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Although the university must meet several goals before a ninth college joins the Rice community, both Vice President of Student Affairs Zenaido Camacho and Vice President of University Advancement Kathryn Costello agree that it will occur within five years.

"There's one thing standing between us and a ninth college -- an enormous amount of money," Dean Currie, vice president of Finance and Administration, said. In what Currie refers to as normal "Rice conservative, penny-pinching" fashion, the university must raise funds to build the ninth college through alumni donations, as it did with recent new buildings on campus.

The discussion of a ninth college arises from a need for additional housing due to the large number of students forced to move off campus each year. "We need a ninth college, because not enough students who want to live on campus can live on campus," Costello said. All undergraduate students at Rice are familiar with the "room draw" systems at their respective colleges which force a substantial number of students to move off campus.

As a part of the 40th anniversary of the college system, a 40th Anniversary College Review Committee, composed of current students, alumni, current and former college masters, faculty members and staff members, compiled a report analyzing the college system at Rice.

The report included a survey of off-campus students regarding their living experiences. Roughly half of the students surveyed said they preferred living on campus despite the fact that living off campus is less costly. In addition, a little more than half of the survey respondents said that they miss much of on-campus interaction. The committee noted that the off-campus students tend to miss classes with greater frequency than on-campus students.

The surveyed students believed privacy, cost, living experience, quiet and space to be the chief advantages of living off campus. The survey showed, however, that the vast majority of off-campus students also appreciate and value on-campus interaction.

The committee therefore recommended that a ninth college with a 200-bed minimum capacity be built to meet a goal of 80 percent of undergraduate students living on campus. With close to 400 off-campus students expressing interest in returning on campus, the committee called such an addition to the college system a "sound move."

Many students agree.

"Since an additional college would increase the number of students on campus, I think it's a good idea. Being on campus is a positive and integral part of the Rice college system experience," Jones College freshman Suzanne Webb said.

"We need a higher proportion of students living on campus," President Malcolm Gillis said. Around 35 percent of undergraduate students live off campus, and the administration believes that such a sizable number of off-campus students is not conducive to the overall unity and spirit that Edgar Odell Lovett, the first president of the Rice Institute, wished to see flourish in the Rice community as a result of the college system.

Negative student reaction toward the possibility of a ninth college stems from a concern widely held by students that a ninth college might result in an increase in enrollment complementary to the increase in on-campus housing. "I'm concerned that they're going to use the ninth college as an excuse to increase enrollment," explained Becky Kessler, a Hanszen College junior.

Most students consider Rice's relatively small size an asset.

In addition, Lovett College junior Darin Dilda believes that "the number of people who are forced off campus is too small to justify a ninth college." Dilda thinks that a surplus of beds could potentially lead to larger student enrollment.

However, Gillis emphasized that "we want to have more students on campus," and that a ninth college is not a means to carry out an increase in undergraduate enrollment.

Although the Board realizes the need for a ninth college, it has not yet taken any official action. "We are actively discussing a possible ninth college, and there has been widespread support from the faculty and administration for this idea. There is no formal approval from the Board yet," Gillis said.

A project subtly related to the possibility of the ninth college is that of renovating Wiess College, originally built in 1949 and intended as a temporary building to house Rice students. Unfortunately, Wiess now suffers from structural problems which demand increasing attention.

Now that a ninth college is a possibility, the rebuilding of Wiess, which has long been a topic of discussion, may become a reality. "I feel that Wiess College will be rebuilt soon," said Camacho.

Many feel that it would be unfair to build a ninth college in the face of Wiess' problems and that Wiess should be a higher priority.

Currie says that "if someone donates the money to fund the building of a ninth college, we will build the ninth college and house Wiess students there while Wiess is being rebuilt."

That idea is one of many being considered to help integrate a new college into the present system.

This item appeared in the News section of the April 25, 1997 issue.