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The Rice Thresher
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Given the breaking news about Jones College's attempt to receive compensation for the current condition of our college, we felt it was appropriate to explain the viewpoint of the Jones Compensation Committee to the rest of the university. Jones has suffered tremendously from construction. Work is conducted seven days a week, often up to 14 hours a day, and will begin at 4 a.m. on several occasions before the semester is over. Large portions of our common space have been demolished or fenced off. Residents of Jones North are nearly surrounded by a construction zone, and often have a crane passing over their roof. The construction is so loud that it often shakes the buildings. What many students find most upsetting is that the hours of construction are determined without student input and without regard to the academic calendar. Last semester, the administration broke its promise to cancel construction during finals, and only consented to limit the hours and noise under heavy student pressure. This creates a difficult environment for Jones students who need to compete academically with students who are able to get a full night's sleep. When we signed our leases for this year, we expected much less inconvenience, and were told that construction would not take place on weekends or past 4 p.m., both of which are now normal occurrences. Jones currently lack the facilities to stage theater productions, large public parties, or any event requiring outdoor space. The loss of our parking lot means that off-campus students rarely bother with the long walk from the stadium lot to visit Jones. Many of our freshmen have decided to move off-campus next year, which will deprive the college of a class that normally lives on-campus. The rooms they leave open will probably be given to transfers or students from other colleges, if any of them are willing to deal with the noise and inconvenience. It seems unlikely that Jones will continue to function as a residential college should. As a response to this situation, we, as a cabinet committee, have approached the administration with a threefold proposal: 1)To, if at all possible, limit the hours of construction to a reasonable schedule, 2)To give Jones access to the community meetings the university conducts to receive input from the local community about construction, and 3)To reimburse a percentage of the room fees for all on-campus Jones students. Our committee met on Monday morning with Vice President for Finance and Administration Dean Currie, Vice President for Student Affairs Zenaido Camacho and Jones Master Enrique Barrera to discuss this proposal, and we are pleased with its reception. They seemed understanding of our situation but unsure about reimbursing us. We hope that President Malcolm Gillis will thoughtfully consider our proposal, and we are confident that he will agree with us that it represents the best hope of preserving Jones as a functioning college. We are aware of the objection to our idea that "it would create a dangerous precedent for the university" by compensating students forced to tolerate 70-hour construction weeks for the "overall good of the university." We believe this objection is misguided. When faced with a similar situation this year, Columbia University promptly decided to reimburse its affected students after hearing a description of their situation. The only precedent Rice would set by agreeing to our proposal is proving that the administration cares about undergraduates and about the college system. Upon receiving his refund, a Columbia student told us, "fortunately our administration has a heart and they understood where we were coming from." We have faith that the Rice administration cares for us just as much as that of Columbia, and is willing to show present and future undergraduates that students are just as important as arbitrary construction deadlines. Brian O'Malley is a Jones College senior and a member of the Jones Construction Compensation Committee.
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