Second Astroworld Festival Lives up to Hype the Ion Sparks Conversation
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
VOLUME 104, ISSUE NO. 11 | STUDENT-RUN SINCE 1916 | RICETHRESHER.ORG | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2019 NEWS Pulitzer Prize winner Nicholas Kristof to speak at graduation CHRISTINA TAN & ANNA TA EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & MANAGING EDITOR Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Nicholas Kristof, a New York Times columnist, CNN contributor and author who has brought attention to global human rights issues through his writing for over 30 years, will deliver the 107th commencement speech for the class of 2020, according to Rice’s Office of Public Affairs. Kristof won his first Pulitzer in 1990 alongside his wife Sheryl WuDunn for their coverage as Times reporters of the Tiananmen Square democracy movement. Sixteen years later, Kristof won his second Pulitzer for his columns in the Times, which drew attention to the genocide in Darfur through deep reporting which, “at great personal risk … gave voice to the voiceless in other parts of the world.” Kristof has been a Pulitzer Prize finalist five additional times. Most recently, in 2016, Kristof’s “courageously reported and deeply felt” columns surrounding the plight of Syrian refugees earned him a nod from the jury. According to his New York Times columnist biography, Kristof grew up in Oregon and worked in France after high school, later backpacking PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY TINA LIU in Asia and Africa. Kristof earned his PHOTOS COURTESY “ASTROWORLD” AND GREG NOIRE undergraduate degree from Harvard University, and later a law degree ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT from the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. At Harvard, Kristof was on the Harvard Second Astroworld Festival lives up to hype Crimson staff, where he worked as the “Campus News” tracker, following SANVITTI SAHDEV & SMARAN GARLAPATI Scott’s nostalgia and love for the park, Houston another purple inflatable head to pose in higher education outside of Harvard. THRESHER STAFF | FOR THE THRESHER Mayor Sylvester Turner has expressed interest front of and a giant Astrodome featuring Kristof has lived on four continents and in building a new amusement park similar to space projections, prompting an undeniable has traveled to over 150 countries. “The man who left this city with nothing AstroWorld. Until then, Scott’s festival proves sense of being transported to an alien world. At the Times, Kristof also began an and conquered the world,” said surprise to be a temporary but electrifying substitute. The festival grounds pulsed with energy and annual essay contest, through which guest Dave Chappelle as he introduced Travis rhythm, not just from the performers, but also undergraduate and graduate students Scott at the second annual Astroworld Music BEST VIBES: SMOKE AND NEON from the 50,000 festivalgoers who weaved are given the opportunity to travel Festival in Houston’s NRG Park last Saturday. Festivalgoers were greeted by a giant their way between the “Chills” and “Thrills” with him on a reporting trip and have Astroworld was a glimmering day-long inflatable head of Travis Scott at the entrance performance stages and thrived in the their own report published by the celebration of the special connection that of Astroworld, a stark, silver-colored skeletal sprawling celebration of hip-hop stretching Times. In 2012, the winner was a Rice Houston shares with hip-hop, of which Scott rendition of the golden sculpture that fans from noon until midnight. undergraduate. Jordan Schermerhorn, is now a legendary embodiment. Last year’s associate with his 2018 album cover. The then a Martel College senior and inaugural festival followed the release of the festival’s atmosphere echoed this evolution. BEST AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT: DABABY bioengineering major, traveled with rapper’s 2018 album “ASTROWORLD,” named Smoke machines sprayed gray mist into A relative newcomer to rap’s ever- Kristof to Lesotho, which was at the after Houston’s defunct theme park Six Flags the air, with the vibrant neons of carnival expanding scene, Charlotte-based rapper time Africa’s largest garment exporter AstroWorld, cementing his deep relationship rides such as the ferris wheel and kamikaze DaBaby had the best engagement with his to America. with Space City’s hip-hop legacy. Buoyed by puncturing the sky. Inside, fans found yet SEE ASTROWORLD PAGE 8 Kristof spoke at Rice in 2009 on a book tour for the third book he co- authored with WuDunn. Since then, he NEWS and WuDunn have published another book, “A Path Appears,” with a fifth forthcoming Jan. 14. The Ion sparks conversation on inequity Kristof, a self-described progressive, has also written multiple RYND MORGAN columns concerning echo chambers ASST NEWS EDITOR on college campuses. “While I admire campus activism Since it was announced in April 2018, for its commitment to social justice, I The Ion, an innovation hub, has been a also worry that it sometimes becomes topic of discussion for Rice University and infused with a prickly intolerance, the local community, culminating in the embracing every kind of diversity except formation of a community coalition and their one: ideological diversity,” Kristof wrote proposed community benefits agreement. in a June 2019 column. “Too often, we The Ion, currently being built in the old liberals embrace people who don’t look Sears building at 4201 Main St., is headed like us, but only if they think like us.” by Rice Management Company, which is Kristof will follow his wife’s responsible for Rice’s endowment and real lead — in 2017, WuDunn delivered estate holdings, in partnership with Station the commencement speech at Rice. Houston, a tech startup facilitator. President David Leebron said in 2016 After The Ion was announced, the that WuDunn was recruited by Y. Ping rynd morgan / THRESHER Student Coalition for a Just and Equitable Sun, Leebron’s wife. The Ion, an innovation hub, is being currently constructed in the old Sears building at 4201 Main Innovation Corridor, part of a broader St. The old Sears building sign has been removed and placed in an adjacent parking lot. Leebron wrote in a press release that Houston group, formed in an effort to the decision to pick Kristof was made protect the surrounding community. The primarily by a student committee. student coalition formed out of students Company and Station Houston have been many other cities in the United States at the “His work has sought to explore from local Houston universities, including meeting with the Student Coalition. time, wrote a proposal to bring the second the fundamental challenges affecting Rice, Texas Southern University and the Amazon headquarters to Houston. human wellbeing around the globe,” University of Houston. Creation of Ion After they found out that Houston was no Leebron wrote. “It is incumbent on all Since then, Rice Management Company According to Gaby Rowe, the former CEO longer in the running for the new Amazon of us to seek to understand the plight and Station Houston broke ground on The of Station Houston, the development of headquarters, Rice and Station Houston of our fellow human beings, and to ask Ion in July. Since July 17, Rice Management The Ion started when Houston, along with SEE ION PAGE 3 what might be done to improve it.” 2 • WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2019 THE RICE THRESHER NEWS Social mobility trails graduation rates BRIAN LIN income for a loan-free financial aid package, THRESHER STAFF according to an Office of Public Affairs report. For students who matriculated in 2012, 95 Percentage of Pell Grant Recipients in Graduation rates for Pell Grant students percent of those who received Stafford Loans at Rice have trailed the university average and 95.3 percent who received neither Pell Undergraduate Class by Academic Year for the past three years, according to the nor Stafford graduated within six years. For 2019 common data set released in May by those who matriculated in 2011, 88.2 percent 2015-2016 2016-2017 2017-2018 the Office of Institutional Research. The of Stafford and 92.8 percent non-Pell/Stafford finding highlights issues in social mobility students graduated within six years. For 2010 and underscores the university’s No. 204 matriculants, the opposite occurred: a greater 15% 14% 15% placement in the U.S. News and World percentage of students receiving Stafford Report’s Top Performers on Social Mobility. loans graduated within six years compared to those who received neither — 94.6 percent DIFFERING GRADUATION RATES versus 93.9 percent. Comparing students who matriculated in One possible explanation of the No. Six-year graduation rate for Fall 2010 cohort 2012, 92.5 percent of those who received Pell 204 placement is that U.S. News adjusts Grants and 95.3 percent of those who received the rankings to give more credit to schools recipients of a federal pell grant 88.8% neither Pell nor Stafford Loans graduated with larger proportions of Pell students, within six years. according to an article released by U.S. News recipients of a subsidized stafford loan 94.6% Figures for those who matriculated in 2011 data analysts. John Cornwell, OIR director, show a similar disparity, with 87.3 percent said he believes this calculation has caused did not receive either 93.9% of Pell and 92.8 percent of non-Pell/Stafford the low ranking. students graduating within six years, and for Data from the OIR reveals that the those who matriculated in 2010, 88.8 percent percentage of Pell recipients at Rice has versus 93.9 percent, respectively. wavered between 15 percent to 17 percent for Six-year graduation rate for Fall 2011 cohort While the graduation rates of Pell the past five years. recipients of a federal pell grant 87.3% recipients have consistently trailed the “If you go to a big public school, it will be university average, the disparities in 50 percent,” Cornwell said.