VOLUME 109, ISSUE NO. 20 | STUDENT-RUN SINCE 1916 | RICETHRESHER.ORG | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2025
Current Current RMC RMC to to remain, remain, second second building building to to open open in in 2027 2027
Graphic by Alice Sun; rendering courtesy Olson Kundig
SA voting delayed by one day after ballot errors JAMES CANCELARICH
ASST. NEWS EDITOR
The Student Association election ballot was recalled just an hour after it went live Feb. 26 after voters found errors. At the end of the ballot, voters were presented with five different constitutional amendments, which proposed varying changes ranging from grammatical fixes to raising the Blanket Tax. The original ballot only allowed students one vote instead of five individual ones, presenting the amendments as a bundle. Just before 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 26, the Elections Committee released a statement via the SA’s Instagram story acknowledging the error and moving the voting period timeline. The ballot reopened on Feb. 27 and will close March 6, one day later than planned. All votes cast with the original ballot will be erased, the committee wrote in the statement. “This error occurred due to a miscommunication between the Elections Committee and the faculty member responsible for creating and distributing surveys,” the statement read. Heather-Reneé Gooch, the associate director of student engagement, said the director of elections is responsible for ballot creation, using past ballots as a guide. “It is up to the [director of elections] to ensure the ballot creation is properly structured and for presenting the ballot to Senate for approval,” Gooch wrote in an email to the Thresher.
AMY CAO / THRESHER
Angela Thompson, the assistant director of survey administration at the Office of Institutional Effectiveness, is the faculty member who distributes the ballot. Thompson said the mistake was not due to a miscommunication. She said her role entailed the administrative functions of distributing the ballot and not the specific contents of the ballot. Natalie Wang, the director of elections for the SA, did not respond to requests for comment. The Thresher obtained an anonymous complaint, filed with the elections committee, alleging that the changed timeline is in violation of Bylaw 3102.1.4, an elections rule which states that any changes to the election timeline must first be approved by a majority vote at Senate. “Simply changing the timeline via Instagram is not enough,” the complainant, an anonymous student, wrote.
Simply changing the timeline via Instagram is not enough. Anonymous Student The complaint also alleges that the SA elections committee has violated Bylaw 3102.1.3, which states that the director of elections must announce the general election — and all relevant timelines — at least three weeks prior to the start of voting. “By changing when the election will take place, the Director of Elections has deviated from the timeline in the Election Rules Handbook that was approved by the Senate on the 18th of November,” the complaint reads. UCourt Chair Beck Hall did not respond to a request for comment. The complaint also raises issues with the SA’s method of communicating ballot changes. “Announcing this change via Instagram does not serve as an effective means of communication to the student body,” the complaint reads. “This election cannot continue tomorrow, as doing so would be a flagrant violation of the Student Association’s Constitution and Bylaws.”
RIYA MISRA
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF A brand-new, second student center will open by Fall 2027, president Reggie DesRoches announced in a March 3 email to campus. The current Rice Memorial Center will not be demolished, and will continue to house Rice Coffeehouse, Pub and student media during construction over the next two years. It will undergo renovations after the second building is complete. The final structure, a “studentfocused hub” called the Moody Center Complex for Student Life, will include the current and new student centers and surround the Central Quad. The new student center — funded through a collective $115 million gift — will open four years
COURTESY OLSON KUNDIG The new student center will stand parallel to Brochstein Pavilion, in between the existing Rice Memorial Center and Herring Hall. Together, the four buildings will surround the Central Quad. after its original timeline, and nearly five years after Rice first started to plan the new design. In 2022, construction was delayed due to supply chain issues, pushing the deadline for a new student center to the end of 2024. Then, Rice “reset” the project in 2023 — scrapping the original design — after David Adjaye, founder of the architecture firm Rice had retained for the project, was accused of sexual misconduct. Rice has now hired a new architecture firm, Olson Kundig, to lead the project.
Rice rebrands DEI office amid federal scrutiny VIOLA HSIA
ASST. NEWS EDITOR Rice has renamed its Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to the Office of Access and Institutional Excellence, announced in a Feb. 28 campuswide email from Provost Amy Dittmar. This change arrives as universities across the country adapt — often altering or erasing diversity statements entirely — to federal anti-DEI legislation. “Rice’s commitment to diversity, academic freedom and excellence is unwavering, and the new name furthers the mission and work of the university in these areas,” Dittmar wrote in a statement to the Thresher. “We aim to build and promote a community at Rice where everyone feels safe, respected, empowered and
protected, regardless of any differences.” Alexander Byrd, vice provost at the now-Office of AIE, said the office’s new name was chosen to reflect the expanded scope of the department.
We aim to build and promote a community at Rice where everyone feels safe, respected, empowered and protected, regardless of any differences. Amy Dittmar PROVOST
SEE DEI RENAMED PAGE 3