Activist Darren Arquero earns Brooks Award

BY MIKE WILLIAMS
Rice News staff

Darren Arquero came to Rice four years ago intending to major in Germanic studies. He leaves with Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in political science and the study of women, gender and sexuality and a minor in poverty, justice and human capability — and with the 2011 David Brooks Award for Social Mobility.

	JEFF FITLOW
	Pictured from left are David Leebron, Darren Arquero and David Brooks.

The annual award given in honor of Rice’s commencement speaker honors both the student and Brooks, the New York Times columnist who addressed graduates at the May 14 ceremony. The award recognizes a graduate or undergraduate student whose academic or extracurricular work while at Rice demonstrates the lifetime values and efforts of that year’s commencement speaker.

Recognizing Arquero for social mobility is wholly appropriate. The native of Sugar Land, Texas, was the only Rice student to take part in the Soulforce Equality Ride last spring. The eight-week bus tour brought students to college and university campuses nationwide to advocate for equal rights for lesbian, gay and transgendered students.

He has been equally committed to working for the good of people in Houston, which exemplifies Rice’s commitment to reach beyond the hedges for the benefit of the community. He volunteered as a first responder on the domestic violence hotline at the Houston Area Women’s Center and took a lead role in a study on violence and bullying in the Houston Independent School District that drew the attention of local policymakers.

Arquero credits his Rice mentors, particularly Rosemary Hennessy, a professor of English literature and director of the Center for the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality, for his transformation. “I’m going to grad school at Berkeley in August, and I don’t think I would have gotten to that point if I hadn’t had mentorship from Dr. Hennessy,” he said earlier this week. He described his change of major as “a result of … these classes I took for fun that I ended up being passionate about.”

Arquero got the call about the award at the end of his shift at the Rice Coffeehouse last Tuesday. “I kind of freaked out,” said the Wiess College resident.

He looked forward to meeting Brooks at the award presentation before commencement and at a luncheon at Rice President David Leebron’s home afterwards. “I bought his book, ‘The Social Animal,’ back in March, thinking I should catch up on his viewpoint before commencement. It all seems very serendipitous.

“It’s really an honor to be rewarded for actions that were only natural for me to do,” said Arquero, who will major in ethnic studies at Berkeley with the ultimate goal of becoming a professor or managing a nonprofit organization. “I wouldn’t give myself an award. However, if people see merit in these actions, I feel really honored and blessed.

“I like David Brooks’ writing. A lot of people say his life experiences inform what he writes about and what he believes, and I would say that mirrors my own activism and social work.”