VOLUME 109, ISSUE NO. 4 | STUDENT-RUN SINCE 1916 | RICETHRESHER.ORG | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2024
Academic quad officially opens with celebration SARAH KNOWLTON
NEWS EDITOR
The redesigned academic quad had its grand opening Sept. 12. The ceremony included speeches, a ribbon cutting and guided tours for attendees to learn about new quad features. Speakers included President Reggie DesRoches, board of trustees chairman Robert T. Ladd, landscape architect Thomas Woltz and several alumni. The event began with a moment of silence for Andrea Rodriguez Avila. Speakers acknowledged the previous “Down With Willy” movement calling for the removal of the William Marsh Rice statue previously located in the middle of the quad. The statue has been moved to a garden in the corner of the quad next to Sewall Hall. According to Dean of Undergraduates Bridget Gorman, a new monument will be placed in the center of the quad. “The decentering of the statue, having it be more at eye level versus up, and
then ultimately, the counter-memorial that’s being commissioned to celebrate the integration of the university, these are very special things,” Gorman said in an interview with the Thresher. “This is a
This is a culmination of so many years of work that started with the task force and all their thoughtful work and interrogation of our history in terms of how Rice began. Bridget Gorman DEAN OF UNDERGRADUATES
culmination of so many years of work that started with the task force and all their thoughtful work and interrogation of our history in terms of how Rice began.”
SEE ACADEMIC QUAD PAGE 3
Shifting the status quo: Campus activism, protests change over time AMY LI
SENIOR WRITER Last week, the academic quad reopened after nearly a year of reconstruction, kickstarted by the decision to relocate the Founder’s Memorial statue. Protests for the statue’s removal began Aug. 31, 2020, and continued for a year and a half before the Board of Trustees announced their decision to remove the statue on Jan. 25, 2022. The success of the Rice student movement for Willy’s removal is evidence that Rice students have power to influence administrative decisions, according to Ben Mayberry ’73. Mayberry was a student at Rice during protests against the Vietnam War. “The protests about Willy’s statue, they were very responsive to that,” Mayberry said. “They listened to what people had to say. I don’t know how the administration would have responded 50 years ago, but it was a very different time for sure.” On the other hand, Daniel Koh ’20 said that he believes the revival of the Black Lives Matter movement after George Floyd’s murder, rather than student organizing on campus, pushed the Rice administration to remove Willy’s statue.
“Once it becomes politically inexpedient to continue with the status quo, then the administration will change tactics and kind of go forward,” Koh said. “Either the mass movement beyond Rice is too strong to ignore so that Rice would look bad in maintaining the status quo, or a peer institution institutes a similar change and Rice changes their tactics. “When I was trying to get the SAT/ACT requirement removed,” Koh continued, “I got the exact same thing, and then the day after Harvard [University] announced that they would take away the requirement, Rice changed their mind and said that, ‘Ooh, we’re doing the same thing.’ So, those are the only times where the administration kind of responds favorably. It’s not because of the students, it’s because of external factors that affect their bottom line.” Nick Cooper ‘91 said he felt the statue’s removal was more to preserve the university’s reputation than genuine care. “The fundamental issue is that they’re going to pretend that they care about tarnishing their reputation by having a statue of William Marsh Rice,” Cooper said.
SEE PROTEST HISTORY PAGE 6
PHOEBE SCHOCKET / THRESHER The academic quad reopening ceremony featured speeches and a ribbon cutting Sept. 12.
Rice Students for Justice in Palestine protest academic quad celebration JAMES CANCELARICH
ASST. NEWS EDITOR
While many gathered to celebrate the reopening of the academic quad, Rice Students for Justice in Palestine staged a walkout just a few hundred feet from the festivities, protesting what they described as a shameless celebration, according to a Sept. 10 Instagram post. About 50 to 60 people attended the protest, held in Founder’s Court, according to the Rice University Police Department. During the protest, attendees listened to speeches, read poetry and denounced Rice’s “complicity in the ongoing genocide,” according to a Sept. 16 Instagram post. Many protesters signed an open letter to university President Reggie DesRoches and the board of
RIYA MISRA / THRESHER Protestors hang signs, Palestine flags and keffiyehs during a Sept. 12 Rice SJP walkout.
trustees, calling for Rice to divest from corporations “complicit in Israeli apartheid,” release an official statement “condemning the genocide” and reverse recent restrictions on postering and demonstrations. “If divestment is a political instrument, then so is investment in the first place,” the letter reads. “Rice University administrators continually met student activism with suppression, attempts to quash our political momentum and a lack of willingness to seriously engage with our demands for change.” Erica Augenstein, an SJP representative, said the walkout was staged to encourage students to politically engage with their university.
SEE SJP PROTEST PAGE 2