During Rice football’s bye week, redshirt junior running back Quinton Jackson said that he felt healthy and energized. But after a 37-34 win in double overtime against the University of Connecticut Saturday, all he wanted to do was take a nap.
“To be honest, I’m exhausted,” Jackson said postgame. “I could just lay down right now.”
Jackson’s 248 scrimmage yards are the most by a Rice player since at least 1995. He surpassed the previous high mark of 243 yards set Nov. 4, 2006, by running back Quinton Smith. Jackson also scored four touchdowns, including the game-winner in double overtime.
“If there’s a young man across this country who plays with more heart, and plays bigger and more explosive and harder than [Jackson], I’d like to find him,” head coach Scott Abell said. Jackson was named an honorable mention for American Conference Offensive Player of the Week.
“It’s always good to be recognized, but I don’t play for that,” Jackson said. “I just want to go out there and play for my team.”
UConn struck for a 80-yard touchdown pass on its first play from scrimmage, putting the Owls in an early deficit. This was an all-toofamiliar sight for the Rice defense, which allowed a touchdown on the second play of the previous game against the University of Texas at San Antonio.
SEE FOOTBALL PAGE 14
‘The spirit of success’: Drinking in Rice’s alcohol policies over the years
NOAH BERZ FEATURES EDITOR
Kermit Lancaster ’77 arrived at Rice during a historic moment for American college students. Just as Orientation Week (then called Freshman Week) was coming to a close, the legal drinking age was lowered from 21 to 18 nationwide.
Lancaster said a rowdy campus drinking culture is nothing new at Rice. The only di erence now, he said, is the administration’s response to it.
This semester kicked o with recordbreaking Dis-Orientation transports and administrative threats of campus going dry. Combined with the 2024 cancellation of Night of Decadence and hiatus from all public parties, these events expose patterns of excessive drinking and alcoholrelated sanctions at Rice. A look through the university’s history with alcohol reveals this tension is nothing new.
Following the end of Prohibition in 1933, debates on whether or not Rice should allow drinking on campus ooded the pages of the Thresher. An editorial from a 1934 issue of the Thresher celebrated the end of the era, claiming that “the act never did keep college students from drinking.”
Others condemned drinking on campus, like one member of a now-defunct Christian student organization who argued that “the spirit of success is never found in bottles” and “the alcohol custom bars the way to God” in a 1949 issue of the Thresher.
In spring 1948, the assistant dean for student activities banned Rondelet and other student functions from serving wine and hard liquor, but said nothing about what students drank before arriving. Beer could be served to anyone attending the dances, regardless of age. Despite sporadic attempts to regulate drinking throughout the ’40s and ’50s, Rice soon gained a reputation for being rowdier than its peer institutions, according to a 1948 issue of the Thresher.
“Pupils at our great state university … are whispering, ‘But have you been to a Rice dance?’” the issue reads. “Rice Institute (the students) are whole heartedly alcoholistic: To an outsider, it would appear that any a air … quickly degenerates into a drunken brawl. To an insider it looks the same way.”
Lancaster visited campus in October 1972 for his admissions interview and stayed in a friend’s dorm room the same weekend that NOD happened for the rst time. He was only 17, and it would be another 10 months before he would matriculate to Wiess College, but he had no trouble getting into the party.
“I don’t ever remember anybody checking ages or anything like that for admission to a party,” Lancaster said. “It was just shrug shoulders, let it go.”
Lancaster said he remembers quite a bit of drinking in his time at Rice, like Hanszen’s “shot-a-minute” contest, where students would line up and take shots of beer each minute until only one person was le standing.
KAIRI MANO / THRESHER
O ensive lineman Luke Miller and slot receiver Drayden Dickmann celebrate with running back Quinton Jackson at their game against the University of Connecticut Saturday. Jackson broke multiple records and scored four touchdowns in the Owls’ 37-34 win over the Huskies.
M. HULBERT / THRESHER Jones College students convene for a drinking event in 1985. Rice’s rst o cial alcohol policy was instituted the following year.
Student sues video game tournament for ban due to ‘pro-Israel’ posts, organizers settle
Rice gamer Felix Hasson sued a Texasbased Smash Bros. tournament, claiming he was banned for making pro-Israel social media posts. Defendants recently reached a settlement that allowed Hasson back into the tournament, Hasson’s lawyer said in an interview with the Thresher.
Hasson, a Lovett College senior who plays under the handle “T_pot,” led the lawsuit in June against Ryan Crockett and Jaylen Davis, College Station Smash Ultimate organizers for the “Battle for Bryan!!!” tournaments, which take place in Bryan, Texas.
The lawsuit claimed Hasson was removed from three tournaments in 2024 and 2025 due to a series of posts he made on X expressing pro-Israel sentiment before and a er the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
The posts include Hasson tweeting “gaza got something big coming their way for sure” following the attacks and writing “LMAOOOO” in a reply to two screenshots of posts from a Palestinian woman’s “celebratory tweet” during the attacks and a later tweet saying she “lost everything,” according to the lawsuit.
Hasson is ranked as the No. 1 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate player at Rice, No. 3 in Israel in 2022 and earned $7,000 competing in tournaments for the Nintendo ghting game, according to the lawsuit.
Hasson’s lawyer said both parties have reached a settlement, with Crockett and Davis agreeing to reinstate Hasson to the tournament.
As part of the agreement, the organizers will release a public statement welcoming him back to the tournament and take disciplinary action against players who spread “defamatory statements” about him.
“The tournament organizers of College Station Smash Ultimate now have a more complete picture of what T_pot said and what he did not say, including the false rumors that he promotes violence,” the statement reads.
Crockett’s lawyer did not respond to
Rice
requests for comment.
The lawsuit claimed Hasson’s support for Israel and Zionism in his posts are integral to his Jewish identity, and the bans violated Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination in public accommodations.
Hasson is also suing Waypoint Cafe in New York. According to the lawsuit, led last December, Hasson was banned from the internet cafe and its tournaments a er gamers agged his tweets and asked for his removal.
The lawsuit cites gamers calling Hasson a “Zionist weasel.” Hasson’s lawyer said while Hasson was banned for his posts, other users were not banned for speaking against him. The lawsuit also cited that tournament participants calling Israel’s actions in Gaza “genocide” were not banned.
Hasson is seeking $1 million in damages and a li of the ban from the cafe.
Alec Arellano, an assistant professor of political science who researches constitutional law, said that since the Oct. 7 attacks, colleges and universities have been the target of federal civil rights investigations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Title VI prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin in programs receiving federal funding. These investigations are setting a precedent for pro-Palestinian activism to be construed as antisemitic, Arellano said.
“A er the October 7 attacks, we’ve seen law being used as a resource both by Jews and advocates for Palestinians in an attempt to give protection for their speech and their advocacy in part because of the somewhat limited contours of the First Amendment,”
Arellano said.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on religion and national origin in certain cases. While Title VI only applies for institutions or entities receiving federal funding, Title II pertains to public accommodations such as restaurants, hotels and sports arenas.
Hasson’s case will test whether Title II can be used similarly to Title VI. If the court considers video game tournaments a public accommodation, the lawsuit may increase the scope of Title II, Arellano said.
“That might extend legal protections to pro-Israel Jews in a whole manner of other things that might come to be classi ed as public accommodations, like sporting competitions more generally — not just esports — music venues, other entertainment venues,” Arellano said.
sued by photographer a er Chaus used copyrighted mu n photo
A lawsuit has been led against Rice, accusing Rice Co eehouse of using a copyrighted photograph without permission to advertise on their Instagram page and website.
The Oct. 17 complaint was led on behalf of Meggan Hill, a photographer and chef who posts her recipes online. The photo in question is a blueberry mu n photo, featured on Hill’s website with an accompanying recipe.
The lawsuit was led in a Houston federal district court by Hill’s attorney, Layla Nguyen of SRipLaw, an intellectual property law rm based in Boca Raton, Florida. According to the case brie ng, Hill tried to notify the university of her allegations twice before suing but received no response.
“To date, the parties have failed to resolve this matter,” the brie ng reads. “Rice failed to respond to any communications.”
The lawsuit alleges that Chaus copied Hill’s photograph titled “Blueberry Mu ns - Culinary Hill 1200x800” from the internet and displayed it online to promote the addition of blueberry mu ns to their menu.
In the lawsuit, Hill claims she discovered the photograph on the Chaus website on Jan. 7 — over a year a er she registered the image with the Register of Copyrights. Hill allegedly reached out to Rice with her complaint on Jan. 29 and Feb. 28 before ling the suit.
Hill and Chaus management both declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The legal action in question is a federal civil lawsuit, which begins when a plainti les their complaint with a court and serves a copy on the defendant. The defendant
then has a period of 21 days to respond. A defendant can also choose to le a motion to dismiss if they believe the plainti can’t prove a legal violation via court ruling. Most federal civil lawsuits are resolved before going to trial.
HOPE YANG ASST. NEWS EDITOR
The suit is seeking damages as well as any pro ts Rice received through its alleged misuse of Hill’s photograph. Both Nguyen and Rice General Counsel Omar Syed also declined to comment on the pending litigation.
NOAH BERZ FEATURES EDITOR
MUYIWA OGUNSOLA / THRESHER
A Rice Co eehouse worker reaches into the pastry cabinet while on shift. The popular student-run co eeshop was recently the subject of a lawsuit against the Rice, accused of using a copyrighted image of blueberry mu ns on their social media and website.
KONSTANTIN SAVVON / THRESHER
Students play Super Smash Bros. in Lovett commons. A Rice student recently settled a lawsuit against a Super Smash Bros. competition in Bryan, Texas after he claimed he was removed for “pro-Israel” social media posts.
Users report a surge of racism on anonymous campus posting app
ANDREW RYNSBURGER FOR THE THRESHER
Part of Max Evans’ daily routine includes a scroll of Fizz, an anonymous posting app frequented by Rice students. A few days ago, however, his ngers paused on a poll someone had posted, asking freshmen “Are you racist?” The poll had 1,373 responses, and 27% of respondents had clicked “yes.”
Since Fizz is commonly used for posting humorous content, it is impossible to know how many respondents were serious in their answers. However, at least one student was concerned about the results.
“373 people admitted to being racist. That’s crazy,” said Evans, a Duncan College freshman. “It’s also just not really an acceptable way to be funny, or at least it shouldn’t be funny in normal circumstances.”
Fizz is a social media app for college students that allows users to post comments publicly under complete anonymity. Although the Rice Fizz page is only open to those with a Rice NetID, the app operates independently and is not a liated with the university.
A recent surge of racist and xenophobic posts has populated the platform. The rhetoric has ranged from comments joking about kosher food, reinforcements of racial stereotypes and even support for acts of violence against undocumented immigrants.
Sam Garvin, a frequent Fizz user, said he noticed this dramatic change.
“I think it’s a tenfold increase,” said Garvin, a Sid Richardson College senior.
For Imahni Crawford, a student considering attending Rice, the raciallycharged comments made her rethink whether she’d be safe on campus.
“To know that there are comments that are just completely idiotic, completely racially
charged against another culture … it’s a thing of safety, really,” Crawford said. “Even though this is a prospective university for me, it de nitely does make me reconsider.”
The comments have not come without backlash from other users. One anonymous user posted, “so tired of getting on zz and seeing the most evil hateful takes alive.” This post received 632 upvotes.
Research has shown that online anonymity increases disinhibition, the tendency to act more aggressively and impulsively online. This frees people to convey attitudes they normally would not in public.
Alex Raterink, a graduate student, said he does not think the extreme posts on Fizz have translated to how people act on campus.
“It’s never really going to be very common in in-person interactions, hopefully,” he said.
In another poll on Fizz, just 19% of the
Not only are there openly racist opinions being expressed, but they seem to be gaining traction.
Sam Garvin
SID RICHARDSON
COLLEGE SENIOR
1,396 respondents said that the app should have a “zero tolerance” policy on racism, whereas most students preferred either a policy prohibiting “extreme hate speech” or no moderation at all.
This reluctance towards moderation follows a national trend of loosening restrictions on social media content. A er Elon Musk’s acquisition of X (formerly Twitter), he red the teams that combat misinformation.
Arts conference defends humanities
Academics, artists, guest speakers and students from around the world gathered at Anderson-Clarke Center and Moody Center for the Arts Oct. 22-25 for the 16th Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present Conference.
More than a dozen institutions collaborated with Rice University for the conference, including the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Project Row Houses and Prospect New Orleans.
Following discussion on the completion of Saro m Hall and the name change of the School of Humanities to the School of Humanities and Arts, the ASAP conference went on to cover the presence and contribution of English and Arts at Rice.
Michael Dango, who is the ASAP/16 cochair, an associate professor of English and director of the Program in Media Studies, said the ASAP conference re ects a growing appreciation of arts and humanities at Rice.
“At Rice, which historically has been a university that is very STEM-focused, it is great to have such an arts and humanities presence here,” Dango said.
Ashlyn Zhang joined the conference through her filmmaking class with art history professor and ASAP/16 co-chair Haley O’Malley. She said attending the conference was an eye-opening academic experience.
“A lot of novel arguments were being made,” said Zhang, a Hanszen College senior. “It really challenged my ways of thinking, and it presented me new materials by experts in their elds.”
Lajward Zahra, a McMurtry College junior, introduced the 90-minute panel “The Aesthetic of Reproductive Justices,” which grew out of a course she took called Politics of Reproduction.
“It was really important for us to explore in the paper that aesthetics create room for generativity and play,” Zahra said. “In both the classroom reality and movement reality, we’re constantly fatigued and despondent.”
Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan, assistant professor of English, said that in her panel,
Additionally, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, decided to end its third-party fact-checking in January, stating that the program caused “too much censorship.”
On Fizz, moderators are trained community members at the school — o en other students. They do remove problematic posts a er a vote among other moderators. However, with posts being produced quickly, many students are still able to view problematic content before it is reported and removed.
Antagonistic comments being made on Fizz have not just been limited to public posts. A er he responded to a racist comment on a post, Evans said a user directly messaged him.
“I wanna call you a slur. What’s your most prominent minority group association?” the anonymous user messaged Evans.
Garvin said that he believes users’ tolerance of hateful rhetoric on Fizz has become more common since the content has escalated.
“Not only are there openly racist
opinions being expressed, but they seem to be gaining traction,” Garvin said. “The entire kind of climate has de nitely changed to be less accepting.”
Garvin said that the metrics of upvotes can hint at how students understand the rise in antagonistic content on Fizz.
“A lot of them, especially the ones that are more subtly racist, seem to actually have some upvotes,” Garvin said.
Alexander Byrd, historian and vice provost of Rice’s O ce of Access and Institutional Excellence, said this issue was important for the community to address. Byrd said that despite Fizz not being a liated with Rice, the app draws on the existing sense of community across campus.
“It’s understandable that members of the Rice community may question whether the app’s business model aligns with their personal values and whether it lives up to the standards it sets out in its own moderation policies,” Byrd wrote in an email to the Thresher. “This is a meaningful and important conversation for our community to have.”
Business dean wins award for growth
“Coercive Mimeticism and Politics of Identity,” the discussion group revised Rey Chow’s argument about identity and ethnic subjectivity 20 years a er the book “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” came out.
A lot of arts funding where I live is being slashed. It is useful for me to hear the political histories of periods that lead to academic or cultural austerity.
Bryce Wilner
NEW YORK BASED DESIGNER, WRITER AND EDUCATOR
“We revisited a really seminal argument from 2002 by the cultural theorist Rey Chow,” Srinivasan said. “People were excited to think about the a ordances of identity in this moment, especially as ethnic studies, cultural studies, area studies, women’s studies and related elds are under attack.”
Bryce Wilner, a designer, writer and educator from New York City who presented a panel about the relocation of site-speci c artworks, said he was drawn to discussions about art funding and nationalism.
“We are in a pretty dark academic period right now. A lot of arts funding where I live is being slashed. It is useful for me to hear the political histories of periods that lead to academic or cultural austerity,” Wilner said.
Dango said the conference was a preview of the future of academic and artistic disciplines. Much of the work in the conference will be published in an online journal.
“The panels that you hear at this conversation or at this conference are going to be the articles that get published in a year or two, or the books that come out in a year or two that will continue to shape discussions about contemporary art, culture, or politics more broadly,” Dango said.
Peter Rodriguez, dean of Rice Business, was recently named as Dean of the Year by business education news site Poets&Quants for his leadership and the rapid growth of the business school since his arrival in 2016.
Rice has grown from approximately 585 students in a degree program to a little over 1,700, doubled the number of Master of Business Administration students and added a masters of accounting program under Rodriguez’s guidance, he said. Rodriguez has also led the establishment of the undergraduate business major and the additional business school building to house the new majors next to McNair Hall.
Rodriguez has also made smaller changes to a ect student experience.
For example, he put in tables and chairs along the second and third oors of McNair in what were previously empty hallways. He also added Audrey’s as a co ee option for business students. These changes, he said, re ect a larger
COURTESY PETER RODRIGUEZ
Peter Rodriguez was recently named Dean of the Year by a business publication. Under his leadership, the business school has grown in enrollment and academic o erings.
vision for collaboration and community.
“I remember talking about what I thought Rice could be based on strategic foundations, and it’s nothing short of being one of the very best business schools in the country,” Rodriguez said. “We’re still on the way to achieving all those goals, but it rst meant we had to be much larger, not for the sake of being large, but to have the breadth and talent in the faculty ranks to deliver a world class curriculum.”
The new business building is on track to be completed in 2026 and is intended primarily for undergraduates, featuring an atrium, a servery, seven new classrooms and the return of Audrey’s.
“In a business school, you need a strong mix of the curricular strength and the cocurricular opportunity,” Rodriguez said. “Great co ee is the fuel that makes a lot of things work.”
Rodriguez had a hand in selecting the architecture rm and laying out the vision for the space. One space he highlighted was a three-story atrium, replacing a 10,000 square foot outdoor courtyard, which he said is intended to be a gathering space with sunlight and air conditioning.
John Wisneski, executive director of student experience and career development and an assistant clinical professor of organizational behavior at the Virani Undergraduate School of Business, said the honor rea rmed what the Rice Business community has long recognized.
“He is a transformational leader who sets a bold and compelling vision for the school, while demonstrating individualized concern for the faculty, sta , and students who advance that vision,” Wisneski wrote in an email to the Thresher.
The business school has other plans for expansion, such as adding new concentrations like marketing or operations management, integrating arti cial intelligence into courses and lling up the 40 additional faculty o ces in the new building.
“Going forward, we’re thinking about what’s the right way to structure the curriculum and how to integrate with the rest of the campus,” Rodriguez said.
HAI-VAN HOANG / THRESHER
RUBY GAO THRESHER STAFF
ABIGAIL CHIU SENIOR WRITER
SA debates residential college food pantries and institutional neutrality
feasibility of this.”
The Student Association discussed introducing food pantries to all residential colleges and reopened discussion on institutional neutrality in their weekly meeting.
In addition, Senate announced that $5 printing credits will be distributed into student accounts by the end of the month.
McMurtry College Senator Rohan Dharia introduced Senate Resolution No. 4, which would encourage residential colleges to spend $1,500 per semester to create and stock a food pantry at each college in addition to The Pantry, which serves the whole campus.
With limited late and early dining options as well as The Pantry’s limited hours and isolated location, food insecurity is more of a pressing issue than ever, according to the resolution.
If the resolution passes, residential colleges would be strongly encouraged to set aside $1,000 for this project, with Housing and Dining contributing $500. These funds could come from the college directly, but Dharia suggested that they could potentially be covered by other sources like the Magister’s Fund. The pantries would o cially open in spring 2026.
Dharia said a proof of concept is already in place, as Lovett College already has a functioning pantry run by Executive Vice President Bruce Hurley. This project started last year and was funded by Lovett’s initiative fund.
While most presidents and senators showed support for the project, some had concerns about funding.
Wiess College President Grant Wilson said his worries were with the current wording of the resolution.
“From the Wiess perspective, I’m a little concerned about where the money would come from,” Wilson said. “We are the only college that doesn’t have a Magister’s Fund, so if we were to do this, it would have to come from our budget.”
Will Rice College President Mary Margaret Speed said she was concerned about space.
“At Will Rice speci cally, we have very limited facilities, and I cannot think of a place where we would even put a food pantry,” Speed said. “If we were to establish a space in our [private dining room], we would have to purchase lockers. I’m concerned about the
Baker College Senator Veronica Paz suggested using only the $500 that H&D has allotted to the food pantries to gauge interest within the residential colleges, and later using the data to encourage H&D to give more funding to them.
As the resolution is still being dra ed, Dharia said additional items might be added in the following weeks.
SA President Trevor Tobey also reopened the oor for discussion on Senate Resolution No. 3 on institutional neutrality, clarifying that he misspoke last week and that institutional neutrality will also apply to resolutions.
Wiess Senator Eli Risinger, one of the senators who originally introduced this resolution, pushed back against this change, recommending they include a pathway for the SA to override neutrality with a vote if the SA ever wanted to make a political statement.
Tobey, however, said statements made by the SA should be relevant only to Rice and the SA’s core missions, not to partisan politics.
“You were elected to ful ll the mission of the Student Association by students,” Tobey said. “You were not elected by students to take partisan political positions for them.”
Zaid Rashid, a Lovett freshman, said if this resolution was made to address free speech concerns and any problems created by past partisan political statements, preventing the SA from making any political statements would only hinder any development.
“I don’t see why we should completely absolve the Student Association’s responsibilities of politics so that way we’re not talking about it,” Rashid said. “I feel like we should be talking about it and having this discourse if we want to open up this campus into a free speech campus.”
Tobey said he agreed with the importance of having political discussion but emphasized that SA taking political stances would only hinder discourse.
“If you have a student government who claims to represent all of the student body taking a position on an issue, it creates an orthodoxy on campus saying ‘this is the position of the student body and the position of our student government,’’ Tobey said. “This marginalizes every other voice. That’s not starting political debate.”
Discussion on Resolution No. 3 will continue next week.
ktru off air due to power outage
ASST. NEWS EDITOR
After a planned power outage damaged the radio station’s transmitter last Thursday, ktru is running on an automated music system until repairs conclude.
Conner Clifton, the assistant general manager of ktru, said repairs are estimated to be finished by the end of the week.
“It was a planned power outage, and we learned the hard way that we needed a proper way to prepare ktru for a power outage,” Cli on said. “But luckily, we had some replacement equipment delivered the exact same day that it went down.”
Harris Gully sustainability project to restore three native, ‘ancient’ ecosystems
Between Wiess College and the towering buildings of the Texas Medical Center, an excavator sits above an open plain surrounded by tangles of trees, long grasses and dense shrubs. The Harris Gully Natural Area was once an expansive coastal prairie crossed by a stream and a hub for biodiversity.
This has been a landscape that has been maintained in a way that is not reflective of the historical ecology for a long time.
Eric Wuestho ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY PH.D. CANDIDATE
Cassidy Johnson, director of Rice’s Lynn R. Lowrey Arboretum and an assistant teaching professor of biosciences, is now leading an effort to restore the area back into a wetland and prairie ecosystem. Construction at the Harris Gully is a first step in the student input-driven sustainability project, years in the making, but Johnson said some students don’t know what the area is for.
“The rumors I’m hearing is that there’s a building going in or a parking lot going in,” Johnson said. “We’re doing the opposite.”
Johnson said the project will support Houston’s local biodiversity and connect students to nature.
“Something that came out of the student proposals was an ask for a return of the ancient ecosystem that used to be here on Rice’s campus,” Johnson said.
As the project develops, more student groups and classes will help with the Gully restoration.
“Houston is known for being one of the world’s most biodiverse cities. I think it’s really underrated in that way,” said Anna Evans, a Duncan College junior who previously took Johnson’s course.
An initial prairie restoration attempt in 2018 failed due to poor soil quality. Johnson said the Gully currently lacks sufficient carbon and nitrogen content to sustain native plants.
“This has been a landscape that has been maintained in a way that is not reflective of the historical ecology for a long time,” said Eric Wuesthoff, an ecology and evolutionary biology Ph.D. candidate.
In the long term, the project aims to reestablish three historic ecosystems once native to Harris County: wetland, coastal prairie and post-oak savannah. Johnson said the current development in the Gully goes toward the ultimate goal of restoring those ecosystems.
The restoration will also improve water purification, support Rice’s carbon neutrality goals by enhancing carbon sequestration and create a natural area for education, research and student well-being, Johnson said.
“It’ll be a good learning tool, kind of a living laboratory,” said Vivian Lehmann, a Lovett College senior who works for the Arboretum.
The damaged piece of equipment was a Jetstream, which communicates between the station and ktru’s transmitter. Without it, the station is unable to connect microphones and CDs to the transmitter.
“It was a brave and hardy piece of equipment, our Jetstream, serving us for 13 long years, a full three years longer than it was expected to,” a poster on the ktru door reads.
Cli on said the planned power outage occurred due to construction on the Moody Center for Student Life.
“At least we’re playing music,” Clifton said. “As of yesterday, [ktru’s contact engineer] helped us get our automated music system set up, so we’re all good now.”
“We’re basically rewilding this part of campus to protect biodiversity and give people — the students, staff, everyone who’s a part of our community — a place to go,” Johnson said.
The current construction is expected to finish in November. It will create a controlled wetland and pond system, allowing the arboretum to regulate water levels for research and maintenance. Crews are also making basins with gentler slopes to help plants grow.
After excavation and drainage installation, crews and students will add compost and hydroseed fast-growing cover crops like radishes and barley to rebuild soil health before introducing native prairie and wetland plants the following year.
Student input from the Conservation Biology Lab course Johnson created and teaches also shaped project priorities.
Annie Finneran, a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in ecology and evolutionary biology, said she believes the educational experience students will get at the Gully can be applied beyond just Texas ecosystems.
“You can practice all of these different techniques, learn a lot about ecology close to campus, and then take those techniques somewhere else in the country or somewhere else in the world,” Finneran said.
Working toward accomplishing these goals, Johnson said collaboration has been essential. She reached out to a network of restoration practitioners, including experts at the Nature Conservancy, Native Prairies Association of Texas and the Coastal Prairie Conservancy for guidance. Rice architecture and grounds staff have also contributed to the project.
“We want to make this a really special place,” Johnson said.
KONSTANTIN SAVVON / THRESHER
The Harris Gully Natural Area is undergoing construction as part of a prarie and wetlands restoration project. The project is part of a yearslong sustainability project.
HONGTAO HU
TOBY CHOU THRESHER STAFF
ANNAMIKA KONKOLA FOR THE THRESHER
FIONA SIK / THRESHER
Senators debate during Monday’s meeting. The Student Association discussed institutional neutrality and a resolution to establish food pantries at the residential colleges.
Lab practices ‘responsible’ social design in Ion District
ABIGAIL CHIU SENIOR WRITER
Nestled within the Nexus building in the heart of the Ion Innovation District, anthropology professor Dominic Boyer directs the Social Design Lab with the goal of bringing social design practice into the world of Greentech and green infrastructure.
The Social Design Lab resides in the Ion building, the namesake center of the Ion district and “innovation corridor” in Houston’s Third Ward neighborhood. Social design is a practice that prioritizes responsibility and inclusivity as design necessarily evolves to include social and ecological commitments, according to the lab’s website.
Boyer said the Social Design Lab, which started its pilot program this semester, was created while Rice was expanding its footprint within the Ion district and making an e ort to bring faculty from its main campus into the Ion space where Boyer now works.
The kinds of projects we choose to work on tend to be projects that are more focused on social responsibility, environmental responsiblity and social inclusivity.
Dominic Boyer ANTHROPOLOGY PROFESSOR
Unlike a traditional laboratory, Boyer said the Social Design Lab connects engineering, business, the social sciences and the humanities. He said the Social Design Lab can be complementary to the green tech and clean tech projects in the Ion.
“What we’re trying to do with the Social Design Lab is to bring these social design principles into conversation with the green tech and clean tech community,” Boyer said.
Social design uses human-centric design, a technique that focuses on human needs and experiences in the design process.
“Some of the techniques we use as designers are quite similar to conventional design,” Boyer said. “The kinds of projects we choose to work on tend to be projects that are more focused on social responsibility, environmental responsibility and social inclusivity.”
One project the lab is currently exploring is a uni ed farm initiative for Houston’s historically underserved Sunnyside neighborhood, in partnership with
Houston nonpro ts, to build the largest urban solar farm on reclaimed land and build up regenerative agriculture projects to address food insecurity, Boyer said.
Trained in cultural anthropology, most of Boyer’s research has been focused on energy and environmental issues. In recent years, he said he’s become interested in design work and speci cally the social design tradition.
“I’ve been working on glacier memorials, which I know sounds a little strange, but together with my partner, Cymene Howe, we designed the world’s rst glacial memorial for the rst major Icelandic glacier to disappear because of climate change,” Boyer said.
Boyer currently teaches a social design studio class, which is a partner to the Social Design Lab initiative. Students who have taken the studio course who are interested in continuing to work on social design projects have the option to continue working through the lab through their fellowship program.
Cecilia Nguyen, a Hanszen College senior, took Boyer’s social design studio last fall and said she enjoyed learning about practicing design as a process for approaching urban challenges and social problems, wanting to continue to work with Boyer.
“A lot of the classes and opportunities for students at Rice remain in this idea of ‘within the hedges’ without considering more critically our role as students and members of a private institution in Houston,” Nguyen wrote in an email to the Thresher. “[The lab is] di erent than other organizations that already exist at Rice in that it seeks to create conversation and dynamic longer term relationships to approach Houston’s social problems alongside community organizers, rather than as external organizations that act as one time consultants.”
The Ion district itself has been criticized for the gentri cation of Houston’s historically Black Third Ward.
“While that history [of gentri cation] is antithetical with social design’s premise, the lab being inside the Ion does o er a completely di erent perspective to approaching sustainable ‘clean tech’ solutions in the Houston ecosystem and exists as a counter to the idea that creating more sustainable futures for our neighborhoods is solely an engineering problem,” Nguyen wrote. “Engineering products don’t save communities, but conversations, working with people in those communities, and creating solutions that align with their needs does.”
The lab’s website mentions Rice’s sustainability goals as a driving force for innovation, collaboration and impact.
“The hope is that the lab, as it develops, will be a kind of a staging ground in the infrastructure for Rice to actually engage di erent communities,” Boyer said.
FIONA SIK / THRESHER
The Social Design Lab, which rests in Midtown’s Ion building. The lab, led by a anthropology professor, looks to incorporate inclusive and socially-conscious design practices into the technology community.
GUEST OPINION
The ght against Zionist propaganda on campus is far from over
ERICA AUGENSTEIN
PH.D. STUDENT
Two years a er Israel — with the full military and political backing of the United States — began its genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and two years a er the rise and violent repression of the student movement in solidarity with Palestine, the grip of Zionist propaganda remains rm on our campus.
The Chabad at Rice event hosted on Wednesday at the Baker Institute features Omer Shem Tov, a former Israeli hostage, and demonstrates the continued strength of colonial ideology in the U.S. higher education system.
Two years ago, almost to the day, the Baker Institute featured Henry Kissinger and Hillary Clinton at a gala. The agrant celebration of these gures who built the foundations for unchecked Israeli colonial violence and genocide was protested by hundreds of Rice and Houston community members.
As an organizer of this teach-in and protest, I felt an immense amount of hope that through collective e ort we could build popular dissent to end the genocide and tie our current movement to historical struggles against colonial warfare, apartheid, oppression and exploitation.
COLUMN
I no longer feel that hope. In two years, the scale of violence and destruction in Gaza surpassed what I can comprehend. The student movement was brutally crushed by the full force of U.S. state and elite power. Following this repression, the steady creep of censorship on campuses has seen student protests restricted and faculty speech repressed. In my view, this has cast a shadow on the production of anti-colonial knowledge. Though there has been a marked shi in global popular condemnation of Israeli colonial aggression and genocide, most strikingly embodied by the Global Sumud Flotilla and the Italian general strike in October, I feel we are further than ever
from successfully defending the rights of Palestinians to their own liberation.
The current so-called “cease re” plan was dra ed by Donald Trump without the participation of any Palestinian party and has been breached at least 80 times in two weeks by Israel, according to the Palestinian government. This plan solidi es the continuation of Israeli occupation and violent repression.
In the U.S., a wounded Palestine solidarity movement now faces the challenge of constructing a long-term project that can champion the rights of the Palestinian people against U.S.-backed Israeli colonialism, now advancing in a di erent but no less insidious form.
The movement also now faces the full collaboration of university leadership with Zionist propaganda across the country and at Rice while its anti-colonial intellectuals struggle under historic levels of repression.
Rice’s hosting of Omer Shem Tov is both a marker of the hold that Zionist ideology has on U.S. higher education as a whole and a painful reminder that Zionist colonial propaganda still proceeds uninhibited at Rice.
This event is even more egregious than the decision to host Kissinger and Clinton in October 2023 because of the way the symbol
of the Israeli hostage has been deployed in advancing the genocidal project.
Zionist propaganda relies on various ideological positions to both produce legitimacy for the colonial project and spur genocidal violence. In the last two years, Israeli hostages have been instrumentalized by the Israeli state in order to pursue a genocidal project on the world stage. At the same time, the focus on hostages is used to foment genocidal violence. Public mobilizations in Israel have been almost exclusively focused on Israeli hostages.
As the Omer Shem Tov event goes forward, we watch as this propaganda is hosted on our campus. It is now with great apprehension that I look to the future of the student movement and the very foundations of anticolonial knowledge. In this critical moment, we need more support than ever. We will not stop, but the way forward has never felt more out of reach.
Editor’s Note: This is a guest opinion that has been submitted by a member of the Rice community. The views expressed in this opinion are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or re ect the views of the Thresher or its editorial board. All guest opinions are factchecked to the best of our ability and edited for clarity and conciseness by Thresher editors.
An urbanist’s guide to Houston: To build a better Houston, recall Whitmire
JACOB JORDAN & NICOLAS COOKER FOR THE THRESHER
Just two years ago, the urbanist future of Houston seemed promising. Millions of dollars of federal funding were allocated to pedestrian safety projects on Bissonnet Street and Telephone Road. A pedestrianoriented makeover for Montrose Boulevard was approved following a long community outreach program. Bus Rapid Transit plans were in place for an expansion of the Silver Line to Gul on and the establishment of the University Line between the University of Houston, Texas Southern University, Montrose and Gul on.
Today, many of these projects seem politically impossible in Houston, and indeed most of them have been canceled, shelved or signi cantly modi ed. Why is that?
When Mayor John Whitmire took o ce in January 2024, he brought with him a very di erent vision for the future of Houston’s roads. Unlike previous Mayor Sylvester Turner, who signed an executive order
to work toward zero tra c deaths and implemented numerous pedestrian safety projects throughout the city, Whitmire said bikes are “primarily for recreation” and has described supporters of bike infrastructure initiatives as “anti-car” and “bullies.”
One month into o ce, he began removing medians on Houston Avenue installed to increase pedestrian safety, calling them products of “anti-car activists in the previous administration” and pausing all projects that reduce car lanes or add bike lanes.
Since then, he has also ordered the removal of the Austin Street bike lane, which served as one of the few protected two-way bike lanes in the city and was part of a larger e ort to connect bike infrastructure across Houston.
In each case, there has been little input from the public or communication from Whitmire’s o ce. The Austin Street bike lane removal — which started without community notice — was originally framed as a drainage improvement project, but texts leaked in August revealed that Whitmire’s
primary motivation was to remove the lane. The removal is expected to cost $3 million in taxpayer dollars, on top of the $2 million spent to construct the bike lane in the rst place.
It seems that as long as Whitmire remains in office, things aren’t going to change.
Even if it is in the best interests of Houstonians to make such infrastructural decisions, making them in the dark helps no one. The Austin Street bike lane was designed over several years of community input, only for it to be torn up overnight at the whim of one anti-cyclist mayor. If Houstonians really want bike lanes torn up at their own expense, why not at least hold a public hearing before spending millions of their dollars doing so?
Making Houston safer for all road users, not just cars, is not possible with this kind of
undemocratic decision making, and it seems that as long as Whitmire remains in o ce, things aren’t going to change.
If you are a registered voter in Houston, you should consider signing Recall for Houston’s petition to recall Whitmire. A successful petition would force a vote on the issue in 2026, and even if Whitmire survives this vote, it would be a public sign of dissatisfaction with his policies.
Still, the recall e ort is a long shot. Whitmire is still polling at a 59% approval rating as of April 2025, with little evidence to show that support has eroded. Propositions A and B, charter amendments that passed in 2023 by margins of over 60% and 30% respectively, still barely collected the 20,000 required signatures over 180 days. It’s hard to imagine the recall petition collecting the required 63,000 in just 30 days.
Ultimately, while the recall petition is worthwhile, we must sustain pressure on the city administration on urbanist issues regardless of whether or not this effort succeeds.
Jacob Jordan is a Baker College junior studying civil and environmental engineering with a minor in environmental studies. Nicolas Cooker is a Martel College sophomore studying computer science with a minor in environmental studies. They believe that every Rice student should be well informed about their built environment and have the knowledge necessary to advocate for their interests in and beyond Houston.
Rice briefs: Pre-law info sessions show promise
COLUMN Rice recently hosted a series of pre-law information sessions that drew an impressive crowd. Dozens of students packed into classrooms to hear about LSAT timelines, personal statements and the basics of law school admissions. But as the sessions went on, one thing became clear: For a university lled with future lawyers, Rice still doesn’t quite know what to do with them.
The sessions, hosted by the Center for Career Development, were a strong start. Presenters walked students through the
application timeline and discussed how law schools weigh di erent factors.
Still, the panels revealed the limits of Rice’s pre-law support. The information was helpful but broad — a crash course in what to Google later rather than a roadmap for how to prepare. Students like me le the session understanding what law schools expect, but not how to meet those expectations in a structured way.
Yale Law School’s admissions discussion did o er some useful insights. The presenter highlighted Yale’s distinctive 250-word essay, which asks applicants to explore an idea or issue that fascinates them. It’s an
intentionally open-ended prompt designed to gauge curiosity, not polish. The takeaway was clear: Top law schools want thinkers, not just test-takers. That glimpse into Yale’s approach helped remind students that law school admissions can be more about re ection and authenticity than simply resume stacking.
Harvard Law School’s segment o ered another valuable perspective. Harvard evaluates applicants through a holistic lens, weighing personal growth and clarity of motivation alongside academic achievement. A strong law school application, then, is less about credentials
and more about coherence in how one’s story, goals and values connect.
These examples from Harvard and Yale made the session engaging and substantive. But the value of those lessons depends on what comes next. Without dedicated spaces to workshop essays, practice interviews or receive feedback from alumni and advisors, those insights risk becoming trivia instead of tools. With more follow-through, though, Rice could turn this burst of enthusiasm into a genuine network.
Rice doesn’t need a law school to create a pre-law culture. It just needs to build on what the sessions started.
HISTORY
ALISHA HOU FOR THE THRESHER
Alisha Hou is a Lovett College sophomore studying political science and psychology with a minor in politics, law, and social thought on the pre-law track. She is passionate about building a stronger pre-law culture at Rice by connecting students to resources, opportunities and conversations about law school and beyond.
Get spooked by the Thresher on Halloween
The scariest thing this Halloween has been trying to come up with editorial ideas, so in lieu of opinions this week, we’re o ering costume inspiration. Check out what the editorial board will be dressing as this weekend!
Sarah Knowlton will be wearing Chappell Roan’s out t that looked like the dragon from “Shrek,” if she ever nishes sewing it.
Kathleen Ortiz already wore a cowboy hat, boots and a Carhartt jacket to dress as Ennis Del Mar from “Brokeback Mountain” for a Halloween party this past weekend, but she hasn’t decided what she’s wearing
this weekend. Email or text her if you have any ideas.
Juliana Lightsey will be wearing gold as the World Cup (accompanied by Lionel Messi) if her face ever de ates post-wisdom tooth removal.
James Cancelarich will be wearing imported Italian nylon as he goes as Eddie Adams from “Boogie Nights.”
Noah Berz will be wearing a red felt beret and hoping nobody shoots him while riding the inner loop bus as he goes as the next mayor of New York City, Curtis Sliwa.
Jenna Perrone will be wearing an Ottawa Senators jersey and saying she’s
Brady Tkachuk when Brendan Lemieux bit him during a ght in 2021.
Arman Saxena will be wearing a cardboard box — if he ever finds one — and calling himself a Minecraft block. He will be making additional appearances as the pirate Lobo and as Patrick from “Challengers.”
Andersen Pickard will be wearing his Thresher quarter-zip while covering football inside the Rice Stadium press box. That’s right; the grind doesn’t stop.
Evie Vu will be wearing solid yellow to mourn the sunshine not found in London a er 4 p.m.
Ask a Rice philosopher: Why are some pieces of art worthy of being studied?
TIM SCHROEDER PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Today’s questioner asks, “Why are some pieces of art worthy of being studied and others aren’t when art is so subjective?”
If this column were “Ask an Art Professor,” today’s questioner might get a better answer. But there are some things for the philosopher to say too.
Philosophers of art mostly agree that some aspects of artworks are subjective and other aspects are not.
Things like symmetry, originality and mastery over the medium are not subjective. It can be hard to observe some of these objective features, of course. You need experience to see how di cult it is to construct paragraphs like the ones Virginia Woolf wrote for “Mrs. Dalloway.”
Philosophers of art mostly agree that some aspects of artworks are subjective and other aspects are not.
Artists sometimes intentionally lie about where they got their ideas from or forget who and what inspired them. Sleuthing can be called for, and in the absence of decisive evidence, we are o en le with nothing better than our most reasonable conjectures. Still, these conjectures can concern objective facts.
Things like how art makes you feel and how much you like it are subjective. Whether artworks are beautiful might be subjective;
philosophers are still ghting about that. But whether artworks are badass, cool, mid or cliché is very much subjective, since terms like these are primarily used to express how a person feels about artworks, and not to describe observable properties.
The heart of today’s question, though, is not the idea of subjectivity but the idea of worthiness. What makes art worthy of being studied?
In college, you can learn about the historical process through which painters mastered perspective. You can learn about the golden ratio. You can learn how experiments in visual arts seem to have in uenced experiments in writing in the 20th century.
You can also learn about the kinds of artworks that people made in response to the experience of being abducted and sold into slavery. You can learn about the kind of artworks that people made when they held out hope that communism would remake their societies for the good and the kind of artworks they made once they became disillusioned. You can learn about the shared themes that appeared across di erent forms of art in the Roaring ’20s or the Swinging ’60s, in the Inca empire before and a er contact with Europe or in Brooklyn right a er 9/11.
In all these cases, an artwork is worthy of study just in case it is excellent at exemplifying the themes of the course studying it.
What you can’t learn in college (except by accident) are things like which religious paintings of the nineteenth century appeal most to you or whether Nina Simone had more soul than Billie Holiday.
You can’t expect to learn these things in
college because they’re not worthy topics of study to anyone except you. It would be fun and attering to take a course dedicated to your subjective responses to artworks, but who would want to take it with you, and who — other than you — could even teach it?
In short, artworks aren’t worthy of study because they’re inspiring, badass or likable. They’re worthy of study because there is a lot to be learned by studying them. And that is not subjective.
Required reading: Gorodeisky, K. and Marcus, E. 2018. “Aesthetic Rationality.” Journal of Philosophy 115, 113-140.
Extra credit: Kant, I. 2000. Critique of the Power of Judgment. P. Guyer and E. Matthews (eds.). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Dr. Tim Schroeder is a professor in the Department of Philosophy. If you have a question about reality, knowledge, ethics, consciousness, truth, beauty or other abstract theoretical realms (or about how they apply to what your roommate just did), why not ask him about it? Email your questions to askaricephilosopher@rice.edu.
Where should late night dining be located?
Total number of responses: 1364
This week’s question: How many Halloween costumes did you have?
Follow @ricethresher on Instagram to answer weekly polls.
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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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Environmental lawyer and professor connects law, nature and spirit
“It’s incredible that we have him at Rice,” said Bowers, a Sid Richardson College senior. “He does a good job emphasizing that sustainability isn’t just environmental, it’s also social and economic.”
Blackburn said he sees teaching as another way of promoting environmental advocacy.
“A lot of students want to do something for the environment and don’t know how,” Blackburn said. “I try to show you can combine that concern with making a living.”
That sense of translation, turning ideas into something others can hold, is also something he practices in his poetry.
Blackburn began writing through an unexpected collaboration with painter Isabelle Scurry Chapman, a longtime friend.
“I had done a series of bird portraits,” Chapman said. “Jim came over, saw them, and said, ‘I can write poems about this.’ And I told him, ‘Well, do it.’”
The two have since published several books together, including “Earth Church,” a yearlong poem-and-painting exchange during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Earth is my spiritual center,” Blackburn said. “I think the poetry is loving, embracing and spiritual. It approaches people differently. It’s a nice yin to the yang of the legal and technical.”
Chapman said their collaboration reflects the spirit that runs through all of Blackburn’s work.
“He puts a spiritual spin on the natural world,” Chapman said. “It’s about caring for the Earth and everything that lives on it — the critters, the ocean, even the clouds.”
Jim Blackburn’s career path began more than 50 years ago in a University of Texas School of Law classroom he didn’t want to be in.
“About halfway through law school, I figured that I didn’t like law very much,” said Blackburn, a professor in the practice of environmental law and the co-director of Rice’s Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disasters Center. “Environmental laws in the United States were just being passed ... and I loved the outdoors.”
He signed up for the few environmental courses he could find and even wrote a paper that won a national environmental law essay contest. After graduating law school, he headed to Rice, where he got a master’s degree in environmental science.
Blackburn’s life has since been devoted to the natural world. A lawyer, environmental advocate, professor and poet, he has spent his career fighting for the environment and the people who live in it.
“There’s a spiritual side of what I do,” Blackburn said. “I’ve been very fortunate. There are a lot of lawyers out there who are unhappy because they’re representing other people’s points of view. I’ve had the advantage of being able to pursue my own philosophy, my own thinking and my own spirituality with the work I do.”
Blackburn sparked a passion for the environment as a kid growing up in the swamps and bayous of central Louisiana. His family fished, hunted and lived by the rhythm of the outdoors.
“My father and uncles knew those swamps like the back of their hand,” Blackburn said. “Nature was a part of
the upbringing. ” Blackburn stopped hunting in his early 30s, but he said he still finds peace along the coast.
“If I had a bad day, I’d get down to the bay and just sit with the birds and the sunset, the cool breeze coming over the water,” Blackburn said. “It would calm my soul ... There is a part of me that is just inextricably linked to the coast.”
Over the decades, Blackburn has watched the field of environmental science and conservation transform. When he was first getting his start, he said the national conversation was focused on “end-of-pipe control,” cleaning up pollution after it was created.
“That was the frame,” Blackburn said. “Now the environment is strategic. It’s in boardrooms. We’re talking about restructuring the economy. Old strategies for new problems don’t work. We need new ones.”
Blackburn said one of these new strategies involves revaluing nature itself.
“The best technology for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is photosynthesis,” he said. “We have not been able to duplicate a technology anywhere as good as nature-created photosynthesis.”
The challenge, Blackburn said, is not scientific but social.
“You have to manage the humans that control the plants that are undertaking photosynthesis,” he said.
Blackburn helped create BCarbon, a registry launched through a stakeholder group at Rice’s Baker Institute. The program measures and verifies how much carbon landowners can store in soil, trees or wetlands and turns that storage into tradeable “carbon credits” that companies can buy to offset their emissions.
Philip Bedient, a professor of civil
engineering and Blackburn’s longtime research partner, created the SSPEED Center with his co-director in 2009. Together, the two of them study how storms, floods and coastal systems can be managed in an era of climate change.
“We founded the center after Hurricane Ike,” Bedient said. “We wanted to make sure the lessons we learned weren’t lost, that Houston and the Gulf Coast could prepare for what’s coming next.”
Bedient explained that SSPEED’s modern projects, such as the Galveston Bay Park Plan concept that proposes a 25-foot in-bar barrier to protect Houston’s industrial corridor, now rely on artificial intelligence to analyze evolving storm patterns.
“These are systems built for decades of change,” Bedient said. “We can raise them as sea levels rise and as we learn more.”
Bedient said the complexity of such challenges means no one field can solve them alone.
“These problems are truly interdisciplinary,” he said. “We have architects, planners, economists, lawyers, environmental scientists and engineers all working together because no single discipline can solve them alone.”
Blackburn first began teaching at Rice in the 1970s through the School of Architecture, where he led a course that examined environmental factors in community design. Over the years, his teaching evolved, from environmental law to sustainable design, blending the scientific, legal and practical sides of conservation.
Maggie Bowers, who is currently enrolled in his Sustainable Design course, described Blackburn as an engaging and thoughtful instructor who brings realworld experience to the classroom.
Blackburn said he has sometimes faced scrutiny from people whose jobs may be affected by environmental policy. Once, a young man asked him, “Why are you trying to take my job away?” The question stuck with him and continues to shape his perspective today.
There’s a spiritual side of what I do. I’ve been very fortunate. There are a lot of lawyers out there who are unhappy because they’re representing other people’s points of view. I’ve had the advantage of being able to pursue my own philosophy, my own thinking and my own spirituality with the work I do.
Jim Blackburn PROFESSOR IN THE PRACTICE OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
“When people’s jobs are at risk … if we can solve the problems that we’re concerned about — air pollution, toxics, waste — then that’s a much better way forward,” he said.
That outlook, finding solutions that protect both people and the planet, also shapes how he views corporate sustainability.
“Most every corporation has a sustainability plan these days,” Blackburn said. “Some call it greenwashing, I do not. I think there is a serious belief that in the long term, the corporation will make more money by being climate adaptive.
“I think the changes will come,” he continued. “The question is, how fast, and will it be soon enough to avert some of the worst effects of climate change?”
KRISTAL HANSON THRESHER STAFF
LUCY LIU / THRESHER
Jim Blackburn teaches environmental law at Rice and co-directs Rice’s Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disasters Center.
Happy Halloween!
Soviet space station O -roaders
1997 lm “Air ___”
What you might nd on 3-Down
American international humanitarian government program
Former pro tennis player Nadal, familiarly
Spanish appetizer
He just can’t wait to be king
Smell
Conflict involving a wooden horse
Mickey or Minnie
Health tracker rings
“We built _ ____ to cross the river”
Beatles album “___ Pepper’s Lonely Hearts
Club Band”
Draw announcement
“It’s obvious”
Green and brown print, for short
Title for a member of Congress
Titular explorer from an animated kids’
Rihanna lyric “Shine bright like a _______” Re ses to acknowledge connection with
One of the Gilmore Girls
Shape su x
Subsequently Soap bubble
Largest planet
“You reap what you ___”
Percolate
Loosen, as laces
Texans should remember it
The theme words quote this 2004 lm
Speed contest
Have the intention of Root vegetable
You might be prescribed Adderall for it
Broadcasting now South Asian dress
of 59 Down
Slogans
Where the snug bug is
Education evaluation
“__ _ ___ saying,”
Actresses Tunie and Taylor
Shook
Christian denom. with services on Saturdays
Singer-songwriter Erykah
Sci- staples
“Truth or ____?”
Type of blast?
“Top Gun” org.
Kanga’s baby
Humanoid robot created by Honda
Texter’s “That’s what I’m thinking!”
Having an end point
Taste bud place
Further along the river
What ashes are kept in Possesses
One of the Little Women
“___, a deer, a female deer”
Those with Ph.D.s
Promise to pay, for short “Feel-good” chemical in the brain
Shoulder gesture
Alternative to “Great job, dude!”
Selena portrayer, to fans
“In other words,”
Edmonton hockey team
Upscale hotel near Rice
Fountain pen tips
Middle Eastern
1955 animated lm “____ and the
Tramp”
Hurt
Type of grad school, for short
Neither’s partner
“You’ve got mail” ISP
New club seeks to rehabilitate arm wrestling’s reputation
Fitness in uencer and world recordholding deadli er Sawyer Klatt told his over 53,200 YouTube subscribers that it was his rst time ever on a college campus last month when he challenged the Rice Arm Wrestling club to an evening of arm wrestles. RAW founder Adan Mireles met Klatt at an arm wrestling event in Austin, Texas, and reached out with an invitation.
“I was looking for things in Houston and I only could nd a few Facebook arm wrestling group chats that I messaged and never got a response from,” Klatt said in the video. “Adan hooked it up, he’s like, ‘Hey, this guy’s from Houston.’”
Most people think of arm wrestling as an activity best done three drinks deep at a party or by Arnold Schwarzenegger-type professional bodybuilders.
Mireles, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in applied physics, was also under this impression — until recently.
“I also thought that this was more of a big-guy testosterone kind of sport, but then you would see some very impressive videos of skinny, 70-kilogram guys arm-wrestling bodybuilders, and they’re losing against
these smaller guys,” Mireles said. “It’s a special kind of chess, kind of like billiards, that once you know how to spin the ball, so to speak, you can get to be much better at it. The technique is basically one of the things that attracted me.”
Mireles came across the sport a year ago and started to train for it soon a er. It wasn’t long until he wanted to introduce the sport to a wider audience.
“The best way to do it was by starting a club in my own school,” Mireles said. “With my colleagues who also arm wrestle, we go around campus and teach people the basics, like safe technique, and encourage people to have fun.”
RAW seeks to demonstrate that arm wrestling can be more complex than the common conception. According to their bio on OwlNest, RAW re ects the club’s values — respect, accessibility and wellness — as well as “the raw power and discipline the sport develops.”
He launched the club last spring, it became officially registered with the school this past month and is thus able to apply for funding. At the moment, there are only five regulars, though many people drop in for a bout or two during the regular practices and there
are over 50 members in the club GroupMe.
Though consistent membership may be sparse, RAW has jumped into community outreach and planning events — bringing in guests like Klatt, visiting arm-wrestling events at Texas A&M and even meeting a world champion in the sport at an event in Austin.
Though at the moment, they are only hosting practices for informal competition, Mireles said he hopes to one day compete against other schools.
“I’m already in contact with the president of the arm wrestling club at Texas A&M,” Mireles said. “We would start probably by expanding that way, a collegiate level competition, us versus them.”
Competing against other schools isn’t the only chance for acclaim — there are also solo competitions hosted by various leagues or clubs. Mireles will soon be competing in one held by Yoakum Arm Benders in Shiner, Texas.
No matter how strong your opponent is, you always have a chance to turn the tide if you’re willing to endure and stay patient.
Christophe Kwizera VICE PRESIDENT OF RICE ARM WRESTLING CLUB
“I have one competition coming up in December I’ve been prepping for,” Mireles said. ”That will be my rst competition.”
As Mireles says, technique is as important as bulk, so he keeps some strategies in mind while competing.
“People think it’s a sideways pushing, and the actual thing is you pull towards you and use your body to the side,” Mireles said. “People usually think, ‘oh, you can’t use your body,’ et cetera, but you actually can. It’s totally legal.”
However, before expanding to formal competition, the club will have to maintain a bigger membership. Alongside winning over arm wrestling amateurs, the club also hopes to attract those with experience — no matter how slight.
Yunxi He, a Will Rice College freshman, said he was attracted to the club because of his own prior history with the sport.
“I was super skinny back in high school, but one day I arm wrestled this guy who was pretty big and I actually got into a draw with him,” He said. “It was just a really cool thing because I was used to being skinny, but I could punch above my weight class ... so I decided to start learning arm wrestling.”
He got involved in his high school’s informal arm wrestling club. He said he was disappointed when he rst arrived at Rice to nd that there was no arm wrestling club to join.
“Then, one day at the gym, I saw [Adan] doing an arm wrestling li , so I immediately knew he was an arm wrestler,” He said.
“Then he added me to the [group].”
Christophe Kwizera, a Duncan College senior, is the vice president of the club. His main duties are outreach, organizing practices and handling communications. His rst exposure to arm wrestling was through Mireles, but the sport quickly grew on him.
“I especially enjoy introducing new people to the sport, as I was in their shoes just a few months ago,” Kwizera wrote in an email to the Thresher.
Kwizera also said that arm wrestling techniques have applications outside the sport itself, which have only intensified his commitment to the club.
“It’s a sport where you only lose when you give up,” Kwizera wrote. “No matter how strong your opponent is, you always have a chance to turn the tide if you’re willing to endure and stay patient; resilience is the only price needed. That mindset has been one of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned.”
LUCY LIU / THRESHER
Adan Mireles founded the the Rice Arm Wrestling club last spring.
AMELIA DAVIS THRESHER STAFF
New Shepherd professor helps students nd joy in their music
to interact with a diverse array of people and passions were foundational for his personal growth.
in a certain way, how instrumentalists can play like the human voice, which is very hard to do.”
violin faculty.
Throughout the years, he has collected many other activities and positions in the field, including co-founding a music and wine festival in France and conducting for the Apollo Orchestra in Washington, D.C. After deciding to change career paths following his long-term positions at Juilliard and the Met, it became clear to Chan that Rice was the best next step for him.
“There were a number of different doors, but this was the one that just showed up outlined in silver,” Chan said. “Even though this may not have been my logical first choice in pivoting from an orchestral career, it was the one that ultimately was really calling to us.”
Chan experienced conservatory music education systems at Juilliard and the Manhattan School of Music, but he said the non-conservatory environment at Rice’s Shepherd School is unique in its position as a music school within a university. He said he was drawn to the school’s close-knit community as well as the many opportunities Rice offers outside of it.
“I really feel that Shepherd School students get the best of both worlds rolled into one, and it’s an amazing place to be,” Chan said.
Long before touring Budapest, Vienna, Salzburg and Prague with the San Diego Youth Symphony in ninth grade, David Chan said his parents were inspired by a lecture on the academic benefits of playing the violin. What started as a means to boost his grades led to the passion of a lifetime for Chan, the new violin professor at the Shepherd School of Music.
“Being in places like that, seeing the culture and the history, and playing music with people my own age, I was like, ‘I never want to stop doing this,’” Chan said.
After winning the local competition that sent him on his Europe tour, Chan made up his mind that he wanted to pursue a career in music. However, despite this early realization, Chan chose studying computer science at Harvard University over attending The Juilliard School. He said the opportunity
Lancaster said the contest o en ended with several participants passing out from alcohol poisoning, though medical attention was seldom called for.
“I may have heard of one or two cases of somebody being hospitalized, but that would have been pretty rare,” Lancaster said. “It just wasn’t policed at all.”
Willy’s Pub — now simply Pub — opened in spring 1975, when Lancaster was a junior. One a ernoon, he said he and a friend stopped in to buy a pitcher of beer for $1.75 on the way to their a ernoon lab, and a pitcher or two sometimes sat on his table during Friday dinners at Wiess. Otherwise, he said his upper-level electrical engineering coursework prevented him from becoming a Pub regular.
“Junior year as [an electrical and computer engineering major], especially if you’re going with a bachelor of science, it’s a hellacious year,” Lancaster said. “Shit gets real, and my drinking tailed o quite a bit that year, and stayed that way.”
Now that he’s older and has kids, Lancaster said he looks back on his time at Rice in a di erent light. Things like drunk driving and binge drinking didn’t worry him much as a student, but when he considers his daughters’ experiences drinking in college, he can’t help but feel stressed.
“I did a lot of stupid things when I was younger, I did a lot of stupid things at Rice, things that I regret,” Lancaster said. “I was more willing to make risks for myself than I’m comfortable with having the risk for my loved ones.”
“It was a really great broad range of intellectual conversation,” Chan said. “That was a really beautiful thing at that point in my life, because I’ve spent most of my working hours since then thinking about music. It’s a part of my own educational background that I really treasure.”
Adding to a wealth of experience teaching, conducting and performing, Chan joined the Shepherd School faculty this semester alongside Miguel HarthBedoya, the school’s new director of orchestras and professor of conducting. The two originally met in the mid-’90s at Juilliard, where Harth-Bedoya was on the faculty and Chan was about to graduate with his master’s degree.
“I admire [Chan’s] music making, because it’s so wholesome,” HarthBedoya said. “It’s so complete. I never feel that there’s something missing in what he does. He’s able to also translate
While the party culture at Rice was initially a draw for Lancaster, Andrea Hilkovitz ’99 said she liked how the residential college system seemed a more temperate alternative to the Greek life at schools like her hometown’s University of Arizona. A er visiting Rice as a high school junior, she nearly scrapped her application, surprised to nd that Rice students partied as hard as they worked.
I often felt awkward. I wasn’t a nondrinker. I just wanted to have a beer or a drink, and not, you know, go crazy. The drinking culture was pretty out of control.
Andrea Hilkovitz
HANSZEN
COLLEGE ’01
“I o en felt awkward. I wasn’t a nondrinker. I just wanted to have a beer or a drink, and not, you know, go crazy,” Hilkovitz said in an interview with the Thresher. “The drinking culture was pretty out of control.”
Rice’s rst o cial alcohol policy was instituted in 1986 following a federal mandate for Texas and several other states to raise their legal drinking age back to 21. Despite this, Hilkovitz said any rules or restrictions on alcohol consumption were irrelevant to most Rice students at the time.
After graduating from Juilliard, Chan began to audition for orchestra jobs — a process he said many classical musicians struggle with, regardless of talent or skill level. The grind of auditions and rejections eventually paid off, and Chan was hired by the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra to be their new concertmaster in 2000.
“There’s that tension point of trying to determine, ‘am I just not good enough, or has my time just not come yet?’” Chan said. “Looking back on it, that season of wondering when I would get that big step forward was so short, but at the time, it seemed endless, because you don’t know where the endpoint is.”
Chan began teaching at Juilliard shortly after his big break at the Met and stayed for about 20 years before being hired by the Shepherd School last spring. Though he’s now based in Houston, Chan still holds a position on Juilliard’s
“It was a very wet campus when we were there, so it was not unheard of to be in the same room with your [resident associate] drinking,” Hilkovitz said.
To avoid the excess drinking she saw around her, Hilkovitz said, she got a job at the Cohen House faculty club serving fancy Friday night dinners and catering weekend meals at the president’s house.
“It gave me just that easy excuse with friends where I was never accused of being lame or not wanting to have fun. I just was able to say, ‘I’m working,’” Hilkovitz said.
“I would get o typically a er midnight, sometimes as late as 1 or 2 [a.m.] a er cleaning up from an event, and I could regroup with anyone who was still around and wanted to have fun.”
Rod McIntosh, a former Rice anthropology professor and Baker College magister, was a member of the rst alcohol advisory committee ever assembled at Rice. Following the federal mandate, he said university administration wanted to ban drinking outright. The plan was for Rice to operate in loco parentis, essentially assuming parental responsibilities over each student and punishing them for drinking on campus.
“There were a bunch of really pissed off seniors and a lot of juniors who had been drinking legally, who all of a sudden could not,” McIntosh said. “We knew this was going to potentially be a real tornado.”
A er researching the success of similar policies at other universities, McIntosh found that total prohibition wasn’t the answer, o en resulting in di cult lawsuits
Monica Mao, a first-year master’s violin performance student in Chan’s studio, said that he is always supportive and insightful in coaching his students.
“[Chan] says the most important thing about performing is always to have something to say,” Mao said. “He can catch the thing that you’re thinking but you’re not doing. For me, when I think about it in the way he suggested, the sound is just different.”
Although he has dedicated his life to the violin, Chan said he is most excited about teaching when he’s able to use the instrument as the medium through which he can impart lessons about music in general.
“For me, the [violin] technique is never the end in itself. Those are the tools by which we can achieve the musical expression that we’re aiming for,” Chan said. “A couple students that I can think of in the past had a fundamental view of music that felt much more narrow … and I felt like I was able to really change the way they thought about music and help them find a joy in it.”
and unhappy students. To convince his skeptical superiors, he worked with faculty, residential college presidents and members of the Student Association to devise a policy that would be better for everyone.
“We had a number of students on the committee who said, ‘Why don’t we try to get past the administration a policy that gives the students the maximum amount of responsibility?’” McIntosh said.
The initial policy required that any student events with alcohol present must have a certi ed student bartender there to serve it, and all students signed a pledge swearing they would abide by the policy.
“I was shocked that the administration went for that, and I do think it was ultimately the best policy we could have come up with,” McIntosh said. “There was an immediate acknowledgement by the students that this was probably as good as they could ever get.”
Without harsh punishments to prevent the students from breaking their pledge, McIntosh said the policy didn’t change much in the end, and underage drinking remained a constant at Rice.
“[The pledge] had almost no e ect whatsoever when it came down to the reality of a drinking situation,” McIntosh said. “It just brought young, underage drinkers indoors. I persist in thinking that the upperclassmen were pretty good about not getting drinks from the bartender for underage people, but there was always alcohol in rooms.”
This article has been cut o for print. Read more at ricethresher.org.
FROM FRONT PAGE DRINKING HISTORY
SHYLA JOGI FOR THE THRESHER
LUCY LI / THRESHER
Violin professor David Chan joined the Shepherd School of Music faculty this semester a er teaching for about 20 years at The Juilliard School.
A look back at Rice’s biggest concerts
Last month, UnoTheActivist turned Pub into a mosh pit and reminded the Thresher that Rice has a louder musical history than many think. Dig through Thresher archives and one will nd a surprisingly eclectic lineup of artists who’ve performed on campus, from California surf rockers to queer punk icons. Some packed Rice Stadium; others lled the Grand Hall. Here’s a highlight reel of notable artists who have played at Rice.
The Beach Boys - Oct. 18, 1986
The Beach Boys rolled into Rice Stadium right a er Rice played Texas Tech University in football, bringing a postgame wave of nostalgia to 14,000 fans. Mayor Kathy Whitmire (yes, mother of current mayor John Whitmire) declared it “Be True To Your School Week,” and the
crowd happily obliged, dancing on the bleachers to “California Girls” and “Good Vibrations.” Cheerleaders twirled in front of the stage as the band delivered a sundrenched set that turned a losing scoreline into a communal singalong.
Van Halen, Scorpions, Metallica, Dokken, Kingdom Come - July 2, 1988
When Van Halen, Metallica, Scorpions, Dokken and Kingdom Come landed in Rice Stadium for the Monsters of Rock tour, campus transformed into a ninehour metal marathon. Promoters trucked in twin sound systems, rotating drum rigs and enough decibels to rattle the hedges.
Students and locals alike endured the Houston heat for a lineup that represented the height of ’80s arena rock excess.
They Might Be Giants - Oct. 19, 1990 ktru pulled o a coup booking indieoddities They Might Be Giants for just
$7 a ticket in the Rice Memorial Center Grand Hall. John Flansburgh and John Linnell lled the room with accordion hooks, drum-machine beats and lyrics that managed to be both goofy and existential.
Pink Floyd - April 4-5, 1994
A er a six-year lull in major tours, Rice Stadium welcomed British legends Pink Floyd on The Division Bell Tour. The production was operatic: a 200-foot stage, gold lasers, custom light rigs and surround sound that shook the bleachers. Fans described it as “the most advanced rock performance ever staged,” and for many Houston concertgoers, it was. The hedges had never seen such a spectacle — and probably haven’t since.
Elton John & Billy Joel - April 5, 1995
A year later, two piano men shared that same eld. The Face to Face Tour paired Elton John and Billy Joel for alternating solo sets and a grand nale duet. Tickets for students sold out within hours, and by showtime, Rice Stadium pulsed with generations of fans singing every lyric. Between Joel’s “Piano Man” and John’s “Bennie and the Jets,” the night felt like a pop culture summit — one that ended neatly by 11 p.m. to appease Rice’s noiseaverse neighbors.
Elliott Smith & The So ies - Feb. 17, 1996
Though no Thresher coverage of the show survives, multiple sources con rm that the late Elliott Smith performed at Chaus that winter, a rare stop from one of indie music’s most reclusive songwriters.
Tim McGraw, George Strait, Faith HillJune 7, 1998
When the George Strait Chevy Truck Country Music Festival hit Rice, the stadium lled with cowboy hats instead of hoodies. The all-day event featured two stages, food stands and enough denim
to clothe a small town. Strait’s e ortless charm and Hill’s powerhouse vocals turned the eld into a mass line dance, while a young Tim McGraw cemented himself as country royalty.
Kenny Chesney & The Chicks - April 17, 1999
The next year kept the country music momentum going. The Chicks, at the peak of their genre-bending fame, stole the spotlight with harmonies sharp enough to cut through the humid air. Chesney brought easygoing charisma and crowdpleasers built for sing-alongs.
Le Tigre - Oct. 12, 2000 and March 1, 2002
Pioneering riot grrrl band Le Tigre played at Rice — not once, but twice — as part of ktru-sponsored shows. In the 2000 edition of the band’s Grand Hall shows, Kathleen Hanna jumped rope onstage while glitchy samples and shouted choruses turned feminist punk into a dance party.
Dorian Electra & Raveena - April 24, 2021
Pandemic restrictions forced ktru to reinvent its agship event, transforming Outdoor Show into a hybrid mini-festival of prerecorded sets and livestreams. Houstonborn pop experimentalist Dorian Electra headlined from afar, joining Raveena and other artists in a virtual lineup that mixed queer aesthetics, DIY visuals and pure escapism. With only 65 people allowed per hour in the quad, students watched together online.
GROUPLOVE - April 7, 2023
Moody X-Fest’s debut brought indiepop mainstays GROUPLOVE to Tudor Fieldhouse for Rice’s rst large-scale oncampus concert in years. Between student openers and free food trucks, the band’s euphoric “Tongue Tied” set turned the gym into a festival.
MIKE GLADU / THRESHER
Eddie Van Halen of Van Halen performed at Rice Stadium on July 2, 1988 as part of the Monsters of Rock tour that also featured Metallica, Scorpions, Dokken and Kingdom Come.
OSVALDO SALDAGO / THRESHER
GROUPLOVE played at the inaugural Moody X-Fest at Tudor Fieldhouse on April 7, 2023.
ARMAN SAXENA
A&E EDITOR
‘What
even
are you?’:
Get dressed up for Halloween
This Halloweekend, we’re saying goodbye to the SHEIN corsets and leaning into our esotericism. If you’re looking for fun and fresh inspiration that will leave heads scratching, look no further than these quirky Halloween costumes.
Feisty and heist-y: Louvre robbers
Gather three of your best partners in crime to show off your news savvy and solidarity with the French by repurposing the black bodysuit, flashy construction vest and replica crown jewels gathering dust in your closet. Accessorize with a duffel bag, ski mask and Empress Eugénie’s diamond bow brooch of disputed authenticity. This clever cosplay is low-effort and will take less than seven minutes to put together.
She 6 on my 7 until I 8 9: The integers of the year
Easily the most versatile costume on this list, this four-person costume yields endless configurations to switch between throughout the night. The assembly is simple — cut out numbers
using paper, felt or any material and pin them to plain T-shirts — but choosing who gets to be what number is the hard part. If you end up with 9, you’d better stay away from 7.
The couples costume of the year: Rodrick Heffley & Regina George Steal the show by dressing up as the internet’s hottest ship! Channel hardcore Heffley energy in a black graphic tee and green army jacket. To dress like queen bee Regina, layer a pink cardigan over a white tank top and pair with a black mini skirt. This crossover between arguably the two most iconic cinematic universes in American film is so fetch. #rodrina
“Thou shall not lie, thou shall not cheat”: Jojo Siwa’s “Karma” music video outfit
If you’re looking for a solo costume, look no further than Jojo “No one has made this dramatic of a change” Siwa’s bold new aesthetic. Ditch the PG Jojo bows for a sleek black two-piece leotard bedazzled with silver gems. What makes or breaks the costume is the makeup — recreate her edgy look with dramatic dark eyeliner and sparkly accents.
Campus wildlife: Mama Cat and resident rodentia
She’s fierce, catty and mother; if you’re not into the pop culture references, show your Rice pride by dressing as Lovett College’s Mama Cat
this year. Wear all black, whiskers and a cat headband with a clipped right ear. Her new Airtag is optional. Want to make it a group costume? Recruit a possum, squirrel and mouse (dead or alive) to complete the food chain.
Latino artists bring Día de los Muertos to Hobby Center
A&E EDITOR
When Domingo Banda steps into the Hobby Center on Nov. 2, he won’t just see a play. He’ll see a tradition 12 years in the making that has grown far beyond its smalltheater beginnings.
Banda is the co-founder and vice president of Teatro Índigo, a Houston-based nonpro t focused on educating the city on Latino culture through the performing and visual arts. Banda has helped lead “Calavera con Calavera,” a Spanish Día de los Muertos play, for over a decade.
Written by Eddie González and directed by Sureya Mir, the show celebrates its 12th consecutive season this fall, continuing its legacy as the rst Houston theater production by Latino immigrant artists to run for that long.
“I think it has a lot to do with the culture and people interested in learning about the traditional Day of the Dead,” Banda said. “Through the story, we bring up all the elements of the celebration: the altar, the cempasúchil flower, every
single little detail. People have become so interested in this celebration, and it connects with them. We even have audience members who’ve come every single year.”
That growing audience, Banda said, has helped the production evolve.
“Every year we try to implement some new stuff, new additions to the play,” he said. “People come back just to see what’s new.”
Live music will also play a key role in this year’s production.
“Our musical director, Professor José Vázquez from the University of HoustonDowntown, put together a group of his students and musicians, even some from Rice,” Banda said. “Live music brings that real connection we want to give people with the play. It makes everything feel alive.”
For Banda, the play’s message runs deep.
“People ask me how I learned about the Day of the Dead, and I say I didn’t learn it — I lived it,” he said. “I grew up in Mexico until I was 13. I remember my grandmother setting up the altar, buying the candles made from beeswax, the cempasúchil owers.”
Banda said he would walk with his grandmother from his house to the cemetery to take o erings to their relatives on the holiday. His grandmother would pray the rosary when they were at the cemetery.
“That stayed with me,” he said. “When we worked on the play, all I had in mind was my grandmother. I think I honor her through this, showing everyone how beautiful this tradition is.”
Banda said the play’s journey from a 100seat black box theater to the 500-seat Zilkha Hall in the Hobby Center mirrors the growth of Houston’s Latino arts community itself.
“Each space has its own magic,” Banda said. “When we started, it was our friends coming to see us. Then we moved to Talento Bilingüe, and we connected with the Latino community. When we performed at Miller Outdoor Theatre, we connected with the whole city.”
Now, performing in the Theater District fulfills a longtime dream.
“Being at the Hobby Center means that we can do things at any level,” Banda said. “It shows that Latino artists can put quality work on major stages. We hope it inspires others.”
He’s seen progress, but said there’s still room for more institutional support. He speci cally called for community leaders to notice the play.
“We need elected o cials and organizations to see that we’re here, that we do quality work,” Banda said. “We can perform at any stage, in any city — and we’re proving that.”
Banda said the play continues to move him in new ways, even a er 12 seasons.
“Every year, it’s a di erent feeling,” he said. “Yesterday at rehearsal, one of the new songs just hit me, it immediately touched my heart. That’s when I know we’re ready to show people what we’ve created.”
Above all, he hopes audiences remember the community “Calavera con Calavera” has built.
“I hope people remember the opportunities we’ve created for musicians, for dancers, for actors,” Banda said. “We’ve seen kids grow up through this play. Some of them were small parts when they started, and now they’re professional dancers. That’s what I hope continues — that the doors we opened keep opening for others.”
YILIAN JIANG THRESHER STAFF
ARMAN SAXENA
COURTESY DOMINGO BANDA
Performers prepare for their Nov. 2 performance at the Hobby Center for the 12th anniversary of “Calavera con Calavera.”
ABBY PEREZ / THRESHER
‘UY SCUTI (Supernova Edition)’ plays it safe
‘Through the Wall’ nds sanctuary on the dance floor
ARMAN SAXENA A&E EDITOR
On Faithless’ 1998 anthem “God Is a DJ,” Maxi Jazz delivered a credo that has since become foundational to dance music’s mythology: “This is my church, this is where I heal my hurts.”
Rochelle Jordan’s “Through The Wall” takes that sentiment and builds a haven from it — not a literal church, but one pulsing with basslines, laser lights and the collective catharsis of a crowd. The project is a love letter to the club, but also to everything the club has meant for decades: refuge, sensuality, self-definition and communion.
The world Jordan conjures feels transported straight from the peak of the 1990s house scene. You can hear traces of Chicago’s underground loft parties and New York’s ballroom floors in its DNA — think the deep, enveloping grooves of Mr. Fingers or Romanthony.
Every song feels like the next logical step in a long, hypnotic journey. This is music for the after-hours — the kind of record you put on when the workday is behind you, the calendar is clear and the night belongs entirely to you.
“Crave,” with its irresistible funk propulsion, is destined to be a peakhour phenomenon, while opener “Ladida” kicks things off with a confident swagger that never fades. Jordan’s voice is soft-spoken yet commanding, embodying a sense of self-worth and boundary-setting that mirrors the album’s lyrical core.
This is, after all, an album about self-love, about knowing what you bring into a room and refusing to shrink. That confidence evokes the performers who defined house and drag stages in the ’90s: the stars who knew that to step into the spotlight was to claim space.
The rst voice you hear on “Ninja,” the rst track on “UY SCUTI,” is not Young Thug’s. It is a voice inside a courtroom, insisting “he is the one that we’re all afraid of,” warning the judge that he will “[run] his gang from inside” and that Young Thug is “dangerous.” Then the beat starts. Young Thug enters, taunts and reclaims. The song turns into a referendum on control. Young Thug is out.
That tension sits over “UY SCUTI (Supernova Edition).” Young Thug spent years in court while his case became mass entertainment. Leaks, livestreams and timelines turned legal filings into content. Now, he is finally free, and we end up with “UY SCUTI.” The special supernova edition reshuffles and pads the set with some of his better streaming bait. The thing is, a supernova happens when an old star dies.
There was a chance to surprise listeners. Thug could have delivered a tight concept album about what it means to be watched. He gestures at it. “On The News,” featuring Cardi B, is the clearest cut here. The hook is spare. The verses speak plainly to cameras and headlines. You can hear a person describe the cost of becoming a story. Instead, the idea appears, vanishes and returns when convenient.
The sprawl gets in the way. He delivers a 102-minute project with 28 tracks and a guest list that looks like a festival flyer. It sounds expensive. It rarely sounds new. The length turns a personal return into a playlist, and the album’s strongest thoughts have to fight to be heard.
The writing leans on humor without building depth. Thug has always been outrageous and quick with unexpected images. Here, too many punchlines land and evaporate. “Ninja” shocks on purpose, but shock is not the same as insight. “Whoopty Doo” turns a viral catchphrase into a chorus and stops there. The songs that reach for menace with speed and rasp often flatten on the hook.
There are runs that argue for a better, shorter record. “Catch Me I’m Falling” leaves room for dread, not just posture. “Blaming Jesus” is messy and affecting because the voice cracks and
the arrangement let it sit on top. “RIP Big & Mack” loosens the shoulders and lets T.I. talk, which turns studio chatter into texture.
“Dreams Rarely Do Come True,” featuring Mariah The Scientist, tries too much and still lands a real feeling. “Miss My Dogs” goes on too long and still reads like a letter rather than a press blast. If this set had been trimmed to the cuts where he writes toward people instead of platforms, we would be talking about an actual reset.
The production roster is stacked and careful. Thug’s classic runs were built on tension between odd beats and a voice that bent around them. Here, most instrumentals keep him centered and contained. Sequencing favors motion over meaning, and the supernova edition add-ons make that drift better. Even the stronger songs drown in quantity.
But Jordan’s approach isn’t purely nostalgic. Like Beyoncé’s “RENAISSANCE,” “Through The Wall” revels in the textures of the past, but where Beyoncé’s album is a maximalist celebration, Jordan’s is smoke and shadow, a more intimate and atmospheric expression of that lineage. Even on the album cover, Jordan’s face is partially obscured in chiaroscuro, suggesting a world bathed in strobe lights and mystery.
What makes “Through The Wall” remarkable is how effortlessly it moves through this sonic landscape. Working with producers KLSH and Machinedrum, Jordan layers house, R&B, hip-hop, garage and even dubstep seamlessly. The result is a record that never announces its virtuosity; it simply is virtuosic.
Tracks like “Ladida,” “The Boy” and “Doing It Too” feel almost casually unforgettable, as if their hooks were discovered rather than written. The album’s flow recalls a perfect night out:
“Close 2 Me” races on speed garage’s chopped-up vocals and jungle-inspired basslines. And “Doing It Too,” with its soaring vocals and diva-house intensity, feels like a direct descendant of the gay club anthems that once turned warehouse parties into houses of liberation.
Even when the album experiments, it never loses focus; each stylistic detour still feels part of the same latenight excursion. At its core, “Through The Wall” is about finding freedom on your own terms. It’s about the dance floor as a place of healing and the body as a vessel for joy and defiance.
Yes, the record runs long, and yes, it occasionally repeats itself — but when the quality is this consistently high, those feel less like flaws and more like features.
“Through The Wall” doesn’t just revisit house music’s golden age. It carries that era’s radical spirit forward, proving that the club can still be what it always was — a sanctuary, a stage and a home.
All of this sits inside a bigger conversation about hip-hop and attention. Post-incarceration stories have always lived in rap. The difference now is the content economy surrounding them. Thug went with the safest choice — to make something that touches every lane and offends none of them for long. The result is a project that can fill feeds without feeling like a statement.
The disappointment is not that “UY SCUTI (Supernova Edition)” is bad. The disappointment is that this was the moment to make a statement. Thug could have cut to 10 or 12 tracks and made a record that felt inevitable. Instead, we get flashes of that record wrapped in a very long one.
I wanted to hear an artist who grew in the dark and came back with a new shape. The Supernova Edition gives us a bigger version of the Thug that listeners know. There are melodies here that only Thug finds. There is also a safe reliance on familiar cadences, guests and gleam. A supernova is supposed to end one life so something stranger can begin. “UY SCUTI (Supernova Edition)” sparks a money-grab.
COURTESY YSL RECORDS
CHARLIE CRUZ THRESHER STAFF
Top Track: ‘Rosetta Stone’
COURTESY EMPIRE
Top Track: ‘Bite the Bait’
Rice Rugby adapts to first season in new conference
A er joining a new conference this fall, the Rice men’s rugby team remains focused on growth, despite a 1-3 record.
The Owls now compete in the National Collegiate Rugby Conference against larger programs with deeper rosters, and players said the transition has helped raise expectations across the program. The program continues to play in Division I-AA.
“This year’s gone well in a lot of ways,” team captain Zain Nazir said. “We’ve got a lot of freshmen on the team. A lot of new guys are learning rugby, and that’s setting us up in a really good place for next year.”
Nazir said the new competition level has pushed the team to grow.
“We’re playing the best of the best now,” said Nazir, a Duncan College senior. “It’s been going really well, but it’s de nitely come with challenges.”
With stronger opponents and a more physical schedule, Nazir said the
FROM FRONT PAGE FOOTBALL
“We le San Antonio battered and bruised,” Abell said. “Our egos were beat up, our bodies were beat up.”
The Owls’ defense settled down and held UConn scoreless for the rest of the quarter. Rice added three points of its own on a 38-yard eld goal a er stalling in the red zone.
Rice regained possession four minutes into the second quarter and quickly took
adjustment has tested the team’s depth and endurance. One of those challenges has been staying healthy. Rugby’s physical nature has led to several injuries, and Rice’s smaller student body has made nding players di cult.
“Everyone here’s really academically driven, and balancing a sport as intensive as rugby with coursework can be tough,” Nazir said.
Despite the demands, Danny Math said the players have stayed committed.
“There are guys who’ll say, ‘I have o ce hours for the rst hour of practice, but I’ll be there for the second half,’” said Math, a Duncan senior. “Just showing that you’re committed to giving as much time as you can goes a long way.”
That commitment has carried over into team culture. Math and Nazir said the team’s bond is one of its biggest strengths.
“Everyone here is my best friend,” Nazir said. “These are all my family.”
As the fall season wraps up, the Owls are already looking ahead to the spring season,
the lead with a 73-yard score from Jackson. A stalemate ensued for nearly 10 minutes before UConn added a passing touchdown on the inside of the two-minute timeout.
One play and 11 seconds later, the Owls answered on a 75-yard catch and run from Jackson, taking a 17-14 lead.
Jackson became the rst player in Rice history to score a 70-plus-yard rushing touchdown and a 70-plus-yard receiving touchdown in the same game.
The scoring onslaught continued as UConn pulled ahead following a 34-yard
“Owl-American”
“So basically, we’re a sports school now.”
when they play a faster-paced version of the game that uses seven players per side instead of 15.
“Second semester, we’re out of 15s and we’re going into 7s season,” said Hayden Lucas, a Will Rice College sophomore. “It’s a new breath of fresh air for the team, and we’re able to bring on some new talent ... It’s a good starting point.”
touchdown pass with 49 seconds le in the half. The two teams had combined for 21 points in less than 60 seconds, and the Huskies went into hal ime ahead 21-17.
UConn scored the only points in the third quarter, converting a 45-yard eld goal. The Huskies were 2-for-5 on third downs in the third quarter and 2-for-9 in the entire second half.
“I thought the adjustments our guys made were really crucial coming out of hal ime,” Abell said. “We made [UConn] uncomfortable, and when you make people uncomfortable, you’re giving yourself an advantage.”
Freshman running back D’Andre Hardeman Jr. carried the ball on four of the rst seven plays to open the fourth quarter, so it was tting that he capped o the drive with his rst career touchdown. Hardeman’s 10-yard rush tied the game at 24 apiece.
Rain started to fall on Rice Stadium midway through the fourth quarter. The full e ect of the precipitation was on display as UConn’s kicker slipped while attempting what would have been a go-ahead eld goal. He made weak contact with the football while falling, and the kick came up short.
A er ve more minutes of scoreless football, the two sides headed to overtime. The game was the rst overtime contest for Rice since Sept. 9, 2023, when they defeated the University of Houston 43-41 in dramatic fashion.
“I was very con dent once we went to overtime that we were going to be able to operate our base stu ,” Abell said.
Rice opened overtime with possession
Nazir said the spring season will play to the team’s strengths.
“This is really where Rice Rugby hopes to excel,” Nazir said. “7s rugby focuses more on speed and open play, so it’s a good opportunity for everyone to get touches and improve. It’s more focused on the aspects of the game we enjoy, like speed and cardio.”
of the ball, and the two sides exchanged touchdown runs on their preliminary drives. Junior linebacker Ty Morris pressured UConn’s quarterback on third down during the next drive, forcing an incomplete pass.
“We just had the mentality that it’s on us,” Morris said. “We’ve gotta stand up here. We know the o ense is going to put the ball in the box every time.”
The Huskies settled for a eld goal, pulling ahead 34-31 and leaving Rice to face sudden death.
On the Owls’ second o ensive play in double overtime, Jackson capitalized on a block from senior tight end Micah Barnett at the line of scrimmage and took o for the end zone, breaking two tackles along the way. He scored from 23 yards out, and the entire sideline stormed the eld. The celebration continued up the Brian Patterson Sports Performance Center ramp and into the locker room.
“It’s a great feeling,” Jackson said. “We’ve been through a lot of hardships the last two, three, four weeks, so it really feels good to see that celebration. We haven’t had that feeling in a very long time.”
Rice’s upset victory improves them to 4-4 this season, including 3-1 in conference play. They are two wins away from bowl eligibility, but a four-game gauntlet awaits them. The Owls will host No. 25 University of Memphis at 6 p.m. Friday on ESPN2. They are 14-point underdogs at home, according to Dra Kings Sportsbook.
“We’re going to enjoy [the win] for a few hours, but we’ve got a short week coming up, so we’ve got to be prepared, move on and get ready for Memphis,” Jackson said.
Women’s soccer clinches playoff spot with 1-1 draw
on set pieces were a concern for head coach Brian Lee heading into the game.
half what changed in the game is we won the center mid eld,” Lee said.
With a 1-1 tie against East Carolina University last Thursday, women’s soccer clinched a spot in the American Conference Soccer tournament for the second year in a row.
East Carolina came out aggressive, coming o back-to-back losses where they conceded ve goals both games. The Pirates commanded the ow of the game in the rst 30 minutes, but Rice had a few chances in the opening minutes with a series of shots from mid elders Eileen Albers and Leah Chancey. Rice kept the game tied at zero until the 32nd minute when an ECU free kick was headed into the goal, giving the Pirates a lead.
East Carolina’s size and ability in the air
“One thing we did think about ECU is they would struggle to create chances against us in the run of play,” Lee said. “[We wanted to] limit the number of free kicks we gave them, and we gave them one too many.”
Rice gained momentum towards the end of the rst half, but a late goal was nulli ed due to an o side call. The Owls maintained their momentum into the second half.
“I thought our execution was okay,” Lee said. “Second half was much better than the rst.”
Lee said the main key to ipping the script in the second half was winning the battle at the heart of the eld.
“In the rst half, they won the center mid eld, which is a big deal, and the second
Despite Rice’s improved performance, ECU was able to maintain the lead for the majority of the second half. The Owls could not score from open play, and they didn’t tie the game until Chancey slotted in a penalty with less than seven minutes to go. The Owls had another potential claim for a penalty a few minutes later, but nothing was awarded.
Lee said he felt a Rice goal was imminent in the second half, with the way control of the game had shi ed.
“[The key to getting that penalty] was just having the run of the game,” Lee said. “I think that certainly from the middle second half on, the game was pretty much in their end.”
The numbers paint the picture of Rice
being the more aggressive team overall, as they had four more shots on goal and three more total shots than the Pirates.
Though the Owls were able to secure a spot in the conference playo s with the draw, the team will look to return to its winning ways heading into the conference tournament. A er winning eight of their rst 10 games, the Owls have just one win in their last six and have drawn four of their last ve.
Lee said the string of draws is not an indicator of poor performance, though.
“At the end of the year, at times, we’ve certainly played the best that we’ve played all year, and it’s just draw a er draw a er draw,” Lee said.
The Owls end regular season play with an Oct. 30 game at Tulsa University. The conference tournament starts Nov. 3.
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KONSTANTIN SAVVON / THRESHER
A Rice Rugby player runs with the ball during a Sept. 6 game against Sam Houston State University.
EDITORIAL CARTOON
HONG LIN TSAI / THRESHER
PRASANNA BENDALAM FOR THE THRESHER
Women’s basketball transfers prepare for big season
This year, women’s basketball is aiming high, said sophomore transfer Myah Hazelton.
“We’re trying to get a ring this year,” said Hazelton, a forward who transferred from Virginia Tech.
A er being picked third in the American Conference preseason coaches poll, the Owls sent three players to the league’s preseason All-Conference teams, a selection of the top athletes in the conference. The Owls were represented by senior guards Dominique Ennis on the rst team and Aniah Alexis and Victoria Flores on the second team.
“It’s nice to see that our hard work is paying o and other coaches are recognizing that,” head coach Lindsay Edmonds said. “But it’s just a preseason poll. The thing that matters most to me is where we are at the end of the season.”
This year’s roster will also feature transfers who bring both experience from the NCAA tournament and versatility to the oor. In addition to Hazelton, junior guard Louann Battiston transferred from Duke University.
Edmonds said she chose to hone in on a point guard and athletic big to complement their key senior guards and returning players.
“There were other opportunities in the portal we could have pursued, but didn’t t what we knew we needed,” Edmonds said. “We were able to pinpoint [Hazelton] and [Battiston], and they were just tremendous people. They’re great students, so it was really the well-rounded package that we needed.”
Battiston said joining Rice felt less like a transition and more like coming home.
“I don’t know how to explain it, but I could already see my future on this team,” Battiston said. “We are a real family. Every single girl is like family — they’re like sisters to me.”
A versatile player who prides herself on doing “a bit of everything,” Battiston said her focus this preseason has been adapting to Rice’s system and understanding her teammates’ tendencies.
“I wanted to adapt myself to the infrastructure of everything, how they are working in practice, how we are going to play during the season,” Battiston said. “I try to know what the team is going to do before they do it.”
Battiston said she expects to shoulder signi cant responsibility on the court.
“I feel like I am going to have a lot of responsibilities, and the coaching sta wants a lot from me,” Battiston said. “I’m ready for every challenge Coach is going to
give to me.”
Hazelton said some of Rice’s assets are mental and physical strength and o -court chemistry.
“Our chemistry is great,” Hazelton said. “We like to play fast, very fast. We know how each other plays and we know each other’s tendencies, and that is really going to help us.”
Hazelton described herself as a stretch forward with perimeter skills — someone who can keep up with guards while still battling in the paint.
“I think my ability to run the floor will be most helpful for the team this season,” Hazelton said. “I’m pretty quick for my position. I like to play off-ball, dribble and take on bigger defenders. I think that will help us this year.”
Edmonds said she wants to create a team culture that prioritizes an assertive o ense, cohesion and accountability.
“I really like this team and how they’re gelling together and playing together,” Edmonds said. “Hopefully, at the end of the season, we are ghting for a championship and not just ghting to be in third place.”
This article has been cut o for print. Read more at ricethresher.org.
Rice Athletics celebrates seven new Hall of Fame inductees
ANJALI MENEZES FOR THE THRESHER
The Rice Athletics community came together Oct. 24 to celebrate a new class of Hall of Famers.
Inside the Westin Houston Medical Center ballroom, Rice alumni, coaches and supporters gathered for the Rice Athletics Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which honored seven former student athletes and two longtime community leaders who have helped shape the history of Rice Athletics. Every honoree received a standing ovation.
The 2025 Hall of Fame class spans many generations. Among the inductees was former Rice basketball player and NBA champion Mike Wilks ’01, who is currently an Oklahoma City Thunder assistant coach.
“One of the most enjoyable experiences that I had at Rice wasn’t just the relationships with my teammates, but with the regular students from all walks of life, and it helped make me a well-rounded person,” Wilks said.
Track and eld athletes were well represented by this year’s class. Four-time AllAmerican hurdler Pam Brooks ’94, distance runner Nicole Wilkerson ’93, high jumper and basketball player Pennie Go ’85 and longtime men’s head coach Jon Warren ’88 were all
Volleyball
honored as new members of the Hall of Fame.
“It’s humbling for sure,” Brooks said. “I know a couple of teammates who have been inducted, so I know how high the bar is because they are such amazing athletes and people.”
Wilkerson was a three-time Southwest Conference champion in the 3,000 meters, ran on the 3,200 indoor relay championship squad in 1992 and nished fourth at the NCAA Outdoor Championship in the 3,000. She is now the head cross country coach at Middlebury College.
“My experience at Rice directly a ects what I do now,” Wilkerson said. “It had a huge impact.”
Go was Rice’s second-leading scorer and rebounder on the basketball court. She credited her time at Rice for shaping her perseverance and said it gave her tenacity and grit.
As both student and head men’s track coach, Warren has contributed to the Rice community for over 40 years. He set records as a distance runner, is the only American to run a sub-four-minute mile and a sub-two-hour, 20-minute marathon in the same year and has been coaching at Rice for 24 years.
“I really never thought this would happen,” Warren said of his induction. “It means more
than I ever expected.”
Brittany Massengale ’09, a former Rice swimmer, earned Hall of Fame honors as well. She holds the school record in the 500, 1000 and 1650 freestyles.
A lot of lessons that I learned at Rice prepared me and brought me to be in the position I am today.
Mike Wilks FORMER RICE BASKETBALL PLAYER
“It is a huge honor,” Massengale said. “Some of my teammates are here, so it’s really great to see them and just celebrate.”
Michael Downs ’81, a former safety for Rice football and the Dallas Cowboys, was also inducted but could not attend the event due to health issues. His nephew accepted the honor on his behalf.
In addition to the Hall of Fame awards, two individuals were recognized for their support of Rice Athletics. Wanna Hadnott ’84, a former women’s tennis co-captain, was the rst African American to receive a tennis
scholarship at Rice and the rst woman and African American to serve as president of the R Association, which represents and supports all Rice letterwinners. She was awarded the Distinguished R Award for her advocacy and leadership.
Hadnott said she cherishes the lasting connections she built during her time at Rice.
“Being on the tennis team formed the opportunity to form great relationships, and work is about relationships,” she said. “Three of the four girls who started on day one with me on the tennis team are here tonight.”
Jimmy Disch was presented with the Honorary R award. While not a Rice alumnus, he previously coached the Rice women’s basketball and volleyball teams in the 1970s, was a magister at Sid Richardson College from 1986 to 1991 and served as department chair for the department of kinesiology from 1995 until 2001. He is currently an associate professor emeritus in sport management and previously developed the sport analytics concentration curriculum.
The induction served as an opportunity for members of the Rice Athletics community to re ect on their time as Owls.
“A lot of lessons that I learned at Rice prepared me and brought me to be in the position I am today,” Wilks said.
sweeps Tulane, extends win streak to nine
Volleyball continued its midseason surge last weekend, defeating Tulane University to complete a conference sweep and extend its win streak to nine matches.
A er sweeping the University of Texas at San Antonio on the road Friday, Rice (13-8, 9-1 conference) followed up with a 3-1 win at home on Sunday a ernoon.
The Owls have won nine straight games and remain near the top of the American Conference standings.
Tulane put pressure on the Owls during the rst set. The Green Wave’s defense kept long rallies alive and forced the Owls to earn every point. A er dropping the rst set 2522, Rice surged back to win the next three, hitting over .300 as a team and closing the match with a 25-16 nish.
“I’m just really proud of the team for, a er a little bit of a slow start, starting to play our game,” head coach Genny Volpe said. “Tulane played really hard — they play such gritty defense and get a ton of balls up — so it really challenged us to just continue to work and score.”
Senior outside hitter Taylor Preston led the offense with 22 kills, including
nine in the final set. Junior opposite hitter Kellen Dorotik added 16 kills on a .517 hitting percentage.
Volpe credited the team’s success to its balance across all positions.
“Every night, someone di erent shines,” Volpe said. “We’re playing like a team, not relying on one person.”
At the center of that balance was junior setter Kaia Mateo, who orchestrated the o ense with 45 assists and 18 digs for her h double-double of the season. Her e orts earned her American Conference Setter of
the Week honors, her fourth consecutive conference recognition this month.
Since taking over the starting setter role in late September, Mateo has become a steadying presence on the court, ranking first in the conference in assists per set (11.86).
“Our o ense has been consistently getting stronger production from all attackers, and our error percentage keeps going down,” Volpe said. “Kaia’s been a big part of that growth.”
Defensively, senior libero Gaby Mans eld
led the back row with a season-high 23 digs, while junior middle blocker Arissa Smith anchored the front line with four blocks. Mans eld’s poise in serve receive and defensive coverage helped the Owls maintain control in long rallies.
The nine match winning streak marks one of Rice’s best stretches of the season. Volpe said she attributes the turnaround to the team’s resilience since winning a reverse sweep against Tulsa University Sept. 28, where Rice lost the rst two sets, but came back to win the nal three.
“It’s been a constant trend upward,” Volpe said. “This team is a sponge — they want to learn, they want to grow. I think that rst weekend lit a re under them, and now they come out with a stronger sense of purpose every match.”
With just a few weeks remaining before postseason play, Volpe said the team’s focus is on sharpening its serve and maintaining o ensive rhythm.
“If we can lock in behind the service line and stay con dent, we’re going to be a tough opponent for a lot of people,” Volpe said.
The Owls travel east to face East Carolina University on Friday and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte Nov. 2. Both matches will stream on ESPN+.
KAIRI MANO / THRESHER Junior guard Louann Battiston practices ahead of the women’s basketball season opener Nov. 7.
KAIRI MANO / THRESHER Senior outside hitter Taylor Preston spikes the ball during Rice’s Oct. 26 win against Tulane University.
KEYA PATEL FOR THE THRESHER
KEYA PATEL FOR THE THRESHER
The Backpage is the satire section of the Thresher, written this week by Charlie Maxson, Rykelle Sandidge and Max Scholl, and designed by Brandon Nguyen. For questions or comments, please email realricethreshero cial@rice.edu.
