valentine’s
VOLUME 107, ISSUE NO. 17 | STUDENT-RUN SINCE 1916 | RICETHRESHER.ORG | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2023
YoYo’s to operate in parking loop by Mudd Lab MORGAN GAGE & BEN BAKER-KATZ
EDITORS-IN-CHIEF
Beginning this Friday, YoYo’s Hot Dog will operate from the parking area between Mudd Lab and Hamman Hall, according to an email, obtained by the Thresher, from Director of Housing & Dining David McDonald. This week only, YoYo’s will be open Friday and Saturday. Beginning Feb. 9 and in the weeks following, YoYo’s will be open Thursday through Saturday from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. The decision comes in the wake of Rice Management Company terminating the leases for YoYo’s and Oh My Gogi beginning Feb. 1. Gabby Franklin, Student Association president, said that she proposed the idea to McDonald after Dean of Undergraduates Bridget Gorman mentioned a previous tradition of food trucks in the parking area near Mudd Lab. Franklin said the effort to find a space for YoYo’s on campus began after Dani Knobloch brought forward concerns about the lease termination. “We were kind of on a deadline when we did find out [about the leases ending], so we weren’t really sure where to go at first,” Franklin said. “Then I had a one-on-one [meeting] with Dean Gorman [who] gave me
the information to [discuss bringing YoYo’s to campus with] David McDonald, and then he entered into conversations with the RMC. And here we are.” Franklin, a Brown College junior, said that she hopes the presence of YoYo’s will bring more of the Houston community to an area of campus that is less visited. “I hope this increases awareness of Rice’s campus,” Franklin said. “Like, the fact that, as a community member, you can enjoy some good food and head over to a part of campus that really deserves more attention, with Hamman Hall being so close [for visitors] to see more theatre programs around the same time.” Renzo Espinoza, who started a petition intending to reverse the RMC decision, was in disbelief when he heard the news. “I was shocked,” Espinoza, a Wiess College junior, said. “I tried to check the validity of it first, because stuff can spread [with] significant news like that … [When] I found out that it was true … it was like Christmas.” According to Espinoza, YoYo’s staying close to campus is going to be welcome news to the entire Rice community. “I honestly think that there’s not a single person on campus that’s not going to rejoice with this news,” Espinoza said. “People will be relieved that a significant part of Rice culture is making its way back.”
NORTH COLLEGES
OEDK
NEW YOYO’S LOCATION
RMC
FONDREN LIBRARY
SOUTH COLLEGES
2023 ISSUE PAGES
6&8 ROBERT HEETER / THRESHER
All is fair in love and code: COMP 310 faces potential removal BONNIE ZHAO
Bri Bumgardner, the head teaching assistant for COMP 310, said she and the other TAs are currently collecting COMP 310, a current major requirement statements and signatures from former course, is likely to be completely removed students to petition for the future of the from the Rice computer Science curriculum, class. “I don’t fault the department ... If the class’s professor Stephen Wong said. This comes after numerous student complaints you have this many complaints, then it’s posted on Piazza last semester and raised going to reflect badly on the department,” to the computer science department Chair Bumgardner said. “But the issue is, we’re not seeing the opinions of people who have Christopher Jermaine. According to Jermaine, a faculty working [already] taken the class, or people who group is currently reviewing all major are enjoying the class and understand the requirement courses and has not made a benefits of the class.” Andrew Buehler, a final decision for TA for COMP 310, said any courses. he feels the course “The reason for is one of the most the effort is simply Personally, I look back at important classes in that it’s been quite some time since my college ... and we dealt his Rice degree. “[COMP 310] is we’ve looked with things which I must the one where it truly holistically at the admit, I didn’t appreciate clicked that I realized, [undergraduate] this is why I’m a curriculum — we until years out. computer science have to make sure Stephen Wong major, this is what the major serves COMP 310 PROFESSOR I’m interested in. our students well,” Jermaine wrote in an email to the Thresher. And that’s why I’ve been [a TA],” Buehler, “We’d like to reduce the number of credit a Jones College junior, said. “I know people hours required for the degree, especially the that went on to internships and use all of [Bachelor of Science], to make it more in line these techniques immediately.” According to Buehler, COMP 310 was with our peer institutions.” Wong said he thinks COMP 310 is essential previously created to replace two separate and should remain part of the curriculum computer science courses and that he because it’s the only course directly aimed would like to see COMP 310 become two at object oriented programming design that separate courses again to spread out the Bachelor of Arts students are required to take material between the courses. “Dr. Wong had to cut material, he had before graduating. “The question one has to ask is, how do to work with what he was given, find ways courses that are ... more difficult than one to make the course easier for students,” expects ... fit into an overall curriculum and Buehler said. “There is a very even split of student experience?” Wong said. “How work for the first half and the second half should curricular pedagogical decisions be of the semester. And you could split it right made? On what basis? Personally, I look back there. Give three weeks for every project. at my college ... and we dealt with things Everyone would be fine.” which I must admit, I didn’t appreciate until years out.” SEE COMP 310 PAGE 4 MANAGING EDITOR
GUILLIAN PAGUILA / THRESHER
Rice historian Douglas Brinkley on his Grammy nominations, musical community SHREYA CHALLA
THRESHER STAFF
In his free time, Douglas Brinkley, a history professor at Rice University, gets nominated for Grammy awards. This year, Brinkley has been nominated for two Grammys for co-producing “Black Men Are Precious” by Ethelbert Miller for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album and “Fandango At The Wall in New York” by Arturo O’ Farrill and the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra for Best Latin Jazz Album. Brinkley previously won a Grammy in 2017 for co-producing “Presidential Suite: Eight Variations on Freedom.” The Grammy Awards ceremony will be held on Feb. 5 in Los Angeles, broadcast live on CBS and streamed on Paramount+. Though Brinkley, the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities, is a historian first and has written books on U.S. presidents, foreign affairs and
civil rights, music has always been a part of his life. “My mom made me take piano lessons when I was a boy and it stuck,” Brinkley said. “And in my twenties, I’d like playing folk guitar and harmonica and dabbling with other instruments. At some point, instead of taking up golf or tennis or pickleball, like some people do. As I got older, I realized that I wanted to do more and more with my passion for music.” Part of Brinkley’s inspiration to continue creating music can be credited to his musical community. He said that he began taking his work more seriously after becoming friends with people in New Orleans’ jazz world, such as Kabir Sehgal and Ellis and Wynton Marsalis.
SEE DOUGLAS BRINKLEY PAGE 9