Search for new Student Center director underway

By Madeleine Tibaldi     9/16/13 7:00pm

The Rice University Student Center has started off the 2013-14 year missing a piece of its operation - a director, according to Associate Dean of Undergraduates and interim Director of the Student Center Catherine Clack.

Clack said Boyd Beckwith, who had served as Student Center director for 15 years, resigned late this summer and that other members of the Student Center staff have taken on more active roles since to pick up some of the slack caused by Beckwith's resignation.

Clack said Beckwith's decision to leave Rice prompted the administration to consider restructuring the position.

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"When we found out that he was leaving, we decided that this was a good time to enhance campuswide programs," Clack said. "What we've done now is taken the campuswide programming aspect out [of the position] and moved that to [the Office of Student Activities] under [Director of Student Activities] Kate Abad."

Clack said a job posting for the position will remain online for 30 days, after which a committee will review the applicants and aim to have a new director in place by Jan. 1. According to Clack, a search committee, chaired by Director of First Year Programs Shelah Crear, will have student representation from the Student Association, Graduate Student Association and the Student Center staff. 

"Both [the SA and GSA] sent emails and said, 'We want to have representation in the search committee,'" Clack said. "[Crear] is meeting with them this week."

Student Center Assistant Director for Student Businesses Kerim Davis has taken over Beckwith's role in approving liquor licenses for both Willy's Pub and Valhalla while the student managers of both establishments have increased their responsibilities, according to Clack.

Willy's Pub General Manager Helene Dick said she had worked closely with Beckwith and was saddened by his departure.

"[Beckwith's] legacy is extended over more than a decade of service," Dick, a Martel College senior, said. "He will be sorely missed." 

Beckwith is now listed as director of the Georgia State University Student Center on its website, according to Clack. She said he believed he could not pass up the opportunity to work at a larger, more comprehensive student center.

Clack addressed increasing concerns over the future of the Student Center. She said aspirations to renovate or even replace the current building are being considered in order to accommodate expanding student needs. 

"It's on the agenda for the university; I just don't know where it is because it's not my place to decide where it is in the overarching plan," Clack said. "We're hoping that the university moves forward more quickly on funding a new Student Center and making it priority. It would be nice to have somebody to come in who could really hit the ground running with that."

Duncan College junior Carly Biedul said she did not see the necessity for renovating the RMC and thought money could be better used elsewhere.

 "[The RMC] is fine just the way it is," Biedul said. "I'd rather see improvements to colleges or campus infrastructure like the drainage along roads."

KTRU DJ Sam Love said there is room for improvement.

"The KTRU studio needs to be bigger," Love, a Lovett College sophomore, said. "There needs to be more meeting space and room to study. There's a lot of unused space, and the space that is used is too small."

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