The Rice Thresher, Vol. 97, No. 19, Ed. 1 Friday, February 12, 2010 Page: 7 of 16

                                
Friday, February 12,2010
the Rice Thresher
 
NEWS 7
Duncan College establishes 'fresh' identity
Serving as Rice's newest residential college, Duncan College has come into its own following its first semester on
campus. Named after Rice alumnus Charles ('47) and Anne Duncan, the 11th college has both turned its green
reputation into a mecca of environmental friendliness and brought an entirely new meaning to the word 'BaDunc'
by Kevin Lin
For the Thresher
Made up of 79 freshmen, the
Duncan class is sharing its rooms
with its sister college, Baker Col-
lege. However, this integration goes
beyond just living spaces, as the
two colleges eat meals together,
play intramural sports together and
even vote together. Instead of differ-
entiating Baker students from Dun-
can students, the combined student
body is referred to as "BaDunc."
"It speaks to our joint relation-
ship together as sister colleges,"
Baker College President Kathy Kel-
lert said. "We work together on a
lot of things. For example, we don't
cheer, 'Baker? Hell yeah!' anymore.
We cheer, 'BaDunc!'"
The BaDunc moniker has taken
on a life of its own almost as much
as the new college itself. For in-
stance, the powderpuff team this
year was a joint effort from both
colleges. Instead of Baker jerseys,
players were given BaDunc tank
tops to acknowledge the relation-
ship between the two colleges.
All Baker committees are open
to Duncan freshmen and have at
least one Duncan freshman on
them. Baker also added two new
voting spots for the Duncan fresh-
men: the Duncan freshman repre-
sentative and the Duncan liaison to
the ambassadors.
These ambassadors serve as
members of other colleges who
live at Duncan and are responsible
for managing respective college
weeks where Duncan freshmen
visit other colleges to learn about
their traditions. During Lovett
College week, for instance, Dun-
can freshmen went to the Lovett
Board Game Night on Monday, the
Lovett Central Committee meeting
on Wednesday and ate in Lovett's
servery throughout the week.
Associate Dean of Undergradu-
ates Matthew Taylor said there are
15 ambassadors at Duncan, with
three officially transferring to Dun-
can next year.
The new Duncan masters will
be former Head Resident Fellows
Luis Duno-Gottberg and his wife
Marnie Hylton. Duno-Gottberg
teaches film and Carribean stud-
ies, and he and Hylton will soon
become the first master of Duncan
College via a petition signed by
nearly all the Duncan freshmen.
Duno-Gottberg said he was im-
pressed by the Duncan freshmen
and stressed the incredible sense
of community that they share with
one another.
"[Duncan had] an amazing
personality before [students] ar-
rived here," Duno-Gottberg said.
"They were using social media
to communicate with each other.
Duncan existed before the first
freshmen arrived. It's kind of a
metaphysical thing."
It is that connection that has
sped up the process of socialization
within the Duncan freshmen. Kel-
lert said the original plan was for
Duncan freshmen to have the same
experiences as Baker freshmen in
order to get them acclimated to the
college system.
However, the freshmen took
it into their own hands, starting
a weekly meeting called Forum
and proposing ideas in commit-
tees ranging from lawn furniture
to the upcoming Duncan/Baker
party, which will take place to-
night. While the party, "Sensa-
tion: White Out," is officially a
Duncan party in name, it is be-
ing thrown by Baker students be-
cause no one in Duncan is over 21
and therefore cannot legally host
a public party.
"I like to think of them as a fresh
rhythm," Kellert said. "They like
music, have fresh ideas and like to
put themselves out there."
Forum of the future
Duncan freshman Estevan Del-
gado said Duncan's leadership
revolves around its committees.
Committees were brainstormed in
Forum last semester with joint in-
put from all the Duncan students
and Duno-Gottberg. Committee
applications were sent to Duno-
Gottberg to ensure an equal rep-
resentation among freshmen and
transfers, but committee heads
were chosen separately within
each committee.
Committees are the unofficial
sources of power at Duncan, Dun-
can freshman Katherine Hsu said,
and are led by at least one Dun-
can freshman and one transfer
student.
A Duncan student or potential
Duncaroo transfer can be in mul-
tiple committees at any one time.
For instance, Hsu is a member of
the Spirit and Electoral Committees
and head of the Socials Commit-
tee alongside Jones College sopho-
more Jonathan Stewart and Baker
sophomore Ruben Sandoval, both
of whom are transferring to Duncan
next semester.
Hsu's committee is tasked with
party-related happenings within
the college, which, she admits, is
not necessarily the easiest task.
"Duncan is perceived as bor-
ing and lame," Hsu said. "We
want to have fun at our college.
We don't always want to leave to
have fun."
[Duncan had] an
amazing personality
before [students]
arrived here. They
were using social
media to communi-
cate with each other.
Duncan existed before
the first freshmen
arrived. It's kind of a
metaphysical thing.
Luis Duno-Gottberg
Duncan master
99
The framework of a more offi-
cial government is currently being
formed by the Electoral Committee,
which is headed by Duncan fresh-
man Kelvin Pho and includes six
transfers and six freshmen.
The Electoral Committee is cur-
rently working on making a tem-
porary government to replace the
loose system of committees, but
will hold off on writing a perma-
nent constitution until next year,
when all the transfers begin to
live in Duncan, Pho said. Sitting
at the top will be the president
who shall, among other things, es-
tablish an agenda for Forum and
represent Duncan to Rice and the
Student Association.
Below the president will be
three vice presidents: the internal
VP, who will be responsible for
internal affairs like College Night
and socials; the external VP, who
will focus on events taking place
around Rice; and the legislative VP,
who will be a key figure in forming
the constitutional council that will
write a permanent constitution
next fall, Pho said.
The work done by the Elec-
toral Committee is currently going
around Forum for a vote and elec-
tions are expected to be held in
mid-February after the Baker elec-
tions, Pho said.
New Duncaroos
Duncan has 96 confirmed
transfers. The target goal is 140.
The two biggest groups in terms
of numbers are 20 transfers from
Sid Richardson College and 17
from Jones.
The Transfer Welcome Commit-
tee is responsible for greeting the
transfers and organizing events
like D-Day and a barbecue, both
of which were aimed at wooing
transfers, Delgado said. Duncan
also hosted a semi-formal black-
tie affair last week to draw in more
transfers.
Delgado described the reception
of the transfers to be very positive
and the transfers themselves to be
highly enthusiastic.
"I haven't met a transfer yet that
doesn't want to be involved," Del-
gado said.
Beer Bike bumps
The Spirit Committee brain-
stormed possible colors and pre-
sented candidates at Forum where
they were given both input and
permission to decide on a final
college color, Delgado said. Dun-
can's official colors will be a com-
bination of green, white and gold.
The colors will be in full view
for next month's Beer Bike, which
will also provide one of the biggest
questions for the new college.
As the track is not large enough
to support 11 teams at a time, the
Beer Bike Committee elected to
host an exhibition race for Dun-
can and McMurtry College in be-
tween the men's and women's
races this year.
Pho is the unofficial captain of
the Duncan Beer Bike team. The
team will be half the size of the
teams at the other nine colleges
because of the smaller pool of
people from which the college can
recruit onto the team. The men's
team will have five male bikers
and chuggers and the women's
team will have five female bikers
and chuggers. Thus far, Pho said
coordinating the event has been
far more difficult than he origi-
nally believed.
"Coordinating Beer Bike is like
shooting fish in a barrel — it looks
easy, but have you ever actually
shot fish in a barrel?" Pho asked.
Duncan does not have a big
budget, so it will only be able to
buy a few bikes, sharing most with
Baker, Pho said.
Of course, Beer Bike is not the
only college-wide event taking
place within the upcoming months.
While Duncan is still looking for
resident associates and associ-
ates, it has recently finalized its
2010 Orientation Week coordina-
tors: Duncan freshman Karen Jong,
Lovett sophomore Michaela Reyn-
olds and Hanszen College junior
Kate Coley.
Creating a culture
Many events have already taken
place over Duncan's short life, but
Delgado cautioned that it is hard to
say what will make it as a tradition
given the brevity of Duncan's exis-
tence as a college.
"Traditions are things that hap-
pen over time," Delgado said. "As
the years go on we'll find things
we'll like and some things that we
don't. We don't want everything to
be figured out at once."
Suggested events include an an-
nual camping trip before Thanks-
giving, dance parties and barbe-
cues. Duncan has already had two
major barbecues, one of which was
hosted in honor of transfers, and
both have involved grilling gc,ar-
met sausage featuring exotic fla-
vors like mango.
"Baker has this saying that Bak-
er likes meat," Pho said. "I guess
Duncan loves sausage. Or I guess
Duncan loves exotic food."
The similarities between the two
colleges are not complete, though.
"[Duncan freshmen] act differ-
ent," Baker sophomore Austin Wil-
liams said. "They grind to Black
Eyed Peas."
Baker sophomore Taylor Britt
agrees, noting the distinct taste
in music.
"[Duncan freshmen] are goons
that like techno," Britt said.
Though the college's true iden-
tity will not form until all of the
transfers arrive next year, Duno-
Gottberg feels that Duncan has a
lot of potential and looks forward
to what happens next, a sentiment
that Hsu agreed with.
"We have no restrictions," she
said. "We don't know where we're
going. We're just going to take it as
it goes."
LEFT: Both colleges feature
'green' roofs populated by many
types of plants, among other envi-
ronmentally friendly features.
MIDDLE: Duncan freshmen
can enjoy the view of the Texas
Medical Center from their fifth-
floor sundeck.
RIGHT: Duncan distributed its
Alice in Drunkerland themecl Beer
Bike shirts in its commons two
weeks ago.
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