Championship waters at Rice: Swim and dive win conference championship in dive’s first year
KATHLEEN ORTIZ SPORTS EDITOR
When senior Mimi Filkin touched the wall as the anchor of the 400-freestyle relay, she had no idea why her team was cheering so loudly.
The relay had finished fourth. Assistant coach Lauren Hurt ’24 started to cry and ran over to hug head coach Seth Huston. On the pool deck, other Rice swimmers were cheering and jumping up and down. Filkin, though, was still in the pool.
“I was so tired, my brain just wasn’t working,” Filkin said. “I was like, ‘Why is everyone so excited? We don’t even get a medal, we got fourth. Why is everyone so thrilled?’”
It wasn’t until about two minutes later when senior Amelia Kane started to pull her out of the pool that Filkin realized they had won the conference championship.
Everybody’s contributions the entire year all led to that moment.
Lauren Hurt ASSISTANT COACH
“Dude, we did it,” Kane told Filkin. “You did it. We won.”
The relay team — also including junior Lily Cramer and freshmen Ava Portello and Reese Cole — earned 52 points, putting them 1.5 points ahead of Florida International University to win the meet.
“With a margin of 1.5 points, you have to think that every single thing we did all year meant something,” Hurt said. “All of it added up, from what we did in September to that 400-free relay at the end. Everybody’s contributions the entire year all led to that moment.”
Another key factor to this year’s American Athletic Conference championship was the addition of a dive team. In 2023, the team was fourth in the conference but outscored all teams in swimming points. In 2024, the Owls placed third overall, continuing to stay competitive even without diving points.
In 2023 though, the AAC introduced team diving, where a team of three divers collectively does six total dives across the 1-meter, 3-meter and platform apparatuses. The points from the event, which became a scored part of the conference meet in 2024, count double, similar to swimming relays.
“Almost 20% of the meet is diving,” Huston said. “You just can’t give up 20% of the meet and expect to just completely dominate the other 80%. The teams are just too diversified and good for that.”
Rice had two divers this year: junior Rylee Coyne and graduate student Megan Phillip. Coyne and Phillip, along with sophomore swimmer Catherine Eland who dove in the team diving event to fulfill
Tobey runs unopposed for SA president, Flemister conducts write-in campaign
Trevor Tobey is formally unopposed for Student Association president. If the Hanszen College junior is elected, this will be his fourth year in the SA, following terms as a new student representative, a senator and, most recently, parliamentarian.
This is Tobey’s second presidential campaign, after his loss to Jae Kim last year.
Callum Flemister is running against Tobey as a write-in candidate.
The Duncan College junior and Senate outsider — Flemister has never held a position in the SA — stressed their leadership experience as they vie for student government’s highest office.
Tobey, despite all his years in the SA, claimed to be no defender of the organization as it currently is.
“I would not be running if I thought we were a great organization. [We] did great things — I’ve stayed in this because I know we can do better,” Tobey said in an interview with the Thresher.
Tobey said that he believes his term as president could be the turning point for the SA. In the upcoming election, students will vote on a series of amendments that Tobey spearheaded as parliamentarian,
which, if approved, will significantly change the SA constitution.
“The four constitutional amendments would constitute huge changes to the Student Association that would make it more representative, that would make it more accountable, more transparent and the same, I think, with my election,” Tobey said.
Whether or not the amendments pass, Tobey said his next internal focus would be on the bylaws, which he described as contradictory with both the current constitution and the proposed amendments.
“There’s no accountability, there’s no equitability in that and there’s really no good governance,” Tobey said. “If you want to build an organization that’s effective in advocating, you have to have an organization that’s built for that and operates well internally.”
Other internal changes that Tobey said he aims to implement concern financial responsibility and organizational reform.
“I think it’s really important that we are spending our money on things that are benefiting every student and that we’re being really smart with our money because where we put our money is really where our heart is at, and is where our organization is focused,” Tobey said.
From ballet shoes to beakers: James Shee bridges art and science
GARLICK THRESHER STAFF
While his peers rushed to finish their college applications, James Shee pirouetted into a gap year, trading textbooks for tights to chase his dance dreams.
“There was this one performance of a ballet called Giselle. I was sort of at the decision point,” said Shee, an assistant professor in Rice’s chemistry department. “It moved me so strongly and almost unexpectedly that I
If you don’t have control over your body, you can’t really express some sort of feeling through movement. It’s the same if I don’t understand some nuts and bolts of some kind of theory.
James Shee
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY
realized, ‘Wow, this is a powerful art form and something I want to do for at least a few more years.’”
Shee said he deferred his admission to Princeton University three times, spending his gap years training with the San Francisco Ballet and the National Ballet of Canada.
“The first time I deferred, the dean of admissions didn’t even blink. She actually encouraged me to do it,” Shee said.
Eventually, the time came for Shee to resume his academic career. He earned his undergraduate degree in chemistry from Princeton University in 2014, followed by a doctorate in chemical physics from Columbia University in 2019 and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley in 2023.
Shee said he sees parallels between his two passions, both of which require discipline and mastery of basic techniques.
“If you don’t have control over your body, you can’t really express some sort of feeling through movement,” Shee said. “It’s the same if I don’t understand some nuts and bolts of some kind of theory. I can’t further develop that theory or prove it wrong.”
Shee said some added difficulties came with his transition back to academia as well.
“When I stopped dancing, I knew exactly what my body could do,” Shee said. “But then in research … there’s all kinds of obstacles, and you don’t know what’s happening 99 percent of the time.
“In Toronto, I’d close my eyes if it was a piece of music that I really loved a lot, so I came to the realization
SOPHIE
JAMES CANCELARICH ASST. NEWS EDITOR
AMELIA DAVIS / THRESHER
AMELIA DAVIS / THRESHER
LGBTQ+ student leadership group started by PRIDE, DEI
ABIGAIL CHIU THRESHER STAFF
The Lav Team, an LGBTQ+ leadership and outreach student organization, will be launching its pilot program cocreated by Rice PRIDE and the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
The Lav Team is intended to provide connections and affinity spaces for LGBTQ+ students, especially for specific identity groups and during Orientation Week, according to Juliann Losey, the assistant director for LGBTQ+ Thriving in the DEI office.
Losey said that they developed the idea last semester to build affinity group programming within the residential college system.
“My gut is telling me, ‘It feels like having something similar to Diversity Facilitators, but specifically focused on LGBTQ issues, could be really helpful,’” Losey said.
people together a little bit more?”
Healy said that LGBTQ+ students can find themselves isolated from the outset at Rice if they are unable to connect with peers of a shared identity, something he experienced during his Orientation
JENNIFER LIU / THRESHER
on in the way that non-queer students are afforded that opportunity,” Healy continued.
Losey said that a primary focus of the Lav Team would be outreach within colleges and developing cross-college
empower individual identity groups while providing additional support to Rice PRIDE’s larger events, according to Healy.
Quinn Healy, Lav Team director and general lead for Rice PRIDE, said creating more DEI-focused infrastructure on campus was one of the first ideas brainstormed at a Rice PRIDE meeting after threats to DEI from the Trump administration and the possibility of federal funding cuts.
“What we were thinking about is not only strengthening the sense of community on campus and creating a pathway towards queer leadership and community involvement post-graduation but also creating a space of safety, like a safety net,” said Healy, a Martel College senior.
Rice PRIDE did not respond to requests for comment.
The Lav Team is intended to bridge gaps in the Rice LGBTQ+ community and bring people together in a centralized way, Losey said.
“There’s a lot of one-to-one connection, wherever anybody is at in their LGBTQ+ identity exploration,” Losey said. “They know at least one student leader, or they know one person in the SAFE Office. How can we bring
Week, he said.
“A lot of people find their first social standing and footing through O-Week or through their residential college,” Healy said. “That can be beneficial to a lot of students and harmful to many others.
collaboration.
“I’m hoping that each of the people who serve as leaders will do something called Rainbow Chats, like holding an affinity space,” Losey said.
For me, lavender represents resilience, community and the courage to center intersectional inclusion.
“I see Lav Team playing an important supplementary social role, giving space for very specific identity groups to hold power on campus and to be in charge of their own spaces, rather than having just Rice PRIDE looking over everything,” Healy said. “As someone who has been in Rice PRIDE, we just don’t have the bandwidth, or right now the funding, to do everything we want to do. With a group like this, we have extra students who can assist in the planning of the biggest events like Pride Week.”
The Lav Team is also different from the Diversity Facilitators program, which Healy said similarly doesn’t have the resources to represent every marginalized identity on campus.
Losey sees the Lav Team being involved with largescale programming that can become annual events such as a Lavender Graduation, which is a graduation ceremony specifically to celebrate LGBTQ+ students.
“Sometimes it’s the only graduation where somebody feels comfortable using their chosen name, or if they have a partner and they’re not out to their relatives they’ll invite their partner to this graduation,” Losey said.
Queer students, especially from very specific identities, like trans students of color, have a very uniquely difficult time creating that social net early on through O-Week, if they aren’t lucky enough to have someone of their identity and close proximity to them.
Juliann Losey
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR LGBTQ+ THRIVING, OFFICE OF DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUDION
“In the residential focus, we’re looking at creating social cohesion and a sense of belonging and safety very early
“The Lav Team leader from Jones [College] could be like, ‘Hey, I know a lot of stuff about bisexual and pansexual people. I would love to hold the affinity space,’ and somebody from Lovett could be like, ‘Well, I know a lot of stuff about trans issues.’”
While the Lav Team was developed between Losey in the DEI office and Rice PRIDE, it will not have as wide a purpose as Rice PRIDE. It will aim to
The team and graduation are named after lavender due to the color’s symbolism in the LGBTQ+ community.
“It was once used as a discreet way for queer people to identify and connect with one another, representing androgyny, beauty and queerness in a way that was safe and inclusive,” Losey wrote in an email to the Thresher. “For me, lavender represents resilience, community and the courage to center intersectional inclusion.
“It’s a nod to the past while also symbolizing the ongoing work of building a more inclusive future,” Losey wrote. “That’s why I chose it for the Lav Team — it’s a name that honors history while inspiring us to keep moving forward.”
Alt-rock band bôa to headline Moody X-Fest
HONGTAO HU
THRESHER STAFF
The third Moody X-Fest will host English alt-rock band bôa as the headline act. The festival on April 25 will be bôa’s first stop in the U.S. in 2025, before they continue their Whiplash tour in Dallas.
According to Andy Osborn, bôa was chosen by Rice students in a poll conducted in fall 2024.
“We had 1,560 responses to the survey in the fall,” said Osborn, the program manager of educational initiatives in the provost’s office.
“Given all these factors, we are thrilled that the highly ranked bôa has been booked.”
Osborn said that the Student Center and Development and Alumni Relations Division coordinated with several artists to negotiate costs and scheduling, along with partnering with an unnamed talent agency to choose bôa.
interested student organizations to apply to perform at the festival.
The official Moody X-Fest t-shirt will also be designed by a Rice student, Osborn said. The designer of the chosen shirt will win a $250 cash prize.
“The t-shirt design competition is another new opportunity for increased student input/involvement,” Osborn said. “It’s been exciting to see the X-Fest t-shirts worn by students across campus the last couple of years, and we want to celebrate student creativity by featuring student artwork on the official 2025 Moody X-Fest t-shirt.”
We had 1,560 responses to the survey in the fall. Given all these factors, we are thrilled that the highly ranked bôa has been booked.
Andy Osborn PROGRAM MANAGER OF EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES
X-Fest will be held in Founder’s Court, rain or shine. This year marks the third celebration of the Moody Foundation’s $100 million donation to Rice, with GROUPLOVE and Jeremy Zucker headlining in previous years.
In addition to bôa, the festival will host five student acts. For the first time, there will be an official application for
bôa is most notable for their song “Duvet,” which is the opening theme for the anime series “Serial Experiments Lain.”
Caitlyn Ladd said she discovered the band through the anime, near the apex of “Duvet’s” reemergence and virality on social media near the end of 2021.
“One of my friends was really into ‘Serial Experiments Lain,’ around the same time that “Duvet” bôa song was, like, blowing up on TikTok,” said Ladd, a Wiess College sophomore. “After watching, I just started listening to all of their music. [Seeing the announcement], I texted my friend and I said, ‘Holy shit, it’s bôa!’”
New media studies major in the mix for next spring
ABIGAIL CHIU
THRESHER STAFF
A media studies major is in development as an expansion of the existing cinema and media studies minor, with the proposal to be submitted to the University Committee on the Undergraduate Curriculum in March. If approved, classes for the major would become available in spring 2026.
Lida Oukaderova, an associate professor of art history and film and co-director of media studies, said that the department had always considered developing the minor into a major, but needed more faculty to make it happen.
Martin Blumenthal-Barby, professor of German and film studies and codirector of media studies, said he agreed with Oukaderova that more faculty was
needed before the major was developed.
The arrival of Michael Dango, an associate professor of English, and Hayley O’Malley, an assistant professor of art history, enabled them to start expanding the major, according to Blumenthal-Barby.
“They came with expertise in those fields, and that basically was the moment where the dean felt we really have enough people now,” Blumenthal-Barby said. “It’s nationwide. It’s one of the fields in the humanities that’s actually growing.”
Additionally, Oukaderova said the construction of Sarofim Hall for the Department of Art could provide facilities for production classes.
The proposal is scheduled to be submitted to the CUC in March to undergo comments and revision before final approval by faculty, according to
Oukaderova.
“[It will probably] go through the [Faculty Senate] approval in the fall, and then we hope it would start in the spring semester,” Oukaderova said.
The major would require two introductory courses in film studies and media studies, with three possible tracks: cultural theory, film history and production, Blumenthal-Barby said. The department is still in the process of deciding whether these tracks would be formalized.
The current cinema and media studies minor does not have a production component or require any courses in filmmaking or media development. The major would expand on the existing minor to be broader and more applicable to the job market.
sophomore, attended the discussion and said she would be interested in taking the major as soon as it became available with an emphasis on film production.
“I applied as a [visual and dramatic arts] major and like right when I got here, they were like, ‘Actually, we don’t have that anymore. You’re an art major now,’” Davis said. “I’ve been waiting for them to create something like this, because I’m more interested in film, and the new art major does not have that specialization.”
I applied as a [visual and dramatic arts] major and like right when I got here, they were like, ‘Actually, we don’t have that anymore. You’re an art major now.’
Emaline Davis WILL RICE COLLEGE SOPHOMORE
“We need to respond to the fact that students are understandably concerned with what they will do after graduating,” Blumenthal-Barby said. “The idea is not exclusively, but among other things, to offer something that will allow people to work in certain industries in the job market, such as journalism, media and so forth.”
A hands-on capstone experience would also be required for the major, such as an internship, making a short film, podcast or other product.
“We also think it’s extremely important to have hands-on experience to be able to have a career in media,” Oukaderova said.
Oukaderova and Dango hosted a discussion with humanities students interested in the major Feb. 20, where they asked for opinions on the major and took suggestions for classes and structure.
Emaline Davis, a Will Rice College
Oukaderova took notes throughout the discussion and said she values student input as the department works to finalize the proposal.
“It was so inspiring to see how [students said] ‘More production courses, more theory, give us psychoanalysis’ because Rice is still a pretty strong tech school, a lot of students here focus on STEM fields, understandably so,” Oukaderova said. “We hope that there are committed core students who are deeply interested in [the major] and who take the classes not because it’s a Distribution I requirement, but because they’re really committed to that content.”
Oukaderova said she views the major as necessary because media is completely woven into everyday lives, and media literacy is crucial to interacting with the world.
“Even for students who don’t necessarily want to work in media-related fields, I imagine it would entice interest to just understand, on a deeper level and from a historical perspective, what it means to live in a media-saturated world, and what kind of responsibilities you carry as a person, as a citizen,” Oukaderova said.
TBAA AGENCY
GUILLIAN PAGUILA / THRESHER
Fondren Library partners with two new publishers to
decrease research publishing costs
JOSH STALLINGS FOR THE THRESHER
Fondren Library announced they reached two new agreements with the Association for Computing Machinery and the Royal Society for Chemistry in an email Feb. 11. According to the email, these agreements will expand the accessibility of Rice publications and alleviate the financial burden within Rice research.
The agreements mean Rice-affiliated authors have six free-to-publish organizations available, and increase the number of publishers with open access agreements to 13. Openaccess research is available for anyone to read without paying a fee.
to pay for publishing as well.”
Researchers can publish in the RSC in either gold open-access journals, where anyone can access publications free of charge, and hybrid open-access journals where authors can choose whether their work is available through free or paid access. Fondren will now pay for publishing costs to open-access publications.
We believe strongly that research should be open, and that it benefits more people that way.
“They call that an article processing charge … [Authors] get that type of fee to get their article essentially published open access … and the library pays … for Rice authors to be able to publish so they wouldn’t have to pay those fees with their grant money,” Vieira said.
Scott Vieira FONDREN HEAD OF COLLECTIONS AND CONTENT STRATEGY
Scott Vieira, head of collections and content strategy at Fondren, said these agreements come amid several years worth of change in academia where more publishers have begun offering openaccess subscription models to libraries.
“Libraries traditionally have been paying for subscriptions that we call read access. So, we buy subscriptions to journals and other content so that users can access it,” Vieira said. “The ones that are with ACM and RSC … They call them transformative agreements … In addition to paying for access, we are also starting
In 2023, the ACM’s governing body unanimously voted to transition all publications to an open-access model by the end of 2025, according to the ACM’s website. ACM universities pay an annual fee to support the cost of paper publishing, and fees increase based on the university’s publishing output. However, this change means higher prices for all currently subscribed universities.
Vieira said that in the ACM, Rice produces a similar amount of research as institutions like Duke University whose libraries have greater endowments than Rice’s. These deals may mean an increased cost for Fondren, but Vieira
said they make financial sense for the library.
“[ACM] came to us, they gave us a five-year kind of gradual increase, so we know what the increase is going to be, and it’ll be five years until we’re paying,” Vieira said.
These deals also allow Fondren to discuss sharing the cost of publisher subscriptions with university departments, Vieira said.
“We’re still having conversations with the Computer Science department about the possibility of cost sharing … Since they’re benefiting from this, to help us be able to continue this deal, because, again, our resources are finite,” Vieira said. “There’s a lot of libraries
thinking about having conversations with administration … about some of the packages that are not like ACM, that are much more interdisciplinary.”
The agreements have been in the works for over a year, and Vieira said that recent events regarding NIH research grant cuts did not motivate them. Programs like these aim to decrease the burden on professors’ grants, even if publishing costs account for a small portion of research funds.
“[W]ith the political situation, things could change really fast,” Vieira said. “The library has a strong position on open access. We believe strongly that research should be open, and that it benefits more people that way.”
DEI unclear amid federal bans
reporting violations of this new policy to to the ED Office of Civil Rights.
A letter from the Department of Education, issued Feb. 14, warned schools to eliminate race-based programs within 14 days. According to the letter, the ED intends to “take appropriate measures to assess compliance” with these guidelines.
The letter cites the recent Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard lawsuit concluding that race-based affirmative action violates the 14th amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. The ED said it interprets the ruling as a ban on racebased preferences that have “emanated through every facet of academia.”
Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights at the ED, specifically denounced the consideration of race in housing, admissions, financial aid, hiring and training, calling these endeavors “a shameful echo of a darker period in this country’s history.” A press release on the ED’s website encourages
In an email to students sent on Feb. 21, President Reggie DesRoches reassured students of Rice’s commitment to diversity, equity & inclusion, though he said the university will be complying with federal and state law. In a Feb. 20 statement to the Thresher, a university spokesperson said Rice does not “foresee changes to university operations.”
Although it is unclear how this order will affect existing DEI programs at Rice, the communication identified DEI programs as stigmatizing students who belong to particular racial groups. Trainor provided the example of universities eliminating standardized testing to increase racial diversity in admitted classes as an example of a violation.
DesRoches said the university is “closely monitoring” legal developments and are working with peer institutions to stay informed on current events both in Texas and nationwide.
NDIDI NWOSU / THRESHER
PRASI DESAI SENIOR WRITER
BRYAN MENDOZA / THRESHER
EDITORIAL STAFF
What is an endorsement anyway?
This week’s opinion page is a bit more crowded than usual. Beyond our standard editorial and guest opinions, we’ve reserved one of this week’s extra four pages for our annual SA endorsements. Just as national newspapers endorse candidates for federal races and the Houston Chronicle endorses local candidates, we endorse candidates for Student Association elections.
The Thresher as a whole doesn’t endorse candidates — the Editorial Board does. Our editorials and news coverage are separate and written independently. You’ll see that no one reporting on SA races in the news section is a member of the Editorial Board, meaning that our coverage is entirely objective. Our endorsements are opinionated; our reporting isn’t. Similarly, if members of the Editorial Board are writing in the news section about a topic we are also running an editorial on, they recuse themselves from the editorial.
Every year, the Editorial Board sits down with candidates for contested SA
executive positions to learn more about their experiences, platforms and goals for the role. We weigh the merits and flaws of each
In an election like this one, with multiple positions uncontested or empty, we share our informed opinons to help you make your decisions.
candidate, coming to decisions as a board.
Endorsing a candidate doesn’t mean we believe in their entire platform, nor does declining to endorse a candidate mean we disagree with everything they stand for. In fact, we sometimes use endorsements to point to where we think candidates should go further on their platforms and what we
The Thresher must stop endorsing
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 reflect 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.
The Thresher holds a clear stranglehold on Rice-wide media and, as such, its Editorial Board should not endorse candidates in the Student Association elections.
The discussion around media’s political endorsements resurged during the most recent election cycle, when Jeff Bezos, owner of The Washington Post, killed the paper’s endorsement of former Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential run.
OPINION
To be clear, I do not disagree with the general practice of media endorsements in political elections, and I categorically disagree with Bezos’ actions. However, I believe the relationship between Student Association and the Thresher is fundamentally different than the relationship between legacy media and national politics.
Dating back to 1916, the Thresher is Rice’s first student publication. Though it has long since been absorbed under Rice’s general umbrella of student media, along with ktru and the Campanile yearbook, the Thresher is the only journalistic outlet that routinely covers campus events. All of this is to say one thing: the Thresher holds a unique and unshared platform at Rice.
Individuals searching for news and
hope to see from them.
This is especially relevant for these elections, given that only one position on the Executive Committee is officially contested. Rather than helping you to choose between two candidates, we hope to provide more information about all candidates and what they will do with their position. Similarly, we write endorsements on ballot measures, including the five constitutional amendments up for a vote this election cycle.
This year and in the past, the Editorial Board includes section editors, managing editors and the editor-in-chief, whose jobs are to know about and inform our campus community.
Our goal is not to force students to agree with us. In an election like this one, with multiple positions uncontested or empty, we share our informed opinions to help you make your decisions. At the end of the day, only one body can decide the vote — the students.
SA candidates
endorsements in national politics have access to a plethora of media outlets, which provide individual points of view and widely different takes across the political spectrum. In contrast, as the most prominent campus publication, the Thresher issues a centralized position to the entire university, with little room for comment or dissent.
Editor’s Note: This guest opinion has been cut off for print. Read the full article at ricethresher.org.
Ayush Suresh
I ran against Trevor last year. Here’s why I’m asking you to vote for him.
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 reflect 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.
I ran against Trevor last year. Here’s why I am asking you to vote for him.
My name is Jae Kim, and I am the current Student Association President. In this position, I represent the interests of over 4,700 undergraduate students to university administration and preside over Senate meetings. I am writing this op-ed to strongly endorse Trevor Tobey’s campaign to succeed in my position.
First and most importantly, I have worked with few people more dedicated than Trevor during my 4 years in student government at Rice.
Trevor went above and beyond in his role as Parliamentarian, spearheading the most comprehensive constitutional changes the SA has seen in years, and thus helping build a stronger foundation for the organization. He has also attended almost every executive cabinet meeting — for which his attendance was not required — to contribute to the
various other projects that we were working on.
My main concern with Trevor’s campaign last year was an overreliance on financial resources to address campus issues, but I know that after this year, he has the experience to be able to utilize not just financial resources, but advocacy, collaboration, and strategic thinking to achieve change.
Although I applaud the write-in candidate, Callum Flemister, for their desire to serve the Rice community, I have serious doubts about their qualifications. I do not know Callum personally, but from their website, it seems that they have never held a leadership position within Duncan College, let alone the Student Association.
The Student Association is a complex organization composed of over 4,700 undergraduate students, 12 college presidents, 12 college senators, seven commissions, and over 30 appointed positions, managing a roughly $400,000 budget. The SA President must guide and coordinate with all such units, as well as navigate complex campus bureaucracy to interface with countless administrative offices.
I have serious doubts that Callum will be able to do so. Importantly, I don’t recall
Callum attending a single Senate meeting this year, while Trevor has attended almost every single one.
Two of the biggest barriers to meaningful change at Rice, or any other university, are the short one-year terms and rapid changeover of student leaders. Many significant changes cannot reasonably happen within one SA President’s term, which makes it all the more important that the SA President has abundant experience and strong institutional knowledge from previous years.
This executive board and president’s cohort has made a lot of progress on issues ranging from 24/7 Fondren to late-night dining, and from supporting cultural clubs to protecting free speech. I know that this progress will not be lost under Trevor.
Editor’s Note: This guest opinion has been cut for print. Read the full article at ricethresher.org.
GUEST
Trevor Tobey for SA president
Due to his previous Student Association experience, knowledge about SA logistics and passion for transparency, we, the Thresher Editorial Board, endorse Trevor Tobey for SA president.
If you have déjà vu, so do we. Tobey ran for this very position in last year’s race, when we endorsed his opponent — nowPresident Jae Kim. Our editorial board has now spent over a year getting to know Tobey and his policies. We can confidently say that his platform has evolved remarkably since last year, and we have more confidence in his ability to enact change.
Having served as a new student representative, Hanszen College senator and, most recently, SA parliamentarian, Tobey has a true understanding of how to navigate the SA’s complicated mechanisms.
And, despite his loss last year, we welcome Tobey’s commitment to the SA. He has a vision to make a difference; he has returned this year with knowledge of how the administration works, adjusted the feasibility of his plans and researched his proposals more.
of their lack of SA experience.
Last year, we questioned why Tobey wasn’t running for treasurer — his platform was all about the money. This year, he seems to have a larger understanding of the president’s role, proposing policies about social life, administrative neutrality, latenight dining, improved efficiency and, yes, still more money.
We’ve clashed with Tobey before over his financial policies, and still believe many of his proposals — including ones on the ballot today — could use further work. We still worry that his priority is the money, when there’s so much more at stake. If Tobey is elected, we encourage him to remember that the SA is larger than the $400,000 it collects.
Our editorial board has now spent over a year getting to know Tobey and his policies. We can confidently say that his platform has evolved remarkably since last year.
Simply put, Tobey shows up. In a time where we constantly bemoan the SA’s lack of engagement, from plummeting voter turnout to empty races, we firmly believe the SA needs someone like Tobey — someone who cares.
We applaud write-in candidate Callum Flemister for their eagerness to make a difference, and believe they truly have the capacity to do so. However, the SA — for better or for worse — is riddled with bureaucracy. It demands candidates with experience, and with innate knowledge of how the SA works.
Flemister shares many of Tobey’s goals, like increasing the accessibility of study locations and engaging with the student body, but we feel Tobey’s experience and knowledge make him more likely to follow through on his promises. While Flemister has conducted an impressive write-in campaign, we fear it may fall short because
EDITORIAL
At the Pub debate, he stressed the importance of political neutrality. While we agree that the SA should first reflect the interests of campus, we also acknowledge there is mass uncertainty surrounding higher education in the U.S.: from federal funding cuts to diversity, equity and inclusion. We encourage Tobey to constantly consider what neutrality truly means, and to continue fostering open lines of dialogue between the SA, the student body and cultural clubs.
In our endorsement interview, we asked Tobey a question: As a formally uncontested candidate, how will he build trust among a student body that has not decisively elected him? It’s a question that several spates of uncontested candidates have had to grapple with.
He didn’t quite answer the question. But it’s true that few students know how the SA works, and even fewer seem to care. Whether he’s elected decisively — or apathetically — if Tobey assumes the presidency, we encourage him to remember his own words from last year:
“If you ask the average student, I think they would have a hard time answering ‘What has the Student Association done to make your time on campus better? I think that’s problematic.”
Sandhu for Internal Vice President Mixed
Due to her experience as the Student Association Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission head, we, the Thresher Editorial Board, endorse Sohani Sandhu for Internal Vice President.
Sandhu, a junior, has spent all three years of her time at Rice involved with the SA, as a commission head for the past two years and a McMurtry College New Student Representative prior to that. In an interview with the editorial board, Sandhu rightfully noted that quick changeover in the SA makes it difficult to accomplish long-term tasks.
We believe her history of advocacy and experience with the SA will poise her well to challenge these roadblocks.
think Nair would make a great future IVP, and encourage her to join the SA, gain some experience and try again.
We appreciate Sandhu’s comprehensive platform, which tackles three areas where we agree the SA should improve. Sandhu aims to improve connection between the SA and student body, increase SA Commission impact and ensure that projects, especially NSRled ones, are followed up on across years.
Notably, Sandhu is thinking critically about the SA’s performance.
We applaud Sandhu’s opponent, McMurtry first-year representative Ananya A. Nair, for her candidacy. We resonate with many parts of her platform, especially her philosophy that the SA should approach the students — not vice versa. As a freshman, Nair can bring a new perspective to the SA.
But, she’s younger and greener than Sandhu, and we feel her policies could be fleshed out further. We find that some of her proposals, such as standardizing dining hours and providing student jobs in the serveries, are already being implemented by the relevant departments. However, we
Many of the SA’s successful recent initiatives, such as installing menstrual product dispensers in restrooms and servery composting bins, have been the work of commissions. Sandhu’s firsthand experience with SA commissions, then, will be crucial in an IVP position in charge of overseeing them.
Notably, Sandhu is thinking critically about the SA’s performance, readily admitting that it hasn’t engaged students in the way it should — a topic we’ve written extensively about. Acknowledging the SA’s previous failures is an important first step to identifying where it can improve. To that end, Sandhu’s proposals to send out summaries of SA work, especially when it comes to dense topics such as constitutional reform, are an actionable way to increase this engagement.
Vote ‘yes’ on Amendment 1
Amendment #1 proposes 23 changes that improve the constitution’s grammar, remove typos and clarify language. We encourage voters to approve this amendment, which will strengthen the constitution’s efficacy.
There’s more than one person in the current slate of candidates who are echoing past calls for greater accessibility to SA, including by cutting through a lot of fancy jargon. Amendment #1 is an exact step in that direction — and that’s something we can get behind.
Vote ‘no’ on Amendment 2
Amendment #2 expands presidential capabilities, including the addition of a veto power, and further details the impeachment process. While we were first skeptical about a presidential veto, we appreciate that Senate voting members can override the veto — and we appreciate that the president, a non-voting member, will be able to make statements on key legislation.
However, we urge voters to reject this amendment because of one phrase, in Article 4, Section 2.1.4: “ultimate authority.”
This section states the SA shall have “ultimate authority” over its budget, the Blanket Tax that it distributes and, notably, “the Blanket Tax Organizations.”
As previously stated, we are unsure what this means, and are wary of language that seems to reflect an overstep of power. The Senate does, in fact, already have final say over BTO funding, as reflected in the current constitution.
Is there a difference between having final authority over a BTO’s funding and the organization itself? We understand the former, and protest the latter. We are unsure where the SA decides to draw the line.
The amendment’s reasoning — “placing the final authority in the hands of the Senate” — implies this is a new addition. Precedent, however, states otherwise. With still more questions than answers, we urge voters to mark ‘no’ on their ballots.
Vote ‘no’ on Amendment 3
Financial transparency is a fair goal. Removing Blanket Tax Organization input from the Blanket Tax committee isn’t the way to do it. Vote ‘no’ on amendment #3.
We disagree with the idea that Blanket Tax officers serving on the committee create a conflict of interest. Frankly, we believe Blanket Tax Organizations should have a place on the committee that funds them, and the student body as a whole. It’s about having a seat at the table.
While a Thresher representative has served on the committee for the past few years, we want to emphasize that our opinion doesn’t come from a place of self-interest. We would have been more than happy to rotate
our year-long seat with another student media representative, or officers from the Rice Women’s Resource Center, Civic Duty, Rice Rally or any of the other organizations that represent countless students. No such conversations were had.
We would like to add that the SA itself receives Blanket Tax funding. Stacking the committee with SA officers, without much outside checks or balances, practically ensures the SA’s budget is self-funded and self-approved.
Some may argue that the SA is a deliberative body, elected in part to specifically oversee the $400,000 collected annually from students. Typically this is true, but we find it difficult to argue that SA officials are uniformly reflective of the student body, when nobody even ran for treasurer until the night before campaigning ended.
Vote ‘yes’ on Amendment 4
On your Student Association ballot this year, you’ll also see amendment #4: to improve election regulations. Here’s why we’re encouraging you to vote ‘yes.’ If adopted, amendment #4 would clarify the rules on election violations and campus referenda. The amendment proposes a deletion that seems unsettling at first glance: If a sitting candidate is found in violation of election rules, they will not instantly be “removed from that office.” However, this proposal actually eliminates a possible loophole in the impeachment procedure, ensuring that sitting candidates are removed according to formal impeachment policy.
We’ve written cautionary editorials against constitutional amendments in the past (and present), but if anything, amendment #4 helps clarify and update a document that is in dire need to reflect today’s student body.
Vote ‘yes’ on Amendment 5
Amendment 5, if passed, will raise the Blanket Tax from $85 to $90. We encourage you to sacrifice that $5 and vote ‘yes.’
We agree with SA Treasurer Thomas Ngo, who said that recent inflation has put undue pressure on the Blanket Tax Organizations, whose funding is stretched thinner every year. The Blanket Tax was set at $85 in 2015. For what it’s worth, that’s equal to $115.04 today. A $5 increase seems much more palatable than a $30 one.
With that $5 increase — much lower, we might add, than the $20,000 that tuition has risen over the past decade — the Blanket Tax funding base would increase by about $22,000. That money will help keep beloved campus traditions alive: Beer Bike, Africaye! and ktru concerts.
BTOs are organizations by the students, for the students — all of them. We view this relatively small increase as an investment in ourselves.
EDITORIAL
SA candidates debate Blanket Tax, DEI
“I understand what it means to not be represented and to not feel like there’s someone for you.”
Candidates for Student Association president, internal vice president and external vice president took to Pub’s stage Feb. 24 for the annual SA debate, hosted by the Thresher. They answered questions about their candidacy, considered the future of the SA and debated everything from budget concerns to politics.
Dastur shares External Vice President platform
Candidates Lajward Zahra and Mahtab Dastur were slated to run against each other in the upcoming SA elections until Monday night, when Zahra announced she was dropping out of the race due to “unanticipated personal circumstances.” She endorsed Dastur’s candidacy before stepping off the stage.
Dastur, a Duncan College freshman, said she is using the acronym “CAMPP” to represent her campaign: communication, advocacy, meal swipes, free printing and passion funds.
During her term, Dastur, who is a Duncan New Student Representative, said she hopes to instate post-Senate press briefings, credits that can be used for printing and a ‘VP Passion Fund’ to support students who want to host nonclub affiliated events.
Although a freshman, Dastur said her role as NSR, along with her involvement in the Sexual Violence and Harassment Policy Commission and time spent shadowing SA Vice Presidents Crystal Unegbu and Asianna Junge have helped her prepare for her advocacycentered candidacy.
Sandhu and Nair face off for Internal Vice President
Sohani Sandhu and Ananya Nair presented differing views on student representation, accessibility of student government and the presence of politics within the SA.
Sandhu, a McMurtry College junior, cited her experiences as NSR and chair of the diversity, equity and inclusion commission as a basis for her platform. Many students don’t get involved with the SA because they don’t understand its mechanisms, she said.
“Now that we’ve laid the foundation of an SA that does things, I want to make sure we are reaching out to the student body and asking them what we can do for them,” Sandhu said.
Nair, a McMurtry freshman, said she agrees with the widespread impression that the SA is inaccessible. She plans to be a “hands-on IVP,” she said, speaking directly with students and creating opportunities to increase involvement in the SA.
When the question of political statements arose, Nair said the SA should accurately represent the political sentiments of Rice students — but localized issues like dietary inclusivity, campus transportation options and security should take precedence.
I’m non-binary. I’m a person of color. My father was an immigrant. I don’t think that these are things that are inherently political, but I also know that there are people that refuse to talk on it.
Callum Flemister SA WRITE-IN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
“I’m the only undergraduate Zoroastrian on campus, and that’s how it’s been my entire life,” Dastur said.
“Before we start taking political stances, I think we should always take everyone’s input,” Nair said. “We have so many day-today problems that students are facing, so we need to first fix those issues.”
Sandhu also said she would prioritize representing a range of political opinions, and that she values the SA’s role in amplifying student opinions.
“The Student Association is there for the student body,” Sandhu said. “When the student body has something that they want to say, even if it can be considered political … they should be given that platform to do that.”
President candidates, Tobey and write-in Flemister, discuss SA experience
Trevor Tobey and write-in candidate Callum Flemister discussed their visions for the presidency, and answered questions about funding, public party restrictions and diversity.
Flemister, a Duncan College junior, first addressed their write-in candidacy, and said they weren’t previously aware of the elections timeline.
Flemister has not previously been involved in the SA, and said they aim to bring a new perspective to the position.
“I think that we need someone new and someone who is excited about change to come in and reexcite the Student Association,” Flemister said.
The debate marked Tobey’s second time on the Pub stage.
“I think that the idea that this is a power grab is just not factual,” Tobey said. “I think most people would agree that we want elected representatives … having the final say over the [Blanket Tax] budget.”
Tobey said more carefully evaluating spending and rotating ‘themes’ for Initiative Fund allocations could improve Blanket Tax use.
Flemister questioned how the SA receives its funding, suggesting the SA ask administration for money instead of relying only on the Blanket Tax.
“The only way we can really raise the Blanket Tax and get more money for the Student Association is by charging students more,” Tobey countered. “We can’t just ask administration to give us that money.”
It’s important that we as a Student Association are not taking explicitly political stances ... I think we could do a better job promoting understanding on national and international issues, not necessarily endorsing a side.
Trevor Tobey
SA
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
Tobey, who unsuccessfully vied for the presidency last year, said his experiences as NSR, senator and parliamentarian has helped prepare him for the presidency.
“I’ve seen [the SA] firsthand, and I know how this works. I’ve seen what it means to make a proposal and present that to administration,” Tobey said. “I’m ready to carry that out immediately.”
Tobey also responded to an audience question about the four constitutional amendments that he recently initiated, including one that restructures the Blanket Tax Committee. He said the change will mitigate potential conflicts of interest with Blanket Tax Organization officers participating in the committee that distributes $400k annually.
Flemister also emphasized the importance of DEI, and said the SA should help foster environments where students feel safe and accepted — regardless of national attitudes toward diversity programming.
“I’m nonbinary. I’m a person of color. My father was an immigrant. I don’t think that these are things that are inherently political, but I also know that there are people that refuse to talk on it,” Flemister said. “If it is affecting the students on campus … then it is the responsibility of the Student Association.”
On the other hand, Tobey expressed the SA’s need to foster political dialogues, but said it should avoid explicit partisanship.
“It’s important that we as a Student Association are not taking explicitly political stances, because the student body is not unanimous on these issues,” Tobey said. “I think we could do a better job promoting understanding on national and international issues, not necessarily endorsing a side.”
NOA BERZ ASST. FEATURES EDITOR
RICHARD LI / THRESHER SA election candidates share their platforms and plans during the Thresher’s annual SA debate.
Tobey said some of his financial goals are increasing initiative fund money and supporting cultural clubs. On day one, Tobey said that his first focus would be on the budget. Next, Tobey said he wants to improve the culture of the SA.
“You see the senators and college presidents who feel like they can’t make a difference and have a meaningful impact,” Tobey said. “The way you change that is you inspire that. You show them ways that they can get involved and make a difference.”
Finally, Tobey said that he wants to promote inclusive dialogue and allow for more student feedback.
“I think in the Senate, the format and the culture is often not conducive to people sharing their ideas,” Tobey said. “We need to fix that format and that culture because it’s not conducive to innovation. It’s not conducive to coming up with new ideas that are serving students.”
His proposals for this include creating a time for public comment at Senate meetings and ensuring to meet with all students who want to meet with him.
Outside of internal changes, some of Tobey’s campaign promises include the 24-hour operation
printing credits, protecting public parties, sustainable cultural club funding, strengthening mental health resources, lowering parking costs, more flexibility in meal plans and better latenight dining, according to his campaign website.
I would not be running if I thought we were a great organization. [We] did great things — I’ve stayed in this because I know we can do better.
Trevor Tobey
Tobey will be appearing as the only candidate for president on the ballot, but he said that a lack of competition does not change the mission of the SA.
SA PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
uncontested.
“The whole point of student government is to allocate the tax and to allocate your blanket tax. That’s the whole setup,” Tobey said. “And so the competitiveness of that will vary and it will change, but that doesn’t change the mission of the organization, and it doesn’t change the very structure. That’s the whole point.”
However, students may also choose to write in Flemister to their ballots, who said they are conducting a write-in campaign because they missed the deadline to enter the race as an official candidate. Flemister said that they were only aware of the position after the deadline since they did not see any communication about running that was presented outside of Senate.
Another reason Flemister ran was because they said they did not believe that the presidency should be
“When I learned that there was only one presidential candidate, I was like, I don’t think any position in student government at Rice, especially one that can be as important as Student Association president, should be uncontested,” Flemister said. “I had this drive to run. I know it’s a hard battle, but I wasn’t going to let that completely derail my attempt to become president.”
Flemister’s campaign promises, according to their campaign website, include more accessible study spots, engaging the student body, investing in stress relief infrastructure on campus — with a proposal for a campus playground — and clearer communication between administration and students. Like Tobey, they are also advocating for 24-hour operation of Fondren Library.
For leadership experience, Flemister points to the “Diversity Union” they founded at their predominantly white high school. Flemister said that the people of color at their school were scattered and disconnected.
I had this drive to run. I know it’s a hard battle, but I wasn’t going to let that completely derail my attempt to become president.
Callum Flemister
SA WRITE-IN CANDIDATE
“In my final year, I wanted to leave behind a group where people could congregate so that they can share stories, talk to each other, and we succeeded. I’m so glad to say that two and a half, three years later,
the group has only grown,” Flemister said.
At Rice, Flemister said they have leadership experience as an engineering teaching assistant, an Owl Access leader, a Beer Bike jack captain and through an internship.
“I think even though I have not had the conventional path that people would expect from a Student Association president, that does not mean that I have not learned to grow and how to bring it to your campus as a professional leader,” Flemister said.
VIE FOR AMID MINUTE CHANGES
Dastur runs for EVP uncontested after Zahra withdraws from race
CHIU THRESHER STAFF
Mahtab Dastur, a current Duncan College New Student Representative, is campaigning for External Vice President uncontested. She was previously running against McMurtry College sophomore Lajward Zahra, who announced her withdrawal from the race, citing “unforeseen personal circumstances,” at the Student Association debate Feb. 24. At the debate, Zahra endorsed Dastur for the role.
Dastur, a freshman, said her experience included her term as an NSR, where she served on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission.
“I shadowed the [IVP], and so I know how the commissions work both when you’re in a commission, and then also when you’re leading the commissions,” Dastur said. “ I’m involved in a few initiatives that [the Executive Board is] working on. So I know the relationship between the SA with students, the SA and administration, the SA and businesses.”
She said that one of her main goals is launching a ‘VP Passion Fund’ from the SA’s general project fund. The fund would allow individuals to host events open to all Rice students to support their passions or initiatives without requiring club sponsorship.
“The VP Passion Fund is there to lend a hand, to reach out to other resources, see how else we can support this initiative or this passion that you have,” Dastur said.
Dastur said she would also advocate for free printing, increasing the number of donated meal swipes and transparency between the SA and student body.
If the students don’t believe in the SA, it’s very difficult for the SA to then represent those students.
Mahtab Dastur
SA EVP CANDIDATE
Dastur emphasized student connection and representation as a part of her platform.
“If the students don’t believe in the SA, it’s very difficult for the SA to then represent those students,” Dastur said. “A big portion of that is communication and transparency, being very clear with the student body about what we’re trying to do, being very clear that really it’s them that give us the power.”
Dastur said she hopes to increase the SA’s accessibility and student input. She said she wants to host weekly office hours and monthly roundtables to improve communication. For students who wouldn’t
feel comfortable speaking in person, she said she planned on setting up a box in the Rice Memorial Center where individuals could submit anonymous feedback.
“I plan on holding something along the lines of a press briefing after every Senate — giving a chance [for] reporters, student body members and club representatives to listen to what was discussed during the Senate meeting,” Dastur wrote in an email to the Thresher. “Alongside this, I also would enact a summary email of sorts going out to all members of the student body about what was discussed in Senate, so that everyone remains updated.”
The EVP role may change if the student body approves Constitutional Amendment number 2, with the EVP now overseeing commissions and liaising with university and community “entities” to strengthen the Student Association’s influence. Dastur said she would embrace this change to connect with students more directly.
Dastur said she chose to run for EVP with these potential changes in mind.
Dastur said she is confident in her ability to fulfill her promises.
“I wanted to be NSR for the same reason that I ask the [Housing & Dining] workers what their names are, and that I say good morning to them,” Dastur said. “We have an opportunity at Rice to be a space for individuals and to be home for everybody. And so we don’t necessarily have to connect with everyone, but we can certainly create a space where everyone feels connected to someone.”
“I really like outreach and advocacy as a whole,” Dastur said. “The IVP position, if the constitutional amendments are passed, will become more operational, and the EVP will become more outreach and advocacy driven.”
AMELIA DAVIS / THRESHER
ABIGAIL
COURTESY MAHTAB DASTUR
AMELIA DAVIS / THRESHER
Nair, Sandhu vie for IVP in upcoming SA election
HONGTAO HU THRESHER STAFF
Ananya Nair and Sohani Sandhu are running for internal vice president in the Student Association election.
Sandhu is running on a platform of revitalizing New Student Representative and SA commission projects, such as the Gender, Diversity, and Equity
statement recently added to all Rice syllabi.
“Having had experience as an NSR, as a [Diversity, Equity and Inclusion] Commission [chair], working with the SA for the past three years, I think I have a good feeling of what needs to be changed and how to change [how the SA is run],” said Sandhu, a McMurtry College junior. “I want to make sure that in the future, the SA commissions can be more impactful, that NSRs can have jobs go to completion.”
FOR SA LASTMINUTE CHANGES
If elected, Sandhu said she promises to support SA projects — such as printing credits — that can take multiple semesters to implement.
“NSRs, senators and presidents leave after their one year term, so sometimes their projects get abandoned,” Sandhu said. “I think that’s just a huge waste of advocacy that could be happening. That’s a huge lost opportunity.”
Nair runs with the goal of expanding SA access to students.
“I’m running for IVP because that’s a direct way I can influence [the SA] and
I think we all want flavorful food. We have the budget to do it. In addition, I want to make [servery meals] more inclusive for different dietary restrictions, making more options for vegetarian, vegan, kosher, halal, gluten free and many more meals.
Ananya Nair SA IVP CANDIDATE
increase awareness of it,” said Nair, a McMurtry College freshman. “I want more volunteer opportunities for all student members to have a proactive role in the SA.”
If elected, Nair said she aims to accomplish this goal by doubling the number of NSRs for each college.
“Two would be during this fall semester, two would be in the spring semester, but [the fall NSRs] would continue in their commissions of interest,” Nair said. “I would like to increase the amount of NSRs so more freshmen have the opportunity to learn about their overarching student government.”
Sandhu said she also aims to increase transparency between the SA and student body.
“In the past, a lot of the SA’s efforts have been towards laying down the foundation for the SA … and it’s gotten to a point where we can finally actually work on how we’re being visible to the student body,” Sandhu said. “I want to increase the visibility of our commissions, as NSRs, as senators, as presidents, as the SA by responding to people saying, ‘Hey, I have this problem,’ by asking ‘Can we fix it?’ And more often than not, we have the ability to do that.”
Nair said she also hopes to expand meal options for students.
“I think it’s really basic, but I think we all want flavorful food. We have the budget to do it,” Nair said. “In addition, I want to make [servery meals] more inclusive for different dietary restrictions, making more options for vegetarian, vegan, kosher, halal, gluten free and many more meals.”
Drawing upon her experience as the DEI Commission chair, Sandhu said she wants to open up student input towards commissions.
“Within the DEI commission, a lot of the work we’ve done in the past
is because people have come up to us and given us ideas of things to fix, and then we went ahead and tried to fix them, for example, the gender diversity statement,” Sandhu said. “I want to provide that foundation of support so that in the future, every commission and every NSR knows that they can bring up their ideas and that they will be addressed.”
I want to increase the visibility of our commissions, as NSRs, as senators, as presidents, as the SA by responding to people saying, ‘Hey, I have this problem,’ by asking ‘Can we fix it?’ And more often than not, we have the ability to do that.
Sohani Sandhu SA IVP CANDIDATE
No candidate for SA secretary, Lovett freshman conducts 11th hour bid for treasurer
No candidate has come forward to campaign for SA secretary and, up until Feb. 25, treasurer. Jackson Darr, a Lovett College freshman, announced his candidacy for treasurer late Tuesday night, the second-tolast day for campaigning and 20 days after candidate petitions were due. In a statement to the Thresher, Darr sent his campaign statement linked on the SA website.
According to the SA’s election timeline, a special election will be held in the coming weeks. If the secretary position is still empty after the special election, it will be filled via appointment. Natalie Wang, director of elections, did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
With the exception of last year’s presidential race, voter turnout for SA elections has declined since 2018. Both IVP candidates’ campaigns include helping students understand the SA better. Presidential candidate Trevor Tobey has announced plans to “refocus” on serving the student body and EVP candidate Mahtab Dastur has promised to make the SA more “student-focused.” These plans largely overlap with the responsibilities of secretary and treasurer in the SA’s constitution.
Per the constitution, the role of the secretary is to “[ensure] the transparency of Student Association activities” by keeping comprehensive records of said activities. Of the four candidates that will appear on the ballot for the positions of president, IVP and EVP, three specifically use the word transparent or transparency in their statement to describe their goals for the future of the SA. Heather-Reneé Gooch, the faculty advisor for the SA, said the secretary’s role is important in communicating with students.
accessibility” in his candidate statement. He cited his experience “raising nearly $100,000 for [his] 501(c)(3) organization,” and remaining visible on campus to increase financial transparency.
When I tell [potential applicants] about the kinds of work that I do, the amount of hours I put in, they’re like, ‘Oh, is this a heavy time commitment?’ ... rather than ... ‘What are the kinds of impacts that you made?’
Thomas Ngo 2024-25 SA TREASURER
“They help set the tone for the relationship between SA and the student body as a whole,” Gooch said. “Most people are not going to go to Senate, so they’re hearing stuff secondhand or reading the emails. The secretary gets to help promote that narrative, help share the story.”
Darr promised “efficiency, accuracy, and
Alongside overseeing the SA’s nearly $400,000 annual budget, the treasurer chairs the Blanket Tax Committee, which provides funding for organizations like student media, the Honor Council and the SA itself. Had the treasurer position remained vacant, current treasurer Thomas Ngo said it would have raised concern for many Blanket Tax Organizations.
“The impact [would] be tremendous,” said Ngo, a McMurtry College sophomore. “The treasurer basically helps with the funding allocations for some of the biggest organizations at Rice, and the biggest events too. You got RPC, you got Beer Bike,
you got Thresher, you got ktru, and all their fundings for their operations are executed by the treasurer.”
Two of the five proposed constitution changes, also on this year’s ballot, concern the Blanket Tax. Amendment number 5, introduced by Ngo, aims to raise the Blanket Tax, which is included in tuition for all undergraduate students, from $85 per student to $90 per student to adjust for inflation.
Amendment number 3 changes the membership of the Blanket Tax Committee with the goal of “eliminating conflicts of interest,” and allows student organizations to apply for Blanket Tax status annually rather than every two years.
Ngo said some students have been interested in his position, but the large time commitment has deterred them.
“When I tell [interested students] about the kinds of work that I do, the amount of hours I put in, they’re like, ‘Oh, is this a heavy time commitment? How many hours do I commit?’” Ngo said. “That’s the first thing that comes to mind for them, rather than ‘What’s the role about? What are the things that you do? What are the kinds of impacts that you made?’”
Hugo Gerbich Pais contributed to this reporting.
AMELIA DAVIS / THRESHER
JENNA PERRONE
ASST. OPINION EDITOR
AMELIA DAVIS / THRESHER
Promotions of the past: Thresher ads over time
With its first issue published in 1916, the Thresher has featured a variety of ads whose trends reflect changes in our recent history. Among countless ads for clothing, cigarettes, Coca-Cola and banks, there are a few gems in the mix. See below for some examples spanning a century.
1. Dental FOMO
February 1917
Let’s break this down: “particular students” implies exclusivity, which makes Edge’s toothpaste all the more alluring. In addition to minimalism, this 1917 toothpaste ad uses the strategy of reverse psychology to disseminate the importance of dental health.
2. Career Exploration
March 1923
The Houston Costume Hat Shop encourages us to be whoever we want to be within the scope of oceanic professions. But can a costume hat shop accommodate a mermaid, I wonder?
3. What A Wonderful Event
October 1941
The New Orleanian legend pops in with an announcement about his tour, accompanied by fellow jazz legends. It’s unclear if it’s a promotion for a Houston concert, since there is no record of Armstrong performing in Texas in 1941. Below is a smaller advertisement for the movie “My Life with Caroline,” released in 1941.
4. A Christopher Nolan Film
October 1951
Coca-Cola invokes an ancient epic to tantalize students with a drink for only 5 cents. The ad refers to Homer’s Odyssey to show off Coke’s thirst-quenching abilities.
5. I-Scream for Some Pomp and Show
November 1991
The Ben & Jerry’s New Vaudeville Light Circus Bus, which truly rolls off the tongue, was a 40-foot-long bus that toured in the ’90s, making an
appearance at countless events across the country. Accompanied by circus acts such as juggling, the bus’ lighting and sound were powered by solar panels hitched on top of the bus. What remains of the vehicle is vintage bus tins sold on eBay.
that I love dancing, but I also love music,” Shee said. “I could survive retiring ballet and finding other career paths as long as I had that music with me.”
Shee said dance factored into his graduate school choice despite choosing not to pursue dance professionally.
“I met my wife dancing, we danced together in my freshman year,” Shee said. “But, then I didn’t actually dance too much because I had this mentality that I gave up professional dance to go to [Princeton], so why would I
1 2 3 5 4
dance in undergrad? Then, in my last year, I realized it was pretty clear that I needed to dance, so I chose a grad school that was in the best city for dance in the world.”
Shee said the opportunities to work with a team in his own lab drew him to Rice.
“There came a time in my postdoctoral years that I had way more ideas than I could feasibly pursue on my own,” Shee said. “Leading a research group at Rice is a dream come true.”
Shee and his group develop theories and computational models to predict the quantum-mechanical properties of molecules, lattice models and materials
with strongly correlated electrons — where the movement of one electron is highly influenced by others.
“My most memorable (and arguably successful) experiences doing science usually involve thinking deeply about a problem, and working persistently to make progress in solving it, with friends,” Shee wrote in an email to the Thresher. “My approach to science is collaborative; informal interactions with people – and encounters with different points of view – are critical (and enjoyable most of the time!)”
“It is fun to have James [Shee] as a colleague and collaborator,” Peter Wolynes, professor of chemistry, wrote in an email to the Thresher.
“Many of us in science get tied up in details of mechanics and miss the deeper intellectual issues. In contrast, when you talk with James you get to explore the concepts and feel like you are creating something new and important.”
This spring, Shee will be teaching a new graduate course on correlated electronic structure models, teaching with a philosophy honed by his own experiences.
“I want to guide students to understand the quantum world; but only that, to appreciate the beautiful, counterintuitive, historical and wonderfully exciting aspects of science,” Shee said.
NITHYA RAMCHARAN FOR THE THRESHER
FROM FRONT PAGE BALLET & BEAKERS
SeniorSpotlight:
Whether it’s organ donation, neural connections or Rice’s exam scheduling, where most see a problem, Bayzhan Mukatay sees a solution. At least, using math, he sees a way to try.
Mukatay, an international student from Kazakhstan, founded the first Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences chapter at Rice, a career development organization for Operations Research students.
As a operations research major in the department of computational applied mathematics & operations research, last year, he won the CMOR-Chevron prize for his contributions to Rice’s applied mathematics community.
Mukatay’s path to Rice began in his home country of Kazakhstan, where he attended the National School of Physics and Math. Since eighth grade, Mukatay said he was inspired by his classmates to seek out educational opportunities beyond Kazakhstan.
“I saw upperclassmen in my high school applying abroad, and they would come back every winter break to visit school,” said Mukatay, a Wiess College senior. “I thought, ‘One day, I wish I’ll be able to do that as well.’”
Mukatay took a gap year during the COVID-19 pandemic to focus on applying to schools. More than 30 applications later, he was ultimately accepted by Rice, which luckily, he said, was his top choice.
Mukatay first set foot in Houston to participate in the United Space School
program at NASA’s Johnson Center the summer after graduating high school. He met one-on-one with astronauts and aerospace engineers, some of whom were Rice alumni.
“I was really lucky to … represent Kazakhstan in that program,” Mukatay said. “We had a lot of talks with some astronauts, people who work at NASA, at all the space companies … That’s when I learned about Rice.”
That fall, Mukatay arrived at Rice with one backpack and a medium-sized suitcase.
“When people started arriving, I saw them having hundreds of boxes and stuff moving in, coming with trucks or something,” Mukatay said. “I was thinking, ‘Did I forget something from home?’”
When he got to Rice, Mukatay began working with students and professors to conduct research and founded the INFORMS chapter, which won last year’s national chapter award.
Andrew Schaefer, the Noah Harding chair for the CMOR department, worked with Mukatay when he founded the club.
“He just seemed incredibly energetic and had a vision for what he wanted to do,” Schaefer said. “[He was] excited about trying to create a community in terms of operations research students, and that’s what he ended up doing.”
Mukatay said he was initially drawn to the problem-solving aspect of physics. Seeking a more applied field with immediate, tangible results, he chose
to pursue operations research at Rice.
His desire to apply his knowledge in real-world settings led him to found INFORMS at Rice, providing a platform for students to apply their skills to solve tangible problems, Mukatay said.
“It would have been easy for him to come in and say, ‘This is going to be limited only to people … who’ve taken this certain class, or limited only to majors or in operations research’ or something like that, but he’s been very inclusive, and to the club’s benefit,” Schaefer said.
Gavin Daves, a member of INFORMS, said that Mukatay created an inclusive and welcoming environment.
“He really took me under his help and tried to give me opportunities to be able to help out. He was collaborative with our ideas,” said Daves, a Duncan College junior. “Despite his busy schedule, he did his best and made sure that we were all accommodated and got the club on its right foot.”
Outside of INFORMS, Mukatay researched OR applications for healthcare with Sebastian Perez Salazar, assistant professor of CMOR and Suleyman Kerimov, assistant professor of operations management.
“[He] first sent me an email. He wanted to discuss possible research opportunities to work with me,” Kerimov said. Kerimov’s research at the time centered around matching kidney donors to recipients in different locations.
“We were thinking about, ‘What if there were two locations [with donors and recipients].’ Is there a way to merge these two locations so that both locations
are better off?” Kerimov continued. “So, his practicality was coming from translating the theory to possible applications and practice.”
This experience led him to work on organ allocation research using matching algorithms to perform kidney transplants with the New York University Langone Center for Surgical & Transplant Applied Research.
As Mukatay prepares for graduation and applies to graduate schools, he reflects on the connections he made at Rice. His Kazakh heritage allowed him to make a lot of connections with people from Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and others, he said.
He also said that his Muslim identity has helped him connect with students from Bangladesh, Egypt, Tunisia and more.
“It was really wholesome to connect with all these groups and to learn about them. We had so many historical, philosophical, political talks that would go till 4 a.m. and to just share our views and opinions,” Mukatay said. “Overall, just the people at Rice are the best — very, very smart, very curious, very humble … I guess that’s the greatest part of Rice.”
Location of infamous witch trials
Not dead
Recluse
Type of shirt
Alexandria ____ Cortez, congresswoman from New York
True, correct
Sexual love
To the ___ degree
Occurring in one part of the year
Wild pig
Rice department associated with studying abroad
Jane ____, book by Charlotte Bronte
Industry ____
In style, hip
They’re bananas
Tiny but mighty bug
Relating to ocean waves
Distinctive design or symbol
Vibe, energy
Used for measurement
What the sun does in the east
What your teeth do
____ in one!
Sounds that cause tingles ____ on Wheels
Resists, complains
Slimy, sticky substance
Required course for all new students Brand of cooking spray
need one in
in
EMILY NGUYEN FOR THE THRESHER
COURTESY BAYZHAN MUKATAY
With ChòpnBlok, Ope Amosu centers flavor and community
Ope Amosu used to host small dinner parties out of his friend’s apartment by the Galleria, serving a menu of his own West African fusion recipes. His intention was to have a completely new guest list at each dinner, in order to get a diverse variety of feedback on his food – but people kept asking to come back.
These days, Amosu serves a far bigger audience. His Nigerian heritage, his time at Rice’s Jones Graduate School of Business and his work experiences both in and out of Houston have shaped his career today, Amosu said. His West-African restaurant, “ChòpnBlok,” opened its Montrose location on Oct. 1 – but that was far from the restaurant’s beginning.
Amosu, who grew up in Houston, received his Master of Business Administration from the Jones Graduate School in 2014. However, he didn’t immediately enter the restaurant business, opting instead to work in the oil and gas industry.
“A couple years into that was when I had the realization that I might want to try something else,” Amosu said. “The older I got, the harder it became for me to gain access to the culture I grew up in.”
As he traveled for his work, Amosu realized that the lack of easily accessible and immersive West African culture could be an untapped market, and his first venture into the culinary world.
“[I wanted] to build community around two universal languages: good food and good music,” Amosu said. “Regardless of your background, either of those things will get you hooked, and once we have you hooked we can showcase the beauty of who we are culturally.”
ChòpnBlok’s menu today incorporates a medley of flavors from across the African diaspora, Amosu said, such as a ‘motherland curry’ blending East African flavors with West African elements, like oloyin beans and black-eyed peas, or a jollof-jambalaya hybrid that blends a West African staple with a Creole Southern dish. According to Amosu, his decision to fuse traditional and modern flavors stems from his desire to be creative while also preserving his heritage, both as a Nigerian and a Houstonian.
“Making sure the characteristics that define these dishes are preserved, regardless of how I choose to play around with the food, is important,” Amosu said. “Both
from a flavor standpoint, [and] a storytelling standpoint.”
Before he could devote himself to developing ChòpnBlok, Amosu wanted to start at square one: he immersed himself in the inner workings of the restaurant industry, picking up evening shifts as a prep cook and dishwasher at Chipotle, in addition to his full-time corporate job.
I wanted to build community around two universal languages: good food and good music.
Ope Amosu CHÒPNBLOK FOUNDER
“I was interested in a concept that shows tremendous scale, but also a concept that knows how to sell a bunch of rice,” Amosu said. “I had worked in restaurants before, but never with the perspective of ‘What does
it take to fill one of these things?’”
Amosu also studied under home cooks to learn traditional West African recipes, and eventually began testing out his own recipes, testing them out with small dinner parties that eventually evolved into much larger events.
“The first dinner I did for 20 people, it blew my mind, how much work I put into it. It was me, cooking this stuff and putting myself out there. It felt super uncomfortable,” Amosu said. “As I would have guests attend, I wouldn’t invite them back, because I had their feedback already. But they wanted to come back. So those 20-person experiences end[ed] up becoming … big restaurant takeovers with over 100 guests.”
Amosu finally quit his corporate job and launched his first iteration of ChòpnBlok in 2021, operating out of a 670-square-foot food stall in the POST Houston. Feedback and support from Jones Business School professors were crucial, Amosu said. In addition, his education in marketing, both as an undergraduate at Truman State University and as an MBA student at Rice,
helped him develop ChòpnBlok’s unique name.
“Marketing is big for me,” Amosu said. “But I struggled with the name.”
Amosu’s dilemma came from wanting to find a name that appealed to the general public while also referencing the restaurant’s West African inspiration. He latched on to the phrase ‘chopping block’ from American meat markets, and turned to West African linguistic history to give the phrase his own spin.
“When you go to anglophone West Africa, there is one language we do commonly speak across the region, which is pidgin English. In pidgin English, when someone’s hungry, they often say ‘I want chop’,” Amosu said. “So if you’re West African [and] you see ‘ChòpnBlok’, you get it, this is the location you go to eat, and if you’re not, [you know] they must have fire food or something.”
ChòpnBlok’s commitment to a cultural immersion is evident in its new brick-andmortar location in Montrose, according to Amosu. The interior includes fresh tropical plants, vibrant colors and wallpaper by Nigerian designer Uzo Njoku.
“You come into the space, and the space itself has been intentionally created to be able to … bring you in. It’s like a big, warm African hug, right?” Amosu said. “Everything from the lime wash paint to the mud wall to symbolize some of the common architecture you’ll see there … it’s super intentional.”
Amosu’s vision for ChòpnBlok goes well beyond serving a great meal. By partnering with local organizations like Houston First and the Houston Rockets, hosting community events and offering menu items that celebrate a broader African culinary heritage, Amosu hopes to create a lasting impact — one that extends from the dinner table into the wider city.
Looking ahead, Amosu envisions expanding ChòpnBlok beyond Houston, bringing its immersive West African culinary experience to new frontiers. Yet no matter how far it grows, he intends to keep the restaurant’s foundation rooted in the rich traditions and communal spirit that inspired it all.
“We’re still in chapter one,” Amosu said. “I feel like I still have so much in me that needs to come out … My vision is bigger than just these four walls.”
JULIANA LIGHTSEY AND ARMAN SAXENA
A&E EDITORS
COURTESY STUFFBENEATS
COURTESY STUFFBENEATS
Analog artistry in FOTO 205 Rice Zine Fest creates collages
KRISTAL HANSON THRESHER STAFF
At a time when digital photography is instantaneous and ever-present, FOTO 205 offers something different — a return to the patience of film photography. Taught by Eli Greene, the course introduces students to film photography, darkroom techniques and the fundamental concepts behind the photographic medium.
“A lot of the students that I have in the class have grown up making images,” Greene said. “But working with film photography is a very different sort of way, that slows you down in your thinking about image making, sort of conceptually and also technically.”
Before students even pick up a film camera, they begin the course with photograms: images made by placing objects on photosensitive paper and exposing them to light.
“Before we even start working with film and processing film and developing our negatives, we’re thinking about the possibilities embedded in photography and what it means to work with a medium that’s formulated all around working with light,” Greene said. “So we really start with a project called photograms, where we make images before we even start using the camera.”
Sid Richardson College junior Radhani Kapoor said she was surprised by this approach.
A&E
“I didn’t realize how much exploration of just understanding light would happen before we even got to cameras,” Kapoor said. “It really helped me understand how photos are going to show up once I started using a blackand-white camera.”
The course requires students to engage with photography in a tactile, deliberate way. Unlike digital photography, where images appear instantly, film development is a multistep process that requires working in near-total darkness.
“There’s something really beautiful about a medium that sort of affects how you’re learning to see and shapes how you see the world, but we do that through working in almost total darkness,” Greene said. “You’re relying on sound, on touch. You’re taking apart your film and loading it onto canisters, and in order to understand how to do that, you really need to log it as muscle memory.”
This hands-on approach, without immediate feedback introduces challenges, Kapoor said.
“You take a full roll of 36 pictures, go into the darkroom, put it in chemicals to develop it, and you can’t see how any of them turned out,” Kapoor said. “And for me, three-fourths of my pictures turned out blank.”
Greene said she sees these ‘mistakes’ as part of the learning process.
“This class really teaches students to appreciate and sometimes lean into a mistake or failure and see what that might be offering to them,” Greene said. “You’ll have the techniques and tools to learn how to make a quote-unquote perfect image, but you’ll also have the conceptual strategies to think about, ‘What is a perfect image?’ and ‘What kind of image do I want to be making?’”
For Sofia Adams-Giron, who is majoring in visual and dramatic arts and art history, this aspect of the class has been particularly rewarding.
“As an artist, I tend to work with more traditional materials,” said AdamsGiron, a Sid Richardson sophomore. “This class is amazing. I believe in the handmade, mechanical and traditional. And the power of the human hand.”
This article has been cut off for print. To read more, visit ricethresher.org
ANGELICA HERNANDEZ THRESHER STAFF
Calming beats, the chatter of conversation and the smell of oranges hung in the air the evening of Sunday, Feb. 23, in Lovett College’s basement, dubbed ‘Lyle’s’. Magazines, scrapbook paper, art books and stickers were spread across a few tables, along with mandarin oranges. Throughout the night, students made collages and zines, noncommercial or homemade magazines, with supplies provided by Zine Fest organizers at Rice Zine Fest’s first event.
Attendees said they enjoyed using their creative skills to make something new, take a break from studying, and share with others.
“My favorite part has been [because] I have a lot of work this weekend, getting to take a break from that and come here, listen to good music, and make all sorts of nonsense,” said Cory Voskanian, a Martel College freshman.
“I think it’s really fun that I get to do this with other people and share things,” said Sage Lee, a Hanzen College junior.
The event is the first in a series of events that Rice Zine Fest is hosting to create an artistic community and interest for the group’s inaugural Zine Fest later this spring, said Naomi Doron, a event organizer and Jones College senior.
Amy Lam, an event organizer and Lovett senior, said the collaborative nature of the collage night makes it a great way for students to socialize.
“When people craft together, they end up sitting next to people they don’t know and stir up conversation … When they have a creative medium or something to do with their hands, it makes it more comfortable,” Lam said. “We’re already starting to build the kind of community that we’re envisioning for Zine Fest.”
According to Doron, Rice Zine Fest emphasizes self-made or community art forms.
“I think that zines are just also a really important art form because it’s a very accessible form of art. Anyone can make it,” Doron said. “There is a very low barrier of accessibility in terms of cost, and in terms of making, you don’t need much skill, and zines have historically
predicts the 97th Academy Awards
Christmas for cinephiles is near as the Academy Awards will be announced on Sunday, March 2 starting at 6 p.m. CST. From controversies to big snubs and surprises, this Oscar season has already been memorable. Here are our predictions for the 97th Academy Awards.
Actress in a Leading Role (Arman Saxena)
Best Actress this year comes down to a three-woman race between Demi Moore, Mikey Madison and Fernanda Torres. But while Madison and Torres deliver great work in Best Picture-nominated films, Moore is the one to beat.
Moore plays Elisabeth Sparkle in “The Substance,” an aging actress grappling with being replaced by a patriarchal industry that once loved her. It’s the kind of vulnerable performance as someone in showbiz that a large portion of the industry will resonate with. So while Madison may be able to ride a wave of “Anora” goodwill to victory, expect Moore to triumph here.
Who Should Win: Demi Moore, “The Substance”
Who Will Win: Demi Moore, “The Substance”
Actor in a Leading Role (Jay Collura)
I don’t think the Academy can make
a bad choice in the Best Actor category this year. Ralph Fiennes’ performance as a conflicted cardinal in “Conclave” is emblematic of the actor’s storied career, Colman Domingo’s chemistry with the (unfortunately) unnominated Clarence Maclin makes “Sing Sing” an emotional powerhouse, and Sebastian Stan’s pitchperfect Donald Trump impression remains extremely prescient.
Ultimately, in my mind, the award comes down to two choices (both in terms of their quality and likelihood). Timothée Chalamet’s Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown” is the film’s engine. He is actually singing and playing guitar, grasping the emotional threads that make Dylan’s music so legendary and channeling them directly on screen.
Similarly, “The Brutalist” is a film anchored on Adrien Brody. His passion, frustration, and confusion create a fury central to the movie’s greater musings about creation and art.
It’s rather poetic that these are the two front-runners: a win would make Chalamet the youngest winner in the category, and he would be dethroning Adrien Brody’s own win for “The Pianist.” I personally give Chalamet the edge for the sheer showmanship of it all — but again, there’s not a wrong answer.
Who Should Win: Timothée Chalamet,
been used a lot underground ... It’s just a really cool form of art.”
Oranges sat on the tables alongside art supplies, and a sign on the wall instructed students to peel an orange and share it with a stranger. Some students even used the peel in their collages.
“I feel like oranges are a universal love language … The concept of peeling an orange and sharing it with a stranger, everyone knows that language … To bring a ton of oranges and to have everyone peeling and sharing oranges is a way to form connection,” said Doron.
Doron said that the organizers were inspired by similar events hosted by Houston artists.
“We went to the Houston Zine festival. It was such a special place that brought together artists from different corners of Houston, and that’s one of the first places in Houston that was such a special third space … After that, we were really inspired and wanted to bring it back to Rice in some form,” said Doron.
“We are all very fond of art, especially how art can function in collectives, communities, and friend groups,” said organizer Aiden Li, a Wiess College senior. “We think that’s something quite wonderful and something that we don’t often see at Rice, this sort of event with just zines and collages, which are very democratic art forms, everyone can do it … It’s collective.”
“A Complete Unknown” Who Will Win: Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist”
Best Picture (Arman Saxena)
Even with modern indie classics like “The Florida Project” and “Tangerine” on his resume, Sean Baker has never seen an Oscar nomination. That is, until he received four for directing, writing, producing and editing “Anora.”
When the Oscar nominations were released in late January, many thought the Best Picture race was between “The Brutalist” or “Emilia Pérez.”
But now, after both films sparked controversy for their use of AI — and “Emilia Pérez” faced additional backlash over its portrayal of trans and Mexican identities, as well as racist and xenophobic tweets from its star Karla Sofia Gascón — “Anora” has emerged as the frontrunner (something the Thresher predicted back in November).
“Anora”’s surge reminds me a lot of the wave that brought “Parasite” to victory back in 2020: both films won the Cannes Palme D’Or back in May, both are distributed by NEON, both emerged as frontrunners in February and both are class-conscious films from directors who have been longcelebrated in cinephile circles before they received their Oscar flowers.
If “Anora” wins, it won’t just be a victory for Sean Baker and co. — it’ll be a reminder that sometimes, the best stories are the ones Hollywood didn’t script. Watch out for “Conclave,” though.
Who Should Win: “Anora” is deserving, but “Nickel Boys” should win.
Who Will Win: “Anora” This article has been cut off for print. To read more, visit ricethresher.org.
KATHERINE CITINO / THRESHER
ABBY PEREZ / THRESHER
GIULLIAN PAGUILA / THRESHER
the three-diver requirement, secured 136 points for the team.
“I never looked into the logistics of how many points diving would earn versus swimming [prior to coming to Rice],” Coyne said. “I knew that Rice had a really strong swim team, but I didn’t know that just the two of us could push it over the edge as much as it did.”
Even with the new divers, winning a conference championship was not what Huston wanted his swimmers to focus on all season, he said.
“It’s really more about the process over the course of the year,” Huston said. “Then, developing as a team, developing individually, as an athlete, maximizing your contribution to the team, that kind of thing. If all those pieces come together, you might just get fortunate enough to win a conference championship.”
However, with the addition of the dive team, Filkin said the goal of winning a championship was more present this season than in the past.
“Immediately, when we found out that we would be getting a diving team, I was like, ‘Well, this is our opportunity,’” senior Arielle Hayon said. “I think everyone kind of saw it that way.”
Hayon defended her title and became undefeated in the 100-butterfly at the conference championship, winning the event the past four years. She also won the 200-butterfly at the meet for the third time.
“I remember winning that first conference championship individually was really huge,” Hayon said. “It was unexpected, and I felt really proud of myself, but it’s a totally different feeling to feel super proud of a team and understand that each and every individual played a part in that ring.”
Junior Ella Dyson, another repeat champion, won the 1650-freestyle for
the third time at the conference meet. Portello took the win in the 500-freestyle and junior Ava Hamblett won the 200-backstroke.
At the end of the meet though, it came down to Filkin, Cramer, Portello and Cole in the 400-free relay. Huston had done the math and knew that if FIU won the race, Rice wouldn’t win the meet. So, he was cheering for Tulane to win and for Rice to be less than one team away from FIU.
“I put in people I knew were going to step up and really race and lay it on the line,” Huston said. “All we had to do was hope Tulane could do their job, and then I figured we could take care of the rest.”
The pool deck was filled with nerves and excitement when Portello dove in to start the relay. Sophomore Logan Betkey and Coyne had their faces painted a dark blue, with Betkey also sporting a lighter blue wig. Coyne was on her toes the whole time. Hayon was screaming at the top of her lungs.
Cramer, who Hurt said always steps up to the plate in pressure-filled moments, was the bridge between the first 200 yards by the two freshmen and the finish by Filkin. When Filkin dove in, Hurt knew she would finish the relay hard.
“Mimi doesn’t fade on the last 25 [yards], Mimi speeds up,” Hurt said. “She out touches people when she needs to. She always knows how to get the job done. So I think that was the longest 25 [yards] I’ve watched in my life.”
Filkin touched the wall 0.24 seconds ahead of the University of North Texas swimmer. While it might have been two full minutes before Filkin realized that she secured the win for the team, her reaction had been years in the making.
“Once we touched the wall, realized we won, I was like, ‘I told you so,’ just to the world, not to anyone in particular,” Filkin said. “I knew that if we got a dive team and got our stuff together we could win this conference championship.”
Women’s swimming and diving results from AAC championship
ANDERSEN PICKARD ASST. SPORTS EDITOR
Final Ranking: 1st place out of 6 teams (1,475.5 points)
Arielle Hayon, Mimi Filkin, Ava Portello, Lily Cramer
400-Yard Freestyle Relay
4th place (52 points)
Ava Portello, Reese Cole, Lily Cramer, Mimi Filkin
800-Yard Freestyle Relay
2nd place (56 points)
Ava Portello, Reese Cole, Ava Hamblett, Amelia Kane
Team Diving
6th place (48 points)
Rylee Coyne, Megan Phillip, Catherine
Eland
50-Yard Freestyle
Lizzie Zadel (14th place out of 28 swimmers, 13 points)
Catherine Eland (15th place, 12 points)
Siiri Einio (23rd place, 2 points)
100-Yard Freestyle
Mollie McAlorum (15th place out of 27 swimmers, 12 points)
Lizzie Zadel (20th place, 5 points)
200-Yard Freestyle
Ava Portello (2nd place out of 22 swimmers, 27.5 points)
Reese Cole (7th place, 23 points)
Mollie McAlorum (8th place, 22 points)
500-Yard Freestyle
Ava Portello (1st place out of 24 swimmers, 32 points)
Amelia Kane (3rd place, 27 points)
Ella Dyson (4th place, 26 points)
Ava Hamblett (5th place, 25 points)
Ava Casperson (8th place, 22 points)
Mollie McAlorum (10th place, 17 points)
1650-Yard Freestyle
Ella Dyson (1st place out of 23 swimmers, 32 points)
Ava Portello (2nd place, 28 points)
Amelia Kane (3rd place, 27 points)
Ava Casperson (14th place, 13 points)
Sami Johnson (16th place, 11 points)
200-Yard IM
Mimi Filkin (2nd place out of 25 swimmers, 28 points)
Reese Cole (3rd place, 27 points)
Lily Cramer (5th place, 25 points)
Arielle Hayon (7th place, 23 points)
400-Yard IM
Amelia Kane (2nd place out of 18 swimmers, 28 points)
Lily Cramer (3rd place, 27 points)
Ella Dyson (5th place, 25 points)
Sami Johnson (7th place, 23 points)
100-Yard Butterfly
Arielle Hayon (1st place out of 22 swimmers, 32 points)
Jessica Lawton (4th place, 26 points)
Catherine Eland (12th place, 15 points)
Megan Schultze (14th place, 13 points)
Abigail King (16th place, 11 points)
Lizzie Zadel (19th place, 6 points)
200-Yard Butterfly
Arielle Hayon (1st place out of 21 swimmers, 32 points)
Sami Johnson (6th place, 24 points)
Jessica Lawton (10th place, 17 points)
Catherine Eland (18th place, 7 points)
100-Yard Breaststroke
Siiri Einio (8th place out of 18 swimmers, 22 points)
Megan Schultze (13th place, 14 points)
200-Yard Breaststroke
Lily Cramer (5th place out of 22 swimmers, 25 points)
Reese Cole (6th place, 24 points)
Siiri Einio (8th place, 22 points)
Megan Schultze (15th place, 12 points)
100-Yard Backstroke
Mimi Filkin (3rd place out of 20 swimmers, 27 points)
Abigail King (4th place, 26 points)
Ava Hamblett (9th place, 20 points)
Jessica Lawton (16th place, 11 points)
200-Yard Backstroke
Ava Hamblett (1st place out of 19 swimmers, 32 points)
Mimi Filkin (4th place, 26 points)
Abigail King (5th place, 25 points)
Ava Casperson (17th place, 9 points)
1-Meter Diving
Megan Phillip (5th place out of 29 divers, 25 points)
Rylee Coyne (17th place, 9 points)
3-Meter Diving
Megan Phillip (8th place out of 30 divers, 22 points)
Rylee Coyne (20th place, 5 points)
Platform Diving
Megan Phillip (8th place out of 27 divers, 22 points)
Rylee Coyne (13th place, 14 points)
COURTESY AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE — BEN SOLOMON
The Rice swim and dive team won the American Athletic Conference Championship Feb. 22.
FROM FRONT PAGE CHAMPIONSHIP
Women’s basketball hits skid with March looming
ANDERSEN PICKARD ASST. SPORTS EDITOR
Rice women’s basketball fell below .500 again Saturday, losing to the University of Texas at San Antonio, 57-55.
They are now 13-14 overall, including 6-9 in American Athletic Conference play. Succeeding on the road has been a major challenge for the Owls, who are just 2-9 away from Tudor Fieldhouse.
With just one win and five losses through the first three weeks of February, Rice faces an uphill battle to make a threatening run in the AAC. Their lone win this month — a 72-39 drubbing of Florida Atlantic University — snapped a four-game losing streak.
The Owls’ longest winning streak of the conference schedule lasted just two games.
However, the team continues to prepare with its sights set on next month’s AAC conference tournament.
“Even in our skid, we come out every single day and they’re ready to go to work the next day,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said. “They have great, positive energy and practice has been uplifting.”
lost each of their final three regularseason contests, finishing the year at 9-9 overall.
As it stands, 9-9 is the best possible outcome for the 2024-25 Rice team, which would need to win each of its final three games to achieve that record. They can finish as high as fifth in the conference, or as low as 11th.
Statistically, the Owls trail their opponents in chances from the freethrow line, ranking last among AAC teams in foul shots attempted. They lead the conference in rebounding, but they’re second-to-last in steals.
Rice has also surrendered an AACmost five three-pointers per game.
Relative to last season, they give their opponents far more opportunities to score.
This season, the Owls lack an underdog mentality.
I’ve been a part of a program that won backto-back conference championships. That first one’s hard, but the second one is really, really hard, because everyone is going to give you their best shot.
Lindsay Edmonds WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
HEAD COACH
Rice now ranks ninth out of 13 teams in the AAC. All 13 programs receive a bid to play in the conference tournament, but falling to a lower seed results in a more challenging schedule. The 12th and 13th seeds would need to win five consecutive tournament games to be dubbed conference champions, while any of the top four seeds would need to win just three.
The Owls defied the odds in AAC tournament play last year, winning four games as the No. 10 seed, securing the conference title and earning a bid to play against No. 3 LSU in March Madness.
“That’s something we want to get back to,” senior forward Malia Fisher said in October. “We want a ring.”
Winning the AAC tournament for a second consecutive season would be improbable, but not impossible. Rice has currently played 15 of its 18 conference games.
At this exact point last year, the Owls were 9-6 in conference play. They
One year ago, Rice seemingly came out of nowhere to win the conference.
Now, though, they’re the reigning champions facing plenty of added pressure, including a preseason coaches’ poll that projected them to finish second.
Head coach Lindsay Edmonds previously acknowledged that the Owls have a target on their backs from last year’s March Madness berth.
“I’ve been a part of a program that won back-to-back conference championships,” Edmonds said. “That first one’s hard, but the second one is really, really hard, because everyone is going to give you their best shot.”
So far, Rice has failed to meet the expectations set by last year’s championship run, but the program hasn’t lost any confidence.
“I kept saying we were going to right the ship, and I feel like this is the first part of that,” Edmonds said after the Feb. 18 win over FAU. “We want to make sure that we are going into March as confident as we can ... No one has given up on the season. No one has said that it’s over.”
After the regular season concludes, Rice will travel to Dallas, Texas, for the single-elimination AAC tournament starting March 8.
Sports Mini #13
CAYDEN CHEN / THRESHER
Junior Jazzy Owens-Barnett shields the ball from a University of Houston player Nov. 14.
Backpage Enters SA-Thresher Discourse
Dear Rice Students,
Four score and seven fussy Canva Pro creations ago, the Rice Student Association addressed a letter to the Rice student body citing “fear-mongering” by the Rice Thresher’s Editorial Board. While we— the Backpage—are a part of the Thresher, we are the only section that does not serve on the Editorial Board and, as such, excluded from the ongoing conflict between the Student Association and the Thresher. We would like to take this opportunity to formally weigh in.
Last week, the Student Association posted the most embarrassing Instagram Story we have ever seen in our journalistic careers. A Fizz clapback repost on a black screen equating yourself to Kendrick is Drake behavior—if the SA should “look within” anywhere, it’s their social media department (tangentially, @ricebackpage is currently outpacing @thericestudents by about 80 followers).
But the SA’s PR problem is manifold—Rice students consistently plead for the body to push its resources towards the issues that matter to students, but that’s where the lion’s share of its cash and members already go. The SA contains Labor, Wellbeing, Environmental, Student Health Services, Students With Disabilities, DEI, and Sexual Violence & Harrassment Policy Commissions. Yet, the only times the SA hints at the existence of most of their meaningful work is during recruiting and when Rice Dining fucks up beyond reconciliation.
On the note of recruitment, it is embarrassing that the SA cannot find enough people who care about the Association to fill their positions. We found the SA’s proposal for the student body to “read the constitutional amendments yourself” to be out of touch with reality, because (a) most STEM majors can’t read, and (b) nobody cares. Making it easy to understand their work would address both the SA’s public image and participation problems.
On the other hand, the Thresher’s accusation of the SA’s “power grab” rings ironic when it is orchestrating its own power grab by resisting the SA’s push to equalize the Thresher’s voice with other blanket tax organizations during allocations. Over 20 percent of the Thresher’s $70,000 budget goes towards travel to out-of-state conferences; to make a case about funding that the student body relies on, the Thresher may want to tighten their grip on their purse. If the Backpage was allotted $70,000, we would do way more practical things with it, like buying one month of Apple TV+ for the entire campus so everyone can watch Severance.
The Thresher is responsible for unbiased reporting to inform the student body on campus happenings. In its publishing of multiple inflammatory opinion pieces, the Thresher Editorial Board is losing the “idgaf war” and debasing its integrity with unhelpful sensationalization and fear-mongering. Stay in your lane, Editorial Board—fear-mongering is the Backpage’s job, in addition to fishmongering, cheesemongering, and warmongering.
Do not underestimate the Backpage’s entrance into this fray; we are the true “ultimate authority” in driving campus culture and being a little silly. If either party wishes to procrastinate on their actual responsibilities and publish a formal response to our statement, please feel free. But wait, nobody GAF. SA and Thresher: stop talking in circles and just put the fries in the bag, lil bro. If you want to spend your time writing low-salience, Rice-specific disses, perhaps you should join the Backpage at tinyurl.com/BackpageOnlineApp
Sincerely,
Andrew Kim, Backpage Editor, ‘24-’25
Will Howley, Senior Backpage Writer, ‘24-’25
Charlie Maxson, Senior Backpage Writer, ‘24-’25
Max Scholl, Senior Backpage Writer, ‘24-’25
Dilf Hunter, Student Association Presidential Candidate, ’23
The Backpage is the satire section of the Thresher, written this week by Andrew Kim, Will Howley, Charlie Maxson, and Max Scholl and designed by Lauren Yu. For questions or comments, please email pookiebear@rice.edu.
