Academic quad officially opens with celebration
The redesigned academic quad had its grand opening Sept. 12. The ceremony included speeches, a ribbon cutting and guided tours for attendees to learn about new quad features. Speakers included President Reggie DesRoches, board of trustees chairman Robert T. Ladd, landscape architect Thomas Woltz and several alumni.
The event began with a moment of silence for Andrea Rodriguez Avila.
Speakers acknowledged the previous “Down With Willy” movement calling for the removal of the William Marsh Rice statue previously located in the middle of the quad. The statue has been moved to a garden in the corner of the quad next to Sewall Hall. According to Dean of Undergraduates Bridget Gorman, a new monument will be placed in the center of the quad.
“The decentering of the statue, having it be more at eye level versus up, and then ultimately, the counter-memorial that’s being commissioned to celebrate the integration of the university, these are very special things,” Gorman said in an interview with the Thresher. “This is a culmination of so many years of work that started with the task force and all their thoughtful work and interrogation of our history in terms of how Rice began.”
The center of the quad is currently home to a platform called the Speaker’s Plinth and its accompanying plaque with a quote from John F. Kennedy’s 1962 speech given at Rice.
“We meet at a college noted for knowledge, in a city noted for progress, in a state noted for strength, and we stand in need of all three,” the plaque reads.
Woltz said that the plinth can be used for a variety of public events, including protests such as the student walkout that took place in the Founder’s Court at the same time.
“We’ve repurposed the pink granite base of the [William Marsh] Rice statue, moved it off the central axis and remounted it as a stage from which anyone can perform, speak, protest, recite or sing,” Woltz said in his address. Woltz emphasized the importance of moving the statue out of the center of the quad and removing it from its pedestal.
“Central to the redesign of the quad was the task to reimagine and recontextualize the statue of the founder William Marsh Rice,” Woltz said. “He is the origin of this institution. He was also an enslaver. His story is essential, but does not have to be the central story of this space.”
President DesRoches thanked Rice’s descendants for their help with the movement of the statue.
“I am personally grateful to the William Marsh Rice family for their sensitivity and understanding as we navigated how to transform such a beloved and iconic space into a newly imagined place of academic convening,” DesRoches said in his speech. “As we move forward, let us embrace this new space with the same spirit of curiosity, collaboration, community and caring that defines Rice.”
The new quad is divided into three zones: the ceremonial zone behind the Sallyport, the commons in the center and the community zone in front of Fondren Library. DesRoches said that these zones are intended to make students feel more comfortable in the quad.
“This is now a place where we expect students to spend time, as opposed to trying to go from one side to the other,” DesRoches said. “I can’t wait till the weather gets better and to see students hanging out in the quad, throwing the frisbee, laying on the grass.”
Woltz said that creating a space that was more convenient for students was important to the project, a philosophy that included but was not limited to bringing high-speed internet and shade to the area.
“The whole thing is held together with these long paths that reorganize circulation, and a lot of those are based on desire paths that we saw, where students were cutting through,” Woltz said in an interview with the Thresher. “We brought to it a very coherent, large-scale geometry.”
The design also increased biodiversity for the space, which previously contained very few plant species and required extensive watering.
“The entire quad had a few hedges and grass, and now it has 24,000 native perennials,” Woltz said. “The biodiversity has taken a quantum leap.”
Ladd said he is confident in the quad design after watching the construction in progress.
“I walk the campus most every morning … so I saw it as it was coming together,” Ladd said. “I’m optimistic it’ll be well received by the students.”
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