The Rice Thresher | Wednesday, September 3, 2025

COURTESY CHRIS PARENT / RICE ATHLETICS

Rice football wins season opener under new coach

ANDERSEN PICKARD SPORTS EDITOR

For the first time since 2018, Rice football opened its season with a victory.

Scott Abell was soaked with yellow Powerade following a 14-12 win on the road Saturday against the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, which won 10 games and made it to the Sun Belt Conference championship last season.

“It’s one of the best road wins I can remember in my career,” Abell, the Owls’

first-year head coach, said. “If I sit here and reflect, you’re talking 32 years, most of those as a head coach. You think about your road wins as a coach [and] there’s only a couple that match it.”

The Owls’ victory represents their first road win since 2023. They were two-touchdown underdogs earlier in the week, with the spread moving to Rice +9.5 by kickoff.

“You’re a two-score underdog on the road, and we just went toe-to-toe and had control most of the game,” Abell said.

Rice opened the game with the ball and immediately showcased the intricacies of Abell’s “gun-choice” offense with a blend of touch passes and options.

Although Rice went three-and-out on the opening drive and Louisiana pulled ahead with an early field goal, the Owls were able to respond by executing options, hand-offs and tosses.

Redshirt sophomore running back Daelen Alexander broke tackles on several runs and helped get the Owls into scoring position before redshirt junior

Over 1,000 students petition against new meal plan

When Konstantin Savvon opened the Housing and Dining email announcing the new unlimited meal plan, he was instantly concerned about the impact on o -campus students like himself.

Savvon recognized that the change from a previously nite number of meal

swipes would make it di cult for oncampus students to share their meal plan with o -campus students, signaling a nancial burden for those who had been counting on their friends’ swipes.

“I saw the email about the changes to the meal plan and immediately crashed out,” said Savvon, a Duncan College sophomore.

Editor’s note: Savvon is the Thresher’s assistant photo editor.

Right then, on a bus ride back from the BioScience Research Collaborative, Savvon dra ed a petition that now has over one thousand signatures.

Savvon said he gured he would try to turn students’ frustration into data.

Even with the signatures, Savvon said he doubts that administration will act on the petition’s call to change the new meal plan.

“I don’t see [change] happening due to the rhetoric coming from H&D,” Savvon said.

Other students echo Savvon’s sentiment. Martel College Chief Justice, Orion Pope, wrote to H&D outlining ine ciencies he saw with the new meal plan and urged them to meet with student leaders.

However, he said their response o ered only polite acknowledgement and no meaningful engagement with the concerns he had raised.

“We appreciate students voicing their perspectives,” wrote interim Vice President of H&D Beth Leaver, when asked to comment on the petition. “Our goal is to listen, engage and continue improving dining together.”

running back Quinton Jackson punched the ball in from one yard out.

The o ense had a nearly nonexistent passing attack and leaned on the rushing attack. Jackson carried the load with a career-high 22 carries and 119 rushing yards.

The Owls possessed the football for 10:39 in the first quarter, while Louisiana’s offense was only on the field for 4:21. Abell said part of Rice’s strategy was a slow, methodical approach of running the football.

SEE RICE FOOTBALL PAGE 14

CHI PHAM ASST. A&E EDITOR

Underneath Chadd Alexander’s Broadway costume, there’s ankle tape and wrist braces — the same protective gear he wore as a walk-on basketball player at Rice, though he’s now performing eight shows a week in the ensemble of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” instead of running conditioning drills in Tudor Fieldhouse.

“It’s bizarrely similar,” Alexander ’10 said. “When you’re in the dressing room getting ready to perform, it’s like being in the locker room and getting ready to play.”

Alexander transferred to Rice from NYU and walked onto the basketball team, playing for two years while studying English literature. Theater wasn’t on his radar; though he had performed in Hal Prince’s “Show Boat” Broadway revival as a child, he’d abandoned acting in middle school to follow his brother into athletics.

Rice football coach Scott Abell speaks to the team at their game against the University of Louisiana at Lafayette on Aug. 30. The Owls won 14-12 over Louisiana.

KRISTAL HANSON THRESHER STAFF

FRANCESCA NEMATI / THRESHER

Students enter West Servery for dinner. A new meal plan announced by H&D July 31 has prompted backlash due to a new limited number of “guest swipes.”

Over 466 students received meal swipes from Student Success Initiatives

Housing and Dining postpones feedback session a er start time, students le in rain

JAMES CANCELARICH NEWS EDITOR

A Housing and Dining feedback event about the new meal plan — about which many students expressed concern –- was scheduled for Sept. 1, and a handful of students showed up in the pouring rain. Over 30 minutes a er the event was scheduled to begin, and with no H&D representatives in sight, H&D announced via Instagram story that the event was postponed due to weather.

The students were attempting to discuss the new unlimited meal swipe system that was announced prior to the start of the semester.

One concern was what would happen to the Student Association’s meal swipe donation program. Under the program, swipes could be donated to allocate to students living o campus with demonstrated need. Under the new program, a joint e ort between H&D and Student Success Initiatives, meal swipes were allocated directly from H&D, with an option for o -campus students to donate swipes.

Taylor Breshears, the associate director of SSI, said that the program supported over 466 students, out of over 600 students who submitted applications. More than half of the students received at least 85 meal swipes, Breshears said.

Breshears did not provide a speci c number of swipes allocated. However, she said that it surpassed previous semesters, with the exception of spring 2025. That semester, the program saw record success with over 16,905 meal swipes donated in the rst round. Later, the program was expanded with a mid-semester donation period.

“We are dedicated to advocating for our food-insecure student population and are actively seeking innovative solutions to enhance our services, raise awareness, and

more e ectively meet the needs of our most vulnerable students,” Breshears wrote in an email to the Thresher.

Patiance Wiley received 85 swipes through the new system. She said it was comparable to the number of swipes she received in previous years through the donation program.

“At least then, we knew they were pulling from a certain amount of swipes that were donated,” said Wiley, a Will Rice College junior. “The number didn’t feel as arbitrary. But now I just feel like they’re handing out numbers.”

At 85 swipes throughout the semester, Wiley gures that she has about one meal a day. She said she is worried about the end of the semester.

“I’m gonna feel more anxious about, ‘oh, what if I’m really hungry tomorrow,’” Wiley said. “I might as well just wait the hour bus ride till I get home and see if I have food in my home to cook, because I don’t have that much money … I have maybe $100 to spend on groceries during the school year, which is why I spent so much time in the serveries here.”

Wiley said that she felt the new meal plan was contributing to meal insecurity around campus. With the limited guest swipes for on-campus students, Wiley said that she feels even more anxious about asking people to swipe her into the serveries.

Wiley said that she is currently advocating for H&D to introduce a mid-semester swipe allocation program as well as reverting back to their previous meal plan system.

Along with emailing, she said she planned to give feedback at an open call from H&D to share opinions to include in a report created a er the postponed Sept. 1 event.

Beth Leaver, the interim assistant vice president for housing, dining and hospitality, said that the event was intended for studentto-student conversation about the changes.

“Due to inclement weather, the team decided to cancel,” Leaver wrote in an email to the Thresher. “We regret the confusion this caused. Unfortunately, the update did not go out in time to prevent students from waiting, and we apologize for anyone that was inconvenienced. We remain committed to listening and to creating dining programs that meet the needs of our community.”

Duncan College junior Rachel Andersen lived o campus for the past two years. Under the meal swipe donation program last year, she said she received 50 swipes in the fall. In the spring, she initially received 10 swipes, but mid-semester, she received an additional 30 swipes.

Under the new system, she received 40 meal swipes for this semester.

“I’m on nancial aid, and I can’t really a ord to spend $800 on even the smallest meal plan,” Andersen said.

Andersen said that she was grateful that the meal swipes would allow her the convenience of dining on campus and to save money on groceries. However, she said that she felt a di erence in the program. In previous years, the number of allocated meal swipes was clearer, all of which came from donated meal swipes.

“It’s uneasy to feel like they’re trying to make more money, make less food and frame it in a way that it sounds good, say that it’s unlimited,” Andersen said. “They were already unlimited. People had way too many to deal with anyway.”

The previous meal plan required oncampus students to buy the plan with 375 meal swipes per semester. Some students said that the amount was excessive and that they had le over swipes at the end of a semester.

Conner Schultz said he receives full tuition covered by Rice nancial aid. Living o campus this year, he bought

Meal Plan B, which provides 85 swipes, $100 in Tetra and 15 guest swipes at a cost of $975, which he described as a nancial burden. He did not receive any swipes from SSI’s allocation program.

“It’s really a tight squeeze for both semesters, especially when it’s almost $1,000,” said Schultz, a Will Rice sophomore.

He said that the limited guest swipes were di cult for him. In addition, Schultz had voluntarily decided to move o campus his sophomore year so that he could ensure housing for the rest of his time at Rice.

“Having the ability to get swipes from other people really, really helps,” Schultz said “Now that I cannot do that, I really worry about my ability to actually get food on campus.”

Given the timing of H&D’s announcement of the new plan – July 31, 25 days before the semester began – Schultz said that he planned out his budget working under the assumption that there would be a donation program. Schultz said that he felt he was not working with complete information or transparency from H&D.

To help address some of the concerns around campus food access, Schultz began a GroupMe chat called “Rice WTF (Where’s the Food?)”

In the GroupMe chat, students post about events at Rice with free food. They also air their grievances about the new meal swipe program. One night, a er a party le an excess of cupcakes, students delivered them around campus to other people in the chat.

“A lot of people on campus really, really like helping one another,” Schultz said. “I really love that about Rice. We have a really deep nature of community, and even with Rice trying to actively kill it with the ending of meal swipes, I think that we still are going to ght this and try to help each other.”

Students see expanded merch and restaurant discounts

HOPE YANG ASST. NEWS EDITOR

The Campus Bookstore will now o er a 30% discount to any one apparel item on the rst Friday of every month, a change from the previous 10% discount on a designated “spirit item” introduced last April, according to an Instagram post by the Student Association.

In addition, students will see 10% or 15% discounts for 24 new restaurants and shops around Houston, including Black Walnut Cafe, Bluestone Lane, Island Grill, Dave’s Hot Chicken and Sweet Paris.

The Student Association previously

It’s good ... to have more options in terms of discounts and making these options more affordable.

Emily Huynh WIESS COLLEGE SENIOR

launched the merchandise program in partnership with Housing and Dining due to concerns over students paying the same prices for merchandise as visitors.

SA president Trevor Tobey said the merch discount program piloted last year was not marketed well to students, who were “siloed” into a single merchandise option they may not prefer.

Tobey said that he hopes for a universal student discount on every day of the month, not just the rst Friday. However, he said this would be a long term goal because Rice outsources the operations of the campus store with supervision from H&D.

“[Currently] we’re working on possible game day promotions and ash sales and di erent things like that that would make [merchandise] even more a ordable,” Tobey said.

Suhas Narra, a Will Rice College sophomore, said that the increased discounts don’t incentivize him to get more merchandise from the Bookstore when compared to cheaper options.

“I feel like at some point it comes down to, what is the 30% on?” Narra said. “Because if you’re looking at a standard cotton T-shirt, and they’re selling it retail, 30% really isn’t a lot when you can bootleg something o of Amazon for 20 bucks.”

Tobey said that the SA is also in talks with H&D to introduce cheaper merchandise yearround, including possibilities of a studentdesigned T-shirt.

“I think that the Lululemon Rice items in the campus store are great, but sometimes people want a $10, $15 T-shirt,” Tobey said. “There should be things in there that students can really enjoy and like and feel they can support their college through.”

The discounts are a part of an e ort from the SA to increase a ordability and accessibility for students at large, including

KONSTANTIN SAVVON / THRESHER

Students shop in the Rice Campus Bookstore. The Student Association recently announced that the bookstore will now feature discounts on merch.

their initiatives on the meal swipe donation replacement program, $10 printing credit and a 24-hour Fondren Library pilot program, Tobey said.

Emily Huynh, a Wiess College senior, said that the new restaurant discounts increase accessibility for students who are o campus.

“I think especially for people who do dine o campus more frequently, it’s good for them to have more options in terms of discounts and making these options more a ordable,” Huynh said. “Also, it’s good for people who aren’t from Houston to be able to try more restaurants out.”

The new restaurant partnerships are a result of the previous S.RES 04 bill passed last fall, which created a task force to increase student discounts around Houston.

The SA will roll out a promotional program in each college to introduce the new student discounts in the spring, Tobey wrote in a message to the Thresher.

Tobey said he’d eventually like to see between 50 and 100 restaurants with student discounts.

“The sky is the limit for student discounts around Houston,” Tobey said. “Everybody wants to partner with us, it’s just a matter of reaching out and making those connections.”

Chair of U.S. House committee talks floods, space at Baker Institute

RAMYA MOTATI NEWS EDITOR

U.S. Rep. Brian Babin gave public remarks entitled “The Future of American Science” at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy Aug. 27. Babin, who chairs the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and represents Texas’ 36th Congressional District, discussed the Kerr County floods, NASA programs and scientific collaboration with China at the event.

The fireside chat began with a short introduction by Neal Lane, a senior fellow at the Baker Institute. Babin then joined Paul Cherukuri, Rice’s vice president for innovation, to discuss audience questions.

I think that there’s excessive bureaucracy - the paperwork, the morass, the red tape - whatever you want to call it. The last thing we want for our space program is to be ... is tethered to the Earth by red tape.

Brain

Babin

REPRESENTATIVE FOR TEXAS’ 36TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Babin also addressed the July Kerr County flooding in central Texas. The flooding, which occurred along the Guadalupe River, killed at least 135 people and caused property damage of

up to $200 million.

Babin said that the issue came from poor weather and the flooding equipment. Kerr County, at the time of the flooding, lacked an outdoor siren system. To address the issue, Babin said that he and other lawmakers are working to pass a Weather Act to establish more detection programs and invest in technology that could provide real-time information on floods before they strike.

“One of the biggest controversies about [the floods] was that we have advanced notice, that we have proper warning, and we’re working on a weather act as we speak,” Babin said.

Babin also discussed the involvement of private companies and the Department of Government Efficiency in U.S. space programs.

“I think that there’s excessive bureaucracy — the paperwork, the morass, the red tape — whatever you want to call it,” Babin said during the discussion. “The last thing we want for our space program is to be … tethered to the Earth by red tape.”

“We’re absolutely finding ways to cut through this red tape,” he continued. “That’s one of [DOGE’s] reasons for being and that is to unshackle our research and development institutions like Rice University, unshackle our private space companies, you name it.”

He also addressed NASA’s Constellation program, which was formulated in the Bush administration and canceled in the Obama administration. The aim of this program was to complete the International Space Station — still under construction at the time — return to the moon by 2020 and crew a flight to Mars.

In response, Babin said he wants to ensure the continuity of science programs

between administrations.

“I came to Congress during the Obama administration … which had cancelled a program called Constellation that was going to get us back to the mood that had been formulated during the Bush administration,” Babin said.

Currently, he is working on NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to land humans on the moon again.

“We’re working very hard right now to keep our Artemis program from being terminated,” Babin said. “The last thing we want to do is to land on the lunar surface to see a ‘no trespassing’ sign written in Mandarin.”

Babin said that the free-flowing dissemination of information in the scientific community can sometimes lead to theft of valuable information from the United States by spies from countries such as China.

“We have lost so much of our information, which has been pilfered over the years, that we can no longer afford to ignore,” Babin said. “Just yesterday, right across the street, MD Anderson arrested one of their doctors, who was from China, who was pilfering information. This is an extremely serious problem that we can no longer look the other way.”

First public of the year reckons with threats of a dry campus

JAMES CANCELARICH NEWS EDITOR

A er a Dis-O that saw four times as many calls for intoxication-related transports of students to the hospital compared to the prior three years, Cory Voskanian, a Martel College socials head tasked with planning the rst public of the year, said that he was feeling the pressure.

Threats of a dry campus hovered over Martel’s “Don’t Mess with Texas” party. Voskanian said he felt a need to play it safe, reasoning that a disappointing party was better than no parties at all.

“It’s looming in our heads that we have to be very careful, and for that reason, Texas Party looked a little di erent than how we would have perhaps wanted,” Voskanian, a sophomore, said.

Martel’s Texas Party is split between the sundeck and the quad, with a limited capacity on the sundeck. At the beginning of the party, pictures were shared on Fizz, an app where users can post anonymously, of an almost completely empty quad.

Following the party, a picture of a guillotine began circulating in response to a post asking who the Martel socials heads were.

“I found it kind of humorous, but also, I think it’s a little ridiculous that all it takes is a bad party for you to impose death threats on someone,” Voskanian said of the meme.

However, Voskanian said that he was not paying attention to what he described as the hate.

“People need to understand that some things are beyond one weekend and I think that’s what we kinda came to terms with as a [socials] team,” said Voskanian. “We need to protect campus, the longevity of campus. We don’t want it to be dry forever, because then everyone will be mad and that doesn’t serve anyone well.”

Following Dis-O, college presidents discussed the event with Dean of

Undergraduates Bridget Gorman, and they said a ban of alcohol on campus was “seriously considered.” Rice’s last experience with alcohol sanctions was a er Wiess College’s “Night of Decadence” public in October 2023. That party was shut down early a er seven Rice students were transported to the hospital. A erwards, public parties were cancelled through spring break and NOD was permanently cancelled.

Voskanian said that he had not received any speci c thresholds for what would induce a dry campus. However, he said that those coordinating the Texas Party were on alert.

At Martel, according to Voskanian, one student was transported due to intoxication.

Voskanian did not comment speci cally on pressure from administration when planning the party, but described the party as already “set in stone” from an administrative viewpoint. He also described the communication with administration as “not the best on both ends.”

“I feel like the students and admin are like being pitted against each other, and we’re just in the middle receiving all the hate,” Voskanian said. “The reason I don’t feel o ended by it is because … I feel like so much of what went into the party is out of my control anyway or has already been established.”

One of the changes made at the Martel public was a restriction of entry into the sundeck about halfway through the party. Voskanian did not comment on the reason for the decision, but said that it was made between Rice Emergency Management and the socials team.

Orion Pope, the chief justice at Martel, said the Dis-O incidents were taken into account when preparing for Texas party.

“As in past years, [private parties] at Martel were not allowed and we made especially sure this year to keep administration from having to relay very

tough decisions onto the student body,” Pope, a junior, wrote in a message to the Thresher.

In addition, Pope said that the sundeck was monitored for capacity, and organizations such as the Baptist Student Ministry provided their usual pancakes to “alleviate drunkenness from hypothetical previous pre-games.”

As with last year, Texas Party did not feature a beer garden, which is o en a feature at publics.

Unlike last year, however, Martel’s party was free of charge, unless a student missed ticket pickup time or did not ll out the form for a ticket.

“We wanted it to be accessible,” Voskanian said.

If campus were to go dry, Voskanaian

said he would worry about the culture shi ing to exclusive o -campus parties, which he described as similar to fraternity parties.

“I think publics work because they’re very inclusive,” Voskanian said. “Anyone could hypothetically go to a public and get a ticket, but when you start fraternizing things, it becomes very exclusive, and then only a certain type of person perhaps could get in.”

Rice does not have fraternities, and is a wet campus. Voskanian said that he views these as integral parts of Rice’s culture. “If we like it or not, alcohol is a part of how the institution has come up. Beer Bike is the integral event,” Voskanian said. “So it just becomes, like, how much do you want to mess with the culture?”

COURTESY BAKER INSTITUTE

U.S. Rep. Brian Babin seaks at the Baker Instutute in an event titled “The Future of American Sicence.” His speech covered the Kerr County floods and private sector in space technology.

COURTESY ABIGAIL CHIU

Martel College decorates for their Don’t Mess With Texas party. The rst public of the year was under increased scrutiny after the number of intoxication related incidents at Dis-O.

Career expo expands to two days, sees more employers across industries

HOPE YANG ASST. NEWS EDITOR

Rice’s Career and Internship Expo, which will take place Sept. 9-10, has expanded from one to two days, featuring over 120 employers across engineering, business, nance, consulting, arts and other industries, said Agustina Fernandez-Moya, director of employer engagement and experiential learning at the Center for Career Development.

Hosted by the CCD twice a year, the expo provides a platform for Rice students and alumni to network with recruiters in various industries. Fernandez-Moya said that the expanded expo will be the largest to date, and will cater to student needs more than previous years.

“Students were saying that they wanted more time, more access to companies, so that’s why we are switching from a single day to a two-day expo,” Fernandez-Moya said.

Alex Sansom, a mechanical engineering major, said that the expanded career expo is a needed improvement.

“The career fairs I’ve been to in the past have de nitely been crowded … and have a lot of stations I’m not really interested in,” said Sansom, a Hanszen College senior. “I think that de nitely having that split … seems like a good thing.”

It’s awesome when we’re traveling down here from different locations across the country to have more time to spend talking to students and get more out of our trip.

Mitch Torczon CAPITAL ONE RECRUITMENT REPRESENTATIVE

The expo will be held at Tudor Fieldhouse. The rst day will focus on engineering and technology, and the second on business, arts and sciences.

Fernandez-Moya said that the expo will have greater representation across di erent industries. To do that, Fernandez-Moya said

I would love to see more social sciences and humanities NGOs, more private organizations, because that’s where a lot of poeple tend to go in the social sciences.

Antara Varma ENGLISH AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENES MAJOR

the CCD asked students on 12twenty what companies they were interested in and met with faculty to see what companies students were talking about.

“We are looking at the di erent industries, how well they are represented within the expo and trying to ll in the gaps,” FernandezMoya said.

The expo includes new companies such as the musical theater production company Theatre Under the Stars and sports ticketing company Eventellect, said Alexander Rodriguez, assistant director of experiential education and data at the CCD.

CCD Executive Director Nicole Van Den Heuvel said that not all companies conduct recruiting through career expos.

“The career expo is just one way for students to get jobs and internships,” Van Den Heuvel said. “There are many companies who love to just go to career expos. There are also companies who will never ever come to a career expo.”

Antara Varma, an English and environmental sciences major, said that the previous career expo had a lot of companies recruiting for engineering roles.

“I would love to see more social sciences and humanities NGOs, more private organizations, because that’s where a lot of people tend to go in the social sciences,” said Varma, a Brown College sophomore.

The expo also takes place earlier than previous fall expos to accommodate the hiring timeline for certain industries, Rodriguez said.

“Nobody nds a job in two days,” Rodriguez said. “[Employers are] recruiting

Last year’s Career and Internship Expo lasted one day and included about 70 employers. This year, the expo is expanded to two days and will feautre over 120 employers.

in the summer for some positions, and so us doing this earlier was in direct response to missing some employers because they didn’t need to come. They already nished and closed their deadlines.”

Rodriguez said that the expanded event also responds to employer feedback from previous expos that they wanted more time with students.

Mitch Torczon, a Capital One recruitment representative, said that the expanded expo helps give him that time.

“It’s awesome when we’re traveling down here from di erent locations across the country to have more time to spend talking to students and get more out of our trip,” Torczon ’16 said. “It’s also nice that there’s greater exibility for students on when [the expo] ts into their class schedule.”

Ryan Kruse, a Shell recruitment representative, said that he thought di erent areas of focus across two days will allow for better conversations with potential recruits.

“A career fair o en does feel really crowded, so it’s nice that you split it up,” Kruse ’12 said. “And it might also help to cater some of those conversations where, if you’re able to have more consistent talking points to students on a particular topic, you could focus on that more.”

Fernandez-Moya said that in addition to a greater number of employers, the expo will have a global scope.

“We sent thousands of emails trying to connect, and the great thing is that we not only have local companies, we also have international companies, so everything is represented,” Fernandez-Moya said.

Van Den Heuvel said that the CCD and its events are growing to accommodate Rice’s growth across the board. The CCD recently hired three new sta members.

“I’m very thankful that Rice leadership has recognized the value and importance of career development for every student,” Van Den Heuvel said.

Rice lands high on Niche, Forbes college rankings

ABIGIAIL CHIU SENIOR WRITER

Rice recently ranked No. 10 on Niche’s Best Colleges in America list and No. 12 on Forbes’ annual America’s Top Colleges list in 2026. It was also recognized in several categories by the Princeton Review, placing in the top 10 in four categories.

Last year, Rice reached No. 8 in Niche and No. 9 in Forbes’ rankings. The current lists represent a slight dip in Rice’s position.

Rankings like these are a reflection of our outstanding students, faculty, staff and alumni as well as the unique, personalized experience Rice offers.

Reggie DesRoches PRESIDENT OF RICE UNIVERSITY

The ranking methodology of Forbes prioritizes how many students have to take on debt to attend and how much debt students graduate with. The most heavily weighted category is graduates’ median earnings, followed by education outcomes, federal loan debt, return on investment and leadership by alumni.

Niche uses both factual data — such as acceptance rate — and user-submitted

data — such as student-submitted surveys — to produce its list. Unlike Forbes or U.S. News & World Report, Niche considers more subjective factors like student life, campus food and party scene.

In recent years, the methodology used by systems such as Forbes has seen a shi from the perceived prestige and other factors that traditionally favor elite schools to metrics such as outcomes, economic returns and social contributions.

President Reggie DesRoches said in a Rice News article that Rice’s position in the rankings demonstrates how the university sets students up for success.

“Rankings like these are a re ection of our outstanding students, faculty, sta and alumni as well as the unique, personalized experience Rice o ers,” DesRoches said. “We are proud to be recognized among the nation’s best universities, but even more proud of the success of our students, both while they’re on campus and long a er they graduate.”

Rice was also included in a March 2025 Forbes article about the “New Ivies,” or what they said were universities in heightened regard by employers, as the traditional eight Ivy League ranking powerhouses come under increasing criticism from the general public and pressure from the federal government.

U.S. News, which also releases an annual ranking of colleges, does not release their list until Sept. 23. Last year, Rice tied for No. 18 with Notre Dame and Vanderbilt in its national ranking with methodology that favored peer assessment, graduation rates and graduation rate performance.

COURTESY CENTER FOR CAREER DEVELOPMENT

From post-human novels to augmented reality, Rice hires new faculty

AISHA

KHEMANI STAFF WRITER

Rice welcomed 97 new professors this fall across disciplines, including a posthumanist Harvard scholar, a husbandwife duo and a computer science professor who graduated from Rice thrice.

This semester, there are 20 new hires in the George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing alone.

Robert LiKamWa earned his bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and Ph.D. at Rice. Previously a professor at Arizona State University, his work specializes in mobile computing systems.

Posthumanism asks us to rethink traditional humanism and see humans as part of larger ecological systems rather than at the top of a hierarchy. Rice is kind of a birthplace of posthumanism, with pioneers like Cary Wolfe and Tim Morton.

Nicole Sütterlin MODERN AND CLASSICAL LANGUAGES, LITERATURES AND CULTURE PROFESSOR

“I’ve been diving really deep into virtual reality; augmented reality; how to build systems that make them happen e ciently; and how to build creative teams who can design content for education, workforce training and exploration,” LiKamWa said.

LiKamWa said that while he enjoyed his time at Arizona State, Rice o ered a unique chance to scale his work with new collaborators.

“When I got the call to come back, I visited, and it reminded me how I could bring together diverse, creative teams at Rice and lean into the university’s strengths to take on big, impactful projects,” LiKamWa said.

This semester, LiKamWa is teaching a course on real-time rendering systems, which introduces students to how central processing units — the “brains” of a computer — and graphics processing units — specialized chips that handle images and graphics — power virtual reality and augmented reality headsets and projection systems. His lab is also inviting students from di erent majors to contribute to projects.

“They can come from any background as long as they have the enthusiasm,” he said. “Some may focus on building virtual worlds with an artistic eye, while others dive into performance, efficiency and systems. All sides of the puzzle are needed.”

LiKamWa said he is already building partnerships with Rice Athletics and Houston Methodist to explore AR and VR applications in athletic training, rehabilitation and surgery.

“There’s a lot of appetite for these tools from our partners,” he said. “We’re already making connections to bring our research out of the lab and into facilities where it can make a real impact.”

Another new face is Trustee Professor of Materials Science and NanoEngineering Geo roy Hautier. Hautier, faculty fellow of the Rice Advanced Materials Institute, previouslyhelped lead the Materials Project, one of the world’s largest open databases for inorganic materials, and his research has driven the discovery of Earth-abundant semiconductors for nextgeneration solar cells. This spring, he said he plans to launch a course on data science in materials research, giving students hands-on experience with computational

discovery.

Nakul Garg joined Rice a er completing his Ph.D. in computer science at the University of Maryland. Garg studies intelligent mobile systems, focusing on wireless sensing and computation for small, resource-limited devices. His work is based in the Physical Intelligence Laboratory, where his team develops technologies that merge the physical and digital worlds.

One of the lab’s rst projects looks at using radar instead of cameras to power smart glasses.

“Our lab is new, but we already have Ph.D. students and undergrads working with us,” Garg said. “We’re actively looking for talent and open to brainstorming new ideas.”

Outside of engineering and computing, Guillermo Rosas has joined Rice as a professor and chair of the department of politial science a er 22 years at Washington University in St. Louis. Originally from Mexico, Rosas has authored multiple books on comparative political economy, party politics and democratic institutions, with a particular focus on Latin America.

Rosas said he and his wife, Tabea Linhard — who also joined Rice this year as a professor in the department of modern and classical languages, literatures and cultures — were drawn to the university’s collaborative environment and strong undergraduate focus.

“When I visited Rice, I really liked the way the university felt,” Rosas said. “It’s similar in many ways to Washington University, but also o ered the novelty of a beautiful campus in a vibrant city.”

“We have been very fortunate as we were able to solve what is commonly called the ‘two-body problem’ early in our careers,” Linhard wrote in an email to the Thresher. “One aspect that di ers from our prior institution is that at WashU we were in the same school, Arts & Sciences, while here we are in the School of Social Sciences and Humanities, respectively. Our experience has shown us that at Rice the di erent schools work well together, even though the elds represented in these di erent schools have very di erent methodologies and approaches.”

As department chair, Rosas said his goal is to help guide political science through its next phase of growth. The department now houses three majors: Political Science, Social Policy Analysis and the new Global A airs major, which will launch in the spring.

This semester, Linhard is teaching a

I’ve been diving really deep into virtual reality; augmented reality; how to build systems that make them happen efficiently; and how to build creative teams who can design content for education, workforce training and exploration.

Robert Likamwa ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING PROFESSOR

course on the Spanish Civil War.

“[This is] a con ict that erupted 89 years ago that … remains relevant to understanding how civil wars begin, how they end and how they are remembered,” Linhard said.

In the spring, she will teach a course on Spanish cinema and another on Gabriel García Márquez’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude.” A er that, she plans to teach courses in other areas, such as global migration or the Holocaust. She also hopes

to eventually develop a course related to her current book project, “Agents’ Secrets,” which looks at women who served as secret agents or were accused of espionage.

The department of modern and classical languages, literatures and cultures also welcomed another new professor, Nicole Sütterlin, who comes to Rice a er more than a decade at Harvard and earlier teaching at the University of Basel in Switzerland. Her research explores the intersections of literature, science and medicine.

Her new project, “Monstrous Microbes? Multispecies Bodies in the Posthuman Novel,” examines how speculative ction and contemporary literature help us rethink what it means to be human in light of microbiome research.

Sütterlin said Rice was a natural t given the university’s history as a center for posthumanist thought.

“Posthumanism asks us to rethink traditional humanism and see humans as part of larger ecological systems rather than at the top of a hierarchy,” she said. “Rice is kind of a birthplace of posthumanism, with pioneers like Cary Wolfe and Tim Morton.”

This spring, Sütterlin will teach a new course tentatively titled “Changing History, Healing Trauma,” which explores how nations reckon with historical traumas such as the Holocaust, apartheid in South Africa and slavery and segregation in the United States.

Another new face in the School of Humanities is Sourav Chatterjee, who joined the department of transnational Asian studies a er earning his Ph.D. at Columbia University. His research focuses on South Asian literature, colonial printing and cultural ephemera.

Chatterjee runs the Instagram page The Antilibrarian Project, a place where Chatterjee spotlights his favorite readings, which has more than 29,000 followers.

“It started as a way to share what I was reading,” he said. “It’s an outreach project that connects my work in South Asian studies with a wider reading public.”

Chatterjee said he was drawn to Rice’s interdisciplinary approach.

“This is a relatively small department, but very much a humanities department,” Chatterjee said. “Coming here felt like coming home, where area studies and interdisciplinary conversations are the norm.”

COURTESY GUILLERMO ROSAS

Guillermo Rosas joins Rice after a stint at Washington University in St. Louis as a department chair in political science. He said his work at Rice will focus on expanding the department, which houses three majors.

COURTESY ROBERT LIKAMWA

Robert LiKamWa’s work focuses on mobile computing systems, with a focus on virtual and augmented reality systems. After earning all three of his degrees at Rice, and a professorship at Arizona State Univeristy, LiKamWa is returning to Rice.

Ask a Rice philosopher: Is it ethical to pirate textbooks?

TIM SCHROEDER PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY

The question of the week asks, “Is it ethical to pirate textbooks for my college courses?”

We all know the obvious answer here: pirating textbooks is stealing them, and stealing is wrong. But is there anything to complicate the obvious answer?

Sometimes, theft is morally permitted or even required. If my hotheaded cousin is enraged to learn that his girlfriend is having an affair, it’s probably OK for me to swipe his gun until things cool down. That’s one sort of case: I seem to be allowed to steal things to interrupt or prevent worse sorts of wrongdoing (like murder).

Another sort of case would be one in which I’m allowed to steal because the good I’m doing is truly enormous in comparison to the harm. For instance, if I’m starving in the woods, I seem to be allowed to enter a cabin that I stumble on and eat any stored food I need because a life saved is worth much more than a case of Spam.

These exceptions to the general moral obligation not to steal are neat, but they don’t seem to apply to pirating textbooks. Pirating a textbook doesn’t deprive a bad actor of a needed tool for doing wrong, and it doesn’t do an enormous amount of good in the world. You could maybe make the case that, although it does not do an enormous amount of good in the world, it does a vanishingly small amount of harm, and so it might still turn out that the ratio of good to harm is the same as in the case of saving a life by stealing $39.99 worth of processed ham.

But this argument looks dubious too. Imagine someone stole a few dollars from you, used them to buy a cheap scratch-off lottery ticket and won (and kept) a hundred dollars. That would not strike you as a good justification for the theft. How can you then turn around and use the savings to you to justify stealing a few dollars of profit from the publisher?

Some say, “I’m stealing from a company, not a person,” and this suggests

a different line of thought. Interactions with businesses are, in most societies, treated as a sort of competition, in which forms of deception and exploitation that would be immoral in other contexts are accepted as part of the game. Is pirating a textbook just another way to gain a competitive advantage?

The publisher would say that it isn’t, because the rules of the marketplace are set by our laws, which include copyright laws. But I’m not sure this is the end of the story. Many companies act as though the law is not itself a constraint on their actions but instead a structure that sets out possible costs that might be imposed for acting contrary to it. When a company expects to save lots of money

Interactions with businesses are, in most societies, treated as a sort of competition, in which forms of deception and exploitation that would be immoral in other contexts are accepted as part of the game. Is pirating a textbook just another way to gain a competitive advantage?

by violating EPA regulations and then paying any fines, it sometimes chooses to violate the regulations.

Is the publisher who argues that you have a moral duty to follow the laws of the marketplace arguing that you have a duty to act in a way that it feels free to ignore? And does this matter to your own actual duties? I’m running out of insight and column-inches. But if you need a critique of the free market in order to justify your textbook choices, maybe you should just borrow a copy from someone.

Assigned reading: C. Vica and E.M. Socaciu. 2017. “Mind the Gap! How

the Digital Turn Upsets Intellectual Property.” Science and Engineering Ethics 25, pp.247-64.

Extra credit: L. Murphy and T. Nagel. 2002. The Myth of Ownership: Taxes and Justice. New York: Oxford 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.

JOANNA LI / THRESHER

Make Rice a tailgating school again

What seems to be the last Bayou Bucket Classic is in three days. Will students show up for the crosstown rivalry?

After beating the University of Louisiana at Lafayette last Saturday, the football team will return to Rice Stadium for the first home game of the season. As the two-score underdogs last week, the Owls were expected to get pummeled by the Ragin’ Cajuns and their Ole Miss transfer quarterback. Instead, Scott Abell’s new offensive strategy — which exploits defensive weaknesses to give us a more competitive edge against better teams — commanded the field.

Following the win, Abell said he hoped Rice fans were watching and would continue to watch the team.

It’s important that Rice students listen to Abell’s request and show up for the Bayou Bucket, not only because there are no future games between Rice and the University of Houston scheduled, but also because Rice football culture needs revival, regardless of the opponent.

In a stadium that once held up to 70,000 fans, last season’s average attendance of 18,143 fans looked abysmal.

The athletic department has tried to get students to games by implementing a shuttle service, offering giveaways and hosting pep rallies, the first of which is at 6:30 p.m. on Friday in the

academic quad.

Just last month, the department announced the relocation of the student section to an area of the stadium that is more shaded. The university is trying to make the game day experience more fun and comfortable, and now it’s up to the students to take the university up on all

Publics do not have to be the only way students at Rice can party. Football games are the perfect opportunity to get rowdy, scream and yell and still drink (legally) with friends.

of its offers.

At its core, the problem is a weak sports culture. It doesn’t have to stay that way.

The football team won its opening game, and women’s soccer boasts a 4-1 record so far. Last season, the swim and dive team won the conference championship, and the track and eld team had three athletes compete in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Improving Rice’s sports culture can be fun for both student athletes and non-student athletes. Students need to start showing up, and we may be able to solve two cultural problems at once.

Rice students want to party, dangerously so. Two weeks ago, the first wet night of the year saw significantly more medical transports than in previous years. Drinking culture has the potential to get out of hand because of excessive pregaming and the expectation that the night has to end in a blackout.

However, publics do not have to be the only way students at Rice can party. Football games are the perfect opportunity to get rowdy and still drink (legally) with friends.

The student section is in the shade, the concessions have alcohol and snacks and the football team is 1-0 this season. Is there a better way to spend three hours on your Saturday night?

While neither UH nor Rice has advertised that this may be the nal Bayou Bucket, the teams are not set to play each other within the next 10 seasons.

This could be Rice’s opportunity to bring home the bucket forever, and the football team deserves to make the effort with the student body supporting them.

Recent H&D decisions are eroding trust between students and administration

What you read below was intended to be presented at the Housing and Dining Town Hall on September 1, 2 to 4 p.m. Instead of presenting this, students patiently waited in the heavy downpour, expecting their voices to be heard, but a formal cancellation of the Town Hall was not issued until about half an hour afterward via Instagram.

Good afternoon. My name is Orion Pope and I am an undergraduate student at Martel College. I thank you for the opportunity to stand before everyone, and I am more than happy to meet afterward to address comments. Before I voice my opinion regarding the meal plan, I would like to remind the audience, and its council, of the Missions and Values of this institution.

Responsibility, for our mistakes and success alike.

Integrity, in every decision we make for the rest of our lives.

Community, taking steps to exclude nobody in the process of change.

And excellence, said beautifully by Rice University, that “we are never satisfied with a good result because we can always find ways to do even better.”

Putting this into action, I strongly believe this meal plan has failed in every ideal we stand on. To start, this very town hall was addressed via Instagram – not email or primary means of communications – just one day before the event, on a federal holiday, no less. Transparency has been a huge issue, not only from H&D, but from the

CORRECTIONS

Rice administration as well. The meal plan itself has had little input from the students, who are most affected by the price changes, and was proposed via Instagram during the summer and later via email.

When a petition with over 1,000 signatures was put forth, nothing was said. When I put forth my argument via email to administration, no genuine rebuttal was given. When the Office

Day by day, the administration, whose job it is to provide clear communication about new rules, has failed terribly and needs to accept responsibility.

of Student Success Initiatives rejected a student with full aid that was offcampus, no valid reason was given. Yes, you heard that right. A student with full aid, clearly demonstrated need, was rejected any meal swipes from the SSI program, meant to help with already limited swipes. If somebody with full tuition paid does not count as demonstrated need, then I beg our administration to explain its definition.

Day by day, the administration, whose job it is to provide clear communication

about new rules, has failed terribly and needs to accept responsibility. In just the past week, I have heard stories of student IDs being taken temporarily “for security purposes” as they attempted to swipe into the serveries, a clear breach of student autonomy. In doing so, we have fostered a divisive environment that likens our wonderful staff to that of a sort of “cafeteria security guards.”

Your hasty decisions do not only impact you, but are also degrading the ironclad trust between administration and the student body that we pride ourselves on. From students and staff alike, I think it’s time we put Rice’s principles into action and accept that change needs to happen, where every student’s voice will be heard, and we, the student body, will not stay silent until change is carried out.

Editor’s Note: This is a guest opinion that has been submitted by a member of the Rice community. The views expressed in this opinion are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of the Thresher or its editorial board. All guest opinions are fact-checked to the best of our ability and edited for clarity and conciseness by Thresher editors.

Orion Pope MARTEL COLLEGE JUNIOR

In “Dis-O, move-in weekend see increase in alcohol transports from last semester,” the increase in transports was from last year and Dean Gorman’s meeting with residential college presidents was their standing weekly meeting.

In “O-Week: By the numbers,” 1,339 students matriculated to Rice, representing a yield of 43%. 2,949 students were accepted, a 10% increase, 117 students, from the 1,148 admitted to the class of 2028.

In “Campus building update,” the Lovett college freshman is named Isabelle Fleischmann.

In “SA introduces amendments,” the 24-hour Fondren pilot program will cost $3,700. The Senate passed the four amendments and will determine at the Sept. 8 meeting wehther to hold the special election in the spring or fall.

In “O-Week speaker gives contentious diversity remarks,” Nam’s GroupMe message concerned the examples given by Nossel.

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“The plan was made during the summer, a time when basically no student voices could be captured,” said Pope, a Martel College junior. “I haven’t met a single student so far who has said they liked the plan. Not one.”

Kathryn Hu, who lives o campus and does not have a meal plan, said she budgeted for living o campus with shared swipes in mind.

“Announcing a new plan three weeks before classes is playing fast and loose with people’s food security,” Hu said.

Pope also said he thinks the new plan re ects poorly on some of Rice’s core values. Under the old 375-swipe meal plan, sharing was common; o -campus friends could drop in to the serveries for Orientation Week dinners, study breaks or just a quick meal a er class.

Now, meal plan holders are limited to 15 guest swipes per semester.

“Rice lists community as one of its core values,” Pope said. “It’s unthinkable for a university to actively exclude students from eating together.”

H&D, however, said the change was about student needs.

“For several years, students have consistently asked for greater access and longer hours in the serveries, and addressing that has been our goal with this change,” Leaver wrote.

H&D has ensured the new meal plan is enforced; Hu, a Martel College junior, said H&D sta con scated her friend’s ID when Hu tried to use it to enter the servery.

“It felt like an escalation,” Hu said.

Leaver said ID con scation is about more than dining.

“If an ID is presented by someone other than its rightful owner, we hold onto it and return it to the proper student,” Leaver wrote. “It’s a security issue since IDs also provide access to residential areas and other campus spaces.”

H&D announced the Rice Swipe Support Program a er the new meal plan

was announced for students in need to apply for donated swipes. In previous years, the Student Association’s meal swipe donation program allowed studentto-student donations of their nite number of swipes.

The new program is funded by H&D in partnership with Student Success Initiatives, according to an email from H&D. Hu did not receive any swipes through the new program.

“I applied for donation swipes and got zero,” Hu said. “Friends got een. That’s not enough.”

College leadership has also felt the limits of the new meal plan.

“The college coordinator tried to host a meal for o -campus students,” said Ben Sadowski, a Sid Richardson College junior. “H&D told them the A-team isn’t allotted guest swipes. They were really disappointed.”

Sid Rich magister Melissa Marschall con rmed this via email, adding that “it’s not just o -campus students [the A-team] can’t host, but others too … like prospective associates [and] parents.”

Rice lists community as one of its core values. It’s unthinkable for a university to actively exclude students from eating together.

Orion Pope MARTEL COLLEGE JUNIOR

For Gabi Varga, a Duncan College junior, the new plan has meant skipping meals.

Varga said she o en doesn’t have enough time to make it back to her ocampus apartment between classes. When she can wrangle a guest swipe from a friend, the waits are unmanageable.

Varga said the lunch lines move more slowly with sta checking every

ID themselves and struggling to process guest swipes.

“While I once felt heard by H&D, it’s obvious now that students — on or o campus — aren’t a consideration for them,” Varga said.

H&D has a water and fruit station outside the serveries to allow students water and food without swiping, but students said the gesture falls short. Hu called the stations performative, pointing to an o -campus friend on a limited meal plan who H&D allegedly made swipe for getting a drink.

Sadowski said he witnessed a similar scene at one of the water machines inside the servery.

“I watched a student ll a reusable water bottle with water. The cashier said they hadn’t swiped in and charged them $11.50 in Tetra on the way out,” Sadowski said.

McMurtry College Senator Rohan Dharia said the SA warned H&D of student dissatisfaction with guest swipe limits when they rst met in June.

The two groups compromised by raising the number of guest swipes from ten to een, but Dharia said the change hasn’t solved the larger issue.

“We told them students would strongly oppose only ten guest swipes,” said Dharia, a sophomore. “H&D wanted less ‘transactional’ dining, but it’s created a bouncer vibe at the servery entrance.”

Now, he said, the e ect is visible.

“Commons feel emptier than last year,” Dharia said. “Today at lunch, the servery was almost empty. Usually, you can’t even nd a seat.”

Students across colleges echoed the sentiment that some of the new meal plan’s stated goals, such as reducing waste and addressing food insecurity, don’t match the reality.

“The reasons H&D gave don’t add up,” Hu said. “It feels dishonest — the only real change is that o -campus students can’t eat unless they buy a plan.”

Sadowksi said the new plan encourages food waste by pushing o -campus

students to overload on as much food as possible per swipe.

“I’ve piled more than I can eat because I don’t want to use another swipe just to get a drink or dessert,” Sadowski said.

If an ID is presented by someone other than its rightful owner, we hold onto it and return it to the proper student. It’s a security issue since IDs also provide access to residential areas and other campus spaces.

Beth Leaver

H&D

INTERIM VICE PRESIDENT

In an email to the Thresher, Leaver wrote that students are not restricted to one plate at the door as they were in previous years.

“[Students] can select what they need and take even more than one plate,” Leaver wrote.

Savvon noted that students at other Texas universities pay signi cantly less for comparable dining.

At UT Austin, the unlimited meal plan costs less than Rice’s twice-a-day meal option and about half as much as Rice’s unlimited meal plan.

Students have suggested possible xes, from expanding guest swipes to reverting to the old 375-swipe meal plan.

Dharia said the best solution would be to expand guest swipes to 30 per semester, which would allow on-campus students to bring o -campus friends to meals or events more freely, reducing the need to ration limited guest swipes.

Hu said reverting to the old structure would be an improvement in her eyes.

“Long-term, we need more plan options like other schools,” Hu said. “One size isn’t working.”

OWEN BUTTON / THRESHER

Students ll their plates for lunch at Seibel Servery. The new on-campus meal plan has faced backlash from students who say it puts o -campus students at a disadvantage.

FROM FRONT PAGE H&D PETITION

Cirdan Vonnahme began playing the cello at 4 years old. After winning his first competition at 11 and debuting with an orchestra, he realized he wouldn’t mind playing the cello for life.

Now, as a cello performance major, he spends most of his waking hours at the Shepherd School of Music, moving between aural skills and theory classes; orchestra and chamber rehearsals; and studio classes. Also pursuing a minor in business, Vonnahme briefly crosses campus in the afternoon for an economics class.

“It’s nice to have opportunities to study academically and pursue other things along with the music conservatory experience,” said Vonnahme, a Will Rice College sophomore.

Vonnahme said he is overloading on credit hours this semester to also take an orchestral repertoire class taught by Chris French, associate principal cellist for the Houston Symphony. Vonnahme is one of many Shepherd students gunning for an orchestra job after graduation, with starting salaries as high as $200,000.

“If I can somehow win an orchestral position before getting a master’s [degree], I would love to play for an orchestra,” Vonnahme said. “[The class] is super helpful because he helps you prepare your excerpts for auditions.”

Karl Blench, a lecturer in music, teaches music theory and aural skills at the Shepherd School. O en called ‘ear training,’ aural skills are a core requirement for music majors where students improve their ability to recognize pitches, melodies and rhythms without relying on written music.

“We teach students how to look at a piece of music and sort of hear it in their head, so that they can perform it

WEDNESDAY,

Type of wife, on TikTok

“I think there’s already _ ____ in the player...”

Dot follower?

Speed contest _____ Bismol

Diogenes’ declaration, “Behold, _ ___!” “Do not take this medicine __ __ empty stomach.”

Texting alternative Wist l exhalation

Annual Alaskan sled dog race

Some Chaüs orders Desktop image O ine, for short Maiden, o en in distress

Put things away

Unruly demonstrations

Blanched

Web address

Famous ____ cookies

Stuck in the mud

Opera solo

Filmmaker Anderson

LINDOR Tru e chocolatier

Country, to Germans “____ _ ___ more?” (obvious)

Horse-head chess piece

Agent, for short

Chinese city known for its Terracotta Army

Drag Race creator

Resource l ‘80s TV character whose name is sometimes used to mean ‘ x creatively’

Third-string NHL tendy

“If you nd _ ____ on you, remove it with a spoon.”

Hay bundle

Sample recording Prickly plants

Man or Wight

Conducted, as an experiment

Keep an ___ __ (monitor) Greenish blue

better,” Blench said. “They can hear errors, hear things that are out of tune. Overall, it’s sort of like a ‘how to make you a better musician’ type of class.”

Ana Howland, a piano performance major in her final year, balances her musical studies with medical school prerequisites. According to her, balancing music with biochemistry classes creates a busy schedule.

“My schedule varies a lot, depending on what I have coming up,” said Howland, a Baker College senior. “Sometimes I have heavy academics and exams coming up, and I’m not practicing quite as much, but if my senior recital is coming up, then I’ll be practicing several hours a day.”

Despite her unpredictable calendar, Olivia Gonzales, a Lovett College

junior, said she makes an effort to stay involved with her residential college and activities outside of Shepherd.

“I don’t really know what my week will look like until the weekend before,” said Gonzales, a vocal performance major. “I need to have Monday through Thursday from 4 to 7 available if I’m called for rehearsal, and they release the rehearsal schedule right before the week starts.

“I still try to show up at events and FITQs, even if it’s only for half an hour,” Gonzales continued.

Music performance majors study their instruments with one main instructor throughout their four years. Shepherd professors teach cohorts called studios, and studiomates bond as they perform in front of and support

“Star Trek: The Next Generation” counselor Deanna South African currency Smoothie bowl berry

Tooth doctors ______ Spritz Exorcist’s target Gen Alpha’s favorite toy HPV, for one Crashed into Ed Sheeran hit “______ on the Hill” Leave out

Wizard

Selective high school org. Does really well on, as a test Parched Attracted or sketched Taylor Swi song “thanK you _____” Caribou’s cousin Late “Can _ ___ you in on a secret?” Garment that protects hair Antagonist Heep from Dickens’ “David Copper eld” “Dear Evan Hansen” star Ben Lyric “If you like ____ coladas / And gettin’ caught in the rain” Lose temporarily Just slightly In ____ of (replacing) Unforeseen problem Fire-breathing monster

Begin to take e ect

Cra knife brand

2022 Pixar lm “Turning ___” Ly competitor

Nike competitor Steinbeck novella “Of ____ and Men” Flower holder Jazz singer Fitzgerald TikTok-style video, on Instagram Scotland’s longest river 1

each other over the course of their study.

“I really love my individual professor, Ana María Martínez,” Gonzales said. “She has not only helped me grow in my voice, but she’s also been a mentor and someone I aspire to be like.”

Each performance major must also complete junior and senior year recitals to graduate.

One of the most signi cant milestones in a Shepherd School education, these recitals require countless hours of devoted preparation and o en draw crowds of family and friends from across campus.

“Finishing my junior recital was a special moment because my whole [Orientation] Week family was there — all my kids,” Howland said. “It was really fun to have them there, and a big relief to be done with it.”

Ryan Clever, a ute performance major, said preparing for his junior recital was intense.

“It was the rst time I was diving into pieces that deep in a while, and I’d never actually given a solo recital before,” said Clever, a Duncan College senior.

Clever said he hopes to play for a professional orchestra a er graduation. For the past three years, he has been a ute substitute for the Houston Symphony, lling in when a regular member cannot perform.

Clever said he auditioned with the Houston Symphony in his freshman year and got a spot on the list.

“I’ve played a couple live movie concerts, and this summer, I did my rst subscription classical concert with them,” Clever said.

Blench said the Shepherd School not only prepares students for a professional performing career but also for other avenues outside of performance.

“As the students get older ... you see them become much more comfortable musicians, but also much more comfortable adults,” Blench said.

FRANCESCA NEMATI / THRESHER

In the loop: Shuttle bus drivers address safety, connection and transportation changes at Rice

are 18 shuttle bus drivers, some of whom have been driving the buses for decades.

Martine Stewart has spent the past year behind the wheel of Rice’s greater loop shuttle, circling the inner campus from the early morning to late a ernoon. She said she has come to recognize many of her regular riders – not just their faces, but the exact spots where they wait to be picked up.

Rice has over nine routes o ered by its bus transportation service, allowing students accessible travel both on and o campus. Manning these routes every day

Stewart said one rider she came to recognize usually joined her in the morning at the bus stop by the stadium.

“I picked her up by the tennis court, and she had a cane, so I always made sure to pull up closer to the curb so she can get on the bus more easily,” Stewart said. “She would say, ‘I’m glad I got you today.’”

This year, Stewart said she has seen some changes to the inner loop route, including new signs for stops instead of just curb markings. Stewart said the changes caused confusion for some of

her daily riders.

“We have a few new stops and then some stops that we don’t have anymore, so we have to tell the kids, ‘It’s not a stop anymore,’” Stewart said.

The hardest part was watching the scooters, watching the bikes and watching the skateboards. [Some people] would just walk across like they know we’re going to stop.

Martine Stewart

RICE SHUTTLE BUS DRIVER

Matt Eggert, the director of transportation, fleet management and delivery services at Rice, said that these changes were an effort to make the shuttle bus system more accessible.

“If you notice around the inner loop in particular, we didn’t have a lot of [Americans with Disabilities Act] accessible ramps for bus stops,” Eggert said. “To make room for us to install those ramps, we had to move the stops.”

Ponce Chandler, who has been driving for Rice since 2006, said that more offcampus routes have been added and his experience as a driver has also changed over the years.

“It is a very physical job,” Chandler said. “I’ve gotten older, so it’s a totally different field now.”

Chandler said that better equipment could help ease some of the physical discomfort that comes with age and driving long hours every day.

“One thing that would make me experience the job at Rice better would be better vehicles and better seatings,” Chandler said.

Eggert said that the department has heard the drivers’ opinions and is working towards upgrading the buses.

“We understand that our vehicles are a little outdated, and we’re looking

at different things to try and upgrade them,” Eggert said.

The vehicles used to be tracked via tablets that drivers would carry onto the buses, but Eggert said drivers ran into unreliable GPS signals as the buses moved through different buildings, leaving them unable to see their vehicle on the map. Eggert said he solved the problem last September by having the GPS units installed directly on the buses.

Another challenge that the shuttle bus drivers often face is maintaining safety on the road, especially with the various forms of student transportation on campus, Stewart said.

“The hardest part was watching the scooters, watching the bikes and watching the skateboards,” Stewart said. “[Some people] would just walk across like they know we’re going to stop.”

Stewart said she’s trying to learn the students’ class schedules to prepare for the end-of-class rushes.

The shuttle is much more than transportation, it’s being cramped in and excited for the upcoming football game, having a good time with friends.

Reza Rahimzadeh WILL RICE COLLEGE SOPHOMORE

“My goal right now is to gure out the rush so we know everybody’s getting out of class around what time,” Stewart said. “So we know to be more careful.”

Reza Rahimzadeh, a Will Rice College sophomore, said he uses the shuttle bus every day and is grateful for the drivers.

“[The shuttle bus] is so helpful to get from Will Rice College to the engineering quad, and it has saved me from being late to class many times,” Rahimzadeh said. “The shuttle is much more than just transportation, it’s being cramped in and excited for the upcoming football game, having a good time with friends and waiting for that Target run.”

EMILY NGUYEN THRESHER STAFF

FRANCESCA NEMATI / THRESHER

Ponce Chandler stands in front of a Rice shuttle bus. Chandler has been a bus driver at Rice for nearly 20 years, seeing changes to route availability and the buses themselves.

FRANCESCA NEMATI / THRESHER

Martine Stewart sits at the wheel of a shuttle. She drives the greater loop route, which circles around campus and West Lots 3 and 4.

FROM FRONT PAGE CHADD ALEXANDER

Houston’s theater scene proved formative for Alexander, who said the city is “such a good place to start your career, and honestly, to have a career.”

A er graduating in 2010, Alexander told his parents that he was moving to New York to become an actor. By summer, he was living on a family friend’s farm in upstate New York, training and auditioning until he could a ord to sublet in the city.

“I was just crazy,” he said. “I don’t know if I would do that today.”

Alexander’s athletic training had unknowingly conditioned him for a career in acting. The collaborative skills of communication, team building and listening to others on stage translated directly from the court, he said. Both, he realized, were all about ensembles.

“The mindset of the two are connected,” Alexander said. “I do repetitions. I work and I hound and I hound as much as I can, and then that kind of frees me up in the moment of an audition or being on stage … That’s what was instilled in me in my childhood and also when I was playing ball at Rice.”

“Because you’re doing a speci c li at a speci c time, there’s a constant repetition of, for example, a shoulder being overused,” Alexander said. “You have these random injuries that you have to protect, and the hardest thing is that when you go back into a show a er an injury, you’re doing the exact thing that got you hurt every day.”

Getting the role tested Alexander’s resilience. His rst audition cycle stretched across six or seven callbacks, he said, including movement calls that challenged his lack of formal dance training, Alexander said. At the nal callback, he was cut.

I n acting, when you get a ‘no,’ you just don’t know why … It’s an industry where you just have to have faith in yourself a lot.

Chadd Alexander BROADWAY ACTOR

Everything changed junior year when Alexander needed an art credit to graduate. Only Leslie Swackhamer’s theater course on scene study — the acting technique of analyzing scripts to uncover character motivations and subtext — t his basketball schedule.

“It was a ‘whatever’ class to me,” Alexander said. “I became obsessed. It kind of reignited that passion that I thought was completely in the past. I just loved … the process of becoming somebody else.”

When graduation approached and Alexander admitted he “didn’t really have a clue” about his future, he said Swackhamer made a radical suggestion: perhaps he could consider a career in acting. She arranged an internship at Main Street Theater in Rice Village.

Theater, however, introduced a psychological challenge that sports never had: the mystery of rejection.

“In sports, you play your game, and you win or you lose,” Alexander said. “If you lose, you can go back and there’s something to work toward, a goal that you can try to prove. But in acting, when you get a ‘no,’ you just don’t know why … The wins and losses are not as concrete. It’s an industry where you just have to have faith in yourself a lot.”

Like being an athlete, performing in “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” demands constant physical maintenance, Alexander said. The production requires actors to execute stage combat, precise li s and rapid scene transitions that take a toll on the body.

When auditions reopened a er the pandemic, Alexander returned to face the same creative team and the same demanding process. This time, he made it.

“I was told ‘no’ once for this show,” Alexander said. “It was a fun process, but it was a long process.”

Since joining the production, Alexander has performed in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago in addition to Broadway. One encounter stuck with him, he said: at the stage door a er a show, a Black high school senior approached Alexander while he was signing playbills.

The student had read Alexander’s program biography and shared that he planned to major in English literature while pursuing acting — the same path Alexander

took at Rice.

“I got to tell him about how much I thought the major in uenced my life, my knowledge and my skills,” Alexander said. “You forget how your own story can a ect people, how the story that you’re presenting can a ect and inspire people.”

This storytelling impulse drives Alexander’s writing, which he describes as “a lot of realism” focused on “young adulthood and trying to gure out who you are.” His undergraduate years in Houston provide frequent inspiration.

“It was a time of so many di erent things,” Alexander said. “It was basketball, it was the arts, it was dating, it was sexuality … I go back there because I think it was such a catalyst to who I became.”

His 2019 play titled “To an Athlete Dying Young” — named a semi- nalist for the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference — borrows its name from an A.E. Housman poem he read in an English class at Rice.

“I remember reading that poem while I was playing basketball and knowing that my career was going to come to an end very soon,” Alexander said. “I knew that’s where the title would come from … it’s kind of very full circle.”

In theater, as on the court, preparation is everything. For aspiring artists, Alexander’s advice is uncompromising.

“You should really, really love it,” Alexander said. “And you should love the creation of it and the practice of it more than the success of it … If you love it … then I say go for it,” he continued. “But just make sure you love it. Because it will be all you have, and it will be all you have without the accolades, without the money. There will be times when all you can go back to is the art form that you love, and you’re in the practice room working on your violin. That’ll be all you have.”

This summer, new blood and old favorites ruled airwaves

Whether it’s comeback arcs, dance floor experiments or messy-but-earnest swings, this summer’s crop of albums gave us plenty to talk about. Some were hits, some were misses and all of them sparked conversation.

Justin Bieber, “SWAG,” 5/10

Justin Bieber leans into lo-fi R&B with “SWAG,” a partly self-produced album that feels more like a journal than a pop product. The first half features some of Bieber’s best work to date, with strong performances on “DAISIES,” “GO BABY” and “DEVOTION.” The second half, padded with skits and unfinished ideas, loses steam. Still, the album succeeds as a character study. Bieber isn’t reinventing himself — he’s documenting himself. With help from Dijon, Gunna and Lil B, he sounds more focused on honesty than perfection. It won’t be for everyone, but “SWAG” is worth hearing for the parts where it all comes together.

Addison Rae, “Addison,” 7/10

Addison Rae’s “Addison” is a concise, tightly produced debut that wears its influences proudly. Trip hop, house and early 2000s dance-pop all inform the sound, but the album still feels personal. Rae’s voice leans soft throughout, sometimes to a fault, but it suits the dreamy mood. Tracks like “Aquamarine” and “Fame is a Gun”

show real promise. There are clichés and awkward moments, but this is not a cash-grab or a vanity project. Rae clearly did her homework and worked with producers who understood the assignment. It is not groundbreaking, but it is a better debut than anyone expected.

Lil Wayne, “Tha Carter VI,” 3/10

Lil Wayne’s “Tha Carter VI” is long, confused and rarely convincing. There are glimpses of craft on “Bein Myself” and “Rari,” but most of the album plays like a scattered attempt to prove continued relevance. A Bono feature, a Lin-Manuel Miranda beat and a Weezer sample all fall flat. The punchlines feel recycled, the beats are overstuffed or lifeless and the 67-minute runtime drags. There is no narrative thread and little urgency. As a “Carter” entry, it lacks purpose. As a standalone album, it is hard to finish. Whatever spark was left feels buried under guest lists and nostalgia.

Tyler, The Creator, “DON’T TAP THE GLASS,” 8/10

“DON’T TAP THE GLASS” is a tightly packed album of noisy, kinetic dance tracks that never forget their funk roots. Tyler builds the record around groove rather than concept, making space for rattling drums, distorted basslines and talkbox hooks. His verses are cartoonish and cocky, sometimes purposefully flat, but the sequencing is immaculate.

“Sucka Free,” “Stop Playing With Me”

and “I’ll Take Care of You” stand out, but the album is best heard in full. Even as Tyler pokes fun at his audience’s expectations, he delivers one of his most cohesive and sonically interesting records yet.

Chance the Rapper, “STAR LINE,” 6/10

After a long and very public fall from grace, Chance the Rapper returns with “STAR LINE,” a dense and uneven but clearly personal project. He sounds thoughtful and at times defiant, especially on “Burn Ya Block” and “No More Old Men.” His verses are more subdued than fans might expect, often hiding emotional weight behind layered arrangements. Not every experiment works, but the effort feels sincere. “STAR LINE” is less about chasing hits and more about finding a center. It is not flashy, but it is honest, which may be exactly what he needed.

Clipse, “Let God Sort Em Out,” 8/10 Reunited under Pharrell’s full control, Clipse is back and colder than ever. “Let God Sort Em Out” opens with death, closes with reckoning and in between offers some of the most merciless writing of their careers. Pharrell’s production is slick, sometimes too much so, but the duo is at their best. No Malice sounds unshakable. Pusha T still raps like he’s got a vendetta. Tracks like “So Be It” and “F.I.C.O.” show they’ve aged into their roles without losing their edge. It’s not about proving they can still do it. They

know they can. This is about legacy, and the fire is still there.

JID, “God Does Like Ugly,” 7/10 On “God Does Like Ugly,” JID flexes versatility without losing focus. JID comes in hot and stays locked in. “God Does Like Ugly” isn’t the sequel to “The Forever Story” people might’ve hoped for, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s looser, meaner, more sprawling. The production swings from dusty gospel to Miami bass to alt-R&B detours that mostly land. “YouUgly” and “Community” are career highlights; “Of Blue” and “K-Word” show how much ground he can cover without losing the thread. A few sleepy stretches and awkward sequencing knock it down a peg, but the peaks are dizzying. JID is still one of the best rappers alive. That hasn’t changed.

COURTESY THOMAS BRUNO

Chadd Alexander ’10 is a cast member of Broadway’s “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.”

CHARLIE CRUZ THRESHER STAFF

COURTESY ROC NATION

Houston theaters to satisfy your art house fix

ARMAN SAXENA A&E EDITOR

With Rice Cinema on hold for the semester as Saro m Hall gears up to open its new theater space, one may be wondering, “how do I get my x of independent, art-house and classic cinema?” Well, you’re in luck, because the Houston area has an ample selection of theater at a reasonable distance that show the lms that your local AMC may not.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston MFAH is Houston’s repertory anchor: restorations, festival sleepers, artist docs and the occasional 35mm jewel. Two venues (Brown Auditorium, Lynn Wyatt) keep the calendar packed, and student pricing helps. It’s the rare spot where you can catch a centennial silent one week, then an experimental live-cinema piece the next.

Highlights: Chaplin’s “The Gold Rush” (Sept. 6-7), Straub and Huillet’s “These Encounters of Theirs (Quei Loro Incontri)” on 35mm (Sept. 12), and artworld docs “Paint Me a Road Out of Here” (Faith Ringgold, Sept. 13-14) and “Maintenance Artist” (Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Sept 19-20). “Manhattan Short Film Festival 2025” runs Sept. 25-28. October highlights: Jodorowsky’s “The Holy Mountain” (Oct. 11) and LGBTQ and labor classic “Pride” (Oct. 23).

The River Oaks Theatre

Houston’s art-deco movie palace is back to doing what it does best: cult midnights, classics with care and lmmaker Q&As under a neon marquee.

Inside, the curation swings from Hong Kong gun opera to silent futurism without losing the thread. It’s the venue where midnight actually feels mythic and a Sunday matinee still gets a hush.

Highlights: Don Hertzfeldt’s “Animation Mixtape” (hand-drawn, existential, very funny); Hong Kong Cinema Classics with “A Better Tomorrow” (1986) and “Hard Boiled” (1992); Lang’s “The Complete Metropolis” with live score by David DiDonato; “Old School” pick “Shock Corridor” (1963); “The Nasties” entries “The Devil’s Backbone” (2001) and “Crimson Peak” (2005). Indie spotlights include “The Baltimorons” and “The American Southwest” with lmmaker Q&As. Expect a few comfort watches on the side, but the sweet spot is classic, cult and animated oddities.

The DeLUXE Theater

A beautifully restored Fi h Ward landmark, DeLUXE centers community — screenings with talkbacks; local artist spotlights; and programs that blur lines between lm, theater and neighborhood storytelling. It’s where the post-show conversation matters as much as the credits. Expect welcoming crowds and context that sticks with you longer than the popcorn.

Highlights: This month’s slate leans local and lively: “Act III: Brown Sugar” screens Sept. 15; “Re-Storying The Story of 5th Ward” (Sept. 18) gathers oral histories onstage; “The Crimson Vagabond Roadshow” (Sept. 19-20) brings vaudeville-meets-variety chaos to the main stage; and Sept. 21 hosts the indie premiere of “Don’t Bury Me In A Dress.”

If you want independent work rooted in place — and the chance to hear directly from the people making it — DeLUXE is your house.

Aurora Picture Show

Aurora is Houston’s microcinema for experimental lm and video art — intimate room, big ideas and programs that o en travel o -site. Expect artist talks, hybrid performances and screenings that feel like a seminar without the homework. Seats go fast and the venue can change, so reading the ne print is part of the ritual.

Highlights: September features “Miguel Calderón: Spitting Upwards”

(Sept. 12-13), two programs of the Mexican multidisciplinary artist’s genre-bending shorts, music videos and doc experiments, with Calderón in attendance.

On Sept. 28, Aurora and HTX MADE PRESENTS will screen Heiny Srour’s rarely seen 1984 landmark “Leila and the Wolves,” a feminist excavation of Palestinian and Lebanese histories. Oct. 11 brings “Sindhu Thirumalaisamy: Concrete Stories” — an immersive, sound-rich response to hyperdevelopment across the U.S. Gulf Coast and South India. Three very di erent nights, one through line: cinema that expands what lm can be.

Review: Contemporary Arts Museum exhibit recolors American vision

Color, the artist and educator Josef Albers theorized, is relative. A red square anked by yellow appears orange; surrounded by blue, it looks purple. Rather than being absolute, color behaves in constant ux. In “Tomashi Jackson: Across the Universe,” the titular multimedia artist extends this principle to racial categorization, suggesting that race, too, operates through relational mechanisms. This is not color as metaphor for race, but color charged as co-conspirator in the formation of racial categories itself: the way a hue shi s in relation to its neighbor re ects how policies and practices shi the social meaning of bodies and neighborhoods.

Jackson’s paintings incorporate reproductions of legal documents and historical photographs, treating these archival materials as compositional elements that activate and are activated by

saturated pigment.

The exhibition’s printmaking and collage components are Jackson’s most potent theoretical intervention. Translating archival photographs into hal one line images, the artist creates documentary abstractions that allow historical evidence to function as mark-making.

In “Heiresses (The Central Park Plan),” Jackson layers portraits across time using strips of blues, yellows and magentas. Harriet Tubman anchors the bottom le , while Mary Joseph Lyons — a Black abolitionist whose family owned multiple properties in the demolished Seneca Village — occupies the upper le . Between them,

images of contemporary women of color experiencing property seizures throughout New York create a visual dialogue among interconnected histories.

Jackson’s visual strategy — informed by Thurgood Marshall’s pioneering use of photography in civil rights legal strategy — enables her to draw with the apparatus of legal and historical documentation. “Time and Space (1948 End of Voter Registration Line)(1965 LBJ Signs the Voting Rights Act)” incorporates magenta vinyl reproductions of President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and layers it over blue hal one lines depicting Black people waiting in a voter registration line. Her research-driven practice takes the supposedly objective — legal transcripts, photography and color theory — and reveals its subjective underpinnings.

This formal restlessness is also ethical. The optical e ect Albers called “vibrating boundaries” — the uneasy, almost aggressive sensation produced by juxtaposing complementary colors — serves as an analogue for racialized encounter. Where segregation attempted to x bodies to places, Jackson’s seams of layered color refuse solidity. In “Emerald City (Get ’Em! Get the Last Ones!),” color buzzes at edges. It leaks and refracts. The e ect is a conceptual insistence that categories are contingent and politically produced.

The viewer is asked to look long enough for images to appear and change. Rather than simply reproducing historical documents to authenticate her arguments, she subjects the archive to processes of visual translation that render the imagery simultaneously more and less legible.

Up close, the photographs in the multimedia painting “Across the Universe (Frontlash)” — depicting LBJ’s 1964 speech on his vision for the Great Society at the University of Michigan and Nina Simone’s 1969 performance at Morehouse College — dissolve into abstract patterning; from a distance, it coheres into recognizable documentation. This perceptual instability

insists that no single viewing position contains the complete truth of any documented encounter.

Jackson’s colorful awnings punctuate the exhibition. Inspired by commercial vernacular design, these metal structures evoke the ambience of urban driving — passing storefronts, barbershops and botanicas. In one such piece, “Interstate Love Song (Friends of Clayton County Transit) (Pitts Road Station Opposition),” Jackson silkscreens archival images across vermilion and magenta strips, juxtaposing transit advocates from 2014 campaigning for expanded bus service in underfunded areas with white protesters from 1981 opposing public transportation development.

Awnings promise shelter, but for whom? Jackson uses the awnings’ promise of protection to highlight how public infrastructure — which shapes who belongs where, who moves freely and who waits in the rain — remains unevenly distributed.

Performance and intimacy are threaded throughout the show. Jackson’s “moving paintings” transform the museum’s black box theater into an intimate screening room where she performs as Tommy Tonight, a drag king persona lip-syncing to her mother’s musical archive.

More confrontational are Jackson’s video collages projected onto the museum’s white cube. “Vibrating Boundaries (Law of the Land) (Self Portrait as Tatyana, Dajerria, & Sandra)” recreates encounters involving Tatyana Rhodes, Dajerria Becton, Sandra Bland and other Black women in Texas whose confrontations with state power became national ashpoints. Taking its title from Albers’ theory of color relativity, Jackson applies the optical principle to social dynamics: the perceived value of life changes depending on its surroundings in public space. Color is Jackson’s method for examining how power shapes perception, and how that perception can determine who lives and who dies.

This article has been cut for print. To read more, visit ricethresher.org.

CHI PHAM ASST. A&E EDITOR

HAI-VAN HOANG / THRESHER

COURTESY CONTEMPORARY ARTS MUSEUM HOUSTON

The installation view of “Tomashi Jackson: Across the Universe” at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.

Laufey ticks every box with “A Matter of Time”

COURTESY VINGOLF RECORDINGS

ANGELICA HERNANDEZ STAFF WRITER

Following months of leaks and singles, Laufey’s third studio album, “A Matter of Time,” aims to meet and exceed the expectations of fans who fell in love with her mix of jazz, pop and bossa nova through viral hits like “From The Start” and “Valentine.” Following up on multiple well-received singles, “A Matter of Time,” Laufey’s most exploratory album, goes beyond any of her previous projects.

The album begins with “Clockwork,” a jazzy introduction to the album’s soundscape. Exploring the feeling of falling in love with a friend, the opener artfully expresses the whirlwind emotions of romance at just the right time: “Like clockwork, I fell in love with you.”

The next track, “Lover Girl,” pulls in bossa nova in uence with a bouncy guitar and drumbeat, bringing the bubbly feelings of being in love to boil. No longer nervous about her romantic interest as in “Clockwork,” “Lover Girl” feels like the honeymoon phase in any new relationship — always thinking about the other person, always excited to see them again.

In “Snow White,” Laufey takes a more introspective approach. A steady guitar keeps the song’s pace as she explores feelings of inadequacy and frustration in response to failing to reach beauty

standards: “The people want beauty, skinny always wins.”

Equally contemplative, “Castle in Hollywood” re ects on a failed friendship. Laufey sings of the “heartbreak” that she will never be able to return to their “fairy story” and recognizes how her former friend still impacts who she is and will be. A bass guitar gives this song a solid pace, and a memorable chorus makes the song fun to listen to and sing along with.

“Carousel” continues to explore Laufey’s insecurities, particularly related to her life as a performer and hope of nding someone who will accept every part of her life and personality. Like “Snow White,” this track’s slow tempo allows the lyrics and carnival-like instrumentation to shine.

Broadway’s “Life of Pi” is colorful, brutally beautiful

Months a er its initial release, the album’s lead single “Silver Lining” continues to shine. Laufey expresses her dedication to her partner and the joy she experiences with them. The song’s rhythmic backing track evokes a dance oor atmosphere, suggesting the singer is moving in sync with a partner.

Wrapping up the rst half of the album, “Too Little, Too Late” explores the feeling of missing out on a perfect love while the other person seems to be moving on. If “Carousel” celebrates nding love right on time, “Too Little, Too Late” highlights the desperation associated with missing out on something amazing. The tempo increases throughout the song until it peaks, evoking the feeling of trying to catch up with a departing train. Right at the end, Laufey’s signature cello plays the melody of the title track of her last album, “Bewitched” — a farewell to those past feelings of enchantment.

“F1” puts pedal to the metal

ARMAN SAXENA A&E EDITOR

Joseph Kosinski, Claudio Miranda and Jerry Bruckheimer — the trio behind “Top Gun: Maverick” — return to highoctane spectacle with “F1,” a sports drama that blends spectacle with surprising humanity. It’s loud, stylish and frequently overwhelming, but it’s also one of the most engaging racing movies in years.

From the jump, the lm makes it clear that audiences won’t just see speed, they’ll feel it. Miranda’s camera puts us inside the cockpit, rattling and blurring as if our bodies were being thrown into the barriers themselves. This technique sometimes edges toward disorientation, but more o en than not, it captures the thrill of racing in a way most sports lms struggle to convey.

Fueled by vibrant colors, energetic voices and beautiful contrasts, the seamless ambiance of the Broadway tour of “Life of Pi” engulfed the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, taking Houstonians into Pi’s vivacious world.

The sound design matches this energy. Hans Zimmer’s booming score — equal parts synth, guitar and seismic percussion — ampli es every downshi and corner. In Dolby Atmos, the roar of engines doubles as a kind of rave drop, turning each restart into a physical experience.

The cast provides the grounding. Brad Pitt’s Sonny Hayes enters the lm with cowboy swagger — jeans, smirk and all —

as an aging wheelman-for-hire recruited by Javier Bardem’s Ruben Cervantes to salvage Apex, a debt-ridden, point-starved team on the brink of collapse. Known as “the greatest that never was,” Hayes brings both grit and redemption-seeking vulnerability, sparring with brash rookie driver Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) and clashing with engineering whiz Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon).

What elevates the lm, however, is Kosinski’s attention to the pit crew. Long ignored in racing lms, the mechanics and strategists are given space to shine. A midlm montage of overnight part fabrication, tire simulations and a young crew member haunted by a mistake underscores the central point: racing is not about one driver, but about the hundreds of people behind them.

If the lm has a weakness, it’s the bombast. At times, it leans heavily on ash and Zimmer’s wall-of-sound to paper over thin dialogue or predictable story beats. But the cra wins out. The tactile focus on engineering — wind tunnels, brake temperatures and race simulations — transforms what could have been hollow spectacle into something oddly reverent.

In the end, “F1” doesn’t reinvent the sports lm, but it doesn’t need to. It delivers on the visceral promise of its subject matter and respects the people behind the machines. It’s thrilling, heartfelt and best seen on the largest screen possible — just don’t try driving home like you’re in Monaco.

If you have not yet read the original book by Yann Martel, do not fret: I had not read it either, and as of 7:35 p.m. on Aug. 19 — exactly five minutes into the performance — I had decided that I must. The story follows Pi’s journey from his family’s zoo in India to a hospital in Mexico and all the connections he makes along the way. When the cargo ship that he, his family and all of their zoo’s inhabitants are travelling on is caught in a major shipwreck, Pi is stranded at sea for 227 days completely alone — except for Richard Parker, a Bengal Tiger. The play opens in an empty hospital room, where Pi is questioned as to how he survived for almost an entire year stranded with one of the most dangerous creatures on Earth. The exposition and transition between the past and present tense as he began to tell his story felt fluid and cohesive, drawing the viewer in with every line spoken.

Every movement and place flowed into one another, beautifully crafting the stark contrast between the excitement of the Indian zoo and the coldness of the Mexican hospital — until there was an announcement that the show would be holding. Everyone in the audience felt dread and curiosity about why the story had been interrupted. About nine minutes later, a new Pi entered the stage. Energetic and thoughtful, Savidu Geevaratne brought an energy to Pi that deepened his connection with both the audience and his fellow actors.

While Taha Mandviwala had to call out because of his well-being, I am happy that I got to see him for the 20 minutes I did. Within that time, he created a beautiful character; he had a songbird-like voice while in India and crisp diction within the hospital. His

exit was seamless and professional, and Geevaratne took his spot gracefully and with humility. In an interview with the Thresher, Geevaratne said that he “was honestly so proud of [their] team for getting ready so quickly but then [he needed] to focus and bring [his] heart rate down because too much energy is also bad.”

Looking at the show itself, my eyes were wide when the curtain came down for intermission. The play’s original Broadway run won Tony Awards for its lighting, sound and scenic design in 2023, and I will still be raving about all three.

The sound design and playback brought the audience into Pi’s world. The use of fading techniques to blend di erent sounds together transformed one space into another seamlessly, creating an immersive atmosphere.

The lighting added wondrous colors, and the spotlights on the sides of the stage created a bubble around Pi’s memories. When he rst began to tell his story, the bubble showed that his Indian memories were a safe space. As he progressed, the bubble began to widen as he let us deeper into his thoughts and experiences. There were also moments of organized chaos, like during the shipwreck, but the audience knew exactly where to look as the lighting guided our attention.

The set was also very detailed, much like the rest of the technical design. It worked well with other elements and created a base for the projects and puppetry to shine.

Taking a look at the overall design of the show, everything created a beautiful cohesion. Through their commendable teamwork, the play’s crew managed to take a wooden oor and turn it into a raging ocean by using fog, sound and a whole lot of theater magic. The animals were also a testament to the magic of theater: through a mix of puppetry, projection and color, they felt as though you could reach out and pet them — or get bitten.

“Life of Pi” brought to life the story and journey of a young boy, but also voiced many people’s questions about God and the universe in a thoughtful way. From the technical design to the crew members’ execution and the intentionality of the actors, “Life of Pi” brought something new to the Hobby Center. My only note is that they should have stayed here longer — I definitely would have seen it again.

ISABELLA REGAN THRESHER STAFF

Top Track: ‘Sabotage’

COURTESY BROADWAY AT THE HOBBY CENTER

A scene of Pi and Richard Parker, the tiger, in the Broadway tour of “Life of Pi” at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts.

Alexander was highly efficient, too, rushing 15 times for 74 yards on the ground. His ability to break tackles and fight for yardage mirrored the flashes he showed as a freshman before missing the second half of the 2023 season and the entire 2024 season due to injury.

“Daelen [has] been through some tough times, and I’m just happy for him,” Jackson said. “I tell him every day, ‘It starts with us.’ Daelen’s like a brother to me. I’m just excited. No words to describe it.”

Each of Louisiana’s next two drives resulted in turnovers. Graduate safety Jack Kane intercepted an underthrown ball and graduate defensive lineman Tony Anyanwu forced a strip sack that was recovered by redshirt senior defensive lineman Blake Boenisch.

On the ensuing Owls possession, redshirt sophomore quarterback Chase Jenkins attempted a rare pass beyond the line of scrimmage and was bailed out by redshirt sophomore wide receiver Drayden Dickmann, who made a diving catch over the middle of the field.

Jenkins went 7-for-9 passing with 45 yards, and most of those came on short pitches behind the line of scrimmage. As a team, the Owls totaled 37 yards after the catch. Jenkins’ role in the rushing attack was less effective than expected as he rushed 12 times for a loss of 13 yards.

Rice moved into the red zone and added seven more points as graduate wide receiver Aaron Turner received a pitch, bounced outside, turned the corner, dove for the end zone and snuck the football inside the pylon.

Louisiana added another field goal in the final seconds of the first half, sending the game to halftime with Rice ahead, 14-6.

Louisiana and Rice exchanged punts to open the third quarter. Redshirt junior punter Alex Bacchetta launched the third-longest punt of his career, totaling 56 yards and pinning the Ragin’ Cajuns at their own 2-yard line. However, Louisiana’s quarterback moved the chains with a scramble on third down to get his offense away from its own end zone.

A big 32-yard run pushed Louisiana toward midfield, and shortly after, their quarterback scrambled for a 25-yard touchdown. However, the Cajuns’ twopoint conversion attempt, which would

have tied the game, was unsuccessful, leaving Rice ahead.

The teams then combined to exchange five consecutive three-andouts. Louisiana got the ball back with 8:16 left and attempted to pick up two yards on fourth down, but their quarterback was stopped short by senior safety Daveon Hook.

Rice responded with a nine-play drive that brought them one yard from the end zone on fourth down, leaving an important decision in Abell’s hands.

The first-year Football Bowl Subdivision head coach sent his offense on the field, but a botched snap left Jenkins with no option but to take a sack.

Gifted one last chance to mount a game-winning drive, Louisiana moved the chains with a 25-yard pass near the sideline. However, the Cajuns’ quarterback was injured on the play and did not return. Their backup struggled to move the football, but Louisiana was gifted free yardage as graduate cornerback Khary Crump committed pass interference on 3rd-and-20.

Soon after, Louisiana faced a 4thand-10 from its own 35-yard line. Rice rushed four, and the Cajuns’ pass fell incomplete after being deflected by

redshirt junior defensive end Michael Daley. Louisiana’s backup quarterback finished the drive with zero completions on six pass attempts, and Rice regained possession to kneel out the remainder of the clock.

“A lot of work was put in this offseason, and my dad always told me to just embrace the moment, embrace the journey,” Jackson said. “I’m just excited. I don’t really care about myself. I’m just excited for the guys in that locker room.”

Defensively, Daley consistently made his presence felt near the line of scrimmage. In addition to his fourthdown pass break-up, he registered one sack and 1.5 tackles for loss. Elsewhere within the unit, redshirt senior safety Peyton Stevenson showcased effective open-field tackling and ultimately finished second on the team with five tackles. Hook made a key fourth-down stop and also laid a hit to break up a pass over the middle.

The biggest impact on defense may have come from redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Joseph Mutombo, who is stepping into a larger role this season due to other players’ departures. He had two pressures in the first quarter

that forced the Louisiana quarterback to panic, resulting in an intentional grounding penalty and an interception. He finished the game with two tackles and one sack.

“A lot of the guys [on defense] want to make each other right, run around, hunt as a pack,” Daley said. “With the offense that we have and the culture that we’re establishing, it’s just a complete turnover from what we had last year. It’s hunting as a pack and trying to control the line of scrimmage as much as we possibly can to then get the ball back in Quinton’s hands and score some points.”

Abell acknowledged Rice’s effectiveness in all three phases of the game, credited his coaching staff and said that the Owls will immediately start preparing for next weekend’s home opener against the University of Houston. The Bayou Bucket series returns to Rice Stadium at 6 p.m. on Sept. 7.

“For all the fans out there and all our generations of alums, I hope you’re watching,” Abell said. “We don’t just put this jersey on for ourselves. We put it on for you each and every week, and I’m proud.”

Rice-themed fantasy names

ANDERSEN PICKARD & EVIE VU

SPORTS EDITORS

The 2025 NFL season starts this week. Several friend groups, clubs and other organizations across campus are hosting fantasy football drafts to gear up for Thursday’s regular season opener between the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles.

Ready to dra but can’t think of a good name for your fantasy football team? Use one of our Rice-themed options.

Abell’s Angels

Moh Picks, Moh Problems

Hoot ’Em and Choose ’Em

Boswell That Ends Well

Owl in the Family

Empty Nesters

COC (Culture of Choosing)

Owl-American Rejects

Keeping Up with the McCa reys

Reggie’s Roost

Owl or Nothing

Chase-ing Excellence

FROM FRONT PAGE RICE FOOTBALL

COURTESY CHRIS PARENT / RICE ATHLETICS

Head coach Scott Abell celebrates with running back Quinton Jackson during the 14-12 win at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette on Saturday.

Eighty years later, ice hockey makes its way back to Rice

JENNA PERRONE OPINIONS EDITOR

Is Houston a hockey town? It’s hard to tell.

Professional ice hockey teams have existed in Houston on and o since the creation of the Houston Skippers in 1946, yet the city remains the largest U.S. or Canadian market without an NHL team.

Rumors of an NHL expansion to either Houston or Atlanta have proliferated in recent years, but as of last season, commissioner Gary Bettman said expansion is “not a frontburner topic.”

For two Rice students, however, the answer to the above question is still a resounding yes.

David Nyari and Oliver Finlayson founded the Rice Hockey Club earlier this year in an e ort to bring an ice hockey team back to Rice for the rst time since 1941. Their mission has widespread support among Houston’s hockey community, Nyari said.

“I got invited on a call with about 30 di erent hockey organizations in Houston,” said Nyari, a Wiess College sophomore. “When they all heard that hockey was coming to Rice, everybody was very, very excited, and everybody was very adamant on helping us.”

One such organization is Hockey Day In Houston, an annual event that began in 2024 to celebrate and promote ice hockey in Houston. Hockey Day In Houston shared

some of the RHC’s promotional materials on their Facebook page, alongside a message saying they were “excited to share” that they were in contact with the RHC’s founders.

Prior to this year, Rice’s last involvement with the sport of ice hockey dates back eighty years.

From 1933 to 1941, Rice boasted its own ice hockey team, which included such notable players as Louis Girard ’41, writer of the lyrics of the Rice Fight Song, and David Westheimer ’37, who played goalie and went on to become a novelist. The team won its rst city league championship in 1941 but dissolved the same year for unknown reasons.

Since then, Rice students interested in ice hockey have needed to nd other outlets for their passion. For Nyari and Finlayson, both of whom grew up playing ice hockey, this outlet was intramural oor hockey.

“Me and Oliver initially met at the oor hockey tournament that IM sports put on last year,” Nyari said. “From there, I asked him if he would want to help me with starting a hockey club, and we just took it from there.”

One of the old team’s biggest obstacles was getting their name out there — especially in a city like Houston that, at the time, had no professional ice hockey teams. A 1940 article from Rice’s student magazine claimed “few students even realize[d] the existence of the team.”

Eight decades later, the RHC has attracted plenty of possible athletes, with 15 people

lling out their interest form.

“We’re still looking for a goalie, which is obviously going to be a bit of a bottleneck,” said Finlayson, a Martel College junior. “But we found that growing our Instagram page and getting people lling out the interest form has been pretty easy.”

In the meantime, Nyari and Finlayson are

simply excited to bring broader awareness of ice hockey to Rice.

“I’ve been a hockey player my whole life,” Finlayson said. “David has been, too. So we just both really love the game and bringing it to Rice, especially when other Texas colleges have it right now but we don’t. I think it’s a pretty important thing to do.”

10 things to know about former Rice Owl turned Cougar

KATHLEEN ORTIZ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

A er last year’s tumultuous 4-8 football season — in which former head coach Mike Bloomgren was red eight games into the season — running back Dean Connors le Rice, opting to go across town to the University of Houston’s team.

On Saturday, when UH comes back to Rice for what might be the nal Bayou Bucket Classic, Connors will play at Rice Stadium for the rst time since transferring. Here are 10 things to know about the senior:

Connors played three years (2022-24) at Rice before transferring to Houston in 2025.

Connors was in Will Rice College and majored in Sports Medicine and Exercise Physiology, according to the 2023 Rice football roster.

Connors had 1,679 rushing yards in his three seasons at Rice with 16 rushing touchdowns.

In 2024, when Rice lost to UH 33-7, Connors scored the lone touchdown for Rice.

In 2024, Connors set Rice career running

Rice Owls on NFL rosters

ANDERSEN PICKARD SPORTS EDITOR

As football season gets underway, don’t forget the former Owls representing Rice in the NFL. Check out the Rice products who made their NFL teams’ 53-man rosters.

Luke McCa rey, Wide Receiver

Currently: Washington Commanders

2024 stats: 24 tgt, 18 rec, 168 yds Played for Rice 2021-23

Chris Boswell, Kicker

Currently: Pittsburgh Steelers

2024 stats: 35/35 XP, 41/44 FG, incl. 13 from 50+ yds

Played for Rice 2009-13

Jack Fox, Punter

Currently: Detroit Lions

2024 stats: 45 punts, avg 51 yds, 48.89% inside 20

Played for Rice 2015-18

Calvin Anderson, O ensive Tackle

Currently: Pittsburgh Steelers

2024 stats: 11 snaps, 1 sack allowed, 56.2 PFF o ense grade

Played for Rice 2014-17

Kylen Granson, Tight End

Currently: Philadelphia Eagles

2024 stats: 31 tgt, 14 rec, 182 yds

Played for Rice 2016-17

Rice also has several players who did not make their teams’ opening rosters but were re-signed to the practice squad.

Myles Adams, Defensive Lineman

Currently: Detroit Lions practice squad

2024 stats: 7 games, 7 tackles, 1 sack Played for Rice 2016-19

Elijah Garcia, Defensive Lineman

Currently: New York Giants practice squad

2024 stats: 5 games, 14 tackles, 1 fumble recovery Played for Rice 2016-21

Austin Trammell, Wide Receiver

Currently: Jacksonville Jaguars practice squad

2024 stats: 3 tgts, 2 rec, 40 yds

Played for Rice 2017-20

Nick Leverett, O ensive Guard

Currently: Arizona Cardinals practice squad

2024 stats: 117 snaps, 1 sack allowed, 36.6 PFF o ense grade

Played for Rice 2019

The 2025 NFL season begins Thursday, Sept. 4, when the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles host the Dallas Cowboys.

back records for both receptions and receiving yards, 113 and 912 respectively. He also led the team in touchdowns with 11 last season.

Connors led the Owls in rushing yards, rushing touchdowns and all-purpose yards in both the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

Connors played at Riverside Community College in 2021 before coming to Rice. There, he rushed for 516 yards on 107 carries.

Connors’ 62 receptions last season were the most by an NCAA running back in the regular season.

Connors is in his h year of eligibility, which he was allowed through an NCAA waiver that granted an additional year of eligibility to former junior college transfers.

The waiver speci cally allows an extra year of eligibility in 2025-26 for athletes who “competed at a non-NCAA school for one or more years” and would otherwise have run out of NCAA eligibility following the 2024-25 season.

In UH’s rst game of 2025 against Stephen F. Austin State University, Connors led the rushers with 50 rushing yards.

HONG LIN TSAI / THRESHER

The Backpage is the satire section of the Thresher, written this week by Charlie Maxson, Rykelle Sandidge, and Max Scholl, and designed by Jessica Xu. For questions or comments, please email realricethreshero cial@rice.edu.