Wealthier student body -- Rice or SMU?

[SMUer]

Wasn't Rice tuition-free for poor (white) Houston-area boys of academic promise until the charter was challenged in 1963? While that may not have any bearing on today's student body (parent) wealth, it seems a little funny to make the comparison given Rice's history.

[Stallion]

There is an often cited Texas legal case on the Rice Endowment given by its founder William Marsh Rice who required that that Rice must remain all white. The Texas Court finally ruled that such a limitation was against public policy and could be reformed by the theory of cy pres to meet the legitimate purposes of the gift.

"Several cases have freed trustees and administrators of educational institutions from the necessity of following discriminatory provisions in gifts to their schools. Such discriminatory clauses were ignored as nullities, and the trusts were salvaged under the cy pres doctrine, avoiding reversion to residuary legatees, when Amherst and Stanford announced they would refuse to accept the gifts if the restrictive clauses were binding. [FN21] In 1964, Rice University brought an action in a Texas court against the Attorney General of Texas, seeking authority to ignore restrictions in its charter, and in the trust establishing the University, prohibiting the admission of Negroes. A jury made special findings of fact that the chief purpose of the University's benefactor was to create a first class educational institution and that the racial restrictions rendered this purpose impracticable. The court held the University trustees free to ignore the racial restriction in the trust and to admit all applicants without regard to race." [FN22]


FN22.

Coffee v. William Marsh Rice University, 408 S.W.2d 269 (Tex.Civ.App.1966), writ ref'd, aff'g Wm. Marsh Rice University v. Carr, 9 Race Rel.L.Rep. 613 (Harris Cy. Tex.Dist.Ct.1964).

[ozfan]

Wasn't Rice tuition-free for poor (white) Houston-area boys of academic promise until the charter was challenged in 1963? While that may not have any bearing on today's student body (parent) wealth, it seems a little funny to make the comparison given Rice's history.

This link for history of Rice. Opened as a free coed school. Nothing said about poor boys but stated white students of Texas (This was the 1963 challenge).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_University#History

[tristatecoog]

SMU's endowment is much lower than Rice's. SMU's is larger than TCU's but in that ballpark. Rice's is up there with Emory (Coca-Cola money) and second tier Ivies.

SMU has done a fantastic job of raising money and is now solidly over $1 billion.

[RGV Pony]

someone provide us with some Rice trivia. If Rice had a circle-o-champs, who would it likely be comprised of? When someone says SMU and $, one instantly thinks Ford, Sewell, Hunt, Brookshire, to name a few. Who would the equivalent be on the Rice side?

[tristatecoog]

http://specials.slate.com/slate60/recip ... niversity/

Tens of millions from:
2007 Charles Duncan, Anne Duncan
2006 Burt McMurty, Deedee McMurty

Also think of Houston family endowments, Brown, Reckling (few million), Shepherd School of Music, etc.

[Stallion]

Howard Hughes? Genius but pretty weird.

[gostangs]

We are over 1.3 billion now - and the centennial fund drive is likely to move us close to 2 billion. Catching Rice in the world of endowment will not happen in our lifetimes, if ever.

[PerunaPunch]

Wow! Who knew? Even more impressive is endowment per student. According to Wikipedia, Rice ranks fourth nationally behind Yale and in front of Harvard.

[Stallion]

Until about the 1960 the endowment given by William Marsh Rice I believe was the single largest gift of any individual to any university in the US History adjusted for inflation. The equivalent of a 95 Million Dollar gift adjusted for inflation

Before the Rice Institute could be opened, there were challenges to be endured. William Marsh Rice, 84 and living alone in New York, was poisoned by his valet in 1900. On discovery that Rice's will had been changed to leave the bulk of his estate to a lawyer "friend," Albert T. Patrick, Mr. Rice's lawyers and the New York district attorney uncovered evidence proving Patrick had conspired with Rice's valet to prepare the false will, leading to Patrick's murder conviction in 1901. Legal challenges to William Rice's will continued through 1904, when the Rice Institute finally received a $4.6 million (about $95 million in 2005 dollars) funding endowment. By the time the Institute opened in 1912, its endowment had grown to almost $10 million, the seventh largest university endowment in the country at the time.

[dcpony]

this thread sucks.

[Pony Soup]

this thread sucks.

Deleted

[Jeffrey Lebowski]

So if you could just write me my check for ten percent of a half a million... five grand... I'll go out and mingle.

Ten percent of a half million is 50 grand bud. Maybe you're less wealthy than you thought.

That is a quote from the movie.