Residential Colleges of Rice University - Sid Richardson College

Sid Richardson College (also referred to as Sid, SRC, Sid Rich, or Richardson College) opened in 1971 as a men's residential college. Like the other residential colleges on the Rice campus, Sid Richardson College provides undergraduate residential and dining facilities, social organizations and student government, as well as faculty, alumni, and community associates. A $2 million pledge from the Sid Richardson Foundation, which was established by Texas oilman, cattleman, and philanthropist Sid W. Richardson (1891–1959), funded the construction of the college. The college became co-ed in 1987.

Sid Richardson College is the tallest building on the Rice campus. It has seven floors, each of which is split into an upper and lower level, effectively giving the building fourteen stories. Unusual among Rice buildings, the 153 feet (47 m) high-rise was a response to a shortage of University land and was designed by the architectural firm Neuhaus and Taylor. Sid Rich has enough beds to accommodate 220 students. Original plans called for the eventual construction of a second tower, but the plan was never followed through. In similar fashion to Lovett, the Sid Masters' house is connected to the residential tower; it comprises the first floor of the tower, while the mezzanine of the residential building is actually the second floor of the tower. The first floor of Richardson College features a commons, a private dining room, and an "off-campus" lounge. The lounge consists of a pool table, two television sets, and a Nintendo 64. In between the commons and the "off-campus" lounge are 16 cubbies. It has become a popular pastime for Sidizens to attempt to fit inside the said cubbies.

Although Richardson College is not built around a quad, there is a similar outdoor feature of the college known as the "country club." The country club consists of a field, volleyball court, tether ball, hammocks, and an adult-sized swing set.

In addition to providing basic residential and social services to its residents, Richardson College is rich with traditions, which have included some notorious pranks. For example, Richardson students have made use of the six balconies towering above the main entrance of the college to "douche" unsuspecting visitors—including past Rice University president George Rupp and his wife—with buckets of water as they climb the steps to the double doors. While such "free-flowing water" is the only sanctioned projectile, rogue students have also flung flour tortillas and, in one particularly infamous situation, a couch.

Another prank that is quickly becoming a tradition is the Orc Raid. Sidizens dress up by smearing themselves with black paint, wearing black clothes and carrying around torches with doll heads. They then proceed to run around campus at night to terrorize the other colleges and crash events.

Other unique pastimes include Balcony Ball, Vatoring, and Death Ball. Every Friday afternoon from 3:00-6:00pm, the college's main speakers, affectionately known as the "stacks," blast music in what is known as "Radio Free Sid" (the named derived from Radio Free Europe of the Cold War era) across the campus from the 7th floor balcony. Radio Free Sid begins and ends each roughly 3-hour-long set of music with AC/DC's "Back in Black," widely considered to be the college's theme song.

Sid Richardson has also hosted the last five Houston Conferences on Theoretical Neuroscience (starting in 2004), thanks to a relationship between the GCC and former Sid Richardson Master Steve Cox.

Notable alumni include Steve Jackson and Philip Humber.