McMurtry College develops unique traditions

By Kevin Lin     2/11/10 6:00pm

The five-story 'Mongol college,' sitting near Duncan Hall and the Inner Loop, is the 10th residential college established as part of Rice's residential college system. After a few early growing pains, it is clear that the college, named after Rice alumni Burt ('56) and Deedee ('56) McMurtry, is on its way to developing its own identity.Currently comprised of 74 freshmen, McMurtry College represented Rice's first foray into the growth of the college system in nearly a decade. But instead of being forced to grow on its own, McMurtry has had the experience of sharing close quarters with Will Rice College. With such close presence between the two colleges, it was unavoidable that the older college would have a heady influence on the new college's formation.

However, that is not to say McMurtry is a carbon copy of Will Rice, a point echoed by Will Rice President Kyle Clark.

"We didn't want them to reinvent the wheel," Clark, a Will Rice senior, said. "We provided the shape, and McMurtry fit in all the pieces."

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Outside of the presence of Will Rice, McMurtry also has eight ambassadors from each of the other residential colleges, except Baker College. Associate Dean of Undergraduates Matthew Taylor said the role of the ambassadors was to expose McMurtry to different college cultures and make sure that Will Rice wasn't the only influence during McMurtry's formation.

Taylor said the number of ambassadors corresponded with the number of leftover beds at McMurtry, and that the reason McMurtry has no Baker ambassadors is due to a lack of qualified applicants.

But that is not to say that Will Rice has not played a large role in helping McMurtry come into its own. For instance, Will Rice junior Aaron Varnell, a former Orientation Week coordinator, has been a big influence on the college. Varnell temporarily holds the title of "chieftain" of McMurtry, an acknowledgement of his dedication to the college.

Since the start of the school year, Varnell estimates that he has spent three to four hours a day immersed in McMurtry-related work. His roles include getting people to come to McMurtry town hall meetings and coordinating the arrival of transfers. Varnell is also responsible for appointing the heads of both the Constitution Committee, which is responsible for forming McMurtry's government, and the Masters Search Committee.

"Freshmen are the under-tapped resource on campus because oftentimes they're sort of given the really entry-level positions [in college government]," Varnell said. "Freshmen come in with ideas, they come in with so much potential and then they're quickly told they must fit into a system. If you have a system to harness that power you can use it to create things that are truly new and somewhat different."

McMurtry currently shares Will Rice Masters Mike Wolf and Paula Krisko and is still in need of masters for the next academic year, Varnell said. There are currently four potential candidates for the position.

Hanszen College junior James Liu and Will Rice junior Kelsey Zottnick are in charge of the Masters Search Committee, and the committee has already chosen two finalists whose names have been sent to Dean of Undergraduates Robin Forman. President David Leebron will make the final decision.

Happening concurrently with the masters search is an ongoing RA and associates search. McMurtry O-Week Coordinators for next year will be Sid Richardson College junior Ryan George, Will Rice sophomore Hannah Thalenberg and Will Rice sophomore Marie Thompson.

The McMinistry

McMurtry's new government goes by the name of the McMinistry and consists of three student reps, a McMurtry-Will Rice representative and six hall czars. The primary function of the McMinistry is to provide a temporary structure to McMurtry in its first year and to give transfers a framework to come into, Varnell said.

The structure of a permanent government body is currently being determined by the McMurtry Constitutional Committee. McMurtry freshman Sevith Rao is on the committee responsible for writing the future college constitution. Rao said it will largely be based off Will Rice's constitution. The constitution is set up so that there will be a triumvirate of power at the top consisting of a president, a vice president and a prime minister.

McMurtry is hoping to differentiate itself from most of the other colleges with the addition of a prime minister, who will be responsible for creative events around McMurtry, Rao said. The last two members of the Executive Committee will be a treasurer and secretary, who will assume the traditional roles associated with their respective offices.

However, Rao said all positions and responsibilities are still subject to change.

Welcoming new Mongols

Besides having to form a new government, McMurtry also needs to assimilate the 128 confirmed transfers heading its way. The largest groups of transfers are from Will Rice and Martel College, which have 24 and 20 transfers for McMurtry, respectively.

McMurtry freshman Chris Barnes, another member of the Constitution Committee, said transfer students will be allowed to run for any position at McMurtry and noted that all the executive positions can only be filled by upperclassmen, which will all be transfers.

"It allows groups of individuals and groups of friends to come," Varnell said. "Transfers want to be involved and are enthusiastic about McMurtry."

Unique traditions

Even without the writing of its constitution, or the assimilation of a transfer group bigger than their entire college, McMurtry already has plenty on its plate. The college has formed a Beer Bike Committee to coordinate its first showing at the longstanding Rice tradition. Heading the committee are Barnes, fellow freshman Kelsey Pederson and transfers Nick Koshy, a sophomore from Sid Rich, and Vanessa Martinez, a junior from Baker.

Despite competing in only an exhibition race during the actual day of Beer Bike, Barnes said members of the Beer Bike Committee are busy searching for sponsors, trucks, bikes, shirts and chuggers. Pedersen said McMurtry will have a team consisting of five male and five female chuggers and bikers.

"It's an endeavor to hold a 20-person Beer Bike team when there're only 70 of us in the college," Barnes said.

Alongside Beer Bike, McMurtry is engaged in many other activities separate from Will Rice. For instance, the college has set up a picture contest, with the winning portraits set to adorn the many living spaces through the college.

Other McMurtry events include a college blood drive, a holiday banquet with secret santas, a freshman retreat, a college-wide skating trip at the Galleria and a McMurtry Giving Tree where students can donate to the Ronald McDonald House.

First impressions

Despite its relatively small class size, McMurtry has certainly started to make a name for itself on the playing field. In powderpuff, McMurtry teamed up with Will Rice to win the championship, and freshman flag came in second, losing to Will Rice in the finals.

While success on the pitch may not necessarily denote a tradition, a likely candidate for a recurring event is the Rose Ceremony in which each Will Rice freshman gives one red rose to a freshman from McMurtry at the beginning of the first semester, Rao said. The ceremony is expected to become an annual tradition between the two colleges.

Likewise, Rao mentioned another tradition involving the blowing of a conch shell as a battle cry; any McMurtrian who hears it must respond by shouting "Murt!" O-Week Coordinator Julia Botev said the origin of the conch shell came from McMurtry's earlier reputation of being a "Mongol college." The reputation stemmed from the O-Week coordinators and people related with a McMurtry jack that involved placing a "Mc" in front of building names all over campus, Botev, a Martel junior, said.

"It became a running joke that McMurtry was a 'Mongol college' because Mongols attack everyone and no one could attack them because they didn't have a home," Botev said.

The reputation is just one of the many quirks McMurtry has grown into over the last year, which, according to Clark, was always going to be an unknown adventure.

"Going in we all knew that the establishment of a new college should be an experiment," Clark said. "Will Rice likes traditions - we get stuck in them. Now, I'm not saying that's bad, but we've done a certain thing a certain way for so long that it's refreshing to see McMurtry do something new.

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