Men’s tennis wins AAC Championship with major upset
ANDERSEN PICKARD SPORTS EDITOR
Rice men’s tennis traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, and pulled o a series of upset victories en route to winning the American Athletic Conference Championship.
O’Rourke rallies students in Academic Quad
O’Rourke rallies students in Academic Quad
KONSTANTIN SAVVON / THRESHER
Beto O’Rourke speaks to a crowd of students in front of the Sallyport. O’Rourke discussed bipartisan unity, nding cuts and the Texas legislature.
NOA BERZ FEATURES EDITOR
Former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke of El Paso, Texas spoke in front of the Sallyport to a sea of sunglasses and “end gun violence” signs April 17.
The rally, organized by Rice Young Democrats, took place in the academic quad from noon to 2 p.m.
O’Rourke began with a speech covering Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s private school voucher bill, Democratic Party failures and President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration and abortion access.
Speaking on a platform of inclusivity, O’Rourke said the issues he touched on are relevant to all Americans, regardless of party a liation.
“The goal today is not even to promote the Democrats, it is to bring us all together,” O’Rourke said in his speech. “If you voted for Donald Trump … I’m glad you came.”
RYD co-president Sammi Frey said she felt proud that so many Rice students showed up in support of O’Rourke and the ght for what O’Rourke called a “democracy under trial.”
“[O’Rourke] is a very authentic speaker, and I think that he will be able to resonate with the students because he cares so much about what’s going on in this country right now,” said
All bike,
Frey, a Hanszen College sophomore.
Calla Doh, also a Hanszen sophomore, took the stage along with several other students to ask questions after the former congressman’s finished his opening remarks.
I hope the calls to ght that we’ve heard from Beto, from other students, help people feel energized to come out to other things on campus.
Matti Haacke
RICE STUDENTS FOR JUSTICE IN PALESTINE ORGANIZER
“We have this incredible opportunity right now to rebuild, to create new alliances and collaborations across party lines,” Doh said onstage. “As we [students] go to our homes or internship locations this summer, how can we be a part of this [rebuilding]?”
Doh, teary-eyed after stepping down from the stage, said seeing Rice students gather on campus to hear O’Rourke speak gave her hope in the
no beer: Bikers
face of national turmoil and Rice’s apolitical climate.
“There is a lack of political involvement and mobilization on campus,” Doh said in an interview with the Thresher. “I think Beto’s presence here and the fact that so many students have given up their lunchtime [and] their classes to be here marks a significant shift.”
O’Rourke responded to student concerns around funding cuts and restrictions on social services like abortion access and transgender healthcare.
“Counterintuitively, count yourself lucky to be alive at this moment of truth,” O’Rourke said. “No pressure folks, but we cannot fuck this one up.”
Matti Haacke, a Rice Students for Justice in Palestine organizer, said in a comment to the former congressman that he hopes Rice students continue to show up for campus protests and rallies without a “celebrity appearance.”
“The people turning out here don’t turn out to other protests,” said Haacke, a senior from Sid Richardson College. “I hope that the calls to fight that we’ve heard from Beto, from other students, help people feel energized to come out to other things on campus.”
Responding to Haacke’s statement, O’Rourke said he “couldn’t agree more.”
race remaining heats without spectators
VIOLA HSIA & DEVAN SANKA ASST. NEWS EDITOR & THRESHER
Modified Beer Bike races, dubbed “Bike Bike,” were held at the track April 18 from 5-8 p.m. Results were released by email April 21.
Hanszen College won the alumni race, Wiess College won the first heat of the women’s race, Hanszen won the second heat of the women’s race and Will Rice College won the men’s race. According to Beer Bike campuswide coordinator Wiley Liou, the results for the women’s race were split because the heats took place across different days in different conditions.
“Because there will be no realistic way to compare the two heats for the women’s races, it would not be appropriate to stack them together into one definitive list,” wrote Liou, a Baker College junior, in an email to the Thresher. “For this reason, we [released] women’s results as two separate results for each heat.”
Liou said that both the men’s and alumni races were calculated as usual because both alumni heats occurred on the original race day and both men’s heats happened on the rescheduled race date.
In addition, Sid Richardson College did not race during the alumni race due to an ability to fill their roster, according to the Rice Program Council. The result for the first heat of the women’s race came after an amendment which calculated the repeat biker penalty against the Graduate Student Association and moved them down the ranks.
This Beer Bike was the first time results spanned two different days after a lightning warning interrupted the race after the first women’s heat April 5. The original races were canceled after the first women’s heat due to the warning, and the second heat of the women’s race and both heats of the men’s races took place April 18.
“We knew we were close with a lot of these teams, and if we took these doubles points, that we were going to be in a really good position to possibly win these matches,” said Efe Üstündağ, the men’s tennis head coach.
Ranked h in the conference, Rice opened the weekend’s competition with a 4-1 victory over No. 4 University of Tulsa.
Junior Santiago Navarro and sophomore Petro Kuzmenok overcame a 4-1 de cit to tie their court before eventually winning and earning the doubles point for Rice. The Owls also answered an early Tulsa singles win with three consecutive victories, sealing the win and punching their ticket to the semi nals.
Rice advanced to face No. 1 University of South Florida Saturday, and both teams saw momentum swing in their favor at various moments throughout the match.
Freshman Tommy Czaplinski and senior Eduardo Morais secured the doubles point for Rice, and although USF brie y pulled ahead in singles play, the Owls rallied to win.
COURTESY RICE ATHLETICS / CARLOS GONZALEZ
Men’s tennis celebrates winning the AAC championship. This was their rst conference championship in eight years.
“A er the rst two matches, we really started to believe that [winning the tournament] could be possible,” junior Kabeer Kapasi said.
In the conference championship Sunday, Rice faced o against No. 2 University of Memphis, which hosted the tournament. The Owls earned a doubles point before the third game went nal, and a brief Memphis run was sti ed by Kuzmenok, who won his singles court to reclaim the lead for Rice. Soon a er, Navarro won his third set, clinching the championship for the Owls.
“Once I hit that shot, it was just so many di erent emotions,” Navarro said. “Throwing my racket was my rst instinct, and then looking at the guys running at me and celebrating with them is the best feeling in the world.”
Kapasi was named the tournament’s most outstanding player, going 5-1 overall.
“That’s a very special honor,” Kapasi said. “All of it comes down to the support I had from the other guys pushing me every day, trying to help me to be better and supporting me throughout the season.”
The tennis team’s rst AAC title breaks an eight-year drought without a conference championship. As conference champions, the Owls get an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. The Owls will learn their tournament seed during the selection show April 28, giving them more than two weeks to prepare before the tournament begins May 15.
Üstündağ believes the timing of this year’s tournament can bene t Rice.
“We get a little bit of a break in the sense that there’s one more week of school [remaining], so we can stay in our routine,” Üstündağ said. “Everybody’s already locked in and ready to go.”
Last year, Rice earned an at-large bid into the tournament but lost 4-0 in the opening round to Texas A&M University.
Q&A:
Q&A: Beto O’Rourke and the ture of the Democratic Party
NOA BERZ FEATURES EDITOR
Ask Beto O’Rourke about having the odds stacked against him. As a Democrat in Texas for the past 20 years, he knows the feeling better than anyone.
O’Rourke lost to incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz in a 2018 Senate race while serving as a U.S. representative of Texas’ 16th Congressional District, which encompasses most of El Paso and its surrounding areas, from 2013 to 2019. He unsuccessfully bid for the presidency in 2020 and lost the 2022 gubernatorial election to Gov. Greg Abbott. Now, he says he is committed to the ght against a president who has spent the last eight years constructing a bulwark against his opposition.
From research funding cuts to attacks on academic freedom, President Donald Trump’s second term has led to sweeping changes at Rice and other universities across the country.
O’Rourke, who’s currently visiting college campuses across the country, came to Rice to talk with students.
Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity. See the full conversation online at ricethresher.org.
Rice Thresher: You’ve spoken outwardly about the importance of compromise to making progress in America, but currently, many see the role of Democrats as pushing back against Trump in his second presidency. Where do you draw the line between compromise and standing up against what Democrats would call tyranny?
Beto O’Rourke: There are things in which we should compromise. When I was in Congress, the only way I could get anything done as a member of the minority was to nd common ground with members of the majority. It happened to be the Republican Party.
Sitting on the Veterans’ A airs Committee, I introduced legislation to improve health care access for veterans, for example. The only way to get that bill that I wrote passed was to compromise with a Republican who liked the gist of it but didn’t like every detail of it. That compromise produced a bill that passed the House, passed the Senate, was signed into law by Donald Trump in his rst administration. So not only do I believe in it, I have worked within that belief to produce things that have made life better for those that we serve.
Where you don’t compromise is on your fundamental values and the core principles of this country. The rule of law, for example, the separation of powers, the recognition of three coequal branches of government —
there is no compromise to be found there.
This administration’s illegal deportation without due process of people who are legally here in the United States, and then refusing court orders to address this, is the kind of constitutional crisis that so many people have feared for so long, and it is playing out right now.
RT: In response to threats to federal funding, Rice has renamed our o ce of DEI and retermed student diversity facilitators “community facilitators.”
While Stanford and Princeton have both issued their support for Harvard’s refusal to comply with Trump’s demands, Rice has yet to follow suit. How should we as a university be responding to the sweeping changes being issued by the federal government right now?
BO: As within all great tests of the moral character of this country, those who remain silent become complicit in injustice.
I am grateful for the example that Harvard is now setting, regardless of the president’s suspension of billions of dollars in federal funding, which, as you and I both know, is not to make anyone at Harvard rich, but is to invest in the research that will literally save lives, that will advance the interests of the United States of America.
Now, as you know, the president is illegally directing the Internal Revenue Service to work towards suspending or eliminating Harvard’s nonpro t tax status. The fact that they’re showing such courage under re is incredibly inspiring and is precisely the example that we need at this moment of truth.
I really do think it’s incumbent upon all of us to take a stand. As we know in other examples of rising authoritarianism,
when people step back, hoping that they can save their own skin or make a separate peace with the autocratic administration, they unfortunately nd that ultimately they, too, will become a target. The time to stand together is now, not when Rice comes under attack.
RT: A lot of people are worried right now about the state of this country. What do you say to assuage their concerns? Or do you? Is it maybe better to take advantage of that anxiety and put it towards change?
BO: If you’re not concerned about what’s going on, you’re not awake. [This is] the single greatest attack on the Constitution, rule of law and our democracy in your lifetime or mine.
I think you really have to go back to the Civil War to see anything like this. The incitement on the part of the president at the end of his rst term to violence, to try to overturn a lawfully, legitimately, democratically decided election; his attempt to suspend the Constitution; his unlawful impoundment of congressionally appropriated funds. All of this demands our anger and our action.
Action can come in any number of forms. It is attending today’s town hall at Rice. It is showing up at protests. It is registering to vote. It’s helping others register to vote. It is preparing the ground to win political power in 2026. All of those things and many more are needed at this moment. Failing that, it’s hard to see us coming through, but my faith is in the American people. We have, for 248 years and counting, always come through.
RT: In some of your recent town halls, you’ve stressed the failure of Democrats to reach voters in states that aren’t swing states that don’t usually get the attention during campaigns. What do you want to
see change going forward?
BO: The whole electoral premise of Kamala Harris’ campaign was the so-called ‘blue wall’ states, these seven battleground states. If she could just win those, well then, we’re going to win the presidency, and we’ll stop this existential threat to our democracy in the form of Donald Trump. Not only did we lose all those states, the very premise of that idea is completely bankrupt.
Texas — one of, if not the fastest growing states in the union a er the 2030 census — will have even more electoral college votes. Many of those blue wall states will lose population and have fewer electoral college votes. In the presidential election a er next, the only way a Democrat can get into the White House is to win sunbelt states like Texas and consistently win and compete in Georgia and Arizona and other states that, for far too long, the Democratic Party has written o Texas is, I believe, ground zero, not just for the Democratic Party, but for the future of this country. And those of us who live here understand it and get it. We just need to make sure that everyone else does.
RT: You’ve been out of o ce for a while, doing more grassroots work, yet people still are inviting you to come to these things with people like Tim Walz and others, who have been more recently on the campaign trail. Why you? Why do the people want you?
BO: I don’t know. I’m willing to show up anywhere, anytime, with anyone, as long as we can make progress towards saving this country and saving the state.
I think the people recognize the work that we do with Powered by People. They recognize that we never give up. We never give in. It cannot be about an election, and it cannot be about a candidate and it cannot be about a person. If these things that you and I just spoke about are important to us, well, then we must remain in the ght, no matter our title.
This is a deeply moral question and a deeply personal level of accountability that I think all of us must feel, and I certainly feel that, so when we got the invite from Rice, I said yes in a second. I’ve been trying to get on the Rice campus as a candidate, going back to 2017 when I rst ran for Senate, and we’ve never been able to. This is the rst time I’ve really been able to actually be on campus, meet with Rice students. Anyone can ask or say anything, and what I hope comes out of that is a really productive conversation and a commitment on the part of those who attend to do whatever it takes to save our country.
Rice to expand enrollment and financial aid by 2028
JAMES CANCELARICH NEWS EDITOR
Rice will grow another 8%, aiming to enroll 5,200 students by fall 2028, announced an April 21 press release. This is the second recent expansion at Rice, following a 2021 initiative that raised the undergraduate population 20%, from 4,000 to 4,800.
Over the next ve years, university o cials also committed to providing $1.5 billion in nancial aid. Rice launched its need-based aid program, The Rice Investment, in 2019 and has since disbursed $650 million.
Currently, The Rice Investment o ers full tuition, fees and living expenses for students of an income range of $75K and below, full tuition from $75K to $140K and half tuition from $140K to $200K.
“This is rst and foremost about
expanding access and rede ning what it means to be elite, which is not about being exclusive,” President Reggie DesRoches wrote in a post on X.
The Board of Trustees approved the plan, which also includes a nearly 5% increase to the graduate student population, which is 4,100 today. By 2028, Rice is planning to enroll around 9,500 students in total.
Yvonne Romero, the vice president for enrollment and dean of admissions and nancial aid, said that despite the expansion Rice’s student pro le would remain the same.
“We are already a diverse university with student voices that represent many unique perspectives, upbringings, and experiences from across the country and around the globe,” Romero wrote in an email to the Thresher. “By increasing the undergraduate student population we make more
opportunities to a Rice education available to more talented students. Our 13% increase in applications this past year re ects the enthusiasm and interest prospective students have in a Rice education.”
Rice continues to see record application numbers and declining acceptance rates, with a 7.8% acceptance rate for 36,777 applicants in the most recent admissions cycle.
To accommodate the increased undergraduate population, Rice is set to open a new residential college in fall 2026. Another residential college is also planned. For graduate students, new housing is being developed in the Ion District in Midtown.
With the Momentous strategic plan unveiled in fall 2024, administrators say that the institution plans to maintain a low student to faculty ratio — currently 6-to-1.
According to the press release, Rice hired 97
new faculty members in 2024 and has plans to continue expanding its faculty.
The announcement comes alongside threats to university funding and operation. Rice has recently experienced $10 million in research cuts, said Desroches in an interview with KHOU. Rice is also currently under investigation by the Department of Education due to allegations of “raceexclusionary practices” in graduate student admissions.
In the interview, DesRoches said that Rice remains committed to its guiding principles and will work to maintain its academics and research capabilities.
“It’s all about educating the next generation of students, making sure we are doing world class research, supporting the students — keeping the students rst and foremost in everything that we do,” DesRoches said during the interview.
KONSTANTIN SAVVON / THRESHER
Beto O’Rourke addresses Rice students in front of the Sallyport. The former U.S. Congressman came to Rice April 17 to host a town hall.
Uncertainty, fear and isolation looms over international students a er visa revocations
ABIGAIL CHIU SENIOR WRITER
With the wave of international student visa revocations across the country, including three students at Rice and two recent graduates, international students have expressed fears that their visas will soon be terminated without warning.
One graduate student said they learned of the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System terminations through the American Association of University Professors and the Rice Grad Campaign social media posts. SEVIS is an online portal managed by the Department of Homeland Security that tracks a student’s immigration status.
A SEVIS termination means students lose all employment authorization and cannot re-enter the US, which also applies to the dependents of graduate students on associated F-2 or M-2 visas.
A SEVIS termination is not the same as a visa revocation. The Trump administration’s o cials said last week that solely SEVIS terminations, which are the vast majority of cases, do not impact a student’s nonimmigrant status or equate to a visa revocation on their own.
There is uncertainty around what the implications are for international students, and some students are electing to leave the country rather than be deported or face other legal repercussions.
“Like many other international students on F-1 and J-1 visas, I also experience the threat and reality of visa and SEVIS revocations; it is not merely a bureaucratic inconvenience — it is a direct threat to my identity as a graduate student and my future,” Student A, who was granted anonymity for their safety, wrote in a message to the Thresher. “The constant self-monitoring of my visa status and SEVIS updates adds a layer of daily vigilance.”
A er consulting with their advisors and fellow students, this student is choosing not to travel this summer.
A second international graduate student, who has also been granted anonymity for their safety, said they found out about the terminations through the arrest of Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil.
“That was the rst thing to alert us, international graduate students in school, and we started talking about it,” Student B wrote in an email to the Thresher. “I think we all underestimated what [immigration enforcement] can do, how they can act.”
The rst publicized arrests occurred at universities in the Northeast, but the student said they knew it would come to Texas eventually despite the sense of safety a orded by Rice’s private status.
“A violation to one is a violation to all … Especially a er the abduction of Rümeysa Öztürk, I started to look back and check my surroundings whenever I am walking down the street,” Student B wrote. “I cannot help but feel somebody is coming for me. Some
nights, I just unlock my phone and update my mails app couple of times to see if I received any news from [the O ce of International Students & Scholars].”
Student A said their degree requires international eldwork, but current uncertainties put this work in limbo. Although Rice has conveyed support through emails, the student said they felt the institutional protection for international students is limited.
The Rice Grad Campaign said in a statement to the Thresher that Rice administrators have created a culture of fear around seeking and providing aid to those facing revocations or terminations. This includes the university not providing nancial support to international graduate students facing legal challenges around their status.
“At Rice, the graduate students facing revocations and/or SEVIS terminations immediately lost their graduate student stipend — and thus their only possibility to earn income in the United States and were referred to lawyers without any support for legal fees,” the statement read. “Rice administrators went out of their way to make [harboring law threats] known to community members attempting to organize fundraisers for a ected students.”
To live under the current threats of visa revocation is to be academically ambitious while facing existential uncertainty.
Student A ANONYMOUS GRADUATE STUDENT
The Rice Grad Campaign listed four demands including full nancial support for legal fees of students facing SEVIS termination or revocation, letting Ph.D. students continue to receive the full amount of their stipend and for students who have lost their stipend in these last few weeks be compensated retroactively. In addition, the Rice Grad Campaign called for Rice to adopt the provision of the Sanctuary Campus Petition and to commit to a real culture of care and transparency.
“All of this is unconscionable, and it all reveals that Rice administrators feel no responsibility to some of our most vulnerable community members who are also some of the most vital members of our intellectual space,” the statement read. “International students bring incredible knowledge and experience to our campus. The university should bear a special responsibility to the many international students that it agrees to sponsor — but this has never been the case.”
F1 visa-holders cannot legally work in the
U.S. except for their sponsoring educational institutions, and Ph.D. students who face SEVIS termination also immediately lose their stipends.
The O ce of News and Media Relations did not comment on stipends.
President Reginald DesRoches wrote in an email to the Rice community that he believes Rice can both follow the law and honor its values.
“Within the bounds of the law, we are also doing all we can to support students who have been personally impacted,” the email read. “Finally, if visa problems complicate a student’s academic progress, Rice stands ready to identify other feasible ways a student can continue their progress toward a degree.”
A recent campuswide email said the Rice Paris Global Center and other partnerships with international universities were options for students who need to leave the U.S. but want to stay with Rice.
The Rice chapter of the American Association of University Professors said in a statement to the Thresher that they were concerned that the Rice administration has acted precipitously in response to SEVIS terminations and visa revocations.
“We have asked for a daily monitoring of SEVIS records, to keep Rice students enrolled, and not to terminate their university employment,” Rice AAUP wrote in an email to the Thresher. “We have no con rmation that this is being done or even of the total number of cases at Rice. Providing adequate support to our international students who are feeling abandoned and vulnerable is only possible if Rice administration shares this
information.”
A recent report from the American Immigration Lawyers Association said there have been more than 4,700 SEVIS or visa revocations since January 20. In a review of over 300 cases, 50% of a ected students were from India. Only two students from AILA’s review had reported ever engaging in political protest.
DesRoches’ email a rmed support for Rice’s international community and acknowledged the challenges they are facing. “Rice has not publicly and unequivocally committed to ghting for its students,” Student A wrote. “Despite all this, I am proud to say that at Rice there has been signi cant community support.”
The American Civil Liberties Union published an open letter to university general counsels arguing that continuing normal housing and services support for students does not violate harboring unlawful noncitizen laws, so universities should not cease these services for fear of prosecution.
The Rice Grad Campaign and AAUP Rice said they have been supporting international students via WhatsApp groups, “Know Your Rights” trainings and connecting students to legal clinics and advocacy networks. Student A said this highlights the power of community organizing in a time of crisis.
“To live under the current threats of visa revocation is to be academically ambitious while facing existential uncertainty,” Student A wrote. “It means working twice as hard for opportunities that could be erased by an algorithm, a border o cer’s judgment, or a policy shi . It’s to be in the classroom while carrying the burden of displacement.”
Research partnership announced with Exxon Mobil
JOSH STALLINGS THRESHER STAFF
Rice and Exxon Mobil entered into a research agreement that aims to develop sustainable energy projects related to oil and gas operations, according to an April 14 press release.
“The agreement is expected to signi cantly advance Rice’s leadership in sustainability and its role in driving impactful advances in the energy sector,” the press release read.
Ramamoorthy Ramesh, the executive vice president for research, said this agreement allows the university to present research ideas to the company that may become collaborative projects with Rice faculty. The current agreement supports three projects, with the potential to expand.
The rst project, led by Qilin Li, civil and environmental engineering professor, aims
to treat dangerous wastewater produced by fracking operations.
Fracking is a technique that pumps water and sand into rock formations to extract trapped oil, producing up to 12 barrels of water for every barrel of oil. Wastewater by fracking contains excess salt and dangerous elements, according to the University of Michigan.
Exxon Mobil said that by 2027, they project to extract one million barrels of oil a day from their elds in the Permian Basin, an area that stretches through much of western Texas and southeastern New Mexico, nearly doubling their current production gures.
The Permian Basin is only one of the four major locations where Exxon Mobil has oil extraction operations that produce wastewater.
Li said the treatment of wastewater from oil and gas companies has been an interest
of hers since she rst came to Rice and the rise in oil extraction using fracking almost two decades ago.
“I’ve always wanted to gure out economical ways to reuse that water,” Li said. “Back then, there were a lot of protests by the farmers because the hydraulic fracturing activity takes a lot of fresh water in order to produce oil and gas. At the same time, the farmers were experiencing droughts and their animals were dying.”
Li said that extraction of oil using techniques like hydraulic fracturing became popular in the early 2000s. However, the process requires water from the surrounding area and generates large amounts of wastewater.
“There is so much produced water, and if you don’t treat it, it poses a very big problem,” Li said. “Right now, the industry injects it underground … but you have
limited storage capacity underground, and too much injection would also lead to potentially seismic activity.”
Li said the goal of her research is to use environmentally friendly technology to remove dangerous organic compounds and ammonium that are present in wastewater.
“We’re looking at [two] approaches,” Li said. “One is destruction of ammonium and other volatile organic compounds such as benzene [and] toluene. Alternatively, try to recover the ammonium from that wastewater and turn it into a resource.”
Ramesh said that the goal of Rice’s collaboration on the agreement was to give opportunities to students.
“Our main products are students,” Ramesh said. “This is entirely about funding students, postdocs, undergraduates … many of them publish papers, and they, of course, go to graduate school and stu like that.”
BRYAN MENDOZA / THRESHER
Senate approves budget allocations
HOPE YANG ASST. NEWS EDITOR
The Student Association Senate passed Blanket Tax funding allocations for the coming year, voting 19 to three with four abstaining April 21. The budget included cuts to some Blanket Tax Organizations, including Rice Women’s Resource Center and student media, with the money to be reallocated to the SA’s Initiative Fund.
SA president Trevor Tobey said that increasing the Initiative Fund — a source of Blanket Tax money for any student organization launching new initiatives — will make up for current limited Student Activities/President’s Programming funds and potential cuts by the federal government.
“I think it will create a competitive environment for nances at Rice,” said Tobey, a Hanszen College junior. “The political atmosphere and everything makes this move so important because it gives us the nancial exibility to fund the things that students most care about.”
Several senators and students spoke against the funding allocations, including Lovett College President Ayush Suresh, who said there were aws in the budget approval process.
“If the Senate votes to reject the budget, there are all these kinds of threats of budget failure and people not being funded in the future,” Suresh continued. “I believe that there needs to be some sort of amendment to the way that we do this funding so that Senate can have an amendment process to the proposed budget.”
Will Rice College president Mary Margaret Speed said there was poor communication during and a er the discussion that made the situation appear worse than it was.
“I especially did not appreciate the message we were asked to potentially send out that recruited cultural organizations to reach out to us and essentially blamed the [RWRC] if we were voting no,” said Speed, a junior. “I think that that was unfair and I want to say that going forward I would appreciate it if communications were more considered.”
Hanszen College senator Dorian Echasseriau, who voted no, said the budget did not meet BTO needs. Echasseriau said they believed there were other alternatives allowing changes to the budget.
“The students of Rice are entitled to a fair and comprehensive budget, not one that fails to meet essential needs or is altered in ways not prescribed by the constitution,” Echasseriau, a freshman, wrote in an email to the Thresher.
Following the approved BTO budget allocation, BTO organizations are able to apply for a one-time increase in their
allocated budget for the coming scal year. The SA will vote on funding increases for RWRC and other BTOs April 23.
Suresh said the reliance on one-time budget increases instead of amending the budget points to changes that need to occur with the fund allocation process.
The political atmosphere and everything makes this move so important because it gives us the financial flexibilty to fund the things that students most care about.
Trevor Tobey STUDENT ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT
“The fact that we’re going to have to resort to multiple di erent one-time increases to satisfy people is indicative of the fact that this is an incomplete and poorly designed process,” Suresh said.
Suresh said he would feel satis ed with the budget passing if RWRC was able to get a one-time increase.
“Provided that a satisfactory one-time budget increase for the RWRC is achieved, passing the budget was the most straightforward approach,” Suresh wrote in an email to the Thresher. “I knew that the vote was almost certain to succeed, and I chose to vote no in protest of what I felt like were signi cant procedural issues that underlaid this entire saga.”
Suresh added that cutting RWRC budget so that events would potentially be funded through the Initiative Fund contradicts the BTO structure.
“Blanket Tax Organizations are voted on by a two-thirds majority in [the] SA Senate to be considered trustworthy organizations of the community,” wrote Suresh. “Though the SA cites their movement of RWRC events to the new Initiative Fund as increasing equity, it simultaneously redirects funds from an organization that has actively worked to and succeeded in increasing its presence on campus.”
SA treasurer Jackson Darr said that the Initiative Fund will be one of the largest in Rice history, and will be an open process on a rolling basis.
“It’ll be a very quick turnaround in knowing when you’re going to get funding for your event, unlike the previous Initiative Fund where it’s all one group of allocations in the fall and then one in the spring,” said Darr, a Lovett College freshman.
Liou said the structure of the rescheduled races was an anomaly and will not become a permanent change.
“Regarding concerns about spectatorship and rosters, ‘Bike Bike’ was not supposed to be an indication of where Beer Bike is headed in the future; it simply reflected the accommodations needed to make these makeup races possible,” wrote Liou. “We hope that [the makeup races] can set up a good foundation for future makeups if they are to be planned by future student-led committees.”
For the rescheduled heats, the relay teams had six bikers and six chuggers rather than the traditional eight. Throwers — pit crew members who traditionally help the bikers push off from the starting line — were also not allowed on the track. Bikers began the race with a standing start and had to begin riding entirely on their own.
Another modification was the ban on spectators. The event was livestreamed in each college’s commons.
“Ever since the spectatorless format was set in stone, our intention was always to have some sort of alternative way to enjoy the race,” Liou wrote. “We were working up until Thursday night to get all the details con rmed, so we’re really glad that Rice Athletics was able to provide a seamless livestream that many seemed to embrace.”
Suraj Chandramouli, a bike captain from Hanszen and part of the Bike Captains Planning Committee, said that he thought the rescheduled event was a success.
“Every team who didn’t get to race got the opportunity to race [at the rescheduled event],” said Chandramouli, a Hanszen
senior. “We got the livestream up, which was a big win. We really wanted that to happen, because without spectators, it would have been a bit of a bummer to have no one actually be able to watch the races.”
Watching the livestream instead of attending the races in person, Sid Richardson College freshman Anjali Menezes said she was disheartened by the change.
“I am sad that the races are a spectatorfree event because I was very excited and eager to watch my rst-ever Beer Bike races,” said Menezes said. “I think the energy and support that spectators bring can really make a big di erence for the bikers.”
Duncan College junior Ryker Dolese said the watch parties were able to preserve some of the spirit of Beer Bike.
“Even though the watchparties don’t feel the same as a normal Beer Bike, it’s definitely nice to be able to celebrate with other people in your college, and there still is a strong spirit here,” Dolese said.
The switch to a spectator-free Beer Bike occurred amid concerns regarding the administration’s restrictions on campus culture. The current Student Association President, Trevor Tobey, ran on a platform that included “preserving the traditions that make Rice special,” referring to administration-sponsored public parties.
Liou said he is grateful for groups — from the Student Center to the Bike Captains Planning Committee — who made both events happen.
“We are very grateful for everyone who has been appreciative of our efforts not just in the planning of the makeup, but also for our year-long dedication to the original event,” Liou wrote. “The future of Beer Bike is strong and this tradition isn’t going anywhere.”
Rice research group spearheads wastewater testing for measles
RAMYA MOTATI THRESHER STAFF
Amid a historic measles outbreak in West Texas, Rice researchers partnered with the city of Houston to monitor wastewater for the highly contagious virus.
Over 624 cases of measles have been reported since Jan. 20, with 64 hospitalizations and two deaths, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. Measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000 due to widespread vaccination. A majority of the cases in the outbreak are tied to people with unknown or unvaccinated status, according to Texas DSHS data.
The Texas DSHS has reported four cases of measles in Harris County, which were unrelated to the outbreak in West Texas. Two cases were of Upshur County residents.
Lauren Stadler, a professor of civil
and environmental engineering, and her research team have joined these governmental agencies and health organizations to track and update the exact statistics of the measles outbreak and trace its spread across the nation.
“We have built up probably one of the most advanced citywide wastewater surveillance systems in the country,” Stadler said.
Stadler’s work focuses on wastewaterbased epidemiology, integrated water systems management, and other related topics. Stadler has been working with the Houston Health Department since 2020 to monitor water systems.
The system, Stadler said, was able to detect the rst two cases within the wastewater of Houston. The entire system consists of 38 wastewater plants across the city of Houston.
Stadler, along with two other Rice
professors, leads the Houston Wastewater Epidemiology system, a collaborative between the Houston Health Department, Houston Public Works and Rice.
The Houston Wastewater Epidemiology system was one of the rst National Wastewater Surveillance Systems recognized by the Centers for Disease Control as a Wastewater Center of Excellence, leading other public health departments in the region. Stadler said that the initiative at Rice began in 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It evolved to include many other pathogens, and as a team, we’ve really spent a lot of time thinking about how we prioritize what targets to monitor for,” Stadler said.
One challenge of detecting measles is di erentiating between the vaccine and the actual virus, Stadler said.
“When you get your MMR vaccine, it’s actually an attenuated live virus,” Stadler
said. “It’s nonpathogenic, but it is a live virus. So when you get vaccinated, you can end up shedding some of that virus into the wastewater.”
For measles, Stadler said she and her team developed an assay, or analytical procedure, a year ago. The assay detects measles viruses within the wastewater and distinguishes between the wild-type and vaccine-strain measles.
Stadler said she envisions the future possibilities of the wastewater system as preventative as well. She states that wastewater monitoring can also be used for things beyond pathogens such as overall community health, community stress, prescription use and even diet.
“Wastewater provides more informtion at a community level about what’s circulating, and so it could help for future kinds of decisions and design vaccine development,” Stadler said.
FROM FRONT PAGE BEER BIKE
FRANCESCA NEMATI / THRESHER
Students gather around to watch the “Bike Bike” races from Lovett College April 18. The races were livestreamed a er being canceled on the original race day due to lightning warnings.
Rice’s enrollment expansion should preserve campus culture, tradition
Rice is growing again, and President Reggie DesRoches isn’t wrong when he says it’s a good thing.
In a time when universities across the country are scaling back access and diversity, Rice’s commitment to expanding enrollment and nancial aid is a welcome step in a more inclusive direction.
DesRoches said his goal is to expand access and rede ne what it means to be an elite university.
We agree — but meaningful access is about more than admission o ers. If Rice is going to grow, it needs to ensure that growth doesn’t come at the expense of the student experience.
In fall 2024, only 59% of undergraduate students were living on campus. However, the General Announcements page on Undergraduate Student Life claimed that around 70% of Rice undergraduates live on campus.
The residential college system is integral to what makes Rice unique: a culture of connection, collaboration
and care. But that culture is increasingly strained. Hundreds of students are forced to live o campus each year due to lack of space in their college, and others preemptively move out in anticipation of getting “kicked o .”
We’re glad Rice is expanding. Now it’s time to expand what really matters: belonging.
Adding seats in a lecture hall is the easy part. The harder work is making sure the students who ll those seats can still experience the Rice we claim to be: a close-knit, residential community that prizes a diversity of perspectives.
When students are scattered across Houston housing markets without adequate support, the system that binds us together begins to fray.
Rice should consider how to keep campus culture alive as it expands, starting with housing.
Building two more colleges helps, but it is not enough. If growth is truly about access, the university should guarantee at least three years of on-campus housing or provide real nancial support for those pushed o campus.
Housing, though, is only half the puzzle. A larger student body must also be a more connected one.
More students means more perspectives, more identities, more experiences — and a greater need to invest in the systems that help them build community.
Growth without support risks weakening the very things that make Rice worth growing in the rst place.
We’re glad Rice is expanding. Now it’s time to expand what really matters: belonging.
Editor’s Note: News Editor James Cancelarich was recused from this editorial due to corresponding reporting in the News section.
Obituary for D’Brickashaw Eagleclaw Ibarra
Editor’s Note: This is a guest opinion that has been submitted by a member of the Rice community. The views expressed in this opinion are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or re ect the views of the Thresher or its editorial board. All guest opinions are fact-checked to the best of our ability and edited for clarity and conciseness by Thresher editors.
D’Brickashaw Eagleclaw Ibarra, nicknamed DEI, has transitioned to the ancestral plane.
Many loved DEI. Simply adored him. They hoped he would engineer race, gender and socioeconomic equity. Such hope was unrealistic.
The proof is that DEI is survived by white supremacy, patriarchy, racial apathy, anti-blackness, transphobia, xenophobia, anti-semitism, anti-Palestinian racism, misogynoir, Islamophobia, ableism, fatshaming and additional dislocations.
DEI eventually realized and accepted his shortcomings. It was not his fault; he was sheltered growing up.
Blame his adoptive parents, Performative Allyship and Neoliberal Marketing, who taught him about optics and protecting white fragility.
They praised his obsession with implicit attitudes, individual prejudice and genderinclusive pronouns while nurturing his neglect of systemic inequality.
Many manipulated DEI. They caused universities and companies to confuse the workplace for the world. The corner o ce for the street corner. Campuses for communities.
In fact, fear of a caramelized United States, tech-bro billionaires, individuals who ban books, Project 2025, liberal smugness and powerful white men practicing fascism stoned DEI to death. Because DEI lived in a glass house, he was defenseless.
Regarding anti-blackness, DEI hoped whites would be non-racist. Yet, Angela Davis reminded us, “In a racist society, it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.”
Negro … is still at the bottom, despite the few who have penetrated to slightly higher levels. Even where the door has been forced partially open, mobility for the Negro is still sharply restricted. There is o en no bottom at which to start, and when there is there’s almost no room at the top.”
DEI failed to transform the demography of universities or companies, despite what some believe. He purportedly reduced ignorance, which was and is not the fundamental problem. For the record, DEI did not cause air tra c accidents, weaken science or threaten the Smithsonian.
Still, it may soon be a crime to mention his name. Anyone and anything a liated with DEI is presently under attack.
If he were alive today, DEI would remind you to speak truth to power. Donate to charities commemorating his memory. Plant a tree for him. Stand on your principles. Embrace an activist orientation. Organize, upli and coalesce.
Stop pursuing shallow psychological solutions to deep sociological problems. Support community organizations. Become authentic anti-racists. Avoid anticipatory capitulations. Draw a line in the sand.
DEI will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery adjacent to academic freedom, empathy, the free press, the First Amendment, factual history, religious tolerance, checks and balances and heroines from the original civil rights, women’s rights and Indigenous Peoples movements. Formerly known as the DEI O ce, the O ce of Exceedingly Excellent Excellence and Super Stupendous Success will host the repast. EDITORIAL
Remember workplace norms mean nothing to the incarcerated, unemployed, working poor, self-employed, retired and those laboring in factories or outdoors, street vendors, custodial sta , truck and bus drivers and so on.
Many hated DEI. His very existence threatened notions of meritocracy, anti-white racism and white victimhood.
CORRECTIONS
In “Rice football players go Greek, join
DEI loved group hugs and kumbaya moments. However, Malcolm X chided us, “We had to also face reality and realize that we were in a racist society that was controlled by racists from the federal government right on down to the local government.”
It irked DEI when individuals misquoted Martin Luther King Jr. to rebuke him. DEI did dream of the day when one’s skin color would not matter, but that day has not arrived.
DEI implored his critics to read MLK Jr.’s last and post-civil rights movement book, “Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?” wherein MLK Jr. opined, “The
Tony N. Brown DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY
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Omega Psi Phi fraternity,” the name of the fraternity is Omega Psi Phi.
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Seniors showcase late night artwork in ‘26 Hour Diner’
As the spring semester comes to an end, 26 graduating seniors find themselves juggling both final exams and final exhibits. Marking the completion of a visual and dramatic arts degree at Rice, the annual senior showcase will open April 25.
The theme for the 2025 senior art showcase is “26 Hour Diner.” VADA major Artie Throop said the theme, which was chosen by the graduating class, is a play on the group’s size and the grueling hours they have worked to perfect their artwork.
“I think part of what [the theme] means to me is that the studios are open 24 hours,” said Throop, a Sid Richardson College senior. “I would regularly work until 2 a.m. on my pieces.”
All VADA majors are required to participate in the junior seminar and senior studio courses. While the junior seminar focuses on instructing students in art theory and history, the senior studio gives students the space to create and curate their own artwork in preparation for the end-of-year showcase.
In January of their final semester, seniors apply the finishing touches to their artwork and turn their attention to planning the showcase. VADA major Zeisha Bennett said that students organize themselves independently into one of four committees: promotions, reception, catalog or exhibition.
“It really comes down to expertise and volunteering yourself for a position that you know you can do,” said Bennett, a Baker College senior.
Maria Martinez, the art department events and program coordinator, said that each year’s student-led showcase is unique, shaped by the diverse hands of the graduating class. In addition to varying themes, the setting of the showcase is also heavily influenced by
JULIANA LIGHTSEY / THRESHER
A piece by Artie Throop hangs in Provisional Campus Facility Tent 2 as part of the senior art showcase, “26-Hour Diner.” The show is the culmination of a yearlong course for VADA majors.
student input.
“In the past, [students] have decided to configure the room as one big gallery, where they each include certain pieces. Other times, [students] each have a sectioned off space and they host whatever they want within that space,”
Martinez said.
According to Throop, the wide variety of artistic interests and educational backgrounds among VADA students is part of what makes the university’s art
program special. Some VADA students also choose to pursue additional disciplines, which Throop said serves as inspiration for their artwork.
“Something that I really value about Rice’s art department is that so many of us are double majors, and we definitely bring that other field of study into our work,” Throop said. “Within my religion major, I focus a lot on group formation, group cohesion. Part of what’s so big for me about my craft are community elements.”
VADA major Alex Constantellis said the art program at Rice gives students immense creative freedom, encouraging students to make use of the tools available to them in whatever way they see fit.
“What I love about how senior studio works is that it gives you the resources and space to create things, but it won’t teach you,” said Constantellis, a Baker senior. “You have to learn by yourself.”
Students produce a variety of multimedia projects, ranging from paintings and drawings to film, weaving and pottery. VADA major Alice Bian said that in addition to a collection of ceramic kitchenware, she plans to display a series of handmade garments.
“Those works look at sleepwear and undergarments as formal typologies and make them nonfunctional or functional in a different way,” said Bian, a Brown College senior.
Bian said that the show’s success can be attributed to the tight-knit community of art students at Rice and the support they feel from their peers along their artistic journey.
“Having people to talk about [my] work is important to my art making process and something that I definitely want to maintain in the future,” Bian said.
“26 Hour Diner” will remain open for public viewing in Provisional Campus Facility Tent 2 until May 10.
Head over handlebars: a brief history of Beer Bike accidents
two separate accidents in the rst undergraduate heat. However, crashes like these are nothing new.
In the rst heat of the women’s race in this year’s Beer Bike, Melissa Geng said she was biking faster than she ever had, adrenaline pumping through her veins. All was going well, until she crashed into the fence of the alumni viewing area at the turn of her second lap.
“I had the biggest bruise I’ve ever seen on my right leg, as well as abrasions here and there,” wrote Geng, a McMurtry College sophomore, in an email to the Thresher. “Thankfully, nothing [was] broken, and I’m doing OK now.”
My bike went flying six or eight feet in the air ... the guy behind me managed to jump his bike over me as I’m lying on the ground, and he kept racing.
Randall Terrell
WILL RICE COLLEGE CLASS OF 1986
viewers saw
Since its founding in 1957, Beer Bike has brought Rice students together in a mix of racing, revelry and rivalry. Not only have the races fueled college pride, they’ve also le a trail of accidents and injuries, shaping the competition’s traditions and safety measures over the decades.
In the 1960s, the race took place on the Inner Loop, where bikers navigated sharp turns by Wiess College and the tennis courts. According to an April 2000 issue of the Thresher, falls were common on this di cult corner, which led organizers to move the race to the stadium parking lot in 1968.
The new oval-shaped track still had one section that turned into a right angle, which a May 1968 issue of the Thresher described as “for the entertainment of those who enjoy thrills and spills.” A er a crash in the rst race on the new track, the 90-degree turn never returned.
In other races in the 1970s and 1980s, bikers fought through pain to nish.
An April 1973 edition of the Thresher highlighted Gary Mee ’74, a Will Rice College biker who su ered several cuts and scrapes on his arm and knees in a crash. Mee nished the lap despite his wobbly knees and managed a 2.3-second
beer chug a erward.
In the 1985 race, Randall Terrell ’86, another Will Rice biker, clipped a rider’s back tire while dra ing close behind. He said he was preparing to pass the two bikers ahead when he crashed.
“My bike went ying six or eight feet in the air, and I was down and skidding,” Terrell said. “The guy behind me managed to jump his bike over me as I’m lying on the ground, and he kept racing.”
The crash le Terrell with open wounds over the le side of his body.
Editor’s Note: This article has been cut o for print. Read more at ricethresher.org.
Best study snacks to el your nals
Finals are creeping up on us, and that means hunting season for the best study snacks on and o campus. Below are some that are sure to see you through the most enigmatic paper prompts and puzzling practice questions.
Maggi noodles
Obviously, ramen is the quintessential college student meal, but there’s more to life than just buldak. Maggi noodles are for all of you whose stomachs are growling at 3 a.m. because you skipped dinner to study for that pesky chem nal. Buy yourself some Maggi before your stomach becomes your alarm clock and you go bankrupt from buying Wingstop.
Chaus croissants
I’m not a huge croissant fan at all, but Chaus’s chocolate croissants? I’ll take one of those any day, any time, anywhere. I’m sure most of your Tetra balances are in the negatives, but for those lucky few who didn’t spend all of it this year, I recommend dipping into those savings for one of these sweet treats!
Flipz chocolate-covered pretzels
A er a trip to a chocolate factory in middle school, this isn’t just a snack for me — it’s a way of life. Flipz milk and dark chocolate pretzels (and for the menaces to society, the white chocolate ones) are a staple for long study sessions during nals week. Sweet and salty, just like your results are bound to be!
Sharetea
Calling all boba fans for this one! Depending on what you prefer, Sharetea has some of the best boba tea options in the area. For those who are fruit a cionados, I highly recommend the peach cream blend with lychee jelly. I’m a sipper, but I chug that drink every time. And as always, when you need a ca eine boost for the late nights you’re about to spend in Fondy, the ever-reliable Thai tea with tapioca can never do you wrong!
Stale Hot Cheetos
Hot take: not Hot Cheetos, but STALE Hot Cheetos. It sounds insane, but they’re sitting on my nightstand right now — chewy, crunchy, spicy and at least 60 percent improved by being stale. Just trust me and try this one out next time you’re grabbing something on the way to a group study session.
Hopdoddy Burger Bar
I have only tasted the joy of Hopdoddy once, and have experienced withdrawal pains ever since. Their sweet potato fries are heavenly, and once the rst dollop of chipotle aioli hits your tastebuds, you’ll never look back. It’s only a 10-minute walk from campus, and a three-minute run if you need to squeeze in a quick dinner before your 7 p.m. nal and can’t function without them.
NANDINI DASARI THRESHER STAFF
SAAHITHI SREEKANTHAM FOR THE THRESHER
Before the day was cut short by weather concerns,
WILL PATEL SENIOR WRITER
HAI-VAN HOANG / THRESHER
VIVIAN LANG / THRESHER
Cut The Deck
AVA MCCLUNG CROSSWORD EDITOR
Open-ended
Spaniards
New student center to ‘complete’ central quad
Breezeways, arches and outdoor seating will abound at the Moody Center Complex for Student Life set to break ground May 8. The 75,000-square-foot complex was designed by architecture rm Olson Kundig and has an expected completion date of fall 2027.
The MCCSL was designed to encourage students and activities to spill out of its open rst oor and onto the adjacent lawn, wrote Alan Maskin, the lead architectural designer for the project, in an email to the Thresher.
“We saw these new buildings as an opportunity to nally ‘complete the Quad’— fully framing the outdoor space as it was conceived 130 years ago,” Maskin wrote.
In addition to several outdoor seating locations, the design includes an outdoor stage where students can watch lm screenings and attend concerts, and a courtyard with amphitheaterstyle seating. Bridget Gorman, dean
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of undergraduates, said the outdoor features are one of the most exciting aspects of the design.
“I hope I’m walking into the central quad on a sunny day and I’m seeing students sitting on the steps outside of the pavilion, and in tables and chairs all around the outside of the new building,” Gorman said.
Inside, the complex will include Rice Co eehouse, also known as Chaus, expanded meeting rooms, study spaces and an additional café.
“We envisioned these interior spaces as dynamic hubs where placemaking, nature, and community naturally intersect,” Maskin wrote. “The interior design of the new building draws inspiration from the allure of a shaded grove, guided by the concept: ‘meet me at the grove.’ Much like a campus landmark, the grove becomes a rooted living space, an embodiment of Rice University’s spirit and community.”
Editor’s Note: This article has been cut o for print. Read more at ricethresher.org.
HUGO GERBICH PAIS SENIOR WRITER
COURTESY OLSON KUNDIG
The new Moody Center Complex for Student Life will stand opposite the James A. Baker III Hall, enclosing the central quad.
Rob Kimbro returns to Rice, focusing on ‘stories that matter’
CHARLIE CRUZ THRESHER STAFF
When Rob Kimbro graduated from Rice University in 1995, he said he envisioned a career in the United States Foreign Service. Now, nearly three decades later, he returns as a full-time lecturer in the theatre program having established himself in Houston’s theater community and as a mentor to Rice students.
Initially drawn to political science and history, Kimbro’s path shi ed dramatically when congressional hiring freezes in 1996 halted his plans. Kimbro said that theater, initially a hobby and a side job to earn extra cash during his undergraduate years, quickly became his primary passion.
“I took the Foreign Service exam [when I was a senior] and was headed to the State Department,” Kimbro said. “They didn’t recruit Foreign Service o cers for a while, and I kept doing what I did at Rice, which was theater.”
This shi set Kimbro on an unexpected career trajectory, with various odd jobs such as carpentry at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and lighting and set construction at local venues like Hamman Hall and the Alley Theatre. Kimbro said these experiences laid a foundation for his creative growth, teaching him adaptability and versatility.
His directorial debut came shortly a er his graduation when he was invited back to Rice to direct Baker Shakespeare’s
production of “Much Ado About Nothing.” Greg Marshall ’86, director of university relations and Baker College associate, said he remembered the show as a turning point for Kimbro.
“Rob got to live out every actor’s nightmare — having to step in overnight as the lead actor when the original performer injured himself,” Marshall said. “Rob learned the lines and blocking overnight and was terri c. The show did go on, and it was memorable.”
This show marked the beginning of Kimbro’s long-lasting relationship with BakerShake, a tradition he said he holds dear.
“Of all the college theater traditions at Rice — and there are many — there’s nothing quite like BakerShake,”
Kimbro said. “I’ve always loved the classics. That’s been a thread in my career throughout.”
Kimbro said his ties to Rice deepened over the years as he repeatedly returned to direct plays, teach courses and mentor students. His engagement intensi ed further around 2010 when he began guest lecturing, eventually teaching full courses in contemporary dramatic literature. His passion and dedication made a strong impression on students.
Cece Gonzalez, a theatre minor at Baker, said Kimbro’s teaching transformed her approach to theater.
“Rob had a clear purpose for the class — to help students develop their personal canon of theater literature,” said Gonzalez, a sophomore. “It really helped me branch out and read more plays. He genuinely cares about students and theater.”
I hope what I’m doing is putting stories out there for this community: stories worth following, stories that matter.
Rob Kimbro ’95 THEATER DIRECTOR
CJ Friend, a coordinator for student-run theatre company The Rice Players, also said they appreciated Kimbro’s accessible and student-centered approach.
“It’s encouraging that an alumnus keeps returning to work with the Rice theater community,” said Friend, a Jones College sophomore. “It’s giving back, and it speaks volumes about his passion. He o ered his experience freely, making our productions stronger.”
Juan Sebastian Cruz ’16, who performed under Kimbro’s direction, said he remembered him as not just a skilled professional but also a caring mentor.
“When I was a student, Rob really believed in me and gave me a chance,” Cruz said. “It’s no surprise he’s teaching full-time now. He’s always given back and has greatly enriched Rice theater.”
Kimbro said he’s excited to continue fostering the rich, student-driven theater culture at Rice.
“The Rice Players trace their history back to the Rice Dramatic Society — the oldest continuous theater group in Houston,” Kimbro said. “The diversity of students — engineers, mathematicians, English majors — all collaborating in theater, is incredibly valuable.”
Marshall said he is thrilled about Kimbro’s new role given his importance to Rice’s arts community.
“Rob brings institutional memory and continuity,” Marshall said. “His creative ideas, like merging Baker Shakespeare with Rice Players for a spectacular production of ‘Macbeth’ at Hamman Hall, re ect his innovative spirit. His appointment will immensely bene t Rice theater.”
Shepherd comes alive at Rice Chorale’s April concert
RADHANI KAPOOR FOR THE THRESHER
Echoes reverberated around the Edythe Bates Old Recital Hall and Grand Organ April 14 at the Rice Chorale concert, featuring music spanning di erent centuries and styles from whispered a cappella songs to full organ grandeur.
Summer Orr, who said she has attended every chorale concert during her time at Rice, said it feels “especially ethereal” when sitting in the hall.
“I love the Organ Hall,” said Orr, a Duncan College sophomore. “I think it’s so beautiful … I always sit there and wonder how they built it, how it got in there.”
The concert started with “Ave Maria” by Franz Biebl, which Rice Chorale music director Thomas Jaber said was romantic and intricate.
I open it to anybody who wants to sing … right now we have around 50 who are singing, and that makes me very, very happy.
Thomas Jaber
RICE CHORALE MUSIC DIRECTOR
“[Ave Maria] sounds very romantic, very beautiful,” Jaber said. “It’s written like Brahms, but it’s sort of a double choir feel, and the chant goes all through it. We sing a statement, and then the chant happens. We sing another statement, and then the chant happens.”
Laura Kabiri, an assistant teaching
professor of kinesiology, said the experience of performing “Ave Maria” was angelic.
“The harmonies are absolutely heavenly,” Kabiri said. “To have a chance to sing with such a group in such a beautiful facility just reminds me of celestial beings in heaven.”
Zev Malina, a Jones College senior, said the second piece, “O Ye Kings,” which he both composed and conducted, was “very personal” to him.
“I feel like the fact that [multiple Psalms] do coexist in the same canon is itself an invitation for each individual to approach the way that they interpret it,” Malina said. “I will readily admit, I was not kind to whoever conducts this piece … I always bring it back to what the text demands, and if that’s a weird rhythm, I’m personally inclined to let that take precedence.”
This was followed by “When David Heard,” written by Eric Whitacre after the death of his friend’s son.
“The piece goes anywhere from singing four notes at once — your standard soprano, alto tenor, bass — and [Whitacre] splits 18 times like that, so there are 18 notes being played at the same time, which is really impressive,” said Marshall Joos, the organist and a Will Rice College senior. “There are some places in the piece where it just sounds like a sigh … it’s heart wrenching.”
Thara Venkateswaran, a Rice Chorale performer, said this song was especially technically challenging for her.
“When it gets really big, it’s kind of a challenging part for me because, if you look at the score, it looks crazy, there’s eight staves, and each one has like three notes,” said Venkateswaran, a Hanszen College senior. “I’m singing my own note … but then
you hear it, and you hear how you contribute to the sound, and that sounds amazing.”
Jaber also explained his love for “Fern Hill” by John Corigliano, the nal song performed by Chorale featuring soloist Caitlin Aloia ’24.
“Caitlin is a dear friend of ours, and she sings with me … I think you’ll love hearing her,” Jaber said. I’m really honored that she’s available to come and sing.”
Kabiri said she enjoyed the chorale’s inclusive spirit, featuring undergraduate students, graduate students, sta members and people from outside the hedges.
“It’s really nice to work with people with a wide range of backgrounds and musical experience and ages, and it just all integrates seamlessly,” Kabiri said. “Tom is a phenomenal director in keeping us all literally corralled together.”
Jaber said this diversity is a key component of the group.
“I don’t audition,” Jaber said. “I open it to anybody who wants to sing … right now we have around 50 who are singing, and that makes me very, very happy. They make a beautiful sound. When they get it going, that makes a very beautiful sound.”
COURTESY ROB KIMBRO
Rob Kimbro poses in front of the Sallyport. Kimbro, a Rice alum, remains involved in the Rice theatre community.
KONSTANTIN SAVVON / THRESHER
The Rice Chorale performs at the Edythe Bates Old Recital Hall and Grand Organ on April 14. The chorale includes a variety of undergraduates, graduate students, sta and community members.
Top films of the 2020s so far
JAY COLLURA FILM COLUMNIST
As my time as the Thresher’s lm columnist comes to an end, and with the decade almost half over, I wanted to spotlight my 10 favorite lms of the 2020s. Despite a global pandemic, a writers’ strike and the decline of movie theaters, the 2020s have given audiences a great selection of cinematic experiences.
Before I get to the list proper, here are two honorable mentions: “John Wick: Chapter 4,” which is the best action lm of the decade, and “Tár,” a delightfully devious psychological drama that just barely missed out. Now, in alphabetical order:
“A ersun” (dir. Charlotte Wells, 2022)
It’s tting that “A ersun” comes rst on this list because it’s my favorite of the decade so far; Charlotte Wells’ debut is an incredible meditation on how people come to understand their parents. Structurally, the lm is strikingly progressive, accurately depicting the process of internal re ection. The protagonist Sophie and the audience piece together a profound image of who her father was as a person, and then reconcile the inherent incompleteness of this image with the profound in uence it has had on Sophie’s life. The result is beautifully inventive, devastating and personal — this movie will hit you like a truck.
“Challengers” (dir. Luca Guadagnino, 2024)
In a word, “Challengers” is electric. No other lm this decade had me leaving the theater as red up as Luca Guadagnino’s latest, a tense tennis thriller interlaid with a deliciously trashy love triangle. The lm is cinematic kinetic energy, building up absurd character dynamics emblematic of the primal spirit of competition and watching it manifest on and o the court. Guadagnino astutely observes
the relationship between human desire and interpersonal contest, cra ing an unconventional but riveting sports ick. I’d be remiss not to mention Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ house music soundtrack, which propels the lm to new heights.
“Dune: Part Two” (dir. Denis Villeneuve, 2024)
I distinctly remember seeing “Dune: Part Two” for the rst time. Forty- ve minutes into the movie, Chani and Paul sit on the sand, conversing. The excellent Hans Zimmer score begins to swell, and the two kiss for the rst time. Some of the best action sequences of the decade are to follow — Paul riding the sandworm, the black-and-white arena and the nal knife confrontation — yet this was the only time
my friend, sitting behind me, shook my chair in disbelief at how good the movie was. This speaks to how sublime “Dune: Part Two” is: it has the power to suck you into its world almost immediately and never let go, matching and o en surpassing its totemic genre contemporaries. This article has been cut o for print. To read more, visit ricethresher.org.
Review: ‘Tamara de Lempicka’ fashions survival at MFAH
CHI PHAM ASST. A&E EDITOR
Houstonians rst knew her as Baroness Ku ner, the mother of prominent socialite Kizette Foxhall, noted for her chain mail dresses and resemblance to Greta Garbo in the Houston Chronicle.
This spring, Houston was reintroduced to her as Tamara de Lempicka, the Art Deco portrait painter renowned for her cosmopolitan air and unconventional glamour.
An American museum retrospective of her work is now at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, traveling from the de Young Museum in San Francisco.
“Tamara de Lempicka” gathers the titular artist’s most iconic portraits of interwar Parisian high society, synthesizing Cubist approaches with Mannerist and Neoclassical sensibilities — think angular shapes, theatrical lighting and lush fabrics — alongside her later, lesser-known works during her time in New York and Los Angeles.
The retrospective celebrates the modern woman and the stagecra of her appearance. As ordained by Vogue in 1929: “She knows that in the drama of her own personality she must be stage director, scene shi er, mistress of costumes, as well as star of the play.”
Here, the modern woman is presented as a self-made spectacle, each gesture and object selected with directorial precision.
Lempicka embodies this ethos in her 1930 portrait of her lover Ira Perrot: Perrot leans, draped in a red shawl that falls like velvet curtains, holding calla lilies as though they were stage props.
Every fold of fabric is positioned to catch the light: her hair ows in ribbon-like waves
and the taut musculature of her abdomen, visible beneath white silk, resembles sculptured marble — every detail selected to heighten the moment’s drama.
Across the exhibition, no subject is present more consistently or deliberately than Perrot, Lempicka’s leading lady in her production of the modern woman.
Draped in Schiaparelli dresses and other high-fashion nery, Lempicka became a darling of Parisian high society.
A refugee — rst from the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution, then the Nazis at the outbreak of World War II — she understood that her survival depended on a relentless reinvention of self.
She concealed her gender, motherhood, Jewish identity and eventually, herself from public eye — the practice of self-fashioning as a queer act of rebellion.
presence as a marketing tool without a powerful art dealer backing her.
“She was pretty much on her own, although admittedly assisted in later years by her second husband’s [Baron Ku ner’s] considerable wealth and the pro ts she gained from selling her paintings in the 1920s and 1930s,” Greene wrote in an email to the Thresher. “She was an astute businesswoman and then when her work fell out of favor, she withdrew from the public eye while nonetheless continuing to paint.”
Her adoption of Catholic iconography o ered another means to fashion herself — in this case, to conceal her Jewish identity amid Nazi-occupied France.
In “The Communicant,” for instance, she depicts her daughter, Kizette, in a stark white ceremonial dress evoking a child’s First Communion, despite Kizette’s admission that she had never actually taken communion.
This retrospective, beyond serving as a reintroduction of Lempicka’s mastery to modern audiences, was also a homecoming.
loved theatre and music, and attended many concerts and performances.
“I live life in the margins of society, and the rules of normal society don’t apply to those who live on the fringe,” Lempicka once said.
Her self-fashioning was a disavowal of those very conventions. Here was a woman who understood that her public persona was a performance as carefully cra ed as any magazine spread. Style, a er all, was her means of sustenance.
Alison de Lima Greene, the Isabel Brown Wilson Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the MFAH, said Lempicka was a maverick in recognizing the need for artists to use their public
A er Ku ner’s death, she withdrew from an art scene she dismissed as being overrun by pop and op art, which she described as “pollution brought on by the contemporary sub-culture.”
Finding a second home in Houston, Greene said Lempicka withdrew from the art world in exchange for stillness, reinventing herself once more.
“Tamara de Lempicka started visiting Houston on a regular basis in the 1950s a er her daughter settled here, and a er her husband died she kept an apartment too,” Greene wrote. “[S]he never exhibited in any of our institutions. That said, she
“The social pages in the Houston Post and Houston Chronicle o en reported on the premieres she attended, as well as the couture she wore,” Greene continued. “However, she did leave a di erent kind of legacy, donating antiques from her husband’s estate to Rice University, and several old master paintings to the Teaching Collection at the University of St. Thomas (these are now in The Menil Collection).”
Lempicka’s life of constant selfreinvention is the throughline across her oeuvre. The result is nothing short of magnificent. My advice: take the audio tour.
“Tamara de Lempicka” is on view through May 26 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
COURTESY MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, HOUSTON
ASHLEY ZHANG / THRESHER
West brothers value faith and family sharing the eld
EVIE VU SPORTS EDITOR
When Robyn and Greg West enrolled their sons in T-ball, they said they saw baseball as a way to keep the boys out of trouble. Eighteen years later, brothers Graiden and Landon West compete at the Division I level for Rice’s baseball team.
Greg compared coaches to future bosses and teammates to future coworkers. From sports, he said, players can learn about the kinds of people they work well with, how to be a good teammate and how to be a good leader.
“It was never about trying to go to college and play sports,” Greg said. “Those were real possibilities, but that’s not really why they started it.”
Graiden began playing T-ball on the dirt fields in Farmington, New Mexico as a kindergartener. Once Landon reached that age two years later, he followed suit.
“I always looked up to him and what he did, and he played baseball, so I consequently played baseball,” said Landon, a Brown College sophomore.
The first time they played together, Graiden was in fourth grade, and the team had to bring on second grader Landon to fill in as an extra player.
Robyn said Landon was proud to get to play on Graiden’s team, and Graiden was encouraging and inclusive to his younger brother.
“We loved it, because to be at the same place at the same time was awesome,” Robyn said. “To see their friendship develop on and o the eld was really special.”
Graiden said that he knew he wanted to play for Rice when he was little after watching Rice beat the University of Texas at Austin on TV.
“As soon as I got recruited to Rice, I didn’t have a doubt in my mind that’s where I was going,” said Graiden, a Will Rice College senior. “I didn’t want to go anywhere else.”
When Graiden came to Rice, he said he felt like something was missing during his first two years.
“I was, for one of the first times in my life, not with Landon, and I was like, ‘This is kind of weird,’” Graiden said. “Then he got here, and it was like, ‘Okay, now we’re back to normal.’”
Landon said he received offers from larger universities like Texas A&M University, but ultimately he decided that Rice was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
“I thought that I wanted to be part of
the team that puts [Rice baseball] back on the map,” Landon said. “So I was like, ‘Man, that’d be super cool to go into a program and help it get to meet its potential.’ That’s what we’re trying to do right now. We’re trying.”
At Rice, Graiden mostly plays second and third base while Landon plays catcher. Through the 2025 season, Graiden is batting .326 over 19 starts while Landon is batting .277 over 40 starts.
The brothers said at Rice, they have had to learn how to deal with failure they did not face in their middle and high school careers.
“I think [we] just fail more often than we used to,” Landon said. “Having someone that I trust has been good to keep me steady and keep me going and keep me motivated.”
Robyn said she is proud of how after a loss, the boys make their way back onto the field. Since Robyn and Greg are now based in Katy, Texas, they are able to attend almost every home game.
“It’s super easy on my mom and dad to be able to come watch both of us at the same time,” Graiden said. “It’s really just a huge blessing.”
Graiden and Landon said that faith is a large part of what guides them as brothers and teammates.
“A big part of our success at Rice, on and off the field, has been through our faith,” Landon said. “Me and Graiden are strong believers, and we’ve done our best to uphold ourselves as such … I think that’s kind of shaped us into the young men that we are today.”
Greg said that he is proud of how Graiden and Landon represent themselves and their family by upholding their faith.
“You can’t replace your integrity,” Greg said. “It’s hard to earn, and you can lose it really quickly. I think faith’s a piece of that, being a man that can be respected and trusted.”
Robyn said that she raised them to uphold their faith as one of the many facets of their identities.
“I think when they were younger, their identity was in baseball,” Robyn said. “We always tried to emphasize that they were so much more than baseball, because baseball is a game that kind of beats you up.”
“I think as they got older, they really ended up leaning into their faith,” Robyn continued. “That just really helped kind of to figure out who they were, besides just only being a baseball player.”
Outside of baseball, Graiden and Landon
are both pursuing degrees in business.
Graiden said the most valuable resource he has used at Rice has been the Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Through Lilie, he said he has been able to expand his hat brand Coyote Creek Hat Co.
After Graiden graduates this spring, he said he plans to broker commercial insurance in the oil and gas sector. However, he, Landon and their younger brother, Tanner, a junior in high school, will pursue something together in the world of entrepreneurship in the future.
Graiden is also engaged with plans to
EDITORIAL CARTOON
get married this summer.
As Landon looks to the future, he said he is concentrating on his Rice career.
“Right now, I’m just focused on winning baseball games,” Landon said. “I’m trying to be the best version of myself as I can [be], as a person and also as a baseball player.”
Greg said that Rice has been instrumental to who his sons have become.
“Rice has made a special imprint in our family,” Greg said. “All your experiences kind of shape who you are, and I think they’re both shaping up to be pretty good dudes.”
Owl-look: Score updates & what’s next
Scores from April 16-22
Baseball at University of Memphis
April 17 - Rice 10, Memphis 5
April 18 - Rice 9, Memphis 5
April 19 - Rice 2, Memphis 13
Men’s Tennis at AAC Championship
April 18 - Rice 4, University of Tulsa 1
April 19 - Rice 4, University of South Florida 3
April 20 - Rice 4, University of Memphis 2
Women’s Tennis at AAC Championship
April 18 - Rice 4, Tulane University 2
April 19 - Rice 2, University of Memphis 4
Women’s Volleyball vs. University of Houston
April 18 - Rice 3, Houston 1
What’s next from April 23-29
Men’s Golf at AAC Championship
April 21-23 - Away
Baseball at University of Alabama at Birmingham
April 25-27 - Away
Men’s Track and Field at J. Fred Duckett
Twilight
April 26 - Home
Women’s Track and Field at J. Fred Duckett Twilight
April 26 - Home
HONG LIN TSAI / THRESHER “Prepare for trouble and make it double!”
CAYDEN CHEN / THRESHER
Rice baseball sophomore catcher Landon West bats during a game against the University of Houston. West’s brother Graiden West is a senior on the Rice baseball team.
Women’s ultimate frisbee punches ticket to nationals
ANDERSEN PICKARD SPORTS EDITOR
For the rst time since 2022, Rice women’s club ultimate frisbee is heading to nationals. The team, named “Torque,” secured a berth in the 2025 USA Ultimate D-III College Championships a er winning its conference tournament earlier this month.
Torque comprises about 20 players, including captains Ria Stevens and Sophia Figueroa.
Figueroa said the roster size has grown signi cantly since the Covid-19 pandemic, in part due to a large number of freshman participants this year.
With plenty of new faces on the team, Torque’s upcoming trip to nationals in Burlington, Washington will represent a new experience for undergraduates who were not on the roster for the 2022 berth.
College can get really overwhelming. Having a team sport or a club that you really enjoy — it’s a built-in support system.
Sophia Figueroa
TORQUE CAPTAIN
Figueroa encouraged her teammates to cherish the opportunity.
“We play teams from New York, Virginia — teams that we would never cross paths with otherwise,” said Figueroa, a Lovett College senior. “It’s a cool opportunity to play against them and also learn from them.”
Torque won the South Central D-III Women’s Conference Tournament from April 12-13 in Fort Collins, Colorado. The competition included schools such as Colorado College, Trinity University and Truman State University.
Figueroa said there was lots of buzz and excitement when the Rice faced Colorado College in the conference championship.
“Everyone else in the region was against Colorado College, so we had like three other teams cheering with us against Colorado,” Figueroa said. “That was crazy. It was probably 60 people on the sideline just chanting Rice stu and talking to us.”
Although club ultimate frisbee brings out the competitive side of Torque’s players, Figueroa said it also provides a sense of community.
“It really brings people together because you’re like, ‘Oh, this is really fun,’ and you want to keep showing people it, and so it kind of just accumulates from there,” Figueroa said.
Jones College sophomore Richie Su played ultimate frisbee as a senior in high school. Upon being accepted to Rice, she immediately checked to see if the university had an ultimate frisbee team.
“I am an international student from China, so at rst I was a little scared about American culture in general and also the style of frisbee,” Su said. “It turned out [to be] a very smooth transition, and everyone was very welcoming.”
Su said she bene ts from going beyond the hedges and traveling to various competitions with Torque.
“We go to di erent cities and have games, and in the a ernoons we’ll leave the eld and go to some co ee shop and do work together,” Su said. “You’ve got to have some change of environment, so I think that’s very helpful for my life at Rice.”
As nals season approaches and many students delve into textbooks and study guides, the team will continue to practice three times a week — an increase from their biweekly practices last season.
Since Figueroa, as a senior, is getting closer to submitting her nal undergraduate assignments, she plans to use ultimate frisbee as a break from studying and encourages her teammates to do the same.
“College can get really overwhelming,” Figueroa said. “Having a team sport or a club that you really enjoy — it’s a builtin support system. Digging into that and taking advantage of it to the fullest is de nitely helpful.”
When Torque’s players go their separate ways a er nal exams end, preparation for
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Players will be sent home with frisbees so that they can practice with family, and Figueroa said she also encourages them to study teams, games and strategy on YouTube.
The national tournament is from May 17-19, when Torque will have a chance to display their skills against some of the best programs in the country. D-III pool play is scheduled to begin May 17, followed by quarter nals and semi nals May 18, should Rice qualify. The championship will take place May 19.
“[We’re] just going back to our basics,” Figueroa said. “It can get really easy to be like, ‘Oh, I’m going to do this crazy trick right now,’ but if you just go step-by-step basics, that can bring you far.”
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Rice club women’s ultimate frisbee team poses for a group photo. The team placed rst in April’s regional tournament and will now prepare to compete at the national tournament from May 17-19 in Burlington, Washington.
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