University Culture

There are universities all over the world with their own unique cultures which include their own customs among other things. Rice University is a great example of a college with its very own unique culture compared to other universities. E.B. Tyler defined culture as “…that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, arts, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society” (Howe “Culture” lecture 2011). This is only one of many definitions of culture that have been thrown around by numerous individuals throughout the course of history. This definition in particular fits Rice University extremely well. No one of the before mentioned qualities such as knowledge, morals, or customs make Rice University what it culturally is, but it is when all of these aspects are brought together that Rice really becomes what the university is today. When one matriculates at Rice University they all of a sudden become a part of something much larger than they were before. They become part of a grand family. One of the first things that Rice University drilled into my head when I first arrived was the idea of the honor code, which is really a set of laws that govern the student body. In this system the student is granted a great deal of trust from their professors and the university in as a whole. Things such as take home exams are commonplace thanks to the commitment from the students to respect the honor code. Since such a high focus is placed on the honor code it is in fact a major piece of the culture here at Rice. I feel like this practice works at Rice so well because the students at Rice tend to have shown a great deal of commitment to get into such a great school that they are able to be trusted to be more responsible than the average college student. In different cultures across the planet there are an abundant amount of rituals practiced. Things such as holidays and religion are specific to certain