Footprints are remnants of a vanishing tradition
The spray-painted footprints covering USU sidewalks are fading evidence of a long-standing tradition and rivalry between two colleges on campus that has diminished over the past few years. According to the ASUSU Traditions Web site and other sources, a rivalry between the College of Natural Resources and the College of Engineering developed in 1939 when engineering students kidnapped a Paul Bunyan statue that served as the CNR mascot. Bunyan was stolen in retaliation for non-CNR students not receiving tickets to the annual Paul’s Ball, which is now known as the Logger’s Ball. The engineering students demanded a ransom of 500 tickets to the ball, but when the Forestry Club members refused to pay the tribute, Paul was found hanging from the entrance of the engineering building. The rivalry continued for decades as Paul was kidnapped every year by engineering students and later found in an unflattering situation, the Web site states. Natural resource students retaliated by pulling pranks on the college of engineering and painting Paul’s waffle-bottom boot prints on the sidewalks. Some of the most recent footprints include images of tiny squashed engineers. The rivalry has waned overtime and, according to the Web site, the hostilities were ended by college administrators as the pranks became more destructive and dangerous. Kathy Bayn, academic advisor for the College of Engineering and advisor for the Engineering Council, said she remembers the rivalry and was a witness to many of the events. Bayn said the Bunyan statue was more than 8 feet tall and took a lot of abuse from the years of being kidnapped and demeaned. “Since the demise of poor Paul, the rivalry has kind of fizzled,” Bayn said. Bayn said many of the hi-jinx that took place because of the rivalry were “not so kind, but mostly amusing.” Events related to the rivalry include Paul being Saran-wrapped before being covered in concrete and having his head buried in the ground. Also, Paul was often tied or chained to poles, she said. Bayn said Paul was once clothed in a dress and tied to a pole in the breezeway that used to connect the old engineering buildings. Bayn said the spray-painted footprints that year resembled high-heels with pointed triangles rather than the waffle-bottomed boots he normally adorns. Bayn said that the forester’s from CNR tried to foil an engineering banquet one year in the 1960s by kidnapping their queen, but the missing queen had a twin sister who filled in for her. She said that most of the retaliations from the natural resources students were aimed at buildings and gave the example of a pile of manure being deposited on the same walkway between the engineering buildings. She said the manure was spray-painted blue to represent that it came from Babe, the big blue ox and sidekick to the legendary Paul Bunyan. She said boxes of crickets were also released into the halls of buildings as well as a herd of sheep. Katie Santini, ASUSU CNR Senator, said one of the reasons that the rivalry did end, or was put to an end, was because it got destructive. Santini said this year is her fifth year at USU and that she has never participated in the rivalry. Senator for the College of Engineering Spencer Nasser said that the rivalry was expensive, property wise, and that most engineering students do not know anything about the rivalry. Nasser and Santini both said it has been at least four years since anything related to the rivalry has occurred, and Bayn agreed with the senators that the last big event to occur was when someone sprayed skunk scent throughout the new engineering building days before its dedication ceremonies. Bayn said many dignitaries were scheduled to attend the dedication event and great lengths were taken to air out the building before they arrived. “To say that the dean was not amused would be a serious understatement,” Bayn said. Santini said she has worked with Nasser this year to try and start a new kind of less-destructive competition that was sanctioned by both colleges. It would involve a trophy awarded to the winning college, she said. But antini and Nasser said the deans of the colleges were not interested in promoting such a competition and the large difference in size of the two colleges has made getting together for activities difficult. Santini said she thinks it would be good for the colleges to have a tradition or something like unto the rivalry. She said when she talks to alumni from the college, the things they remember from their days at Utah State are a six-week hands-on summer camp up Logan Canyon and Paul Bunyan and the rivalry with the College of Engineering. “Things like that are what people remember,” Santini said. “I know there has been a lot of talk at the university this year about not having traditions for the sake of having traditions, but some of those traditions are what draw people in and what inspire them to give back to the university once they have left, so I think tradition really does have a place. It is just important to consider whether it is viable or not.” Joe Sorenson, manager of construction maintenance and repair of USU Facilities has worked for the university for 25 years and said he remembers seeing the Paul statue. “I think he is still around.” Sorenson said. “He is carved out of a great big huge single chunk of wood, like a log. Last I saw he was missing a foot or some sort of appendage and looked like he had been dragged behind a pickup truck with a chain. He’s been a lot of places.” Santini said the wooden statue has been replaced with an actual costume that is worn. “I think it (the statue) finally got to a point that it was so disfigured that the they got rid of it. Last I heard it’s over in North Logan in somebody’s cow pasture,” she said. “It’s resting peacefully in somebody’s backyard.” Bayn said during the rivalry the large wooden statue was stored in the forestry sheds in Logan Canyon, but she is unaware of its current location. “Perhaps he may someday rise from the ashes,” Bayn said. Another adviser in the Engineering Advising Office said she has seen Paul frequently and recently, but would not disclose the statue’s whereabouts.
Jim Huppi “We don’t clean up Paul’s footprints because they are done with paint,” said Jim Huppi, landscape architect and landscape manager of USU Facilities “We don’t clean the footprints until winter when the snow plows, salt, and sun wear them off.” Huppi said sidewalk chalk and writing on sidewalks is not allowed under USU policy. “The policy is you do not write on the sidewalks,” Huppi said. “And I enforce policy. If I were to catch someone spray-painting a footprint, I would have to turn them in to security.” The footprints tend to stay around for a long time because they are painted, Huppi said, rather than just chalked. “Now, if they wanted to paint footprints and used a water-based paint or something that wouldn’t hurt my feelings,” Huppi said. Huppi, who has worked at USU for 17 years, said he has seen a lot of those footprints, and he wasn’t sure if the current footprints were new but he has seen them and knows they are there. Huppi also said he remembers seeing Paul go through numerous beatings. “(Paul’s) been beat up so bad. I don’t think we’ll see him any time soon,” Huppi said. “He might be resurrected. You never know.”
TSC According to the TSC Policy #310, “Chalking on sidewalks around the TSC, as well as the Patio and Plaza to promote activities and events is prohibited.” “It becomes an issue similar to graffiti,” said Eric Olsen, executive director of the Taggart Student Center (TSC). He said the TSC policy extends to the adjacent sidewalks, the TSC patio and the fountain plaza area. Olsen said legitimate events with contact information could get permission to use the sidewalks and patios around the TSC for advertising. “My philosophy is there is always an exception,” he said. The policy states that exceptions to the policy would be large events spons
ored by ASUSU and that the approval of the TSC director is required beforehand. Olsen said he works closely with ASUSU, and often large-scale events such as the annual Howl dance and Mardi Gras night, will be allowed to advertise on the pathways and patios. The policy also stipulates “the chalk must be cleaned up the day after the event.”
Joe Sorenson “The Paul Bunyan footprints, they generally wear off after a while,” said Joe Sorenson, manager of construction maintenance and repair of USU facilities. “They won’t go through a snow season. They just get scrapped up and they are gone, so we probably don’t go to as great of lengths to remove them” Sorenson said he certainly discourages people from making these footprints. “I prefer that nobody did it,” he said. “To me, it is common sense that you not do it. I don’t know if there is exactly a written ordinance specifically to that but it could be defined as defacing state property.” Soresons, who was a USU student in the early ’70s, said facilities has a power washer that helps deal with the ongoing problem of graffiti. “We try to make a distinction between a vandal and some kind of long-standing tradition,” he said.