Lovett College

Edgar Odell Lovett College is the seventh of the nine residential colleges at Rice University in Houston, Texas.

Lovett College was opened in 1969 as an all-male college, and it became coed in 1980 when members of the college exchanged places with the females of Jones College. The college hosts two of the year's most anticipated parties, Getcheroxoff in the fall and Casino Party in the spring. Lovett also sponsors numerous other community and social events throughout the year, including theater productions and the Lovett Undergraduate Research Symposium.

History

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. This grating is part of the architects’ intent to make Lovett riot-proof in reaction to the student riots of the late- 1960s, most notably the Abbie Hoffman riot of 1967. This 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.

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 original Central Committee had five members who had four-out-of-five veto power over the various subcommittees; this system was soon changed because of its inefficiency. Urban legend holds that the Central Committee's first decree was to disband themselves and use their budget to buy beer. Another urban legend says that the stags in the college crest are taken from the logo of the brand of beer they bought. The first urban legend is of disputable truthfulness, but the second one has been shown to be false—the college crest is based upon a Lovat family (not related to Edgar Odell) family crest.

In 1971, Sid Richardson College was built in Lovett College’s parking lot. This displeased the members of Lovett, and in retaliation they declared Sid to be their colony. To this day, an integral part of the Lovett College Government is Sid-Gov, short for Sid Richardson Governor. Governing over the colony consists of reminding the Sidizens that they live in a colony, by performing numerous pranks, or jacks, in addition to distributing censuses on a semi-regular basis. Sid-Gov also serves as the official Beer-Bike jack coordinator.

In 1980, Lovett exchanged some of its male population with females from Jones College, making Lovett coed for the first time.

In April 2007, the Lovett Academic Fellows hosted the first annual Lovett Undergraduate Research Symposium — the first research symposium hosted by a residential college at Rice — in which Lovetteers from all academic disciplines present their research to their peers and a panel of judges.

Facilities

Lovett is made up of three buildings: the six-story residential building, which is the most distinctive; the single-story commons; and the Lovett House (also called the masters' house). All of these buildings are structurally connected, but have separate entrances and spaces. Lovett also has a basement that lies beneath the entire complex.

Lodging

The vast majority of rooms at Lovett are doubles suites. These suites consist of two 13-by-15-foot rooms, connected by a bathroom with two sinks, a toilet, and a shower. A certain number of these suites on each floor are designated as freshman suites and are reserved for each year's incoming freshmen. In addition, Lovett has seven suiteless doubles, which are essentially the same as the doubles suites, but without the room on the other side of the bathroom. There are also seven singles suites, which consist of two single-rooms that share a bathroom. The suite next to the Resident Associate apartment on second floor is a three-person suite, which consists of one single and one double. The floors in Lovett rooms were converted from carpet to tile in the summer of 2007. During this renovation all asbestos was removed from the interior walls of the rooms. During the summer of 2008, individual thermostats will be added to all rooms.

Commons

The commons is separated into two sections--the upper and lower commons. The upper commons contains the kitchen and dining hall space, and the Lovett private dining room. It is distinguished by its large floor-to-ceiling chalkboard wall, which separates the kitchen from the dining space. Lovetteers use this wall for announcements, aesthetics and homework. Most members of Lovett eat their meals in the upper commons. The lower commons acts as a lounge space, with couches; a television; computers; foosball, billiards, and ping-pong tables; and a Nintendo Game Cube with Super Smash Brothers Melee. Central Committee meetings are held in the lower commons.

Lovett House

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.

Basement

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.

Wiener Hole

The Wiener Hole is Lovett's public study space. It contains the Lovett test file, which contains records of previous tests in various classes. In addition, there is a table and chairs for quiet or group study, and a couch for napping or reading. There is also the Lovett library, which contains books of a wide range.

Lyle's

Lyle's, named for a former Lovett Resident Associate and also known as the Lovett Undergrounds, is a combination-bar-performance space in the basement of Lovett. 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. Lyle's also often acts as a space for smaller private parties.

Central Committee

Each of the nine residential colleges at Rice has its own government, making it a virtually autonomous entity. The founding members of Lovett named their government the Central Committee, more commonly referred to as the CC. The CC has a number of officer positions and subcommittees and runs on a budget of about $40,000 a year. This budget is derived from Lovetteers' student fees (built into tuition) and is used for building upkeep, the purchase of properties, planning parties, and throwing study breaks, among other things.

The Central Committee meets every Tuesday night at 10 p.m. in the lower commons with food provided by one of the subcommittees. The meeting is led by the President, and each committee gives its report, starting with the President, Masters, Resident Associates, Vice President, Treasurer, Chief Justice, and Secretaries, then progresses in alphabetical order. The meeting concludes with general announcements. All Lovetteers are encouraged to attend, as the meetings help keep people informed of the goings-on around Lovett.

The Central Committee is made up of a number of officer positions and subcommittees as stipulated by the Lovett Constitution. Each elected committee or position gets one vote, and anyone who attends the meeting is welcome to voice an opinion.

Members

President - Runs CC meetings, represents Lovett in the Student Association, and has general administrative duties.

Vice President - Runs internal operations at Lovett. Handles space requests, elections, and Housing and Dining ambience funds.

Chief Justice - Enforces the Rice Alcohol Policy and Lovett's noise policies. Also runs annual parking and room jacks, and sometimes holds college court for egregious offenses.

Secretary - Keeps minutes of all meetings of the Central Committee. Manages Lovett listserv and forwards university-wide announcements to college.

Treasurer (appointed) - Oversees the Lovett budget. Controls the Lovett checkbook and handles money requests at CC meetings.

Academic Coordinator - Keeps Lovett well-informed of academic deadlines. Organizes Lovett's course each semester, keeps a test file from common courses, and subscribes to magazines for the college.

Activities Coordinators - Organize activities to promote college enthusiasm. Post birthdays each month, organize study breaks, and organize occasional off-campus events for the college.

Associates Coordinators - Stay in contact with the Lovett Associates. Organize Associates Nights and other events throughout the year.

Cultural Coordinators - Organize various events throughout the year that involve culture in some way. Subsidize tickets to concerts and theater performances throughout the year, as well as organizing Lovett's semi-annual Pub Nights.

Outreach Coordinators - Organize various community service projects for Lovett. Represents Lovett in the Rice Student Volunteer Program and inform Lovett of various service projects, including blood, can, and clothing drives.

Properties Coordinators - In charge of Lovett property and maintenance. Responsible for upkeep of the laundry room, kitchen, and gaming equipment. Also keep the Lovett vacuum cleaners.

Social Coordinators - Organize all Lovett parties. Find sponsors and decorations for Getcheroxoff and Casino Party and pick the themes for these parties. Also organize TG's (as in T.G.I.F.) on select Fridays.

Member-at-Large - Performs weekly polls of Lovett College members and presents the results at CC meetings.

Freshman Representative - Only voting member of the freshman class. Also keeps track of freshman service hours.

Off-Campus Representatives - Represent off-campus members of Lovett College. Keep people living OC informed of events at Lovett.

In addition to the elected positions and the permanent appointed position of Treasurer, the President is permitted to appoint whatever other positions she sees fit. The appointed positions do not receive a vote on CC. Standard appointed positions include: Sid-Gov, College Night Coordinators, Beer-Bike Coordinators, Theater Chairpersons, Honor Council Representative, and more.

Traditions

Parties

The Social Coordinators organize two parties each year, Getcheroxoff in the fall and Casino Party in the spring. Casino Party is generally recognized as the larger and more important of the two, and considerably more work goes into its planning than does Getcheroxoff's. Both parties are fairly well-attended by the Rice population.

Casino Party

The first Casino Party was held by Wiess College in 1961 as its first college-sponsored, all-school party. However, Wiess abandoned this tradition soon after. In 1972, the theme for Lovett's Spring Gala was Casino Royale, and in 1973 the theme was institutionalized, establishing Casino Party as a Lovett tradition ever since. It is traditionally held in the last week of January or the first week of February. Students dress up to match the theme picked by the Social Coordinators for a night of dancing and gambling with fake money. The more ambitious members of Lovett spend the weeks leading up to the party building a gigantic entrance façade to match the theme, complete with interactive and visual effects. Casino Party was held in the Grand Hall of the Rice Memorial Center until 1987, when it was moved to the Lovett commons. Lovett stopped charging admission in 1993.

Themes

*2008 – Alice in Wonderland: Through the Liquor Glass
*2007 – Casino Party (2)007
*2006 – Moulin Rouge
*2005 – Indiana Jones and the Casino of Doom
*2004 – Remember the Alamo
*2003 – Back in the USSR
*2002 – High Roller
*2001 – Amazon
*2000 – Fire & Ice
*1999 – Hollywood
*1998 – Fiesta de Casino
*1997 – Prehistoric
*1996 – The Return of Atlantis
*1995 – Space Station Lovett
*1994 – Camelot
*1993 – Lovett Boat
*1992 – Rawhide
*1991 – The Land of Oz
*1990 – Treasure Island
*1989 – Death on the Nile
*1988 – Carnaval
*1987 – Prohibition!
*1986 – Riverboat
*1985 – Shanghai
*1984 – Casablanca
*1983 – Wall Street in the Twenties
*1982 – Pirates of the Caribbean
*1981 – Old Havana
*1980 – Las Vegas!

Getcheroxoff

Getcheroxoff, Lovett's fall semester party, was started in the early seventies, when Lovett was an all-male college, to be a gigantic pornography party. The commons was opened up as a dance floor, and pornographic films were projected onto the wall. Getcheroxoff has since become much more tame, largely due to Lovett's becoming coed in 1980.

Pirate Booty

Getcheroxoff suffered an identity crisis between 2004 and 2006, becoming known only as Pirate Booty to most of the Rice population. In 2003, the Getcheroxoff theme was Pirate Booty for the first time. In 2004, the Social Coordinators decided to reuse the theme and held Getcheroxoff: Pirate Booty for the second year in a row. The 2005 Social Coordinators decided that such a theme could not be abandoned, and renamed Getcheroxoff to Pirate Booty, giving it the theme Mermaids and Seamen. The 2006 Social Coordinators decided that Getcheroxoff should move back to its roots, so they named the party Getcheroxoff: Land Ho! - The Last Damn Pirate Party, thus ensuring that a pirate-themed party would not be seen at Lovett for at least a couple of years. This was upheld, as the 2007 party was named Getcheroxoff: Eurotrashed.

Associates Night

The Associates Coordinators organize one Associates Night each semester. These nights are semi-formal dinners to which college associates and their families are invited, and they typically have a theme that is accompanied by elaborate decorations and party favors. The spring Associates Night doubles as an awards night, in which a number of awards are given to members of the college as well as the associates.

Undergraduate Research Symposium

For two afternoons late in the spring semester, the Lovett Society of Academic Fellows host the Lovett Undergraduate Research Symposium, which is intended to bring to the forefront of residential college life the more profound intellectual pursuits of students at Lovett. The symposium emphasizes the role of intellectual exchange as a source of vitality for the university and for many of those presenting is a precursor to professional life in academics or the public forum. The audience of the Undergraduate Research Symposium is composed mostly of Lovett students and associates. Students submit their abstracts for selection early in the spring, and those whose abstracts are selected give a 10-to-15-minute slideshow presentation to their peers and a panel of judges. The students compete within their own academic disciplines: humanities and social sciences or natural sciences and engineering. The Lovett Undergraduate Research Symposium was the first such event hosted by a residential college, although other colleges appear to be establishing their own. Martel College hosted the Martel Academic Research Symposium in 2008, although their symposium was open to the Rice community at large and involved a poster presentation, not unlike the Rice Undergraduate Research Symposium.

College Night

Each residential college at Rice holds an event each semester called College Night, which began as a formal or semi-formal dinner to which the college associates are invited. However, by the late 1980s these once-a-semester events had become drunken, loud, all-day festivities at which associates were not comfortable. The separate entity of Associates Night (see above) was created to fill the role previously held by College Night, and College Night has since become an all-day celebration of being a college, complete with a theme, activities, and a special dinner prepared by the kitchen staff.

EOL Day

EOL Day is a carnival-like celebration of Edgar Odell Lovett's birthday, which is on April 14. The celebration itself usually occurs a week or so after Lovett's actual birthday so it can coincide with the end of classes. Moon-bounces and the like are placed on the quad, and a picnic-style lunch and Saint Arnold's Root Beer--provided by Lovett alumnus Brock Wagner--are served. EOL Day is a fun way for the members of the college to unwind after classes are over, sans alcohol.

Cobb

The wall in the men's public restroom has read some variation of "No matter how many times they paint this wall, Cobb still sucks" since at least 1978, when James E. Cobb, 1977 president of the Marching Owl Band, graduated from Rice.

Beer-Bike

Beer-Bike is a campus-wide event at the end of Willy Week each year. Each college hosts 3 teams, men's, women's, and alumni. The event consists of a campus-wide water balloon fight as well as a water-chugging and biking relay race. Each year Lovett chooses a theme for Beer-Bike and maintains several traditions surrounding the event.

id Jack

Though all colleges pull jacks--Rice slang for pranks--on one another during Willy Week, Lovett is the only college that maintains a jack target in Sid Richardson College. They do this to reinforce Sid's status as their colony. Willy Week jack meetings, led by the Sid Rich Governor, typically begin with figuring out what will be done to Sid, then progress to coordinating another jack. In 2007, Lovetteers built a wall between the Will Rice and Lovett serveries, so that Sidizens could not pass through the Lovett quad to get to class. The most famous Sid jack of all-time occurred when Lovett sent home letters to Sidizens' parents saying that their Lovett College fees were overdue. Kelly Harp, then the College Coordinator, received multiple checks in the mail, but did not cash them.

Hair

Some of the more dedicated members of Lovett dye their hair blue or yellow during Willy Week, so that they are sporting the Lovett colors.

Boat Race

Members of the men's and women's and alumni chug team chug as though they are participating in a boat race; each member starts chugging with his pants down and pulls them up when he is finished chugging.

Cheer

Lovett has many cheers, but the one most often used is famous for being especially vulgar, containing six out of George Carlin's Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television. Advisors are not allowed to teach the cheer to freshmen during Orientation Week, making it the only officially University-banned cheer.

Notable People

Alumni

* Austin Bay (1973), author and blogger
* José Cruz, Jr. (1996), Major League Baseball player, Houston Astros
* John Doerr (1973), influential venture capitalist at Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, CEO of Silicon Compilers and co-founder of the @Home Network; on the Board of Directors of Intuit, Amazon.com, PalmOne, Sun Microsystems, Google, and Segway, among others
* Jim Turley (1977), Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ernst & Young
* Alberto Gonzales (1979), former United States Attorney General
* John Kline (1969), United States Representative, Minnesota's 2nd congressional district
* Brock Wagner (1987), owner and co-founder, Saint Arnold Brewing Company

Associates

* George H.W. Bush, 41st President of the United States, associate from 1969-1983
* Robert Curl, winner of 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, master from 1968-72, associate from 1972-present

External links

* [http://www.lovett.rice.edu/ Lovett College Website]
* [http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~lovoweek Lovett College Orientation Week 2008 Website]
* [http://www.rice.edu/ Rice University]