|
Reputation Often called "The Harvard of the South", Rice University is currently ranked 17th on the U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Colleges. Rice is also mentioned in Newsweek magazine as one of the "New Ivies". In Princeton Review's 2007 Best 361 Colleges, Rice was ranked Rice is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization comprising 60 U.S. and 2 Canadian Ph.D-granting universities. The AAU is widely considered to consist of the most accomplished and prestigious universities in the Western Hemisphere. Campus and students
Endowment and cost Rice University possesses an endowment of $4.1 billion, fifth-highest per student among U.S. universities. Being relatively generous with these funds allows the university to charge lower tuition, room, and board than most other prestigious private universities, as indicated by its $23,782 out of state tuition and $21,157 average freshman total need-based gift aid. * Rice is routinely rated a Best Buy school. History
School of Architecture The Rice School of Architecture (RSA) is one of the world's most highly-regarded architecture schools. A 2006 ranking by Design Intelligence, "America's Best Architecture & Design Schools," placed the RSA undergraduate program at College system The residential college system is the focus of the undergraduate experience at Rice University. This takes the place of the typical American university on-campus housing organization of dorms, fraternities, and sororities. When students become undergraduates they are assigned to a residential college randomly (often simply referred to as 'college'), although "legacy" exceptions are made for students whose siblings or other close relatives have attended (or are attending) Rice. Each college enjoys the diversity of the greater university with regard to majors, ethnicities, personalities, athletes, etc. Students remain a member of the college that they are assigned to for the duration of their undergraduate career. The vast majority of students prefer to live on campus for all four years, but shortage of spaces results in some students being forced to live off campus each year (though they remain members of the college and typically take their meals, or at least their lunches, there). Students are guaranteed on-campus housing for freshman year (as well as three of their first four years), and each college has its own system for determining allocation of the remaining spaces. Most colleges have some form of "room draw," in which people claim rooms in order of seniority. Each college has its own set of buildings, commons, and dining hall (or shares a "servery" with other colleges). Students tend to develop extreme loyalty to their college and maintain friendly rivalry with other colleges, especially during events such as Beer Bike and O-Week. As a result of this organization the colleges are the central social structure of the undergraduate population at Rice. When asked where they are from, students often reply with their college rather than their hometown. Students social groups tend to, but not always, revolve around their college. This has been the most significant criticism of the college system: that it tends to create groups of friends within a college to the exclusion of people in the other colleges. Colleges keep their rivalries alive by performing "jacks," or pranks, on each other, especially during O-Week (Orientation Week) and "Willy Week," the week preceding Beer Bike. There are currently nine residential colleges, with six (Baker, Hanszen, Lovett, Sid Rich, Wiess, and Will Rice) on the south side of campus and three (Brown, Jones, and Martel) on the north. Although each college is composed of a full cross-section of students at Rice, each college over time has developed its own personality and traditions to varying degrees. All colleges except Sid Richardson College ("Sid Rich") are organized around their own small quadrangle. At Matriculation, Commencement, and other formal academic ceremonies, the colleges process in the order in which they were established. South colleges Baker, Will Rice, Hanszen, and Wiess are the original four colleges, created in 1957 on the grounds of what were then called the North, South, West, and Wiess residence halls. Baker College, slightly smaller than the other eight colleges, is officially oldest and includes the original wood-paneled library, living quarters, and dining facility of the campus. It is named after Captain James A. Baker, William Marsh Rice's lawyer who uncovered the plot of Rice's butler. Baker was also the grandfather of James A. Baker III, Secretary of State to President George H.W. Bush and the namesake of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy. Traditions at Baker College its annual Shakespeare play and Shakespeare-themed Baker Feast, freshman camping, and a Christmas tree hunt. Will Rice College is the second college, though its original dormitory building, originally called South Hall, is the oldest building on campus built as a residential hall. Will Rice prides itself on its individualism and tends to focus on its extensive winning history in the annual Beer Bike competition. Will Rice was named not after Rice's founder but after his nephew William Marsh Rice Jr., who was himself a contributor to the university. Hanszen College was the third residence built at Rice. Hanszen is known for its family atmosphere and for being mysteriously protective of a knight sculpture known as the Guardian on the college grounds. Wiess College, the fourth and westernmost college, was originally Wiess Hall, the first residence hall at Rice named after a person. Male and female members of Wiess College are known equally as Wiessmen and refer to their community as Team Wiess. Wiess has a reputation for being both especially cohesive and especially insular, with a more distinct or visible set of traditions than the other colleges and a tendency not to go along with trends embraced by the other colleges. In 2002, Wiess became the first college to move from one building to another, when a new college facility opened to replace Wiess Hall, which had deteriorated to the point of being nearly uninhabitable. Whereas the old Wiess was said (with some affection) to resemble a cheap motel, the new Wiess is often said to resemble a prison, with corrugated looking roofs, steel mesh railings, and narrow passages overlooked by balconies. Lovett College was opened as an all-male college in 1968 after student riots of the 1960s, with an eye towards being riot-proof. Lovett was later merged with one of the female colleges, creating the co-ed situation still in use there. Lovett, named after the first president of Rice, Edgar Odell Lovett, is sometimes referred to as "the toaster" after its rectangular facade and brutalist design. Sid Richardson College, known as Sid Rich or simply Sid, is the tallest building on campus. Sid uses its height to advantage and uses "mors de super" (an extremely unidiomatic Latin rendering of "death from above") as its motto. Almost every Friday afternoon during the school year, Radio Free Sid (the name based on Radio Free Europe of the Cold War era) plays on large speakers from the topmost balcony. This music can be heard throughout the campus. Sid opened in 1971, making Sid and Lovett sister colleges and arch-rivals. North colleges Jones College and Brown College are the two original north colleges. The isolation of the two north colleges was reduced in 2002 by the opening of a third north college, Martel College. As a result of its recent formation, Martel has few traditions and is playfully mocked by the other colleges. However, it is becoming an integrated part of the Rice college system with some of the newest facilities on campus. Co-education For Rice's first four decades, on-campus housing was exclusively for men. Hence, all of the south colleges were originally all-male. Jones College was the first first women's residence on the Rice campus, followed by Brown. According to legend, the women's colleges were purposefully situated at the opposite end of campus from the existing men's colleges as a way of preserving campus propriety. The path linking the north colleges to the center of campus is still known as "Virgin's Walk." The colleges became co-ed in the following order: ... Lovett in 1980 Wiess and Jones in 1983 Sid Rich and Brown in 1987 Martel is the only college which has always been co-ed. College events Each residential college holds an event each semester called College Night, historically a formal or semiformal dinner. College Nights were originally intended as festive occasions that brought the entire college together, including faculty and community associates. By the 1980s, most of them had degenerated into drunken debacles at which associates were neither comfortable nor welcome. Ironically, it was Wiess College which that took the lead in restoring civility to its College Night in the 1990s. Wiess is currently the only college whose associates regularly attend College Night. Graduate residences Although graduate students may choose to join a college, their college membership does not include housing privileges, and thus it is extremely rare for graduate students to affiliate with a college. Most Rice graduate students live at the university-owned and operated Rice Graduate Apartments at 1515 Bissonnet (on the site of the former Southampton Apartment complex, demolished in 1997) or in private housing off campus. The complex is located near Houston's museum district and has convenient shuttle service to and from campus. The previous "Grad House" -- converted from a motel -- was demolished and is now a fenced-in grassy field across from St. Luke's Hospital at the corner of South Main and University Blvd. It is the projected home of a new Collaborative Research Center, linking Rice and Texas Medical Center research. Honor Code Rice's honor code gives its students a great deal of freedom and flexibility, allowing such things as take-home exams and closed book exams to exist. The student swears to abide by the honor code by writing or signing the following words on his work: On my honor, I have neither given nor received any unauthorized aid on this assignment. Potential infractions are dealt with by an all-student Honor Council, elected by popular vote. Baker 13 Baker 13 is one of the most enduring student traditions at Rice University. At 10 p.m. on the 13th and 31st of every month (and the 26th of those months having fewer than thirty-one days), a group of students runs around the entire campus wearing nothing but shaving cream (possible due to Houston's temperate climate during the school year) and protective footwear. Although the run usually attracts a small number of students, on Halloween and the last relevant day of the school year (generally April 26th), the event usually has a fair turnout, regularly attracting over 100 students. The participants run to all residential colleges, often leaving shaving cream impressions by pressing their bodies on windows and doors. The results resemble the anthropometry paintings of Yves Klein. College members often throw water balloons on the runners. The runners usually shout the anti-cheer of the college they are running by and the Baker 13 cheer, "Join us! Join us!" Although the students are naked, the event is non-sexual, silly, and exuberant. The run usually finishes at Valhalla, the graduate student pub on campus. In recent years runners have been given a complimentary soft-drink in lieu of free beer due to concerns about under-aged drinking. Sometimes the runners continue their run, joined by a Valhalla patron or two who decides to join in on the fun. In 2002, as a precursor to the Winter Olympics held in Salt Lake City, the Olympic torch passed through Houston and Rice University. While it passed through the Rice campus, two Baker 13ers ran in front of it. Night of Decadence Every year around Halloween, Wiess College throws a party called Night of Decadence (commonly referred to simply as "NOD"). The party started in the 1970s and quickly became a legendary event at Rice and in Houston, drawing young alumni and students from other universities in addition to Rice students. After a few years as simply Night of Decadence, the College began adopting a theme for each year's party. In the 1970s and 1980s, many of the themes were historical and/or apocalyptic in nature (e.g. The Fall of Rome, Caligula, Armageddon, Animal Farm, The Trojan War). By the 1990s the themes were generally sexual puns, often based on movie titles (e.g. James Bondage, Lust in Space), with sexually themed decorations. Instead of traditional costumes, students dress as degenerately (or as minimally) as possible. Pregnant nuns and drag dress are some of the tamer outfits. Although there are always several people creatively attired in Saran Wrap or fishnet stockings and pasties, a typical costume is boxer shorts for men, and bra and panties for women. Because of its overtly sexual context, NOD eventually became a polarizing event on the Rice campus. Alternative events on campus included Night of Innocence (offered since at least the 1980s) and Night of Praise. NOD remains one of the most popular parties on campus, though the decorations have become more conservative in recent years. For a more detailed history of NOD, please see the article on Wiess College. Beer-Bike Beer-Bike, a Rice tradition since 1957, is a combination intramural bicycle race and drinking competition. All nine of the residential colleges plus the graduate school participate with a men's, women's, and alumni (co-ed) team. Each leg of the race is a sort of relay in which a team's "chugger" must chug 24 ounces for the men's division and 12 ounces for women before the team's "rider" may begin to ride. In conjunction with the increase of the Texas legal drinking age to 21 in 1986 the rules were amended to permit underage chuggers to chug water instead of beer. Over the years underage chuggers increasingly exercised this option. In recent races even some students of legal drinking age have begun to chug water, and on some teams beer chugging may have disappeared altogether. An excellent male chugger can finish a 24-ounce container in about three seconds (beer or water); colleges place great pride in the skill of their chug teams (many holding chug practices every Thursday night for the entire year), though the vast majority of separation between teams is due to the cycling component. Ten riders and ten chuggers make up a team. Elaborate rules include details such as a prohibition of "bulky or wet clothing articles designed to absorb beer/water or prevent spilled beer/water from being seen" and regulations for chug can design. Prior to the race, the colleges parade the wrong way along the one-way campus inner loop while participating in one of the largest water balloon fights in the world, with more than 1,000 students hurling in excess of 100,000 balloons in an hour's time. Preparations for the waterfight and jacks begin at least a month in advance. Jacks "Jack" is the Rice term for a prank, often an elaborate one. A simple jack might replacing "you are here" campus map with a map of an amusement park. A well-known jack in the 1980s was "stacking" a commons, in which students went to the commons of another college late at night and stacked all the tables and chairs on top of each other, forcing the residents to disassemble the stack when the came down for meals the next day. During O-Week and Willy Week, large-scale jacks are often organized by one college toward another college. In order to prevent a destructive escalation, Rice student organizations from time to time have attempted to impose rules or guidelines on jacks. The most notorious and legendary jack in Rice history was the turning of William March Rice's statue in the Academic Quadrangle in April 1988. After several months of detailed planning, a group of Wiessmen succeeded in lifting the bronze statue (using a hoist mounted on an A-frame), rotating it 180 degrees, and setting it back down undamaged on its stone pedestal. . This jack instantly gained national publicity for Rice. Today the turning of the statue stands out as the epitome of a successful jack: creative, elaborate, visible, and harmless. In later years, legends evolved that the students were protesting a planned tuition increase or that the stunt symbolized the Founder turning his back on the administration in Lovett Hall. In fact, the prank was merely that--a prank. Willy Week Willy Week is at term coined in the 1990s to refer to the week preceding Beer-Bike, a time of general energy and excitement on campus. Jacks are especially common during Willy Week; some examples in the past include removing showerheads and encasing the Hanszen guardian. Coffeehouse The Rice Coffeehouse began at Hanszen College, where students would serve coffee in the college's Weenie Loft, a study room in the old section's fourth floor. The coffee shop grew in popularity and expanded into the basement under Hanszen's new section so that it could more comfortably accommodate more students, where it was known as Bread and Pomegranates. Due to flooding in the basement, the Hanszen coffee shop was disbanded, but the basement kept the old name, B&P. Eventually, its absence created a demand that gave rise to current installation. Thus, in 1990, students founded the Coffeehouse as it is today in the RMC student center: a not-for-profit student-run organization serving Rice University and the greater Houston community. The Coffeehouse is known for being entirely student run and serving fair trade Katz's coffee. It also distributes free coffee before closing during the week, one of the most popular times to visit. The Coffeehouse often serves as a popular hangout, as most of the workers (or Keepers of the Coffee, as they are known) are students. These student workers give it a laid back attitude. Thresher staffers can often be found there, since an advertising deal between the two institutions grants them discounted coffee. Recent renovations gave the Coffeehouse a fun, artsy look. Supposed plans to expand the RMC and library, including another coffee shop, have spurred controversy on campus. Many students are afraid that this plan could replace the beloved student-run Coffeeshop with a corporate caffeine provider, ruining the fun atmosphere the Coffeehouse creates. Valhalla Valhalla is a non-profit, graduate student pub located under Keck Hall, known for its eclectic clientele and cheap drinks. Valhalla is still staffed by graduate students who volunteer for a one-hour shift once per week. It was founded by Thomas Nichols in 1970, a graduate student in physical chemistry at the time. He envisioned Valhalla as a glue that would hold together the Graduate Student Association. For the first several years the chairman of the GSA would automatically be the manager of Valhalla. Architecture graduate student Vic Gelsomino helped with architectural drawings. Nichols and materials science graduate student Kurt Alex coined the pub "Valhalla" when listening to Wagner's Das Rheingold, Scene II, during the pub's construction. The scene describes two giants from Norse mythology, Fasolt and Fafner, building the great hall Valhalla as a home for the gods. Initially the lounge had no beer license. Graduate students kept private six-packs stored in a refrigerator. They were required to record the beers they brought in a notebook. The system had its flaws. "Sometimes sophisticated customers have been irate when their Coors has been drunk by a Budweiser drinker," it was noted in a GSA memorandum to the dean of students, requesting a beer and wine license. By the spring of 1971, Valhalla was up and running with regular evening hours. Over the years, Valhalla has mostly been used by graduate students, but other adult members of the Rice community also feel at home. It's the kind of place where one can see a space physicist schmoozing with a groundskeeper. In the past Valhalla went through periods of having more "outsiders" than it wanted, but not in recent years. In 2004, the Houston Press rated Valhalla the "Best Place to Meet Single Women," given its beer under a dollar and smart, single women. Willys Pub Willy's Pub is Rice's undergraduate pub located in the basement of the Rice Memorial Center. It opened on April 11, 1975, with Rice President Norman Hackerman pouring the first beer. The name was chosen by students in tribute to the university's founder, William Marsh Rice. According to the Rice Thresher, 1700 people attending the opening night. The Pub (as it was affectionately known) quickly became an immensely popular campus institution. In its heyday, the Pub was open Monday through Saturday during the academic year. On its opening night of each semester and on many Thursdays, the Pub would reach or exceed its official capacity, with the line of students waiting to get in extending up the stairwell to the first floor. By the early 1980s, according to legend, the Pub was the second largest consumer of draft beer in Harris County, behind only the Houston Astrodome. With such tremendous popularity, the Pub ran a financial healthy surplus through the mid-1980s. Profits began to fall when Texas raised its drinking age to 21 in September 1986. The Pub eliminated weekend hours some time in the in the early 1990s. By 1994 the Pub was in serious financial trouble and in danger of closing down completely. Rice President Malcolm Gillis, a supporter of the Pub, waived or reduced some of the Pub's maintenances fees in order to keep it afloat. In the early morning hours of April 6, 1995, less than a week shy of its 20th anniversary, the Pub was destroyed in a fire set by a disgruntled Rice student. The fire destroyed everything in the basement of the RMC, causing an estimated $2 million in total damage. A speedy renovation project allowed the basement to reopen in August 1995 with a new Pub. The following month, Rice Campus Police, acting on an anonymous tip, arrested student Alberto Youngblood '97 on suspicion of arson. Youngblood was convicted in Federal court in Houston in January 1996. The new Willy's Pub is larger, brighter, and cleaner than the old Pub, but perhaps for those very reasons, is considered by many alumni to be lacking in character. One subtle change that coincided with the re-opening is that the professional staff of the Student Center began a concerted effort to refer to the place as "Willy's" rather than simply "the Pub." Another, less subtle change is that the Pub no longer serves beer in the afternoons, so that students who want to relax after afternoon classes are on their own. Run by students, for students, Willy's features lunchtime Quizno's subs and Uno's pizza. After 5 p.m., Willy's offers bottled and draft beer for those 21 and over. While Pub Night on Thursdays promises a big fun-filled crowd, the quieter daytime hours allow patrons to relax in front of the big-screen TV, study, or make use of the pool table or wireless Internet. Campus Media Rice has a weekly student-run newspaper (The Rice Thresher), radio station (KTRU-FM), and campus-wide television network (RTV5). All three are based out of the RMC student center. The Rice Thresher The Rice Thresher is published every Friday and can be found around campus and at Kahn's Deli in the Rice Village. It has a small, but dedicated, staff and is known for its dry coverage of campus news, open submission opinion page, and satirical Backpage. It has won several awards at Associated Collegiate Press conferences. KTRU KTRU (pronounced kay-trew) is the student-run, 50,000 watt radio station. Though most DJs are students, anyone is allowed to apply. It is known for playing genres and artists of music and sound unavailable on other radio stations in Houston, and oftentimes, the US. This sometimes occurs at the expense of more popular, though available music, such as their lack of Beatles albums. The station takes requests over the phone or online. In 2006, KTRU won Houston Press' Best Radio Station in Houston.* RTV5 RTV5 is a student run television network available as channel 5 on campus. RTV5 was created initially as Rice Broadcast Television in 1997. RBT began to broadcast the following year in 1998, and aired its first live show across campus in 1999. RBT has always held their office in Mudd lab, though their live broadcasts were initially held in the Duncan Hall conference room. RBT experienced much growth and exposure over the years with successful programs like "Drinking with Phil", a weekly news show, a variety show known as "The Meg and Maggie Show", and extensive live coverage in December 2002 of the shut down of KTRU by the administration. In spring 2001, the Rice undergraduate community voted in the general elections to support RBT as a blanket tax organization, effectively providing a yearly income of $10,000 to purchase new equipment and provide the campus with a variety of new programming. In the spring of 2005, RBT members decided the station need a new image and a new name: Rice Television 5. One of the station's most popular shows is the 24 hour show, where a camera and couch placed in the RMC stay on air for 24 hours. One is held in fall and another in spring, usually during a prospective students' weekend. The show's concept was introduced by Travis Johnson and Gavin Parks in the 2001-2002 school year. RTV5 has a video on demand site at rtv5.rice.edu, where students can select what shows the network airs. Athletics Rice participates in NCAA Division I athletics and is part of Conference USA. Rice was a member of the Western Athletic Conference before joining Conference USA on July 1, 2005. Rice is the second smallest school, measured by undergraduate enrollment, competing in NCAA D-IA football, just above the University of Tulsa's 2,756 and far below the largest, Arizona State University with 48,955. The Rice baseball team won the 2003 College World Series, defeating Stanford two games to one in the championship series, including a 14-2 rout in the final game. Because of the academic quality of the two finalists, the championship series earned nicknames such as the "RBIs and SATs Series." The victory made Rice University the smallest school in 51 years to win a national championship at the highest collegiate level of the sport. This is Rice's only national championship in a team sport. The Rice baseball team has played on campus at Reckling Park since the 2000 season, and is by far the school's top athletic program. (The baseball team has won 12 consecutive conference championships in three different conferences – the final championship of the defunct Southwest Conference, all 10 championships while a member of the Western Athletic Conference, and the championship in its first year as a member of Conference USA.) More recently, Rice's baseball team finished third in the 2006 College World Series despite being a favorite to make the finals, if not win. Baseball all-star Lance Berkman is a Rice baseball alumnus. Rice Stadium seats 72,000 (more than the total number of alumni) and was the site of Super Bowl VIII and a speech by John F. Kennedy on September 12, 1962 in which he challenged the nation to send a man to the moon by the end of the decade. In addition to football, Rice Stadium also serves as the performance venue for the university's Marching Owl Band, or "MOB." Despite its name, the MOB is a scatter band which focuses on performing humorous skits and routines rather than traditional formation marching. Prior to the dissolution of the Southwest Conference, some of the most entertaining half-time shows to watch were during Rice vs. Texas A&M games, if only for the sheer contrast of the pure military precision of the Aggie Band versus the irreverent wackiness of the MOB. The football team is currently rebuilding. The last bowl game the team appeared in was back in 1961. Its eight wins in 2001 were the most in any one season since 1953. It set a record in late 2005 by losing its 14th consecutive game. This streak - the longest active in college football at the time, followed an internally authorized 2003 McKinsey report that stated football, alone, was responsible for a $4 million deficit in 2002. Tensions remain high between the athletic department and faculty, as a few professors who chose to voice their opinion were in favor of abandoning the football program. New head coach Todd Graham is leading the "Rice Renaissance", the revival of the Owl football program. Many new additions to Rice Stadium and the development of the team lead many to belive Rice football is on the rise. Sophomore wide receiver Jarrett Dillard (as of October 22, 2006) leads all D-1A wide receivers in receptions (53) and touchdowns (12), along with holding the nation's current longest streak of games with at least one touchdown per game. Rice's mascot is an owl named Sammy. In previous decades the university kept several live owls on campus in front of Lovett College, but this has been discontinued. Joint programs
Trivia In 1914, Rice University hired William James Sidis as a professor of mathematics. He was 16 years old at the time. Points of interest See also | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
| |