2008 Woodie Awards
Leaving their mark
Rock painting tradition continues
Katie Gregowicz
Issue date: 10/12/07 Section: 50th Anniversary Special Edition
On any given day, anyone on campus can see groups of people with spray paint, huddled around the large boulder in the center of the Stratton Quadrangle.
The Rock, located in the middle of the Stratton Quadrangle, has been a symbol of student life at SIUE since the campus' construction. In 2002, the original Rock was stolen from its home in the quad and was replaced with the current one in 2003.
Coordinator of Greek Life John Davenport has been at SIUE for nine years and remembers being known as "keeper of the Rock" for a while.
"For awhile, there was this crazy non-traditional student on campus who really thought that my job was keeper of the Rock. He was in my office every day complaining about something new," Davenport said. "He was convinced that the area around the Rock was a hazardous waste site because all of the spray paint made the rock toxic."
Davenport knew that the Rock and the area around it were completely safe, but the student would not let up. So Davenport told him to call the Environmental Protection Agency if he was worried.
"The next thing I know, the EPA was outside next to the Rock taking soil samples to bring back to a lab for testing," Davenport said.
The samples came back negative and the student finally calmed down about the Rock.
Rose quartz composed the original Rock and the campus buildings.
"People take out their wrath on the Rock. People took hammers to it," Davenport said. "It ended up being much smaller than when it started."
On June 25, 2001, workers at the university tried to lift the Rock, but a lot of it broke into pieces.
Students continued to paint the shrinking rock until 2002 when it was stolen. In October of that year, the Rock "disappeared overnight," according to the SIUE timeline on the university's Web site.
About a week and a half later, on Oct.17, Peter Juszyk, an SIUE graduate student and assistant track and field coach, was jogging near the practice soccer fields on campus and spotted the stolen Rock, according to the Saturday, Oct. 19, 2002, issue of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The Rock, located in the middle of the Stratton Quadrangle, has been a symbol of student life at SIUE since the campus' construction. In 2002, the original Rock was stolen from its home in the quad and was replaced with the current one in 2003.
Coordinator of Greek Life John Davenport has been at SIUE for nine years and remembers being known as "keeper of the Rock" for a while.
"For awhile, there was this crazy non-traditional student on campus who really thought that my job was keeper of the Rock. He was in my office every day complaining about something new," Davenport said. "He was convinced that the area around the Rock was a hazardous waste site because all of the spray paint made the rock toxic."
Davenport knew that the Rock and the area around it were completely safe, but the student would not let up. So Davenport told him to call the Environmental Protection Agency if he was worried.
"The next thing I know, the EPA was outside next to the Rock taking soil samples to bring back to a lab for testing," Davenport said.
The samples came back negative and the student finally calmed down about the Rock.
Rose quartz composed the original Rock and the campus buildings.
"People take out their wrath on the Rock. People took hammers to it," Davenport said. "It ended up being much smaller than when it started."
On June 25, 2001, workers at the university tried to lift the Rock, but a lot of it broke into pieces.
Students continued to paint the shrinking rock until 2002 when it was stolen. In October of that year, the Rock "disappeared overnight," according to the SIUE timeline on the university's Web site.
About a week and a half later, on Oct.17, Peter Juszyk, an SIUE graduate student and assistant track and field coach, was jogging near the practice soccer fields on campus and spotted the stolen Rock, according to the Saturday, Oct. 19, 2002, issue of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
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