Dear Rice Community,

For the last several days we have again witnessed the extraordinary resilience, determination and caring of our community. Although the rains have been unrelenting, our campus remains secure and spirits are remarkably high. Thank you to our hardworking staff, faculty members and students for pitching in to get us through this extraordinary storm.

The undergraduate residential colleges and the graduate housing are holding up well, and our Facilities Engineering and Planning teams are working hard to address any leaks or other problems. Our Housing and Dining team is keeping our students in the residential colleges fed, and our students are pitching in to help with the cooking and cleanup. And members of the Rice community are opening their homes to colleagues who have been driven out of their residences.

More substantial rains are likely, and at this writing the university will remain closed until 11:59 p.m. Wednesday. We will continue to monitor the weather and update that status as appropriate. Meanwhile, please remain careful and vigilant and stay off the roads if at all possible. The flooding situation across Houston remains dangerous.

The Crisis Management Team, which includes representatives from staff, students and faculty, is meeting at least once daily to review events, assess developments and risks, and plan for the time ahead. Vice President Kevin Kirby, Provost Marie Lynn Miranda, Dean of Undergraduates John Hutchinson and Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Seiichi Matsuda have been in regular communication with our community. They have set up a website – https://emergency.rice.edu/needs-assessment – to allow members of the Rice community to report their status. Please take advantage of that, which will help with our planning to reopen the university and identify ways to help people who have experienced losses.

Our top priority remains the safety of all members of our community, whether they are residents on campus or elsewhere. We will carefully assess when it is prudent to reopen the university, taking into account the fact that many of our faculty, staff and students will remain in challenging circumstances. Some of the catastrophic losses will require a long recovery time. Our campus has not suffered such losses, and we will do what we can to help our employees in distress. Once the storm clears, we will also identify additional ways that Rice can help our home city and county recover.

Over the course of its history, our university has faced many challenges. From each we have risen as a stronger and more vibrant institution. We have reaffirmed the boldness of our ambition and the confidence in our potential. We have shown caring not only for our own Rice community, but for those around us in our city, county, state, nation and world. A storm like Harvey puts all that to the test, but we have the knowledge, experience, compassion and determination to come out stronger as a community and great university.

Stay safe,
President David Leebron