Jones College (Rice University)

Mary Gibbs Jones College is one of nine residential colleges at Rice University in Houston, Texas.

The college is named after Mary Gibbs Jones, wife of prominent Houstonian Jesse Holman Jones.

Buildings

The college was built in 1957, consisting of two four-story buildings named "North" and "South." In 2002, a four-story building, "Central," was built in between North and South. The new building connects to both buildings at every level except the ground floor (a short walk separates South and Central). The wing was designed by noted post-Modern architect Michael Graves [1].

Food is available from the North Servery, which also serves Brown and Martel. The Servery is accessible through Jones Commons, the dining and multi-use area on the ground floor of Jones Central.

The Isle, a volleyball pit and sun-deck named after Jones Master Walter Isle, was demolished along with the Jones soccer field and the Jones College parking lot when "Martel College" was built.

Jones College was an all-female dormitory until 1980. However, even before going co-ed Jones had a number of live-in "uncles." In 1981, the all-female 3rd South was voted "most-coed" with 22 males as either full-time or part-time "residents." Jones 3rd South (all men) and 4th South (all women) are the only two remaining single-sex floors at Rice. They will become co-ed in Fall 2006 [2].

Stoll's, named after beloved Jones associate Dr.Richard Stoll, is the lounge in the basement of Jones South. The entrance to the steam tunnels is behind the green door in the Jones South laundry room.

Masters and RAs

The current Jones College masters are Professor Rudy Guerra and his wife, Nancy, who in Fall 2005 replaced Dean Robin Forman and his wife, Ann Owens.[3]

Previous Masters:

• Robin Forman and Ann Owens (2002-05)
• Rick and Maribel Barerra (1997-2002)
• David and Caroline Minter (1992-1997)

The current Residential Associates are Chad Benedict (North) and Bridget Gorman (South). Benedict is the Assistant Director for Alumni Affairs and Gorman is an Assistant Professor of Sociology.

The current College Coordinator is Lisa Bryan, former staff member from the Admissions Office and former Master of Hanszen College.

Government

Jones' student government is set up as a "Cabinet." Jones does not observe strict separation of powers, as one body exercises executive and legislative authority. This body, Cabinet, consists of the Executive Officers, elected representatives from each floor, and two elected off-campus representatives. The Chief Justice of the Jones College Court, the Jones Student Association Senator, the Historian, and the Parliamentarian serve as non-voting ex-officio members of Cabinet. The Cabinet generally meets every month during the school year, with a private "Pre-Cabinet" meeting of voting members on Tuesday and a public meeting on Wednesday. By tradition, Cabinet meetings are preceded by a study break.

The current Executive Officers of Cabinet are:

• President, Breck Garrett (Jones '06)
• Executive Vice President, Christina Torres (Jones '06)
• Associates Vice President, Patricia Mahoney (Jones '07)
• Treasurer, Liz Fritts (Jones '06)
• Secretaries, Brian LeBlanc (Jones '06) and Ryan Jennings (Jones '07)
• Chief Justice, Kendall Spence (Jones '07)
• Historian, Clarence Yung (Jones '07)
• SA Senator, Sofia Ocampo (Jones '08)
• Parliamentarian, Helen Rodriguez (Jones '06)

Past Jones College Presidents:

• Kenneth Herz (1992-93)
• Audrey Chun (1993-94)
• Damian Abreo (1994-95)
• Rick Lopez (1995-96)
• Kalyan "Sammy" Lakshmanan (1996-98)
• Michael Sorensen (1998-99)
• Malcolm Wardlaw (1999-2000)
• Avinash Pinto (2000-01)
• Steve Wilbur (2001-02)
• Reed Macy (2002-04)
• Ellen Montz (2004-05)

The Judicial branch is led by the Chief Justice of the Jones College Court. Each floor elects an Assistant Justice, who serves under the Chief Justice.

Hard Men and Fast Women (Jones Beer Bike)

Relative to other colleges at Rice, Jones puts significant effort into organizing and training its Beer Bike team. Although it has not had the same long-term success in all three races as its chief rival, Will Rice College, the Jones Men's Beer Bike team placed first in the 1989, 1992, 1993, 1996, 2001, and 2005 races. Although college cheers are a sensitive topic at Rice, Jones has a long history of developing and using cheers explicitly for the purpose of rooting at Beer Bike. Such notable cheers include:

"Don't cross the track" (Hands above head with forearms crossed in an 'X') "Jones wins again" (resolution of don't cross the track, hands uncrossed and then double tomahawk chops) "We ride because we must, we must because we ride, now Jones let's ride" (fists above head making a bicycle pedaling motion) "JIBA" (Jones Is Bad Ass) "Don't Fuck with Jones" "Brown, Shit you suck, Brown, Shit you suck" "Sid Rich sucks my dick" "What time is it? Its 12 o'clock and Hanszen still sucks." "Lovett, Lovett, Lovett SUCKS!"

History

Jones College was built as the first women's dormitory at Rice University. The building was made possible because of a $1 million donation from Houston philanthropist Jesse H. Jones. The college was named in honor of his wife, Mary Gibbs Jones. Jones College, which consisted of two buildings - Jones North and Jones South - opened to the first female residents in September 1957.

In the early days, Jones College's culture was quite conservative since the college was all-female. The women were always expected to maintain "ladylike" manners. At meals, each table had a hostess, and dinner was served family style. Strict rules were enforced by house mothers when men from the south colleges visited the female students. The students even had to abide by a strict curfew - 11 PM on weekdays and 2 AM on weekends.

In the 1970s, Jones began phasing out many of the strictest rules, but some women were still unsatisfied with the college. In 1972, some Jones women took the opportunity to transfer to Baker and Hanszen, the first two co-ed colleges. 1972 was also the year of the first Women's Beer Bike Race. Jones lost Beer Bike to Brown that year, but it went on to win in 1975, 1978, 1979, and 1980.

In the fall of 1980, Jones made a major change that would alter life at the college forever - it went co-ed! Male students from the south colleges were given the chance to apply for transfer to Jones. Since Lovett went co-ed the same year as Jones, many of the new Jonesians were former Loveteers. Jones women who disagreed with the decision to go co-ed were allowed to transfer to Brown College, which remained all-female until 1987.

In 1981, Jones made its Beer Bike men's race debut by finishing second-to-last. The Jones men didn't make a mark in Beer Bike history until 1988 when they won their first ever men's race by just twenty-four hundredths of a second over Lovett. This victory sparked a glorious run of four men's race titles in six years (1988, 1989, 1992, and 1993). Jones men also captured Beer Bike titles in 1996, 2001, and 2005. Since Jones became co-ed, Jones women have only won the women's race twice - in 1990 and 2002.

In 2001, construction began on the new Jones Commons and Jones Central, which would connect North and South. During the same time, Jones' wonderful, spacious parking lot (the envy of all other colleges) was destroyed to make way for the construction of the so-called Martel College. The new Jones Commons opened for use in March 2002. Jones Central opened in August 2002.

• History courtesy of Jones College Historians Matt Barnett (2002-03 & 2003-04) and Samir Patel (2004-05)