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House System at Caltech(Redirected from Ruddock House)
The House System is the basis of undergraduate student residence at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The houses resemble fraternities (diverse traditions and cultures, a sense of belonging to a group of like-minded people), but are similar to a dormitory system in that every student is required to join a house. Caltech established the House System in 1931, abolishing all fraternities and opening Blacker House, Dabney House, Fleming House, and Ricketts House (now known as the South Houses, or "Hovses"). Expanding student population was accomodated in 1960 with the North Houses: Lloyd House, Page House, and Ruddock House. A new state-of-the-art residential facility, christened Avery House, was opened in 1996, but was not initially considered part of the House System, and freshmen were not allowed to live there (the current state of affairs is in flux, as frosh will live in Avery in the 2005–2006 school year).
History and TraditionsBlacker HouseBlacker House (or Blacker Hovse) is one of the seven undergraduate houses at Caltech. It was built in the 1920s with the help of funds donated by Robert Roe Blacker , a trustee of Caltech. Members of Blacker House are referred to as moles. One of the traditions of Blacker Hovse is the Hellride. In an act of defiance to not being allowed to play The Ride of the Valkyries, and to the constant announcements of fake Ditch Days by seniors, the freshmen living in a part of the Hovse named Hell (named for its cramped quarters and unbearable heat in the summer) would announce a Hellride. They then barricade the hallway and play The Ride at high volume, daring the upperclassmen to break in and drag everyone to be drenched in the showers. Blacker house features halls painted as heaven, purgatory and hell (hell being rather hot due to the peculiarites of the construction). In the hell hall, an elevator switch is rigged to cause a red light to flash the prime numbers with the speed determined by the switch setting. Blacker also features a courtyard complete with a habitable treehouse and a giant tire swing, which daring house members can use to swing over a courtyard fire. The war cry of Blacker House is γδβγ (Greek letters for gdbg, or God Damn Blacker Gang). The story is that in the 1978 or 1979, it was popular for Blacker students to climb on top of elevators and ride them. There was one time when the security went inside the elevator looking for the students, who were on top of the elevator. The security muttered, "God Damn Blacker Gang;" and the name stuck. Blacker students began signing GDBG or γδβγ on all their pranks. Dabney HouseDabney House (or Dabney Hovse) is one of the four original (South) undergraduate student houses at Caltech. Dabney is the smallest of Caltech's Houses. Residents of Dabney House are referred to as Darbs. Dabney House, as part of the single building that makes up the four "South Houses", was constructed in the 1930 and 1931. It has been known as the House of Gentlemen and the House of Captains, but it underwent a dramatic change in personality in the 1960's. In 1973, the House was disowned by the Dabney family when students from Dabney House protested a presidential visit with a sign on the library with the simple phrase "Impeach Nixon". This event has been a touchstone for Darbs ever since. Traditionally standing for "Dabney Eats It," the acronym DEI has come to be a badge of pride for Darbs. Besides naming the house's rec room after it and spreading it all across campus, Dabney alumni have made DEI a hidden code in the outside world. The letters can be seen in movies (most notably Real Genius) and video games (including GTA: Vice City). There are even stories of the trigraph making its way into space on JPL probes. Fleming HouseFleming House (or Fleming Hovse) is one of the four original (south) student houses at Caltech (there are now seven houses including the three north houses). Fleming Hovse was built in the 1920s with funds donated by a number of people, and the name Fleming was chosen to honor Arthur Fleming , then the chairman of Caltech's Board of Trustees. Members of Fleming Hovse are called Flems. The house color is Red. The slogan is FEIF (Fleming Eats It Faster), while the motto, from the crest, is Let the Deed Shaw. Lloyd HouseLloyd House is one of the seven undergraduate houses at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and is one of the newer North Houses (along with Page and Ruddock). Members of Lloyd House are known as Lloydies. The house color is gold. The house motto is "I Live and Die For Those I Love". The North Houses were constructed in 1960 with funds provided by the Lloyd Foundation and other donors. Lloyd House was named in memory of Mr. Ralph B. Lloyd and his wife, Mrs. Lulu Hull Lloyd. Mr. Lloyd was a member of the Board of Trustees of Caltech, 1939-1952. House GovernmentLloyd House is governed by a student-elected, student-run Executive Committe, or "Excomm", of 9 members: President, Secretary, Superintendant, Treasurer, Social Director, Athletic Director, and 3 representatives at large. The Social Director and Athletic Director are aided by the Social Team (5 members) and the Athletic Team (3 members). There are 8 Upperclass Counselors (UCC's) and various appointed positions, such as Librarian, Historian, Coke Pusher, Captain Planet, and Pool Monkey. Physical LayoutLloyd House (Building #54 on the Caltech map) is located along the Olive Walk. The physical structure of Lloyd House is a "L"-shaped two-story building. At the intersection of the two "legs" of the house are "Lower Crotch" and "Upper Crotch", which serve as communal lounge areas. Lloyd is divided into seven alleys: Purple, Kaos, VI (Virgin Islands), Fingals, Valhalla, Inferno, and Tropic. Each alley is decorated with theme appropriate murals. Some key murals include: the expansive Purple muralin the theme of Japanese tsunami waves, the Escher mural in Kaos, the tropical mural in VI, the "I Love Crack" mural that mocks the famous Coca-Cola slogan, and the newly painted modern art in Tropic. Famous LloydiesCrippling Depression, a satirical comic strip that was published regularly in the California Tech, the student newspaper, was drawn and written by Lloydies. Lloydies are known for their elaborate pranks. The classic prank of the 1961 Rose Bowl was pulled off by the "Fiendish Fourteen", members of Lloyd House. Flashcards that were intended to cheer for the Washington Huskies football team were changed to read Caltech. Every year, Lloydies climb onto the top of Millikan Library to construct the Lloyd Christmas Tree, a monumental structure of numerous Christmas lights strung together to resemble a 10-story Christmas tree topped with a 10-feet-tall "L". The latest prank was the construction of a Money Tree using many money bags as a protest of the recent increase in student tuition and fees. A common folklore that has been passed down throughout the years is that of the Purple LSD lab. It has been said that sometime in the 70's, a group of chemistry majors living in Purple blocked off some of the alley for a special project. The product of their project, was dubbed "Lloyd-grade" LSD, to denote its extraordinary purity. Page HouseRicketts HouseRicketts House (or Ricketts Hovse) is one of the four original (South) undergraduate student houses at Caltech. Its construction was funded by L.D. Ricketts . Members of Ricketts House are called Skurves (or Scurves). Ruddock HouseRuddock House is the northernmost of the seven undergraduate houses at the California Institute of Technology. The House was constructed in 1960 in honor of Albert Billings Ruddock, the Chairman of the Caltech Board of Trustees. Approximately 175 Caltech undergraduates are members of the House, and approximately 90 reside in the House. Members of Ruddock House are nicknamed "Rudds." During the week, student waiters serve family style dinners in the dining room; one notable dinner tradition is the throwing of bread rolls. The hallways, referred to as "alleys" by undergraduates, are adorned with various murals including reproductions of M. C. Escher works, a Monopoly Board, Simpsons characters, and a two-story mural of an astronaut. This mural, called "The Spaceman" by Rudds, is an enlargement of a postage stamp. The Spaceman took over a year to paint. OPIAfter the unfortunate demise of a campus-wide undergraduate party tradition, Interhouse, Ruddock began the tradition of OPI. OPI, standing for either "Our Private Interhouse" or "(Our) Own Private Interhouse," traditionally occurs during the winter term of the academic year. One of the most notable aspects of the OPI is the amount of time and effort put into construction and artwork for the sets of the party. Recent years' preparations have included flooded hallways to represent canals in Venice and two-story constructions inspired by the Roman Colosseum and Mayan Temples. Avery HouseAvery House is part of the housing system at the California Institute of Technology, housing undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and visiting guests. Due to renovation of four south houses, many undergraduates will be residing on the back lawns of Avery in trailers during the 2005–2006 year. A vocal plurality of Caltech undergraduates refuse to recognize Avery as a House. Starting in the 2005–2006 school year, Avery will be part of the Rotation process and will house frosh. This led to (and is still the focal point of) a heated debate regarding Avery's importance with respect to the Caltech community; in truth, only time will tell whether frosh in Avery will be good or bad for the campus. House MembershipsThere are two ways to gain membership in a House: Rotate in at the beginning of one's frosh year, or become a member afterwards. RotationRotation is the process by which frosh choose (and are chosen by) the House they will be affiliated with. Upon first arriving at Caltech, the frosh are given a random room assignment in a random House, and then spend a week eating lunch and dinner in all of the Houses, getting an opportunity to meet people in all of the Houses. At the end of this week, the frosh rank at least four of the Houses on a scale of 1 to 10; based on this, and the opinions of the Houses' existing members, the frosh are placed into a House which will be their home physically and socially for the next few years. Other MemberhipsThere is a second way to obtain membership in a House: apply at some point after Rotation. The process varies from House to House, but in general one makes an announcement at dinner to the effect of "I would like to be a member of <foo> House," and the House conducts a vote (the nature of the vote, again, varying). Some Houses (in particular, Blacker, Fleming1, Lloyd, Page, and Ruddock) have two tiers of memberships: Full members and social members. Anyone who rotates into the House is automatically a full member; individuals who would like to become members afterwards can choose between full and social membership. The relative difficulties in attaining full and social memberships differ from House to House, as do the relative privledges that each membership type affords; the only universal truths are that full membership is harder to attain than social, and that full members may live in House-associated property while social members may not. External Links
Footnotes1: While Fleming nominally has social memberships, they consider all undergraduates to be social members automatically (no, they don't require social members to pay dues). So in effect, Fleming does not have social memberships. |
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