Sunday, July 15, 2007

U Ark

Ellen took me on a tour of the lovely University of Arkansas campus adjacent to the downtown area. From a small beginning in 1871 of eight students and three faculty members, the campus now covers 345 acres on a stately landscaped hilltop overlooking the Ozark Mountains and showcasing 130 historic and modern buildings. Begun as a land grant college, they started an interesting tradition still continued today. Every graduate's name is etched into a concrete sidewalk by graduation class. This was pretty simple in 1876 with only 9 grads, but with recent large classes, it must be quite an involved process. Imagine correcting misspellings or adding overlooked names!



Since the University's founding, the names of all 120,000 plus graduates have been etched into more than five miles of campus sidewalks (called "Senior Walk.")



One of the many stautes was "Courage to Lead" depicting 3 Indians, 2 of whom are shooting arrows straight up. The object, apparently, was to remain stationary and hope the arrows don't kill you as they return to earth.

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