VOLUME 110, ISSUE NO. 23 | STUDENT-RUN SINCE 1916 | RICETHRESHER.ORG | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2026
JESSICA XU / THRESHER The new Beer Bike track will be constructed on the Harris Bayou Recreation Field next to Tudor Fieldhouse and Wiess College. Rice Program Council shared the move in an email on Monday.
Beer Bike track to relocate after this year ABIGAIL CHIU
NEWS EDITOR
After this year’s races, the Beer Bike track will be permanently relocated to the Harris Bayou Recreation Field between Tudor Fieldhouse and Wiess College. Rice Program Council announced the move in an email to Beer Bike coordinators and captains on Monday. The new track will be 0.26 miles long, shorter than the previous length of one-third
of a mile when the track was located in the Greenbriar parking lot. Rahul Santhanam, a Wiess College Beer Bike coordinator, said the decision raises more questions than it answers and that he was surprised when he received the email. “The change in length from 0.3 to 0.25 miles means that the turns are sharper, which forces bikers to slow down and is more risky,” Santhanam said. “While options for a new Beer Bike track are limited, there are still questions for the fan experience and where
people will watch the game from now that the space is smaller.” The Gateway Project, a construction initiative that will connect Rice Village to campus through Rice Stadium, will be built through the site of the former track. Wiley Liou, one of RPC’s campuswide Beer Bike coordinators, said he received this information on Monday from the Dean of Undergraduates’ office and relayed it to residential college Beer Bike coordinators the same day. RPC was not involved in the
decision of where to move the track. “There will definitely be adjustments to where we station different tents and areas, such as the GSA and alumni areas,” Wiley wrote in an email to the Thresher. “With the track being smaller as well, the Beer Bike planning committee will need to keep in mind how that will impact race logistics, not just the biking itself, but also how we can get everything we need on the track with the new space.”
SEE BEER BIKE PAGE 2
Rice for Life brings Students for Life of America tour to campus TOBY CHOU
WHAT’S INSIDE
ASST. NEWS EDITOR Rice for Life, Rice’s pro-life advocacy group, hosted the Students for Life of America in their tour called “Do Women Need Abortion?” on Wednesday. SFLA, according to their website, is one of the leading anti-abortion advocacy organizations in the world, with the goal of spreading awareness at universities for abolishing abortion. The event featured two speakers: Dr. John Bruchalski and Faith Elwonger. According to the website for Bruchalski’s nonprofit organization Divine Mercy Care, Bruchalski was an “abortionist” who became a “pro-life doctor.” Faith Elwonger serves as SFLA’s strategic initiatives spokesperson. Rice for Life first held a tabling event outside of Fondren Library, where the
two main speakers held discussions with any Rice students who stopped by the table and recorded these conversations. Duncan College freshman Amiya Aggarwal said her experience at the tabling event was unproductive and she felt the speakers did not want to engage in a conversation. “It was really clear that the actual outcome of the conversation was nonexistent,” Aggarwal said. “It was kind of like when you have a conversation with someone and they’re not actually directly responding to what you’re saying. They’re just waiting for you to be done talking.” Aggarwal said she felt the speakers did not want to debate abortion from any view besides a moral one. “The most productive way to discuss abortion, and the only real conversations
FIRED TSU PROFESSOR VISITS CAMPUS
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around it, need to be on the government regulations and how those should be implemented,” Aggarwal said. “I felt they didn’t really have any actual reasons behind why they felt like it should be illegal, besides that they don’t agree with it and that it is wrong.” Jones College senior Kyle Szekeres said he appreciated how cordial the tabling event was in comparison to other college speaker tours on such divisive issues. “I’ve seen a lot of different tabling events throughout the years on Instagram and YouTube, and I’ve seen how some can get kind of hectic. I thought this one was mostly calm and respectful,” Szekeres said. “No one seemed radically mean or hateful towards one another, and I thought that was nice for such a contentious topic.”
STUDENTS SHOWCASE ART IN NIGHT LIGHT 2026 PAGE 11
KONSTANTIN SAVVON / THRESHER John Bruchalski speaks to students about abortion in a tent outside Fondren Library.
SEE RICE FOR LIFE PAGE 4
SWIMMER ELECTED BAKER PRESIDENT PAGE 14