about Will Rice College
Will Rice Will Sweep!
Will Rice College was originally called South Hall, one of the original dormitories the university built soon after opening in 1912.
In 1957, Rice adopted the residential college system, and South Hall became Will Rice College, 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 is architecturally almost identical to Baker and Hanszen colleges; all three possess a white-painted “Old Wing” and a brick colored “New Wing”. Will Rice’s new section possesses a tower that rises several stories above the rest of the college, a design feature reflected by Hanszen.
The symbol of Will Rice college is the Phoenix, depicted in maroon and gold colors. The college commonly refers to itself as the “college of gods and goddesses”. The elected governing body of Will Rice is called the Diet and 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.
Will Rice is traditionally a strong contender in the university’s annual campus-wide 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). Since the inclusion of an alumni race, Will Rice has been the only college to have won the men’s, women’s, and alumni races in a given year, which it has done on four occasions — 1983, 1986, 1999, and 2009. In addition, Will Rice holds the current track records for the men’s, women’s, and alumni races.
Each year, in the spring, the 80s and 90s section of Will Rice secede and form “Albert Patrick College”, named after the man convicted of masterminding the death of the university’s founder.[citation needed]
In 2009, work began on a new wing for Will Rice college. The new wing will be located on the site of the former New Section, built in 1957; this building will be torn down completely. A new servery, which will be shared with Lovett, is part of the construction project.
[Will Rice & McMurtry Day ‘09](http://benbah.com/files/will rice day small.jpg “Will Rice & McMurtry Day ‘09”)
Source –> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Rice_College#Will_Rice_College