Lovett to permanently move into new building by fall 2026, adjacent to twelfth college

Rice ‘in the process’ of developing plans for thirteenth college

By Riya Misra     9/18/24 7:08pm

Lovett College will permanently move into one of the two new residential college buildings, President Reggie DesRoches said in a Sept. 18 email to campus. The buildings, initially intended to house new twelfth and thirteenth colleges, are projected to finish by fall 2026. Lovett will stand adjacent to the unnamed twelfth college, and there are currently no plans for the thirteenth.

“We are in the process of developing a 10-year capital plan that will include the addition of college No. 13 at a later date and after additional evaluations have been completed,” DesRoches wrote in his campus message.

In an interview with the Thresher, Dean of Undergraduates Bridget Gorman said Rice is “actively considering [usage] options” for Lovett’s existing building, upon relocation. Gorman then said this decision was triggered by “years of student advocacy” for upgraded facilities at Lovett.

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“From time to time, the institution has made a decision that, rather than trying to do a massive renovation … that we're going to relocate,” Gorman said. “A huge factor that goes into there is considering the student experience and minimizing disruption in a college community, because our residential college is central to the experience of Rice. It's a big reason why our students come here.”

Some may be shocked by the announcement, Lovett President Andrew Kim wrote in a statement to the Thresher — but at the same time, many students “would likely call the move a long time coming.” Editor’s note: Andrew Kim is the Thresher’s Backpage editor.

“Most Lovetteers view the Toaster's lived-in atmosphere affectionately, and it's always been a major driver of our unparalleled commons culture,” Kim wrote. “As a result, there has never been a culture of prevalent complaints about Lovett or a concentrated push to renovate it.

“However,” Kim continued, “both the Dean's office and Lovett leadership have received individual feedback for years about renovating our residential facilities. It's not a secret that Lovett has lacked the modern facilities that equally old or even older colleges have been getting through recent renovations, so there's no better candidate for an upgrade than us.”

The twelfth and thirteenth colleges were planned in line with Rice’s 2021 goal to expand undergraduate enrollment — 4,052 students at the time — by 20 percent. The university has since met that goal, and will not scale back enrollment to accommodate for just one new college, Gorman wrote in a follow-up statement to the Thresher. Enrollment now stands at 4,811, surpassing Rice’s initial target of 4,800.

“My expectation is that as we approach the relocation of Lovett and the opening of College 12 in Fall 2026, we'll be discussing plans with the campus regarding campus housing expansion,” Gorman wrote.

Most recently, Sid Richardson College relocated into a new building in February 2021 — the new buildings will be constructed on top of Sid Rich’s former, now-demolished, building. As Lovett prepares for a similar move, Kim said the next two years will be spent gathering student input on reshaping their college’s culture. Lovetteers will be able to choose which of the new buildings to move into, Gorman said.

“Undeniably, Lovett may be the college whose social culture is more founded on its architecture than any other college, and we need to be realistic that a change of buildings will necessarily come with culture shifts,” Kim wrote. “The Toaster has been the home of Lovetteers and our memories for decades, and that will be — and deserves to be — mourned. But … I have absolute confidence that Lovett has an abundance of people that simply care too much not to make New Lovett feel full of the spirit and tradition that Lovett has now.”

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