NEWS

Rice, GenCo partner to provide free, eco-friendly detergent NISHANKA KUTHURU

FOR THE THRESHER

The Rice Environmental Society at Rice is partnering with Generation Conscious this semester to provide students with free and sustainable laundry detergent. The GenCo company creates sustainable laundry detergent sheets which are plastic-free and use 97 percent less water and 95 percent less carbon than traditional detergent.

According to the Laundry Pilot Interest Google Form, this pilot program serves students at Wiess, Hanszen, Baker and Will Rice Colleges and is designed to give students, on a voluntary basis, free access to laundry detergent sheets all semester. The form said these students will initially receive a one month supply of detergent in a reusable container.

There will be a refill station installed in Hanszen commons where students, who will receive an access code, can get their laundry refills.

Vy Luu, a freshman at Hanszen, said she found participating in the pilot program to be very simple and successful.

“With the choice of scented or scentless, along with the convenience of laundry sheets, Generation Conscious’s laundry is just as effective as my own detergent,” Luu wrote in an email to the Thresher. “It washes just as clean and (arguably) smells better.”

Anthony Nguyen, a senior at Hanszen, said he also had a positive experience using the laundry detergent sheets and recommends them for others to use as well.

“The last load of laundry I did I used the detergent sheet, and it seemed to work very well. My clothes smelled nice and seemed to be just as clean as they are when washed with other detergent.

Plus it is more sustainable for the

CHLOE XU / THRESHER

environment, so it’s a win-win,” Nguyen said.

Ashley Fitzpatrick, Rice’s Sustainability Program Manager, said she was first contacted by Greg “GL” Genco, the founder of Generation Conscious in August 2020.

“After speaking with [Genco] the North Colleges, so I wanted to give about his company, I felt that Rice the South Colleges the opportunity to would benefit from the program and pilot sustainability initiatives as well.”

According to Fitzpatrick, one of the I approached Housing & Dining for support,” Fitzpatrick wrote in an email challenges, like with any student-facing to the Thresher. “Rice [H&D] funded our project, is engagement.

“Generation Conscious luckily has a pilot program which has allowed nearly 300 students to access free, sustainable really strong social media presence that laundry detergent for the whole we could build from and the refill station is located in Hanszen commons which semester.”

Fitzpatrick said that the timeline was provides visibility,” Fitzpatrick wrote.

Luu said she found the program relatively simple. appealing not only “The process due to the impact has gone faster the sustainable and more smoothly laundry detergent than I think any on the of us imagined,” After speaking with [Genco] has environment but Fitzpatrick wrote. about his company, I felt also because it “We had a fully that Rice would benefit is free of cost funded pilot from the program and I currently and will program less than be affordable in the six months after approached Housing & long run. the initial contact, Dining for support. Rice “The prospect which is incredibly [H&D] funded our pilot that this project can fast for a large, program which has allowed expand to provide multi-stakeholder nearly 300 students to free or affordable project.” laundry detergent The South access free, sustainable to all students on Colleges were laundry detergent for the campus, especially chosen for the to [first-generation, pilot program for whole semester. low-income], is a multitude of Ashley Fitzpatrick exciting,” Luu reasons, according SUSTAINABILITY PROGRAM wrote. to Fitzpatrick.

Janri Aquipel, a “First, the MANAGER freshman at Baker, colleges are connected and Hanszen’s new laundry said he also found the affordability room is attached to the commons, of this program to be one of the most increasing visibility and traffic for appealing factors.

“I support the initiative and as a the laundry refill station,” Fitzpatrick wrote. “Second, they both have high college student, laundry detergent is participation in sustainability initiatives expensive. I’m so glad to have an option (Hanszen has had the greatest number available to us that can give us fresh of participants in Green Dorm Initiative clothes at no cost while helping the for three years now). The EcoReps at environment at the same time,” Aquipel Hanszen and Wiess were interested in said.

Fitzpatrick said the long-term goal is helping with the project and we needed to expand the refill program to the whole their support.”

Fitzpatrick said that they were unsure campus.

“Generation Conscious values access what the sign up numbers would look like, so they limited it to only Hanszen above all, so the ideal model is for any participating university to subsidize the and Wiess at first.

“We were then able to expand to cost of detergent so that it is free for all Baker and Will Rice, which were selected low income students, at reduced cost for due to proximity to Hanszen and [their] middle income students and available EcoRep support,” Fitzpatrick wrote. to any student at full cost, which is still “Another factor was that the composting less than Tide Pods per load of laundry,” program I worked to start was piloted at Fitzpatrick wrote.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2022 • 5

THE RICE THRESHER

EDITORIAL

Vote. It’s not that hard.

It is clear now more than ever that After last year’s Student Association election saw less than a fourth of the the SA plays a direct role in student life student body turnout to vote, we penned on this campus. So what should y’all do? Vote. Luckily, an editorial calling the voting process on students to couldn’t really engage further be any easier. with the SA and The SA conducts its elections. As It is clear now more than its elections we approach ever that the SA plays a antithetical to another election — direct role in student life everything for voting opens next which the new Wednesday — we on this campus. So what Texas election feel it necessary should y’all do? Vote. law stands. Every to reiterate our call. For anyone who has tried to raise student is automatically registered, the student awareness of an issue, aired a ballot is emailed directly to each voter, grievance against the administration or and voting takes place online, 24/7 over tried to spur change on campus, now is eight days.

All that being said, voting just for the time to cast your ballot for who you want to represent the student body and the sake of voting is not enough. You can and should educate yourself on fight for the issues that matter to you.

There is a common misconception, the candidates to make an informed somewhat excusably, that the business decision through any number of means. of the SA only concerns a small number Visit the candidates’ websites and read of students. With this perception, people about their platforms. Read our election feel that they have nothing at stake in coverage this week and our candidate the elections and therefore don’t bother endorsements next week. Attend the casting a ballot. But this year, the SA SA Presidential Debate on Monday has been thrust into the spotlight over a night. And if all else fails, approach variety of issues, such as the debate over the candidates personally and ask moving the Founder’s Memorial and them for their position on an issue you the disabling of the EarthCam. In both care about. Use your vote to shape the of those controversies, administrators organization that can bring the issues cited SA concerns and suggestions as you most care about to the forefront of campus discussion. guidance for their actions.

EDITORIAL

We stand with The Battalion We are fortunate at the Thresher to Last week, the Texas A&M University President M. Katherine Banks gave The have an administration that respects us Battalion — A&M’s student newspaper — as a newspaper, even when we criticize or a 24-hour notice that they would have to question them, often on this page. But at a stop printing despite being self-funded by private institution like Rice, we technically advertisements, ahead of the paper being have fewer baseline rights than student rolled into the university’s new journalism journalists at public institutions; a fact that department. The administration made allowed President Leebron to unilaterally these calls without any consultation or sell KTRU’s station and tower in 2010 without even warning to the students or their warning or explanation. Given that student faculty advisor, informing them that if they journalists at state schools like A&M receive chose to remain a student organization, more coverage from free press laws than they would potentially lose their office and we do, the decision by Banks and the A&M administration is faculty advisor. that much more Without any egregious. clear details on With rising rates how this transition of misinformation, would work or what The administration’s falling levels of would happen to overuse of power here is trust in journalism the staff, other than a blatant attack on free and the United the requirement to States being ranked transition the 129- press. as a “problematic” year old publication to online only, the administration’s overuse place for journalists in 2019, ensuring a free of power here is a blatant attack on free press is more important than ever. Banks, despite claiming that she supports freedom press.

By Friday afternoon, the president had of the press and that the new journalism walked the decision back to “allow” the department is reflective of that, is acting paper to continue print editions through in opposition to that by pushing The the remainder of the semester. However, Battalion into a position that allows more this concession does nothing to address the administrative oversight of their content.

As a board of student journalists, we core issue: university administration using their positions to lord their power over empathize with what the staff at The Batt student media, undermining the editorial are going through. The Thresher stands with the staff at The Battalion. independence of college journalism.

GUEST OPINION

The Rice track should be open to all Rice students The other day I (Rutherford) broke Rice’s rules — at least that’s what the security guard in the golf cart told me. Growing up as an avid runner near another small, private university in Texas, I, like much of my community, ran frequently on the university track. Hoping to maintain my fitness in college, I jogged to the on-campus Rice track early one morning through the open gates, and after barely finishing two laps was stopped by security. “You can’t run here,” he said. “The track is for Rice athletes only, and the gate should’ve been locked.”

Why it’s a problem for a Rice student to run a few minutes on the empty Rice track, I don’t know. But rules are rules, and I politely exited the track to make way for the nonexistent athletic practice.

We think this policy is absolutely ridiculous, and we believe that Rice should open its track to student use outside of athletic practice hours. Running is one of the healthiest things students can do as it prevents many diseases, reduces stress and boosts happiness. Rice should continue to encourage this and open the track to all students, rather than only giving access to athletes. We’ve run on five different university tracks in Texas now, and only Rice makes it into an issue.

EDITORIAL STAFF

While students can run many other serious injury. Sprinting on a treadmill too, places, opening the track to students would which is commonly seen at the Rec, brings solve many problems. First, it would provide an especially large safety risk compared to a safer place to run. In the evenings and sprinting on a track.

Lastly, track access makes running early mornings — when many students like to exercise — the unlit outer loop is more accessible. Without a track, eerily untraveled and far from any blue measuring distances becomes much more difficult without light emergency an expensive boxes, while car and GPS watch or a bike traffic on the clunky and ofteninner loop means inaccurate phone an increased risk to We struggle to see how a runners. university which trusts its app. If we would like to test our mile A d d i t i o n a l l y, students with take-home times for example, given the status and non-proctored exams a track makes it of COVID-19, Rice so much simpler. should do everything should have any issues Track running is it can to encourage with its own students also much easier on students to exercise using the on-campus track runners’ muscles outside. Running on treadmills indoors at outside of athletic practice and joints and it’s essential for anyone the Gibbs Recreation hours. hoping to practice and Wellness Center is not only far more likely to enable virus specific distances (100m, 400m, etc).

We struggle to see how a university spread, but the mask mandate makes treadmill running quite dangerous. Anyone which trusts its students with take-home who’s run on a treadmill with a mask and non-proctored exams should have any will know the associated feeling of light- issues with its own students using the onheadedness that often ensues, and passing campus track outside of athletic practice out or falling on a treadmill can lead to hours. While there may be concerns about

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interrupting scheduled team practices or keeping the soccer field maintained, this is easily solved through a combination of communication from the athletics department and trust in students to follow the boundaries. This isn’t a novel idea, the Rec allows anyone with a membership to swim in the competition pool so long as they are not doing it while the swimming team is holding practice or another group has reserved the space. We think Rice should open the fence surrounding the track to Rice students, publish its available hours online and onsite and encourage students to build a healthy routine of running on the track.

Wills Rutherford WILL RICE COLLEGE SENIOR

Diego Palos Rodriguez

WILL RICE COLLEGE FRESHMAN

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

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1 Portuguese greeting 4 _____ Rice, inspiration for Squid Rich and Hanszenemone 9 Legendary figure skater Michelle 13 R&B singer Erykah 15 Language of northern Nigeria 16 “Lay All Your Love On Me” band 17 “The Legend of Korra” antagonist and leader of the Equalists 18 Aromatic organic compound 19 Coastal CA school 20 “Vivir Mi Vida” singer Anthony 21 “To the ___ degree” 22 Airport org.

24 Drying lake of Central Asia 26 Home to the Bahá’í World Centre 29 The E in EPA, for short 30 BBQ side 32 Bordeaux buddy 34 2018 Transformers film starring Hailee Steinfeld 38 Recurring musical theme 40 Double-reed instrument 41 Places shingles 43 “Summertime Sadness” singer Del Rey 44 Lost & _____ 46 Self-driving feature in planes and cars 48 Some batteries 49 Slide stones, in the Winter Olympics 51 First Jewish woman on SCOTUS 52 Grand _____ National Park 54 “Planet Her” singer 58 “Cheerleader” singer 59 Jaguar or Mustang 60 Chewy chocolate-caramel candy 61 Necessity 64 Dear, in Dijon 66 Cut 67 Fitting wine for Owls 68 White wetland bird 69 TSU or Prairie View A&M 70 Bears or Packers 71 _ _ _ _ _ 72 Casual affirmative

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1 “Becoming” author Michelle 2 Super Bowl XVI halftime performer Kendrick 3 She-Ra’s alter ego 4 Shakira song “________, Wherever” 5 “¡_____ luego!”

6 Political compass direction, in short 7 UK finance school 8 “The Emperor’s New Groove” and “Holes” actress Kitt 9 The Garden Isle of Hawaii 10 Leukocytes that fight infection, for short 11 Core muscles 12 Apt rhyme for grab 14 “With great power comes great responsibility” utterer 23 Fasting, one of the five pillars of Islam 25 NBC show with Bowen Yang and Melissa Villaseñor 27 Deadly 28 Acid such as leucine or tryptophan 30 South Korean capital 31 Southpaw’s dominant hand 33 “__ __ first you don’t succeed...”

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Sophomores adjust after unusual freshman year RIYA MISRA

FOR THE THRESHER Isha Khapre, originally from Kenya and currently a student at Hanszen College, stepped foot on campus for the first time in the fall of 2021. She isn’t a freshman, though, but a sophomore.

“I stayed at home for my entire freshman year,” Khapre said. “I didn’t get my visa until January 2021.”

Khapre belongs to the class of 2024, the class that, some may argue, received the shortest end of the COVID-19 stick. Juniors and seniors have experienced at least one normal, pandemic-less semester of college.

Freshmen have grappled with a modified school year that has been gradually returning to normal with the rollback of masking, dining and gathering restrictions.

Sophomores, meanwhile, have been experiencing the transition to a more active campus after a highly altered freshman year – that may have occurred entirely offcampus.

Wiess College sophomore Leyah Mathew, who attended Rice in person freshman year, said the most significant difference between her freshman and sophomore years was her engagement with campus.

“This year, the biggest thing for me was seeing how many people were walking around,” Mathew said. “Last year, campus never looked like that. It was so empty because everyone was just inside doing classes. Now, the passing period in the academic quad is so busy.”

The current academic year feels like freshman year for many sophomores, according to Mathew, who advised during Orientation Week last fall.

“Especially during 2021 O-Week, I felt

like I was learning things about campus along with the freshmen — such as where the buildings are located,” Mathew said.

“Because we already had a year of college under our belt, there was an expectation that we should be more familiar with campus than we actually were in reality. So there was a learning curve for us, too.”

The altered start to college has affected some sophomores’ engagement with their college culture, according to Khapre.

“Since coming to campus [in fall 2021], I’ve been trying to get involved with Hanszen culture as much as possible, like going to flag football games and participating in committees,” Khapre said. “It’s harder to get integrated into college culture since I didn’t have that initial introduction.”

Perhaps an unintended effect of sophomores’ modified freshman year is a desire to experience an introduction to college much closer to normal. Johnny Guerrero, Mia Mapula and Alter all advised during 2021 O-Week, while Khapre is applying to advise during O-Week 2022. “[Reliving my O-Week] was one of the main reasons why I wanted to advise,” Guerrero, a Lovett College sophomore, said.

“I wanted to get the vibe of how it feels to experience an actual O-Week.”

Mapula, a sophomore from Wiess College, also said that the 2021 O-Week was more engaging than her freshman O-Week.

“The Lovett O-Week that I co-advised at was much more active and fun,” Mapula said. “We were slapping each other with shaving cream – that never would have happened a year ago.”

Mathew said that O-Week 2020 looked vastly different from her time advising last fall: move-in times then were staggered,

O-Week groups were smaller and bonding activities were either online or masked and socially distanced last school year, according to Mathew.

“I didn’t even know what to expect for move-in, because I knew it was going to look so different,” Mathew said. “I saw YouTube videos of O-Week or Rice move-in [before COVID], but I knew my experience wasn’t going to look like that.”

Mapula said that she avoided these videos entirely.

“I didn’t bother watching old YouTube videos about O-Week because I didn’t want to be jealous,” Mapula said. “I knew that this was all I was getting.”

Khapre said that O-Week looked even stranger for her as she participated in it completely remotely.

“I wanted to be a part of O-Week, so I did stay up for all the events and try to participate as much as I could. It was definitely weird, firstly because of the time difference and having to stay up super late,” Khapre said. “Also, the people in person got a totally different experience. You obviously bond a lot better in person because you’re always with each other, and you could tell in the Zoom that the people in person knew each other better.”

This article has been cut off for print. Read the full article at ricethresher.org.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2022 • 7

FEATURES

Professor Pulickel Ajayan discusses his impact on NanoEngineering TOMÁS RUSSO

investment. Nano became a fashionable thing to use and a field in itself. This has The Guinness World Record for the become an enabling technology for many, smallest brush belongs to a Rice professor, many things.”

Ajayan said he teaches courses such as Pulickel Ajayan from the department of materials science and nanoengineering. Introduction to Materials and Biomimetic Ajayan said both this and the other world Strategies in addition to chairing Rice’s record he has held — for creating the darkest department in material science and material — incorporated his research on Nanoengineering.

“It’s a department we started eight years nanotubes. He applied for these records to ago … Building that has been a lot of effort and make the research more visible.

“The brush was made with nanotube a lot of fun,” Ajayan said. “Our department is bristles. You can’t get smaller than that,” very unique in that it’s not called ‘material Ajayan said. “You can make really dark science and engineering’ but instead surfaces by coating them with these ‘material science and nanoengineering.’ engineered nanotube structures. The darkest Part of the reason why we decided to name material is also interesting because after it that way is because of [Rice’s] prominence we published that and after we got this in nanotechnology ... and to emphasize that recognition, a lot of artists contacted us. If the next generation of exciting advanced you go and search for the darkest material, materials will come from the power of nanotubes, you’ll find many artwork that is nanoengineering.”

Ajayan said that he believes materials connected to this kind of material.”

But beyond his world records, Ajayan have and continue to be important, especially is most recognized for his other research in regard to technology.

“Materials are a medium; whether you contributions to nanotechnology. According to Google Scholar, Ajayan currently has make technologies or an object or an artifact, 176,707 citations and an h-index of 199. it’s something we use to build things,” The h-index is a metric for evaluating Ajayan said. “When I teach Intro to Materials the productivity and citation impact of I say large periods of our history are named publications. According to a 2021 ranking of after certain types of materials: the Stone Age researchers by h-index, Ajayan is the highest- or the Iron Age or the Bronze Age. They are ranked professor at Rice and approximately all materials because they have had huge impacts. Somebody said, ‘Those who control in the top 100 in the world.

Ajayan grew up in India and received materials control technology.’”

Ajayan said Rice an undergraduate has been a great degree in place to build on his metallurgical research. engineering from “Rice was always Banaras Hindu Part of the reason why a hub of carbon University. Ajayan we decided to name nanomaterials said that his [the department] that because of the professors and their fullerene Nobel outstanding work way is because of Prize and so on,” influenced him to [Rice’s] prominence in Ajayan said. “Rice is pursue a similar nanotechnology ... and to a very special place: career. emphasize that the next it’s in Houston, “ F r o m connected to a lot of [ u n d e r g r a d u a t e generation of exciting energy sectors and studies] onward I advanced materials will industries. We have was very keen to be come from the power of a lot of connections in this profession,” and collaboration Ajayan said. “To nanoengineering. with industry here.” teach, mentor, and Pulickel Ajayan At Rice, Ajayan to be part of this PROFESSOR OF MATERIALS leads a large academic life.” research group After receiving SCIENCE AND NANOENGINEERING composed of 30 a Ph.D. from Northwestern University in materials science to 50 undergraduates, graduate students, and engineering, Ajayan began his research postdoctoral fellows and visitors.

“The fundamental thing that we do on nanomaterials in Japan, while the field is design and engineer materials at the was in its infancy. “[While at Northwestern] I worked on nanoscale,” Ajayan said.

According to Ajayan, research at Rice has nanoparticles but my thesis didn’t mention nanos at all. It was called small particles,” moved away from carbon nanomaterials and Ajayan said. “Right after my Ph.D., I went to into other more advanced materials over the Japan because I met scientists who had come years. Currently, Ajayan’s research covers a to Northwestern to do a lecture and I was wide range of topics, including 2D materials, very interested in this research. Fortunately 3D printing, food preservation coating and for me the timing was perfect because that’s diamond electronics.

“We designed some material that can be when the carbon nanotube was discovered … I was right there in the same group [that extracted from proteins and can be made discovered the nanotube]. We did a lot of into a robust film that can be coated on these fruits and so on to increase the shelf life,” early work.”

Ajayan said that he has spent the last Ajayan said. “We [also] now have a facility 20 to 25 years researching nanomaterials. that is dedicated to growing large single Over time, the focus of Ajayan’s research crystal diamonds and utilizing that for high has shifted from carbon nanostructures and power electronics.”

Ajayan said he benefited from carbon nanotubes to applications related to sensors, batteries, electronics, energy being an early researcher in the field of nanoengineering. storage and semiconductors.

“It’s always good to be in the early stages “[My research has gone through a] slow transition from purely development of a novel of something because you have, from the material to utilization of those materials and start, some kind of an advantage,” Ajayan said. “I think I certainly benefited from application technologies,” Ajayan said.

According to Ajayan, the field of being in that field early enough [to be part nanotechnology has grown in popularity of seminal papers]. They earned a lot of citations – that’s the way it works. Early and funding over time.

“I have been a proponent of papers always get bigger citations.”

Ajayan said having a broad portfolio nanotechnology all my life,” Ajayan said.

“I think that the excitement of the potential and collaborating with others have also of nanomaterials and nanotechnology had contributed to his high number of citations on technologies of the future led to a lot of and productivity.

SENIOR WRITER

GAZI FUAD / THRESHER Materials science and nanoengineering professor and Guinness World Record holder Pulickel Ajayan is one of the most cited professors in the world.

“We are able to work in multiple areas.

That has allowed us to publish broadly and widely and that allows us to get citations,” Ajayan said. “Over the years we have really built a fantastic number of collaborations with the best people in the field. That allows us to be more productive.”

Ajayan said he is a proponent of international collaborations, particularly with his home country of India. He is currently spending part of his sabbatical year in India to build stronger connections there.

“We have had some real interest in trying to connect with institutions in India and build collaborative centers,” Ajayan said.

“The last few years I have been trying to work towards building these bridges with Indian institutions – all of the way from teaching to research to department heads to international collaboration.”

Ajayan said that Rice students can learn a lot from other countries and that they should make the most of the networks Rice faculty have abroad.

“I always tell students who come to our group or who I teach that the faculty here

at Rice have so many connections and you should utilize [them],” Ajayan said.

According to Ajayan, academics, particularly in science and technology, is about disseminating research to build on the cumulative work of others. Ajayan said he is proud of his own work and the recognition it has received.

“I think people look at someone like me as somebody who has a lot of valuable experience,” Ajayan said. “It’s a good feeling to see that people recognize your work. There are many people who are well cited at Rice.

It’s nice to be part of that league. It shows you have been productive over a very long time continuously.”

But, according to Ajayan, citations are not everything.

“Citations are only one metric. There are Nobel prize winners who have only 10 papers and less than a hundred citations,” Ajayan said. “It is certainly a metric to show productivity, that you are constantly publishing good work so that people take notice. But that’s not the only criteria for excellence.”

8 • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2022

THE RICE THRESHER

‘We’re all we’ve got’: BSA and RASA celebrate shared identities

COURTESY JAKE BARBER

MICHELLE GACHELIN

ASST A&E EDITOR

Africayé and Soul Night are some of the largest cultural events on campus, hosted by the Rice African Student Association and the Black Student Association, respectively. They each showcase unique aspects of Black and African culture, and together, they create vibrant spaces to celebrate Rice’s Black and African students. The upcoming events are particularly special for organizers because they mark a return to an in-person audience, and will be the last events held in the Grand Hall before the Rice Memorial Center is torn down. This year, BSA and RASA have collaborated more to execute their respective visions for live audiences.

Aman Eujayl, RASA’s event coordinator, said that this collaboration is in part due to the overlap of performers in both Africayé and Soul Night. Last October, the two clubs hosted joint sessions to help performers prepare for their acts.

Organizers met with students interested in performing at one or both shows to curate the performances to each event’s specific theme.

“A lot of it is logistical. The Black and African community at Rice is very

small, and so oftentimes RASA and BSA will share performers. We didn’t want our community to be burnt out after performing at the show that came first,” Eujayl, a Baker College junior, said. “We’re really trying to bring [everyone] together because we’re all we’ve got.”

The event organizers said they hope that by uniting BSA and RASA’s communities through these shows, they can remind audiences of their power.

For Jake Barber, BSA’s creative director and Soul Night’s coordinator, the event’s overarching message is directly tied to its theme of Black excellence.

“It’s important to celebrate Black people excelling in spaces that aren’t designed for them,” Barber, a Hanszen College senior, said. “However, there’s also a lot of pressure to be excellent, to the point that Black people aren’t allowed to just exist in quote-unquote mediocre ways in the way that white people are.”

Barber believes that changing the conversation around Black excellence is key.

“I think a part of a healthy relationship with the notion of excellence is redefining it a little bit … Showing up and being your authentic self in a world that doesn’t like that is excellent,” Barber said. “So to me,

celebrating Black excellence is celebrating being as involved with RASA then as she Black rebellion against an oppressively wanted to be.

“It’s important to me to be able to white world.”

Eujayl wants this year’s Africayé showcase my culture, especially at a primarily theme, “An Evening in Africa,” to provide white institution,” Mohamed, a Duncan an immersive sensory experience for the College sophomore, wrote in an email to the audience. During Africayé Week, which Thresher. “I made it my mission to get more culminates in the event, RASA hosts dress- involved and I’m now glad to say that I am up events and African Immersion Night, fully immersed in putting on Africayé 2022.”

Although the events are tailored towards where guests can paint, sip European coffee and share stories about their experiences Black and African students, they are meant to with evenings in Africa. A dinner of African provide value to the entire Rice community.

BSA Co-Secretary Angelina Hall, a performer cuisines will also be provided at the show.

“You can expect to see amazing in both Soul Night and Africayé and the performances from our talented community director of Africayé’s introduction video, handling topics from Black love to African said that she wishes more people knew that love as well as nostalgia about evenings they don’t need to be Black or African to in Africa,” Eujayl said. “We’re focused on support the shows, and that there are many providing an immersive experience for the perspectives within the African diaspora to Rice community to be able to experience an learn from and about.

Eujayl said she also hopes the events help evening in Africa, which is a very glamorous, students better understand their Black and sparkly, love-filled, joyous celebration.”

Similarly, Barber wants to ensure African peers by the end of the evening.

“I want the Rice community to leave that Black students in the audience can experience the events as profoundly as he Africayé with this sense that their eyes have been opened to what it really means to be has, particularly as a first-time viewer.

“As a freshman, I attended Africayé, and African and to live in Africa, and how those cultural influences it was before Soul influence the Night back then, people they go to so that was the first class with, or see at cultural show that [Coffeehouse], or I attended at Rice,” There’s also a lot of that they’re friends Barber said. “I just pressure to be excellent with,” Eujayl said. will never forget ... Black people aren’t According to how it made me allowed to just exist in Eujayl, every act feel. I come from contributes a unique a predominantly quote-unquote medicore perspective to the white area, and ways in the way that white evening, making the this was just people are. show all the more the biggest, special. grandest, loudest Jake Barber “Each performer celebration of HANSZEN COLLEGE SENIOR brings in an element Black and African of African love, of nightlife, of wedding culture I’d ever experienced.”

Barber was inspired to replicate the culture and familial love and connection, events’ energy for future audiences after and nostalgia back to their childhood. I think witnessing the community’s embrace of all that personal touch from our community really makes Africayé,” Eujayl said. “I want Black voices.

“It just felt like I was sharing in this huge our guests to leave with this insight and warm cultural hug and it just made my heart appreciation for our beautiful and magical feel so happy,” Barber said. “So all the work and unique cultures that have shaped us I’ve done for both Africayé and Soul Night today.”

Ticket sales are available now for Soul since then has been to bring that feeling for Night on Feb. 26. Dinner reception will be held future Black students that come to Rice.”

Wafa Mohamed, one of Africayé’s hosts, at 6 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m. Presale was also driven to become involved with the for Africayé will start on the Feb. 21, and the show after seeing it for the first time and not show will be on Mar. 6 from 5-8 p.m.

Review: Toni Morrison’s re-released ‘Recitatif’ is as relevant now as ever RILEY COMBES

THRESHER STAFF

Late last year, the metastasizing effort by school boards across the country to ban certain books from school curricula, many of which were written by queer and/ or BIPOC authors, rose to the forefront of American politics. Glenn Youngkin, Virginia’s then-conservative gubernatorial candidate and now governor as well as Rice alumnus, supported the effort to excise Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer-Prize winning masterpiece, “Beloved,” from students’ required reading. In response, Democratic incumbent Terry McAullife’s campaign began handing out free copies of the novel at his rallies. It didn’t win him the election, but it did bolster a burgeoning countermovement to ensure that Morrison’s work retained its legacy as being among the most essential literature ever crafted. And so now we have “Recitatif,” again.

Originally published in 1983, “Recitatif” is Morrison’s only short story, but as British author Zadie Smith dictates in her incredible introduction to the republished version, it is “a perfect — and perfectly American — tale, one every child should read.”

“Recitatif” is a story about race told through two characters, one white, one Black. It’s a story about two young girls, Twyla and Roberta, who are connected through trauma yet separated by skin color.

They meet after being placed in St. Bonny’s orphanage, as both of their mothers are unable to care for them due to mental illness, and their fathers are seemingly absent. As roommates, they are inseparable, spending their brief time together at the orphanage learning how they are “more alike than unalike,” as Morrison puts it. Against the backdrop of 1950s America, their friendship is inspiring — two girls finding themselves in one another as the world tries to tear them apart.

Except, “Recitatif” is not so much a story about racial difference as it is the reader’s perception of racial difference, due to Morrison’s strategy of not revealing which girl is white and which is Black. Throughout the story, she thrusts both white and Black stereotypes onto each character and their mothers. As Zadie Smith so aptly articulates, Morrison’s ambiguous application of stereotypes coupled with her choice to never explicitly reveal their races has a very telling effect on readers: their entire focus

becomes identifying the race of each girl, assigning either Black or white to the body of stereotypes Morrison has characterized them with.

In doing so, they lose the importance of the event central to the story: Maggie, a mute, bow-legged girl, falling to the ground in front of Twyla and Roberta. As the two are randomly reunited by fate over the years, their differences are evident. First, Twyla is a waitress at a diner that a seemingly rebellious Roberta patronizes en route to a Jimi Hendrix concert. Then, a squarely middle class Twyla runs into a diamondstudded Roberta at the grocery store, both now having established families and homes.

Though these differences point readers yet again to perceived racial differences, Morrison redirects their attention to a question that’s a lot easier to ignore: “What the hell happened to Maggie?”

In their second run-in, Twyla and Roberta recount different stories on that subject. Maggie was Black, Roberta asserts, yet Twyla firmly denies this. Their argument grows heated, and, later, they both realize they’re unsure of Maggie’s race, what really happened to her or whether they had anything to do with it.

This, as Zadie Smith describes it, represents the “nobodying” of Maggie or the effective debasement of her life as both the two girls and the reader devalue her story in favor of a growing conflict between Twyla and Roberta.

“Far beneath the ‘black-white’ racial strife of America, there persists a global underclass of Maggies, unseen and unconsidered within the parochial American conversation,” Smith wrote.

“Whatever was done to Maggie was done by people. People like Twyla and Roberta.

People like you and me.”

Toni Morrison so clearly wrote a story that stretches beyond the contemporary “‘black-white’ racial strife,” in America, yet certain politicians are joining the movement to disavow her work as worsening it — or, as they may allege, for promoting “Critical Race Theory”. “Recitatif,” then, holds up nearly 40 years after its initial publication as a direct confrontation of their inaccurate evaluation of her work: they, too, are “nobodying” Maggie. They, too, are ignoring history.

“Recitatif” was released Feb. 1, 2022 and is available wherever you get your books or audiobooks.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

VADA, Rice Players combine forces for musical

COURTESY VADA AND RICE PLAYERS

IMOGEN BROWN

THRESHER STAFF

Rice’s Visual and Dramatic Arts department and student-run theatre company the Rice Players will stage a musical production of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” Described

by Christina Keefe, the VADA producer of the production, as an “uplifting, fun, wacky production,” the show features student actors and crew members and the work of both professional and student designers.

Performances are Feb. 25, 26 and March 3-5 at 8:00 p.m. in Hamman Hall. Student admission is free, and general admission is $10.

“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” is a musical comedy about six pre-adolescents and takes place over the course of one spelling bee, featuring flashbacks against the backdrop of a school gymnasium. Nick Harrison, the show’s lighting designer, said that the stage lighting

highlights the contrast between the ongoing competition in the gymnasium and the flashbacks experienced by each character.

“Every song accompanies a person, and every person has their own story,” Harrison, a Baker College freshman, said. “Colors are assigned to those characters when their stories come alive.”

Audience participation is a typical component of this show. Usually, three or four audience members are called up each night to take part in the bee. Matthew Alter, who plays Chip Tolentino, the winner of the previous year’s competition, has experience in improvisational theatre which is utilized in the show.

“It is so fun getting to interact with the audience and definitely changes the dynamic of the show,” said Alter, a Wiess College sophomore.

Taylor Stowers plays Olive Ostrovsky, a 10-year-old who struggles with her confidence throughout the show. Stowers,

Celebrate Black History Month with these Black-owned restaurants near Rice SARA DAVIDSON

THRESHER STAFF

February is Black History Month, and what better way to recognize and celebrate the occasion than to support local, Blackowned businesses? From breakfast spots to vegan-friendly bakeries, here is just a sampling of some of the Black-owned restaurants near Rice or accessible by METRO for readers to consider visiting the next time they venture into Houston for a meal. the breakfast klub This restaurant is a well-established institution in Houston, with lines often stretching out the door. The restaurant boasts early opening times to enjoy popular dishes like their chicken and waffles or “katfish” and grits. Voted the “Best of the Best’’ by the Houston Chronicle in 2021 for breakfast and family-friendliness, this restaurant is only a short METRO ride from campus in Midtown. The restaurant is familyowned and has been a longtime staple on a Houston foodie bucket list since its opening in 2001.

Soul Food Vegan This vegan-friendly restaurant for soul food in Midtown has an entirely plantbased menu, from comfort foods to salads and soups. Owner Chef Taliek began preparing dishes to combat his own nutritional deficiencies as a vegan and the business, opened in 2015, has grown from there. The store even has a cookbook pending release, “The Evolution of Soul Food.” For any vegans or just fans of good food, this will be worth a visit.

Lucille’s This restaurant is not only Houston famous but nationally recognized. In their own words, Lucille’s is “well-refined southern cuisine defined by history.” The restaurant is named after the owner’s great-grandmother Lucille B. Smith, who was a chef that cooked for the likes of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Eleanor Roosevelt. Some fan favorites include their “famous” chili biscuits and baked mac & cheese. The owner, Chris Williams, has traveled and cooked around the world and is a member of the Southern Food Ways Alliance, which highlights diverse food cultures of the American South over time.

Ray’s Real Pit BBQ Shack This old school barbecue joint has everything from meat plates to po’boys and is only a short drive from Rice. The restaurant calls themselves “smokin’ good with a whole lotta soul” and has been open since 2011. Their meats are hickory smoked, and they have homemade sides including potato salad and spicy rice as well as fresh-baked desserts. To get the real Texas barbecue experience, leave the hedges and stop by the “shack.”

Crumbville, TX This midtown bakery will suit the tastes of any sweet tooth, and offers many gluten-free and vegan options that makes it accessible to more guests with dietary restrictions. One Crumbville specialty is cupcakes with cookie bottoms, combining two sweets into one. Just a METRO ride or walk from campus, this place might be perfect to check out as a reward at the end of this midterm season.

a Duncan College freshman, said that she has learned a lot throughout the rehearsal process for the show.

“Seeing everybody have distinct characters has allowed me to create a distinct character for myself,” Stowers said.

“I’ve learned a fair bit about acting in this process. Everyone is so knowledgeable.”

Alejandra Wagnon, the Rice Players producer of the show, said despite the show having comedic elements there’s also an emotional component.

“There’s a heavy emphasis on making these characters people rather than just caricatures,” Wagnon, a Wiess junior, said.

Despite facing multiple challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic and delayed returns to school, the cast and crew of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” were able to bring the production to life.

From early rehearsals on Zoom to altering the way the cast traditionally interacts with audience members, those involved overcame obstacles to make this project possible in just six weeks.

“People really pulled together to support each other,” Keefe said. “If somebody is sick, somebody else jumps in … and everybody on stage helps them move through the space. It’s been a very positive and nurturing experience.”

Some students said that working on the show was a valuable learning opportunity.

“It’s been great to have a mix of student designers and professional theater workers,” Wagnon said.

Wagnon said that watching “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” is an opportunity for audience members to step away from academic and work responsibilities.

“The show will give audiences the chance to connect with their inner child and step away from the academic and social stressors that they might be feeling,” Wagnon said.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2022 • 9

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Visit our website to read staff reviews of newly released album and films at ricethresher.org.

‘Laurel Hell’ JACOB PELLEGRINO

THRESHER STAFF

In 2019, Mitski decided to walk away from music. This decision was personal, not just an effort to create a “farewell tour” that would drum up demand. Fearing a time when she would be writing music just to keep money flowing rather than out of inspiration, she announced her “last show indefinitely” to the dismay of legions of fans.

‘Death on the Nile’ SASWAT PATI

THRESHER STAFF

Going into “Death on the Nile,” I had extremely high hopes for this murder-mystery film based on the 1937 Agatha Christie novel of the same name ... However, “Death on the Nile” is a massive disappointment, failing at all levels of production.

Rice Escape SAVANNAH KUCHAR & MORGAN GAGE

EDITOR IN-CHIEF & A&E EDITOR

BEN BAKER-KATZ / THRESHER

10 • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2022

THE RICE THRESHER

2022 BASEBALL SEASON PREVIEW

Baseball looks to buck recent trend CADAN HANSON

THRESHER STAFF

COURTESY RICE ATHLETICS After four straight losing seasons, the Rice baseball team turns to a new coaching staff to help them get back to their winning ways. Their season starts this weekend with a road series against the No. 1 University of Texas.

Baseball is finally headed back in the right direction BEN BAKER-KATZ

MANAGING EDITOR

It is hard to overstate the importance of good coaching in baseball. As Yogi Berra liked to say, “90 percent of the game is half mental,” and while no one quite knows what that means, it comes down to baseball being some combination of preparedness and confidence, not to mention the physical act of going out and performing. A good coach can go a long way toward preparing a team and making it believe in itself, and despite the fact that they have yet to play a game, it feels safe to say that Rice baseball under the command of Jose Cruz Jr. is in a much better position to succeed than it was at any point over the past three seasons.

It’s easy to say that almost any change is an upgrade over the disappointing tenure of Matt Bragga, punctuated by a 2-14 season in 2020 and the program’s failure to make the Conference USA tournament for the first time in its history last year.

But the word upgrade doesn’t quite do justice to the massive changes that have transpired within the past eight months, many of which are evident just by taking a stroll around Reckling Park. From the installation of TrackMan cameras to the construction of a pitching development lab — affectionately known as “The Pigpen” or even the binders that line the walls of Cruz’s otherwise undecorated office, everything Cruz and his coaching staff have done since their arrival screams that intent to reverse the downward trajectory of Rice baseball starting yesterday. In other words, there will be no rebuilding year.

The key to any good baseball team is a strong pitching staff, something the Owls lacked last year as they posted an abysmal team ERA of 6.30. In response, Cruz and new pitching coach Colter Bostik seem intent on instituting every modern advantage available to pitchers, and nothing is more emblematic of this approach than the new pitching lab. Outfitted with slow motion cameras, sensors in the mound to track weight distribution and motion-capture technology that produces 3D renderings of pitchers’ deliveries, “The Pigpen” will prove to be a test in how quickly a coaching staff can turn one of the worst pitching staffs in the conference into a viable championship contender.

But shiny new tech will only get you so far if the coaching staff doesn’t know how to get the most out of it. Good thing the early returns are promising. In conversations with players, they are almost giddy with excitement at the program’s potential for this season and beyond. The aura around this team is different than in years past, and that starts at the top.

Cruz has made clear his intentions for Rice baseball. Since taking the job, Cruz has insisted that he wants the Owls to be among the elite programs in the country.

There’s a chance that this is nothing but chatter, something the new coach at every school says before they’ve even played a game. But the recipe for success is good coaching and good recruiting, and between the team’s history of success and Rice’s academic reputation — not to mention Cruz’s recruiting sway as a 12-year MLB veteran — this program has the potential to return to Omaha. He has put his money

Following the 2021 season, which saw the Rice baseball team go 23-29-1 and miss out on the conference tournament for the first time since 1993, Athletic Director Joe Karlgaard decided that the program was in need of a change. He relieved then-head coach Matt Bragga of his duties after three seasons, and brought in Jose Cruz Jr. in his place.

Cruz played collegiately for the Owls from 1992 to 1995 and helped them earn the first NCAA tournament bid in the history of the program. He hopes to lead this team back to the national stage, now from the dugout as opposed to the field. “[We want] to be an elite program,” Cruz said. “We want to be considered among the best landing spots for baseball … The big picture is to be the destination for success.”

In order to turn the program around, Cruz said the changes started immediately for him and his coaching staff. The Owls have many new faces on the roster, thanks to Cruz’s recruiting efforts in the offseason.

“We started … recruiting [right away],” Cruz said. “We were able to get [sophomore infielders] Jack Riedel [and] Drew Woodcox and [graduate transfer pitcher] Cooper Chandler pretty fast which is humungous for us. At the same time, we wanted to develop [the players]. A lot of guys want to be better. They’re beyond picking a big school for the name, they’d rather go somewhere and be better. And at the same time, we have the best academic component [in the state].”

During the offseason, the Owls got their first experience playing under Cruz.

According to senior infielder Austin Bulman, the new staff has already made quite the impression on the team.

“Coach Cruz is one of the greatest coaches a player could play for,” Bulman said. “He has a knowledge of the game backed with experience in the MLB that not a lot of head coaches can provide.

Along with [associate head coach Paul] Janish and [pitching coach Colter] Bostick, I would argue we have the best coaching staff in the country.”

In addition to buying into the coach, the team has bought into each other, according to Roel Garcia, a graduate student pitcher. In his six years at Rice, he said this is the closest one of his teams has been off the field.

Likewise, Bulman thinks that the team’s chemistry in the locker room will correlate to success on the field.

“This team is unique and one of my favorites I have been a part of,” Bulman said. “The guys are hungry for success and the team together has created a good chemistry because of that. My expectations for the season is that we are gonna shock a lot of people. This team wants to win and the work everyone does at practice and extra work on their own will show this year.”

One of the core changes that went on in the program over the offseason was the emphasis placed on pitching. Last year, the Owls posted a 6.30 team ERA that ranked No. 10 out of the 12 teams in where his mouth is with the investments in the team’s facilities. More importantly, the players are buying in. Cruz is only a few months into his tenure, but the team has already taken significant steps to meet his lofty goals.

In June, we urged Athletic Director Joe Karlgaard to decide on the baseball team’s next coach like the future of the program

Conference USA. However, the Owls will have a much more experienced group of pitchers this year, as they return nearly their entire staff from a year ago, led by junior Brandon Deskins who posted the team’s lowest ERA. Additionally, Cruz hired Bostik to coach his pitching staff in order to bolster what he believes is one of the most crucial aspects of the game.

“The quickest way to be good is to be good at pitching,” Cruz said. “That’s when we started talking about the creation of the ‘Pitching Lab.’” The biggest change came with the installment of a new pitching facility dubbed the “Pigpen.” The new facility is equipped to compile individual biomechanical data for each pitcher, data which the team plans to use to enhance performance and reduce injury. Garcia said that he has already seen the improvements in the pitching staff compared to last season.

“I’ve seen improvement in our pitching staff,” Garcia said. “We have a lot more talent and the talent is younger. I think our pitching staff has the potential to carry us with the depth we have and talent with the new freshman. We have the seniors who are going to do our job and pull our own weight but I really think it’s the … younger guys who are going to pitch a lot.”

The Owls fared better at the plate last season, ranking seventh in the conference in batting average, slugging percentage and home runs. But the team will have to replace its top four leading hitter from last season, including infielder Braden Comeaux who led the team with a .346 average. In their place, sophomore outfielder Guy Garibay Jr. and sophomore infielder/outfielder Connor Walsh will look to build off of promising freshman seasons, while Bullman and junior infielder/outfielder Justin Dunlap will bring a veteran presence to the batting order.

After a solid offseason, the team has high expectations for the upcoming season, according to Garcia.

“We have a different mentality toward playing ball than we have had in previous years,” Garcia said. “I think we are going to have a winning record this year. It’s not going to be like it has been for the last couple of years. We’re going to make the conference tournament. I believe that if we have the chemistry that I can see right now ... then we’re going to do pretty good.”

With the excitement surrounding the new staff, and the improved culture in the locker room, Garcia hopes the team can make a return to the dominance they had in the past, when Cruz led the team from the field.

“We expect to represent ourselves as who Rice has been in the past,” Garcia said. “We haven’t been doing that well these past couple of years but we want to go back to where it was … where people were scared of us. Everybody in the conference knew who we were.

Everybody in the nation knew who we were and that’s our goal this year to get back to that same point.”

The Owls will open their 2022 season on the road on Feb. 18 against the No. 1 University of Texas, Austin. depended on it, and he seems to have done just that. All of these changes might not immediately result in an NCAA tournament appearance or a conference championship, but it’s hard to see them as anything but an upgrade. It might take a year or more for the results to show, but for the first time since Wayne Graham retired, Rice baseball is headed back in the right direction.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2022 • 11

SPORTS

Owls legend Cruz returns home to take the reins at Reckling DANIEL SCHRAGER

SPORTS EDITOR

In 2008, now-Rice baseball head coach Jose Cruz Jr. had already been in the MLB for 11 years. He’d racked up over 200 career home runs and over 1000 career hits, he even won a gold glove in 2003, but he still had one thing left to accomplish.

“One of the things that I really wanted to do was play for the Astros,” Cruz said. “I was trying for years. Finally in my last year, they gave me a try-to-make-the-team deal. I took it, and thank God I made the team. Being able to play at Bellaire High School, Rice and then play for the Astros, I thought that was a giant accomplishment for me personally, for my Houston-ness.”

Cruz has a long history in Houston. While he was born in Arroyo, Puerto Rico, he moved to Houston at a young age when his father, Jose Sr., began playing for the Astros.

According to Cruz Jr., some of his earliest memories involve being around the team.

“I was in the Astrodome as long as I can remember,” Cruz said. “[From] four years old [or] three years old, running around until I was 12 or 13. People ask me ‘what was it like to have a dad [in the MLB]?’ I’m like ‘what is it like to not?’ I don’t know, I just grew up in it. It’s all I know.”

While Cruz Sr. was busy becoming the Astros all-time leader in hits, a title that he held until 2000, Cruz Jr. said that his father never pressured him to follow in his footsteps.

“My dad never pushed me towards [baseball],” Cruz said. “He did push me in saying, ‘Hey if you’re going to play, you’ve got to try to be the best player you can be.’”

Cruz did take up the sport that he grew up around though, and after a standout career at Rice, the Seattle Mariners made him the third overall pick in the 1995 MLB draft. In just two years, Cruz had found his way to the majors, which he said was a bit of a shock at first.

“My first team in the big leagues had three hall of famers, and [Alex Rodriguez was] not one of them,” Cruz said. “Watching these guys right away when you get there, it was fascinating to see that kind of ability and that kind of talent and be around it.”

RICE BASEBALL

BY THE NUMBERS

.271

Batting average last season, 7th in C-USA

6.30

ERA last season, 10th in C-USA

23-29-1

Overall record last season

11-20-1

Record in conference play last season, 10th best in C-USA

6

Returning players who started the majority of the team’s games last season

12

Returning pitchers who appeared in 10+ games last season

Halfway through his rookie year, Cruz was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays, where he spent the next five years, and came into his own off the field as well.

“I became a man there, in Toronto,” Cruz said. “Just growing up with my guys, battling with the AL East, my kids were born, I was married. It was life changing in many ways.”

Cruz bounced around from team to team, before finally calling it a career in 2008 to spend more time with his family.

“The business of baseball came in and I started floating around with different teams,” Cruz said. “You just try to do the best you can do, and contribute and play as long as you can. That took me to 2008. My son [Trei] was 10. It was just time. He was acting out a little bit at school when I wasn’t around, [but] when I was around he was great. So I was just like it’s time, there’s nothing else for me to prove.”

Everything [in my life] filtered through Rice ... I’m not going anywhere else This is it for me.

Jose Cruz Jr.

COURTESY RICE ATHLETICS Rice baseball head coach Jose Cruz Jr. walks onto the field during a recent scrimmage.

Cruz, who played at Rice in the 1990s, begins his first season in charge this weekend.

HEAD COACH

After retirement, Cruz said he dabbled in broadcasting before settling in with the MLB Players Association, where he spent eight years. But when former Astros and current Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch called about a spot on his staff, Cruz said that it felt like the natural next step to go into coaching.

“I’ve been coaching for a very long time unofficially,” Cruz said. “I’m a student of the game so I’ve constantly been at it for a while.

I think a lot of the guys that played with me or [played] around my era knew that about me.

So it was a natural fit for me. A.J. Hinch, he’s been trying to get me on staff for years, then finally the timing of it worked last year. So I took a leap and went, and I was in Detroit and I loved it.”

After one season in Detroit, the Rice job came open when former head coach Matt

Bragga was fired after the team failed to reach the conference tournament for the first time since 1993. Cruz jumped at the opportunity to coach at his alma mater, which he said was always a goal of his.

“It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do,” Cruz said. “It’s been surreal really.

The first two months of the job, I’d come here to the field and forget I had the keys. I’d be locked out, knocking on doors trying to get in.”

Since arriving at Rice, Cruz has had the opportunity to coach his son Antonio, who plays outfield for the Owls, in a more formal role. But according to Cruz, while it’s great to spend more time around his son, being his head coach hasn’t changed much.

“I’ve been coaching him for his whole life,” Cruz said. “There’s nothing that he’s

hearing me say [now] that he hasn’t heard his whole life. It’s just now it’s formal, and his teammates listen to it.”

Cruz is now nine months into the job, but just judging from his office you’d never know it. Aside from a whiteboard with the names of potential recruits, and a bookshelf of binders, the walls remain empty. But Cruz is now back in his hometown, at his alma mater, coaching his son. And if he has his way, he’ll have plenty of time to decorate.

“Everything [in my life] filtered through Rice,” Cruz said. “My sons came through Rice … My brother [was] on the team that won the national title here … I’m not going anywhere else. This is it for me.”

This story has been condensed for print.

Read more at ricethresher.org.

Two-way Garibay: Guy preps for sophomore season REED MYERS

SENIOR WRITER This past season, Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels made waves across the baseball world by winning the American League MVP award as both a pitcher and a batter. Fifteen-hundred miles to the east, the Rice baseball team boasts a two-way player of its own in sophomore Guy Garibay Jr., who serves as both an outfielder and a pitcher.

The dual-threat presence that Garibay brings to the diamond for the Owls began early in his life, spurred by his father who has remained a fixture throughout his career.

“My father made me fall in love with the game at a young age,” Garibay said. “From the time I was able to pick up a bat to now, he has always been the person who has guided me through this game.”

After being introduced to the game by his father, Garibay continued to pursue the sport. According to Garibay, his love for the game grew, which further affirmed that baseball was the sport for him.

“I fell in love with baseball when I was in elementary [school], and the game shaped me to become the man I am today,” Garibay said. “I knew baseball was the sport for me when I started playing [in] little league.

When I had a little league baseball game during the week, I could never focus during school because I was so excited to play against my childhood friends later on that day.”

As Garibay followed his baseball dreams, he began to become a prominent two-way high school player, throwing a no-hitter in his abbreviated senior season and hitting .430 during his junior season. According to Garibay, he made the jump to college ball with the help of his local club team.

“Growing up, baseball was my way out,” Garibay said. “I was fortunate enough to have played for a great organization based in Houston, called Marucci Elite Texas, that helped me get a scholarship to play baseball at Rice.”

Garibay continued to star as a two-way player last season for the Owls, leading the team with four saves while hitting .234 with six home runs and 26 RBIs as a freshman. According to Garibay, he did not envision himself continuing to play both sides of the field going into college.

“I’ve always enjoyed playing all positions, but hitting is my bread and butter,” Garibay said. “I was my high school team’s Friday night pitcher my junior and senior year, and I didn’t expect to continue pitching in college because there’s not many two-way players. But it was enjoyable to be able to do both as a freshman in college.”

COURTESY RICE ATHLETICS Sophomore outfielder and pitcher Guy Garibay heads towards first during a game last season. Garibay led the team with four saves last year, and added six home runs.

Being close to home allows Garibay to see his childhood friends during his free time. According to Garibay, when he isn’t in the pen or field honing his craft, he enjoys taking advantage of his proximity to home by spending his leisure time with his friends.

“Rice is only 40 minutes away from home, so I can see my parents and best friends back home anytime I want,” Garibay said. “I enjoy playing Fortnite, ping pong, bowling and golfing with my best friends.”

Garibay doesn’t just enjoy traveling more than 40 minutes away. Garibay said that one of his main goals is to travel as much as possible.

“My goal outside of baseball is to see as much of the world as possible,” Garibay said.

With a year of experience under his belt, Garibay appears poised to continue his twoway duties under new head coach Jose Cruz Jr. Garibay will look to build on his first year when the Owls start their season this Friday.

12 • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2022

BACKPAGE

After the McDuncan gas leak last weekend, the writers at the Backpage thought we noticed a peculiar pattern... in fact, lot of weird things have been happening at Rice lately, and Great Scott—we’ve finally figured out how they’re all connected!

tion!

Retalia

Co-advisor sleeping agent?

South colleges losing hot water

Mudd lab electrical fire

Gastroenteritis Outbreak

Series of campus hazards

McDuncan Gas Leak

Man datory evacuation leaving West Server y unsupervise d

Yoyo’s Hotdogs moved 3 blocks

What is Chef Roger hiding from us?

Be Bold Campaign

The End of the Leebron Dynasty

The Rise and Fall of the Fondy Camera

What are they lo oking for?

Where’s the salmon?

RussiaUkraine Conflict Connections to Big Valentines

Who runs @RiceMissed Connections?

Mascots appearing around campus What are they promoting?

NFTs

The ending of Inception??

Why are they all s o angr y now ?

My mom forgetting my birthday???

The Backpage is the satire section of the Thresher, written this week by Ndidi Nwosu, Andrew Kim, and Timmy Mansfield and designed by Lauren Yu. For questions or comments, please email dilfhunter69@rice.edu.

CLASSIFIEDS AFTER-SCHOOL SITTER AND DRIVER Rice Alumni family of 6 (mom, dad, 3 kids and dog) seeking after-school help with kid driving and babysitting. Shifts flexible and typically in the 2 pm - 8 pm range. We live 7 blocks from the Rice post office.

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SANDWICH MAKER A small sandwich shop just minutes from campus seeking part-time help. A no-frills joint serving deli classics. No experience necessary. Call us at 713-7992544 and see if this job will work around your schedule! houstonfamousdeli. com. Email lol2315@aol.com.

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Printing an advertisement does not consititute an endorsement by the Thresher.

Display advertisements must be received by 5 p.m. on the Friday prior to publication; see ricethresher.org for pricing. Classified advertisements must be received with cash, check or credit card payment by 12 p.m. on the Friday prior to publication; first copy free, second copy $5. thresher-ads@rice.edu P.O. Box 1892 Houston, TX 77005-1892 (713) 348-4801