Dear Orange Friends:
Lots of people visiting campus this summer have commented that, despite all the construction going on, the place has never looked better. This is because of the incredible good work of a great team in Campus Facilities, Administration and Services. The place looks good in part because the team has been paying attention to the details, such as restoring Lincoln’s statue in front of the Maxwell School, the Hendricks Chapel steps and the cupolas atop Crouse College.
Today, I write to alert you to two more such examples.
The first is the clock atop the Hall of Languages. Few have noticed this summer that it is missing, but as you can see from the picture here that I took last month—it is not there. After more than a century, that clock is now being restored so that it will reliably and accurately work. It should be up again and running by early September.
In this vein, we have other projects yet to take on. At left is a photo I took recently of the “kissing bench.” On the west side of the Hall of Languages, this bench for generations has been the place where, if couples sit and kiss, tradition has it they will later get married. As you can see from the picture, the bench has seen better days, but like a good marriage has taken on a patina of weathered wisdom. It is a little wobbly, the foundation is cracked, and the area where it sits looks a bit bedraggled. We should restore this appropriately for our 150th Anniversary year, perhaps in celebration of all the anniversaries of weddings that followed a kiss here.
So how about it, Orange Friends who have not otherwise pitched in to the revival of the campus? Did you kiss here and marry? How about helping out with a small anniversary gift to a 150th Anniversary restoration? If interested, just click here!
Many thanks to all for caring about our students, our university and our campus.
Kent Syverud