rice to the rescue

Rice University offers campus housing to Medical Center employees

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Rice University is donating two college residences to Medical Center workers.

Photo courtesy of Rice University

As one of Houston's hubs of innovation, Rice University has been making headlines with its work to battle the coronavirus outbreak locally and nationally. Most recently, the school gained attention for its cutting-edge work creating a low-cost alternative to ventilators, which the school’s Design Kitchen is releasing to the world for free. That creation may have global implications.

Now, Rice is stepping up to address local concerns by shifting its focus to Houstonians on the front line. The school announced that it will offer temporary housing for any medical personnel who work in Texas Medical Center hospitals. The move will assist those staffers who are working longer hours and need rest, as well as help those who are intentionally quarantining themselves from their families.

Rice will offer up two of its residential colleges: Wiess and Hanszen. Per a statement by the president of the university, David Leebron, the school will move approximately 50 students and resident associates out of those two colleges to other colleges on our campus.

Rice chose the two colleges because of their location close to Main Street near the Texas Medical Center, because they are connected to each other, and because measures can be taken to separate those colleges from the rest of the campus, per the statement.

Thus far, Houston hospitals haven’t seen critical impact. But during a recent press conference, Houston Mayor Turner revealed information showing a peak here around May 2 and added that cases will “spike up dramatically.” Turner noted that his goal was to “flatten the foal and slow the progression in such a way that “will not overrun our healthcare delivery system.”

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”