The Rice Thresher | Wednesday, February 18, 2026

Students prioritize traditions for Will Rice renovations

HOPE YANG ASST. NEWS

With a makeover on the horizon, Will Rice College students will look to preserve college character even as spaces change.

The residential college will be undergoing renovations, including replacing commons with a multistory building containing a new commons space and residences above.

The renovations will also remodel Old Dorm and add approximately 65 beds, said Kelly Fox, executive vice president for operations, nance and support.

Set to complete in 2028, the project is currently in its concept design phase, with William Rawn Associates as design architect and Harrison Kornberg serving as executive architect.

Will Rice President Mary Margaret Speed said the biggest challenge for Will Rice will be articulating what their priorities are with the architectural team.

“I’ve been told that we might be able to do a walkthrough of this space to point out things we particularly want to bring into the new space and have conversations with the team so that they can get our ideas in while they’re still conceptualizing the space,” Speed said. “It will be a lot more di cult to make changes in the design once things have been nalized more.”

Built in 1912, Old Dorm is the oldest residential building on campus. Originally South Hall, the building was made a part of Will Rice when the residential college system was started in 1957.

The renovations will support enrollment growth, maintain on-campus undergraduate housing capacity and balance residential populations, Fox said.

“Will Rice was identi ed through a campus planning process because of the age of its commons facility and the opportunity to modernize and add capacity in a way that enhances the student experience,” Fox wrote in an email to the Thresher.

With around 375 students and 235 beds, Will Rice is one of the smallest residential colleges on campus, which tend to have an average population of about 430 or 440 students.

Students will be moved to Old Lovett College for over ow housing during construction, which is set to start around May 2027, Speed said.

Speed recently started the application process for the Will Rice Improvements Committee, which will focus on communicating student priorities to the architectural team in charge of renovations.

“We want to make it as homey as possible, we want there to be natural light, but not a wall of glass,” Speed said. “A portion of that will be focused on bringing in items and pieces of artwork from this current building.”

Gabriel Witkop, a member of the Improvements Committee, said the goal of the committee is to convey their priorities as a college to the architecture rm and

campus leadership.

They will also work to ensure continuity and preservation of as much of the history of their current buildings as possible, Wiktop said.

“The most important thing to me is that the expansion and renovation takes a great deal of inspiration from the current setup,” Wiktop, a senior, wrote in an email to the Thresher. “The work taking place is rst and foremost to replace aging infrastructure, not to change or eliminate what makes Will Rice special.”

Five candidates kick off campaigns for president in crowded race

TOBY CHOU THRESHER STAFF

With the start of the voting period only a week away, here’s a rundown of all the candidates running for positions on the Student Association Executive Committee.

The president of the SA serves as the chief executive and the official spokesperson of the SA. With the oversight of the Executive Committee and student input, they will set priorities for the current term of the SA. There are five candidates running for SA president.

Max

Menchaca

In his role as the current Brown College Senator, Menchaca has co-authored resolutions to support undocumented students and to restrict members of the Student Association from making political statements on behalf of the SA. Menchaca’s priorities include pushing back on institutional barriers that burden student life, such as restrictions on publics and college nights. In addition, Menchaca advocates for advancing academic improvements, such as publishing nal exam schedules earlier, and ensuring students feel informed and represented by their government.

Chelsea Asibbey

The former SA Secretary during the 2024-25 term of the SA, Asibbey’s platform highlights three goals for her presidency: a ordability, accessibility and action. First, she seeks to lower the price of mandatory materials like printers and Cengage. Second, she wants to make resources more accessible on campus and amplify spaces already available to students. Third, she wants to maintain key traditions of Rice culture, like Beer Bike and athletics.

Ananya A. Nair

A former Parliamentarian and the former McMurtry College First Year Representative, Nair has five main goals as president. She wants to push for increased quality of servery food as well as increased sensitivity to dietary needs. Second, she wants to fund all the organizations and clubs that lost funding during the past year. Other goals include defunding expensive senators dinners and proposing resolutions that “empower students needs and participation in their SA.”

Jenny Karsner

A two-time Civic Immersion Leader, Wiess IM Sports Representative and a University Court Representative, Karsner’s priorities as president are shaped by her past experiences. Her platform centers on connecting Rice students to Houston through nonpro t partnerships and student discounts, strengthening jack culture through more inter-college competitions and advocating for practical improvements like expanded latenight dining.

Muyiwa

Ogunsola

Ogunsola said he believes that while the SA has plenty of potential, it is dragged down by its bureaucracy. He seeks to reduce the delays that have historically extended over weeks and months, which negatively impact the student body. He is running on a “reconstruction” of the administrative structure, which he says will allow representatives to move fast and with intention.

Internal Vice President: The internal vice president coordinates and fosters communication between the various parts of the Student Association. They are also responsible for making sure all parts of the SA work towards their goals and in compliance with the SA Constitution. There is one candidate running for IVP.

Mahtab B. Dastur

The current SA External Vice President, Dastur wants to continue the work she’s done as EVP in the role of IVP. A er helping SA launch the $5 printing credit, her platform includes making it permanent and expanding it, aiding students who require printing services. She also wants to prioritize food security by expanding residential college food pantries, building a new swipe donation system and pushing for a more exible ocampus meal plan.

External Vice President: The external vice president facilitates interactions and fosters communication between the SA and external groups, organizations and individuals in the Rice and Houston communities.

They will also assist the President in representing the SA to the Rice community and will gather input from members of the SA. There are two candidates running for EVP.

Da’Taeveyon Daniels

The current Martel College New Student Representative, Daniels’ platform said the SA is struggling to feel relevant to the larger student body because “access to initiative, resources, and decision-making is not equitable or inclusive.” His response to this is his “Initiative for All.” He said this plan will make the Initiative Fund more accessible, more equitable and more transparent for students who are unfamiliar with the Initiative Fund process.

Rohan Dharia

As the current McMurtry College senator, Dharia has served on the Senate advisory team that pushed for the 9-11 p.m. late-night dining and led Rice’s International Night event. As EVP, he seeks to pursue initiatives he says students care about, like 24-hour snack pantries in all colleges and afterhours academic building access.

Secretary: The secretary ensures the transparency of the Student Association by updating and maintaining records of the SA. They will also distribute information about the activities of the SA to members of the SA or other relevant parties. There is one candidate running for Secretary.

Robert Fischer

The current Baker College New Student Representative, Fischer seeks to increase clarity within the SA to encourage more student participation. He said on his platform that the main barrier to increased student interest in the SA is that “important decisions happen behind walls of jargon or buried documents,” and that he wants students to know what is happening in SA, why decisions are made and how they can get involved.

Treasurer: The treasurer prepares the Student Association’s annual budget according to the procedures in this Constitution and Bylaws and manages the SA’s funds. They will also chair the Blanket Tax Committee, help set the Blanket Tax budget, approve

new Blanket Tax organizations and manage the Initiative Fund. There are two candidates running for Treasurer.

Ronak Kothari

The current Lovett College New Student Representative, Kothari’s platform said his goal as SA treasurer would be to help student organizations run smoothly. He wants to make the funding process easier to navigate, with “clearer guides, straightforward request templates, and regular updates on timelines and reimbursements.” He also plans on hosting regular office hours with student organizations so their leaders can ask questions and get funding help when they need it.

Suri Yang

The current Deputy Parliamentarian, Yang seeks to make club funding access “equitable and fair” and plans to meet with the Blanket Tax Organizations in order to work towards their goals together. She also wants to make sure that the budget is “sustainable, while also being flexible enough for student organizations to grow and innovate.”

Creating tradition: Chao coords build rst Orientation Week

ABIGAIL CHIU SENIOR WRITER

Chao College will welcome new students this August with its inaugural Orientation Week, titled DragO-Week a er the college’s mascot. The three O-Week coordinators said their goal is to foster a community for new students as they begin planning the week and conduct interviews for advisors.

Sammie Mahung, a Jones College sophomore who will be joining Chao as one of the coordinators, said DragO-Week will be particularly special for the new students who can help shape future Chao O-Weeks.

“It’ll be special in that way that the traditions we will be creating, we’re all contributing to them,” Mahung said. “It’s very much like we’re all in it together, instead of having a set mold of how things will be. I’m excited for them to have their own part and be able to make their mark as the rst class of Chao.”

The inspiration for naming Chao’s inaugural O-Week DragO-Week came from the idea that dragons appear in many di erent cultures, Mahung said. It also honors the Taiwanese heritage of the college’s namesakes, Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao.

“We’re all coming from all di erent kinds of cultures in di erent places, whether that’s like di erent places of the world or di erent colleges at Rice, but we all have something in common,” Mahung said. “We’re all dragons, and so we’re all coming home to the nest that is Chao. That’s our vision. We’ll be welcoming all of our new dragons to the ight.”

Chao recently elected Elijah White, a McMurtry College sophomore, to be its first college president. White also served as a member of the college’s founding committee.

“My role within [O-Week] is to lead that vision and guide what I feel is going to be best for not only the incoming class, but just in general, for the future of the college,” White said. “My goal for O-Week is to start laying that foundation, because that is going to be everyone’s very rst experience, not only the new students.”

Prasanna Bendalam, another Chao O-Week coordinator, said the team will be releasing coadvisor applications soon. The advisor process is unique because

KONSTANTIN SAVVON / THRESHER

Prasanna Bendalam, Abbie Wang and Sammie

the inaugural Chao College Orientation Week coordinators, huddle around a laptop. The three are in charge of creating traditions and culture.

Chao advisors will have also experienced O-Weeks at other colleges, said Bendalam, a Jones freshman.

“Something I’ve heard a lot from other people is we’re essentially just going through co-advisor [applications] twice, but I think what we’re looking for is just people who are willing to put Chao rst,” Bendalam said. “We understand that you’ve had your own experiences, but we want you to come in open minded and willing to treat Chao as its own thing.”

A er selecting advisors and coadvisors, the team will plan O-Week events and traditions, said Abbie Wang, one of the O-Week coordinators and a McMurtry sophomore. The team is also discussing how to build a culture around Chao’s layout, which will include a ten- oor tower and a ve- oor building, as well as a roo op terrace that will connect to New Lovett’s skyquad.

“In those taller buildings, it is kind of harder to manage oor culture, and so we

really want to be able to kind of keep that alive, and have everybody really invested in Chao,” Wang said.

It’ll be special in that way the traditions we will be creating, we’re all contributing to them.

Sammie Mahung CHAO COLLEGE COORDINATOR

White said small interactions, not just major events, have a meaningful impact on building community.

“Whether that’s little hall events to get closer to your direct neighbors or if it’s class events with your class reps or maybe it’s a movie night on the terrace, it’s those things that are not something extravagant, but connect you with the people around

you,” White said. “I think that’s what builds community more than anything. I really want O-Week to lead with that heart behind it.”

Both Wang and White said the lack of precedent or changeover documents is another unique circumstance for Chao.

“[All of the other colleges], since they have had previous O-Weeks, each coord leaves behind, basically, ‘how to coord’ for the next one,” Wang said. “But since this is literally the rst one, we don’t really have any of that. So it is a lot of like, oh, like, can we do this? Can we do that? How do we do this? How do we do that?”

One thing Bendalam said the coordinators want to incorporate into O-Week is the Chao motto, “uma domus, multae viae.”

“We want it to be representative of the whole community,” Bendalam said. “Something that’s very important to us is the motto, which is one home, many paths.”

Microbiology professor wins national grant to advocate accessibility

NANDINI DASARI THRESHER STAFF

Marcos de Moraes began exploring the eld of microbiology in the early 2000s, as a college student at the State University of Campinas in Brazil. He was quickly fascinated.

De Moraes said scienti c inquiry gave him a sense of value and con dence in his capabilities as a young professional. Now an assistant professor of biosciences at Rice, de Moraes strives to bring the same transformative opportunities to the students around him.

“I was a queer, emo guy in a small town back in Brazil, and when I started to study microbiology, for the rst time I saw that I can do something, and that’s good,” de Moraes said. “I want to make sure that everybody can nd that same experience with science.”

De Moraes’ ambition to integrate science and community outreach was recently recognized by the U.S. National Science Foundation, which accepted de Moraes into the Faculty Early Career Development Program this past summer. The NSF CAREER program grants recipients with a $1.2 million grant over ve years. The funding is aimed at supporting not just scienti c advancement, but also broader social progress.

At Rice, de Moraes’ lab studies a family of bacterial toxins known as deaminases. Deaminases function by introducing lethal mutations in genetic material, allowing bacteria to outcompete neighboring cells.

De Moraes said his interest lies in

understanding the speci c molecular networks through which deaminases act and in investigating potential applications of these bacterial toxins in genome editing.

The next part was to create an educational plan. De Moraes said he knew he wanted to lead an initiative that broadened participation in research.

“Rice is doing a terri c job, but who is le behind?” de Moraes said. “I start to think about people with disabilities.”

De Moraes decided to improve accessibility of research for people with disabilities at Rice and the larger Houston community.

“It was very motivating just to see that

How can we accomodate a wheelchair user in the lab? It’s very difficult. By law, we are required to, but that often doesn’t happen.

Marcos de Moraes

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF BIOSCIENCES

there was this big need and maybe my approach would stand out,” de Moraes said. “It wouldn’t be just another program. Maybe I can reach people that wouldn’t have been reached in another way.”

De Moraes said his new proposal aims to address gaps in existing legislation. Signed in 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act

mandates that people with disabilities be given workplace accommodations that allow them to perform critical job functions.

But, de Moraes said, disabled people seeking to conduct research in a lab environment o en still encounter a series of obstacles.

“How can we accommodate a wheelchair user in the lab?” de Moraes said. “It’s very di cult. By law, we are required to, but that o en doesn’t happen.”

As relevant demographic statistics were not available to him, de Moraes said it remained unclear where he would nd students interested in supporting his mission.

“How many people are searching for labs because it’s not accessible to them? We don’t know,” de Moraes said. “We’re going to recruit students from Rice and also from Houston community colleges. The idea is that we throw this wide net, and then hopefully we’re going to nd students that will bene t from using these tools.”

De Moraes seeks to o er paid research opportunities in his lab to students from all backgrounds. Resources will be made available to students with disabilities, including assistive lab tools developed by their peers.

Adjustable benches and electronic pipettes are a few concepts that have been proposed. De Moraes said he plans to collaborate with Maria Oden, director of the Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen, to bring this technology to Rice.

“We will have student teams working to solve these challenges and in the

process these teams will learn more about accessibility and disabilities,” Oden wrote in an email to the Thresher. “We expect to deploy student designed solutions as needed into research labs at Rice.”

According to Paul Morrison, an undergraduate researcher in his lab, de Moraes’ value of self-su ciency is re ected in the lab environment he strives to cultivate.

“I’ve been given a lot of independence in the lab,” said Morrison, a Baker College sophomore. “I don’t go to lab and do other people’s tasks. I get to go to lab and do my own research project.”

Morrison said this independence has been a crucial factor in his own academic and personal development, allowing him to apply concepts learned in the classroom to solve real world problems.

“Maybe you go to a biology lecture class and learn about homologous recombination,” Morrison said. “Then you get to go into lab and see how this idea that you just quickly memorize for an exam actually plays a role in practical research, and how that research translates to what you’re interested in doing.”

Ultimately, de Moraes said he views scienti c research as a chance for students to learn transferable skills, allowing them to succeed in the professional world.

“Research gives this very complete, comprehensive experience for students,” de Moraes said. “It goes beyond just the technical aspects. It gives you skills that you can use in any other eld.”

Researchers recieve federal nding to create printable kidneys

Five years from now, regenerative medicine researchers across the U.S. say they hope to reach a milestone that will move organ transplantation forward: a kidney transplant printed from a patient’s own cells and engineered to avoid triggering rejection.

“There’s a critical shortage in these organs,” said Vasiliki “Aliki” Kolliopoulos, a cancer nanotechnology postdoctoral fellow who is directly involved in Rice’s contributions to the initiative. “That’s where tissue engineering and regenerative medicine comes in.”

To accomplish that vision, the federal government’s Personalized Regenerative Immunocompetent Nanotechnology Tissue program is bringing together a network of researchers, including bioengineer Antonios Mikos and his team at Rice.

The PRINT program, funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, was designed to bring together universities, industry partners and regulatory experts to accelerate the development of bioprinted, patient-speci c organs.

Kolliopoulos, a fellow in Mikos’ lab, said Rice is part of a multi-institutional collaboration, initiated in late 2025 and led by the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine. They have been awarded funding from the program over ve years to develop bioprinted kidney tissue.

Fox said the new commons is envisioned as a “more modern, exible and accessible space” for Will Rice student life, while renovations to Old Dorm will aim to improve accessibility, energy e ciency, preservation and student experience.

Speed said the new commons building will extend farther towards Baker College and be connected to the renovated Old Dorm, with an updated college coordinator’s o ce and mail room.

The Improvements Committee is coming up with new ideas for the commons space to be communicated with the architectural team, including additional storage spaces like an above-ground bike room, Speed said.

Will Rice sophomore Grace Yang said she

The program’s structure is roughly two years of research and development followed by three years focused on clinical translation and manufacturing scale-up.

For regenerative medicine, that is an accelerated timeline.

“It is unprecedented,” Kolliopoulos said.

Technologies in tissue engineering, she said, o en take upward of 20 years to move from laboratory discovery to patient use. The PRINT program is intended to shorten that arc.

Their current project aims to engineer biomaterials that allow for the kidney’s key function of ltration.

This will be a challenge due to the kidney’s complex, coordinated microenvironments and uid dynamics, but Kolliopoulos said the need for advancement is acute.

hopes the new commons space can have the same atmosphere as the current one.

“I feel like a lot of people would like it to stay this kind of vibe, not a really modern one,” Yang said.

Beyond commons, Old Dorm will be renovated to include more communal spaces similar to those of New Dorm, like lounges, a computer room, and a music room, Speed said.

Wiktop said the people at Will Rice appreciate the small college feel, but there is some room for updates as well.

“Old Dorm has been in great need of refurbishment for years, and as the smallest college in enrollment and beds, it’s likely time to expand a little,” Wiktop wrote.

Will Rice sophomore Eric Grun said he’s worried the administration is removing party spots on campus. Old Dorm includes Perch,

According to organ donation statistics from the Health Resources and Services Administration, 86% of more than 103,000 people on the U.S. national transplant waitlist are awaiting a kidney. Each day, thirteen people die while waiting for an organ transplant.

Also central to PRINT’s vision is personalization, given that organ size and cellular behavior di er from patient to patient.

“These materials will not be one size ts all,” Kolliopoulos said. “By leveraging the patient’s own cells and understanding the patient’s needs, we will be able to tailor the implants.”

Rice’s contribution lies in those biomaterials. The Mikos lab will develop bioinks from kidney tissue that has been processed to remove cells — the main triggers

the balcony space of a private room where parties are o en hosted.

“What I’ve been hearing is they’re getting rid of Lovett basement, Lovett Sundeck, all of that is going to be gone,” Grun said. “[It’s the] same idea with this, with the new buildings they’re creating, with Chao College and the New Lovett building.”

Lovett President Ayush Suresh con rmed that the college’s basement and sundeck will be closed o to students.

“I am not sure exactly what they’re doing for sundeck, but Dean Gorman has told me that ‘it’s going away,’” Suresh said.

Dean of Undergraduates Bridget Gorman did not respond to the Thresher’s request for comment.

Speed said she hopes that Will Rice renovations can keep as much of the college’s character as possible.

of immune rejection — while preserving its native composition.

When most people think of 3D printing, Kolliopoulos said, they imagine polymerbased plastics extruded layer-by-layer to produce rigid objects. In contrast, a bioink implies the “ink” for the printer contains cells.

Printing with living cells introduces challenges that plastic does not. Kolliopoulos said the material must be so enough to resemble real tissue — in the case of kidneys, roughly the consistency of gelatin.

Kidneys must also be hydrated enough to allow oxygen and nutrients to di use through the structure so embedded cells can survive. At the same time, a kidney must retain its shape during and a er printing.

The Mikos lab’s experience in developing 3D-printable inks and tissue-mimicking biomaterials is supported by the Biomaterials Lab, a core facility housed on the BioScience Research Collaborative’s sixth oor.

Uday Jammalamadaka, the lab’s manager, supports the PRINT project by providing access to equipment and technical guidance. Mikos’ lab has decades of experience designing biomaterials for tissue engineering, which uniquely positions them to contribute to the kidney e ort.

“Dr. Mikos is a world leader in biomaterials for bone and cartilage,” Kolliopoulos said. “Rice’s contribution to this e ort is pivotal as the success of the implant will be dictated by its physiological relevance and structural integrity.”

“The architect team that we’re working with has an architect who speci cally works on historical buildings, so hopefully the focus in Old Dorm will be trying to preserve and renew as many of the spaces that we have as opposed to trying to gut the whole thing and start afresh,” Speed said.

Looking forward, Yang said she hopes to see preserved spaces and atmosphere.

“I think the two most important points are party culture and just keeping a homey vibe,” Yang said.

For Speed, the main focus for Will Rice is to pinpoint what is essential to them as a college.

“I think the biggest emphasis is that we just want to make sure the new space still feels like home,” Speed said. “This is a really big project that has been a long time coming, but I think it’s one that will really bene t us in the long run.”

Bridge dating app to o er ‘intentional’ dating experience

LILLY WU FOR THE THRESHER

While walking by the path between Brochstein Pavilion and Fondren Library, students might nd themselves being stopped by a fellow student asking a simple question: “What do you think women want in a relationship?”

That student is Hanszen College freshman and Marriage Pact coordinator Saul Brauns. Since October 2025, he has been focused on creating Bridge, a dating app he said prioritizes intentional, meaningful connections. Bridge is set to launch on Feb. 28.

Through his experience researching existing dating apps, Brauns said he found that most platforms emphasize quantity over quality, overwhelming users with so many options that real matches feel less meaningful.

“The problem I see with modern dating apps is endless swiping,” Brauns said. “You have in nite choices, in nite options and people end up using the apps for volume dating, so they go on many rst dates and very few h dates.”

Armed with nothing but a folding table, a whiteboard, a tripod and optimism, Brauns set out to x romance. He said he spent a few a ernoons at a table in the walkway between Brochstein Pavilion and Fondren, lming student interviews and testing out ideas. Curious students stopped and shared their thoughts on modern dating, o ering takes such as “you can never be friends with someone you loved.”

Over two a ernoons, he invited students to ll out an anonymous matching form and spin a wheel with dollar amounts as the funding for the date with their assigned match. In one experiment, Brauns coordinated a blind date between two randomly selected women and two randomly selected men, capturing the setup in an Instagram reel.

Students gather at singles pub, advertised as an alternative to Marriage Pact by

says is an intentional way.

“The blind date was really interesting,” said Ashton Kellogg, a McMurtry College freshman. “It was de nitely nothing like I have ever done before.”

Brauns said he designed Bridge around one idea: deliberate, one-to-one connection. Instead of swiping through random pro les, Bridge limits your options to people your community believes you would click with. If a certain number of people agree on another user being a good match for you, that user then shows up on your feed where you make the nal decision on if you want to chat with them or not.

A er entering the chat with someone, Bridge restricts all variations of words relating to asking someone out. Instead,

Soccer conference examines FIFA impact

She brings her medals to every speaking engagement to showcase the power of resilience in the face of adversity, she said.

one must send an audio message to make a proposal, which Brauns said prevents people from hiding behind texts perfectly curated by their roommates.

“I want to promote intentional dating, where it’s one match at a time,” Brauns said. “If you are chatting with someone, you can only chat with one person at the time, and you are removed from the matchmaking pool.”

To build the app, Brauns recruited Sid Richardson College freshmen Oneal Wang and Aarav Rajeev Gupta and Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani sophomore Utkarsh Singh to handle the coding and development. Brauns said business professor Remington Tonar served as a mentor for the team, helping them with the strategy for their

beta launch at Rice.

The Bridge team hosted their rst major event, a campuswide singles night, on Feb. 6 at Pub at Rice. Advertised as a redemption for disastrous Marriage Pact experiences, the event aimed to help students “play their cards right.”

Attendees were matched with others in seven di erent rounds based on their responses to a short questionnaire. Hanszen freshman Izzy Leyton was among the attendees at the Bridge Pub event.

“From this experience, I hoped to make new friends and meet new people at the very least,” Leyton said. “I feel like at Rice, with our busy schedules, sometimes it’s hard to meet people and get into the dating scene.”

Between expert roundtable discussions and keynote speeches featuring prominent gures in the soccer world, “The World at Play: The Beautiful Game in 2026” conference at Rice examined soccer’s broader implications worldwide.

Organized by the School of Humanities and the Arts, the two-day event was held at the BioScience Research Collaborative on Feb. 6 and 7.

Caroline Fache, one of the event organizers, said the conference was free to attract a diverse audience, including students, professors and the public.

“Rice is a knowledge-producing institution,” said Fache, an associate professor of French studies. “We are planted in the middle of a community [and the] institution has a responsibility towards its surroundings.”

For the rst time, three nations — Canada, Mexico and the U.S. — will jointly host the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with seven matches coming to Houston. Rice was recently named one of the o cial host city supporters, the only higher education institution to receive this title.

Briana Scurry, former goalkeeper for the U.S. women’s national soccer team, delivered the event’s rst keynote speech, which detailed the highs and lows of her journey. A two-time Olympic gold medalist, Scurry su ered a career-ending concussion in 2010.

“I went from this woman who was arguably the best goalkeeper in the world … to barely recognizing myself in the mirror,” Scurry said.

Struggling to a ord medical treatment, Scurry said she pawned her Olympic gold medals and experienced a period of depression. It was not until she met her wife, whom Scurry said helped her reclaim her medals, that she was able to begin the journey to recovery.

Today, Scurry is an advocate for traumatic brain injury awareness and prevention.

“They are a symbol of all my hard work, and the hard work of everybody who ever cared about me,” Scurry said.

Luján Stasevicius, director of language instruction, attended three panels and said she appreciated the interdisciplinary dialogue about soccer and sports, something most people may not think about.

Stasevicus said she was inspired by the presentation about Genuine Cup, a global soccer tournament for athletes with intellectual and develxopmental disabilities.

“Through sports, you can actually work on inclusion, because inclusion is not only incorporating people,” Stasevicius said. “It’s making people feel like they belong.”

Brenda Elsey, a history professor at Hofstra University, said power dynamics are present in sports, evident in the sexual harassment case of the Under-17 Colombian women’s team, and are closely tied to systemic abuse.

“You can go and read the Epstein les, and you’ll nd much of the same behavior, which is a link between nancial impropriety and a lack of regulation and the desire to exploit women and children,” said Elsey, the author of Futbolera: A History of Women and Sports in Latin America.

Jacqueline Couti, an event organizer, said the roundtables served to illuminate incidents of internal corruption in FIFA and national soccer federations, such as nancial scandals and patterns of sexual abuse.

“At one point, you just have to say no to power,” said Couti, chair of the department of modern and classical languages, literatures and cultures. “The best way to say no to power is to expose power.”

An important component of the conference was the built-in time for audience members to ask questions, Fache said. “There is an elitism in academia,” Fache said. “It’s important to have these conversations not just amongst ourselves but with other people.”

EDITORIAL

Administrative oversight threatens authentic Rice traditions

Rice is a university that prides itself on tradition. Beer Bike. Baker 13. Commons culture. These are not side notes to the Rice experience; they are central to it.

But as buildings shi and cranes demolish, a question lingers: What is happening to the social spaces that make Rice feel like Rice?

As buildings shift and cranes demolish, a question lingers: What is happening to the social spaces that make Rice feel like Rice?

Lovett College’s relocation means the Lovett sundeck — a deeply embedded social venue — will disappear. The

sundeck has hosted everything from casual hangouts to some of the most memorable nights of students’ college lives.

With the upcoming renovations at Will Rice College impacting Old Dorm, students could also lose Perch, one of the most recognizable and heavily used party spaces on campus. Perch is the site of birthdays, college nights, spontaneous gatherings and so many more memories of bonding. The absence of Perch and Lovett sundeck will not be trivial.

Theoretically, these spaces can be replaced. Buildings age, and infrastructure must be replaced. Yet the cumulative effect here is undeniable: Rice is steadily erasing the informal, student-run spaces that sustain campus social life.

And the losses extend beyond physical renovations as well.

Chao College, Rice’s newest residential

college, represents an opportunity for students to build traditions from scratch.

Party culture at Rice is not merely about parties, it’s about community formation. It is about the joyful weirdness that distinguishes Rice’s residential college life from a generic university experience.

That process should be a moment of un ltered creativity where students have the chance to invent rituals, events and identities organically.

Traditions are fragile because they are unscripted. They thrive on experimentation, absurdity and the kind of harmless chaos that’s the touchstone of many college experiences.

Party culture at Rice is not merely about parties; it’s about community formation. It’s about the joyful weirdness that distinguishes Rice’s residential college life from a generic university experience.

Students and the Student Association acknowledged this tension. The creation of a Commission on Parties and Traditions signals the potential that students will make sure that Rice’s social infrastructure will be fought for.

Rice should change with the times, but it must make sure not to sanitize the spontaneity, creativity and social energy that defines student life. Growth should not come at the expense of fun, and renovations should not mean cultural obliteration.

Global chats: What I learned from physical therapy

VALERIA REVATTA THRESHER STAFF

I’m lying on my stomach on top of a table. I hear people around me doing their slow exercises and physical therapists talking to their patients. The fan above me hums, computer monitors beep and the news plays on the TV in the background.

My eyes feel heavy and dry as a towel lies on my back. I wait for the needle to come through my spine.

Suddenly, I feel a sharp burn. I twitch as a needle as thin as a hair slowly slides into my skin. It penetrates all the layers of tissue until I finally feel it sitting on top of my muscle. Then, a second needle goes in, and an electric burn radiates from the bottom to the top of my spine. I desperately gasp for air and clench my teeth. Breathe, I tell myself. But then, as the electrical pulses start, it feels like someone is snapping a million rubber bands on my central nervous system. I fight to keep the scream inside.

For a moment, I panic. I want it to stop. But I persist as my head sinks onto the pillow. I cannot think of anything but the pain. My nerves are immobilized by two microneedles.

As I force myself to focus on my breath, I lie on the table for five infinitely long minutes. But as the tight muscle knots begin to relax, the tension in my mind starts to dissipate.

I’ve been in physical therapy for two months now. While it has been both physically and mentally tough, I’ve learned something from this journey.

It all started when I had a back injury in gymnastics about a year ago, which prevented me from walking properly for a while. After receiving anti-inflammatory injections and resting for several months, my back was back to normal again. However, after coming to Rice and spending excruciating hours in the archi studio sitting with the worst posture imaginable, the pain returned.

Living with the pain was uncomfortable. I always felt a strange numb weakness in my lower left side which made it a constant struggle to keep my balance or do any exercise. Walking,

sitting, standing — it all hurt.

I couldn’t take it anymore. So, after my visit with an orthopedist at the Texas Medical Center, I started going to physical therapy every Thursday at 7 a.m.

I love my physical therapy not only because I feel my back getting better, but also because it forces my mind to come back to earth and be present.

It’s a frustrating and challenging process. Not only do I have to fight my morning sleepiness, but the core exercises and dry needling used to treat my muscle trigger joints often fatigue me.

Physical therapy routines have been the only kind of exercise I’ve been able to do for weeks. I cannot do any heavy lifting or long runs — both of which I love. Plus, dealing with the healthcare system as an international student made everything even more stressful.

The process has also been mentally challenging because it forces my mind to slow down. In the sessions, I cannot think of anything but my lower back. Physical therapy requires me to relax and be present. For it to work, I must slow down.

This is the hardest part, because I can do anything but relax.

That is who I am. That is how my brain operates. It’s a beast. Obsessive. Compulsive. Controlling. I am always thinking about something. I never let myself breathe.

Yet, when I feel the triggering back pain, time slows down. As the knots in my muscles loosen, my stress dissipates.

After each session, my sore muscles force me to pay attention to each step. It creates an unexpected pause, a moment before the busyness of my day.

My advice, then, is whenever you feel the waves of stress rising from the bottom of your belly to the top of your head, stop

right there. Breathe. No matter what happens around you, what counts is how you react.

I love my physical therapy not only because I feel my back getting better, but also because it forces my mind to come back to earth and be present. However, I urge you not to wait for

something like this to happen. Slow down, not because you have to, but because you want to. Stop looking at your phone, stop eating rapidly and stop looking at your endless to-do lists. Just take a moment — and do so constantly. Oh, and, of course, take care of your posture.

Eye on accessibility: Pathways at Rice

Footpaths act as both aesthetic contributions to an environment and as invitations for individuals to shape their own journey.

For some, that journey is one of free choice and creativity in how to get from Point A to Point B. For others, especially for those with physical challenges or limitations, depending on the accessibility of the infrastructure, that choice is made for them.

In order to properly evaluate the accessibility of Rice’s current pathways and infrastructure, I explored Martel College, in addition to multiple academic buildings across campus.

The complex relationship between aesthetics and functionality is immediately obvious in the column-laden walkway of Figure One, located at Martel. While extending the sidewalk down the entire side of Martel is visually appealing, this decision restricts its functionality.

This sidewalk presents an immediate challenge for those who rely on mobility assistance devices like wheelchairs, walkers or even temporary crutches. The slim path is an obstacle.

Rice prides itself on creating a Culture of Care and has an opportunity to provide a more hospitable and less cumbersome experience for its disabled visitors. Ultimately, these changes are needed to make Rice more navigable and welcoming to all.

Moreover, the corridor seems to go on forever. For someone who needs mobility support, untraversable areas like the path pictured necessitate prioritizing the safety of the journey over the e ciency of travel, a discouraging reminder of just one of the many compromises students and visitors with disabilities might make.

As I was walking by Duncan Hall one weekend, I stopped to capture Figure Two. This photograph embodies one of the many ways a planned walkway can be

inaccessible for many pedestrians.

The lack of a cohesive structure makes the sidewalk dangerous even for ablebodied individuals. Anyone looking at their phone, chatting with a friend or simply enjoying Rice’s natural and architectural beauty could easily trip.

The haphazard arrangement of the stone slabs increases the risk of injury. This walkway highlights how improvements to campus infrastructure ensure the safety of everyone, beyond alterations centered on accessibility.

As I continued to look for areas that posed challenges for members of the Rice community with mobility aids, I had a revelation about the tree-covered area outside the Ralph S. O’Connor Building for Engineering and Science, the subject of Figure Three. Despite its aesthetic, accommodating appearance, the infrastructure features other issues.

Remembering the di culty my mom had when my grandma was in a wheelchair and her years of pushing strollers, it became suddenly evident to me how the trees proved hazardous.

While able-bodied individuals can simply walk around the trees, it is harder for wheelchair users to quickly maneuver around obstacles. The trees are also quite close together, and each rectangle of foliage is a hole a wheelchair tire could fall into and possibly get stuck. Again, it seems functionality and aesthetics are at odds.

Rice prides itself on creating a Culture of Care and has an opportunity to provide a more hospitable and less cumbersome

experience for its disabled visitors. Ultimately, these changes are needed to make Rice more navigable and welcoming to all.

Colette Minton is a Martel College freshman studying mechanical engineering. Colette’s experiences with physical and invisible disabilities give her unique insight into the shortcomings of Rice’s infrastructure. Through this column, she aims to spread awareness and improve accessibility at Rice.

Next week’s question:

How often do you use the Rec Center?

In “Senior published in Harvard Law Undergraduate Review, examines potential NCAA antitrust challenges” Moise is preparing for Powerli ing America Nationals.

“Old Lovett, new purpose: Why rising sophomores are caught in a housing policy transition” was written by Samantha Jameson. In “Old Lovett, new purpose: Why rising sophomores are caught in a housing policy transition,” Lovett will now house some students from Baker College as the two transition their housing years.

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The Rice Thresher, the official student newspaper of Rice University since 1916, is published each Wednesday during the school year, except during examination periods and holidays, by the students of Rice University.

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Rice alumni fuel Houston’s vibrant culinary scene

WILL PATEL FOR THE THRESHER

With a drive across town o ering anything from a bánh mì bright with pickled vegetables on a fresh baguette, to biryani perfumed with cardamom and sa ron, to brisket meltingly tender under a peppered crust, Houston boasts one of the most diverse food scenes in the country.

Rice alumni run some of the city’s acclaimed restaurants, bakeries and specialty shops. ChòpnBlok, owned by Ope Amosu, MBA ’14, was recently recognized by the New York Times as one of the Top 50 Restaurants in America. Amosu isn’t the only Rice alum shaping Houston’s culinary identity in distinctive ways.

burger-chan

Willet Feng ’06 and Diane Wu Feng ’07 met at Rice years before they married and opened burger-chan, a customizable burger restaurant featuring Asian avors. Following graduation, they brie y moved to Seattle, re-evaluated their career paths and eventually ended up in Austin, where Willet attended culinary school and Diane pursued a teaching certi cate.

A er moving back to Houston, Diane started working as a middle school math teacher, while Willet worked as a private chef for NBA Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady.

“It was cool, but I realized I didn’t want to keep being a personal chef,” Feng said. “I wanted to cook in someone else’s kitchen again to learn more, because you’re not really learning when you’re by yourself.”

Willet then began working at Oxheart, a nationally recognized ne dining restaurant. A er a year, the Fengs decided to move to China before settling down and having a family. Diane secured a teaching position in Shanghai, and Willet started a job at The Grumpy Pig, a restaurant he found by chance.

“A customer showed up at Oxheart and told Willet, ‘Hey, I’m leaving my job in Shanghai as an executive chef, do you want it?’” said Wu Feng.

The couple moved back to Houston in 2015, and Willet looked to open a Southeast Asian restaurant. He said it was tough to rent a space without ownership experience, so they bought out a burger stand in the Greenway Plaza underground food court, rst named Kuma Burgers, which soon became burger-chan.

Although he hadn’t intended to open a burger spot, Feng said the Greenway Plaza location o ered low rent and steady o ce foot tra c. He used the format to incorporate avors from his time in Asia and restaurant training.

“The sambal mayo that we have with fermented shrimp paste is a nod to Singapore, where I spent two years in boarding school,” Feng said. “In Shanghai, I inherited a lot of recipes. Our scallion aioli was a conversion of another recipe. I didn’t really put a lot of thought into it. And it ended up being our most popular sauce.”

While Willet experimented with new avors, Diane brought her experience teaching middle school math to the front of house.

“Even though we have a lot of knowledge, we have to break it down for our audience,” said Wu Feng. “I wanted to bring that level of service and hospitality to the restaurant. You should get the same experience, because at the end of the day, everyone’s coming to have a good meal and a good time.”

Diane also added the burger-chan board, a chalkboard with a math problem or word scramble for customers to solve

while in line.

“We had all these paper menus, and I, as a teacher, just don’t throw anything away. I took our scratch paper and put a puzzle at the beginning of the line,” said Wu Feng. “Fridays tended to be our busiest, and the wait time would go up. I would make the question harder because you have more time to do it … and you’re less likely to think, ‘How long is my food taking?’”

When COVID-19 hit and office workers began working remotely, Wu Feng said the building was too empty to sustain the business. burger-chan closed in Greenway Plaza in 2020 and reopened in a brick-and-mortar location in the Galleria area in 2022.

The new location has continued to earn annual recognition from the Houston Chronicle as one of Houston’s Top 100 Restaurants. In 2025, the Fengs stepped back from burger-chan’s day-to-day operations and started Borrowed Goods, a pop-up concept that collaborates with other kitchens across the city.

At the end of the day, everyone’s coming to have a good meal and a good time.

Diane Wu Feng

RICE ALUMNA AND BURGER- CHAN FOUNDER

The couple said they plan to move to Taipei in the summer, and their next chapter remains undecided.

“People keep asking, ‘Where are you going?’” Wu Feng said. “What’s funny is we don’t really know. We have a list of possibilities based on how things pan out.”

Houston Dairymaids

While at Rice, Lindsey Schecter ’99 worked at the Daily Review Cafe, a bistro-style spot owned by Claire Smith ’87. After graduation, she moved to New York City to work as a chef and write for a food publication, a path that eventually led her to open Houston Dairymaids, a cheese shop.

“They kept assigning me cheese articles,” Schecter said. “It was the rst sign of where I needed to end up. Between meeting cheese people through the

magazine and sourcing cheeses for the restaurants I was working at, my interest started to develop.”

Schecter opened a restaurant in Maine, where she continued to source cheese. Fascinated by the cra , she went to work at Neal’s Yard Dairy, a top cheese purveyor in London, and decided she wanted to bring a similar model to Houston.

“I did no research before moving back to Texas to see if anyone was making cheese here,” Schecter said. “Thankfully, they were, and I made relationships we still maintain 20 years later.”

Houston Dairymaids rst started as a wholesale business, but soon opened to retail customers as well, Schecter said.

“We started warehouse hours on Fridays and Saturdays, and people showed up,” Schecter said. “Then, people just started showing up any day and knocking. We decided to commit to opening up a retail shop, which has been so much fun.”

Schecter said the demand for cheese quickly outpaced what Texas was producing. Houston Dairymaids began working with cheesemakers in other states, and now sources from all over the world. The shop carries more than 150 cheeses and supplies to numerous businesses across Texas.

“I love the way the food scene operates here,” Schecter said. “It’s so nice how supportive the chefs are of each other and of folks like farmers and vendors.”

Magnol French Baking

On Fridays and Saturdays, Houston Dairymaids o ers fresh bread from Magnol French Baking, co-owned by Krissy White, MBA ’23.

White met her husband, a pastry chef, in Half Moon Bay, California, while working in hotel management. After moving to Houston, they spoke with friends in the restaurant industry who said the city needed better artisan bread. Like Houston Dairymaids, Magnol started as a wholesale operation before adding a retail front.

“When we were buying equipment to open the business, one of the pieces of equipment that we purchased really early on was a sheeter to make laminated dough for croissants,” White said. “We had an idea that maybe within a year or 18 months, we could go ahead and start introducing them, but we didn’t make it more than three months before guests

were knocking on the door.”

A er co-founding the bakery, White primarily worked at an insurance company to maintain a stable source of income. White earned her Executive MBA from Jones Business School in 2023 and transitioned to working at Magnol fulltime in Sept. 2025. She said the program gave her the con dence to commit to the bakery and lead the holiday rush.

“We will produce a week’s worth of product in one day for pre-orders,” White said. “We have 250 or 300 pre-orders the day before Thanksgiving and Christmas, and the store is open, selling to 300 more guests. We made it really excellent; no one waited more than 15 minutes.”

Goodnight Hospitality

Magnol provides bread to several of Goodnight Hospitality’s concepts, where Sean Cowan ’10 works as Director of Operations.

Cowan studied architecture at Rice and stayed on a er graduation to work in fundraising for the Rice Annual Fund.

Drawn to creative problem-solving, Cowan entered the restaurant hospitality industry and began at Uchi, a critically acclaimed Japanese restaurant, in 2018.

Six years later, Cowan joined Goodnight Hospitality, a Houston-based restaurant group with four concepts, including March, a Michelin-starred Mediterranean restaurant.

I love the way the food scene operates here. It’s so nice how supportive the chefs are of each other and of folks like farmers and vendors.

Lindsey Schecter

HOUSTON DAIRYMAIDS FOUNDER

“My role is to be a connector between the chefs, partners, owners and the general managers in the restaurant every day,” Cowan said. “I look at ways for the restaurants to complement one another, to make sure … that lessons learned in one business can quickly be applied elsewhere.”

March changes its menu every six months, focusing on a di erent region along the Mediterranean coastline. While the chefs close the restaurant to shi the menu, Cowan said the hospitality team prepares extensively for the rollout.

“We spend nearly two full weeks retraining the sta , covering the culture, language, history and ingredients, tasting every component and pairing and discussing the story we’re trying to tell about that region,” Cowan said.

Once March re-opens, Cowan said there is a focus on the guest experience and acknowledging small details.

“It could be a server seeing that somebody’s le -handed, shi ing how they place silverware and aspects of the service later in the meal,” said Cowan. “It could be recalling if someone prefers Pellegrino or room temperature tap water on a future visit. These little e orts go a long way for somebody to feel comfortable and taken care of quickly.”

Cowan said there is more focus on collaboration than competition in the city’s food industry.

“Houston is an incredible place for someone to grow and evolve as a person and as a professional,” Cowan said. “I love that we’re working together and solving problems in the food scene and not xated on the boundaries between us.”

ACROSS

ed

Hugs and kisses, abbr.

Attractive but dumb man

Jacob’s twin

Multiracial, or a hint to decode this puzzle’s themed entries

Component of Miss Mu et’s meal

Frisbee alternative

Monterrey Mrs. Actress Aishwarya

Chase originating in equestrian sport

Repeated musical phrases

Feels elated

Finnish Lakeland city

Sport with physical barriers

Hilo

Marriage Pact matching program sees record-breaking engagement on campus

SOPHIE GARLICK THRESHER STAFF

When Marriage Pact opened for its fourth year at Rice in January, the platform had officially earned senior status and senior-level popularity, drawing over 2,600 responses within days of its release.

Drawing from the longstanding trope that two friends will marry if they’re single at 30, Marriage Pact quantifies the ‘safety net’ by using data to match students with their ideal backup plan. Students sign up for the platform by entering their email and filling out a survey on their various relationship preferences. Marriage Pact then matches each student with another whose responses reflect the best compatibility with them.

Saul Brauns, a Rice Marriage Pact coordinator, said the platform’s popularity stems from its ability to solve the “cold open” problem.

“It’s really hard for people to reach out, even if there’s someone you want to talk to, but Marriage Pact makes it easy to get that first interaction going,” said Brauns, a Hanszen College freshman.

Brauns said participation is particularly enticing on a smaller campus where it feels as if every social interaction carries more weight.

“If you’re on a really large campus, you can reach out to someone, have them reject you and never see them again,” Brauns said. “Here, there’s the fear that you’re gonna walk by them or they may even be in your residential college, someone you couldn’t get away from, even if you wanted to.”

Nakula Prabakaran, a Wiess College sophomore, said this intimacy can be a double-edged sword when the results of Marriage Pact finally drop.

“It’s a fun way to meet new people, but it can be frustrating when you’re matched with someone you’re already familiar with,” Prabakaran said.

Callum Flemister, a Rice Marriage Pact team member, said the platform is designed to aid in students’ expansion

beyond their everyday social circles.

“Sometimes we get very locked into our major, our classes and our residential college,” Flemister said. “This was just giving another environment to get that interaction.”

The Marriage Pact was started in 2017 by students at Stanford University and is customized locally. Acting as an intermediary, the Rice team selects specific questions to ensure they align with the student body.

“I remember thinking about, as students, how we enjoy student life,” Flemister said. “I think this year it felt a little more short-term because the questions were more about college life ideals, whereas past years leaned more

toward long-term compatibility.”

Beyond personalization, the Rice Marriage Pact team also facilitates outreach, ensuring the survey reaches as many students as quickly as possible.

“Really, the core of it comes down to making it feel as if you’re being barraged on your phone from all angles,” Brauns said. “You should be getting personal texts from friends. You should check Fizz and see Marriage Pact.”

Flemister said the speed at which the survey spreads is a byproduct of how closely students are already linked.

“Everyone is, like, seven degrees separated at most,” Flemister said. “At Rice, you’re maybe one degree separated from any given person.”

This year, that outreach was further aided by a new feature allowing users to compare compatibility with friends via a personal survey link. Both Brauns and Flemister attribute the record-breaking participation to this tool.

Miriam Shatto, a Brown College senior, however, said Rice’s tight-knit nature yields results that are more humorous than romantic.

“One of my roommates matched with my ex-boyfriend from middle school,” Shatto said. “It was funny just because it was unexpected; she came running and screaming into my room. What are the odds?”

Flemister recounted their own experience being matched sophomore year with someone already well within their circle.

“I think most of the time it’s like, ‘well, this is funny,’ especially when you get matched with someone you like, tangentially,” Flemister said. “I got matched with my [Orientation] Week sister, who’s in my same major, same minor and same friend group.”

Ultimately, Flemister said the platform is a way to facilitate any kind of connection — whether it’s a ‘pact’ or just a conversation.

Sometimes we get very locked into our major, our classes and our residential college. This was just giving another environment to get that interaction.

Callum Flemister

RICE MARRIAGE PACT COORDINATOR

“It’s just a fun way for students to interact with each other and generate interdisciplinary relationships,” Flemister said. “[Whether] that’s like, friendships, romantic relationships or just meeting new people.”

The reign of Mama Cat: The trials and tribulations of Lovett’s favorite feline

appointments and monitor her health.

“This past semester, we noticed her coughing and sneezing a lot,” Kim said. “Ultimately, we were able to secure funding through Student Government, and I was able to ask other members of the Lovett community, from students to RAs, to coordinate transport to the veterinary facility and [make] sure that all of the payments were taken care of.”

Since Mama Cat frequently roams across Rice’s campus, the college uses an Apple AirTag on her collar to keep track of her location a er an incident where she disappeared for over a week.

“She came back just scared out of her mind,” Schwarz said. “[Parker] thinks there was a coyote or something that she encountered. Being one of the people that tries being very involved in Mama’s life, it’s de nitely scary.”

As Lovett prepares for a major transition with the completion of New Lovett next year, the college is currently making new arrangements for Mama Cat — whether it’s nding her an adopter or relocating her to the new building.

Schwarz, who is currently applying to graduate schools, plans to adopt Mama Cat when the time is right.

live in an apartment?” Osaki-Sensei said. “If it’s close to Rice, maybe she will try to come back and that could be dangerous, so that’s why I just don’t know how well that would really pan out.”

However, Osaki-Sensei said she’s willing to hear out di erent possibilities.

Op2km.

Mama Cat

LOVETT COLLEGE SENIOR

“I’m open to all kinds of ideas, if it’s good for Mama,” Osaki-Sensei said.

For Parker, a suitable future home for Mama Cat balances her proclivity for exploring the outdoors with her safety.

“I really think an ideal situation for her is something where she’s got somewhere at night that’s keeping her away from the coyotes and all of the cars and everything,” Parker said. “During the day, she could go out and roam the neighborhood.”

Meanwhile, when asked about her future plans, Mama Cat was more evasive.

“Op2km,” she wrote, walking across the keyboard of a Thresher reporter.

A picnic table loafer by day and a huntress by night, Lovett College’s Mama Cat is a cat of many meows and much mystery.

Over the past three years, she has become a campus celebrity and cherished hallmark of Lovett, adored by students and notoriously feared by rats, possums and baby rabbits. Her various escapades include an ominous deadrat-gi ing phase, numerous disappearing acts and a brief romantic stint with a gray tabby named Yung Grayby.

Mama Cat’s story at Rice began in December 2022, when former Lovett Resident Associates Stephanie Parker and Matthew Wells noticed a stray black cat roaming around the Lovett courtyard.

Having taken care of stray cats in the past, the couple began feeding the cat and slowly gained its trust from a distance.

“The plan was TNR — Trap, Neuter, Release — because we’ve done that in another state and at another place that we lived,” Parker said. “But life gets in the way; students came back and [Mama Cat] wasn’t around as much.”

Upon returning to campus from the spring break of 2023, Auggie Schwarz, a Lovett freshman at the time, noticed a commotion in the Lovett courtyard.

“There’s a little group gathered around the stairs,” said Schwarz, now a senior. “It’s Mama Cat with this bundle of six kittens all underneath, and they are the sweetest things.”

In addition to a litter of six wriggling kittens, the unnamed black cat also gained a name.

“Matt and I started calling her Mama Cat, and other students would call her Mama,” Parker said. “Before that, we didn’t call her much; she was just the cat whose heart we were trying to win.”

To create an action plan for taking care of the new feline family, Parker reached out to Houston Pets Alive, a local animal rescue where she had previously volunteered.

“The deal with them was we would pay for everything, but they would help us nd the kittens’ homes and take care of the kittens’ vet care,” Parker said. “We had a spare bedroom so Mama lived there with her kittens and we took care of them.”

Taking care of Mama and her kittens was a group e ort—students spread the word to prevent people from disturbing the kittens and created a Google Doc to track the kittens’ names.

“We did end up naming them all di erent kinds of rice because they’re the Rice litter,” Parker said. “[There was] Sushi Rice, Wild Rice and there was Basmati.”

Although not much is known about the

elusive Grayby — the stray cat from Baker College who is the father of the kittens — Parker said she recalled seeing him lurking around Lovett once.

“I looked over and Big Boy was creeping around [while] she was there, and I was thinking, ‘closed for business,’” Parker said. “This is not happening for you.”

Parker said Mama Cat still acted feral even a er giving birth, but Parker was determined to tame her and spent countless hours trying to get Mama Cat accustomed to her presence.

“I would go in the room, and she would climb up in a little corner in the room and hiss,” Parker said. “I had this stick, and I would pet her with a stick, because that’s what you’re supposed to do to get her comfortable with human touch.”

Eventually, all of the kittens were adopted through Houston Pets Alive, but Mama remained on campus, still maintaining her distance from humans.

Parker said that summer 2023 was a turning point. When she and Wells le for a month, Michael Gustin and Denise Klein, the Lovett magisters at the time, fed and played with Mama, a process that helped her come out of shell.

“A er getting xed, living in the house, seeing what life was like to be fed regularly, we came back and [she] wanted us to pet her,” Parker said. “It’s like that process just domesticated her.”

Alex Kim, a Lovett College junior, said Mama Cat’s transformation was evident over the years.

“She was very skittish my freshman year [and] there were many times where a student would approach her and she would scamper away,” Kim said. “But now there’s de nitely been a lot of students who have socialized her, and she’s very playful.”

Today, Mama Cat is deeply ingrained in the Lovett community, from sleeping in the mailroom when the weather becomes too cold to perennially appearing in the college’s merch and even having a dedicated GroupMe chronicling her antics.

“Rice is always about community and Culture of Care, and that has really extended out to her,” Schwarz said. “The college really took to her as a communal symbol for everybody to crowd around.”

Naoko Osaki-Sensei, a Lovett RA, said Mama Cat is universally loved across campus — even by students who are allergic to cats.

“Mama is a mama, so she takes care of humans too,” Osaki-Sensei said. “I feel like she’s our comfort animal, but I think we’re her comfort animals too.”

Having fostered cats in high school, Kim said he appreciated the opportunity to take care of Mama Cat upon arriving at Rice. Along with other students from Lovett, Kim helps coordinate Mama Cat’s veterinary

“I have one path I’m going, and so it’s just determining when she comes with me, whether that means she has to stay with someone before that,” Schwarz said. “She loves being indoors and she loves people, but what she really loves is attention.”

When considering the potential pathways

Schwarz views Mama’s trajectory as parallel to that of a college student.

“She’s a senior this year, and she’s graduating,” Schwarz said. “But it’s not that she won’t always have been a part of Lovett.”

Although the prospect of Mama leaving will alter Lovett culture, Parker said the college would naturally adjust along with the

Pub packed shoulder-to-shoulder for Battle of the Bands

NEELA RAVI THRESHER STAFF

Pub at Rice lled up like it was a themed Pub night as students piled in shoulder to shoulder to cheer for friends and strangers alike. The air was thick with anticipation before the rst guitar chord rang out. The familiar space was brie y transformed into a lively concert venue, headlining student bands showcasing their talent.

Battle of the Bands is a longstanding campus tradition hosted by ktru that gives student musicians the chance to perform for a live audience and compete for the opportunity to open for ktru’s Outdoor Show in March.

“There are so many people at Rice who play music, and rarely do they all come together in one place,” said Nicolas Cooker, a member of the two-man band Brokecat. “I’m nding out all these people that are in a band that I didn’t even know about. So I feel like it de nitely builds this community of all these di erent people who play music that otherwise wouldn’t be connected.”

The band Resco, which included Ricky Miller, Miles Gantcher, Poema Sumrow, Kyle Knightly and Astrid Allen, won the student vote to earn the coveted Outdoor Show spot. However, winning wasn’t the objective for some of the bands performing.

“We just want to show o ,” said Angela Chen, a member of the band Quarterlife Crisis. “We’re not meant to be the winner of this battle.”

The event is planned by ktru’s small concert directors, Joanna Stewart and Lily Harvey, who recruit student bands to perform, set up the venue and choose the theme of the event.

Stewart, a Martel College sophomore, and Harvey, a Baker College sophomore, said turnout for the event is unpredictable, but one aspect of Battle of the Bands they could count on was the support of the friends and

peers of the student performers.

“People have personal connections, so some of your attendance is sort of guaranteed, because they know the people in the bands and they want to come watch,” Stewart said.

Gantcher, the drummer for Resco, called Battle of the Bands the “nexus” of Rice’s music community.

“At Rice, the music people are very interconnected,” said Gantcher, a Martel College senior. “It’s a very small group, so it’s really nice to get us all in the same room.”

That sense of community was visible in how bands formed. Several of the bands performing were spontaneously formed anywhere from two weeks to one month before the event. The student band Brokecat consisted of two Orientation Week siblings who played music together recreationally but formed a band two weeks ago for Battle of the Bands.

“One of my favorite things about [Battle of the Bands] is that it gave us a deadline,” said Cooker, a Martel sophomore. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t be playing together. This band wouldn’t have formed if there wasn’t a Battle of the Bands.”

At

Rice, the music people are very interconnected. It’s a very small group, so it’s really nice to get us all in the same room.

Miles Gantcher DRUMMER FOR RESCO

Another band, Quarterlife Crisis, was formed by their lead singer, Jack Lee, through a conversation in North Servery with his friends who decided to form the band to “support his quarter-life crisis.”

“I was strolling around North Servery,

trying to get lunch, and for some reason, I just joined this conversation of them forming a band,” said James Wu, the guitarist in Quarterlife Crisis.

While some bands came together just weeks before the show, established bands saw the show as a chance to perform in front of Rice students speci cally, rather than an audience of strangers.

“I’m in a band at home,” said Miller, the guitarist in Resco. “But I’ve never experienced playing in front of people at Rice. I came to [Battle of the Bands] last year, and I was like, ‘Man, I really want to be up there.’ So I thought it was cool to be able to do it this year.”

Igneous is Bliss, a band made entirely of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences students, bonded over their shared love of music to perform environmental science

parodies of popular songs.

“Being able to spend time in rehearsal with my EEPS buddies is really special,” said Ainsley Ganti, the guitarist of the band. “We’ll play ‘Starships’ [by Nicki Minaj] a lot in rehearsal, and just ripping around in the music room is a lot of fun.”

This camaraderie during rehearsals carries onto the stage, making Battle of the Bands a space that gives students a chance to reconnect with music simply for the joy of it and spend time with their friends.

“I was actually talking with one of the band members of Resco and she was like, ‘Tapping back into the music at Battle of the Bands is the most fun I’ve had in a long time,’” Stewart said. “I think that’s what I hope people are able to nd through this, just being able to bring their art to campus and share with other people.”

Houston Grand Opera wins Grammy for ‘Intelligence’

COURTESY

HOUSTON GRAND OPERA

how much it would mean for Houston.”

world to as many people as possible.”

Recording the opera was part of a broader transformation in how HGO thought about its audience.

“During the pandemic, we shifted our thinking to how we’re going to serve constituents — not just in our theaters, but online and in different spaces,” Dastoor said. “The recording was meant to give the piece documentation, a record, because we believed it had that level of artistic merit.”

For soprano Janai Brugger, who performed as Mary Jane Bowser in “Intelligence,” the Grammy ceremony was a deeply personal experience. Attending with her mother, partner and son, Brugger said the night was overwhelming and surreal.

to be who we are,” Dastoor said. “It’s a story a lot of people didn’t know, myself included, until I worked on the piece.” Brugger echoed that sentiment and said the relevance of the opera’s themes goes beyond its historical setting.

“It’s important to know your history,” she said. “These stories shape how we understand the present, and they help ensure we don’t repeat the past.”

Dastoor said the Grammy win also gives HGO a chance to reach new audiences.

LINA KANG THRESHER STAFF

On Feb. 1, the Houston Grand Opera proudly brought home the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording for the opera “Intelligence.” This was HGO’s first Grammy win since they won Best Contemporary Composition for “Nixon in China” 37 years ago.

“We were so thrilled to bring this one home to Houston,” said HGO General Director and CEO Khori Dastoor. “I just thought of all the people who came together to make this project happen, a really special group of folks, and I knew

The “Intelligence” recording that was victorious at the Grammys was recorded during a live performance of the world premiere of the opera in 2023.

“It was one of our first projects out of COVID,” Dastoor said. “Now, years later, to see it really enter the canon in this way and have this acknowledgement is going to be wonderful for the opera.”

Dastoor said the goal of the recording was access and preservation.

“You never do something because you want to win a Grammy,” she said. “We decided to record this because we wanted to get the piece out into the

“It’s something I’ve dreamed about for many, many years,” Brugger said. “Our category was right at the end. I started to get extremely nervous; I felt like I had to go sing on stage, that’s how nervous I was. It took me a second to realize they called us. My partner, my mom, my son, they jumped up screaming. I was just trying not to trip while walking down the aisle in my heels.”

Both Brugger and Dastoor said the opera’s plot was one reason the win mattered. “Intelligence” tells the story of Elizabeth Van Lew and Mary Jane Bowser, two women whose intelligence work during the Civil War has o en been le out of mainstream historical narratives.

“It’s a story that needs to be told about our nation’s history and how we came

“If you love opera, then you probably know Houston Grand Opera, but if you don’t love opera, you probably know what a Grammy is,” she said. “It reaches a broad audience, and that gives us the opportunity to initiate a relationship with folks across such a broad constituency.”

Audiences can listen to the Grammywinning recording of “Intelligence” on Apple Music Classical, Amazon Music and Spotify.

HGO is planning more albums, including Daniel Catán and Marcela Fuentes-Berain’s HGO-commissioned opera “Florencia en el Amazonas” in May, according to the HGO website.

Dastoor said that, even with the honor of a Grammy, the company’s mission remains the same.

“We’re producing world-class art every day,” she said. “The standard is Mozart. The standard is Verdi. It’s wonderful that this acknowledgement comes, but it doesn’t change our framework for how we do what we do.”

‘Terracotta Warriors’ on display at Houston museum

CORA WAREH THRESHER STAFF

An ancient Chinese army lies in wait a mere 17-minute walk from campus.

The Houston Museum of Natural Science is hosting “Terracotta Warriors,” a special exhibition of statues depicting the rst major Chinese army, until April 12.

The warriors’ journey from the Qin Dynasty China to modern Texas was long. In fact, it’s not unlikely that your paths have already crossed. A er coming to America, the army traveled along the I-10 to get to the museum. If you want to see them again, it’ll be $35 (or $20 for members).

The warriors were hidden for 1,000 years, but according to Dirk Van Tuerenhout, the HMNS curator of anthropology, “hidden” doesn’t imply that anyone was looking, because archaeologists didn’t have a way to know there was something there. In fact, discovery is o en accidental — in 2003, farmers stumbled on 27 inscribed vessels that are now on display.

“The terracotta warriors were never meant to be found,” Van Tuerenhout said.

There is a deep intentionality when it comes to assembling both the physical artifacts and the historical narratives they represent. Van Tuerenhout said the area that enclosed the warriors is similar in size to the area enclosing the Saturn V rocket in the NASA Space Center.

“It takes an entire army of scientists, archaeologists and people working in the labs, photography,” Van Tuerenhout said.

“Humpty Dumpty on the ground, Humpty Dumpty being put back together again.”

The warriors, who carry real weapons, weren’t made for the general public: They were buried with Emperor Qin Shi Huang to protect him. The warriors might have succeeded in giving would-be intruders pause for a few centuries, but now their role is di erent: Recent ndings in Shaanxi change how modern scholars reckon with ancient Chinese history.

“Traditional view that complex statelevel societies arose in the Central Plains has been replaced by a new notion: they arose further north, and earlier than assumed,” a HMNS display reads.

Some guests, Van Tuerenhout said, are interested in the nitty-gritty details of the warriors’ history, while others nd all the details the exhibit presents confusing. The exhibit also includes an interactive digital display where you can view a warrior as it would have originally been: in color.

Joining the warriors in the emperor’s grave was a pit of bronze waterfowl. The waterfowl also appear in the HMNS exhibit, along with roof tile ends decorated with animal and ower motifs, horse ornaments (or “bling,” as Van Tuerenhout puts it), jade axe heads and jewelry from the late Neolithic period. A physical panorama representing the creation process of the warriors also accompanies the exhibit.

O en, the bodies and armor of mass-produced sculptures would be standardized, but each warrior has a unique face and hairstyle. It’s an open

question whether or not the people who made the warriors were enslaved, Van Tuerenhout said.

“When we talk about big projects a lot of times, say for the Egyptian pyramids, the traditional point of view from the general public is that they were all slaves, and now [we’re learning] they were not,” Van Tuerenhout said. “There were people who were brought in … that was how they paid their taxes. Is that the same here or not? I personally don’t know.”

Despite researchers’ best e orts, Van Tuerenhout said, much of the warriors’ history remains unknown.

“When we don’t know the purpose of a particular object, there is this one word that is typically used by anthropologists and archaeologists: It must have been used for ceremonial purposes,” Van Tuerenhout said.

The terracotta warriors call on museumgoers to consider how future archaeologists might reconstruct our stories, Van Tuerenhout said. He likened the process of guesswork to future archaeologists interpreting the logo of the Shell gasoline company.

“Maybe they’ll get as far as, ‘It looks like a shell. What is this, a seafood place?’”

Van Tuerenhout said. “Who knows, right? And if you don’t know, then it must be mysterious, ceremonial.”

Even though it can be di cult to understand past generations, Van Tuerenhout said there are clues.

The sole of one warrior’s right boot

is given extreme detail, despite the fact that this kneeling archer (labeled with the number 65), like his brothers-in-arms, wasn’t meant to be found.

“These soldiers were made to be buried and protect in the a erlife the emperor for sure,” Van Tuerenhout said. “But nobody was going to go, ‘Ooh, look at all the details they paid attention to.’ They knew that’s what it was. And I guess that was enough.”

From Shepherd to the world stage, Frank composes culture

SAXENA A&E EDITOR

Long before Gabriela Lena Frank ’94, ’96 became one of the most widely performed contemporary composers in the country, she was a student at Rice’s Shepherd School of Music navigating the same uncertainties as many young artists.

“I was four years for my undergrad, and then I stayed for my master’s, and I still work with the musicians I met as a freshman,” Frank said. “I cannot even qualify how important those six years were.”

Frank was recently named Musical America Worldwide’s Composer of the Year for 2026. She described the community she created at Rice as

MARCO GIANNAVOLA

something close to permanent.

“It’s a second family,” Frank said. “It’s really long and enduring.”

Frank said she remembers her undergraduate years as a period marked by both ambition and anxiety.

“We were all freaking out,” Frank said. “Were we going to be able to support ourselves? Were we going to have work?”

That perspective, Frank said, has since shaped how she advises students entering similarly competitive fields.

Rather than attempting to cultivate every possible connection, she encourages young artists to focus their energy more deliberately.

“[I tried to] keep the quality really high with the people where I felt like I

could be my most excellent self,” Frank said. “You’re actively building your life, and you’re probably going to be just fine if you don’t try to go at it alone.”

Frank said those relationships often become the foundation of artistic careers.

“You better look around,” Frank said. “You’re going to grow old together if you’re going into this profession.”

While Frank’s career has since taken her to major orchestras, ensembles and commissions around the world, certain artistic touchstones have remained constant, including an interest in Latin American cultural histories.

Frank’s most famous musical works — “Pachamama Meets an Ode,” “Concertino Cusqueño,” “La Centinela y la Paloma” and “El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego” — all have ties to Frank’s Latin American heritage. The latter two draw inspiration from the artist Frida Kahlo, who remains one of Frank’s biggest influences.

Growing up in California, Frank first encountered Kahlo through art books her mother brought home. Amid volumes on bookshelves dominated by European artists, Kahlo stood out.

“There was one woman and one brown woman,” Frank said.

Frank said she recalls feeling an early identification with Kahlo that extended beyond aesthetics. Her mother, she said, pointed to similarities between the two. Kahlo’s white European father mirrored Frank’s own family background, while Kahlo’s lifelong physical ailments, the result of a devastating bus accident, resonated with Frank’s experience of being born with hearing loss.

“There was a very kind of personal connection that I felt,” Frank said. “She was something of a model or a hero for me growing up.”

What captivated her most were Kahlo’s self-portraits, which Frank said she remembers as both unsettling and mesmerizing.

“She’s putting herself in these landscapes as if she’s an actor in all of these different worlds,” Frank said. “Many of them quite fantastical.”

Years later, those early impressions would evolve into one of Frank’s most

ambitious projects: an opera centered on Kahlo’s afterlife and artistic legacy titled “El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego.”

The work would eventually give rise to “Frida’s Dreams,” a string quartet distilled from the opera’s musical and emotional material. The quartet will premiere at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts on Feb. 20, with the full opera coming to the Metropolitan Opera in May.

“Frida’s Dreams” will be premiered by the Brooklyn Rider ensemble, which was a source of inspiration for Frank while composing the opera.

“I thought, wow, these guys are really theatrical, really dramatic,” Frank said. “What if I did a distillation of the opera for string quartet? How would that work?”

The process, she said, proved both demanding and invigorating.

“It was a really fun challenge,” Frank said. “A tricky challenge, but really fun.”

For Frank, Kahlo’s presence in the music is inseparable from questions of cultural memory, a theme that has long defined her work.

“If you don’t look at cultural memory and you don’t look at ancestry, you are not being faithful to artists like Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera,” she said.

Now returning to Houston for the premiere of “Frida’s Dreams,” Frank said Rice remains a community even after decades of composing and performing around the world.

“What has been wonderful is that, as my career blossomed … there are people planning to go to my opera that I haven’t seen in decades, and it’s beautiful,” Frank said.

Frank laughed as she recalled the specific memories that resurface alongside those reunions — residential colleges, shared experiences and campus traditions that refuse to fade.

“People that I knew at Will Rice College when I was there, I remember some of them doing Beer Bike,” she said. “What was the custom? You streak naked and shaving cream? Oh — Baker 13. Yeah, I mean, those people did that, and they’re coming to my opera.”

Review: Markiplier’s ‘Iron Lung’ makes waves in a blood ocean

It’s not o en for a non-Hollywood, individually nanced lm to make box o ce waves, but that’s exactly what “Iron Lung” has done.

“Iron Lung” is the passion project of Mark Fischbach, better known as Markiplier on YouTube. The movie is based on the video game of the same title. Fischbach played the video game on his YouTube channel in 2022, and he nanced, wrote and starred in the movie.

In the lm, humanity has been all but wiped out by the Quiet Rapture, a cosmic anomaly causing all planets and stars to vanish. The only remaining humans are the few who were aboard space stations and starships at the time of the rapture.

The lm centers around Simon, played by Fischbach. Simon is a convict who is forced to explore the moon AT-5, which is covered in an ocean of human blood. He explores the ocean in a primitive, rusty and welded-shut submarine nicknamed the Iron Lung.

Simon encounters various horrors, including technological failures, menacing creatures and a descent into madness as he traverses the blood ocean, searching for resources and a potential answer to humanity’s near-extinction.

As an independent lm, “Iron Lung” was limited by its budget, and at times, this is apparent. The vast majority of the lm takes place on the submarine, outside of the few ashbacks Simon encounters.

However, this setting adds to the claustrophobic and high-pressure environment of the lm, creating a sweaty feeling. It mostly works, but there are some scenes in which the submarine looks low quality.

Fischbach, the star of the lm, occupies every scene. He gives a very committed performance, and I was thoroughly impressed by his capability to emulate Simon’s mental decay.

The lm does a great job of capturing an eerie, unsettling feeling. Viewers, as well

as Simon, are limited by the technology of the submarine, as he cannot see outside into the ocean without the help of an X-ray camera. Without Simon pressing the button to capture a photo, there is no way to know what is outside the submarine, creating a suspenseful, in-the-dark essence that really works.

Where “Iron Lung” could not escape its nancial constraints, however, was in the audio design. It gets very murky at times, leaving exposition and important dialogue hard to follow. Likewise, having the submarine as the sole setting has its uses, but it also makes the two-hour runtime punishing.

The time between the exposition and the advancement of key plot points and world building gets a bit challenging to sit through. The set design was unconvincing at rst, appearing more low-quality and like that of a short lm, but over time, I grew accustomed to it.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the lm is what it represents. Fischbach made the lm for a modest $3 million, without the backing of any major studio. Yet, it proceeded to open second at the domestic box o ce, grossing over $21 million worldwide.

This is a seismic win for independent lmmaking that could usher in a new era of lm, where passion projects are more o en pursued, and audience connection trumps traditional marketing prowess.

“Iron Lung” is a refreshing take on lmmaking, and, even with nancial limitations, Fischbach delivers a passionate performance and surprisingly well-made project that is disrupting the traditional Hollywood pipeline.

Though somewhat awed, it is ambitious and still delivers, and I enjoyed my time aboard the “Iron Lung.”

Rec Center usage data reveals student workout habits

Data show the busiest and quietest times at the Gibbs Recreation and Wellness Center, as well as which colleges have the most or fewest students swipe into the rec.

JONAH TONTIPLAPHOL THRESHER STAFF

Excluding the occasional embarrassing instance in which it takes more than two tries to unlock the Gibbs Recreation and Wellness Center turnstiles, the act of “swiping in” to the gym is a mundane, frequently repeated and forgettable action.

Except those swipes are never fully forgotten. Just like with the serveries, the Rec keeps meticulous records of everyone who enters. This data, provided by Recreation Facilities Director Evan Stein, breaks down who uses the Rec and when.

In his report, Stein used the second full week of November 2025 to illustrate how swipes generally break down by user classi cation. Over this timeframe, there were 11,359 total card swipes. 66.3% of these swipes were undergraduate students, 18.6% were graduate students and the remaining 15.1% is made up by all other types of membership, such as faculty, sta or alumni.

Inside the category of undergraduate entries, the report further sorts swipes by

residential college. Within the month of October 2025, Duncan, Sid Richardson and Hanszen College students swiped in the most. Wiess, Martel and Brown Colleges had the least.

I would like to see more back machines, because those are always taken and you usually have to do a three-man rotation, maybe four sometimes. Andrei Jones

JONES

COLLEGE FRESHMAN

Brown has its own recently renovated gym and is the furthest geographically from the Rec, explaining why its students swipe into the Rec at the lowest rate. Not all college gyms are created equal, though. Despite having one of their own, Lovett College ranked in the middle of the pack by

October 2025 swipes.

“We have a gym in the basement, but the squat rack is kind of broken, so I don’t use it that much,” said Lovett freshman Thomas Wei.

Wei said he usually works out around 11 a.m. or 4 p.m. The latter of these times marks the beginning of the Rec’s peak hours. During the week of Jan. 11-17, the rst of this semester, the window of 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. saw 3,441 total swipes.

“I try to go as early as possible,” said Wiess freshman Rex Rutchik. “It’s most crowded between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., so I try to go before four or a er eight.”

Jones College freshman Andrei Jones said this late a ernoon congestion has increased because of an in ux of those with a New Year’s resolution to work out more.

“Around or in between classes, especially a er New Year’s, has been really busy,” Jones said.

Overcrowding is further compounded by misalignments in the supply of certain machines versus their level of demand.

“We have enough equipment, except for a couple machines, like the pec deck,”

Jones said. “We have, I think, four benches, which is nice because those are used a lot. I would like to see more back machines, because those are always taken and you usually have to do a three-man rotation, maybe four sometimes.”

Santiago McLaughlin, a Sid Richardson sophomore who works at the Rec, said he appreciates the facilities o ered by the tness center.

There are worse situations for college recreation centers.

Santiago McLaughlin SID RICHARDSON COLLEGE SOPHOMORE

“I can’t complain too much,” McLaughlin said. “There are worse situations for college recreation centers … It’s de nitely a lot better than my high school gym and has a lot more amenities.”

Baseball season takes flight at Reckling Park

CALEB CARROLL THRESHER STAFF

Rice baseball is ready to play.

Last weekend at Reckling Park, Rice triumphed 2-1 over Northwestern University in the first series of the regular season.

After a 17-40 finish to the 2025 season, the team is looking to improve this year. This season marks the first full year with head coach David Pierce, returning for his second stint with the Owls after coaching as an assistant from 2003-2011.

“He’s a fantastic coach,” said Derrick Ashlock, the father of sophomore outfielder Mason Ashlock. “He knows how to build a winner, and I think he’s done a great job developing players.”

Right from the get-go, he wanted to raise the standard. He wanted to certainly change the culture, and part of that was being tough and understanding what it takes to win.

Marco Fuentes SENIOR PITCHER

Senior pitcher Marco Fuentes said that Pierce’s veteran experience as a coach has also helped shift the attitude of the locker room.

“Right from the get-go, he wanted to raise the standard,” Fuentes said. “He wanted to certainly change the culture, and part of that was being tough and understanding what it takes to win.”

Fuentes said the team has gone through a grueling preseason to ensure they are as prepared as possible for the upcoming year.

“[The practices have] been very competitive,” Fuentes said. “It’s a lot of fun to participate.”

While intrasquad scrimmages have provided Pierce with valuable insight

into the team’s and players’ strengths and weaknesses, he said there are still unknown factors that may affect their performance, like finding out which players value competition when they’re actually under pressure.

Pierce said the practices have built up the team’s camaraderie and chemistry, but the preseason has also shown him which individual players are poised to step ahead into leadership roles this season.

“JC Davis is the catalyst in our infield,” Pierce said of the junior second baseman.

Pierce also highlighted several other players who have made strides during the pre-season, such as third baseman Cole Green and infielder Kutter-Gage Webb.

Though the excitement for the season is high across the board, Pierce said he doesn’t want the team to get too far ahead of itself.

“I want players to see if they can get better every day,” he said.

Fuentes said the team should build momentum one game at a time.

“Ultimately, you just have to win the next game,” Fuentes said. ”From there, it’s just continuing to compete.”

“Owl-American”

“I’m

Men’s basketball enters final stretch of conference schedule

KEYA

PATEL THRESHER STAFF

With three weeks le in American Conference play, men’s basketball has positioned itself squarely in the middle of the standings. A er back-to-back wins and a loss at Tudor Fieldhouse, Rice is now 11-15 overall and 5-8 in the American.

The home wins followed a similar pattern: extended stretches of strong play, late pressure situations and execution in key possessions.

On Feb. 4, Rice defeated the University of North Texas 86-83 in double overtime. A er trailing 34-25 at hal ime, the Owls opened the second half on a 13-2 run to regain control. Guards Trae Broadnax and Jalen Smith each recorded double-doubles, while forward Nick Anderson added 22 points and nine rebounds.

Rice outrebounded North Texas 57-43, including 26 o ensive boards, the Owls’ highest rebounding total of the season.

Head coach Rob Lanier described the performance as a necessary response to close losses earlier in the year.

“It was going to take a ght to beat [North Texas],” Lanier said postgame. “A big key was the way we started the second half.”

A week later, the opponent changed, but the neck-and-neck battle did not.

Rice followed with an 81-73 win over Florida Atlantic University on Feb. 11. Anderson, a graduate student, tied a seasonhigh with 23 points, and Broadnax, a senior, added 20. Smith, a senior, contributed 16

points and three steals.

Rice led for most of the game and held a 40-27 hal ime advantage, its largest in conference play this season. Florida Atlantic erased a 15-point second-half de cit and tied the game at 66 with less than 7 minutes remaining. Rice responded with a layup from Broadnax and a three-pointer from Anderson, then extended the lead behind ve straight points from Smith.

Playing tight games with narrow leads isn’t foreign to the Owls.

“I kind of expect that,” Anderson said. “The game’s never over. It’s just about staying focused on our goal, making sure we’re still doing our job and not losing your head, just keeping your cool down the stretch.”

Despite shooting 32.1% from the eld against FAU and being outrebounded 43-33, Rice converted 18 points o 10 turnovers and limited Florida Atlantic to 18.8% shooting from three-point range.

Lanier said the team would focus on defensive consistency as the primary area for improvement entering the nal stretch of conference play, as well as free throws.

“We’ve got to be more physical and a little bit tougher defensively,” Lanier said. “When we get stops, we’re a good transition team. We’ve become a pretty good o ensive rebounding team, and we’re making nine or 10 threes a game.”

Rice’s backcourt and veteran players have driven much of the production. Broadnax has scored 20 or more points in seven games this season, while Anderson has recorded four 20-point outings.

With ve conference games remaining, Rice is within reach of improving its tournament seeding in the American. The Owls have shown they can compete in close games; two of their last four home wins

required late execution, including one that extended to two overtimes.

As conference play tightens, Anderson said Rice’s goal is simple.

“Winning,” Anderson said. “That’s it.”

From gains to pains: Ranking residential college gyms

SCAYDEN CHEN FOR THE THRESHER

More than half of the colleges at Rice claim to have gyms, but some have gyms that go above and beyond while others have gyms that barely satisfy the de nition of a gym. From storage closets to unreasonably nice tness centers, this is a comprehensive ranking of gyms across campus.

S Tier: Brown College

Brown’s gym clears — by a lot. From a well-oiled leg press to a shiny StairMaster, it’s the example other colleges hope to follow.

Brown’s desire to build a beautiful gym makes sense because they’re the loneliest and most outcast of the 11 residential colleges; their residents don’t want to walk to the Gibbs Recreation and Wellness Center.

A Tier: Baker College

Baker’s gym is a highlight amid the sadness of Old Baker. Nestled in the attic is a surprisingly well-equipped gym. A cable machine, a functional hack squat machine and a nice assortment of free weights complete the space — it has everything you need to get a solid workout.

B Tier: McMurtry College

It could be worse. At least I could nd dumbbells and a cable machine, as well as a serviceable squat rack. Massive gains? No. But enough to get a workout in if you’re creative enough.

C Tier: Martel College

Martel tried, but only barely. Rusty plates, a nice squat rack and miscellaneous equipment populate the space, which can only be described as a forgotten (but large) broom closet. Bonus points are given for having a window.

D Tier: Will Rice College

Is this even a gym? This is like being told that you’re being taken on a date to the nest restaurant in Houston and ending up at Seibel Servery. One squat rack in a storage closet is not a gym.

D Tier: Lovett College

The rst thought that came to mind when I found myself looking at Lovett’s gym from the hallway in their dark basement was bad. The Lovett gym is best described as a forgotten bomb shelter someone decided to ll with weights. Perhaps Lovett can redeem itself with its new building.

Men’s tennis sees mixed results in preseason play

PATRICK SHUKIS THRESHER STAFF

Men’s tennis has won three of its six games so far this season, matching the record that the Owls held at this point last season. The Owls can only hope that this short-term déjà vu is a long-term winning recipe for the team to repeat as American Conference champions. A er a 3-3 start last year, Rice won seven of its next eight matches, holding a 10-4 midseason record.

The Owls started their 2025-26 preseason campaign with a 5-2 loss to the University of Arkansas on Jan. 10. Rice dropped the key doubles point to give them a 0-1 disadvantage, and a er getting swept at lines 1, 2 and 3 in singles, the Owls ceded the win to the Razorbacks for the second year in a row. Looking to regain some momentum

against the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley on Jan. 11, the Owls won dominantly, claiming the doubles point and lines 1, 3 and 5 in singles. The nal score was 4-1 Rice, securing the Owls’ rst win of the season.

Rice’s second win of the season came on the road on Jan. 23 against a strong University of Oregon team in a 4-3 barnburner. A er their victory, the Owls quickly dropped back to 2-2 that same weekend on Jan. 24 with a 4-0 loss against No. 3 Stanford University.

Taking on Lamar University at home on Jan. 30, Rice gained its rst 4-0 win of the season to boost the Owls to 3-2.

The most recent chapter in the Owls’ back-and-forth preseason was their 5-2 loss in Baton Rouge on Feb. 2 to Louisiana State University, a team against whom Rice managed to eke out a 4-3 win last season.

The team’s performance so far has revealed some bright spots in the lineup. Senior Kabeer Kapasi has won all ve of his completed singles matches and all but one of his doubles results that went nal.

Junior Petro Kuzmenok has stayed competitive at the No. 1 singles spot, losing just two singles matches, both in three sets. Kuzmenok has also performed well on the doubles court, winning over half of his completed matches to give the Owls a chance at the coveted doubles point.

Winning doubles has been the key for the Owls thus far. Securing victories in two out of the three doubles matches gains the winning team a crucial 1-0 advantage, along with momentum going into singles play.

So far, the Owls have taken the doubles point in all three of their wins

and dropped it in all three of their losses.

However, various changes with their No. 3 doubles lineup have proven ine ective so far, as Rice’s third-line team has only managed to grab one set across all six matches.

Depth has been an issue in the singles lineup as well. With just ve preseason matches remaining, Rice still hasn’t picked up a point at No. 6 singles.

Much like last year’s squad, this year’s Owls will look to mount a hot streak that pushes them above .500, especially with Rice facing no currently ranked opponents for the rest of the season.

The Owls have three matches this weekend on their road trip to Tennessee, where the team will look to pick up some early-season momentum against Old Dominion University, the University of Utah and Middle Tennessee State University.

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

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