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The Rice Thresher
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by Mark Berenson and Elizabeth Decker thresher staff Jones College students' request for a reimbursement on their room fees was denied by President Malcolm Gillis on March 13. The Jones College Compensation Committee is now looking into alternate forms of compensation and solutions to the problems that construction at Jones has caused. Earlier this month, the committee requested that residents of the college be reimbursed for about half their room fees this year and that future fees be reduced for as long as construction continues. Gillis said that additional money to compensate Jones would have to come from other sources. "It does not make sense for us, as a community, to seek perfect equality of outcome from all of this," Gillis wrote in a letter to Jones President Steve Wilbur. "It would be especially unwise to attempt to use money to achieve this end and even worse to take such funding from academic sources." The committee met with Vice President for Student Affairs Zenaido Camacho and Vice President for Finance and Administration Dean Currie for several hours Monday to discuss alternative forms of compensation and a list of requests the committee had made. The committee is composed of Wilbur, senior Brian O'Malley and junior Michelle Lopez. Wilbur said he thought that because more students from Jones could be moving off campus next year to avoid construction-related hassles, the college would have extra beds available for students from other colleges. Therefore, the committee requested that the masters of the residential colleges allow Jones to limit the number of students from other colleges allowed to live in these rooms without formally transferring to Jones. Wilbur explained that the committee fears Jones will become "a dumping ground for other students and transfer students and freshmen." Wilbur said the unity and integrity of Jones would be hurt by the presence of these additional students. "We don't want Jones College becoming the joke of the college system because other people are able to move into our slots," Wilbur said. The committee also requested financial compensation for the college as a whole, a portion of which would be given to the Jones masters so they can sponsor events to help draw back off-campus students to Jones. Wilbur said Camacho and Currie agreed at the meeting that compensation in the form of ambiance money is a feasible solution. Each college has access to $5,000 in ambiance funds and $2,000 in matching funds each year. To be eligible for these funds, proposed projects must benefit all college members and enhance the college's appearance, preferably in the college's main common areas. At the meeting, Wilbur said Currie and Camacho proposed doubling the amount of ambiance funds available to Jones. Also, Jones may have greater flexibility in spending the money, and giving the college a room at Twenty-One Eleven Holly Hall that would be available to the college to use as an off-campus place to relax away from the construction is being considered. The committee is requesting that off-campus housing be arranged for Jones students similar to that being provided to Martel College students next semester at Holly Hall. (See Story, Page 5.) Food and Housing Director Mark Ditman said some of the rooms that have been secured at Holly Hall for Martel students may be available to students from other colleges, including Jones, if Martel students choose not to rent all of them. The committee also requested that parking at Jones be addressed. Next year, Wilbur said the north colleges will have 28 spots available, which Wilbur said makes it difficult for off-campus students to visit Jones. Even in 2004, after construction is completed, a total of 36 parking places are planned for the three colleges. The committee suggested that several visitors' lots near Abercrombie Lab and Facilities and Engineering could be converted to parking for Jones students. The committee also requested a signed affidavit from Project Manager David Rodd and Miner-Dederick Constructors stating that they understood and would adhere to all Houston city codes relevant to construction, including city ordinances that prohibit construction between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. Miner-Dederick Constructors Supervisor Barry Smith said there are no city ordinances that limit construction during daylight. Project Management and Planning Director Barbara White said she did not believe there was any ordinance banning construction prior to 7 a.m., but that the university is currently checking to ensure that the construction at the north colleges is in compliance with all city ordinances. White added that construction before 7 a.m. was rare. "We are absolutely trying to respect the desire of students not to have action on the site until after 7 a.m." White said. "It is only done if there is prior notice and an extremely important reason." Prompted by a request from students at Jones North who have construction workers directly outside of their windows, the committee requested that the construction company perform criminal background checks for all long-term employees. "We want to have some sort of guarantee for the students' safety around here," Wilbur said. The committee is currently looking into Miner-Dederick's policies. If the company does not perform such checks, the committee wants to create new standards for all construction workers at Rice in conjunction with the Rice Women's Resource Center. The committee is also asking that if the new Jones Commons construction is not on target to meet its March 2002 completion date, resources be shifted from the Martel construction so that it will. Ditman said he is considering the feasibility of this request. However, he said there would be financial consequences for all on-campus students from the lack of revenue from the Martel rooms. "On-campus vacancies will result in lost housing revenue," Ditman said. "If the colleges are not occupied to the fullest extent, room rates are likely to increase more than planned to cover financial shortfalls." The committee requested a written guarantee of limitations on construction during future finals periods. Jones was promised last spring that there would be no construction during last fall's finals period, but Wilbur said he had to mount a signature campaign to accomplish this in December. The committee requested letters of apology to the entire college from Gillis, Camacho, Currie and Rodd regarding "certain broken promises, the violation of the verbal agreement upon which our leases were signed, and basically providing an inadequate environment for residing at Rice," Wilbur said. Currie denied this request and said Gillis was also likely to deny the request. Camacho said he will write an apology. Wilbur said all of the things the committee requested were necessary. "We just think that these are the things that we need to have to live in a safe college environment and be a suitable college environment," Wilbur said. The committee asked Camacho and Currie to investigate the claims that pertain to them, and to report back to the committee by March 30. They will meet again with Camacho and Currie to discuss the issues if the committee is not satisfied with the progress made by the end of March, Wilbur said. The committee will also approach the appropriate representatives of groups responsible for demands made in areas outside of Camacho and Currie's jurisdiction. Wilbur conceded that the administration has been apologetic about construction but said apologies weren't enough. "Every opportunity that they've had, they have thanked the members of Jones College, and said, 'We're sorry you had to deal with this,' but when push comes to shove, sorry isn't enough," Wilbur said. Wilbur said the committee is still interested in individual compensation as a solution, but is going ahead with other ways of improving life at Jones. "Individual compensation really is the best way to deal with this because we feel that what they've done is tantamount to the violation of the lease that we signed," Wilbur said. On Wednesday night, the committee hosted a forum at the college attended by around 25 students to discuss the rejection and the new proposals. While all of the new proposals were mentioned, discussion focused on the parking problem. Jones senior Kristin Necessary said she thought parking near the north colleges was more important than having green space on campus. Also discussed was the time frame for the construction, and the future size and makeup of Jones. As a last resort, the committee has considered bringing a lawsuit against the university for violating the lease agreement by not providing the quality of housing that was expected. However, Wilbur said that the committee does not wish to damage Rice by bringing such a lawsuit. "Not only is that our last resort, but we do not want to do anything that will harm Rice University on the whole," Wilbur said. Wilbur said the university has an obligation to Jones students to provide an acceptable living environment now. "Just because the administration wants this place to look great in 10 years doesn't mean that it has the right to forgo its obligations that they agreed to when we agreed to come to this university," Wilbur said, "We came here to earn a respectable degree. We didn't come here to have jack hammering on our foundation when we're trying to sleep." Wilbur added that he was frustrated to learn that the administration was increasing the budget for the new library by $50 million dollars, but wouldn't even spend one one-hundredth of that to reimburse members of Jones. "I found that to be a slight slap to the face," Wilbur said. "They said that they don't have the money for [reimbursement], but they want to show the rest of America that we have a great library." Wilbur said he hoped the committee can help other colleges undergoing construction avoid some of the problems Jones has had. "Jones has been the guinea pig for construction, and what we want to do is be able to warn all of the other colleges as to what steps they need to take in order to make things better for themselves," Wilbur said. Ultimately, he said that the push to maintain the college environment must come from the students. "The students themselves need to be the ones telling the administration not to mess with us with construction," Wilbur said.
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