Board of Trustees announces architecture firm for academic quad redesign

Imaje Harvey, a freshman at Sid Richardson College, will be conducting a write-in campaign for Student Association secretary — a position for which no candidates were previously vying. Solomon Ni, presumptive SA president-elect, announced her write-in candidacy on Monday evening, though there will be no candidates listed on the ballot for the position of secretary.

Ni said that when he realized no one was running for secretary, he began to look for people he thought would be interested in the role.

Harvey has no previous experience with the SA and said she did not announce her running until now because she was unaware of the ongoing election beforehand.

Spencer Powers, SA director of elections, said he does not expect Harvey to receive enough write-in votes during the first round of elections. Elected officials are required to receive 50 percent plus one vote of the total ballots cast, a bar typically challenging to clear for write-in candidates.

“We will most likely have a special election immediately afterwards to potentially elect the secretary,” Powers, a Brown College junior, said.

Rice University Board of Trustees recently announced they’ve selected the architecture firm Nelson Byrd Woltz for the redesign of the academic quadrangle.

The decision to redesign the academic quad comes after a unanimous decision by the Task Force on Slavery, Segregation, and Racial Injustice in June 2021 to move the Founder’s Memorial, as well as a resolution passed by the Student Association on Nov. 29, 2021. The board of trustees announced in Jan. 2022 that the Founder’s Memorial would be relocated within the academic quadrangle.

Nelson-Byrd Woltz was selected out of a final list of four firms that were being considered for the redesign, according to President Reginald DesRoches.

“The design competition included a diverse group of high profile landscape architects,” DesRoches said. “Four firms were selected and invited to the competition from a shortlist of 10 initial candidates. NBW’s team is diverse and includes people from multiple office locations as well as subconsultants.

We plan to continue a close working dialogue with NBW as Rice begins a selection process for a major artwork in the quad.”

Thomas Woltz, owner and principal of NBW, expressed the firm’s excitement about the project.

“Being selected as Rice University’s thought partner in envisioning the future of the Academic Quad is a significant challenge and responsibility, in equal measure,” Woltz said, “We are excited to bring NBW’s researchbased design process to reimagine this historic space to reflect the values of Rice University: inclusivity, truth telling and belonging.”

According to DesRoches, design work will continue through this spring and summer, before transitioning to construction in the fall, with the final product being ready by late spring 2024.

“Nelson Byrd Woltz’s concept both respects our desire to create deeper thoughtfulness and engagement with Rice’s evolution within the Academic Quadrangle and awakens the site’s potential to become a dynamic and welcoming gathering space for students, faculty, staff, alumni and visitors year-round,” DesRoches said.

Another concern that was highlighted at the town hall was the lack of both internal and external engagement within the SA, calling into question the scope of the SA’s impact.

Ni and Sachdeva, who is running for treasurer and currently serves as deputy representative and at-large treasurer on the Blanket Tax Committee, both highlighted the Blanket Tax and initiative fund. Sachdeva said that financial transparency is critical when facilitating the relationship between the SA, colleges and the student body, and said he plans to continue keeping funding records and spreadsheets available to everyone.

“Advertising the initiative fund to every college, making sure that every student knows about where their money is going, is extremely important,” Sachdeva, a Jones College sophomore, said. “I think taking [those] steps that we have this year, like making sure that the initiative fund accounting spreadsheet with all the information is online and available to every student … I think that level of transparency is really important, because it is [the students’] money.”

Qiu, who is running for internal vice president and is currently the Hanszen College senator, said she hopes to strengthen the SA’s connection with the student body by hosting more events and gathering feedback about the SA’s work.

“I think that we could definitely do more in terms of gathering feedback from people who are already involved with the SA,” Qiu said. “Just thinking about ways to make them feel like their efforts are actually making a difference, and also thinking about ways for them to feel that they’re actually compensated for the efforts that they’re putting into the SA.”

Unegbu seconded the idea of increasing outreach to the student body, stressing the importance of introducing new voices into the SA.

“If the same people are constantly running or being a part of the SA, we’re not really doing much,” Unegbu said.