Residential colleges of Rice University

The academic seal of Rice University

The residential colleges of Rice University comprise eleven separate residential colleges which function as the primary housing, dining, and social organization for undergraduate students. The system was established in 1957 and was inspired by the residential college systems at Colleges of the University of Oxford and Colleges of the University of Cambridge as well as the American adaptations of the same at Harvard and Yale. Each student is randomly affiliated with a residential college upon matriculation and becomes a lifetime member of the college. The residential college system takes place of a greek system, and has contributed to a sense of community that other universities have sought to emulate.

At academic ceremonies including Matriculation and Commencement, the colleges process in the following order: the four original colleges in the order Baker, Will Rice, Hanszen, and Wiess; followed by the other colleges in order of founding, i.e., Jones, Brown, Lovett, Sid Richardson, Martel, McMurtry and Duncan. For the original four colleges, which became colleges at the same time in 1957, the processional order reflects the order in which the original buildings were constructed. For McMurtry and Duncan, which were built at the same time and opened simultaneously in August 2009, the processional order reflects the order in which the founding gifts were made.

The colleges are often classified by geographical location: Jones, Brown, Martel, McMurtry and Duncan are the North colleges; Baker, Will Rice, Hanszen, Wiess, Lovett and Sid Richardson are the South colleges.

History of the College System

The residential college system was instated in 1957, with men's colleges Baker, Will Rice, Hanszen, and Wiess with Jones as the singular women's college. Brown, Lovett and Sid Richardson colleges composed the initial expansion founded between 1965 and 1971. To cope with increasing enrollment, Martel, Duncan, and McMurtry colleges have been constructed in between 2001-2009.

Common characteristics

Architecture

Each college except Sid Richardson is built around its own small quadrangle, which serves as the central court of the college.

Each college building includes three principal structures:

• A residential building, where on-campus members of the college live. In addition to student rooms in various configurations, the building includes at least two apartments for resident associates. Resident associates at Rice are typically junior faculty members; their role is to serve as mentors and counselors.

• A house, usually immediately adjacent to the residential building, in which the college Master or Masters live. The Master or Masters are typically a tenured or other senior faculty member and his or her spouse who live at the college, providing leadership and guidance to the college as a whole and to individual students. (Historically the term Master was reserved for faculty members, while a non-faculty spouse held the title Co-Master. Today, both spouses are known as Masters.)

• A commons, where college members (including on-campus and off-campus students, Masters, resident associates, and non-resident associates from the faculty and the community) take their meals and conduct other activities of college life, including study groups, lectures, theatrical productions, and parties. In addition to a large multi-purpose dining hall, each commons typically includes an administrative office; a private dining room for small group meetings; and other specialized areas.

Each college has unique architecture, and as a result there are a great number of different room styles, with varying levels of modernity and condition.

Masters and Resident Associates

Each of the residential colleges at Rice has two College Masters, a faculty member and their spouse. The Masters reside in a home adjacent to the college, and help cultivate a variety of cultural and intellectual interests among the students, as well as support an effective system of self-government. They administer the college and serve as liaisons between the students of the college and Rice.

Resident Associates are Rice faculty or staff members who reside on campus with students. While each college has many associates, the RAs are selected to live on campus at the college to interact more fully with the students. They live in apartment suites at the colleges, regularly attend meals with students, and are generally active members of student life.

Two of the longest-serving resident associates in Rice history are Gilbert Cuthbertson, professor of history and resident associate at Will Rice College; and Dr. Bill Wilson, professor of electrical engineering and resident associate at Wiess College.

Governance

Each college is in charge of an annual budget in excess of $40,000, and elects a government from its students to administer the college and the budget. The college governments can exert control over everything from event organization to upgrades to the college facilities. Governing documents for many of the colleges can be found online. Singular presidents and chief justices are common - university mandated - features of each college's government.

Traditions

See also: Traditions and student life at Rice University

The traditional campus-wide Beer Bike competition is the largest annual student event held on Rice campus and the source of many rivalries and traditions among the residential colleges. In recent years, a tradition has emerged wherein the Richardson men's team intentionally disqualify themselves using any of a variety of means, most recently with a fire extinguisher-powered "rocket bike." Sid Richardson has been disqualified in at least one race each year since 2000, with the exception of 2003 and 2007 when the biking was replaced with running due to inclement weather. Will Rice is well-known for its dominance of the university's annual campus-wide Beer Bike competition among the residential colleges. Will Rice has held the longest winning streak on record in the alumni race (11 years from 1996 to 2006), and regularly fields strong men's and women's teams. After the inclusion of an Alumni Race, Will Rice has been the only college to have won all three of the races in a given year, which it has done on four occasions — 1983, 1986, 1999, and 2009. In addition, Will Rice holds the current track records for the men's, women's, and alumni races.

Baker College

Baker College
Location	6320 Main St., Houston, Texas, USA
Established	1957
Namesake	James Addison Baker
Colors	Red   Black
Masters	Jose Aranda and Krista Comer
President	Kathy Kellert
Chief justice	Connor Hayes
Mascot	The Devil
File:RiceU BlueSealLogo.png
Website	bakercollege.net

James Addison Baker College was the first residential building on campus. Baker college is named in honor of Captain James A. Baker, friend and attorney of William Marsh Rice, and first chair of the Rice Board of Governors. He served as the Rice Institute's first chairman on the Board of Trustees from June 24, 1891 until his death in 1941. He is know for having helped unravel the conspiracy surrounding the millionaire's murder, securing the future of the university.

As part of the university's original housing unit for male students, a dormitory, library and dining room were built on campus. The now-Baker commons served as the university's central dining hall for 43 years. East hall, which contained dormitories and is now referred to as the "Old Wing" of Baker, was completed soon afterwards. These buildings remained virtually unchanged until the residential college system was instated in 1957. The neoclassical architecture of the former East hall was joined by a new two-story brick-colored wing, the design of which was shared with equivalent new sections being constructed at Will Rice and Hanszen colleges, in preparation for becoming residential colleges. A house for Baker's Master was also added. Baker was thus established as one of the four original colleges at Rice that fall of 1957.

In 1973 Baker, along with Hanszen, became the first co-ed colleges at Rice. To include upperclass women, a lottery was held for Jones and Brown woman to transfer into Baker. Baker's colors are traditionally red and silver, and the college associates itself with the Devil and Hell in its Beer Bike themes and college cheers.

In 2009, construction will begin on a new residential wing. A portion of the former New Section will be renovated and turned over to Lovett College. Baker's new wing will be located between the Old Section and the Inner Loop road, and will bring with it renovations to Baker's kitchen.

Will Rice College

Will Rice College
Location	6330 Main St., Houston, Texas, United States
Established	1957 (1957)
Namesake	William Marsh Rice, Jr.
Colors	Rust   Gold
Masters	Mike Wolf, Paula Krisko
President	Kyle Clark
Chief justice	Josh Ozer
Membership	350 (approximate)
Mascot	The Phoenix
File:RiceU BlueSealLogo.png
Website	willrice.org

Will Rice College was originally called South Hall, one of the original dormitories the university built soon after opening in 1912.

In 1957, Rice adopted the residential college system, and South Hall became Will Rice College, named for William M. Rice, Jr., the nephew of the university's founder, William Marsh Rice. The second-oldest of the nine residential colleges at Rice, Will Rice was originally an all-male college and became co-ed in 1977.

Will Rice is architecturally almost identical to Baker and Hanszen colleges; all three possess a white-painted "Old Wing" and a brick colored "New Wing". Will Rice's new section possesses a tower that rises several stories above the rest of the college, a design feature reflected by Hanszen.

The symbol of Will Rice college is the Phoenix, depicted in maroon and gold colors. The college commonly refers to itself as the "college of gods and goddesses". The elected governing body of Will Rice is called the Diet and administers a university-sponsored and fee-augmented budget of approximately $40,000 which supports social, athletic, and other programs for Will Rice's approximately 300 resident and non-resident members.

Will Rice is traditionally a strong contender in the university's annual campus-wide Beer Bike competition among the residential colleges. Will Rice has held the longest winning streak on record in the alumni race (11 years from 1996 to 2006). Since the inclusion of an alumni race, Will Rice has been the only college to have won the men's, women's, and alumni races in a given year, which it has done on four occasions — 1983, 1986, 1999, and 2009. In addition, Will Rice holds the current track records for the men's, women's, and alumni races.

Each year, in the spring, the 80s and 90s section of Will Rice secede and form "Albert Patrick College", named after the man convicted of masterminding the death of the university's founder.

In 2009, work began on a new wing for Will Rice college. The new wing will be located on the site of the former New Section, built in 1957; this building will be torn down completely. A new servery, which will be shared with Lovett, is part of the construction project.

Hanszen College

Hanszen College
Location	6350 Main St., Houston, Texas, USA
Established	1957
Namesake	Harry Clay Hanszen
Colors	Royal Blue   Yellow
Masters	Rob Griffin, Ann Griffin
President	Erol Bakkalbasi
Chief justice	Katherine Pouns
Membership	369
Mascot	The Guardian
File:RiceU BlueSealLogo.png
Website	hc.hanszen.rice.edu

The new wing of Hanszen college

Harry Clay Hanszen College was named for a benefactor to the university and chairman of the Rice Board of Governors from 1946-1950. The original building of Hanszen College was built in the neo-gothic style as a part of the original campus construction plan by Boston architectural firm Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson. A new housing wing was built in 1957 in conjunction with the development of the residential college system at Rice in response to the expanding undergraduate enrollment.

KTRU, the University's student managed radio station, and the Rice Coffee Shop began at Hanszen College. Hanszen was the first residential college at Rice to use its own crest. Shortly after the founding of the residential college system, the students created the blue, black, and yellow crest that in time became the symbol of the college, setting a precedent for the other colleges.

Hanszen often hosts guest lecturers; recent visitors include College World Series champion Coach Wayne Graham, former Rice president and renowned economist S. Malcolm Gillis, and director of the Houston Area Survey Stephen Kleinberg. University courses recently offered by Hanszen College have included Analytics in Sports, Spirituality in Film, and The Culture of Philanthropy.

Hanszen College is administered by the Cabinet, a body consisting of the Executive Board and Class Representatives elected by members of the college on an annual basis. The Cabinet supervises an annual budget of nearly $60,000, regulates the use of public spaces within the college, and serves as an official liaison between the College membership and the university administration.

Wiess College

Wiess College
Location	6340 Main St., Houston, Texas, USA
Established	1957 (original building constructed 1949)
Namesake	Harry Carothers Wiess
Colors	Goldenrod   Black
Masters	Michael Gustin, Denise Klein
President	Alex Bonnel
Chief justice	Tracy Dansker
Membership	350 (approximate)
Mascot	The War Pig
File:RiceU BlueSealLogo.png
Website	teamwiess.com

The commons at Wiess College

Harry Carothers Wiess College (Template:Pron-en) was one of the original four colleges created when the residential college system was implemented in 1957. In 2002, Wiess became the only college at Rice to relocate from one building to another. Wiess is currently the southwesternmost residential college, located adjacent to Hanszen and the South Power Plant. Male and female members of Wiess College are known equally as Wiessmen.

Wiess College is named for Harry Carothers Wiess (1887-1948), one of the founders and one-time president of Humble Oil, now ExxonMobil. He was elected as a life member of the Board of Trustees of Rice University in 1944 and appointed vice-chairman in 1946. He left money for the construction of a new dorm after his death in 1948.

Wiess Hall was completed in 1949, but carried the name "North Hall" until its dedication in March 1950. It was laid out as an E-shaped building, with three north-south wings, joined on the north ends by a long east-west spine, forming two open quadrangles. The building was two stories high except for the three-story center wing. The hall was designed to house about 200 students in 20 single and 90 double rooms. Each room at Wiess opened directly to an exterior walkway that wrapped around the entire building. This design incorporated two features that were innovative at the time: every room had a semi-private bathroom and 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.

Wiess Hall became Wiess College in 1957. Converting the dormitory into a college included the creation of two Resident Associate suites; construction of Wiess House, the home of the Master and family; and construction of the Wiess Commons (designed by Wiess undergraduate architecture students Tim "Frog" Barry and Dan Canty for a class project), 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 two quadrangles developed distinct characters. The quad between the center and west wings became known as the "Acabowl" and was the center of the college's social and recreational activity. At various times students installed a trampoline ("Aca-tramp") or above-ground pool ("Aca-pool"). The other quadrangle, between the center and east wings, was known by analogy as the "Backabowl" and tended to be used for quieter activities, such as sunbathing.

The original residential building suffered from rapid deterioration in the 1990s. In 2002, the university opened a new building for the college, located south of the original building. New Wiess encloses a single large quadrangle, which retains the "Acabowl" name. The new building also preserved what Wiessmen considered a salient feature of the old: the fact that all rooms at Wiess open directly onto exterior walkways or balconies. A glass-walled commons forms the the north side of the Acabowl, with three four-story residence wings forming the other sides. The portion of the Acabowl immediately adjacent to the commons is known as the Acaterrace. The original Wiess Hall and its adjoining commons were razed during the winter break between Fall 2002 and Spring 2003.

Wiess considers itself to have an intense community spirit, signified by the slogan and cheer "Team Wiess", which has been used consistently since the 1970s.

Aspects of Wiess life include family-style dining and freshman waiting, Tabletop Theater, the Ubangee, pumpkin caroling, Night of Decadence, Hello, Hamlet!, the Pace Mannion fan club, the turning of the statue of university founder William Marsh Rice, and the War Pig.

One of the most influential persons in Wiess history was electrical engineering professor Bill Wilson, who served as resident associate from 1978 to 2006 and as interim Master in 1982-83, which was also the year in which Wiess became a co-ed college. Wilson, known to generations of students as Dr. Bill, was a fixture of Rice's college system and the keeper of many Wiess traditions. In addition to his many teaching awards, he is the only person to have won the Student Association's Mentor Recognition Award twice. After his unexpected death in January 2009, his memorial service was held at the Wiess commons.

Notable Wiess alumni include Walter Loewenstern (1958), Ken Oshman (1962), George Greanias (1970), Harold Solomon, Tom Carter, Mark Dankberg (1976), Ricky Pierce (1982).

Jones College

Jones College
Location	23 Sunset Blvd., Houston, Texas, USA
Established	1957
Namesake	Mary Gibbs Jones
Colors	Light Blue   Green   Purple
Masters	Rudy Guerra, Nancy Guerra
President	Andrew McDermott
Chief justice	Jim "Hulk" Aman
Membership	350 (approximate)
Mascot	none
File:RiceU BlueSealLogo.png
Website	jones.rice.edu

Mary Gibbs Jones College, built as the first women's dormitory at Rice University, is named after Mary Gibbs Jones, wife of prominent Houston philanthropist Jesse Holman Jones. Jesse H. Jones supported its initial construction with a $1 million donation.

The college was built in 1957, consisting of two four-story slabs named "North" and "South." It was designed by architects Lloyd & Morgan. Not only was it the first housing for women on campus, it was also the first building designed specifically as a residential college and also the first building to be centrally air-conditioned. Lloyd & Morgan used pink marble in the construction of Jones College to indicate its status as housing for female students. In 2002, an additional four-story building, "Central," was built in between North and South. The new building connects to both original buildings at every level except the ground floor (a short walk separates South and Central). The wing was designed by noted post-modern architect Michael Graves.

In the early days, the culture of the all-female Jones College was quite conservative. At meals, each table had a hostess, and dinner was served family style. Strict rules were enforced by house mothers when men from the south colleges visited the female students. The students even had to abide by a strict curfew - 11 p.m. on weekdays and 2 a.m. on weekends.

In the 1970s, Jones began phasing out many of the strictest rules and in the fall of 1980, Jones became co-ed. Male students from the south colleges were given the chance to apply for transfer to Jones. Lovett, another Rice residential college, went co-ed the same year as Jones, so many of the new Jones residents were former Lovett residents. Jones women who disagreed with the decision to go co-ed were allowed to transfer to Brown College, which remained all-female until 1987. In 2001, construction began on the new Jones Commons and Jones Central. The new Jones Commons opened for use in March 2002. Jones Central opened in August 2002. During the same time, Jones lost its parking lot to the newly constructed Martel College.

Jones' student government is set up as a "Cabinet" comprising the Executive Officers, elected representatives from each floor, and one elected off-campus representative that meets bi-weekly. By tradition, Cabinet meetings are preceded by a study break.

Jones is a college with an indoor setup which has a kitchen and two lounges on every floor. Jones is unique among the colleges due to its large number of singles. Jones also has 4 4-single suites and 2 6-single suites, along with doubles and freshman corner doubles.

Brown College

Brown College
Location	9 Sunset Blvd., Houston, Texas, USA
Established	1965
Namesake	Margaret Root Brown
Colors	Maroon   Yellow
Masters	Steve Cox, Laura Cox
President	Jackie Ammons
Chief justice	Nick Bridle
Membership	370 (approximate)
Mascot	Nancy Henry
File:RiceU BlueSealLogo.png
Website	brown.rice.edu

The new Brown College commons

Margaret Root Brown College is the largest of the nine current residential colleges at Rice University. Founded in 1965 as an all-women's college, it became coed in 1987.

The history of Brown dates back to the early sixties, when Jones College was the only all women's college on campus. This caused such a severe housing shortage that some Rice women were housed in the dorms of nearby Texas Women's University. Through the generous $1 million donation of George R. Brown and his wife Alice Pratt Brown, a new women's residential college was established in the memory of their sister-in-law, Margarett Root Brown. Up until her death in 1985, Alice Pratt Brown was an active patron of the college, giving the college much of the furniture and art in the first floor lobbies and private dining room.

The old wing of Brown College

In the beginning, Brown College was filled primarily with women who had volunteered to leave Jones in order to start a new college. Brown had a housemother who lived in the resident associate’s apartment who required all women to check in and out of the building at night and on weekends. The first master of Brown was Frank Vandiver, who later became president of Texas A&M. In 1966 he resigned from Brown because of a “scandal” – the members of Brown voted to drink alcohol in their own rooms (provided they were of legal drinking age). Vandiver resigned because he considered it inappropriate behavior for young ladies.

As the colleges became coed in 1971, Brown held out as the only female college until 1987, when male members were accepted into the college for the first time. However, the community bathrooms on all floors remained coed until 1994, when the bathrooms were remodeled and separate facilities for men and women were built on each floor. The new 4-story wing at Brown opened in 2002. The new wing houses 56 additional students making Brown the largest residential college on campus (it was previously the smallest). Unlike the tower, which consists of doubles and singles with community bathrooms, the new wing is made up of four-person suites. Each suite has four small single rooms, a large common room, and a private bathroom.

Lovett College

Lovett College
Location	6310 Main St., Houston, Texas, USA
Established	1968
Namesake	Edgar Odell Lovett
Colors	Navy Blue   Yellow
Masters	Matteo Pasquali, Marie-Nathalie Contou-Carrere
President	Erin Finn
Chief justice	Michael Lester
Membership	324
Mascot	Toaster
File:RiceU BlueSealLogo.png
Website	lovett.rice.edu

The residential building of Lovett College

Edgar Odell Lovett College is the seventh-founded residential college named after the university's first president.. Lovett opened in 1969 as an all-male college, becoming co-educational in 1980 when members of the college exchanged places with the female members of Jones College. Its first class mostly comprised volunteers from other colleges. Lovett sponsors numerous community and social events throughout the year, including theater productions and the Lovett Undergraduate Research Symposium. Lovett's college crest is interestingly based upon the Lovat family crest, who are not related to Edgar Odell Lovett.

Lovett College during construction

The history of Lovett dates back to 1968, when the Board of Trustees was approached about building a new all-male college on the south side of campus. Edgar Odell Lovett College, named after Rice’s first president, opened in 1969, mostly comprising volunteers from the other colleges. The distinctive brutalist architecture of Lovett has led many to compare it to a giant toaster. This is due to the concrete grating that surrounds the third, fourth, and fifth floors, a design feature intended to make Lovett riot-proof in reaction to the student riots of the late- 1960s, most notably the Abbie Hoffman riot of 1967. Other "riot-proofing" features include the limited reach of the elevator, which does not reach the sixth floor, to prevent students from throwing furniture off of the only exposed higher floor.

"The grating" now protects Lovett students from hurricanes; in fall of 2005 Lovett students were among the only Rice students allowed to stay in their rooms during Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Ike. As a tongue-in-cheek homage to Communism and the purported Soviet architecture of the college, the men of the founding class named their college government the Central Committee. The main body of the crest was taken from the Clan Fraser of Lovat and modified by adding a stag to each side.

Lovett is made up of three buildings: a six-story residential building, a single-story commons, and the Master house. All of these buildings are structurally connected, but have separate entrances and spaces. The majority of the rooms in the residential building are two-person suites, connected in pairs by a shared bathroom. Lovett House is a full two-story home in which the masters reside. The masters often host dessert at their house for special occasions, as well as private Central Committee meetings. The Lovett basement contains a number of facilities for use by the college members, as well as storage space for the various committees. The basement has a game room with various gaming tables, a movie room with couches and a projector, a kitchen, computer room, music room, weight room, and other spaces. The Wiener Hole is Lovett's public study space. It contains the Lovett test file, which contains records of previous tests in various classes. Lyle's, named for former Lovett resident associate Lyle Angene and also known as the Lovett Undergrounds, is a combination-bar-performance space located in Lovett's basement. Lyle's is equipped with a sound system, stage, and lights, as well as bar equipment, including a kegerator. Seating for more than two hundred people can be moved into the space for performances. Lovett Theater and various Rice-wide performance groups, such as the Rice Philharmonics and Spontaneous Combustion, often use Lyle's for their performances; it also often acts as a space for smaller private parties.

In 2009, work will begin on renovating a portion of Baker College's former New Section, which will be transferred over to become Lovett's New Section. A new servery, shared with Will Rice College, is part of the construction project.

Alumni include José Cruz, Jr., John Doerr, Brock Wagner, John Kline, Ann Saterbak, Alberto Gonzales, Matt Anderson. Nobel Laureate Robert Curl and George H.W. Bush served as associates.

Sid Richardson College

Sid Richardson College
Location	6360 Main Street, Houston, Texas, USA
Established	1971
Namesake	Sid W. Richardson
Colors	Black   Red   Gold
Masters	Dale Sawyer, Elise Sawyer
President	Sam Wang
Chief justice	AJ Gomez
Membership	350 (approximate)
Mascot	None
File:RiceU BlueSealLogo.png
Website	sidrichardson.net

The southern side of the Sid Rich tower

Sid Richardson College (also referred to as Sid, SRC, Sid Rich, or Richardson College) opened in 1971 as a men's residential college. Like the other residential colleges on the Rice campus, Sid Richardson College provides undergraduate residential and dining facilities, social organizations and student government, as well as faculty, alumni and community associates. A $2 million pledge from the Sid Richardson Foundation, which was established by Texas oilman, cattleman, and philanthropist Sid W. Richardson (1891-1959), funded the construction of the college. The college became co-ed in 1987.

Sid Richardson College is the tallest building on Rice campus. It has seven levels, each of which is split into an upper and lower level, each of which are effectively one of the building's fourteen stories. Unusual among Rice buildings, the 153 feet (47 m) high-rise was a response to a shortage of University land and was designed by the architectural firm Neuhaus and Taylor. Sid Rich has enough beds to accommodate 220 students Original plans called for the eventual construction of a second tower, but the plan was never followed through. In similar fashion to Lovett, the Sid Master house is connected to the residential tower; it comprises the first floor of the tower, while the mezzanine of the residential building is actually the second floor of the tower. The first floor of Richardson College features a commons, a private dining room, and an "off-campus" lounge. The lounge consists of a pool table, two television sets, and a Nintendo 64. In between the commons and the "off-campus" lounge are 16 cubbies. It has become a popular pastime for Sidizens to attempt to fit inside the said cubbies.

Although Richardson College is not built around a quad, there is a similar outdoor feature of the college known as the "country club." The country club consists of a field, volleyball court, tether ball, hammocks, and an adult-sized swing set.

A banner hung from Sid during a game against the Aggies

In addition to providing basic residential and social services to its residents, Richardson College is rich with traditions, which have included some notorious pranks. For example, Richardson students have made use of the six balconies towering above the main entrance of the college to "douche" unsuspecting visitors—including past Rice University president George Rupp and his wife—with buckets of water as they climb the steps to the double doors. While such "free-flowing water" is the only sanctioned projectile, rogue students have also flung flour tortillas and, in one particularly infamous situation, a flaming couch.

Another prank that is quickly becoming a tradition is the Orc Raid. Sidizens dress up by smearing themselves with black paint, wearing black clothes and carrying around torches with doll heads. They then proceed to run around campus at night to terrorize the other colleges and crash events.

Other unique pastimes include Balcony Ball, Vatoring, and Death Ball. Every Friday afternoon from 3:00-6:00pm, the college's main speakers, affectionately known as the "stacks," blast music in what is known as "Radio Free Sid" (the named derived from Radio Free Europe of the Cold War era) across the campus from the 7th floor balcony. Radio Free Sid begins and ends each roughly 3-hour-long set of music with AC/DC's "Back in Black," widely considered to be the college's theme song.

Sid Richardson has also hosted the last five Houston Conferences on Theoretical Neuroscience (starting in 2004), thanks to a relationship between the GCC and former Sid Richardson Master Steve Cox.

Martel College

Martel College
Location	99 Sunset Blvd., Houston, Texas, USA
Established	2002
Namesake	Marian and Speros P. Martel
Colors	Azure (sky blue)   Argent (white)   Maroon
Masters	Michelle McCormick, Gerald "Jerry" R. Dickens
President	Sean McBeath
Chief justice	J. Daniel Hays
Membership	350 (approximate)
Mascot	The Beer Goat
File:RiceU BlueSealLogo.png
Website	martel.rice.edu

Martel's sally port

The rotunda, with the sundeck

The cathedral-like Commons

The infamous "Beer Goat" keg holder

Marian and Speros P. Martel College is the ninth-founded residental college was established with a $15 million donation from the eponymous Marian and Speros Martel Foundation, a longtime benefactor of Rice University. The college's building was designed by noted architect Michael Graves and housed its first students during the 2002-2003 school year. Martel is one of eleven residential colleges at Rice University; it is located adjacent to Jones and Duncan colleges on the north side of campus, sharing the North Servery with the former. The college prides itself on its adopted Greek heritage, a tribute to its benefactors' country of origin. Aspects of Greek culture are incorporated into a number of college events. The second and fourth quadrants of Martel's crest represent the cross and stripes of the Greek flag, while the other two are reserved for the Athenan owl, a symbol of wisdom taken from the University's academic seal, and the "MC" glyph representing the college's name. The crest was designed by the building's architect. The Martel College colors are representative of the Greek flag and the building's architecture. The blazon of the Greek flag is Azure, four bars Argent; on a canton of the field a Greek cross throughout of the second. While azure often associates with a deeper blue, Martel College uses a lighter tincture of azure known as bleu celeste or "sky blue." Also, the argent used by the College favors a bright, reflective white instead of the more silvery tincture. Maroon represents the building's brick and paint scheme. Members of Martel College are known as "Martelians."

As the third-most-recently founded college, Martel's history is short, and commonly includes the story of Speros Martel, the Greek immigrant whose estate provided the funding necessary to build the college. The official groundbreaking of the new Martel College took place on April 10, 2000. Among those attending were the newly instated Martel Masters Joan and Arthur Few, who had previously been Masters at Baker College from 1994 to 1999.

The first new students accepted as members of Martel were required to live off campus during the Fall 2001 semester until the completion of the College's construction, which was scheduled for early 2002. However, in June 2001, Tropical Storm Allison struck the Houston area and delayed this by two months. Applications for freshman transfers were made available in October 2002. Sixty-three freshman were accepted, five each from Brown and Jones Colleges, and up to 12 from each of the other colleges. Martel members named physics instructor Gary Morris and intramural sports director Tina Villard as Martel's first resident associates.

Martel's student government is named the Parliament, and meets weekly in the college commons. Elected officials include President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Treasurer, Secretary, Chief Justice, and Class Representatives (4 per class).

Michael Graves, architect of Martel College, designed the four-story, 134,000-square-foot building. Formed around a central quadrangle, Graves’s design follows the style of the 1910 general plan of Boston architect Ralph Adams Cram for the Rice campus. Martel was erected on the parking lot that formerly served the adjacent Jones College. Martel is an open, four-sided shape. Each side of the shape forms a wing of the college. The wings terminate on the side closest to North Servery in a five-story rotunda, a spiral staircase enclosed within a stack of rounded floors, providing the college with its sundeck, where many events are held. The easternmost wing contains common areas, the game room, a kitchen, and the TV room. The rotunda leads into the Commons, a cathedral-like room with a high ceiling that serves as a cafeteria, meeting room, and auditorium, among other functions. The college also includes two apartments for Martel's resident associates, a faculty apartment for visiting professors, and a neighboring house for the College Masters and their family. Martel is also the only college to feature a sally port in its construction; newly matriculated students traditionally walk through it passing a torch between themselves as the final step to becoming new Martelians.

Alumni include Jason Colwick, 2009 NCAA pole vault champion.

McMurtry College

McMurtry College (No crest designed)
Location	1605 Rice Blvd., Houston, Texas, USA
Established	2009
Namesake	Burt and Deedee McMurtry
Colors	None yet chosen
Masters	Mike Wolf, Paula Krisko
President	Aaron Varnell, "Chieftain" (interim President)
Chief justice	None yet chosen
Membership	420 (approximate)
File:RiceU BlueSealLogo.png
Website	mcmurtry.rice.edu

Burt and Deedee McMurtry College is the tenth college founded as part of Rice's residential college system. McMurtry College was named after Burt and Deedee McMurtry, graduates of the Rice class of 1956.. Burt McMurtry was part of the student-faculty committee that evaluated the need for and eventually instituted the college system at Rice University, beginning in 1957 with the original five colleges. The college was conceived jointly with the adjacent Duncan College as part of Rice's Vision for the Second Century, which includes plans to increase the size of the student body by 30%. As of the end of the 2008-09 school year, McMurtry does not yet have a Master or Residential Associates. The college opened its doors on August 16, 2009.

During the 2009-2010 school year, the students of Will Rice and McMurtry colleges will be jointly inhabiting McMurtry's building as Will Rice's facilities undergo renovation. During the 2009-2010 Orientation Week, the two colleges' advisors and freshmen shared space as well as activities.

Despite its status as a young college, McMurtry is already beginning to establish its own culture. During the Spring 2009 Beer Bike, McMurtry was christened in the Thresher newspaper as the "Mongol College", as it had not been finished at the time yet it was involved in pranks during Willy Week, and it could not be pranked by any other college as McMurtry wasn't complete. This was due to O-Week coordinators, advisers and co-advisers of McMurtry (chosen a semester ahead) showing their spirit for the upcoming new college. Interestingly, McMurtry has been assuming much of this "Mongol" culture by referring to the round commons as "Yurt", a name that also references the fact that, due to construction delays due to Hurrican Ike, McMurtry was forced to use a tent as commons for weeks until the actual commons was completed. Additionally, during O-Week 2009 the Loch Ness Monster ("Nessy") was chosen as the mascot of McMurtry, in reference to the Scottish background of the "McMurtry" name. Nessy is often depicted alongside the Will Rice Phoenix to emphasize the influence of Will Rice College and the close relations between the two colleges.

The five-story building offers 324 beds for student housing. Larger than the other residential colleges, it and its sister college Duncan's size is part of the university's plan to increase the size of the student body by 30%. The architectural plans were released in March 2007. The college is constructed as a single, squared-off horseshoe-shaped wing surrounding a central quad, rising to a height of five stories, dwarfing the nearby Martel and Jones colleges. The college has double and single rooms that open directly out onto interior hallways, in contrast to the exterior hallways at Martel and Wiess, which possess the next-youngest college buildings. Common showers are located around the stairwells at each "elbow" in the building, with sinks and toilets located in each bedroom. The first floor contains classrooms and common spaces; the Commons is round-shaped, in contrast to Duncan College's square-shaped Commons.

McMurtry and Duncan are distinctively larger than any of the nine other residential colleges at the university, both in size of facilities as well as size of student body. The increased size, as well as the very construction, of the new buildings was met with controversy on campus, fueled by the fact that the creation of the new colleges effectively deleted half of the already-limited faculty and weekend student parking on the northeast side of campus. The large size and near-identical appearance of the two buildings has inspired the nickname, "McDuncan".

McMurtry College is adjacent to Duncan Hall and the Inner Loop road. Duncan College is immediately north of it, connected to McMurtry by the shared servery, which is parallel to Abercrombie Engineering Laboratory.

Duncan College

Duncan College (No crest designed)
Location	1601 Rice Blvd., Houston, Texas, USA
Established	2009
Namesake	Anne and Charles Duncan, Jr.
Colors	None yet chosen
Masters	Marnie Hylton and Luis Duno-Gottberg
President	None yet chosen
Chief justice	None yet chosen
Membership	420 (approximate)
Mascot	None yet chosen
File:RiceU BlueSealLogo.png
Website	None yet created

The Duncan construction site

Anne and Charles Duncan College is the eleventh college founded as part of Rice's residential college system. Duncan College was named after Anne and Charles Duncan, Jr., long-standing contributors to Rice University who donated money for the new college. The college was conceived jointly with the adjacent McMurtry College as part of Rice's Vision for the Second Century, which includes plans to increase the size of the student body by 30%). Duncan opened its doors on August 16, 2009, right in time for O-Week 2009, which saw the arrival of the first Duncan freshman class. Due to renovations in Baker College and in order to help the new college adapt to the university, Baker College students currently live in Duncan with the new freshman class. This led to the joint name of "BaDunc" for sporting and other events. Duncan will begin to operate by itself beginning Fall 2010. The college has already chosen its first Masters, Marnie Hylton and Luis Duno-Gottberg, and is in the process of establishing a constitution. It is also set to choose government officials, RAs, College Coordinator, colors, and crest during the Spring 2010 semester.

Due to the request and contribution of Anne and Charles Duncan, Duncan College is one of the "greenest" buildings on Rice campus, as well as the entire city of Houston. The five-story building offers 324 beds for student housing. The building is the first gold-level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) facility at Rice and the only LEED student residential-housing in the United States. The facility is designed to retain water for irrigation purposes and has motion detector lights which will turn on or off according to the flow of people. The building will decrease energy consumption by up to 25% as well as cut back on water usage. Air conditioners power off when windows are opened.

Architecturally, Duncan has the same features as McMurtry with minor differences emphasized in order to establish its uniqueness. For example, Duncan Commons is rectangular in shape, contrasting the round McMurtry Commons. Also, Duncan quad has different features from McMurtry, such as a fountain by the Commons, smaller trees, and walkways that go across the quad. The interior, however, is virtually the same, as both colleges contain mostly doubles in the hallways and single rooms in the corners, with doubles having a pod bathroom inside and singles sharing common bathrooms. Both also have green roofs and fifth floor doubles and suites that open to the outside. The interior hallways of both Duncan and McMurtry were designed as contrasts to the other two most recently built residential colleges, Martel and Wiess, which have exterior hallways.

External links

• Residential College homepage
• About Beer Bike
• Beer Bike History and Statistics
• Will Rice College at the Woodson Research Center
• Photographic study of Old Wiess