Will Rice College

Will Rice College is a residential college at Rice University in Houston, Texas. The original building called South Hall opened in 1912. In 1957, Rice adopted a residential college system, and Will Rice was created around the existing dormitory and 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 currently consists of two dormitories, Old Dorm and New Dorm, and a commons area which surround an open quad. Will Rice's symbol is the Phoenix, its colors are maroon and gold, and the college is known among its alumni and residents as "the college of individuals," or, more jocularly, "the college of gods and goddesses." Will Rice is often referred to in writing as WRC.

Traditions

Will Rice is well-known for its dominance of the university's annual 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 three occasions — 1983, 1986, and 1999

Will Rice's New Dorm includes two sections, the 80s and 90s, that face away from the main quad and are closer to Hanszen College and Sid Richardson College than they are to parts of Will Rice Old Dorm. Each spring the residents in these sections secede and form Albert Patrick College (the "APC"), named after the man convicted of masterminding the [http://markgribben.com/?page_id=61 alleged murder] of the university's founder.

Government

The elected governing body of Will Rice is called the Diet (traditionally pronounced like diet, the food regimen, rather than diet, the Japanese legislative assembly). The Diet 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.

External links

*Will Rice College Website http://phoenix.wrc.rice.edu/
*Guide to the Rice University Will Rice College Archives http://www.rice.edu/fondren/woodson/archives/willricecollege.html
*Rice University Beer Bike http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~program/beerbike/
*Beer-Bike History and Statistics http://beerbike.com/
*Rice University College System http://students.rice.edu/students/Colleges.asp