Rice University contains eleven residential colleges which function as the primary housing, dining, and social organizations for undergraduate students. The system was established in 1957 and was inspired by the residential college systems at the University of Oxford and 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 the 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 proceed first with the four original colleges in the order Baker, Will Rice, Hanszen, and Wiess, followed by the other colleges in order of founding: Jones, Brown, Lovett, Sid Richardson, Martel, McMurtry, and Duncan. For the original four colleges, which were founded simultaneously in 1957, the processional order reflects the order in which the original buildings were constructed. For McMurtry and Duncan, which were constructed 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 by converting East, South, West, and Wiess (originally and briefly North) Halls into the men's colleges of Baker, Will Rice, Hanszen, and Wiess, respectively. Jones, the first residential college built on campus for that purpose, was constructed the same year and became 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, McMurtry, and Duncan colleges were constructed in the period between 2001 and 2009.
Common characteristics
Architecture
Each college except Sid Richardson is built around a 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 are typically junior faculty members; their role is to serve as mentors and counselors to the students of the college. A house, usually immediately adjacent to the residential building, in which the college Magister or Magisters live. A Magister is typically a tenured or other senior faculty member who lives at the college with his or her spouse, 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 Magisters.) A commons, where college members (including on-campus and off-campus students, Magisters, 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 a unique architectural style, and as a result there are a great number of different room configurations, with varying levels of modernity and condition.
Each college is also connected to a dining hall, known as a servery. Martel, Jones, and Brown colleges are served by North Servery, while McMurtry and Duncan are served by West Servery. In the South, Hanszen and Wiess colleges are served by South Servery while Will Rice, Lovett and Sid Richardson Colleges are served by Seibel Servery. Baker College has its own servery, Baker Kitchen.
Magisters and Resident Associates
Each of the residential colleges at Rice has two College Magisters, a faculty member and their spouse. The Magisters 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.