Wiess College
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| Established | 1949 |
|---|---|
| Namesake | Harry Carothers Wiess |
| Masters | Michael Gustin & Denise Klein |
| Resident Associates | Brent Houchens Doward & Christie Hudlow |
| President | Jon Harris Maurer |
| Location | Houston, Texas, USA |
| Membership | 350 (approximate) |
| Colors | Goldenrod and Black |
| Mascot | The War Pig |
| Website | teamwiess.com |
Harry Carothers Wiess College is one of nine residential colleges at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Male and female members of Wiess College are known equally as Wiessmen.
Contents |
[edit] History and Architecture
Harry Carothers Wiess was a famed oil tycoon who founded Humble Oil, later Exxon. He died in 1948 and left money for the construction of a new dorm. The donor pronounced his name "wise," but at Rice the name is said as rhyming with Rice.
[edit] Wiess Hall (1949-1957)
Wiess Hall opened in 1949 as the first dormitory at Rice to be named after a person (the other three dormitories at the time were North, South, and West Halls). Wiess Hall was laid out in the shape of the letter E, or (as Wiessmen preferred to say) the letter W. It had three north-south wings, joined on the north end by a long east-west spine, thus forming two open quadrangles. The building was two stories high except for the three-story center wing. The east wing contained contained mostly single rooms, while all the other rooms were doubles. Every two rooms were joined by a connecting bathroom.
As in a roadside motel, each room at Wiess opened directly to an exterior walkway. Although its design was ridiculed by later students as "Motel 6" architecture, Wiess Hall actually incorporated two important innovations: (1) every room had a semi-private bathroom; and (2) every room (except room 228, which was reserved for freshmen) had windows on at least two sides -- an important adaptation in the years before air conditioning. Nonetheless, the spartan design and subsequent deterioration of the building led to a persistent myth that Wiess Hall (notwithstanding such telltale features as brick veneer walls and a tile roof) was built as temporary housing for war veterans.
[edit] Wiess College (1957-2002)
In 1957, Rice University implemented a residential college system, as proposed by the university's first president, Edgar Odell Lovett. Wiess Hall became Wiess College, one of the four original colleges, along with Baker, (the former North Hall), Will Rice (South), and Hanszen (West).
Converting the dormitory into a college included the creation of two Resident Associate suites; construction of Wiess House, which would be the home of the Master and his family; and construction of the Wiess Commons, the eating hall and round-the-clock gathering space for college members.
Because of Wiess's outward-facing architecture, life at Wiess centered on the outdoors. The main quadrangle (between the center and west wings) became known as the Acabowl and was the busy front yard of the College. It featured volleyball, frisbee throwing, four-square games on the patio, and beer team practices. Lacrosse balls were a frequent threat to first-floor windows. At various times students installed a trampoline ("Aca-tramp") or above-ground pool ("Aca-pool"), although none of these amenities survived for long. After a hard rain, Wiessmen would run and slide down a muddy track, a practice called "zip sledding". Periodically a few residents would use rubber tubing and a couple of strong bodies to create a "gazilcher" catapult for launching water balloons or other projectiles at nearby Hanszen College. At one time, Wiessmen punished students for real or imagined infractions by dangling them upside-down from the balconies.
The quadrangle on the east side of the center wing was known, by analogy, as the "Backabowl". Not facing the center wing balconies, the Backabowl was much more sedate.
In the mid-1970s, Wiess College renovated and expanded the commons area. Wiess undergraduate architecture students Tim "Frog" Barry and Dan Canty designed the new commons for a class project.
The physical deterioration of Wiess accelerated rapidly during the 1990s. After many delays, the university finally began construction of new facilities for the College. The original Wiess Hall and its adjoining commons were razed during the winter break between Fall 2002 and Spring 2003.
[edit] Wiess College (2002-present)
Wiess's long-awaited new building opened in the fall of 2002. The college now encloses a single large quadrangle (which retains the name Acabowl), with a glass-walled Commons on the north side and four-story residence wings forming the other three sides. The part of the Acabowl adjoining the Commons is a sunny terrace (inevitably dubbed the "'Acaterrace"'). The kitchen or "'servery"' which serves the Commons is shared with Hanszen College.
Student rooms at Wiess are primarily grouped into four-person suites, which include either four singles or two doubles, a common room, and a bathroom. The west side (twenties wing) features three three-person rooms ("three-mans") which include larger singles, but no common room. The east side (forties wing) features three five-person rooms ("five-mans") which include three singles and a double.
Other special rooms include a game room, movie room, second- and third-floor kitchens, resident associate suites, visiting professor suite, computer lab, dance room, Campus Police satellite office, and O/C (off campus) lounge.
[edit] College Traditions & Annual Events
[edit] O-Week
A period of orientation for new students, O-Week is one of many Wiessmen's favored rites of passage. Before fall semester classes begin, the new Wiess class is divided into groups of seven to ten incoming students (freshmen and transfers) for the week. Each group of is lead by two upperclassmen known as Fellows. Typically the Fellows pairs consist of one male and one female upperclassman, one from Wiess and one from a different college. Two Head Fellows are also chosen to organize and supervise the orientation week of the college, which includes presentations on diversity, Rice's Honor Council, Rice University Police Department, Rice EMS services, academic advising from faculty and students, a faculty address and the matriculation ceremony. Between these official presentations, there are many ice-breaker activities, broom ball (similar to field hockey on ice), an outreach day, and the planning and execution of 'jacks' or pranks on other colleges. One recent Wiess jack of note was during O-Week 2006 when Wiess successfully hosted a high school prom in the |Hanszen Commons complete with dj, streamers, and a life-size get-your-picture-with-the-warrior. O-Week is also a completely dry week on campus, meaning that alcohol is prohibited, but ends with the Dis-O (disorientation) party when the returning students arrive back on campus.
[edit] College Night
Each residential college at Rice holds an event each semester called College Night, historically a formal or semiformal dinner. By tradition Wiess College Night is held on the last day of classes of each semester. College Nights were originally intended as festive occasions that brought the entire college together, including faculty and community associates. By the 1980s, most of them (including Wiess College Night) had degenerated into drunken debacles at which associates were neither comfortable nor welcome. Considering Wiess's reputation as the rowdiest college, it is ironic but telling that Wiess took the lead in restoring civility to College Night in the 1990s. Wiess is currently the only college whose associates regularly attend College Night.
[edit] Night of Decadence
Every year around Halloween, Wiess throws a party called Night of Decadence (commonly referred to simply as NOD). The party started in the 1970s and quickly became a legendary event at Rice and in Houston, drawing young alumni and students from other universities in addition to Rice students. It was also named to the Top 10 College Parties in America by Playboy magazine in the 1970s. After a few years as simply Night of Decadence, the College began adopting a theme for each year's party. In the 1970s and 1980s, many of the themes were historical and/or apocalyptic in nature (e.g. The Fall of Rome, Caligula, Armageddon, Animal Farm, The Trojan War). By the 1990s the themes were generally sexual puns, often based on movie titles (e.g. James Bondage, Lust in Space), with sexually themed decorations.[1] From 1997, the preference has been for lengthier titles incorporating a pun on the word NOD.
Instead of traditional costumes, students at NOD dress as degenerately (or as minimally) as possible. Pregnant nuns and drag dress are some of the tamer outfits. Although there are always several people creatively attired in Saran Wrap or fishnet stockings and pasties, a typical costume is boxer shorts for men, and bra and panties for women.
Because of its overtly sexual context, NOD eventually became a polarizing event on the Rice campus. Alternative events on campus included Night of Innocence (offered since at least the 1980s) and Night of Praise. NOD remains one of the most popular parties on campus, though the decorations have become more conservative in recent years.
[edit] NOD Themes: partial list
| 1973-'75 Night of Decadence |
| 1976 Fall of Rome |
| 1977 Wiess Palms / Motel 6 (Sanitized for your protection) |
| 1978 Animal House |
| 1979 30th Anniversarary of the Erection of Wiess |
| 1980 Halloween |
| 1981 Caligula |
| 1982 Armageddon |
| 1983 Co-eds in Chains (the year Wiess became a co-ed college) |
| 1984 Animal Farm |
| 1985 The Final Chapter (last year in which the Texas drinking age was 19) |
| 1986 Reserection |
| 1987 The Trojan War |
| 1988 Motel Wiess |
| 1989 Die Hard: 40 Years and Still Erect |
| 1990 Dante's Inferno |
| 1991 Seuss is Loose |
| 1992 Garden of Delights |
| 1993 James Bondage |
| 1994 Lust In Space |
| 1995 Scamtasia |
| 1996 Wei'Kutopo (Amazonian jungle theme) |
| 1997 Under the Big Top / The Greatest NOD On Earth |
| 1998 Silver Anniversary: NOD's Greatest Hits (25th Anniversary) |
| 1999 The Wizard of NOD |
| 2000 Never Never NOD |
| 2001 2001: A Space NODyssey |
| 2002 Cops and Robbers: A NOD to Authority |
| 2003 NODdy or Nice - Santa's Coming |
| 2004 NOD Bless America: Choose Your Position |
| 2005 NODdy by Nature: A Walk on the Wild Side |
| 2006 NODical Adventure: A Salute to Seamen |
| 2007 The Sheriff of NODdingham: Bring Your Stiffest Arrow |
[edit] Jamfest
An all-day concert held every spring. In 2002 and 2003, it was headlined by Bowling for Soup.
[edit] Jazz Night
Held on the terrace every spring, Jazz Night features four hours of live jazz and refreshments.
[edit] Tabletop Theater
Wiess theater originally performed its plays and musicals on top of the dining tables, hence the name Wiess Tabletop Theater.
Each year, Tabletop puts on the Freshman One-Acts, a Fall Play, and a Spring Musical.
In 1964, Wiessman George Greanias wrote a complete musical, "Hello Hamlet," spoofing the plays of William Shakespeare and the great musical comedies of the American stage. The plot (if not the mood) is fairly faithful to Hamlet, with liberal doses of Macbeth and a cameo of Richard III. It has been performed once every four years (every leap year) since then. Alumni turn out in good numbers for the production. Greanias went on to an active career in Houston city politics, including serving as Houston City Controller.
[edit] Powderpuff Football
The Wiess Battlesows have achieved tremendous success in powderpuff (women's) intramural flag football. The Battlesows won championships in 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2001, and 2002. Eddie Goodreau is the head coach this year.
[edit] The Five-Man
At old Wiess, the Five-Man was a second-floor suite that could in theory accommodate five students, but usually only four men lived in it. Because of the suite's extra space (including an adjoining roof that served as an unauthorized deck) and the fact that it was customarily inhabited by fun-loving upperclassmen, the Five-Man became a social and party center of the college. In the 1990s a second Five-Man suite was created immediately above the original Five-Man when the third-floor Resident Associate suite was reconfigured into a student suite (the Resident Associate quarters were relocated to the quieter west wing overlooking the old tennis courts).
At new Wiess, the Five-Man concept has been institutionalized. There are three five-person rooms: 245, 345, and 445. This hasn't stopped the Wiessmen though. The five-man has effectively become a six-man, though it's still called the five-man. A "five-man" usually refers to one of these six-person rooms, rather than one of the five-person rooms. There were five-mans in 2002-2003 and 2004-2005.
[edit] The Ubangee
The ubangee is a rite in which several Wiessmen pile on top of a fellow student and proceed to grunt and gyrate in simulation of an orgy. After a reasonable number of grunts, the ubangee is concluded with three triumphant cries of TEAM WIESS! The ubangee, which today requires at least the implicit acquiescence of the "victim", is used to indicate inculcation or acceptance, to celebrate a milestone or achievement, to inflict mock punishment, but mostly for fun. Likely "victims" include anyone celebrating a birthday, anyone who does or says something foolish in a public setting, non-Wiessmen (for virtually any reason), and freshmen (ditto). Perhaps the most notorious ubangee in Wiess history occurred in the spring of 1983, when Jeff Zweig was installed as the new President of Wiess in a "turnover" party at Willy's Pub. Legend has it that the pile of students reached the ceiling. A tamer variation of the standard ubangee is the "ceiling ubangee", in which the victim is lifted up and thrust several times toward the ceiling, accompanied by grunting. The ceiling ubangee has been practiced on alumni and (according to legend) on visiting dignitaries for whom a standard floor ubangee would have been inappropriate.
[edit] Student Taught Courses
In the fall of 2007, Wiess became the first college at Rice University to offer courses taught by undergraduates for credit. These one hour classes offer students the chance to explore subjects not normally offered at Rice while enriching the undergraduate experience by teaching and learning from peers.
[edit] The War Pig
The War Pig has been Wiess's mascot or symbol since 1982-83. According to former Resident Associate Dr. Bill Wilson, the mascot originated with a mechanical engineering student named Jeff Zweig '83. While working on a materials science paper on pig iron, Zweig acquired a small pig model, which he took to intramural games as an unofficial mascot. Wiess had only recently become co-ed, and the Powder Puff football team quickly adopted the nickname Battle Sows from this mascot. The name was soon generalized to War Pigs for other Wiess teams. Over the years countless Wiess intramural teams have incorporated "war pigs" or simply "pigs" in their team names.
The first large-scale inflatable War Pig was constructed in 1987, in the days leading up to Beer-Bike. A small group of Wiessmen led by Brian Sweeney '88 built the War Pig of Hefty bags, duct tape, and cellophane tape. On the day of the race, the pig was taken to the Beer-Bike track and inflated using large box fans. Once inflated, the effect of the sun on the black plastic shell heated the air inside enough to give buoyancy to the overall structure. The shape of the War Pig was at best an abstract representation of an actual pig, but its enormous size and the words "TEAM WIESS" written (with duct tape) in block letters ensured its unmistakable visual impact. In subsequent years, similar inflatable War Pigs were built with varying degrees of success.
The first War Pig balloon, like its early successors, was conceived as a show of Wiess strength and price on race day but was never intended to be a permanent construction. Nevertheless, the War Pig mascot has become closely associated with Wiess Beer-Bike. From the mid 1990s onward, a representation of a pig has been featured in most Wiess Beer-Bike t-shirts.
In about 2000 funds were found in an account belonging to Wiess that had been forgotten and accumulating interest for several years. Through the combined decision of the residents, a portion of the funds were designated to purchase a professionally-built War Pig balloon to represent Wiess at university events such as Beer-Bike. The design chosen was a bright yellow color (a marked departure from the black Hefty bag designs of the past) with somewhat cartoonish features such as eyes, mouth, and corkscrew tail. Unfortunately at its first Beer-Bike appearance in 2004, while it was tied to a truck parked on the infield of the bike track, a jealous student from another university cut the line on the floating War Pig and it floated into the ether never to be seen again. Its goofy size, downturned tusks, and bright gold color should be noted if anyone ever finds it.
[edit] Cultural History: Former Wiess Traditions
[edit] Family-style Dinner
Family-style dinners were instituted in 1957 when Rice's residential colleges were opened. A 1980 editorial in the Houston Chronicle gives a sense of the importance of this custom:
"There is a difference between cafeteria lines, particularly college cafeteria lines, and being served a meal family style. We won't try to define the difference, but we can understand why the students at Rice University wanted to hold on to the traditional family-style meals served on the campus.
"Family-style dining was begun in 1957 when the campus was divided into eight residential colleges, each with 200-250 students. The Houston Health Department had its questions about this dining practice, and there were some conferences with Rice officials before all could be straightened out, as it finally was.
"This has become a world where standing in line is automatic. It is a world in which change constantly threatens tradition. The continuation of family-style meals at Rice University is just a small victory, but not an unimportant one." -- "A small victory", Houston Chronicle, Nov. 17. 1980.
Family-style diining remained a popular fixture of Wiess life for nearly 50 years, long after the other colleges had abandoned the practice.
For dinner, the tables at Wiess were set with tablecloths, gold-colored cloth napkins, and white china. For many years the china bore the Wiess crest, but as these pieces inevitably disappeared into students' personal collections they were replaced with plain white pieces. Following college announcements and a very short blessing, student waiters brought out the meal on serving trays promptly at 6:00 PM. When the table had finished the main course, the waiter would clear the dinner plates and bring dessert. In 1985, one rowdy Wiessman twisted the traditional blessing of "For these and all our many blessings, O Lord we thank thee" into "For these and all our many blessings, O Satan we thank thee", after which it gave way to a moment of silence, a practice still observed at Wiess today.
These apparently formal attributes did not mean that dinners were sedate or stilted. On the contrary, dinner at Wiess was often a raucous affair, particularly on Fridays and especially following an afternoon TGIF party ("TG") in the Acabowl. One particularly messy practice was the "Viking table", in which students would dump the contents of the serving tray onto the table and attempt to eat the entire meal without the use of plates, utensils, or hands. Even then, community prevailed, for custom and College rules dictated that these students would clean and bus their own table, rather than leaving it to the waiters.
The somewhat noxious practice of banging on plates during announcements began in the mid 1980s. As practiced by its instigators, the plate-banging was directed only toward announcements from other colleges. Somehow it took on a life of its own, and by the late 1990s it had become an insufferable din -- but one that ended immediately with the moment of silence.
Family-style dinner eventually became a casualty of the new multi-college servery, which made it impractical to restrict dinner at Wiess to a single serving time; as well as the obstinate freshman class in '01-'02. While the result has been greater flexibility for students, many observers regret the loss of the rich shared experience that family-style dinner provided.
[edit] Freshman Waiting
While other colleges with family-style dining apportioned the waiting duties on various ad hoc bases, at Wiess the waiting was done by freshmen. The freshmen served one-week stints on a rotating basis, with each freshman serving 2-3 stints per semester. Upon completing their freshman year, they enjoyed the benefits of freshman waiting for the rest of their time at Wiess. Although a few freshmen invariably complained about this duty at the beginning of the fall semester, they soon embraced it as an important rite of passage.
As with family-style dining generally, freshman waiting was maintained at Wiess long after other colleges had abandoned it. Although (like many Wiess customs) considered curious by outsiders, freshman waiting provided a valuable interaction between Wiess freshmen and upperclassmen and was one of the customs by which new students were inculcated into the College.
[edit] Build-Ups
At old Wiess, while freshmen made do with university-issued furniture, upperclassmen were allowed to customize their rooms virtually however they wanted. This practice was further supported by Wiess's "squatter's rights" policy, which allowed sophomores or juniors who occupied a room to keep that room until they graduated. By the 1980s many Wiessman had constructed elaborate "build-ups," with paneling, ceiling fans, wet bars, split-level floors, and private sleeping areas. In one room, the beds were attached to pulleys that allowed them to be lowered at night for sleeping and retracted into the ceiling during the day. The rooms with the best build-ups were highly coveted. To defray the cost of these improvements and to encourage them to be maintained, an informal practice evolved in which the subsequent occupants of a room would pay a two- to three-figure sum to the previous occupants.
[edit] People
[edit] Masters of Wiess College
| 1957-1969 | Roy Talmadge |
| 1969-1974 | Lea Rudee |
| 1974-1979 | Stewart Baker |
| 1979-1984 | Geoffrey Winningham |
| 1982-1983 | Dr. Bill Wilson (interim) |
| 1984-1989 | Joan Rea |
| 1989-1994 | George (Wiess '75) & Marilyn Pharr |
| 1994-2001 | John & Paula Hutchinson |
| 2001-2006 | Katherine Donato & Dan Kalb |
| 2006- | Michael Gustin & Denise Klein |
Note: Until the 1990s, the term Master was limited to members of the Rice faculty; the Master's spouse held the title Co-Master. Since the 1990s both spouses are called Masters. The one listed first is the faculty member.
[edit] Resident Associates
Where would we be without Dr. Bill, the most influential person in Wiess College's history?
[edit] Presidents of Wiess College
| 1973-1974 | Paul Lederer |
| 1974-1975 | Jeff Finger |
| 1975-1976 | John Lederer |
| 1976-1977 | Asuka Nakahara |
| ... | |
| 1981-1982 | George Hall |
| 1982-1983 | Terry "H.R." Phillips |
| 1983-1984 | Jeff Zweig |
| 1984-1985 | Ty Buthod |
| 1985-1986 | Bob Casey |
| 1986-1987 | Alex Pellow |
| 1987-1988 | Bill Davis |
| 1988-1989 | Mike Yanochik |
| 1989-1990 | Brad Hamer |
| 1990-1991 | Steve Eubank |
| 1991-1992 | P.J. Abrams |
| 1992-1993 | Dave Roberts |
| 1993-1994 | Celeste Campbell |
| 1994-1995 | Diane Tate |
| 1995-1996 | Art Raphael Tontiplaphol |
| 1996-1997 | Dave McCann |
| 1997-1998 | George A. Fotinos |
| 1998-1999 | Ethan Schultz |
| 1999-2000 | Robert A. Lundin |
| 2000-2001 | Joshua Katz |
| 2001-2002 | Amy Schindler |
| 2002-2003 | Robert ("Robby") Morgan |
| 2003-2004 | Andy Perez |
| 2004-2005 | Edith Arnold |
| 2005-2006 | Jack Hardcastle |
| 2006-2007 | Chris Kudron |
| 2007-2008 | Jon Harris Maurer |
| 2008-2009 | Bo Qiu |
[edit] Notable alumni
| Walter Loewenstern (1958), Co-Founder, ROLM |
| Ken Oshman (1962), Co-Founder, ROLM |
| George Greanias (1970), Former City Controller and Former Councilman, Houston; playwright |
| Harold Solomon, Professional Tennis Player |
| Tom Carter (1976), Founder and CEO, TrellisWare Technologies |
| Mark Dankberg (1976), Founder and CEO, Viasat |
