Rice University
PA-3: Governance

Through the Rice Student Association, one member of the student body is elected president. All students at Rice university are eligible to run for SA president. The president directly interfaces with the university president's office as well as the provost, the vice-provost and the faculty senate. Many recommendations and legislative documents that are passed in the student association are passed on to the governing board.

The Rice University Student Association has an executive cabinet comprised of a president, internal vice-president, external vice-president, treasurer, secretary and parliamentarian. There are eleven senators; one from each of the residential colleges. Each residential college also elects four new student representatives for a grand total of 44. Rice UCourt is the judicial branch which has an executive body comprised of a chairman, a vice-chairman, a secretary and a treasurer. Each residential college also has a representative for a total of eleven. Candidates must apply to run before being placed on the ballot.

One of the main roles of the student association is to present student-passed legislation to the administration. The administration will frequently take this legislation under advisement and enact the recommendations from the student association. The students passed the Student Vision for the Second Century which has the goals and missions for the university heading into its second century as an institution. The plan includes academic, social and physical development goals for Rice. The student association is also responsible for creating and proposing new majors, minors, and certificates at Rice. One of these includes the engineering leadership certificate through the Rice Center for Engineering Leadership. The students' needs are highly regarded when prioritizing programs and projects on campus and the student association is the direct link between the students and administration. Another piece of legislation adopted by the student association was the 100-year sustainability plan in 2012. This plan noticed Rice's unique situation within Houston made it a prime example for how to operate sustainably. This led to a series of resolutions or action items the students and administration could take to make Rice University more sustainable. Some of these items include incorporating sustainability into course curriculums, fostering diverse flora and fauna that reflects Houston's natural ecosystem and increasing the amount of sustainably grown foods on campus. Also included are energy, water and waste conservation efforts as well as adding more transportation options, creating more green space, and partner with the local community to engage "the next generation of youths in our endeavors."

Policies are developed in committees which are formed of a wide variety of staff members. Those staff members are frequently called upon to create institutional policies based on their areas of expertise. Long-term master planning occurs through the university architect who is staff member within the facilities department. He frequently draws upon other staff members for input and advice in decision making. Physical resources including grounds, buildings and other resources come out of the facilities department and housing and dining. Staff members are frequently consulted in committees on budgeting, staffing and financial planning as well as communications processes and transparency practices. For example, housing and dining as well as facilities engineering and planning manage social media campaigns. Staff are frequently consulted in the development of programs and projects. They help the administration determine which projects have the highest budgeting priorities. This applies especially in large scale construction and building projects.

The faculty senate is responsible for many of the major decisions on campus. The head of the senate consults directly with the deans, the provost and vice-provost, as well as the president.

The head of the faculty senate is elected by the other senate members. That person is then responsible for representing the faculty to the governing body of the university.

For all areas relating to academics, the faculty senate has direct impact in all of the above areas barring communications processes and transparency projects. They are responsible the academic missions, visions and goals. The faculty senate ultimately creates policies and programs regarding academic topics. The long-term planning for each department is approved through the faculty senate and the deans of each department have a major say in the prospective physical resources. They also help approve tenure for associate professors and prioritize both programs and projects.