The Rice Thresher | Wednesday, February 15, 2023

“Bigger and better”: is back

Sex Week heats up campus

This Monday marked the beginning of two Sex Weeks at Rice, one hosted by the Student Association’s Student Health Services Committee and another by the club Sex Week Educational Awareness Team at Rice. Both weeks are devoted to increasing awareness within the Rice community about sexual health and wellness.

Alex Han and Christie Vieux started Rice’s first sex week last year as co-chairs of the SA Student Health Services Committee. According to Vieux, disagreements about the division of labor between Han and Vieux led to Han splitting off to begin a separate sex week as co-chair of SWEAT@Rice, along with fellow co-chair Maddie Salinas.

“As far as leaving the SA, I

felt there was more opportunity to broaden representation on sexuality and gender identity, bring in physician perspectives and funding as a club organization,” Han, a Brown College junior, said.

Vieux said that SA leadership contacted the leaders of SWEAT@Rice in October last semester to clarify the miscommunication. After conversation with Student Engagement, the SA committee decided to continue with their plan to host a sex week alongside SWEAT’s.

SA Sex Week includes events such as BDSM 101, kinks trivia night and a health intimacy event with Vivianna Coles, a relationship and sex therapist featured on Married at First Sight. SWEAT@Rice is hosting similar events such as Anal 101 and sexual education with Baylor Teen Health Clinic, amongst others.

Salinas said that it was important for SWEAT@Rice to include diverse representation and perspective at events.

Black at Rice: Malaika Bergner fosters a found community

When Black Student Association President Malaika Bergner came to Rice, she and a group of other Black freshmen girls started eating lunch together.

“The stares we would get from people and the awkwardness were really hard to ignore,” Bergner, a Martel College senior, said. “Once we even got asked if we were in a BSA meeting by a random student, but the whole time it was just a bunch of Black people eating lunch and hanging out together.”

Bergner attributes this incident to Rice’s relatively low population of Black students.

“Compared to my high school, Rice has a lot fewer Black students, which I didn’t realize coming here,” Bergner said. “I personally was not used to being such a small minority.”

Bergner came to Rice from Chicago,

Sex at Rice by the numbers

PAGES 10-11

Africayé, the Rice African Student Association’s annual cultural showcase, is being held at the Shepherd School of Music’s Stude Concert Hall for the first time in history on Feb. 18, with doors opening at 4 p.m. Celebration of African culture is at the core of Africayé, from the overarching storyline to the food, music and fashion show. This year’s theme is Africayé! The Musical, with the aim of spotlighting the art, dance and music that come from African culture.

Aman Eujayl, RASA president, said that Africayé brings the community together as they work towards a common goal.

“Community is so integral to RASA,” Eujayl, a Baker College senior, said. “Often, we don’t really call it a club, we call it either family or community because that’s what we’re trying to build. The ultimate goal of RASA is to bring students of African descent together, to learn from each other, grow together, laugh together, celebrate each other.”

SEE AFRICAYÉ PAGE 8

which is approximately 29% Black to Houston’s 23%, according to the most recent U.S. Census. Her high school’s student body was 25% Black, whereas Rice’s is 12% Black.

“I felt like I couldn’t express my full Blackness because I didn’t have many Black students in [Martel],” Bergner said. “I felt really inauthentic and like I was performing an act. I still had fun as an underclassman. It was just like something was missing.”

To replace the parts of her college experience that she felt were lacking in racial representation, Bergner sought out environments where she could connect with more Black students.

“I am very conscious of the fact that I am often either the only Black person or one out of, like, three, so it pushed me to find classroom spaces where I wouldn’t be the only one,” Bergner said.

Five years later, Wayne Graham reflects on retirement, end of Rice tenure

DANIEL SCHRAGER SPORTS EDITOR

Wayne Graham lives in Austin now. A lifelong Houstonian, the former Rice baseball coach decided to move three hours east in 2020 after spending nearly each of the first 84 years of his life in the Bayou City. But according to Graham, who left the Owls after 27 seasons in 2018, he doesn’t miss his hometown.

“Not a bit,” Graham said. “I lived in Houston all my life … I don’t need any more of it.”

“My dad ushered at Rice,” Graham said. “He ushered in both stadiums, took me to all the games. That’s where I got hooked and always loved Rice. My favorite song growing up was ‘Rice’s Honor.’”

Wayne Graham FORMER RICE BASEBALL

Graham has seen the city change over the years. When he was growing up, his father would take him to wrestling matches at the Sam Houston Coliseum in downtown. The stadium was torn down 25 years ago, and it stopped hosting wrestling in 1987. Both high schools that he attended have since been renamed. One constant throughout his time in Houston, though, was Rice.

For Graham, who led the Owls to their only national title 20 years ago, his unimpeachable Texas credentials are one of many reasons he found to bring up his troubled relationship with Rice Athletic Director Joe Karlgaard, his boss during the last five years of his tenure.

“Basically, the two places I’ve lived in my life have been Houston and Austin,” Graham said. “I was a true Texan, a true Houstonian. It was amazing to me that Karlgaard would dare treat someone with my record, and that was that blue-blooded [of] a Texan, like that.”

HAJERA NAVEED & CHLOE SINGER NEWS EDITOR & THRESHER STAFF

SARAH

KNOWLTON ASST. FEATURES EDITOR

I lived in Houston all my life … I don’t need any more of it.

COACH

I felt like I couldn’t express my full Blackness because [there weren’t] many Black students in [Martel]. I felt really inauthentic and like I was performing an act.

Malaika Bergner

BLACK STUDENT ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT

CHALLA THRESHER STAFF

HAHN / THRESHER

GORDY, ROBERT HEETER / THRESHER

Ni runs unopposed for SA President

SARAH KNOWLTON ASST. FEATURES EDITOR

Fresh off his term as Student Association treasurer, Jones College sophomore Solomon Ni is running unopposed for SA president.

Ni, who previously served as Jones’ New Student Representative, will be taking office after an election in which every SA position had one candidate — or none.

“I think it speaks to a larger thing about the [SA] and people generally,” Ni said. “It comes down to apathy: ‘Has the [SA] been doing its job? Has it been making an effort to advocate for students?’”

Ni said he feels that students are more likely to get involved with their college governments than with the SA, and he wants to change that.

“You can see that with the amount of contested races,” Ni said. “I really want to make [the SA] more open to the public and make sure that people are understanding what the processes are.”

SA transparency is one of the focal points of Ni’s platform, they said.

“I want to make legislation available to the public through a legislative tracker, and for members of the [SA], I want to make a timeline available based on all the events that they need to attend,” Ni said. “We get caught into a lot of the minutiae when it comes to parliamentary procedure, and while I do respect procedure, I think that is lost when it comes to helping people understand what they are for in the first place.”

Another of Ni’s priorities is the rewrite of Rice’s Title IX policy, following the Biden Administration’s introduction of new rules for the legislation in July 2022. He also said he plans to work on advocacy projects outside of Rice.

“Beyond the hedges, I really want to advocate for students in local governments,

state governments and county governments,” Ni said. “That includes advocating for college IDs to be a form of voter identification and asking the city council to get protected bike lanes around Rice campus and towards Rice Village, just to name a few.”

As Treasurer, Ni chose to publicize the SA financial information over which he presided to increase transparency. They also worked with Dean of Undergraduates Bridget Gorman and President Reggie DesRoches to make Election Day 2024 a non-instructional day, as well as helping the Rice Women’s Resource Center to fund a supply of emergency contraceptives for the Rice community. Ni hopes that their prior experience in student government can inform legislation and advocacy for the upcoming year.

“I want to be on the ground when students come to campus and get them invested in our [SA] in the first place, and I think my experience as an NSR gives me some insight into that,” Ni said. “Specifically, with my experience as [SA] treasurer, I serve on the executive committee, so I think I have a good understanding of how the day-to-day running of the [SA] works.”

Ni said he aims to accomplish as much as he can while approaching these goals realistically.

“I don’t want to let anyone down, I think that’s the most important thing. I do realize that I’m not going to be able to get everything done in my term due to circumstances that arise throughout the school year,” Ni said. “I want to plan ahead and be able to get back up if I fall down, and I think that goes for the rest of the [SA].”

As their term approaches, Ni hopes to include more students in the SA and hear as many voices as possible.

Sachdeva runs for treasurer

Yuv Sachdeva, a Jones College sophomore, is running uncontested for Student Association treasurer.

Prior to running for treasurer, Sachdeva became the SA representative for the Blanket Tax Committee, the standing committee in the SA that oversees the allocation of Blanket Tax funds — funds taken from a mandatory undergraduate student fee known as the “Blanket Tax.” Sachdeva said that his time on the committee, as well as the work of the previous treasurer Solomon Ni, has influenced the way he will approach the position.

“[Ni] set a great precedent for treasurer, he really did a lot of things within the system, obviously got the blanket tax name across campus,” Sachdeva said, “That’s something I just want to maintain, the foundations that he set up. He’s really moved [blanket] tax in the right direction.”

Besides maintaining the work of his predecessor, Sachdeva said he also hopes to further develop resources for non-Blanket Tax clubs and organizations that have an established campus presence.

“There’s a lot of clubs out there that have maintained themselves [financially] for a couple of years. They host events over and over again, but they still can get scared about funding, even though they’ve established themselves on campus,” Sachdeva said, “I want to try to … create a separate fund for these established clubs that are not necessarily Blanket Tax organizations so that they can know that they have funding for the great events that they do year after year.”

Sachdeva said that he hopes to create a guide to direct clubs to specific resources and make treasurer office hours more well-known to increase understanding of the Blanket Tax and available funding opportunities.

“I just want to make sure clubs are aware of the different resources [available] like creating

“I really want to emphasize that I want people from all backgrounds and all identities to apply and participate in the [SA]. I intend to do that by reaching out to HACER, BSA and Pride,” Ni said. “I want to plant the seeds and make sure that people have the resources and the tools they need in order to succeed and thrive with what they’re advocating for.”

Crystal Unegbu runs uncontested for SA EVP position

One of the main parts of Unegbu’s campaign revolves around diversity within the SA, since she believes that the SA can lack diversity, representation and cultures.

Alison Qiu runs uncontested for SA IVP position

Qiu said she looks forward to connecting with people who are similarly passionate about making a difference through the SA and implementing concrete changes.

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did a great job of advertising the initiative and we spoke at every single college during their cab meetings [this year]. I think we can take it one step further by l trying to just open up the spaces, set up one on one meetings, like that.”

As Sachdeva’s term approaches, he said that he hopes people will take time to learn more about the SA and its role on campus.

looking forward to [serving] campus and working with a great team,” Sachdeva said.

VIOLA HSIA SENIOR WRITER

I really want to make [the SA] more open to the public and make sure that people are understanding what the processes are.

Solomon Ni JONES COLLEGE SOPHOMORE

Halas becomes second woman named University Professor

VIOLA HSIA SENIOR WRITER

Faculty senate makes Election Day 2024 non-instructional

The faculty senate passed a Student Association sponsored resolution on Feb. 1, making the 2024 presidential Election Day a non-instructional civic engagement day. Therefore, no classes will be scheduled on Nov. 5, 2024, a change that currently only applies to the 2024 academic year.

Faculty senate speaker Allie Kieffer, who led the vote at the meeting, said that despite some concerns over losing a day of classes, the faculty senate was largely in favor of the resolution.

“Faculty were largely, certainly, universally in support of supporting student voting and … removing barriers for students to vote. I think faculty across the board felt very, very strongly about that,” Kieffer said. “There was concern from some faculty about losing the day, because it’s not a small thing to lose a day out of the syllabus, especially [because] there’s some classes that only meet one day a week.”

David Messmer, a member of the faculty senate, said that the lost day of classes will not be made up.

“Ultimately, [the classes that meet weekly] are just going to miss that week,” Messmer said. “There was a proposed amendment that came up from one of the faculty members who was concerned about that … But every time someone raised the possibility, the complications that [followed] were probably more troublesome than just having the day off.”

During the 2020 presidential election, former Rice President David Leebron sent an email to faculty members calling for asynchronous classes and for no assignments to be due on Election Day. However, 2024 would be the first year for a completely non-instructional Election

Vivian Zheng, a Baker College junior, said that she appreciates that Rice continues to set a precedent for being lenient with coursework on Election Day.

“[The 2020 presidential Election Day] really was a day of civic duty and

reflecting on voting, especially with that presidential election, so it’s not that this hasn’t really happened before,” Zheng said. “Also in 2022, President [Reggie] DesRoches sent out an email … to encourage staff to also make [midterm elections] a day with no classes or [have an] asynchronous [lecture].”

SA Treasurer Solomon Ni worked with SA Senator Olivia Roark to draft the resolution in 2021. Ni said the SA saw other universities enacting similar policies and wanted to bring that to Rice.

“We decided … to follow in the steps of other peer institutions, like Brown [University] and Columbia [University], that have designated Election Day as a holiday,” Ni, a Jones College sophomore, said.

Faculty were largely, certainly, universally in support of supporting student voting and … removing barriers for students to vote. I think faculty across the board felt very, very strongly about that.

Allie Kieffer FACULTY SENATE SPEAKER

Ni said that this resolution may help alleviate the long lines on Election Day that Rice has seen in the past.

“Voting times usually condensed around periods where people were free … like lunch and whenever all the classes got out at the end of the day, which led to long lines at the Sewall Hall voting location,” Ni said.

Roark said that she also considered how voting has become more difficult in Texas when drafting the resolution.

“I think with the trends that we’re seeing in voter suppression, particularly in Texas, it’s all the more important that we make it as easy as possible to vote,” Roark said.

“[Having] events that can apply to a diverse group of students with various sexualities and identities is in our best interest,” Salinas, a Brown College senior, said. “Consequently, we have some speakers taking about intimacy for students who identify as LGBTQIA+, polyamorous or survivors of sexual

Vieux said that she is excited to see SA Sex Week come together after months of planning with her committee and co-chair Liz Pan.

“We were able to connect with other student organizations like PERIOD@ Rice and Rice PRIDE, which is really great because of course collaboration [and] more outreach [mean] more

inclusivity in terms of the types of events we [are able to] put on,” Vieux, a Baker College junior, said. “I am glad that we were actually able to have [this event] in the vision we had at the beginning of the year.”

Duncan College sophomore Kayla Peden said she is most excited to attend “Debunking Sex Myths” with OBGYN Dr. Dipika Ambani, run by SWEAT@ Rice.

“I should have gone to the gynecologist a long time ago,” Peden said. “I am curious to gain insight from a medical professional regarding physical wellness and sexual wellness.”

In addition to this event, SWEAT has partnered with the Baylor Teen Health Clinic to offer students free STI testing.

“There’s so many events we are excited for, but we’re most excited for

John Alford, a Rice professor of political science and a researcher in voting behavior, said that he does not expect this resolution to significantly increase voter turnout at Rice.

“We know from a variety of other kinds of efforts to increase voter turnout in the United States that the effects tend to be fairly modest,” Alford said. “A lot of the decision to vote and voting behavior is not just a cost benefit calculation. It’s also a kind of a promotional or community activity.”

Alford said that although he thinks this resolution is the first step to the SA’s mission of increasing civic engagement among the student body, there’s still more the SA and Rice’s administration could do to increase election participation.

“Among the important things about this [resolution] is the symbolism of the university saying, ‘We think voting is more important than ever in democracy,’” Alford said. “There can be some seminars about the election. You can have election launch parties in the evening [or] have food trucks over [by Sewall Hall], and [when] you get an I voted button you get a free taco … Make [election day] about the celebration of elections [and the] celebration of voting … I think people really get caught up in that.”

Although this resolution will only apply to the presidential election in 2024, Messmer said that he believes future elections may be designated as noninstructional days as well.

“You could just tell by the reaction in the room [at the faculty senate meeting] that we understand this [resolution] is probably not going to be a one off,” Messmer said. “ [With] presidential elections [specifically], I would be shocked if this doesn’t become standard practice.”

Roark said that she will continue advocating for non-instructional days during elections.

“I’m going to keep pushing until we get as many election days off as possible,” Roark said. “I think election days for presidential elections are the most likely to be consistent. I’m not sure about midterms, but we’re going to try.”

the free STI testing day,” Han said. “During my time at Rice, I’ve gotten a lot of questions from my friends on when and where to get STI tested. We ran a preliminary survey on Fizz, which showed that more than 650 students who are sexually active have never been tested.”

Tony Balderas, a Martel College sophomore, said that he is glad that Rice community members are dedicating a week to promoting sexual health awareness.

“I think it is good to have sex week because a lot of people do not know much about specific aspects of sexual wellness,” Balderas said. “From my background, I never really learned about sex as a gay man in Texas. If people did teach about sex, it was always about straight sex.”

Naomi Halas was recently named University Professor, the highest academic title Rice offers. Halas, the only Rice faculty member to be elected to both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering for her research at Rice, is the tenth person and second woman to receive the honor in Rice’s 111-year-history.

Halas, who studies how nanoparticles react with light, first came to Rice in 1989 after working at AT&T Bell Laboratories. She is also the director of the Smalley-Curl Institute. Most of her research has led to commercial work; one of her most prominent projects being non-invasive cancer cell treatment, in collaboration with current Dean of Engineering at University of Virginia Jennifer West, around 2000.

“We demonstrated that you can put the nanoparticles in the tumor, shine near infrared lights, lowering energy, so you’re not destroying DNA or anything,” Halas said “The nanoparticles would capture the light, convert the light to heat and then destroy the tumor by hyperthermia, just by raising it to a temperature where cells cannot survive.”

Halas’ work with nanoparticles and light has also extended to climate change, leading to the formation of a company called Syzygy Plasmonics in 2018. According to Halas, this company works to help decarbonize the planet and make inexpensive hydrogen, raising $76 million last fall.

“I feel so good about it, because so many people talk about the climate crisis. They talk about climate change,” Halas said, “It’s really satisfying to [have] something that’s going to work. And when this works, we don’t have to rely on the government to subsidize it, because it will naturally be available.”

Halas hopes her work across these fields helps increase scientific literacy, something she believes is scientists’ responsibility.

“If we do something we use public funds, we use taxpayer money. So we need to be able to explain the impact of our work to people who fund it, people who pay taxes, so they understand that if [their] tax money actually goes to my research lab, that the things I’m doing are actually going to improve lives,” Halas said, “That’s very much our responsibility.”

Halas said she hopes that her appointment will continue the increase of female representation both in her own field and other fields of STEM.

“I really look at the positivity of this, that we have so many female students, so many women who are getting a Ph.D., so many women who are looking for research careers, looking for professional careers,” Halas said. “Yes, there are more things to be done. There’s no question about that. But my professional life has really spanned a time [from] when it was very unusual for women in any position compared to now where it’s a really different thing. It’s a much more exciting and welcoming place for women at all levels.”

Halas said this accomplishment is particularly significant because of what it represents for her time at Rice.

“It means a lot to me, this wonderful honor,” Halas said. “I’ve really enjoyed the specialness of Rice and the outstanding students ... and my wonderful colleagues.”

MARIA VALERA FOR THE THRESHER

FROM FRONT PAGE SEX WEEK

KATHERINE HUI / THRESHER

COURTESY RICE UNIVERSITY

Online ticketing system MurtPass debuts at Y2K

McMurtry College held their annual Y2K public on Saturday, Feb. 4, launching the online MurtPass ticketing system developed by McMurtry senior Eliot Solomon.

According to Solomon, his previous experience as an external social committee head inspired him to develop the platform.

“One of the most time-consuming things that [the McMurtry external social committee heads] had to do was deal with the wristband pickup [process],” Solomon said. “The original motivation was to develop a system that would automate that process, and there’s where the QR code as a replacement for the wristband idea originated.”

Solomon said that this idea was vetoed by the Risk Management team, who wanted physical wristbands for the event.

“I’m hoping that the success of the system for Y2K this year gives them some confidence that digital ticketing can work exclusively in the future rather than requiring that everyone have physical wristbands,” Solomon said.

Anusha Srivastava, one of the external social committee heads, said attendance tracking was another benefit of the MurtPass system.

“Risk Management was especially concerned about capacity,” Srivastava, a McMurtry College junior, said. “We chose to use MurtPass to track capacity because we knew there was a lot of demand for this public.”

According to Prerna Mohan, an external social committee head, demand for Y2K tickets was similarly high compared to previous years.

“Since we kept a running waitlist, the [ticketing] form didn’t close until a few days later,” Mohan, a McMurtry junior, said. “So I think we had, not including McMurtry students, 1700 or 1800 students fill out the form between North and South colleges.”

Administration’s different ticketing rules are based on perceived interest for publics, Wiess College President Kirsty Leech said. Therefore, publics that do not require ticketing are typically the ones with lower expected attendance.

Srivastava and Mohan said MurtPass allowed for more students to attend Y2K while preventing ticket resale.

“One of the biggest problems we had last year, especially with [Y2K] being outside, was security,” Mohan said. “There was a lot of scalping going on with transferring wristbands ... Not only does it make getting tickets harder but the profit that people make selling tickets doesn’t actually go towards our public.”

Vidal Saenz, a McMurtry junior and associate justice, said he had a positive experience using MurtPass while working a security shift for Y2K.

“As long as [attendees] had their ID and their wristband, they just showed [the QR code] and were allowed in,” Saenz said. “There were maybe five [students scanning QR codes], so they were scanning pretty quickly, it wasn’t a hassle ... The line itself was mostly because of capacity limits [inside the McMurtry commons], not actual scanning.”

Rohan Palavali, a Hanszen College freshman, said he had difficulty getting a ticket for Y2K.

“I clicked on the link, and it said the form crashed and there was too much traffic,” Palavali said. “I tried two or three more

times, the form opened and I filled it out as quickly as I could ... I got the email with the link to Murtpass and it said ‘You’ve been waitlisted.’”

Palavali said he thought that MurtPass is an improvement from previous wristband ticketing systems.

“I thought it was a really efficient and well-thought-out way to let people know if they got tickets and for them to scan the ticket,” Palavali said. “For other publics ... it was a mess with people paying for other people’s tickets.”

However, Palavali said there were some

features he would have liked to see in MurtPass.

“You wouldn’t know that you got off the waitlist or you wouldn’t be able to ensure you got a ticket until very close to the actual public,” Palavali said. “At that point you might not even want to go.”

Solomon said he would be open to working with students from other colleges to implement MurtPass at other publics.

“I’ve heard a couple rumors of interest,” Solomon said. “No one has explicitly reached out to me, but I’m happy to help facilitate that.”

Campus munches on meal plan changes one semester later

Brown said that despite the additional meal period, there is still the lack of late night dining options for students on campus.

“People are worried that Munch creates complacency because it’s the university saying, ‘here’s our solution to this problem,’ but there’s still that long chunk of time [when] we don’t have anything,” Brown said.

Some suggestions Brown gave in response to this included letting meal swipe plans count toward vending machines that could give students easy late-night food options.

“I don’t know if it’s feasible or not but just having Meal Swipes work for vending machines, possibly just having hot food options in the form of ramen packs, or something,” Brown said, ”Sure, it’s not going to be the same as a home-cooked meal. But at the very least, if we’re giving students nutritious options in a vending machine,. They have something to go to past 7 p.m.”

Last semester, Rice made changes to Meal Plan A that included the introduction of “Munch,” an additional meal period between 2:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. on weekdays and an adjustment in how meal swipes are recorded.

According to David McDonald, director of Housing & Dining, these changes resulted in an increase to the amount of meals being served per day, something McDonald expects to continue in future semesters.

“We are serving nearly 10,000 meals a day now, which is record-breaking for us,” McDonald said, “We expect even more meals served next fall with increased enrollment, and we needed to get ahead of this so that chefs and managers have time to work out the enhancements beforehand.”

Besides the additional meal period, which McDonald said helps students avoid the long lines during other meal periods, other changes have been implemented in the serveries this semester, such as the types of food being served.

“Changes we have implemented this semester was adding pizza and burgers at dinner almost every day. We are also experimenting with station specific cuisines, such as [what] was done with the WOK at North,” McDonald said, “Cuisines that have been very popular thus far have been Mediterranean style and Indian style cuisines. We look forward to making these daily items in the future, along with a whole host of other cuisines.”

According to Hunter Brown, McMurtry College president, the meal period has provided more flexibility for students. However, Brown said that there was confusion in the beginning of last semester about how meal swipes are counted in the serveries.

“I would get student feedback all the time, like, ‘Oh, are we allowed two plates? Or are we allowed one plate?’ H&D cashiers didn’t really know what the policy was either, because it would vary between serveries. As a consequence, there was a lot of difficulty for some students in navigating that,” Brown said, “I would say on the whole, it’s gotten smoother as the semester has gone on. But it was definitely a rocky start.”

According to the meal plan FAQ page, one meal swipe allows students to get up to two entrees or serving portions.

Ian Carroll, a junior from Brown College, said that the extra swipes allow students to swipe other students with them in the serveries.

“Anyone on campus, they get 300+ swipes, which is more than enough to swipe someone in with you for most meals,” Carroll said.

He added that he wished there were more meal plan options for off-campus students, who can’t go to the serveries as often.

“Two meals a day is usually too much since it’s a large inconvenience to come to campus most weekends. But one meal a day isn’t enough,” Carroll said, “I wish they had a two-meals-a-day [plan] for weekdays. That would probably be a really good option for most OC students.”

Ariana Zhang, a senior from Wiess College, said that it’s been nice to have an additional meal period that works with her off-campus job.

“On Wednesdays I leave work at 12:30 p.m. but have class at 1 p.m., so I can only eat at 2 p.m.,” Zhang said.

McDonald said that H&D is aware of the lack of late-night dining options. Vending machines, he said, are being considered. However, one of the more immediate solutions they are considering is extending the dinner period.

“We don’t have it nailed down,” McDonald said. “We are toying with the idea right now of staying up until 9 [p.m.] for dinner.”

McDonald said that this idea was the best way to accommodate both students and H&D staff affected by Houston public transportation hours.

“It feels like 9 o’clock is the best of both worlds,” McDonald said. “It gives many more opportunities for students and also [keeps] in mind the safety and security of our employees.”

McDonald said that, if implemented, this plan most likely won’t happen until next semester.

“Thank you to the students for putting up with us trying to get everything sorted out,” McDonald said. “It hasn’t been as easy as we thought, primarily because of the supply chain and then immediately the inflation side of things. And then of course, finding the labor pool to continue to hire. So I appreciate everyone’s patience with that.”

VIOLA HSIA SENIOR WRITER

LILY REMINGTON / THRESHER

Election demonstrates need for SA to self-examine

When petitions finished filing in and the candidates for Student Association executive positions were announced, the Thresher Editorial Board was disappointed to learn that out of five executive positions up for election, none were contested. In fact, no one is running for the secretary position, necessitating a special election process.

Earlier this semester, we had hopes that the SA election would be taken seriously. Those hopes have been squashed in the face of an underwhelming election.

Campus doesn’t seem to be disillusioned with student government even if what little interest the Rice community has in the SA is steadily fading. Several college governments had hotly contested elections this semester. In the case of the recent McMurtry presidential election, three candidates faced off, and just one vote decided the outcome — it’s easy to tell people their vote matters when one vote determines the outcome of an election. It’s harder for our editorial board, one of the staunchest supporters of voting in SA elections, to tell campus that voting is worthwhile when all major elections are uncontested.

Year after year, SA candidates and the Thresher alike bemoan a lack of external engagement, whether we are responding to low voter turnout or students knowing what the SA does or why, maybe, what they do matters. But, it seems the SA now

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

faces a more daunting challenge: lack of internal engagement.

If the SA can’t rally troops within their own ranks to run for positions, how can we expect engagement from the student body? In order for the SA to be taken seriously, there has to be some degree of faith in what they do within the organization itself.

Can we claim to be surprised at this turn of events, though? As we near the end of a year-long term, only three resolutions have been passed. Two election directors resigned this year — the third time is hopefully the charm. At this week’s Senate, members of the current executive board simmered with clumsily concealed contempt for each other — can we count how many times presumptive president-elect Solomon Ni said, “I have the floor”?

Some weeks ago, one of the former election directors criticized the Thresher Editorial Board for allegedly undermining the SA. We wish that was the case. Instead, the SA undermines themselves with every action and inaction they take. Let us be clear, we believe the SA has immense potential to leverage their position on campus and

connections to campus offices to truly benefit students.

That’s why we’re writing this. If we thought the SA was beyond hope, we wouldn’t waste our time with editorials. To the incoming executive board, let us offer our early congratulations and ask you to restore faith in the SA internally by passing resolutions that impact student life, recruiting and retaining committee heads and members, mentoring New Student Representatives and setting our college presidents and senators up for success.

If the SA can’t rally troops within their own ranks to run for positions, how can we expect engagement from the student body?

It might be a long shot, but with stronger working relationships, maybe new members will stick around and run for positions. And, if they invest time in the SA and the SA invests time in them, there might be meaningful change for campus as a whole that encourages the student body to vote in (hopefully contested) SA elections in 2024.

On a campus where even Sex Weeks are competing and students are scrambling for resume filler, it seems ridiculous that the SA couldn’t muster up even five candidates willing to put up with a year of serving on their executive board. This isn’t backhanded. We’ll say it to your face: do better.

Whenyou talk about AI, remember what we’re in school for

Yes, this article was written by a real person.

The most recent issue of the Thresher included an opinion piece about the use of the artificial intelligence technology ChatGPT in academic contexts. The article, which was generated by the program itself as a display of its writing capabilities, highlighted ChatGPT’s efficiency and usefulness for “students at Rice University who are short on time and need to quickly finish an assignment.”

As Rice and many universities grapple with AI’s place in their classrooms and plagiarism policies, I want to contribute a perspective that I found absent in the original article: efficiency is not the point of higher education. If I was interested in completing all of my academic writing assignments while using up as little of my time as possible, I would simply use one of the many essay-writing services available online — there are a plethora of companies and individuals

who will produce original, high-quality, unplagiarized written work about any topic you desire, often for incredibly low rates of pay. I’m a busy student. This is a resource available to me that would ease my workload and allow me to focus on other important things, including my wellbeing. Why should Rice limit students’ freedom to generate their assignments in any way they please, as long as the work gets done?

The answer, I hope, is obvious: turning in work that you did not create, regardless of its originality or quality, sidesteps the fundamental purpose of our education. You are not at Rice to learn how to churn out finished products. As ChatGPT has proven, that is a role that is easily replaceable by technology and AI. You have chosen (and likely paid or been awarded a large sum of money) to come to Rice because you want to push the limits of your understanding, internalize the material you’re learning, contribute original

insights and grow as a student and individual. Yes, ChatGPT’s free nature makes it more accessible than online essay writers, but the end result is the same: by using it, you are depriving yourself of the opportunity to leave Rice a more educated, reflective and wellwritten person than you entered it.

As the original article correctly pointed out, there will be times when the efficiency provided by ChatGPT is advantageous and may even eventually become the norm: cover letters, boilerplate language and automated emails will benefit from this advance in AI technology. The work you do in your Rice courses, however, is not one of those times. For many of us, the rest of our professional lives will be defined by meeting deadlines and quickly producing effective written work of limited originality or reflection. Why not, then, take college and its myriad essays for what it is: not mere obstacles to complete as quickly as possible, but opportunities to learn and grow?

Felicity Phelan DUNCAN COLLEGE FRESHMAN

EDITORIAL STAFF

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NEWS

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PHOTO, VIDEO, & WEB

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ABOUT

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.

Paul Mayer ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING GRADUATE STUDENT BROWN COLLEGE ’18

© Copyright 2023 ricethresher.org

By using [ChatGPT], you are depriving yourself of the opportunity to leave Rice a more educated, reflective and well-written person than you entered it.

Constant character attacks, allegations of fraud and dishonesty and armchair psychoanalysis are not how scientists resolve disputes.

Sex at Rice by the numbers Sex at Rice by the numbers

MORGAN GAGE & RIYA MISRA EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & FEATURES EDITOR

The Thresher recently conducted a survey about students’ sexual habits, from dating app usage to experiences with sexual education. We received 649 responses across all colleges and years.

What areas would you like to see improve in terms of general sex education?

Read the full results at projects.ricethresher.org on February 17th.

Dating Science: Marriage Pact takes campus by storm

Concerned that you won’t find love at the ripe age of 18 to 22? Fear not. Rice students now have a new opportunity — or backup plan — for romance.

The Marriage Pact borrows from the romantic comedy trope of two friends agreeing to get married at a certain age if they don’t find anyone else. Essentially, they agree to be each others’ romantic backup plan. Developed by Stanford University undergraduates Liam McGregor and Sophia Sterling-Angus as their final project for an economics class, the Marriage Pact takes this idea and translates it into a 50-question survey that students have brought to 78 colleges and universities across the U.S., now including Rice.

Kelly Zeng, Allison He and Emily Liu initiated bringing the Marriage Pact to Rice. He, a Hanszen College sophomore, said she was inspired by a Stanford friend’s experience with the Marriage Pact on campus.

“[I thought] it would be really cool if we brought [the Marriage Pact] here, because it’s a similar type of student body and environment,” He said. “As a freshman, I would’ve wanted something like this, and I know a lot of people who would’ve wanted the opportunity to find ‘the one’ in college.”

Zeng, Liu and He said they communicate with the Marriage Pact team and market the program to the Rice student body, while the project managers at Stanford send emails and run the algorithm.

All three said they hope to make the Marriage Pact a yearly occurrence that’s distinct from Crush Party and Screw-YerRoommate.

“Screw is just your roommate pairing

you with someone, so you don’t know how compatible you are. [Marriage Pact] is more researchbased, psychologybased, whereas Crush Party was more of a Buzzfeed quiz,” Zeng, a Sid Richardson College sophomore, said. Liu also said that Screw-YerRoommate is based more heavily on physical looks, and could be more superficial because of

it. The Marriage Pact, on the other hand, is completely anonymous and confidential. Pairings are based on personality, values and opinions collected through the survey. The Marriage Pact survey is based on a mix of pre-selected questions and questions selected by Zeng, Liu and He to tailor the survey to the Rice student body. Questions selected

for Rice include “it’s important to me that parents approve of my partner,” “parties are perfect networking opportunities” and “I like kinky sex.” The first collection of questions in the survey covers basic information about religious affiliation, political beliefs, what the participant is looking for and other dealbreakers. The other questions aim to get more value-oriented information.

The survey attempts to get an accurate gauge of a Rice students’ character and create the best match possible, but not everyone felt that they were destined for love with their match.

Spring Chenjp, a Wiess College sophomore, said that she filled out the survey without many expectations.

“I wasn’t really in it to get a match,” Chenjp said. “I was in it to take the survey because people said it was fun.”

Chenjp did receive a match, but decided that they weren’t the most compatible. Still, Chenjp said she would fill out the Marriage Pact again next year.

For others, though, their Marriage Pact results were all too accurate. Emma Larson, a Sid Richardson freshman, said she wound up getting paired with her best friend.

“[The] Marriage Pact ended up saying we were 99.07% compatible. We both thought it was incredibly comical and honestly kind of validating of our friendship,” Larson said. “Out of all the people on campus, it’s so on brand that we would be each others’ ‘perfect match.’”

After finding love — at least, a certain type of it — Larson said that perhaps there is some validity to the Marriage Pact after all.

“I know some people didn’t think much of their match, but honestly, I think there must be some truth to the algorithm because of how well [we] get along,” Larson said.

“Let’s stop framing virginity as purity. [In] some religions it’s a sin, we get it. No need to damage a woman’s mental health in the process.”

Out of all the people on campus, it’s so on brand that we would be each others’ ‘perfect match.’

Emma Larson SID RICHARDSON COLLEGE FRESHMAN

SHREYA JINDAL / THRESHER

SOPHOMORE JUNIOR SENIOR

BAKER BROWN HANSZEN DUNCAN JONES MARTEL SID RICH. WILL RICE LOVETT MCMURTRY WIESS Number

Finding love next door: Married professors talk love, literature

GRACE ZHOU FOR THE THRESHER

The circulation desk at Fondren is perhaps one of Rice’s most underrated matchmaking spots. Back in 2001, it was where now-married professors Sarah Ellenzweig and Scott McGill first met. Ellenzweig had already been teaching at Rice for a year, while McGill had just started teaching in the Classics department.

Following their initial interaction, McGill said their offices were only three doors apart, causing frequent run-ins for the two. They quickly learned that they had a lot of things in common, like their Northeast origins and shared interest in classical literature.

“Early on, we weren’t yet in a relationship, we were just getting to know each other,” Ellenzweig said. “I ran into him in the hall in Fondren on my way to the vending machine, and I said, ‘Hey, do you want me to show you where the vending machines are?’”

To her disappointment, McGill declined. Not knowing he didn’t eat candy bars, Ellenzweig concluded that he must have not been interested in her. Shortly after, McGill said he finally realized Ellenzweig was trying to make a move.

“I had to recover,” McGill said. “I was trying to read signals, read cues and hope for a chance at redemption.”

The pair started dating by November of the same year and got married after four years. Now, 22 years

they have not only built a family but a new course at Rice. ENGL 254, The History of Love, is co-taught by Ellenzweig and McGill and focuses on early Greek, Roman and English romance literature.

Although marriage and romance literature are both about love, McGill says the similarities end there. Romance literature is less about long-term relationships, according to McGill, but rather about the ephemerality of young, forbidden or lost love. Having been married for nearly two decades, Ellenzweig and McGill said that while they share a passion for classical romance literature, they thankfully don’t necessarily relate to them.

However, they said they do strongly resonate with an avant-garde film they watched together titled “My Dinner With Andre.” The film includes a scene of the main character, Andre, talking to his friend about romance by invoking an image of two people living in a room together over time. It is the common assumption that long-term relationships may eventually feel boring, but McGill said this film and his own marriage prove the opposite.

“You’d think everyone just becomes really familiar,” McGill said. “But it doesn’t have to [get boring] if you make space for the other person’s independent identity.”

Ellenzweig said the film conveys that long relationships can actually create room for unpredictability in life.

“If you let it, if you’re open to it, a whole adventure can be going on right in that room,” Ellenzweig said. “It’s quite an astonishing reversal of our assumptions.”

When asked how they navigate marriage, raise three children and co-teach, neither said they’ve grown weary of the other.

“I don’t get tired of you,” McGill said to her. “I don’t know why, but I don’t.”

In return, Ellenzweig expressed appreciation towards her husband for his ability to constantly make her laugh.

“I think finding someone who makes you laugh is really important, because life is hard, and there’s a lot of pain. Laughter really helps,” said Ellenzweig. “And Scott always makes me laugh. Oh, I really treasure that.”

Heads or Tails

Outside of the classroom, Bergner sought out the BSA to fill in these gaps in her environment. The BSA was established in the 1970s to provide opportunities for Rice’s Black population.

“Being around my community motivates me, inspires me and revitalizes me when I am feeling like an impostor at Rice,” Bergner said. “I think that at some schools that can get kind of lost, but because Rice is so small, and we have so many clubs that are focused on Black students’ needs, we have developed this community that feels very supportive.”

As the 2022-2023 BSA president, Bergner said she hopes to expand the BSA and provide a welcoming environment for students like her. However, Bergner acknowledges that there are difficulties in being a minority on campus, urging Rice to provide more support for Black students who experience similar conflicts she has noticed in her own life.

“I have made friendships with Black students at this school that will last a lifetime, all while getting one of the best educations that I could have ever asked for. I am grateful for getting to experience this for nearly four years, but I am also highly critical of the way that this campus fails to fully support its Black students,” Bergner said. “It needs to start with the administration prioritizing Black students as an underrepresented population — listening to them, understanding their needs and meeting them with tangible actions.”

the Black community she found within have positively shaped her life.

“I didn’t know that I could be so loved [and] appreciated by not just a couple, but an entire community of people,” Bergner said. “My mom often talks to me about how far I’ve come as a young woman and how much she has watched me change into a more confident, independent and joyful person.”

For Bergner, that joy is crucial to encapsulating the complexity of Black student life at Rice.

Malaika Bergner BLACK STUDENT ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT

Despite the difficulties that Bergner has experienced, she still finds that Rice and

“I won’t lie and say I haven’t experienced a fair share of microaggressions from people who don’t look like me, and I know that there are people in my community who experience even more of these than I do,” Bergner said. “But I want to emphasize with my whole chest that in spite of all of this, Black Rice students find joy. I have hope for Rice’s future as a school where Black students can be authentic, fully supported and empowered to express their interests and lift their voices.”

UK Deputy PM Dominic Stocking stuffer?

Eurasian range

Potent start?

American foreign assistance org.

Nothing

Bell sound

Salon-made waves

General ____ chicken

State of mind

Orchestra section

Egyptian sun god

Chinese diplomat Enlai

Spotlight sharer

Approvals

Korean or Thai

“Do ____ others...”

Banger

Operated

Lauder of cosmetics

Song of praise

Alias letters

Car part

Homer’s wife

Downward spiral

Tried

On

Greek god of war

Rice’s _____ Institute for New Leaders

Equine-inspired hairstyles

Tacks on

Blue gemstone

Slushy drink brand

Corporate symbol

Discharge

Sole

Yeager in Attack on Titan

Mosquito genus

Girls’ Generation, by another name

IRA type

Parisian pal

May Wong or Wintour

Statistician’s challenge

Evening meal

Southeast Asian economic bloc, abbr.

Snitch

Mountain or Pacific

Commercials, for short

False

Activist Parks

Years, in Spain

Lower

Be a fan of, slangily

____-chic

Despise

Diamond measure

Tennis player Naomi

Biblical mountain “_____ Tag!”

Cancel, as a mission

Duck

Pace

Fair

The act of falling off

Celestial course code

Encounter

Attacks

Captain Marvel actress Brie

Secret meetings

Star-shaped spice

Chip and ____

Bad smell

Advantage

Newspaper piece

Object of worship

Microscope part

Plant starting point

Glee actress Michele

HOANG NGUYEN CROSSWORD WRITER

COURTESY SARAH ELLENZWEIG

FROM FRONT PAGE BLACK AT RICE

ZEISHA BENNETT / THRESHER

I am also highly critical of the way that this campus fails to fully support its Black students. It needs to start with the administration prioritizing Black students as an underrepresented population — listening to them, understanding their needs and meeting them with tangible actions.

Review: ‘Magic Mike’ didn’t go full frontal — for the better

SARA DAVIDSON & HAMZA SAEED THRESHER STAFF

Walking into the theater in a threepiece suit and a beret, we were salivating. Sara was salivating thinking of the food we planned to grab afterwards. Hamza was salivating for some of that Magic Mike action. Neither of us had seen a Magic Mike movie before this one, hoping that the fresh perspective we could offer would lead to greater insights, or at least some surprises. What this actually led to was one hour and 52 minutes of laughter and Hamza attempting to dance along to scenes that had no business being danced to.

“Magic Mike: The Last Dance” centers around Mike (Channing Tatum), a former adult entertainer turned bartender and Max (Salma Hayek), a rich London socialite that seeks his help in directing a new

Eujayl said that RASA helped her find community at Rice.

“It really helped me … realize my Africanness, my Blackness,” Eujayl said. “I grew up in a place where there’s not a lot of Black people, not a lot of African people, so RASA was really important to me.”

Sean Nyangeri, a dancer and RASA committee lead, expressed a similar sentiment and said that it has been amazing showing his pride for African culture to the Rice community.

“The community is small, obviously, being at a [predominantly white institution], but it’s so close-knit, and everyone that’s involved in the organization is just very nice and willing to help out,” Nyangeri, a McMurtry College freshman, said. “There are a lot of people who have helped me along.”

Eujayl said that while the decision to host Africayé at Stude Concert Hall for the first time was primarily in anticipation of the Rice Memorial Center being torn down, she has always dreamed of having Africayé at Shepherd since it has a larger seating capacity. She said that the showcase will

version of the play “Isabel Ascending.” She flies him out to London with her, which doubles as revenge against her cheating exhusband, and proceeds to promise Mike $60,000 (or perhaps pounds, currency is never specified). In exchange, he must turn this classic theater show into a strip delight, centered on women’s wants and needs. What ensues next is, of course, sexual tension, lots of stripping and the narrator, the couple’s daughter, getting kicked out of the theater for the water portion of the show. Any technical analysis of this movie will reveal the same sad and undeniable truth — this is not a great movie. From cheesy dialogue to an underwhelming ending, “Magic Mike” isn’t quite as enchanting as we hoped it would be. However, it is still very possible to have a good time watching this movie, and we did. Laughing, cringing and letting our mouths hit the floor, we still enjoyed

use dynamic structures within the concert hall to tie into the theme.

“RASA as a club is always very ambitious, looking to be bigger and better every single year … It’s probably one of the first times the Shepherd School of Music has collaborated with a student organization on campus, particularly a Black student organization on campus … We’re hopefully able to host more people.” Eujayl said. “Last year, unfortunately, we had to turn some people away … It was kind of insane.”

Nyangeri is excited to celebrate African culture and hopes that viewers can see parts of it in a new light rather than with a one-sided view.

“Africayé’s not really just a cultural showcase, it’s a story about an African Student Association at a random college trying to come together to put on a cultural

watching — no, experiencing — this movie, flaws and all. Unfortunately, it is still our solemn duty to perform a critical analysis despite that.

We know we shouldn’t expect a Stephen King-esque plot here, and we (mostly Hamza) were not watching this movie for the plot. Still, we were both very invested in the story until the second act. Despite our attempts to suspend belief, the plot begins to unravel under pressure, like a STEM student would in their first humanities class. However, the first dance was sensual

showcase,” Nyangeri said. “It’s a musical showcasing a story, taking you through the lives of many different characters and how they’re trying to work together. You’re truly immersed in a story.”

Crystal Unegbu, a dance director and actor in Africayé, said that one of the main goals during the showcase’s creative process was to be inclusive and authentic to the different talents the RASA and Black community at Rice have.

“It was just a small group of us … writing the script, wanting to fit in everything … It was definitely a challenge, but we really try to incorporate everyone’s talents in the show through the little scenes in the musical,” Unegbu, a Hanszen College sophomore, said.

“Africa is one huge continent with different regions and so many distinct differences that

Walk This World.

Wiess College announces application process for the 2023 John E. Parish Fellowship

and spectacular. This scene highlights how this movie made excellent use of lighting and color to create an intimate atmosphere. There are also mentions of class struggles, and a feminist touch is given through Max, who continuously pushes for women to be able to have it all — despite ending the movie with nothing but Mike.

Overall, if you want to not take a movie too seriously, this one is great to watch. If you’re looking for the next cinematic masterpiece, this isn’t the one for you, but you probably already knew that.

we wanted to highlight to our audience as well.”

Unegbu said that the showcase also addresses and issues that Black students at Rice face, and that there is a powerful piece from RASA’s poets that really shines light on Black history in America and Black struggles.

“Every single time I watch them rehearse that scene, it really does touch me … I really want the audience to, yes, see that Africa is beautiful because of all our culture, music, fashion and food, but also that … we are real students, real people here,” Unegbu said.

For Nyangeri, Africayé has been an opportunity to come out of his shell and grow as a person.

“I’m really nervous because in high school, the African Student Association would perform, and I remember always wanting to do it … It felt really nice looking back and seeing how much I’ve grown because if I were to tell my high school freshman self that I’m part of a dance team, I’d probably be really shocked,” Nyangeri said.

Eujayl said she hopes Africayé brings RASA and the greater Rice community together.

“It’s one hundred percent worth it,” Eujayl said. “Engage with all the events that we have planned this week. Come to Africayé. Buy the Chaus drink. It’s really yummy.”

Recipients will receive support for approximately two months of travel during the summer of 2023. The purpose of the fellowship is to enhance the undergraduate education of the fellow by broadening the range of experience via self-directed travel.

Application information can be found at parish.rice.edu. The deadline for submission of application materials is 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, February 28, 2023 .

Every single time I watch them rehearse that scene, it really does touch me … I really want the audience to ... see that Africa is beautiful because of all our culture, music, fashion and food, but also that … we are real students, real people here.

Crystal Unegbu

HANSZEN COLLEGE SOPHOMORE

Any technical analysis of this movie will reveal the same sad and undeniable truth — this is not a great movie. From cheesy dialogue to an underwhelming ending, “Magic Mike” isn’t quite as enchanting as we hoped it would be.

COURTESY WARNER BROS. PICTURES

Moody Center unveils new Project Wall exhibit

VIVIAN LANG / THRESHER

Plate to Plate: Asianstyle steak plates face off

feeling quite unsatisfied in terms of food, but the modern video game-influenced decor was enjoyable.

One of my all-time favorite meals is a rice plate. The varying protein options, sides and sauces make for a highly customizable meal catered to many different preferences. Every restaurant has its own rendering on the traditional concept, creating unique flavor profiles from different seasonings and cooking styles. Naturally, I had to compare two Asian-style steak rice plates around Rice campus.

Rice Box, known for its Chinese-style takeout plates, recently opened a location in Rice Village, just a short walk from campus. Their pepper steak plate comes with standard vegetables, white rice and an included chicken egg roll for $14.99. Substituting the meat, adjusting spice level and changing the rice and egg roll choices are allowed. Some extra add-ons like noodles or broccoli have a small upcharge.

The Moody Center for the Arts recently unveiled their newest Moody Project Wall exhibit, “Swarm Migration,” by Houston artist Bennie Flores Ansell. The new exhibit features a mural made of 3D-printed wishbones representing student and artist stories about migration. The opening reception for “Swarm Migration” will be Feb. 15 from 6 - 8 p.m. and feature the artist and other project collaborators.

A visual artist, Ansell trained as a photographer but has always done more installation work and manipulation of photographic evidence. She was born in the Philippines but grew up in Connecticut and Florida. Ansell discovered her passion for installation as an undergraduate and now teaches at a community college.

“I started cutting up images. It’s as if I wanted the photograph to take up space, to occupy space,” Ansell said. “So now, for the Moody Project Wall, I am printing in 3D. I have never installed a 3D piece of this size, I used slide film, I used printed transparency film, to install something that occupies space off the wall is exciting for me.”

Ansell created a mural using one thousand 3D printed wishbones made from her own CT scans, which she installed on the mural using slide film and printed transparency film. Ansell said the wishbones signify what we leave behind when we die — namely, our bones and our words.

“For the past 20 years, I have been making art about migration and flying,” Ansell said. “When I was a young girl in Connecticut, I would lay on the grass and watch the birds fly south with the cold grass around me. It’s just such a vivid experience. This new body of work is really about I wish I can fly. I fly in my dreams a lot.”

Fittingly, the installation takes the shape of a swarm of birds. Ansell described it as a distinct metaphor of her experiences of being born in the Philippines, coming to the United States and living in a predominantly white neighborhood.

“I was always out of the flock, and the question of where you are from lingered,” Ansell said. “I grew up in the 70s and 80s, where there were not a lot of people who looked like me. It’s exciting to be in the time we are now. There’s a global connectedness we now have, which has affected and changed how we see ourselves.”

Ansell believes that her work should push her audience to think about their paths — where they have gone and where they will go. She said that our journeys could be about growth and physical movement, but also the mental nature of belonging to another place.

“A fraction of a second is what I create in the swarm. It’s a fraction of these bones caught and stopped in motion, but you know they are going to move,” Ansell said.

“There is this implied line. When you walk into Moody you will first see the bigger bones, and then as you move forward it will gradually get smaller and smaller, which will change the perspective and the depth of the piece.”

Ansell has also been working with a Hanszen College junior, Marc Armena, to collect stories. Through their efforts, Ansell found that the first Asian to ever graduate from Rice is Filipino. She said that art that revolves around searching for an identity is finally being paid attention.

“20 years ago, sometimes I would be working on identity work and people would tell me that we are past this,” Ansell said. “Now, a lot of artists are taking this identity work and running with it and it’s being shown now. The whole landscape has changed a lot in twenty years.”

When the plate arrived, the sheer amount of food on the tray was instantly noticeable. For its price, the dish is a fairly decent value, as portion sizes are above average. However, despite the good value, the food was comparatively disappointing. Unfortunately, the cuts of steak were tough and inconsistent in size, while the stirfry sauce drenched the steak and vegetables, resulting in a hot tub-like situation. The meat’s flavor profile was indeed peppery but also surprisingly rich from the soybased sauce, which made the dish feel heavy and hard to finish. Normally in a rich sauce scenario, the vegetables and rice can cut through the grease, but this was not the case since the peppers and carrots were lathered in the sauce as well. In terms of sides, the full takeout carton of rice was a nice addition as well as the egg roll; however, they were not particularly flavorful or noteworthy. I left Rice Box

The next restaurant I headed to was Lúa Viet Kitchen in Montrose, which is about a 12-minute drive from campus. Offering Vietnamese dishes such as beef pho and pork vermicelli bowls, Lúa Viet Kitchen is slightly more expensive and charged $16.59 for a Shaking Beef Bo Lua Lac. The wait time was a bit longer than Rice Box, and the portion sizes were also smaller. However, all the food was freshly prepared from scratch and the quality was visibly better. The plate included shaking beef (seared tenderloin) with bell peppers and onions, a side of jasmine rice and a watercress salad. The beef was cooked perfectly in bite-sized pieces and was covered with an appropriate amount of Asian-style steak sauce. Dipped in the side of house-made lime vinaigrette, the beef was mouthwatering; it contrasted sweet and sour flavors as well as warm and cold sensations. The bell peppers, onions and garlic were also quite delicious in the vinaigrette.

To my surprise, the initially boring salad was just as good as the meat. The cherry tomatoes, watercress and spring mix made for a refreshing bite, especially with its lightly dressed and sweet vinaigrette. Everything on the plate seemed to balance and complement each other, which made for a harmonious dining experience. The ambiance was also modern but less experimental compared to Rice Box.

Overall, Lúa Viet is the clear winner for me. For only a $1.60 price difference, it is worth the extra money and trip. All the components were outstanding, and I highly recommend visiting the restaurant for a Vietnamese food fix. The shaking beef plate was memorable and delicious, with no faults other than the smaller portion size.

SYDNEY PARK THRESHER STAFF

When I was a young girl in Connecticut, I would lay on the grass and watch the birds fly south ... This new body of work is really about how I wish I can fly.

Bennie Flores Ansell EXHIBIT ARTIST

ERIC MA FOR THE THRESHER

COURTESY MOODY CENTER FOR THE ARTS

2023 RICE BASEBALL SEASON PREVIEW

Baseball regroups ahead of Cruz’s second season

back two of their top performing pitchers: sophomore Parker Smith, who had started 10 games last season, and junior Matthew Linskey, whose 14-straight shoutout appearances to open the year made him a go-to option out of the bullpen. The pitching rotation was bolstered over the offseason by the addition of sophomore JD McCracken, a transfer from the University of Tennessee, and graduate student Krishna Raj, who played his undergraduate ball at Tulane University and Charleston Southern University. According to Smith, Bangs has taken a new approach to coaching that resonates well with his players.

BEN BAKER-KATZ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

When Rice baseball named Jose Cruz Jr. as their new head coach in June of 2021 — on the heels of the program’s first four consecutive losing seasons since the 1980s — the decision was lauded as a step in the right direction. The 2022 season, Cruz’s first at the helm, was anything but, with the Owls’ posting a 17-39 record and failing to appear in the Conference USA tournament for a third consecutive year.

According to Cruz, 2022 was first and foremost a learning experience.

“[Last year] was revealing,” Cruz said. “The competitiveness of it was not what I was expecting. I don’t know if they lost too many games [in previous years], but the idea of beating everybody or anybody was definitely not what it should have been.”

Prior to last season, Cruz recognized that the biggest obstacle the Owls faced was going to be their pitching, and he was right. In 2022, the Owl’s pitching staff posted a 6.04 ERA, good for No. 180 in the county.

“When I got here, [I thought] the first thing

we have to be really good at was pitching,” Cruz said. “We have to be really good at pitching and really good at defense, and the hitting was gonna catch up … Last year it wasn’t. We weren’t all on the same page.”

To address the Owls’ pitching woes, and to prevent a repeat of the 2022 pitching performance he described as “terrible,” Cruz said that he went looking for a pitching coach with whom he sees eye-to-eye. Enter Parker Bangs, who spent the last four years as the pitching coach at Davidson University.

“I needed someone that … shared the same philosophy of pitching and attacking hitters that I do. And Parker did,” Cruz said.

According to Cruz, the addition of Bangs and better communication among the coaching staff has been beneficial to the entire program.

“I’ve tried to create a round table for the coaching staff, to open dialogue [between the coaches],” Cruz said. “We flow a lot better, right now, than we did a year ago … I feel like we’ve got everything a little bit more under control.”

On the mound, the Owls will bring

“Last year was loosely structured in regards to the pitching side,” Smith said. “There was almost too much of a focus on the analytical aspect of managing a staff, [and] that didn’t transfer to the games. This year, we, as a pitching staff, are very structured. Expectations are laid out and we are expected to meet them.”

Cruz said he anticipates this year’s team

a fire out, and then bring in another long guy,” Cruz said. “We’re fortunate to have a handful of long guys. We didn’t have that last year.”

The Owls also return a core group of offensive starters from last year, including junior outfielder Guy Garibay, who has been a fixture in the middle of Rice’s lineup for the past two years, junior infielder/outfielder Connor Walsh and sophomore catcher Manny Garza. Garza took over the catching duties in the middle of his freshman season and never looked back, ending the 2022 season with a team-high 0.385 batting average. The team also received some outside help in the form of sophomore infielder Max Johnson, a transfer from Indiana University, who Cruz said is likely to play a key role this year.

According to Garibay, the addition of onfield talent and new coaching has put the Owls in a position to be successful.

“There’s a lot of talent that has come into the program, as well as good coaches to help with player development,” Garibay said. “We have the talent all around to have a successful season, we just have to show up and perform day by day.”

The Owls will be tested early and often this year, facing four top-25 teams in the season’s first three weeks: No. 3 Stanford University, No. 5 Texas A&M University, No. 15 Texas Christian University and No. 24. Texas Tech University. According to Cruz, those early matchups will be telling about the team’s attitude for the rest of the season.

will move away from placing pitchers in the traditional roles of starter and reliever, instead opting to categorize them as either “long” or “short” inning pitchers.

“The long guy will start, and then the short guys will plug in where we need to put

“It’s exciting that we get to play so many highly ranked teams early on,” Cruz said. “We just need to keep that belief, and let the guys know that we are that good. We’re better than people think. We just need to maintain our health and get after it, see how many of these teams we can go up against and shock somebody.”

The Owls’ season begins on Feb. 17, when they host the University of Louisiana at Lafayette at Reckling Park.

Smigelski hopes to build on breakout freshman season

PAVITHR GOLI ASST. SPORTS EDITOR

When your name is mentioned in the same breath as former Rice Owl and MLB all-star Anthony Rendon, you’re in good company. For sophomore infielder Aaron Smigelski, that honor was bestowed early in his career, as he became the first Owl since Rendon to hit two home runs in a game three different times over the course of his freshman campaign.

Smigelski, who was named to the Conference USA all-freshman team last season, led the 2022 Owls in OPS and slugging percentage, and was tied with the team lead for on-base percentage.

According to Smigelski, despite the recognition he earned, his freshman year was a critical learning opportunity as he was thrust into action early in the season.

“I learned a lot throughout my freshman year, matured quite a bit,” Smigelski said. “I got my name called pretty early on in the year to help out the team. I think I came along, and did that pretty well offensively. So I’m pretty happy about what I did last year and I’m happy to continue that into this year.”

Smigelski attributes much of his success to his family, who have played a crucial role

in supporting him throughout his journey as a baseball player, especially as an Owl.

“My family, they’re probably the reason I’m here right now. They’ve sacrificed a lot,” Smigelski said. “My parents and my brother and even my extended family have sacrificed a lot to support me, even though they’re pretty far away. They still come here for a lot of the games. They’re the reason I’m here. So without them, I can’t do anything.”

Growing up as a two-sport athlete, Smigelski enjoyed playing hockey and baseball as a teenager. Despite these interests, Smigelski said that he had to make a tough choice in deciding what sport to pursue.

“I was probably in seventh or eighth grade where I had to kind of decide which one I wanted to continue my career with,” Smigelski said. “I chose baseball because it was an easier outcome where I grew up in North Carolina to play baseball, obviously.

I felt like I’d have a future [in] the sport if I chose to kind of put all my time and energy into the sport.”

Dedicating his time to baseball, Smigelski had success throughout high school, including being awarded MVP of the 2021 National Academies Association championship tournament while playing for Pro 5 Baseball Academy. His high school

performances attracted the eye of many large programs including Duke University and North Carolina State University.

“I was recruited by some bigger schools where I’m from,” Smigelski said. “Being from the east coast, baseball is pretty big. So the [Atlantic Coast Conference] was a big factor for me deciding if I wanted to stay in North Carolina or come to Houston and explore my options here.”

Despite being wanted by these schools, Smigelski said he ultimately chose Rice because of the program’s history and his trust in the coaching staff.

“I chose Rice because of the academics and the great story of the baseball team,” Smigelski said. “They have won [the national championship] before, and [the] trust that I have with [head] coach [Jose] Cruz and [associate head] coach [Paul] Janish was a big part of it for me.”

With hopes of making a professional career out of baseball, Smigelski hopes to use the momentum from his freshman season to continue to improve while playing a key role for the Owls.

“I feel like over my time at Rice, I’m going to just continue to keep getting better and better, and so forth until I hopefully make it to the draft in a few years,” Smigelski

COURTESY MARIA LYSAKER - RICE ATHLETICS

Then-freshman infielder Aaron Smigelski takes an at-bat during a game last season. After leading the team in OPS as a true-freshman, Smigelski hopes to establish himself as one of the best hitters in the conference this season.

ZEISHA BENNETT / THRESHER

Infielder Jack Riedel steps to the plate during a game last season. The Owls hope to build on their 17-39 record last year as they head into Jose Cruz’s second season at the helm.

Last year was loosely structured in regards to the pitching side ... This year, we, as a pitching staff, are very structured. Expectations are laid out and we are expected to meet them.

Parker Smith

SOPHOMORE PITCHER

MBB falls to conference-leading FAU in high scoring affair

The Rice men’s basketball team fell 90-81 to Florida Atlantic University on Thursday. It was a matchup of the Owls, but ultimately Sammy and Rice were no match for

and moved to 23-2 on the season. The loss was Rice’s fourth consecutive in conference play, dropping the Owls to 6-7 record in Conference USA and 15-9 on the season.

Rice managed to keep the score close throughout the game but could not catch FAU after

the first half. Five Rice turnovers in a three-minute span led to nine FAU fastbreak points, sparking a 15-3 run which started with 9:28 left in the first half and giving them a game-high lead of 13 points. After the game, head coach Scott Pera said their defense wasn’t able to help them close the gap.

“We just couldn’t get it under five [points],” Pera said. “Our defense wasn’t good enough to win the game.”

Behind strong games from junior guards Quincy Olivari and Travis Evee, who scored 27 and 25 points respectively, Rice was able to cut FAU’s lead to five points on seven occasions during the game. However, each time Rice closed the gap, FAU responded. After the game, head coach Scott Pera commended his team’s effort, saying Olivari and Evee are crucial for any future success.

“We got Travis and Quincy both going, which is what we have to have every night,” Pera said. “I’m really happy to see Travis kind of get back in his groove, making shots and seeing the ball go through the net because that

is critical for our success.”

FAU’s top-rated offense proved to be too much for Rice to contain. Led by 7’1” sophomore center Vladislav Goldin, who scored a career high 19 points, FAU was able to dominate the interior and get close-range baskets inside the point. In total, four FAU players managed to score in double figures. Pera said that FAU’s depth made them difficult to stop.

“They play nine [players] and they all play a lot of minutes,” Pera said. “That’s kind of the magic potion on them. They’re deep, they’re talented and they’re connected. They deserve to win.”

Currently, FAU is projected to be a No. 9 seed in the NCAA tournament according to Joe Lunardi’s most recent bracket.

After a bounce back 85-78 win on the road versus Florida International University, Rice moved to 16-9 on the season and No. 5 in C-USA. Their next game is at Tudor Fieldhouse against the University of Texas at San Antonio, who are currently in last place in C-USA, on Feb. 16. The game will tip off at 7 p.m.

Graham said that his issues with his former boss stemmed from Karlgaard’s desire that Graham recruit nationally, while the College Baseball Hall of Famer preferred to focus his efforts on local prospects before branching out, in addition to their workplace dynamic.

“I always thought that instead of me being some sort of threat to Karlgaard, I should have been his mentor,” Graham said. “I think we’re still alienated.”

Even on his way out the door in 2018, when Karlgaard opted not to renew his contract after the first losing season of his entire tenure, Graham tried to convince his boss, a Stanford University alum, that his method was best.

“The rumor out of his office was that I wasn’t going to be brought back and it was affecting the team badly,” Graham said. “So I think it was in April, I asked for an interview and he informed me that I wasn’t going to come back. So I told him, ‘that [Rice] team that beat your school 14-2 for the national championship [in 2003] was with Texas players.’”

EDITORIAL CARTOON

Graham wanted to stay just one extra year, but Karlgaard wouldn’t budge, and the former head coach said that in hindsight, the decision was probably for the best.

“I thought I would miss it more than I do,” Graham said. “But I’m not in good health, and I don’t think I would have

been in good health had I stayed at Rice.”

Former Rice baseball head coach Wayne Graham talks to a player. Graham, who has been retired since the 2018 season, reflected on his retirement and his connection to Rice.

HONG LIN TSAI / THRESHER

Had he stayed just one more year, Graham said he had a number of recruits lined up who would have left the program in better shape. He also hoped that Rice would replace him with his longtime assistant and current University of Texas at San Antonio head coach Pat Hallmark. Instead, Rice opted to hire Matt Bragga from Tennessee Tech University, who was fired after three seasons. Even as the Owls have endured five straight losing seasons, Graham said he still tries to keep up with Rice baseball when he can, but no more than other programs he feels some connection with.

“We follow college baseball in general, but I usually follow the programs that I had some association with,” Graham said. “Obviously we follow UTSA because of Pat Hallmark. He’s done very well there. And of course I’ve followed Mike Taylor [an assistant coach] at Baylor [University] and now I’ll follow Clay Van Hook who has a head job at [the University of Texas at] Arlington.” One former assistant however, University of Texas at Austin head coach David Pierce, takes up much more of his

time than the rest. According to Graham, he spends most of his days at Longhorns practices, serving as an unofficial consultant of sorts.

“Me and David are close,” Graham said. “My wife and David’s wife, Susan, are close. And it’s worked out well, because we are within eight minutes of the stadium. We, in general, go to all the practices and communicate about baseball.”

Graham is 86 now, and will turn 87 in April. He spends his days reading, doing puzzles and exercising when he’s not helping Pierce, but he said it’s been hard to keep up his dayto-day activities as his health has worsened. Graham was recently diagnosed with cardiac amyloidosis, a condition caused by the build up of proteins in his heart. While he takes medication to manage, Graham said his declining health has tested his resolve.

“It’s not fun,” Graham said. “It’s an ordeal. But, you know, you react in life to the challenges you have.”

Athletic Director Joe Karlgaard declined to comment.

“Owl-American”

COURTESY RICE ATHLETICS

FROM FRONT PAGE WAYNE GRAHAM

I thought I would miss it more than I do. But I’m not in good health, and I don’t think I would have been in good health had I stayed at Rice.

Wayne Graham FORMER RICE HEAD COACH

CHLOE SINGER THRESHER STAFF

COURTESY JC RIDLEY

Guard Quincy Olivari takes on a Florida Atlantic defender during Thursday’s game. Rice fell to FAU, the top team in Conference USA, 90-81 after they couldn’t recover from an early deficit.

They play nine [players] and they all play a lot of minutes. That’s kind of the magic potion on them. They’re deep, they’re talented and they’re connected. They deserve to win.

Scott Pera HEAD COACH

Form closes Tue., Feb. 21 @ 11:59pm

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*Note: the Divorce Pact does not match based on preferred romantic partner (e.g., two straight dudes can be paired up), it just gives out the worst possible match.

The Backpage is the satire section of the Thresher, written this week by Ndidi Nwosu, Andrew Kim, and Timmy Mansfield; designed by Lauren Yu; and coded with the help of Melody He, Shreyan Das, and ChatGPT. For questions or comments, please email dilfhunter69@rice.edu.

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