Residential colleges of Rice University
contains eleven residential colleges which function as the primary housing, dining, and social organizations for undergraduate students. 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. A 12th college, Chao, will be added in 2026.
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 "commons" buildings were constructed, though the oldest residential hall built belongs to Will Rice College. 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 established in 1957 by converting East, South, West, and Wiess Halls into the men's colleges of Baker, Will Rice, Hanszen, and Wiess, respectively. In the same year, Jones, the first residential college became the singular women's college. Brown, Lovett, and Sid Richardson colleges were established between 1965 and 1971. To accommodate increasing enrollment, Martel, McMurtry, and Duncan colleges were constructed between 2001 and 2009. In 2025, the university announced that Chao College, named after Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao, would open in 2026, next to the relocated Lovett College and with the two colleges sharing a dining hall.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:
- One or more residential buildings, 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 their spouse or family, providing leadership and guidance to the college as a whole and to individual students.
- A commons, where college members 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 belonging to the college coordinator, a private dining room for small group meetings, and other specialized areas.
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 a College Magister, a tenured faculty member and their spouse/family. 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.Resident Associates are Rice faculty or staff members who reside on campus with students. While each college has many associates, the RAs are selected to live on campus at the college to interact more extensively with the students. They live in apartment suites in the college dormitories, regularly attend meals with students, and are generally active members of student life. McMurtry College and Duncan College, due to their population size, also have Head Resident Fellows, who are meant to ease communication between RAs, the Magisters, and the students.
Two of the longest-serving resident associates in Rice history are Dr. Gilbert Cuthbertson, professor of political science and resident associate at Will Rice College, and William L. Wilson, professor of electrical engineering and resident associate at Wiess College.
Governance
Each college is in charge of an annual budget in excess of $50,000 and elects a government from its students to administer the college and the budget. The college governments can exert control over everything from event organization to upgrades to the college facilities. Governing documents for many of the colleges can be found online. Singular student presidents and chief justices are university mandated features of each college's government. Additional members vary per college, but typically include Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, and a plurality of representatives from each class. The executive officers, such as the President, Treasurer, and Secretary, form the Executive Council, and the representatives combine with the council to form the college government, known by names such as Cabinet or Parliament, depending on the college. These councils meet weekly to dispense with business related to the organizational and social functioning of the college. The meetings are akin to town hall meetings and typically include refreshments; they also serve as a forum for members of the various clubs, theater groups, and intramural sporting clubs to announce and advertise upcoming events. In addition, each college elects and sends one senator to represent the college at the Student Association Senate.Traditions
The traditional campus-wide Beer Bike race is the largest annual student event held on Rice campus and the source of many rivalries and traditions among the residential colleges. Will Rice is known as the most competitive of the residential colleges and the only one to ever "sweep", which it has done a total of five times. Other competitive colleges include Hanszen and Jones, while some less ambitious colleges like McMurtry may choose to bike in costumes. In the event of inclement weather on the day of the race, college members participate in a Beer Run to avoid accidents on the track.Baker College
James Addison Baker College is named in honor of Captain James A. Baker, friend and attorney of William Marsh Rice, and first chair of the Rice Board of Governors. He served as the Rice Institute's first chairman on the Board of Trustees from June 24, 1891, until his death in 1941. He is known for having helped unravel the conspiracy surrounding the murder of the millionaire, who was chloroformed by his butler, Charles F. Jones, on September 23, 1900. The suspicious death of the Rice founder was concocted by Albert T. Patrick, a New York attorney, who forged a will naming himself the primary beneficiary to the large fortune, enlisting the Butler's help. Captain Baker, however, began an intensive investigation into the death of his employer, discovering the forgery, and returning the foundation to what would become Rice University.As part of the university's original on-campus housing for male students, a dormitory and a dining room, library and residential tower were built in 1912 by Cram, Goodhue, & Ferguson of Boston, Massachusetts, at the cost of $137,544.52. The now-Baker commons—with beautiful engraved oak beams and the high vaulted ceilings of Elizabethan design—served as the university's central dining hall for 43 years. East Hall, which contained dormitories and is now referred to as the "Old Wing" of Baker, was completed in summer 1915. These buildings remained virtually unchanged until the residential college system was instated in 1957. The neoclassical architecture of the former East Hall was joined by a new two-story brick-colored wing, the design of which was shared with equivalent new sections being constructed at Will Rice and Hanszen colleges, in preparation for becoming residential colleges. A house for Baker's Magister was also added. Baker was thus established as one of the five original colleges at Rice in the fall of 1957. In 1973, Baker and Hanszen became the first co-ed colleges at Rice. To include upperclass women, a lottery was held for Jones and Brown women to transfer into Baker.
Baker's colors are traditionally red, silver, and black, and the college associates itself with the devil and hell in its Beer Bike themes and college cheers, with the most popular cheer being "Baker, hell yeah!". The crest was selected, by popular vote, in 1958. The main design is derived from the family crest of Captain Baker's mother, with the owls across the shield indicating the connection to Rice University, and is inscribed with a phrase from Epictetus, which says "ifficulties are things that show what men are." Every year, Baker throws the Baker 90's public party, held in the spring. Some of the biggest social traditions include Baker Christmas in September, the annual Christmas Tree brought home by the freshmen after their camping trip, the Baker Shakespearean play, and of course, Baker 13.
In 2009, construction began on a new residential wing. A portion of the former New Section was renovated and turned over to Lovett College. Baker's new wing is located between the Old Section and the Inner Loop road, and brought with it renovations to Baker's kitchen and the college coordinator's office. It was officially opened back to Baker students in the fall semester of 2010, who returned after a year of co-living with students from Duncan College.