VOLUME 110, ISSUE NO. 19 | STUDENT-RUN SINCE 1916 | RICETHRESHER.ORG | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2026
5 candidates run for SA president in most crowded race since 2003
KONSTANTIN SAVVON / THRESHER Presidential candidates (left to right) Muyiwa Ogunsola, Max Menchaca, Jenny Karsner, Ananya A. Nair and Chelsea Asibbey participate in the presidential debate hosted at Pub at Rice on Monday night.
JULIANA LIGHTSEY
MANAGING EDITOR
Five candidates are running for the role of Student Association president in this year’s election. The packed ballot is a stark contrast to last year, in which current president Trevor Tobey was the only official candidate and Callum Flemister, now a Duncan College senior, conducted a write-
in campaign. Rice has not had this many people run for the presidential role since 2003, when six candidates campaigned for the role. This year’s candidates are Chelsea Asibbey, Max Menchaca, Ananya A. Nair, Muyiwa Ogunsola and Jenny Karsner. Since 2020, only one or two students have campaigned for the presidential role. In 2024, Tobey, then a Hanszen College
senator, ran against Jae Kim, then Brown College president. Kim won the role. In 2023, Solomon Ni, then the SA treasurer, won the presidency in an uncontested race. “Dilf Hunter,” a satirical candidate created by the Thresher’s Backpage, won 22% of the votes against Ni as a write-in candidate. This year’s crowded race comes as the current SA has struggled with student engagement, a point multiple candidates
emphasized in their platforms. Last year’s election saw a turnout of 1,375 voters, just 29.02% of the student body, down from a 42.09% turnout in the 2024 election. Five constitutional amendments on last year’s ballot failed because they did not reach the required 20% turnout. Four of those amendments again failed in October 2025 after they were reintroduced in a special election, also due to insufficient turnout.
Student Association election issue inside Back to back: Swim and dive win Rice cuts ties with The PhD Project after conference championship again agreement with federal government KATHLEEN ORTIZ
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Swim head coach Seth Huston took a peek at the team scores before the diving event on the final day of the American Conference Championship. Rice was still ahead. “I’ll call it relief,” Huston said. “Just ‘okay, we did it. We’re good. We’re in the clear. Let’s go finish up and have some fun.’” Rice swimming and diving won the championship for the second year in a row on Saturday. However, unlike last year’s win by a point and a half, this year Rice won by 154.5 points. “I think last year, it was very much a surprise to the team, which was really exciting in and of itself,” Huston said. “This year, I feel like the team really came in and expected and wanted and did what it took to win right out of the gate.”
Rice stayed consistently ahead of the competition during the four-day meet in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Owls were ahead by 31.5 points at the end of Day 1, 167 points at the end of Day 2 and 148.5 points at the end of Day 3. “Anytime you’re going into a championship event like that, and there’s eight sessions, if you’re gonna win, really, you got to hit,” Huston said. “You got to be pretty close to flawless. And what I mean by that is we had to be ready to go and step up every single session.” Rice had 12 individual podium finishes and three relay podium finishes, including sweeping the 1,650yard freestyle. Sophomore Ava Portello won the 1,650, followed by seniors Ella Dyson and Ava Hamblett. “You sweep a championship event, that’s domination,” Huston said of Portello, Dyson and Hamblett.
SEE SWIM & DIVE PAGE 10
JAMES CANCELARICH
NEWS EDITOR
Rice University, alongside 30 other universities, has reached agreements with the Trump administration to end partnerships with The PhD Project, an organization accused of discrimination by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, announced in a press release on Thursday. The PhD Project is an organization that aims to help Black, Hispanic and Native American professionals earn higher education degrees as well as pursue leadership positions. The OCR determined that the partnered institutions violated Title VI of Civil Rights Act of 1964. It is unclear what agreement was reached between Rice and the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. The press release states that each institution
also agreed to conduct a review of its partnerships with external organizations that violate Title VI by restricting participation based on race. In March 2025, the ORC announced that Rice, alongside 44 other universities, was under investigation for “raceexclusionary” practices amid allegations that universities’ partnership with The PhD Project violated Title VI. The OCR alleged in a press release that the organization limits the eligibility of participants based on their race. Chris Stipes, a Rice University spokesperson, declined to comment on the agreement. At the time of the initial investigation, Stipes said the school was reviewing its affiliation with The PhD Project and cooperating with the OCR.
SEE THE PHD PROJECT PAGE 2