Baseball fires Cruz, hires Pierce in ‘unconventional’ mid-season restructure
KATHLEEN ORTIZ & RIYA MISRA SPORTS EDITOR & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Rice Athletics fired baseball head coach José Cruz Jr. on March 13, less than a month into the season. The baseball team is 2-14 and on a 10-game losing streak, losing three games to Yale over the weekend and Texas A&M - Corpus Christi on Monday. Just days later, Rice welcomed baseball veteran David Pierce to fill Cruz’s seat.
“I do not take lightly the dismissal of a legendary Owl such as Coach Cruz,” said Athletic Director Tommy McClelland in a March 13 statement. “However, I came to the decision that it was in the best interest of our student-athletes and our baseball program to make a coaching change now while there is so much of the season remaining.”
SEE BASEBALL CHANGES PAGE 11
Elisa Gabbert on writing through disaster
Memory deceives. Perception distorts. For Elisa Gabbert ’02, the ubiquitous condition of our times is ‘unreality’ — modern society’s tendency to process catastrophe as media spectacle and bury anxieties beneath routine. In her 2020 essay collection “The Unreality of Memory,” she dissects why tragedy leaves us scrolling, watching and forgetting.
In her opening essay, Gabbert remembers the Houston sky was “bright blue” on the day of the Sept. 11 attacks. When she arrived at the student center, she noticed a crowd gathered around a television, watching the coverage as if it was just “something on TV,” Gabbert said.
“It was just super surreal and eerie,” Gabbert said in an interview with the Thresher. “People were kind of wandering around, basically doing their typical routines, wherever they would normally go … There was sort of no right way to react or act, so we were all just kind of going through our typical motions.
“I remember … not really knowing if we were supposed to go to class or not because they didn’t actually
automatically cancel all classes or anything like that. And I had a yoga class that I was supposed to go to, of all things, and I remember going … and I remember some people getting up and leaving, crying.
“But there was a real sense of just unreality, and nobody knowing how we were supposed to act. It was just so out of anyone’s experience at that point.”
The collection emerged from Gabbert’s preoccupation with the relationship between disaster and psychological processes — how tragedy, though endlessly documented, remains difficult to fully grasp or make real, she said.
“Around that time when Trump was elected for the first time, I just had this real urgent sense that I needed to take on more difficult and serious subjects,” Gabbert said. “And that was one of the first essays I wrote when my mind was there, when I was thinking more about climate catastrophe [and the] ways that it seemed like reality and the systems around me were falling apart … That essay was the first one I took on when I wanted to think, how do we think about this new kind of reality?”
read more on page 11
Rice under investigation for ‘raceexclusionary’ practices
JAMES CANCELARICH ASST. NEWS EDITOR
The Department of Education is investigating Rice, alongside 44 other universities, for engaging in alleged “raceexclusionary” practices. The investigations come amid allegations that these universities’ partnership with The Ph.D. Project violates Title IX of the Civil Rights Act.
The Ph.D. Project is an organization founded “with the goal of creating more role models in the front of business classes,” according to its website. The ED’s Office for Civil Rights alleged in a press release that the organization limits the eligibility of participants based on their race.
Schools found to be in violation of Title IX could potentially lose their federal funding.
“We are reviewing our participation in the Ph.D. Project and are cooperating with investigators from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights,” Chris Stipes, a university spokesperson, wrote in an email to the Thresher. “Rice University is deeply committed to promoting an inclusive environment for all members of the community. We are dedicated to upholding the principles of diversity, academic freedom and excellence while ensuring strict adherence to all federal and state laws.”
Rice received about $129 million of federal
research funding in 2024, according to the Office of Research.
This move arrives amid the Trump administration’s repeated attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion — especially on university campuses.
The Department of Education released a “Dear Colleague” letter on Feb. 14, which warned universities about the potential for discriminatory conduct under DEI programs.
At Columbia University, Trump pulled over $400 million in federal funding and demanded that they ban masks on campus, increase the capability of campus police and allow oversight over its controversial department of Middle East, South Asian and African Studies as well as the Center for Palestine Studies, among other things. The funding is on track to be restored after Columbia capitulated to the conditions set by the federal government.
At Rice, the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion was renamed to the Office of Access and Institutional Excellence amid this federal scrutiny.
Rice’s federal funding was previously under threat when the National Institutes of Health planned to cut indirect funding to 15%, which would have reduced Rice’s funding by about $4 million. The order is currently held up by a temporary restraining order issued by a judge due to numerous lawsuits, one of which included testimony by Provost Amy Dittmar.
CHI PHAM THRESHER STAFF
COURTESY RICE ATHLETICS
José Cruz Jr. (left) speaks with David Pierce (right) at a 2022 baseball game. At the time, Cruz and Pierce head coached for Rice and the University of Texas at Austin, respectively.
COURTESY MARIA LYSAKER – RICE ATHLETICS
COURTESY CARLOS GONZALEZ –RICE ATHLETICS
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ALICE SUN / THRESHER
Petition to expand resources for pregnant students sparks controversy
Rice For Life and the Catholic Student Association launched a joint petition together calling for Rice to expand resources for pregnant and parenting resources.
The petition, sent out March 8, calls for support and resources that honor all pregnant and parenting students’ values; priority registration, academic flexibility and financial aid accountability; childcare accessibility, affordability, and housing; and reproductive health resources. It had 254 verified signatures, at the time of publication.
The petition calls for a resource hub, priority registration and academic flexibility, childcare accessibility, oncampus housing options and menstrual education and abstinence perspectives in Critical Thinking in Sexuality courses, among other measures, with inspiration from the University of Houston’s efforts.
Abigail Robert, president of RFL, said both CSA and RFL share a common goal of bringing together pro-life individuals in order to make a positive and meaningful change on campus.
“We sought to equip summit attendees with the tools and inspiration to foster a ‘culture of life’ on campus,” Robert, a Jones College senior, wrote in an email to the Thresher. “Additionally, we aimed to empower attendees to take practical steps toward advocating for expanded reproductive health options for students at Rice University, with a focus on choices that support the dignity of the unborn, as well as expanded resources that support pregnant and parenting students.”
Rice Students for Reproductive Justice co-founder Imogen Brown said she reached out to a member of RFL to ask for the summit’s schedule and was told it was intended for students who already identified as pro-life.
RSRJ’s purpose is to advocate for the accessibility of reproductive and sexual health resources, including abortion.
Christopher Blackburn, co-president of CSA, said pregnancy and parenthood are commitments of time, energy and money that aren’t viable for many students without university support.
When compared to our peers, Rice doesn’t offer nearly enough support
to make life a viable choice,” wrote Blackburn, a Sid Richardson College junior. “By expanding their current support system, Rice wouldn’t be restricting women’s reproductive rights, but rather ensuring students actually have
When compared to our peers, Rice doesn’t offer nearly enough support to make life a viable choice.
Christopher Blackburn
CATHOLIC STUDENT ASSOCIATION CO-PRESIDENT
the ability to choose.”
Rice currently offers resources for pregnant and parenting students such as larger desks, excused absences due to pregnancy and lactation rooms.
Claire Druffner, co-president of CSA, said the petition aims to improve access to these resources as well as other offcampus services.
“Our petition asks Rice to publish a comprehensive list of life-affirming resources to support expectant mothers and student-parents, who are admirably choosing to be parents while continuing their education,” Druffner, a Lovett College senior, wrote in an email to the Thresher.
The organizations have had a mixed response from students to both the petition and the summit itself, Blackburn said.
“On the one hand, we have been encouraged by the support from those on campus who have signed our petition and support our efforts to help pregnant and parenting students,” Blackburn wrote. “However, we have definitely had some pushback. Most visibly, the Rice Students for Reproductive Justice.”
RSRJ made an Instagram post calling for students not to sign the petition. The post was taken down after RFL and CSA contacted RSRJ due to an inaccuracy.
The post originally said that the petition calls for an on-campus crisis pregnancy center and said RFL was propagating an anti-abortion agenda under the guise of providing parenting resources.
Brown said RSRJ’s issue with faithbased pregnancy centers is that they can often refer to crisis pregnancy centers, which she said have been known to spread misinformation about pregnancy and abortion to vulnerable women.
Druffner said RFL and CSA are not advocating for an on-campus pregnancy resource center, but for Rice to include faith-based resources on its published resource page. RSRJ issued a corrected post with this clarification March 25.
“Even though RSRJ isolated Rice For Life in their post, Claire, Chris, and I wrote an email to RSRJ addressing the specific claims made in the Instagram post, clarifying the petition’s intent by citing the actual petition, and explaining why their claim was false and misleading,” Robert wrote. “[Their accusations were] injurious to RFL’s reputation and harmful to the university’s community.”
RFL appealed to the Office of Equal Opportunity Services about the post, but the complaint is still undergoing review.
“We put the original post back up alongside a new post correcting the statement and reinforcing our overall message. Conveying accurate information is important to us,” Brown, a Duncan College senior, wrote. “Regarding our stance on the petition, however, it makes no difference whether the petition is advocating for a Rice CPC versus a Rice CPC/CPC-affiliate resource list. We maintain that the promotion of Houston area CPCs in any form is deeply detrimental to informed reproductive decision making.
“Not all faith-based pregnancy resource centers would call themselves CPCs, but many are still affiliated with broader anti-abortion networks that can expose students to CPCs and their associated dangers,” Brown wrote. “Given their harmful, deceptive tactics, Rice should not promote these centers as a resource in any form.”
Druffner said when she took CTIS, she felt that abstinence was not represented as a perspective on sexuality and the course lacked menstrual education.
“The petition asks Rice to encourage abstinence as a valid option alongside other already-validated sexual perspectives in order to better represent the diverse thoughts of the student body,” Druffner wrote. “Second … most women
are never instructed on the phases of the menstrual cycle, what symptoms are healthy and unhealthy and their options for increased health and well-being.”
Brown said RSRJ took issue with promoting abstinence because abstinence education stigmatizes sex and is less effective at preventing unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.
“Rice promotes access to concrete sexual health resources like birth control and condoms — it does not provide comprehensive sex ed. In other words, the petition encourages Rice to provide abstinence education when Rice doesn’t even provide sex education,” Brown wrote. “RSRJ agrees that students should be able to choose whether to have sex or not have sex. But abstinence is not a sexual health resource, nor is it an effective approach to sexual health education.”
RSRJ agrees that students should be able to choose whether to have sex or not have sex. But abstinence is not a sexual health resource, nor is it an effective approach to sexual health education.
Imogen Brown
RICE STUDENTS FOR REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE CO-FOUNDER
Druffner wrote that RFL and CSA have not officially approached administration with the petition, which has a goal of 1,000 signatures. She wrote that she hopes the petition sheds light on Rice’s lack of resources for pregnant and parenting students and will bring change that honors the worth and dignity of each student.
“I would like Rice students to critically think about discourse. Too many times over the past four years, people have immediately stopped listening to my perspective based on perceived ideological differences,” Druffner wrote. “We are often told to seek common ground — but do we, as Rice students, genuinely seek common ground?”
ABIGAIL CHIU SENIOR WRITER
NDIDI NWOSU / THRESHER
Rice commits to graduate funding as NIH cap threatens research
Amid uncertainty in federal funding for universities, graduate school acceptances and funding may also be at risk.
The National Institute of Health announced Feb. 7 that federal grants for universities’ indirect costs would be capped at 15%, down from past rates of 40% or more. Indirect costs cover operational expenses, such as maintaining facilities and lab equipment.
In response, several universities, like the University of Pennsylvania, have reduced graduate admissions and, in some cases, rescinded offers.
Although a federal judge temporarily
blocked the measure, the threat of drastic funding cuts has already left many prospective and current graduate students uncertain about whether their programs will have the means to support them.
Cristiana De Sousa, a Duncan College junior studying mechanical engineering, said she wants to apply to Ph.D. programs next year but worries about decreasing spots in science and engineering.
“There’s a lot of confusion around who’s going to be accepting students and how grants will be obtained,” De Sousa said.
De Sousa said she worried that humanities and social science fields — particularly those centered on diversity, equity and inclusion — could face
Students applying to graduate schools and research programs face uncertainty due to potential funding cuts, including reserach funding.
Measles vaccine clinic held amid outbreak
during international travel.
Rice held a measles, mumps and rubella vaccine clinic March 20 in response to the growing measles outbreak in Texas. The clinic was a partnership between Rice Emergency Management and Albertsons/ Randalls that sought to provide additional protection to faculty, staff and students who may not be fully vaccinated.
A measles outbreak in the South Plains and Panhandle regions of Texas has resulted in 327 cases, 40 hospitalizations and one fatality, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. Despite efforts by health professionals to contain the measles outbreak, it continues to spread.
Measles is highly contagious — even more infectious than COVID-19 — and can lead to serious complications, including hospitalization and death. Symptoms include fever, rash and flu-like symptoms. Due to widespread vaccination, measles was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000. Scattered infections reported afterward were typically tied to international travel or declining immunization rates in certain communities.
A majority of the cases in the outbreak were in people who were unvaccinated or were unsure about their vaccination status, according to the CDC.
Jessica McKelvey, the director of Student Health Services, said 99.99% of full-time, on-campus students have received their MMR vaccination.
The latest measles case in Houston occurred in March and involved an unvaccinated infant exposed to measles
heightened vulnerability under shifting funding priorities.
“A lot of that research revolves around civil rights, women and sexuality — that sort of thing,” De Sousa said. “There’s a real fear it could be under more pressure than STEM-related fields.”
Rice has stated that changes will not be made to DEI-related university policies for the time being.
Bill Nguyen, a Hanszen College senior who recently completed his own graduate applications, said the fallout from these proposed cuts has created pressure for prospective students.
“I applied to 12 [universities] … I heard back from two,” Nguyen said. “One school changed its funding guarantee from five years to one year. It’s that uncertainty, right? What if your advisor suddenly runs out of money?”
Nguyen said he saw peers rush to accept offers early because they feared schools might rescind them.
Rice has not publicly announced reduced admissions, but some faculty said they are bracing for a challenging period. Moshe Vardi, an electrical and computer engineering professor, said he understands the heightened worries among students.
“If we lose our Ph.D. programs, we’re dealing a serious blow to research, to preparing future faculty and even to undergraduate teaching,” Vardi said. “We can’t afford to lose a generation in science and engineering.”
Seiichi Matsuda, dean of graduate and postdoctoral studies, said Rice is committed to meeting its financial obligations to graduate students.
“Rice will not rescind admissions offers that have been made, unless for a policy-driven reason,” Matsuda wrote in an email to the Thresher. “Our current doctoral students who are in their standard funded period will continue to be paid as usual. If the advisor experiences funding cuts and no longer has sufficient funds to pay the student, the department and then the school are
the financial safety nets.”
Matsuda added that Rice’s graduate admissions decisions are made at the department level and that the university expects a slightly smaller incoming class this year — reducing the overall doctoral cohort to about 300, a “modest 5% decrease” from Rice’s five-year average of 315.
I applied to 12 [universities] … I heard back from two. One school changed its funding guarantee from five years to one year. It’s that uncertainty, right? What if your advisor suddenly runs out of money?
Bill Nguyen
PROSPECTIVE GRADUATE STUDENT
Matsuda clarified that this planned reduction is not directly linked to any specific governmental policy, but instead reflects the aggregate enrollment targets set independently by individual departments.
“Our work continues to depend heavily on graduate student input,” Matsuda said. “The Graduate Student Association and my office have worked closely together to minimize any impact of change on individual graduate students. In fact, the base doctoral stipend will increase in 2025–26 to $36,000 from the current $34,000.”
De Sousa, who hopes to begin graduate school in 2026, said she’s now looking at multiple institutions while also exploring industry roles to safeguard her future.
“I’m applying to Ph.D. programs, but I’ve also got job applications lined up as a backup,” De Sousa said. “I’m going to keep my options open.”
MBA endowment supports non-U.S. veterans with ‘fundamental values’ of IDF
The Rice clinic, which took place during spring break, was timed to make the MMR vaccine accessible to faculty and staff who may not have had the opportunity to update their immunization records.
Two hours into the event, Deputy Director of Emergency Management Lach Mullen reported a strong turnout.
“We’re on track, and we’ve had around 220 appointments scheduled. So far, we had people showing up for their window,” Mullen said.
Faculty and staff made up the majority of attendees. Among the attendees was President Reggie DesRoches, who said he chose to receive the vaccine both to protect himself and to support the broader Rice community.
“I think I had [the MMR shot] before but couldn’t pull up my documents. My wife works in healthcare — she said just go ahead and get it,” DesRoches said.
DesRoches’ uncertainty over his immunization history is not uncommon. Many adults born between 1957 and 1989 may have only received a single dose of the MMR vaccine in childhood, leaving them more vulnerable to measles.
According to the CDC, people born after 1957 should get at least one MMR shot if they have never had measles — or if they do not have written documentation or other proof of immunity.
One dose of the MMR vaccine is 93% effective against measles, and two doses are 97% effective, according to the CDC.
Editor’s Note: This story has been cut off for print. Read the full article online at ricethresher.org.
HONGTAO HU ASST. NEWS EDITOR
Asaf Bar Natan applied to the Jones Graduate School of Business in October 2023 while serving as a captain in the Israel Defense Forces. Bar Natan now attends Rice with the help of the Gibborim Scholarship, for which an endowment was recently created within the graduate business school.
The endowment aims to provide a scholarship to one non-U.S. veteran a year. It has a preference for those who “have advanced knowledge of the mission and fundamental values” of the Israeli Defense Forces, according to an email by Chris Stripes, the executive director of news and media relations.
Peter Rodriguez, dean of the Jones Graduate School of Business, said that the scholarship is a standard endowment. He said it was based on merit, as students must first be admitted to the Jones Business School. Recipients will then be chosen by the dean.
“You set up some endowed fund, and you might make gifts into it over a five year period,” Rodriguez said. “The way the scholarships typically work is you take the earnings from the endowed funds that are delivered by the Rice Management Company, and you give those or award those to scholarship recipients based on some mutually agreed-to criteria.”
In this case, the criterion is service in the IDF. The endowment was created by
investor and writer Jay Zeidman, inspired by Bar Natan’s journey from military service to Rice. Zeidman did not respond to request for comment.
However, in an interview with eJewishPhilanthropy, Zeidman said he hopes that the scholarship will not only provide financial support to IDF veterans, but also foster community among the Houston Jewish community and combat antisemitism.
In previous iterations of the scholarship, when it was not offered directly through Rice, the Gibborim (Heroes) scholarship further stressed the preference towards IDF veterans.
In a copy of the scholarship from Bar Natan’s LinkedIn in January, it gave special preference to soldiers who served an active combat role. Additional preference was given to those involved in the Israel-Hamas conflict, called the Iron Swords War by the IDF, that ignited after Oct. 7, 2023.
“[The Gibborim scholarship] is in light of the increase in antisemitism cases on campuses in the U.S. against Jewish, Israeli students, and IDF graduates, and serves as a direct, crushing, and unequivocal response to any attempt to undermine their place on campus. You, graduates of service in the IDF, are heroes,” a translation of the previous draft read.
Both Rodriguez and Bar Natan said the scholarship was not political.
Editor’s Note: This story has been cut off for print. Read the full article online at ricethresher.org.
CHARLIE CRUZ THRESHER STAFF
FRANCESCA NEMATI / THRESHER
SANJANA RAMINENI FOR THE THRESHER
‘Force of nature’ Richard Brown remembered
PRASI DESAI SENIOR WRITER
Richard Brown, a founding faculty member of the Shepherd School’s percussion department, passed away March 14. Outside of being an educator, Brown was a Rice professor for over 40 years as well as a professional musician and entrepreneur.
After beginning his music career at 18 in Philadelphia, Brown was a part of the United States Army Band and the Houston Symphony before briefly serving as a freelance percussionist on Broadway.
After being appointed as a professor at Rice in 1985, Brown continued playing with the Houston Symphony and served as principal percussionist and personnel manager of the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra and Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra for over 25 years.
He also led the Richard Brown Orchestra, which was one of Houston’s most popular dance bands and played at numerous local events.
David Murray ’91, who studied under Brown for five years, said his first contact with Brown was before he enrolled as a student in 1986. When Murray first applied to the program as a senior in high school, Brown called him a day later and convinced him to attend an audition in Houston.
According to Murray, Brown was a great teacher and mentor who cared deeply about his students and their success.
“[Brown] treated his students like they were his own children,” Murray said.
Tom Jaber, director of choral activities and professor of vocal coaching, said he first met Brown when he started working at Rice in 1988. Describing Brown as a “force of nature,” Jaber said “everything [Brown] did contributed to developing [Shepherd’s] national and international prominence.”
According to Murray, Brown was
instrumental in shaping his career, helping him to win auditions and consider a career in military bands. Murray credits Brown’s real-world experience as a percussionist, which translated to his teaching, as a major reason for his students’ success.
“He found excellence in me that I didn’t know was there,” Murray said. “He was good at being a teacher and mentor, but he was also good at helping people get their foot in the door for jobs.”
Jaber and Brown remained friends for over 30 years until Brown’s passing. For Jaber’s 25th anniversary at the Shepherd School, Jaber and Brown played together in the celebratory concert—an experience Jaber remembers fondly.
“I found that side of him to be very encouraging as a friend and colleague,” Jaber said.
According to Jaber, Brown was notorious for always being on his cell phone, frequently putting in 18-to-20 hour days with his responsibilities as a professor and other commitments. However, Jaber said Brown’s busy schedule did not prevent him from having a “fantastic sense of humor” and treating others with kindness and compassion.
“A substantial faculty appointment can be a pretty lonely job,” Jaber said. “Richard always seemed to care about how I was.”
Brown was the founder of Richard Brown Music, which hired musicians for Houston freelance concerts and churches.
A social media statement by the HGO Orchestra described Brown as “the heart and foundation of the Houston freelance community,” offering over 2000 employment opportunities to Houston musicians.
Jaber said Brown was still involved with the music community, even after retirement.
“He loved what he did,” Jaber said. “This community will have trouble recovering from his loss.”
Tobey holds first senate, outlines priorities
HOPE YANG ASST. NEWS EDITOR
The 2025-26 Student Association held their first Senate March 24 after leadership changeover the week prior. SA President Trevor Tobey made inaugural remarks on campus change and listening to students.
“The [executive] team, as well as I, came up with an overall mission, which is to empower your voice, enact meaningful change and elevate campus life through transparent leadership, bold advocacy and student-driven innovation,” said Tobey, a Hanszen College junior.
Tobey also set priorities for the first 40 days, including creating a “responsible” budget, expanding mental health resources, passing constitutional reforms, increasing campus dialogue on political and international issues, expanding discounts and securing student printing credits.
The SA also voted for appointed positions, confirming David Lee as chief of staff, Zach Weinbrum as parliamentarian, Nathan Turman as deputy chief of staff, Chelsea Asibbey as
Director of Communications, and Blanket Tax Committee members Zach Wilson, Patrick Xin, Henry Cabrera, Othniel Amanyi and Willa Liou.
A special election was also announced to fill the empty secretary position. Campaigning will begin on April 2, and voting will start April 8.
Mahtab Dastur, SA External Vice President, encouraged college senators to bring energy to their roles.
“When you’re a college senator, I expect you to give 100 percent in everything you do,” said Dastur, a Duncan College freshman.
In the rest of her speech, Dastur emphasized inter-college coordination and fostering relationships across campus.
Tobey also said he would focus on creating engagement and increasing the SA efficacy.
“The bureaucratic hurdles and lack of engagement are no longer just obstacles,” Tobey said. “They’re our responsibility to fix, and if we don’t believe in this organization, we can’t expect the student body to.”
COURTESY TOM JABER Richard Brown (right) performing for Tom Jaber’s 25th anniversary celebration at Rice. Brown and Jaber were close friends until Brown’s passing March 14.
Mid-season baseball coach shakeup is bold
Rice Athletics turned heads this week by firing head baseball coach José Cruz Jr. just a few days before conference play — and after a 10-game losing streak. He was swiftly replaced by David Pierce, a veteran of our 2003 national title run under coach Wayne Graham.
While Pierce’s credentials are impressive, the bigger story here is the boldness of Athletic Director Tommy McClelland’s timing. Midseason firings are rare at Rice, a university that typically waits until the last pitch of the season before making dramatic changes. This time, however, McClelland pulled the trigger without waiting for an end-of-year review, demonstrating a newfound willingness to course-correct in real time.
record (he was fired in Austin after an underperforming season at UT) misses the broader significance: Rice Athletics is finally showing signs of impatience with mediocrity, and it’s ready to do something about it immediately.
Hiring a reputable coach isn’t novel. We often see universities chasing top-tier talent after subpar seasons, but bringing back someone like Pierce in the middle of the year is far from the standard Rice playbook. For a program with a single national championship to its name, maybe a shake-up is exactly what we need to regain our former glory.
it requires buy-in from the players, synergy among the staff and, frankly, time. But whatever the outcome, this change sets a new standard for Rice Athletics. If a program is faltering, and the administration sees a chance to improve, they’re ready to do it midstream. That willingness to shake things up may prove vital not only for baseball, but for other sports at Rice as well.
EDITORIAL STAFF
Criticizing or praising Pierce’s track
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
Still, there’s no guarantee that Pierce’s appointment will salvage this season. Turning a team around requires more than a high-profile hire and a big announcement;
Yes, David Pierce’s baseball pedigree is worth celebrating, but most telling is Rice’s determination to make bold moves when they’re needed — even if it means uprooting the dugout before the conference season has officially begun.
Editor’s Note: Editor-in-Chief Riya Misra was recused from this editorial due to corresponding reporting in the sports section. EDITORIAL
Learning how to say goodbye
For weeks, I’ve been staring at this blank document, unsure what to write. How do you say goodbye to the most formative job of your (young) life? For two years, I’ve spent my Mondays and Tuesdays — sometimes Wednesdays, often Thursdays, more Sundays than I’d like to admit — shuttered away in my obnoxiously warm, tiny newsroom.
Like most things I’ve done in my tenure, I’m writing this letter on a Tuesday morning. In a few hours, we’ll be rushing to make our print deadline: arguing over Oxford commas, napping on the floor, frantically charging cameras, tearing out our hair over one comment request or another.
How do you say goodbye to something that’s become your home? Our opinions page is full, so I have 600 words to try.
I wrote my first article for the Thresher as a freshman. It was mostly a favor to my writer mother, who wanted me to write one (just one!) article. In her defense, I don’t think she anticipated just how much I’d fall in love with the work, or that I would graduate with over 80 bylines to my name.
I am so proud of the work we’ve put together over the past few years. In his goodbye letter last year, my former co-editor said it’d been a “historic 10 months.” Little did we know. Since I took this job in 2023, Rice has grappled with federal attacks on diversity and research funding; student protests in response to the Israel-Gaza war; an underwear party gone awry; a changing athletics department; a campus tragedy; a national election. Last month I published an investigation, nine months in the making,
about a music professor who resigned amid sexual misconduct allegations — but former students alleged that Rice had “known for 30 years,” and failed to act.
Throughout our coverage, I remember one thing: We are not entitled to your stories. It is a privilege to tell them. It is a privilege to earn the trust of our sources and readers, a task that we don’t take lightly.
We are not entitled to your stories. It is a privilege to tell them.
There’s a difference between being liked and being trusted, we’ve learned (to quote my predecessor, Yasna Haghdoost: “Maybe you think I’m a crazy beyotch who gets off from critiquing the Student Association’s many, many, constitutional violations”).
It’s a difficult line to tread — yes, the Thresher is the student body’s watchdog. But we’re also your peers, roommates, lab partners and friends.
We are made by students, for students, and are constantly adapting to fit our readers’ needs. If you have criticisms, tell us (our office is right above Chaus). We want to improve, and are constantly trying to better ourselves — as an outlet, as reporters, as writers, as people.
As journalists, we learn to ask hard questions, then ask them again. To step on toes, take some shit, talk a lot, but also know
when to stop. After two thrilling, stressful, fulfilling years, I happily know to stop.
Of course, my thank yous: to Prayag Gordy, my former co-editor — without you, I wouldn’t be a fraction of the journalist I am today. To Morgan Gage and Ben BakerKatz, thank you for your friendship and your impossibly large shoes to fill. To Chris Evans and Katharine Shilcutt, the best mentors I could ask for, thank you for always keeping your offices open.
To Alice Sun, my lovely design director, thank you for all the cutouts and random 16-pagers. To my partners in InDesign crime, Spring Chenjp and Maria Morkas, Tuesdays would have been impossible without you. To Sarah Knowlton and Kathleen Ortiz, I am so proud of your talent, and endlessly excited to see where you’ll take this paper.
Thank you to my wonderful friends, whose love makes me a better person. My parents, who forever cheer me on, worry so I don’t have to, who refresh the Thresher website every Wednesday. Thank you for carrying me on your shoulders.
I’m way over my word count, but I’m sure our copy editors will fix that later. To everyone who has picked up a copy of the Thresher: Thank you for reading.
Riya Misra EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Paralysis in the neoliberal university
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.
Trump’s attacks on university admissions and scholarship have laid bare the structural contradictions at the heart of the neoliberal university, viscerally embodied in the recent abduction of Columbia University student activist Mahmoud Khalil by ICE agents.
Many university administrations in the U.S. have maintained their complicity in the ongoing genocide in Gaza, while ramping up repression against the student movement in
CORRECTIONS
solidarity with Palestine by suspending or expelling the students involved.
Khalil’s arrest marks the unmasking of university administrators who have now dropped any semblance of commitment to their students and faculty and to anti-colonial and anti-racist education. Instead, administrators are doubling down as police force for U.S. colonial power as they continue to prioritize acting as hedge fund managers, willing to sacrifice the soul of higher education to bolster the university’s portfolio.
Rice is no exception to this national story. To preserve the integrity of education, we must realize that Rice’s racist foundations, its exploitation of the Houston community and its commitment to U.S. colonial projects are interrelated.
In “‘The Revolutionists’ tackle comédie, égalité et sororité,” Liz Cox is a freshman.
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Erica Augenstein HISTORY PH.D. STUDENT
Jorge Zazueta ECONOMICS PH.D. STUDENT
ABOUT
The Rice Thresher, the official student newspaper of Rice University since 1916, is published each Wednesday during the school year, except during examination periods and holidays, by the students of Rice University.
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GUEST OPINION
Rice startups talk tech challenges, time concerns
It seems like everyone at Rice is creating an app these days. Some might remember Bonfire and Diagnos, or perhaps the more recent Nudge, but with many of these services now off the app store, one has to ask — Is Rice really an ideal environment for student-led startups?
Lucy Han, co-president of RiceApps, said app and website ideas are often abandoned soon after the prototype phase due to founders’ busy schedules. Her recent project Bunkmate, launched Feb. 23, is an exception to that rule, she said.
“It is a little bit tough when it comes to Rice, because everyone’s just on the grind mindset,” said Han, a McMurtry College junior. “They keep on moving, but they don’t actually deploy the projects, which obviously doesn’t make as much of an impact.”
Han said the mission of RiceApps is to create software for social good, which means partnering with Houston organizations as well as creating services for Rice students. Despite the difficulties Rice presents, she said she’s been satisfied with how Bunkmate, an off-campus housing search site, has fared.
“We already have over 500 users a day [and] 50-plus listings despite it being recently deployed, so I’m super proud of it,” Han said.
Bunkmate requires users to sign in with their Rice email address and displays the full name, email address and phone number of each user, which Nomin Ganzorig, a junior at Sid Richardson College, said she finds the most useful.
“On other platforms, like GroupMe or Facebook, people post with their personal social media accounts, so you can’t really see their full name, email or phone number directly,” Ganzorig said. “All the necessary information will be there [on Bunkmate], and that’s pretty convenient.”
Owldine, a centralized platform for servery menus and other on-campus dining information, is another website recently launched by students Danny Kardhashi and Tate Bregman. It was released at the beginning of this semester in response to the many changes in dining schedules. Bregman said the idea originated as a website for rating on-campus food options during the fall semester.
“Being a freshman, I would often call Danny and be like, ‘Where should I go for dinner?’” said Bregman, a Duncan College
freshman. “Once the schedule got changed, it felt like the perfect time to get started and make something.”
As they are both studying computer science, Bregman said he and Kardhashi were able to realize their idea quickly despite their busy schedules.
It is a little bit tough when
Lucy Han RICE APPS CO-PRESIDENT
“We sat down in the O’Connor basement at the whiteboard, and we drew out some mock-ups of what we wanted the website to look like,” Bregman said. “It was pretty easy to whip up the front end, but [we] didn’t have that much experience … connecting the back end, posting and scraping the data from the existing Rice websites.”
Kardhashi said he was able to apply the skills he learned in his classes to Owldine.
“I was taking a database SQL [programming language] management class … at the same time as I was building it, and that’s the database we ended up using,” said Kardhashi, a Martel College
sophomore. “That was pretty helpful for me.”
Nudge is a social media app that promotes in-person social interactions. Co-founder Ben Rubin studies computer science as well, but said he prioritizes Nudge over his classes. He said he thinks the Rice student environment is ideal for growing projects like Nudge.
“We feel very lucky to be on Rice campus because it’s a very small but also very interconnected and tightly woven campus,” said Rubin, a McMurtry College sophomore. “People have [made] friends that they wouldn’t typically be with … which we’re hoping would allow our app to grow.”
Rubin said they received funding and support from the Lilie Lab’s Launchpad program, which provides financial resources and mentorship to students looking to realize venture ideas.
“The Lilie Launchpad program has been helpful in terms of mentorship and helping us to establish the timeline goals for ourselves,” Rubin said. “They’ve worked with other Rice-led startups, so they have experience with that, which is very helpful.”
Despite Lilie funding, Nudge co-founder Yining Zhang said he and Rubin still have to spend some of their own money on server costs.
“They provided some funding, which is not a lot, but enough to get a momentum going,” said Zhang, a McMurtry College sophomore.
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GUILLIAN PAGUILA / THRESHER
NOA BERZ ASST. FEATURES EDITOR
Gabbert said her fascination with understanding how people respond to unreality is rooted in her broader interest in the cognitive sciences, which was her major at Rice. She first became aware of the field of study while looking through a course catalog just before starting her first year.
“I thought, ‘Wow, I didn’t even know that was a thing,’” Gabbert said. “I’m still fascinated by all that stuff — philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, how we think, why we think, how the brain works. It’s my jam.”
A cognitive sciences and linguistics major, Gabbert attributes her love of language and literature to her mother, who encouraged her to become a “voracious reader” from an early age, she said.
“Language became the primary way I think and think about thinking,” Gabbert said. “Before I really wanted to be a writer or identified as one, I was being told by others, ‘Oh, clearly, that’s what she should be.’ It actually took me a long time to come around to feeling that way.”
In high school, she used a single typewriter to compose poems, typing them on colored construction paper and assembling them into chapbooks. Despite her relative isolation from the “cool counterculture alternative world” she aspired to, Gabbert said she dreamed of creating a zine.
“I didn’t even know it was pronounced ‘zeen,’” Gabbert said. “I had one friend, Amanda, and we both used to fantasize about making a zine and publishing our own writing in it. That was when I first got excited about the idea not just of writing, but of being read, of having a readership … I would read those poems [in “The Best
American Poetry” anthology] and look to see where they were published, trying to figure out, should I be sending poems to The New Yorker?”
Since then, Gabbert has established herself as a prominent poet and essayist, publishing seven collections of poetry, essays and criticism. Her work spans multiple forms, and while she explores similar themes in each of her pieces, Gabbert approaches each with a distinct impulse, she said.
“Essays usually start bigger,” Gabbert said. “I want to spend a lot of time on it — go to the library, get a bunch of books on the subject, fall down YouTube rabbit holes, watch weird movies.
“Poems, on the other hand, are usually really fast,” Gabbert continued. “It’s rare that I’ll work on the same poem across multiple days or weeks.”
Although Gabbert only took a few English classes at Rice, the ones she did take left a lasting impression. She said she attributes much of her success in poetry to workshops taught by professor emerita Susan Wood, who encouraged her to apply to creative writing graduate programs — including Emerson College, where she eventually received her MFA in poetry.
“She was wonderful,” Gabbert said. “I don’t think I would have … made poetry such a central part of my life if it weren’t for her. She made me feel like I could do it and that I should take it seriously.”
Now a poetry columnist for The New York Times’ Book Review, Gabbert said one of her poems was rejected by Rice’s undergraduate literary magazine when she was still a student — a blow she dubbed “the new Einstein-flunkedhigh-school-math.”
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Summer owls fly across the pond
EMILY NGUYEN FOR THE THRESHER
This summer, Rice students are trading textbooks for passports as they prepare to study abroad.
Beata Loch, director of the Study Abroad Office, said the summer is a popular time to study abroad.
“Summer is a time for exploration, a time outside of each student’s four-year plan,” Loch said. “In short, summer provides flexibility to pursue experiences beyond the demands of the regular semesters.”
Rice in Spain
Rice in Spain is a program within the Rice in Country initiative by the Center for Languages & Intercultural Communications. This program provides medical opportunities through SPAN 324: Spanish for Medical Professionals, including a series of workshops at the University of Navarra’s Patient Simulation Center.
Lecturer Oz Ocampo talks sports scouting, leadership
WILL PATEL SENIOR WRITER
Before he scouted future All-Star pitchers internationally, Oz Ocampo was a college student studying abroad, searching for his career path. While in Buenos Aires, he watched the Superclásico, a fierce rivalry match between Argentina’s top soccer clubs. After Boca Juniors, his newly adopted team, won, he realized he wanted to work in baseball.
“Seeing all the excitement and energy from the fans coming down to the city, I recognized I wanted to do something I was passionate about,” said Ocampo, a lecturer in sport management. “From when I was young, I had a passion for sports, especially baseball. In high school and college, that passion grew to include leadership … and Latin America.”
His pursuit of a career that combined sports, leadership and Latin America led him to the Dominican Republic.
“I took a leave of absence my senior year, moved to the Dominican Republic and didn’t know anybody,” Ocampo said. “I started calling up teams and saying, ‘My name is Oz. I speak Spanish, and I’m willing to do anything to work in the game.’”
Ocampo said his persistence paid off. He landed an internship with the Major League Baseball office in the Dominican Republic and attended MLB Scout School, where he met Jeff Luhnow, then the St. Louis Cardinals vice president and future Houston Astros general manager.
“[The] next semester, I came back to the Dominican Republic for spring break, and Jeff said, ‘We’re opening up an academy
here, brand new. Would you want to run it?’” Ocampo said. “I was a 21-year-old kid who hadn’t even graduated yet … That’s how my baseball career started.”
“The connections in the Dominican [Republic] were critical,” Ocampo added. “A lot of these relationships that I forged early on end up being relationships for the rest of my career.”
Maya Gerke, a student in Ocampo’s sport management seminar, appreciates how Ocampo uses his professional connections to bring guest speakers in.
“It’s super cool that he uses his relationships in the sports world to bring speakers to class,” said Gerke, a Jones College senior. “Recently, we had [former Miami Marlins Manager] Skip Schumaker speak to the class, which wouldn’t be possible without his connections.”
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Aymara Boggiano, a senior lecturer in French and Spanish, said the program was notable for providing opportunities to premedical students.
“It offers our Rice pre-med students enrolled in medical Spanish the opportunity to learn through hands-on experience different medical procedures normally available to students in a medical or nursing school,” Boggiano wrote in an email to the Thresher.
Liam Peterson, a Will Rice College freshman, is heading to Pamplona this summer to gain medical experience with the University of Navarra.
“My time at the University of Navarra, visits to the clinic and service work will give me a global perspective of healthcare systems,” Peterson wrote in an email to the Thresher. “My goal is to come back to Rice with a unique outlook on problem solving and patient care.”
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AMY CAO / THRESHER
COURTESY OZ OCAMPO
‘Comics Sans Frontières’ celebrates the magic of the medium
LILY HARVEY THRESHER STAFF
Art Spiegelman, the first cartoonist to win a Pulitzer Prize for his graphic novel “Maus,” kicked off “Comics Sans Frontières: Border Defiance in Graphic Narratives,” at Rice March 20.
The comics conference, hosted by the Moody Center for the Arts, Fondren Library and various other departments, featured five days of presentations, exhibitions and student workshops.
At the opening event on Thursday, Christopher Sperandio began by speaking about the intersectional nature of comics.
“Comics — Is it art? Is it literature?” asked Sperandio, associate professor of art and conference co-organizer.
Pedro Moura, a comics writer and scholar from Portugal and co-editor of the conference collection, also spoke about the versatility and connections comics provide.
“Comics work well often beyond linguistic confines … they speak to you somehow. We all come together in the magic of the printed thing,” Moura said. “Comics allow us to resist, remember, reload and revolt.”
Art Spiegelman then took the stage in conversation with convention coorganizer Ofra Amihay, the Anna Smith Fine Lecturer in Jewish Studies and text and image scholar. Spiegelman discussed his introduction to comics and the history of working in the genre.
Spiegelman said his strict parents and exposure to Mad magazine first sparked his interest in comics.
“We didn’t have TV in the house. Mad [magazine] was as close as I could get to finding the mass media … Even the miniature version changed my life,” Spiegelman said.
Spiegelman said he wrote his first comic around age fourteen before working as an intern with trading card manufacturer Topps to design “Wacky Packages” and “The Garbage Pail Kids” cards.
He then discussed his work “Maus,” which tells the story of his parents’ survival of the Holocaust and the generational
trauma he experienced, clarifying that he made it with an adult audience in mind.
“I thought of it as self healing,” said Spiegelman. “The irony for me is I never did ‘Maus’ for kids … It was about othering.”
Spiegelman then spoke about his most recent work, a three-page comic about the war in Gaza which he created in collaboration with Joe Sacco, author of graphic novel “Palestine.”
“I wanted to make sure ‘Maus’ was never used for recruiting for the Israeli army … He did the drawing, I did the coloring, we played to our strengths,” Spiegelman said.
In addition to the discussion with Spiegelman and other panels, the convention also showcased the Moody Center’s ‘Project Wall,’ a dynamic exhibition space that displays student and artist collaborations.
Its current installation features a sample from a recent donation of original comic art by cartoonist and graphic novelist Jack Katz, curated by Sperandio and students in his Exhibition Design course (ARTS 378).
Comics allow us to resist, remember, reload and revolt.
Pedro Moura CO-EDITOR OF CONFERENCE COLLECTION
Alison Weaver, the executive director of the Moody Center for the Arts, said the installation was largely student-created.
“[Fondren Library] just acquired all this incredible historic material by a very important comic artist and decided to make an exhibition around that,” Weaver said. “So [students] proposed the design, they painted and 3D laser printed these end caps, mounted them and chose the materials, the vinyl and the didactics.”
Weaver also said the conference brought together community and connections.
“[The wall] ties in an interesting way to both a class, the Woodson archive and the
conference, and I think that’s typical of how the Moody tries to facilitate and give a creative component to things that are already happening on campus,” Weaver said. “That’s also nice, at Rice, to be able to invite artists from the community … and invite them here not just to attend something, but to participate in something and get to know people.”
While some artists and panelists traveled to the conference, many leaders came from departments within Rice.
“I got into it by being asked to buy comics and the artist editions,” said K. Sara Ostrach, Fondren Library’s art & architecture librarian. “I met Chris Sperandio, and he said, ‘I really want this artist edition’ … And I see one, and I buy one, and he’s really excited about it. And I asked, ‘Are there any others that you want?’ And he writes me a whole list.”
According to Ostrach, ‘artist editions’ are reproductions of original art in comics at the same scale they were originally done – some of them several feet tall. The Woodson Archive developed a shelf for the conference which included Spiegelman’s and other presenters’ comics.
Amihay, coined the title “Comics Sans Frontières” for the convention, said she became interested in comics at the beginning of her academic journey.
“When I started my academic path, I became really interested in children’s literature, and my MA was dedicated to that,” Amihay said. “Yet when I began attending children’s literature conferences, I realized that, actually, what I was interested in was picture books and text and image relations.”
According to Amihay, Spiegelman’s “Maus,” alongside other defining works, are notable due to their unconventional nature.
“During my MA, I was exposed to “Maus” and my mind exploded; I thought, ‘This is crazy. I’ve never seen anything like that.
“That’s exactly how I think of comics — as a kind of form that really challenges borders, even though it is so famous for its borders … I think it is a medium with an incredible potential to really subvert binaries,” Amihay said.
Sperandio agreed that comics act as an unconventional way to subvert borders.
“The secret is out: comics, once considered as cultural garbage by academics, are a vital part of the human experience,” Sperandio said.
During his conversation with Amihay, Spiegelman also noted this ability.
“Comics is a history of standing on each other’s shoulders and breaking boundaries,” Spiegelman said.
Review: Collins’ latest will keep you reading ‘til sunrise
HUGO GERBICH PAIS SENIOR WRITER
Nearly 17 years after The Hunger Games was released, Suzanne Collins masterfully transports – no, throws us – right back to our first introduction of the series. Writing with a tenacity that mimics the heroic journeys of her characters, Collins’ second prequel is a delight to read, for seasoned fans and firsttimers alike.
“Sunrise on the Reaping,” the second Hunger Games prequel, follows Haymitch Abernathy, Katniss and Peeta’s drunkard mentor in the Hunger Games. It begins just before his reaping in the second quarter quell and follows him to the arena and his eventual return to District 12.
In this regard, the novel is far more similar to “The Hunger Games” than Collins’ other sequel, “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” which was released in 2020, as the majority of the book takes place in the arena.
Impressively, Collins balances a strong sense of nostalgia for returning readers while still offering a novel full of surprise and intrigue. To outline these surprises would be to spoil the book, but trust that they are as stunning as the original trilogy.
The novel is also rich in symbolism, but Collins demonstrates that she trusts
her readers enough to figure things out on their own.
While there are plenty of references to the trilogy and the other prequel, they don’t feel too forced. Instead, they allow readers already familiar with Collins’ series to continue populating her world with more detail and history.
A related critique to the genre is that dystopian fiction tries too hard to be a warning to current society and, in doing so, loses all subtlety. This is not applicable to “Sunrise on the Reaping,” and to emphasise the novel’s dystopian elements would be disingenuous to the experience of reading the novel.
Its dystopian elements are the setting, allowing Collins to put characters in heartbreaking, unjust situations and gain readers’ sympathy, rather than being at the center of the book.
This is not to say that its critique of authoritarianism is nonexistent, but it is instead highlighted by Haymitch and his fellow tributes’ struggle to maintain their dignity.
Just after he is reaped, Haymitch thinks that, “The moment our hearts shattered? It belongs to us.” He will spend the rest of the novel resisting the Capitol’s desire to use him for propaganda.
Unlike the original ‘Hunger Games’ trilogy,
friendship, rather than love, guides Haymitch in the arena. This difference will be refreshing for returning readers, and defines the work. At the beginning of his journey to the Capitol, Haymitch is distrustful of his fellow District 12 tributes – he softens to them as the novel progresses, and to many of the other tributes.
While Haymitch narrates the novel, we still are exposed to the other District 12 tributes. His narration of them is tender and Collins manages to convey Haymitch’s deep appreciation for their presence.
The District 12 tributes decide to form a coalition with many other Districts, and this emphasis on community was the bluntest message of the novel. But even then, the closing pages of the novel engage with and complicate this rosy idea of solidarity enough to redeem Collins.
The Covey, a formerly nomadic songwriting and performing people, originally introduced in “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” reappear in this work. Haymitch’s love interest, Lenore Dove,
is Covey, and song features throughout the novel, as she sings to him, and he finds solace in her lyrics in the arena.
The incorporation of song verse in the text is engaging and adds a poetic flair to particularly emotive moments.
Suzanne Collins achieves with “Sunrise on the Reaping” what few authors do when they release prequels. The book has merit on its own – full of thrills and a protagonist that is dark, complex, but ultimately likeable.
And for those who grew up with “The Hunger Games,’ it adds rich context to the original trilogy, surely inspiring readers to return to them with a newfound appreciation.
FRANCESCA NEMATI / THRESHER
Ofra Amihay (left) and Art Spiegelman (right) discuss Spiegelman’s journey into the comics world at the ‘Comics Sans Frontières’ opening event.
Music, community to collide at ktru’s annual Outdoor Show
standing tradition of highlighting Houston’s music scene for both Rice students and the wider community.
ktru’s 33rd annual musical festival, “Outdoor Show,” will take over the Central Quad on Saturday for a day of music, art and community.
Organized by Rice’s student-run radio station, the event will feature local vendors, craft stations, student DJs and eight musical acts — concluding with indie-pop headliner band Laundry Day.
Basma Bedawi, an Outdoor Show director, said the show remains free of charge and continues ktru’s long-
“We want to bring Houston’s local music to campus and keep the show open to everyone,” said Bedawi, a Hanszen College senior. “If you don’t know it’s happening, you’ll probably hear it anyway because we’re in the middle of campus.”
This year’s lineup opens with music group F — winners of ktru’s Battle of the Bands last semester — followed by sets from artists Reia, Valen the Valentine, Pinkie Promise, Alan Warhol and ORION
224 before Laundry Day headlines.
Between sets, student DJs will spin to maintain the festival atmosphere.
“We tried to bring in a wide variety of genres — rap, R&B, indie rock and more,” Bedawi said. “We’re excited to show Rice students just how vibrant the Houston music scene can be.”
Chloe Diehl, an Outdoor Show board member, said that the vision of the festival combines electronic influences with a gritty, DIY spirit.
“We wanted to nod to the European electronic and house music revival while blending it with the do-it-yourself motto
of ktru,” said Diehl, a Lovett College sophomore. “Think of Berghain in Berlin or a KAYTRANADA set mixed with eclectic collages. We want to give off diva but not brat, scrappy but clean, edgy yet bright.” According to Diehl, ORION 224 is one act to watch for local flavor.
“The band, ORION 224, started out in my high school, Lamar,” Diehl said.
“We really want to highlight bands that might not be on everyone’s radar yet,” Bedawi said.
Beyond music, Bedawi said this
Bring a blanket and friends, settle down in Central Quad and enjoy yourself. That’s what the Outdoor Show is really about.
Basma Bedawi
HANSZEN COLLEGE SENIOR
year’s Outdoor Show will introduce a bigger craft area, including clay figurinemaking and collage stations. Food trucks Foreign Policy and Doke Cone will arrive later in the afternoon, and Voodoo Doughnut plans to hand out free donuts, according to Bedawi.
Archi Market, a vendor market organized by architecture students, will bring about 35 vendors to Central Quad from 2 to 4 p.m., according to the market’s logistics coordinator Alba Galarza. Galarza said that they are welcoming both student and off-campus sellers.
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CHARLIE CRUZ THRESHER STAFF
GUILLIAN PAGUILA / THRESHER
From huddles to hurdles: Junior Christian Edgar’s journey to becoming a two-sport Division I athlete
ANA RIVERA THRESHER STAFF
When Christian Edgar first arrived at Rice, his focus was singular: football. Competing in two sports wasn’t part of the plan, at least not at first. But by the spring of his freshman year, as he stood on the sidelines watching a home track meets, something shifted.
“I saw that my time from high school would’ve done okay — not great, but okay,” Edgar said. “And that kind of first put the thought into my mind.”
By his sophomore year, Edgar had turned that passing thought into a plan. After working closely with both the football and track coaches to coordinate his training schedule, he officially joined the Rice track and field team.
Today, he splits his time between being a slot receiver on the football team and competing as one of the track program’s top hurdlers.
“When you truly enjoy the training and competition of both sports — and I believe this absolutely applies to Christian — it’s not asking too much,” said Rice track and field head coach Jon Warren. “He’s a big-time competitor who gives his all to both sports.”
Managing two Division I sports is no small task. Edgar credits his ability to stay on top of both sports to consistent communication and a carefully structured routine. And with Rice’s new football coaching staff in place this year, he said his schedule has become more sustainable.
“We do weight room lifts Monday, Wednesday and Friday,” Edgar said. “Football runs are Tuesdays and Thursdays, but I was able to replace those with track runs instead. I’m still lifting with football, still around the facility, but instead of running football drills on the field, I’m running track.”
It’s a more manageable workload than he had in the past. Last year, he wasn’t allowed to miss any football workouts, which often meant double training days— football practice in the morning, track in the afternoon and sometimes even back-toback competitions.
“That took a toll on my body,” Edgar said. “I had to focus on nutrition and sleep to stay healthy. If I wasn’t eating enough or getting enough rest, it wasn’t going to work.”
Warren said Edgar deserves the credit for clear communication with both staffs and managing his own time.
“Christian is in charge of making this work,” Warren said. “He communicates with the football staff and the track staff, and due to his diligence, it works well.”
For Edgar, football and track aren’t separate pursuits. They complement each other, both physically and mentally.
When you truly enjoy the training and competition of both sports — and I believe this absolutely applies to Christian — it’s not asking too much.
Jon Warren TRACK AND FIELD HEAD C0ACH
“The obvious thing is speed,” Edgar said. “With track, you really train the top end of your speed. That’s helped me on the football field. Coaches love when people are fast — when they can see it on film.”
But it’s not just about speed. Edgar believes football’s mental toughness has helped him handle the physical and emotional demands of track competition.
“You have to be gritty,” he said. “You have to be able to suffer and go through hard practices. That’s helped me push through tough workouts in track. And the pressure from football games is greater than the pressure from track meets, at least for me. So at track meets, I can relax a whole lot more. It’s like, ‘I just get to be here and run.’”
Warren sees the connection between the two sports as well.
“Football teaches an athlete that to succeed they have to work well with others,” he said. “ Track is a great off-season vehicle for football players to improve their speed.”
During the indoor season, Edgar competes in the 60-meter hurdles. Outdoors, he runs the 110-meter hurdles and is a key member of Rice’s 4x400 relay team.
Last year, he finished seventh in the 110-meter hurdles at the American Athletic
Conference Outdoor Championships. This indoor season, he placed third in the 60-meter hurdles at the AAC Championships with a time of 7.90 seconds—ranking him sixth on Rice’s all-time performance list.
On the football field, Edgar’s role has evolved since his arrival at Rice. He was initially recruited as a quarterback, later transitioned to safety and now plays slot receiver under the new offensive system.
Outside of his roles as an athlete, Warren said Edgar has had other effects on the team as well.
“In his event group, he’s made a great impact,” Warren said. “He’s a good leader and has made an impact on the full squad in a positive way.”
One of the greatest challenges Edgar faces is not having an offseason.
“When football players get their weekends off, I’m at a track meet,” Edgar said. “And when track season is over, I’m going through fall camp and football season.”
The constant grind has forced him to be intentional about how he spends his time, and what he sacrifices along the way.
“You prioritize what you want to do,” he said. “It does limit some things, like hanging out with friends on the weekends—but it’s worth it.”
Throughout the process, Edgar credits his dad for helping him stay grounded and focused.
“My dad has been there when I’m stressed out and need to calm down,” Edgar said. “At the same time, he doesn’t feel sorry for me. He pushes me to make the most of my resources. It’s a really cool opportunity to do two sports, and he reminds me of that.”
With spring football practice wrapping up, Edgar is preparing to shift his attention fully to the outdoor track season.
“With football, I think the offense the new coaching staff is bringing in is going to be exciting and fun to watch,” Edgar said. “I’m excited to see where my role lies and how I can best help the team this fall.”
On the track, his focus is on building momentum heading into the postseason.
“I only have a couple of meets before [the conference meet],” Edgar said. “I’m just taking it one week at a time and trying to get a little better each week.”
Reflecting on his time at Rice so far, Edgar said it’s the journey itself—not just the results—that has been the most rewarding.
“Trying to be good at both sports is great,” he said. “But for me, it’s really about enjoying the process. Going through track practices with my track teammates and football workouts with my football teammates — that’s been so cool. Not a lot of people get to do that. It’s a gift, and I am just trying to make the most out of it.”
COURTESY RICE ATHLETICS
Christian Edgar runs down the field during a game against West Point. Edgar was recruited as a quarterback before becoming a slot receiver.
COURTESY RICE ATHLETICS
Christian Edgar (middle) runs the 60-meter hurdles during the indoor track AAC Championship Meet March 1. Edgar placed third and was the only Rice athlete to make the podium that day.
Such a drastic mid-season restructure is “unconventional,” McClelland said in a March 17 statement announcing Pierce’s hiring.
“As soon as Coach Pierce and I came to an agreement that he would be our next head coach, he expressed his strong desire to start immediately,” McClelland continued.
This job is a homecoming for Pierce, who worked at Rice from 2003 to 2011 under the late Wayne Graham. In 2003, Pierce helped Graham lead the team — including Cruz’s younger brother — to their first and only national title.
Pierce got started just four days after McClelland’s announcement, coaching his first series at Florida Atlantic University on March 21. The team went 1-2 in their conference opener. Pierce’s first home game with the team will be today at 6:30 p.m.
“Like I told the coaching staff, I’m coming in to help,” said Pierce in his introductory press conference on March 19. “I’m not coming in to be any kind of savior. I’m here for support. I’m here to be an extra set of eyes and do everything we can to right the ship and do whatever we need to do to advance.”
Cruz, a Rice and Lovett College alum, had just started his fourth season as Owls’ head coach at the time of his firing.
Cruz — once hailed as the university’s “Centerfield Messiah” — played for Rice under legendary coach Wayne Graham from 1993 to 1995, where he was a threetime All-American and a member of the first Rice baseball team to make a regional appearance.
“Wayne Graham sold me on what Rice could become and he was right,” said Cruz after being hired as head coach in 2021. “It’s up to me and my staff to return Rice baseball to the position we worked so hard to build.”
Graham, who died in September, led Rice to seven College World Series trips and
a national title in 2003. Cruz was unable to bring Rice baseball a winning season as he attempted to follow in the footsteps of his former coach, finishing his tenure with a 63-126 record.
Cruz’s firing is the third major dismissal made by McClelland since he joined Rice in August 2023.
This fall, he dismissed football head coach Mike Bloomgren with four games remaining in the season. Last March, he dismissed men’s basketball head coach Scott Pera at the conclusion of the season.
McClelland appointed pitching coach Parker Bangs to be the interim head coach while he conducted the search for a new coach. Bangs joined Rice baseball as the team’s pitching coach in June 2022. He coached five games for the Owls, with a record of 2-3 before McClelland announced Pierce’s hiring.
“I want to thank Parker Bangs for his leadership as our interim head coach during this transition,” McClelland said in a statement. “He provided a calming presence during a challenging time and remains an important part of the coaching staff.”
Pierce went 295-162 in his eight-year tenure at the University of Texas Austin, leading the team to three appearances in the College World Series.
He was fired in June 2024 after a “dissatisfying end to the season” according to the Daily Texan. Two months later, he joined Texas State University as an assistant coach, where he worked until last week.
Pierce has previously head coached teams at Sam Houston State University and Tulane University, the latter of which he led to their first NCAA championship in a decade.
“I think we’re in a position now to really take a look at anything that’s happened in the past and just put it behind us, good and bad,” Pierce said at his press conference. “It’s a new era. We’re going to start fresh and we’re going to start fresh together.”
COURTESY
“I don’t want to play with you anymore”
HONG LIN TSAI / THRESHER
RICE ATHLETICS
Former Rice baseball head coach José Cruz Jr. shakes hands with current head coach David Pierce during a game in 2022, while Pierce was still the head coach at The University of Texas. Pierce was at UT until June 2024.
What’s in your OWL DNA?
Q1. Which owl are you?
A. High-flying owl
B. Well-loved owl
C. Night owl
D. Unique owl
Q2. If I’m looking for inspiration on campus, I go to…
A. Fondy 6th
B. Smoke a cigarette against the section of the Berlin Wall
C. Home for the weekend
D. The couches in the RMC Grand Hall lobby
Q3. When I brag about Rice to others, I mention _____ first.
A. Its ranking above Princeton on Niche.com
B. The sea of esoteric CDs in the KTRU stacks
C. How difficult my major is
D. The epicness that is CS Beer Debates
Q4. When I’m getting ready for work or prepping for an owl-nighter, I’m most likely to hype myself up with:
A. Ten minutes of LinkedIn doom-scrolling
B. An Enlighten Mint Yerba Mate
C. A cold shower
D. A socially enriching chat with my TA and their 5 closest friends
Q5. My favorite moment in Rice history is…
A. The establishment of the Lilie Lab
B. When bôa was announced as the Moody X-Fest 2025 headliner
C. When my Physics midterm got curved up by 30 percent
D. The brilliant innovation of CRISPR baby gene-editing by Dr. He Jiankui
Q6. My favorite book is…
A. A Story of Hootinomics: An Owls Tale, by Jimmy DeNicco
B. Milk and Hoot-ney, by Rupi Kaur
C. Whatever I come across on MangaDex
D. How to Wing Friends and Influence Owls, by Dale Carnegie
Q7. I hope my descendants inherit…
A. My generational Tetra wealth
B. My lust for the unknown
C. My intellectual brutality
D. My irresistible charm
Your dominant gene is the Sell-Out!
You came to Rice ready to network and make as much money after schooling as possible. You have at least 3 coffee chats a week and are not afraid to cold email executives at Fortune 500 companies. The world is your oyster, and you’re ready to leverage every pearl along the way.
Your dominant gene is the Hermit! Your classes are harder than everyone else’s, so you need to be locked in 110% of the time. You only have time to leave your room to go to the servery, and even then, you can’t fathom waiting in that stir-fry line! Sports management majors are the bane of your existence (how lucky they are!), and you started studying for the MCAT in high school.
Your dominant gene is the Freethinker! You aren’t the typical Rice student, and you want everyone to know it. You listen to super indie music like Radiohead, The Smiths, and Mac DeMarco. Okay, we see you walking with your baggy jeans and wired headphones on the way to Chaus!
Your dominant gene is the Oddball! You are a big campus character, instantly recognizable because of your quirks and unconventional perspectives. Your favorite activities include playing Catan in your floor’s common space and sending memes in your college GroupMe. Your fierce individuality may be off-putting to some, but that’s what makes you stand out.
