The "Rice Bubble" is a real thing, in more ways than one. Although this phrase is typically used to describe the campus-centric nature of student activities, it is a condition that can breed a culture of over-commitment, and of apathy. This may initially seem to present a contradictory combination of cultural norms, but to me, it seems that one breeds the other.
When you’re on campus pretty much 24/7, it’s easy to forget about the outside world. People become focused on campus issues, norms, and goings-on, sometimes too much so. There is an almost constant pressure to be doing something when on campus. Doing homework, studying, working a job, having an internship, applying for things, volunteering, going out, or joining organizations. This pressure to be “productive” at all times is incessant, and almost everyone at one point over-commits themselves. People sign up for things, making justifications to themselves about their ability to commit, and generally underestimating the amount of time the various groups, clubs, teams, etc. will take. As a result, we have a lot of students involved in a lot of things, desperately trying to balance it all with school work. This balance is rarely achieved; something is always slipping.
But, you can’t really blame the students. We try, we really, really do. But, sometimes, Rice University asks too much. It’s impossible to take 15+ hours, be involved in your residential college, and belong to multiple campus organizations, much less have jobs and/or internships, and be healthy. Rice students already aren’t getting enough sleep. And it should not take forgoing three classes’ homework, cancelling one meeting and skipping another, and putting off going to the gym just to get eight hours of sleep for the first time in a month. Rice students are perpetually over-committed, as a result of the Rice bubble’s impression that if you aren’t being productive then you’re somehow failing.
This over-commitment, in turn, is what creates a sense of apathy. We’re already trying to manage classes and current commitments. So, when emails go out and people come around trying to recruit us for one more thing, to do this, join that, be the other, we just can’t. It’s not that we think decorating for public parties is a waste of time, or that coordinating beer bike isn’t a vital role, it’s that we already have too few hours to do what we’ve obligated ourselves to, that adding something else is just not going to happen.
It’s not that we don’t care about anything at all; it’s that we already care about too much. This was made clear during the preparations for Wiess’ public party on Halloween weekend. The same small group of already over-committed people end up doing most of the work because no one else wants to get roped into planning and executing yet another event. It’s understandable but incredibly frustrating. The best piece of advice I got before coming to college was to learn how to effectively manage my time. But, after being here for almost a year and a half, I have yet to find anyone who truly feels balanced. It seems that people fall into one of three categories: 1) overdoing it, stressing, and not sleeping, 2) trying to do less, sleeping some, but feeling inadequate, or 3) becoming totally apathetic and doing as little as possible.
None of these identities are particularly pleasant; so why do they seem to be the roles almost all Rice students fall into? In order to be healthy and happy, we need to challenge the apathetic and over-committed aspects of the Rice lifestyle. I choose to believe that there is a way to have a great college experience, feeling involved and productive while still finding time for fun and relaxation. The trick seems to be getting involved only in meaningful things, things that you truly care about; and avoiding getting roped into extra obligations that will distract from those other, more meaningful experiences.
