Residential Colleges of Rice University

The residential colleges of Rice University comprise eleven separate residential colleges which function as the primary housing, dining, and social organization for undergraduate students. The system was established in 1957 and was inspired by the residential college systems at the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge as well as the American adaptations of the same at Harvard and Yale. Each student is randomly affiliated with a residential college upon matriculation and becomes a lifetime member of the college. The residential college system takes the place of a greek system, and has contributed to a sense of community that other universities have sought to emulate.

At academic ceremonies, including Matriculation and Commencement, the colleges process in the following order: the four original colleges in the order Baker, Will Rice, Hanszen, and Wiess, followed by the other colleges in order of founding: Jones, Brown, Lovett, Sid Richardson, Martel, McMurtry, and Duncan. For the original four colleges, which became colleges at the same time in 1957, the processional order reflects the order in which the original buildings were constructed. For McMurtry and Duncan, which were built at the same time and opened simultaneously in August 2009, the processional order reflects the order in which the founding gifts were made.

The colleges are often classified by geographical location: Jones, Brown, Martel, McMurtry, and Duncan are the North colleges; Baker, Will Rice, Hanszen, Wiess, Lovett, and Sid Richardson are the South colleges.