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Jones College (Rice University)

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Mary Gibbs Jones College is one of nine residential colleges at Rice University in Houston, Texas.

The college is named after Mary Gibbs Jones (April 29, 1872 - August 20, 1962), wife of prominent Houstonian Jesse Holman Jones.

Contents

Buildings

The college was built in 1957, consisting of two four-story buildings named "North" and "South." In 2002, a four-story building, "Central," was built in between North and South. The new building connects to both buildings at every level except the ground floor (a short walk separates South and Central). The wing was designed by noted post-modern architect Michael Graves [link].

Food is available from the North Servery, which also serves Brown and Martel. The Servery is accessible through Jones Commons, the dining and multi-use area on the ground floor of Jones Central.

The Isle, a volleyball pit and sun-deck named after Jones Master Walter Isle, was demolished along with the Jones soccer field and the Jones College parking lot when "Martel College" was built.

Jones College was an all-female dormitory until 1980. However, even before going co-ed Jones had a number of live-in "uncles." In 1981, the all-female 3rd South was voted "most-coed" with 22 males as either full-time or part-time "residents." Jones 3rd South (all men) and 4th South (all women) are the only two remaining single-sex floors at Rice. They will become co-ed in Fall 2006 [link].

Stoll's, named after beloved Jones associate Dr. Richard Stoll[link], is the lounge in the basement of Jones South. The entrance to the steam tunnels is behind the green door in the Jones South laundry room.

Masters and RAs

The current Jones College masters are Rudy and Nancy Guerra. Rudy is a Professor of Statistics and has been at Rice since 2000. [link]

Previous Masters:

The current Residential Associates are Chad Benedict (North) and Bridget Gorman (South). Benedict (Baker '01) is the Assistant Director for Alumni Affairs and Gorman is an Assistant Professor of Sociology.

The current College Coordinator is Lisa Bryan, former staff member from the Admissions Office and former Master of Hanszen College with Dennis Huston.

Government

Jones' student government is set up as a "Cabinet." Jones does not observe strict separation of powers, as one body exercises executive and legislative authority. This body, Cabinet, consists of the Executive Officers, elected representatives from each floor, and two elected off-campus representatives. The Chief Justice of the Jones College Court, the Jones Student Association Senator, the Historian, and the Parliamentarian serve as non-voting ex-officio members of Cabinet. The Cabinet generally meets every month during the school year, with a private "Pre-Cabinet" meeting of voting members on Tuesday and a public meeting on Wednesday. By tradition, Cabinet meetings are preceded by a study break.

The current Executive Officers of Cabinet are:

Past Jones College Presidents: The Judicial branch is led by the Chief Justice of the Jones College Court. Each floor elects an Associate Justice, who serves under the Chief Justice.

Activities and Traditions

Hard Men and Fast Women (Jones Beer Bike)

Relative to other colleges at Rice, Jones puts significant effort into organizing and training its Beer Bike team, including bikers, chuggers and pit crew.

1972 was the year of the first Women's Beer Bike Race. Jones Fast Women lost Beer Bike to Brown that year, but it went on to win in 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1990, and 2002.

The Jones Hard Men debuted in 1980 when the college went co-ed. They finished last that year, but progressively got better until they won their first Beer Bike victory in 1988, narrowly defeating Lovett by twenty-four hundredths of a second. The Jones Hard Men have maintained a tradition of excellence, winning in 1989, 1992, 1993, 1996, 2001, 2005, and 2006. [link]

Although college cheers are a sensitive topic at Rice, Jones has a long history of developing and using cheers explicitly for the purpose of rooting at Beer Bike. Such notable cheers include:

History

Jones College was built as the first women's dormitory at Rice University. The building was made possible because of a $1 million donation from Houston philanthropist Jesse H. Jones. The college was named in honor of his wife, Mary Gibbs Jones. Jones College, which consisted of two buildings - Jones North and Jones South - opened to the first female residents in September 1957.

In the early days, Jones College's culture was quite conservative since the college was all-female. The women were always expected to maintain "ladylike" manners. At meals, each table had a hostess, and dinner was served family style. Strict rules were enforced by house mothers when men from the south colleges visited the female students. The students even had to abide by a strict curfew - 11 p.m. on weekdays and 2 a.m. on weekends.

In the 1970s, Jones began phasing out many of the strictest rules, but some women were still unsatisfied with the college. In 1972, some Jones women took the opportunity to transfer to Baker and Hanszen, the first two co-ed colleges.

In the fall of 1980, Jones made a major change that would alter life at the college forever - it went co-ed! Male students from the south colleges were given the chance to apply for transfer to Jones. Since Lovett went co-ed the same year as Jones, many of the new Jonesians were former Loveteers. Jones women who disagreed with the decision to go co-ed were allowed to transfer to Brown College, which remained all-female until 1987.

In 2001, construction began on the new Jones Commons and Jones Central, which would connect North and South. During the same time, Jones' wonderful, spacious parking lot (the envy of all other colleges) was destroyed to make way for the construction of the so-called Martel College. The new Jones Commons opened for use in March 2002. Jones Central opened in August 2002.

[http://encycl.opentopia.com/ edit ] Rice University Residential Colleges
Baker College | Brown College | Hanszen College | Jones College | Lovett College | Martel College | Sid Richardson College | Wiess College | Will Rice College

 

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