Urban Plunge

Urban Plunge:

Rice Students Spend Two Days on Downtown Streets, Gain Gain New Perspective on Homelessness in the City

RICE NEWS
April 29, 1999

Dressed in their most tattered and soiled clothes, wearing unkempt hair–men
were unshaven, also–and armed with only a pack of cigarettes each to help promote
conversation, nine Rice students boarded buses on April 15, heading for downtown
Houston and a two-day "Urban Plunge."

The students played the part of homeless people during the 48-hour plunge led
by Hanszen College senior Teddy Kapur, who initiated the program last fall upon
receiving an Envision Grant. Kapur also received a Community Service Grant to
aid in his project.

During the plunge, students walked the streets of downtown, mingling with Houston’s
homeless to gain insight into the plight of life on the streets. To avoid possible
danger, the group spent the nights at downtown shelters.

Standing at a downtown street corner for nearly an hour, two Rice women held
signs that read "Homeless. Please help."

"Five hundred cars passed us, their passengers offering looks of pity
or disgust, some refusing to even glance our direction," wrote Sid Richardson
College junior Ellen Lansden. "Safe in the plush, air-conditioned interior
of their cars, the passers-by consistently ignored our pleading looks and hungry
eyes."

As car after car rolled by, their only assistance came from one woman who offered
the pair a bag of McDonald’s food and a slip of paper with a teen homeless hot
line number.

Sid Richardson College sophomore Craig Harrison wrote: "’I’m one of them
now, I’m one of them,’ I remember thinking as I sat down in the shelter. Not
having showered in a couple days, unshaven for two weeks, mismatching clothing
and a frown on my face made all the difference, I guess."

These are but a couple of the many insights by students recorded on these pages.
Read further and find how the students reflect on their experience on Houston’s
streets.

— by Lisa Nutting