Wiess College
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Seal of Rice UniversityCrest of Wiess College
| Established | 1949 |
|---|---|
| Namesake | Harry Carothers Wiess |
| Masters | Michael Gustin & Denise Klein |
| Resident Associates | Brent Houchens Christie & Doward Hudlow |
| President | Chris Kudron |
| Location | Houston, Texas, USA |
| Membership | 350 (approximate) |
| Colors | Black and Gold |
| Mascot | The War Pig |
| Website | teamwiess.com |
| Logo of Rice University | |
Harry Carothers Wiess College is one of nine residential colleges at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Male and female members of Wiess College are known equally as Wiessmen.
History and Architecture
Harry Carothers Wiess was a famed oil tycoon who founded Humble Oil, later Exxon. He died in 1948 and left money for the construction of a new dorm. Despite its unusual spelling, the name Wiess rhymes with Rice.
Wiess Hall (1949-1957)
Wiess Hall opened in 1949 as the first dormitory at Rice to be named after a person (the other three dormitories at the time were North, South, and West Halls). Wiess Hall was laid out in the shape of the letter E, or (as Wiessmen preferred to say) the letter W. It had three north-south wings, joined on the north end by a long east-west spine, thus forming two open quadrangles. The building was two stories high except for the three-story center wing. The east wing contained contained mostly single rooms, while all the other rooms were doubles. Every two rooms were joined by a connecting bathroom.
As in a roadside motel, each room at Wiess opened directly to an exterior walkway. Although its design was ridiculed by later students as "Motel 6" architecture, Wiess Hall actually incorporated two important innovations: (1) every room had a semi-private bathroom; and (2) every room (except room 228, which was reserved for freshmen) had windows on at least two sides -- an important adaptation in the years before air conditioning. Nonetheless, the spartan design and subsequent deterioration of the building led to a persistent myth that Wiess Hall (notwithstanding such telltale features as brick veneer walls and a tile roof) was built as temporary housing for war veterans.
Wiess College (1957-2002)
In 1957, Rice University implemented a residential college system, as proposed by the university's first president, Edgar Odell Lovett. Wiess Hall became Wiess College, one of the four original colleges, along with Baker, (the former North Hall), Will Rice (South), and Hanszen (West).
Converting the dormitory into a college included the creation of two Resident Associate suites; construction of Wiess House, which would be the home of the Master and his family; and construction of the Wiess Commons, the eating hall and round-the-clock gathering space for college members.
Because of Wiess's outward-facing architecture, life at Wiess centered on the outdoors. The main quadrangle (between the center and west wings) became known as the Acabowl and was the busy front yard of the College. It featured volleyball, frisbee throwing, four-square games on the patio, and beer team practices. Lacrosse balls were a frequent threat to first-floor windows. At various times students installed a trampoline ("Aca-tramp") or above-ground pool ("Aca-pool"), although none of these amenities survived for long. After a hard rain, Wiessmen would run and slide down a muddy track, a practice called "zip sledding". Periodically a few residents would use rubber tubing and a couple of strong bodies to create a "gazilcher" catapult for launching water balloons or other projectiles at nearby Hanszen College. At one time, Wiessmen punished students for real or imagined infractions by dangling them upside-down from the balconies.
The quadrangle on the east side of the center wing was known, by analogy, as the "Backabowl". Not facing the center wing balconies, the Backabowl was much more sedate.
In the mid-1970s, Wiess College renovated and expanded the commons area. Wiess undergraduate architecture students Tim "Frog" Barry and Dan Canty designed the new commons for a class project.
The physical deterioration of Wiess accelerated rapidly during the 1990s. After many delays, the university finally began construction of new facilities for the College. The original Wiess Hall and its adjoining commons were razed during the winter break between Fall 2002 and Spring 2003.
Wiess College (2002-present)
Wiess's long-awaited new building opened in the fall of 2002. The college now encloses a single large quadrangle (which retains the name Acabowl), with a glass-walled Commons on the north side and four-story residence wings forming the other three sides. The part of the Acabowl adjoining the Commons is a sunny terrace (inevitably dubbed the "Acaterrace"). The kitchen or "servery" which serves the Commons is shared with Hanszen College.
Student rooms at Wiess are primarily grouped into four-person suites, which include either four singles or two doubles, a common room, and a bathroom. The west side (twenties wing) features three three-person rooms ("three-mans") which include larger singles, but no common room. The east side (forties wing) features three five-person rooms ("five-mans") which include three singles and a double.
Other special rooms include a game room, movie room, second- and third-floor kitchens, resident associate suites, visiting professor suite, computer lab, dance room, Campus Police satellite office, and O/C (off campus) lounge.
People
Masters of Wiess College
In chronological order:
| 1957-? | Roy Talmadge | ... | ... |
| 1970-1975 | Lea Rudee | ||
| 1975-1980 | Stewart Baker | ||
| 1983 | Bill Wilson (interim) | ||
| 1984-1989 | Joan Rea | ||
| 1989-1994 | George (Wiess '75) & Marilyn Pharr | ||
| 1994-2001 | John & Paula Hutchinson | ||
| 2001-2006 | Katherine Donato & Dan Kalb | ||
| 2006- | Michael Gustin & Denise Klein |
Note: Until the 1990s, the term Master was limited to members of the Rice faculty; the Master's spouse held the title Co-Master. Since the 1990s both spouses are called Masters. The one listed first is the faculty member.
Resident Associates
Dr. Bill
Dr. Bill Wilson was professor of electrical engineering at Rice from 1972 and Resident Associate of Wiess College from 1978 until his retirement from Rice in 2006. He also served as interim Master of Wiess in 1983 and in a myriad of formal and informal roles on the Rice campus throughout his teaching career. Known to generations of Wiessmen as Dr. Bill, he was the keeper of many Wiess traditions and arguably the most influential person in the ollege's history.
A native of Long Island, William L. Wilson Jr. grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, and came to Rice in 1972 after earning his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering at Cornell University. In 1978 he became a Resident Associate at Wiess College, one of the university's residential colleges. Wiess remained his home until 2006, when Dr. Bill retired to his long-time summer home in Vermont.
Research
Dr. Bill was an accomplished researcher in the fields of lasers, electro-optics, and solid state devices and was a member of a free-electron laser group at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Most recently, his lab at Rice investigated new ways to manufacture zinc selenide, a material that can produce blue light as a light-emitting diode and as a laser.
Teaching
Dr. Bill was a sought-after teacher who taught core undergraduate classes and advanced graduate seminars with equal flair. He has received the university’s two highest teaching awards: the George R. Brown Prize for Excellence in Teaching and the George R. Brown Award for Superior Teaching.
University Service
Faculty Committees
Dr. Bill served on countless university committees and as Speaker of the Faculty Council. His special commitment to undergraduate teaching was manifest in his long service as member and chair of the Committee on Undergraduate Curriculum.
University Marshal
The University Marshals are a standing committee responsible for planning and orchestrating Rice’s most important occasions, including presidential investitures and Commencement. In c. 2002, after many years as Marshal of Wiess, Dr. Bill accepted the post of Chief University Marsahl. As Chief Marshal, Dr. Bill relished the ceremonial role of carrying the University Mace, while behind the scenes he devoted himself to the planning and execution of Rice's impressive ceremonies.
Academic & Organizational Advising
Dr. Bill served as departmental advisor to EE majors; chair of the department’s undergraduate advising committee; and divisional (i.e. science and engineering) advisor to Wiess freshmen.
Dr. Bill was a patient and trusted faculty advisor to two of Rice’s most visible organizations: the Student Association and KTRU. In particular, Dr. Bill guided KTRU during a turbulent time in 2000-2001 when the radio station’s governance was the subject of bitter controversy.
Student Affairs
In the spring of 1983 Dr. Bill served as interim Master of Wiess at a critical juncture, as the college prepared to accept its first female residents. In 2004, Dr. Bill served as assistant to Associate Vice President for Student Affairs John Hutchinson in the process of formulating the new position of Dean of Undergraduates.
Neighbor, Mentor and Friend
In nearly three decades of living among Rice students, Dr. Bill was the model of a Resident Associate in the residential college system: friend to all, judgmental of none, always accessible, unfailingly involved, with an uncanny understanding of what to be concerned with and what to overlook.
Dr. Bill was Wiess’s tireless T-shirt maker, theater set designer, story teller, intramural player, host of summer happy hours, and a judicious voice in Cabinet meetings. In an understated way, he managed to keep a particular eye on students who have a hard time fitting in. He never hesitated to lend a hand to a student in need; to open his door to one who felt excluded; or to take a difficult midnight phone call from a concerned parent.
One of Dr. Bill’s greatest contributions to campus life was the sheer length of his RA service, as the President of Wiess College explained in a letter to the campus newspaper:
"Dr. Bill has been a friend to and an advocate for thousands of students. His humility combined with the depth of his service have left an imprint on generations of Wiessmen." -- Jack Hardcastle (Wiess ’06), The Rice Thresher, January 20, 2006
Most visibly, Dr. Bill devoted incomparable time and energy to three aspects of college life:
Photography
An extraordinarily prolific photographer, Dr. Bill recorded tens of thousands of moments of student life. Every week or two he posted the latest photos in the Wiess Commons – a continuing chronicle of the activities of the students.
Each summer on the first day of Orientation Week, Dr. Bill took a photo of every new Wiessman. He displayed these infamous "freshman mug shots" for the first month of the semester, to help upperclassmen learn the names of the new students. Then the pictures were taken down and apparently forgotten about – until the night before graduation, when the old mug shots of Wiess’s graduating seniors re-appeared in the Wiess Commons.
College theater
Dr. Bill was the technical mastermind behind over fifty productions of Wiess Tabletop Theater, including the quadrennial musical comedy Hello Hamlet. He directed the sound, lighting, and video recording of these plays. Nearly all of the technical equipment used by Wiess Tabletop was obtained or custom-built by Dr. Bill. His love for college theater extended campus-wide, as Dr. Bill lent his technical aid to dozens of productions at other colleges.
Student music
A passionate supporter of student music, Dr. Bill lent his technical expertise to record student performers ranging from the Rice Philharmonics to the comedy group Spontaneous Combustion to student bands such as Sprawl (in the 1980s) and Wiess 244 (in the 2000s). In the 1980s Dr. Bill helped create JamFest, a showcase of Rice student bands that has become an annual campus festival.
Alumni Interaction
Dr. Bill was a human link who tied many alumni to the present college – a tie that he personally fostered through his energetic involvement in events such as Beer-Bike and "Hello Hamlet". He endeavored to make Wiess a place where alumni are an integral part and where interaction between alumni and undergraduates is especially strong – qualities that President Edgar Odell Lovett would have admired.
Recognition and Tributes
On Beer-Bike day in 1999, Wiess held a celebration to honor Dr. Bill’s 20 years of service as RA. Professor John Hutchinson, then Master of Wiess, noted at the time:
"Bill has the extraordinary capacity to support students in every possible way that a professor might, including as an outstanding teacher, a research supervisor, an academic adviser, an organizer, a co-worker, an assistant, a mentor, a counselor and a friend. The number of students he has influenced through his work with student organizations is staggering. Rice University and Wiess would not be the great student institutions that they are if not for Bill Wilson." --Rice News, April 8, 1999.
One aspect of that occasion served as a further example of Dr. Bill’s devotion to Rice students. Alumni from around the world contributed funds for a gift in Dr. Bill’s honor, to be used however he wished. This tireless and selfless friend used these monies to establish the Dr. Bill Wilson Student Initiative Fund, which currently provides grants of up to $5500 per year for innovative projects to improve student activities or campus life at Rice.
Those sentiments were no less true in 2006, when (again on Beer-Bike day) hundreds of Wiess alumni joined with the entire college to honor Dr. Bill's long and memorable service to the College.
A few months before his retirement, the President of Wiess College wrote a public tribute to Dr. Bill:
"Bill Wilson is one of the most energetic and involved individuals on this campus. Beyond his duties as a professor, he has been an outstanding resident associate, a theater technician, a sound engineer, assistant dean of students, chief warden and a great friend to many of us. He has dozens if not hundreds of stories he is reluctant to share of his personal involvement with students on all levels, in all matters. He has gone to the mat for students in trouble, and he watches out for us every single day." -- Jack Hardcastle (Wiess ’06), The Rice Thresher, January 20, 2006
Faculty and Community Associates
Presidents of Wiess College
Partial list
| 1973-1974 | Paul Lederer |
| 1974-1975 | Jeff Finger |
| 1975-1976 | John Lederer |
| 1976-1977 | Asuka Nakahara |
| ... | |
| 1982-1983 | Terry "H.R." Phillips |
| 1983-1984 | Jeff Zweig |
| 1984-1985 | Ty Buthod |
| 1985-1986 | Bob Casey |
| 1986-1987 | Alex Pellow |
| 1987-1988 | Bill Davis |
| 1988-1989 | Mike Yanochik |
| 1989-1990 | Brad Hamer |
| 1990-1991 | Steve Eubank |
| 1991-1992 | P.J. Abrams |
| 1992-1993 | Dave Roberts |
| 1993-1994 | Celeste Campbell |
| 1994-1995 | Diane Tate |
| 1995-1996 | Art Raphael Tontiplaphol |
| 1996-1997 | Dave McCann |
| 1997-1998 | George A. Fotinos |
| 1998-1999 | Ethan Schultz |
| 1999-2000 | Robert A. Lundin |
| 2000-2001 | Joshua Katz |
| 2001-2002 | Amy Schindler |
| 2002-2003 | Robert ("Robby") Morgan |
| 2003-2004 | Andy Perez |
| 2004-2005 | Edith Arnold |
| 2005-2006 | Jack Hardcastle |
| 2006-2007 | Chris Kudron |
Notable alumni
| Walter Loewenstern (1958), Co-Founder, ROLM |
| Ken Oshman (1962), Co-Founder, ROLM |
| George Greanias (1970), Former City Controller and Former Councilman, Houston; playwright |
| Harold Solomon, Professional Tennis Player |
| Tom Carter (1976), Founder and CEO, TrellisWare Technologies |
| Mark Dankberg (1976), Founder and CEO, Viasat |
Annual Events
O-Week
A period of orientation for new students, O-Week is one of many Wiessmen's favored rites of passage. Before fall semester classes begin, the new Wiess class is divided into groups of seven to ten incoming students (freshmen and transfers) for the week. Each group of is lead by two upperclassmen known as Fellows. Typically the Fellows pairs consist of one male and one female upperclassman, one from Wiess and one from a different college. Two Head Fellows are also chosen to organize and supervise the orientation week of the college, which includes presentations on diversity, Rice's Honor Council, Rice University Police Department, Rice EMS services, academic advising from faculty and students, a faculty address and the matriculation ceremony. Between these official presentations, there are many ice-breaker activities, broom ball (similar to field hockey on ice), an outreach day, and the planning and execution of 'jacks' or pranks on other colleges. One recent Wiess jack of note was during O-Week 2006 when Wiess successfully hosted a high school prom in the Hanszen Commons complete with dj, streamers, and a life-size get-your-picture-with-the-warrior. O-Week is also a completely dry week on campus, meaning that alcohol is prohibited, but ends with the Dis-O (disorientation) party when the returning students arrive back on campus.
College Night
Each residential college at Rice holds an event each semester called College Night, historically a formal or semiformal dinner. By tradition Wiess College Night is held on the last day of classes of each semester. 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 (including Wiess College Night) had degenerated into drunken debacles at which associates were neither comfortable nor welcome. Considering Wiess's reputation as the rowdiest college, it is ironic but telling that Wiess took the lead in restoring civility to College Night in the 1990s. Wiess is currently the only college whose associates regularly attend College Night.
Jamfest
An all-day concert held every spring. In 2002 and 2003, it was headlined by Bowling for Soup.
Jazz Night
Held on the terrace every spring, Jazz Night features four hours of live jazz and refreshments.
Tabletop Theater
Wiess theater originally performed its plays and musicals on top of the dining tables, hence the name Wiess Tabletop Theater.
Each year, Tabletop puts on the Freshman One-Acts, a Fall Play, and a Spring Musical.
In 1964, Wiessman George Greanias wrote a complete musical, "Hello Hamlet," spoofing the plays of William Shakespeare and the great musical comedies of the American stage. The plot (if not the mood) is fairly faithful to Hamlet, with liberal doses of Macbeth and a cameo of Richard III. It has been performed once every four years (every leap year) since then. Alumni turn out in good numbers for the production. Greanias went on to an active career in Houston city politics, including serving as Houston City Controller.
Powderpuff Football
The Wiess Battlesows have achieved tremendous success in powderpuff (women's) intramural flag football. The Battlesows won championships in 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2001, and 2002. Eddie Goodreau is the head coach this year.
Night of Decadence
Every year around Halloween, Wiess College throws a party called Night of Decadence (commonly referred to simply as "NOD"). The party was first held in 1972 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).
NOD Themes (partial list)
| ... | |
| 1983 | Co-eds in Chains (the year Wiess became a co-ed college) |
| 1984 | Animal Farm |
| 1985 | The Final Chapter (last year in which the Texas drinking age was 19) |
| 1986 | Reserection |
| 1987 | The Trojan War |
| 1988 | Motel Wiess |
| ... | |
| 1992 | Garden of Delights |
| 1993 | James Bondage |
| 1994 | Lust In Space |
| 1995 | Scamtasia |
| 1996 | Wei'Kutopo (Amazonian jungle theme) |
| 1997 | The Greatest NOD On Earth |
| 1998 | Silver NOD (25th Anniversary) |
| 1999 | The Wizard of NOD |
| 2001 | 2001: A Space NODyssey |
| 2002 | Cops and Robbers: A NOD to Authority |
| 2003 | NODty or Nice - Santa's Coming |
| 2004 | NOD Bless America: Choose Your Position |
| 2005 | NODdy by Nature: A Walk on the Wild Side |
| 2006 | NODical Adventure: A Salute to Seamen |
Regardless of the stated theme, the decorations for NOD were overtly sexual. For many years NOD's trademark was "Sparky", a giant phallus built of papier-mache and suspended from the ceiling of the Commons. ("Sparky's" also became the nickname of Wiess's basement game room.) Often Sparky was aligned with a corresponding anatomical prop at the other end of the room; one year a motor was added to move Sparky back and forth during the party. In some years a second Sparky was constructed with internal tubing that delivered Everclear punch from an upstairs mixing area to a suitably-shaped serving trough below.
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 standard costume is boxer shorts for men, and bra and thong for women.
Although nothing at NOD was ever meant to be taken seriously, because of its overtly sexual context the party eventually became a polarizing event on the Rice campus. It remains a popular annual event, though the decorations are considerably less graphic.
Wiess Culture
Perhaps more than any other college at Rice, Wiess is distinguished by its current and former traditions and by the enthusiasm with which the college embraces them.
The Five-Man
At old Wiess, the Five-Man was a second-floor suite that could in theory accommodate five students, but usually only four men lived in it. Because of the suite's extra space (including an adjoining roof that served as an unauthorized deck) and the fact that it was customarily inhabited by fun-loving upperclassmen, the Five-Man became a social and party center of the college. In the 1990s a second Five-Man suite was created immediately above the original Five-Man when the third-floor Resident Associate suite was reconfigured into a student suite (the Resident Associate quarters were relocated to the quieter west wing overlooking the old tennis courts).
At new Wiess, the Five-Man concept has been institutionalized. There are three five-person rooms: 245, 345, and 445. This hasn't stopped the Wiessmen though. The five-man has effectively become a six-man, though it's still called the five-man. A "five-man" usually refers to one of these six-person rooms, rather than one of the five-person rooms. There were five-mans in 2002-2003 and 2004-2005.
Room 242
Another tradition at Wiess deals with Room 242 A. Always given to Freshmen girls, this room is the only room in Wiess not assigned before Orientation Week. Why not? On the last night of O-Week, between 20 and 30 Freshmen girls (the number has varied from year to year) duke it out in all-night nude mud wrestling contests to determine who gets the coveted Room 242 (this room comes fully decorated and has an extra large bathroom, as well as 4 lamps instead of the customary 1). The event is usually attended by most of the upperclassmen boys on campus, all of whom are more than willing to take the winning girls out for celebratory washing in the Fairy Fountain. The 2006 inhabitants of room 242 A are Erin Waller and Judy Huang. Pictures from this year's mud wrestling contest can be found off Wiess Web Page links (under "242").
The Ubangee
The ubangee is a rite in which several Wiessmen pile on top of a fellow student and proceed to grunt and gyrate in simulation of an orgy. After a reasonable number of grunts, the ubangee is concluded with three triumphant cries of TEAM WIESS! The ubangee, which today requires at least the implicit acquiescence of the "victim", is used to indicate inculcation or acceptance, to celebrate a milestone or achievement, to inflict mock punishment, but mostly for fun. Likely "victims" include anyone celebrating a birthday, anyone who does or says something foolish in a public setting, non-Wiessmen (for virtually any reason), and freshmen (ditto). Perhaps the most notorious ubangee in Wiess history occurred in the spring of 1983, when Jeff Zweig was installed as the new President of Wiess in a "turnover" party at Willy's Pub. Legend has it that the pile of students reached the ceiling. A tamer variation of the standard ubangee is the "ceiling ubangee", in which the victim is lifted up and thrust several times toward the ceiling, accompanied by grunting. The ceiling ubangee has been practiced on alumni and (according to legend) on visiting dignitaries for whom a standard floor ubangee would have been inappropriate.
Cultural History: Former Wiess Traditions
Family-style Dinner
Family-style dinners were instituted in 1957 when Rice's residential colleges were opened. A 1980 editorial in the Houston Chronicle gives a sense of the importance of this custom:
"There is a difference between cafeteria lines, particularly college cafeteria lines, and being served a meal family style. We won't try to define the difference, but we can understand why the students at Rice University wanted to hold on to the traditional family-style meals served on the campus.
"Family-style dining was begun in 1957 when the campus was divided into eight residential colleges, each with 200-250 students. The Houston Health Department had its questions about this dining practice, and there were some conferences with Rice officials before all could be straightened out, as it finally was.
"This has become a world where standing in line is automatic. It is a world in which change constantly threatens tradition. The continuation of family-style meals at Rice University is just a small victory, but not an unimportant one." -- "A small victory", Houston Chronicle, Nov. 17. 1980.
Family-style diining remained a popular fixture of Wiess life for nearly 50 years, long after the other colleges had abandoned the practice.
For dinner, the tables at Wiess were set with tablecloths, gold-colored cloth napkins, and white china. For many years the china bore the Wiess crest, but as these pieces inevitably disappeared into students' personal collections they were replaced with plain white pieces. Following college announcements and a very short blessing, student waiters brought out the meal on serving trays promptly at 6:00 PM. When the table had finished the main course, the waiter would clear the dinner plates and bring dessert. In 1985, one rowdy Wiessman twisted the traditional blessing of "For these and all our many blessings, O Lord we thank thee" into "For these and all our many blessings, O Satan we thank thee", after which it gave way to a moment of silence, a practice still observed at Wiess today.
These apparently formal attributes did not mean that dinners were sedate or stilted. On the contrary, dinner at Wiess was often a raucous affair, particularly on Fridays and especially following an afternoon TGIF party ("TG") in the Acabowl. One particularly messy practice was the "Viking table", in which students would dump the contents of the serving tray onto the table and attempt to eat the entire meal without the use of plates, utensils, or hands. Even then, community prevailed, for custom and College rules dictated that these students would clean and bus their own table, rather than leaving it to the waiters.
The somewhat noxious practice of banging on plates during announcements began in the mid 1980s. As practiced by its instigators, the plate-banging was directed only toward announcements from other colleges. Somehow it took on a life of its own, and by the late 1990s it had become an insufferable din -- but one that ended immediately with the moment of silence.
Family-style dinner eventually became a casualty of the new multi-college servery, which made it impractical to restrict dinner at Wiess to a single serving time; as well as the obstinate freshman class in '01-'02. While the result has been greater flexibility for students, many observers regret the loss of the rich shared experience that family-style dinner provided.
Freshman Waiting
While other colleges with family-style dining apportioned the waiting duties on various ad hoc bases, at Wiess the waiting was done by freshmen. The freshmen served one-week stints on a rotating basis, with each freshman serving 2-3 stints per semester. Upon completing their freshman year, they enjoyed the benefits of freshman waiting for the rest of their time at Wiess. Although a few freshmen invariably complained about this duty at the beginning of the fall semester, they soon embraced it as an important rite of passage.
As with family-style dining generally, freshman waiting was maintained at Wiess long after other colleges had abandoned it. Although (like many Wiess customs) considered curious by outsiders, freshman waiting provided a valuable interaction between Wiess freshmen and upperclassmen and was one of the customs by which new students were indoctrinated into the College.
Build-Ups
At old Wiess, while freshmen made do with university-issued furniture, upperclassmen were allowed to customize their rooms virtually however they wanted. This practice was further supported by Wiess's "squatter's rights" policy, which allowed sophomores or juniors who occupied a room to keep that room until they graduated. By the 1980s many Wiessman had constructed elaborate "build-ups," with paneling, ceiling fans, wet bars, split-level floors, and private sleeping areas. In one room, the beds were attached to pulleys that allowed them to be lowered at night for sleeping and retracted into the ceiling during the day. The rooms with the best build-ups were highly coveted. To defray the cost of these improvements and to encourage them to be maintained, an informal practice evolved in which the subsequent occupants of a room would pay a two- to three-figure sum to the previous occupants.