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The Rice Thresher
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by SUSAN ABRAMSKI THRESHER STAFF The Student Association is supporting an effort to build a memorial to students who have died during their time at Rice. Merritt McAlister, former SA external affairs vice president, is heading the effort to create the memorial. The motivation for the memorial is the deaths of four students this academic year. McAlister said the SA had been considering such a project for a while, but the death of Baker College freshman Dan Henning in March gave the project a new sense of urgency. "We started to think about what we could do besides giving money, flowers or scholarships," McAlister said. "We thought this would be something more tangible to hold on to. It will be a place where the entire Rice community can mourn our loss." At first, the SA considered the idea of a tree with a plaque, McAlister said. But McAlister learned from Vice President of Finance and Administration Dean Currie that trees are only used to commemorate faculty members who were at Rice for at least 20 years. McAlister said that after discovering the difficulties involved with dedicating a tree, the SA decided the project should be something bigger in scope. "The memorial will provide a place for students to reflect on the losses of friends during their time at Rice," SA President Lindsay Botsford said. "Hopefully it will provide a proper place for all members of the Rice community to reflect upon and mourn such tragic losses, yet celebrate the memories each person has left behind." McAlister sent an e-mail to the architecture student listserv on March 17 advertising a design contest for the memorial. Twenty-two students expressed interest, and of those, Wiess College freshman Michael Bader and Will Rice College junior Chris Kimball attended the March 20 SA meeting to discuss the project. The contest deadline is April 14, McAlister said. She stressed that the SA is still at the beginning of the process to bring a memorial to campus, and a great deal of work remains to be done. This includes choosing a design, getting approval from the Board of Trustees and exploring the logistics of construction. McAlister said it is important to finalize a plan and to print the design concept in the Thresher before students leave for summer vacation. No rules limit the types of designs submitted, McAlister said. "The proposed designs are not limited by money or space because we are trying to get as many creative ideas as possible," she said. McAlister emphasized the need to maximize student input. "Most specifics were those recommended by the architecture students," Bader said. He said the contest is focused on some sort of living memorial. Due to the rule preventing a tree dedication, designs centered on trees are somewhat limited, Bader said. Kimball said the SA has expressed interest in designs that incorporate moving. "Water has a narrative quality," Kimball said. The contest does not designate an exact location for the memorial, but somewhere around the Rice Memorial Center is desirable, McAlister said. The RMC was built in memory of the Rice students who died in the first and second World Wars. If the memorial is erected near the RMC, it will have less of a chance of being torn down and relocated by campus construction, McAlister said. McAlister said a jury consisting of architecture professors, architecture students and other students will preside over an exhibition of the submitted designs. She said the jury will not pick one submission but will try to combine the best ideas from several entries into one design. McAlister said that by representing a wide range of student input, the idea is more likely to be approved by the board. "We want to be able to go them and say, 'We feel very strongly about this design.' We have the administration's support, but no guarantees," McAlister said. He said the design and location of the memorial may determine whether it will play an active role in student life or if it will be a quiet place where students can go to reflect. "This will be a prominent spot on campus," Bader said. "The death of a Rice student really affects a campus this small and close-knit." "I think students will appreciate having a defined place where they know they can go to remember those that have lost their lives while at Rice," Botsford, a Wiess sophomore, said. - back - |
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