VOLUME 110, ISSUE NO. 20 | STUDENT-RUN SINCE 1916 | RICETHRESHER.ORG | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2026
COURTESY WOODSON ARCHIVES A photo shows Lovett College in 1969. On Thursday, Rice announced the building will be renamed Main Street Residence and used for overflow housing after Lovetteers move into a new building in the fall.
‘Against the whole Rice system’: Lovetteers mourn Toaster loss after almost 60 years SHRUTI PATANKAR & LILLY WU
COPY EDITOR & THRESHER STAFF
WHAT’S INSIDE
For decades, other colleges have shouted the same anti-cheer across Beer Bike tracks and the O-Week events: “Toaster! Toaster!” A reference to the building’s resemblance to the kitchen appliance, the nickname for Lovett College has become one of the most recognizable pieces of Rice lore. Now, as Lovett College prepares to move into its new space next fall, the building behind the chant is set to be renamed “Main Street Residence” and repurposed as temporary apartment-style housing. Lee Ivy ’77 spent all four years of his college experience living in the old Lovett building and said the space really shaped his time at Rice. Ivy said the building created a strong sense of community, from the thin walls that carried music between !oors to the suite-style bathrooms that turned neighbors into lifelong friends. “I have mixed feelings about the announcement, but it was kind of humorous to see that the building was still there and they will never be able to tear this place down,” Ivy said. “I am glad it still has a purpose, but it will be kind of strange to see
it not as a college anymore.” Founded in 1968, Lovett was originally an all-male residential college. The college was named after Edgar Odell Lovett, the university’s first president. Wilson, Morris, Crain & Anderson designed the building to be riot-proof at a time when antiwar protests were common on college campuses.
People who have been here a little bit longer … definitely feel like there should’ve been more homage paid to the building, or more recognition. Sarah Deng LOVETT COLLEGE SENIOR
Lovett had an initial capacity of 229 beds, and a February 1968 Thresher article noted Lovett’s lack of a formal library and television set compared to the other colleges. It o$cially became a co-ed college in 1977 —
ORG CALLS FOR APPAREL PAGE 3 TRANSPARENCY
not before being known as a “rowdy den of sin,” according to former magister Natalye Appel ’80. The building itself houses memories across eras. A January 1976 Thresher article mentioned ballroom dancing lessons in commons for just 25 cents, and the Lovett College Basement Cabaret Theatre offered two drinks and admission for just $2.50 throughout the ’70s. Beyond drinking and dancing, Lovett offered up the basement for a Student Association grocery co-op in December 1975; when students expressed concern that the precious Lovett space was being used for the SA to spin a profit, the college’s Central Committee negotiated for the right to shut down the operation at any time. The Toaster’s unique building has prompted jokes and playful criticism from Rice students for generations. Robert Du$eld ’87 said in a November 2016 Letter to the Editor that the dimensions of the Lovett building, when scaled, did not match his toaster. Instead, he compared the scaled dimensions to a cheese grater, a shoebox or a “4-slice, extra tall for bagels, toaster.”
SEE THE TOASTER PAGE 8
DAY IN THE LIFE OF NORTH SERVERY CHEFS PAGE 10
Old Lovett renamed to Main Street Residence BELINDA ZHU
ASST. NEWS EDITOR Rice announced the conversion of the current Lovett College building into Main Street Residence in a campuswide email on Thursday. The building will provide on-campus housing for students who were unable to secure rooms at their residential college. The Sundeck will be removed after graduation in May, according to the email. Next semester, no public or private parties will be permitted at Main Street Residence. The basement will be converted into Housing and Dining operations and will be inaccessible to students. For the upcoming 2026-27 academic year, most rooms in Main Street Residence will be reserved for rising sophomores from Baker and Lovett Colleges. The unfilled rooms will be offered to rising sophomores, juniors and seniors from any college who participated in the housing draw but did not receive a room.
SEE MAIN ST. RESIDENCE PAGE 2
BASEBALL SWEEPS HARVARD IN WEEKEND SERIES PAGE 15