|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Rice Thresher
Phone:
|
Nancy Elliott for The Thresher Last semester, the Transfer Student Club worked to provide transfer-oriented support during Orientation Week. Since I participated in such work, Joan Shreffler's column ("Rice experience neglects transfer students," Sept. 29) left me disheartened. But I reminded myself of a recent conversation among TSC members in which we identified what we believe to be the real cause of struggle for transfers: housing. I don't mean to discount Shreffler's other complaints, but I think those problems fade in comparison to the loneliness and isolation transfers feel when they are forced to live off-campus their first year at Rice. Rice is aware that transfers face an uphill struggle when they live off-campus their first year. Consider Pam Carlson's words in a 1996 Thresher article about transfers: "My first year at Rice sucked. I lived off campus and I didn't meet anyone. _ The whole thing was just tough" ("RATS: transfers adjust to Rice life," Apr. 26, 1996). Shreffler echoed these sentiments in her column, pointing out that when living off campus "there are no people knocking on my door to say hi, no spontaneous parties and no classmates to ask for help with work." In 1996, transfers worked to address the housing issue. Last semester, members of TSC spoke informally with college masters about housing, and they are aware of the need for a solution. The Jones College constitution even requires that four spaces be held for transfer students during room draw. Still, the underlying problem has not been addressed. The underlying problem is that there is a hierarchy for consideration of housing first-year Rice students, and non-athlete transfer students are accommodated last. In contrast to new incoming freshmen and transfer athletes, non-athlete transfers are reminded on every form and letter they receive from Rice that they are not guaranteed on-campus housing. A recent Thresher's article, ("By the numbers, this freshman class is right on target," Aug. 25), stated that this year, "Rice aimed to enroll 640 new students guaranteed housing and actually enrolled 641." The next sentence is key. It says, "The number of transfer students similarly exceeded the target of 45 only by one." In other words, transfer students were not included in the target number of "new students guaranteed housing." In this same article, Will Rice College Master Dale Sawyer said, "This year we were pleasantly surprised that the admissions office hit our target, and that left us with some space to house transfers." Clearly, transfers are being segregated as a group and given rooms only after accommodating everybody else. This is in spite of Rice's stated policy on the subject. This policy stated in the General Announcements says that "the university makes every effort to provide housing in the colleges for all incoming first-year students who wish to live on campus." While this is followed by the caveat that "space cannot be guaranteed," it is clear that transfer students, "first-year students" though they may be, are set aside as a group and considered for housing last. The Thresher also wrote that "this year, despite the lack of a guarantee, every transfer student who wanted to live on campus got a room." To the best of my knowledge, this is untrue. I was heavily involved in summer O-Week 2000 preparation, and while it is true that many more transfer students got on-campus housing than have in the past, I do not believe all who wanted to live on campus got to do so. This summer, I witnessed firsthand the stress that the housing issue creates for transfers, and as Shreffler made painfully clear, that stress just continues once they get here. Many people do not understand that target numbers for transfer admission are linked to the number of students who participate in the Study Abroad program. For this reason, Rice will continue to admit transfers in numbers comparable to the past two years (45 to 50 non-athlete transfers) and may even increase that number as the Study Abroad program continues to grow. Transfer students are good students. They often come to Rice seeking a better academic challenge or a better program of study within their degree plan, and many regularly appear on the President's Honor Roll. That wonderful feeling of community for which Rice is famous comes only in being able to walk into your college and feel like it is home. Transfer students have as much right to the Rice experience as freshmen, but they don't get it when they are shunted off campus their first year. Given that Rice is in the midst of adding many new on-campus beds, this is the perfect time to correct the housing hierarchy. Transfers are just as important as any other student and deserve equal consideration for on-campus housing in their first year. The current system needs to be changed so that transfers, rather than being confined to the bottom rung of the first-year housing hierarchy, are included in the target number of new students guaranteed housing. Nancy Elliott is a Brown College junior.
- back - |
|
|
Search the Thresher pages:
This document may be distributed electronically, provided that it is distributed in its entirety and includes this notice. However, it cannot be reprinted without the express written permission of: The Rice Thresher, Rice University MS-524, PO Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251-1892, USA. The Thresher Online Project -- ethresh@listserv.rice.edu |
