The Rice Thresher

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April 21, 2006 > Opinion > College expansion must maintain individuality

College expansion must maintain individuality

When touring the Rice campus, one cannot help but notice the stark difference between the airport-esque steel and glass serveries and the cozy camaraderie of Will Rice, Sid Richardson and Lovett College kitchens. As part of Rice’s planned expansion, the Housing Steering Committee is considering linking those colleges’ commons with a central servery, (See story, page 1). On the surface, this seems like a good idea.

A single, larger servery would have the staff and infrastructure to provide higher quality and better variety of food for the three colleges. A unified kitchen could allow the efficiency necessary to accommodate the expected student body growth at these colleges. Will Rice seems crowded enough during lunch, and that’s even with some students already eating at other colleges.

Furthermore, a central servery for these three colleges would discourage students from going to the South College Servery to eat. Ending this exodus would prevent the current college dilution that inhibits Hanszen and Wiess colleges from developing the full personality other colleges have.

However, as we have seen at both the serveries, this sort of central kitchen between colleges weakens college personality. Enduring the current commons at Will Rice, Sid and Lovett is not quite a trial by fire, but the intimate venues do have a way of heating things up — it is no accident that these three colleges each have a strong sense of community. And it is this sort of character that we feel is most important to Rice’s college system — we are not willing to trade it for increased efficiency or equity. We love our colleges for their unique traits, not the Michael Graves architecture or the Monday night calamari.

Although these colleges will have to expand to accommodate Rice’s population growth, they should do so in a manner that preserves their character. Rather than expand the colleges until they unify, as with the North College Servery, each college’s commons and kitchens should grow on their own.

Glass and steel look nice, and a burger bar is delicious, but what we love about our colleges are their distinct personalities — something you lose when you physically link them together.

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