Will there ever be a day when I don’t care about utterly trivial Rice physical plant issues? Maybe, but today is not that day.
I give you, then, this:
Why did someone bother to take a picture of this? It looks like we decided to refresh the look of the front gate and put up new signage. (Note also the new fig ivy plants.) But why would this be in President George Rupp’s files, which is where I found it? With some squinting the next picture reveals all:
The newly installed “E” in “UNIVERSITY” did not line up with the rest of the letters! This, of course, requires action on the part of the highest authorities.
It was fixed on August 22:
Bonus: And speaking of trivial physical plant issues, they seem to be installing a sprinkler system in front of Allen Center. This struck me as odd since nothing grows very well in the deep shade over there. So I expect something else will follow, maybe more of that new zoysia grass, which has not yet died. I’ll keep an eye on it.
I recall a conversation with George Rupp about the fact that he was going to add the label to the main gate. I am reasonably sure that there was no significant sign out front before this one. (There may have been a small sign for Entrance 1, but nothing that would catch your eye.)
Thus, I am not surprised that he had photos.
As an undergrad in the early 80s, I was always baffled by the lack of a sign at the main entrance indicating that this was Rice. There was a small “Entrance 1” sign, but that was it.
Yes, the notes in the folder suggest that this was something he was keenly interested in. Incidentally, both those notes and the handwriting on the picture above were produced by Carl MacDowell.