McMurtry, Duncan O-Week plans drafted

By Timothy Faust     1/22/09 6:00pm

The residential college system is something so inseparable from the modern operation of Rice University, so ingrained into our personal habits and social traditions, that any change on the level of the addition of a new college becomes a matter of titanic significance that affects thousands of students. When two new colleges root themselves into this little patch of Houston - in the same year, even - the importance of their proper introduction into Rice life escalates exponentially. For this reason, groups of students, masters, administrators and faculty have worked eagerly for months to ensure that the opening of Duncan and McMurtry colleges next fall is as appropriate and effective a process as possible. Last year, a population committee headed by Dean of Undergraduates Robin Forman and comprised of college masters, resident associates, administrators and students drafted a series of proposals regarding possible ways to populate the two colleges. The committee sent these recommendations to President David Leebron, who ultimately chose a plan in which Baker and Will Rice colleges will move into Duncan and McMurtry, respectively, while their own facilities are renovated. Lovett College will remain in Lovett while its renovations occur. Forman appeared in front of the Student Association last semester to discuss the plan and promised to keep the student body abreast of its development.

The population committee attempted to offer the best possible options to Leebron. "We wanted to really go back and look at previous ideas, particularly relating to Martel, to see what had gone right and what had gone wrong," Teddy Bucher, a senior at Jones and a member of the committee, said. "It was sort of a balancing act. We tried to get as much input as possible from students, masters, RAs and other employees of the university who would be working with and in the colleges."

On Jan. 16, Forman sent an e-mail to all undergraduates informing them of the plan as it then stood and encouraging them to participate the opening of both colleges. In an interview with the Thresher, Forman emphasized that the Duncan and McMurtry plans are part of a set of ongoing discussions and that some details of the process may not be resolved until Orientation Week.

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However, many aspects of the new colleges' plans, pertaining to both their initial O-Week and the weeks and months beyond, have been settled.

O-Week

For Duncan and McMurtry, O-Week 2009 will adopt a form never before seen as the new colleges enter a unique "mentor/mentee" relationship with the established college sharing their facilities. While each college will have an O-Week distinctly separate from that of their associated college, a close connection with an established college would give McMurtry and Duncan some guidance in their formative days.

"By sharing events in separate O-Weeks," Forman said, "[the new colleges] take advantage of [Baker and Will Rice's] worldviews to help them get started."

This partnership is apparent from the top down: It seems likely that at least one member of each new college's team of O-Week coordinators will represent the associated mentor college and help the interactions between the two O-Weeks operate more closely and smoothly. The coordinators will be selected by representatives from Baker and Will Rice as well as the Office of the Dean of Undergraduates, according to Forman's e-mail.

These new college coordinators will be asked to live in the new colleges for the 2009-'10 year for purposes of developing continuity and structure, but whether they will become permanent transfers has not yet been decided. Applications for Duncan and McMurtry coordinators are due to their respective mentor colleges on Jan. 28. Questions can be directed to Director of First-Year Programs Shelah Crear (screar@rice.edu).

During O-Week, the mentor colleges will have the delicate task of demonstrating and explaining Rice traditions to both their own new students and the new students of their mentee college. At the same time, they will have to give the mentee colleges enough freedom to establish themselves as separate entities. Baker and Will Rice will expose Duncan and McMurtry to the little things that define their own college - such as cheers and traditions - but the new colleges will be charged with creating and developing their own rituals and sharing them with the rest of campus. Baker has discussed ways of introducting Duncan to the college cabinets, for example, so that they may experience a variety of methods of college government, Goldsberry said.

"This is certainly no hegemony," Will Rice master Mike Wolf said. "The question is... what we have to do so that McMurtry emerges with its own identity while we retain ours?"

Ambassadors and new faces

While the 75 brave first freshmen of each Duncan and McMurtry will have the responsibility of shaping much of their own college, they will not be left alone in their LEED-certified homes. Thirty ambassadors will be selected through an application process to live in the new colleges for the 2009-'10 academic year, but will not rescind their prior college membership. Instead they will serve to represent their own college to the founding class of their temporary residence and ensure that each of the established colleges has some influence on the development of the fledgling ones.

"The position of ambassador to the new colleges was created," Forman said in his email, "in response both to recognition that the birth of new colleges is a campus-wide event and belief that the foundations of these new communities will be strengthened if they are informed by the wealth of ideas, experiences, and institutions that characterize their nine sisters.

"We wanted these new colleges to get exposure to how all nine colleges on the campus operate, not just the one they would be living with. The ambassador program allows them to see how other colleges use their budget or write their constitution and make next year a formative year for these new colleges."

Applications for ambassadors are due to the Office of the Dean of Undergraduates Feb. 6. Interested freshmen, sophomores or juniors can contact Assistant to the Dean of Undergraduates Matt Taylor (ptt@) for more information.

In addition to the ambassadors, the current plan calls for giving approximately 100 students from the other nine colleges, selected by random invitation and voluntary commitment, the opportunity to transfer to Duncan and McMurtry for the 2010-'11 academic year.

"While [random invitation] isn't the perfect solution to populate the new colleges, it's the best solution so far," Baker College President Chris Goldsberry said. "It's much better than a draft system or a volunteer-only system - to be honest, I don't know if a perfect solution exists."

Forman agreed with Goldsberry.

"The consensus is that there should be some allowance for transfers who feel strongly about shaping the new colleges, but we prefer that most are selected by random invitation," he said.

Masters and RAs

Neither Duncan nor McMurtry will open with a pre-selected master, so the masters of the mentor colleges will serve as step-masters next year. However, the addition of 75 mentee college new students, 15 ambassadors and one or two live-in O-Week coordinators will place the masters of Baker and Will Rice in sensitive positions next year.

"We have a responsibility to help our students thrive academically, intellectually and socially," Wolf said, "but our paramount responsibility is to keep people safe."

To maintain student safety and accommodate the larger residential populations of the new colleges, Duncan and McMurtry have three RA apartments. For the 2009-'10 year, the Office of the Dean of Undergraduates in conjunction with the Baker and Will Rice masters will select a third RA for the new colleges, who will focus on the McMurtry and Duncan residents. Forman indicated that, so far, faculty interest in serving as an associate or RA in the new colleges has been encouraging.

In the spring of 2010, the 75 first-years and 100 non-residential 2010-'11 transfers of each new college will select their first master.

Forman explained that this plan allows the new colleges to make their own leadership choices.

"Our goal is to allow them, as quickly as possible, to make those decisions that give them a college identity," he said.

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