Bunyan bears brunt of brutality in college rivalry
Missing a leg, and bound to a concrete pole, Paul Bunyan remains a symbol of the ongoing rivalry at Utah State University between the College of Natural Resources and the College of Engineering.
The College of Natural Resources’ mascot, Paul Bunyan, has been the victim of the lighthearted rivalry between students for decades. The mascot was first displayed during what was known as Forester’s Week, in 1939. The rivalry began during the 1939 Forester’s Week, when Bunyan was kidnapped and held for ransom.
“It can be a good, clean rivalry,” said Adam Jones, engineering senator and senior. “If students will keep it good and clean, it will last for years to come.”
Over the years, Bunyan has been hung, dressed up as an engineering nerd, put in concrete and encased in rebar, Jones said.
Every year Paul Bunyan is taken by engineering students during the College of Natural Resources Week and then reappears during Engineering Week, Mary Ann Lowe, administrative assistant for the dean of the CNR, said. This year, Bunyan has reappeared tied to a concrete pole near the Merrill Library.
The prank did not turn out as expected, Jones said.
“Some students expressed interest in gluing packing peanuts to Paul, but the peanuts did not hold because of the cold weather the night before,” Jones said.
The College of Natural Resources was supposed to move him already, Conner said, but has not gotten to it yet. The lack of immediate removal of the statue leads some students to believe that the College of Natural Resources does not care about the rivalry.
“Engineers are set on capturing Paul for Engineering Week,” said Patrick Jolly, a junior studying aerospace engineering. “But it seems to me that the College of Natural Resources, they really don’t care.”
The CNR anticipates the kidnapping of Bunyan, Lafe Conner, historian for student council for the College of Natural Resources, said, and Natural Resource students retaliate in their own ways.
During Natural Resources Week, and the dedication of the new engineering building earlier this year, Jones said, natural resource students sprayed newspapers delivered to the building with skunk spray. When students picked up the papers, the smell was distributed throughout all three engineering buildings.
Other forms of retaliation on the part of natural resource students consisted of filling an engineering classroom with crickets and straw or letting a flock of sheep loose in the engineering building.
There are mixed emotions about whether or not this rivalry is a positive activity for campus. Kim Casper, a sophomore majoring in conservation and restoration ecology, said she knows a little about the rivalry from students who have attended Utah State University longer.
“I don’t exactly think it is positive,” Casper said. “I think it is kind of dumb and immature because we’re here to study and we already have enough problems with politics in this school.”
However, other students from both colleges believe the rivalry is good for both colleges as long as no pranks are taken to the extreme.
“It’s not so much that we degrade the college, it is more so to have fun between the two colleges,” Jones said.
Conner shares Jones’ opinion about the rivalry.
“I don’t think it hurts anybody,” Conner said. “If someone were to pull a prank, I don’t think they would do it to be malicious – because they hate engineers – but more because it is tradition.”
However, the deans of both colleges expressed concern over the rivalry and the kidnapping of Bunyan, Jones said, mainly because they don’t want students taking pranks to the extreme.
“I would like to see the rivalry last for years to come,” Jones said. “But there may come a point in time that students, if they didn’t keep it clean and fun, administration could step in and stop things – and that would be disappointing.”
The statue has suffered an amputation of its left leg due to a previous year’s prank. Paul was duck-taped upside down to the CNR building, and when students were taking the statue down, it fell and broke off the leg, Conner said. However, the leg still remains in the possession of engineering students, Jones, studying computer engineering, said.
“Where is his leg?” Jones said. “In a confidential place that I cannot tell. It is hidden and it will never reappear.”
There have been several Paul Bunyan’s in the past, Conner said, and no one knows where the old Bunyan’s are located. There will be a State of the CNR address held Wednesday, Conner said, and will discuss whether or not to invest in a new Paul statue.
“Paul is in pretty bad shape,” Lowe said. “Students of the CNR are looking for ways to retire him. Such as using a funeral pyre and burning him or cutting him up into little pieces to make miniature Paul’s.”
There are mixed emotions about whether or not the statue should be replaced.
“I really wanted them to get a new Paul this year so that we could cut the old Paul up for firewood and put it in front of their building,” Jones said.
However, other students do not see the need for a new statue as a justified investment. Casper said she does not support purchasing a new Paul Bunyan statue, and would like to see the money spent elsewhere in the college.
-kcashton@cc.usu.edu
By Katie Ashton
Staff Writer
Missing a leg, and bound to a concrete pole, Paul Bunyan remains a symbol of the ongoing rivalry at Utah State University between the College of Natural Resources and the College of Engineering.
The College of Natural Resources’ mascot, Paul Bunyan, has been the victim of the lighthearted rivalry between students for decades. The mascot was first displayed during what was known as Forester’s Week, in 1939. The rivalry began during the 1939 Forester’s Week, when Bunyan was kidnapped and held for ransom.
“It can be a good, clean rivalry,” said Adam Jones, engineering senator and senior. “If students will keep it good and clean, it will last for years to come.”
Over the years, Bunyan has been hung, dressed up as an engineering nerd, put in concrete and encased in rebar, Jones said.
Every year Paul Bunyan is taken by engineering students during the College of Natural Resources Week and then reappears during Engineering Week, Mary Ann Lowe, administrative assistant for the dean of the CNR, said. This year, Bunyan has reappeared tied to a concrete pole near the Merrill Library.
The prank did not turn out as expected, Jones said.
“Some students expressed interest in gluing packing peanuts to Paul, but the peanuts did not hold because of the cold weather the night before,” Jones said.
The College of Natural Resources was supposed to move him already, Conner said, but have not gotten to it yet. The lack of immediate removal of the statue leads some students to believe that the College of Natural Resources does not care about the rivalry.
“Engineers are set on capturing Paul for Engineering Week,” said Patrick Jolly, a junior studying aerospace engineering. “But it seems to me that the College of Natural Resources, they really don’t care.”
The CNR anticipates the kidnapping of Bunyan, Lafe Conner, historian for student council for the College of Natural Resources, said, and Natural Resource students retaliate in their own ways.
During Natural Resources Week, and the dedication of the new engineering building earlier this year, Jones said, natural resource students sprayed newspapers delivered to the building with skunk spray. When students picked up the papers, the smell was distributed throughout all three engineering buildings.
Other forms of retaliation on the part of natural resource students consisted of filling an engineering classroom with crickets and straw or letting a flock of sheep loose in the engineering building.
There are mixed emotions about whether or not this rivalry is a positive activity for campus. Kim Casper, a sophomore majoring in conservation and restoration ecology, said she knows a little about the rivalry from students who have attended Utah State University longer.
“I don’t exactly think it is positive,” Casper said. “I think it is kind of dumb and immature because we’re here to study and we already have enough problems with politics in this school.”
However, other students from both colleges believe the rivalry is good for both colleges as long as no pranks are taken to the extreme.
“It’s not so much that we degrade the college, it is more so to have fun between the two colleges,” Jones said.
Conner shares Jones’ opinion about the rivalry.
“I don’t think it hurts anybody,” Conner said. “If someone were to pull a prank, I don’t think they would do it to be malicious – because they hate engineers – but more because it is tradition.”
However, the deans of both colleges expressed concern over the rivalry and the kidnapping of Bunyan, Jones said, mainly because they don’t want students taking pranks to the extreme.
“I would like to see the rivalry last for years to come,” Jones said. “But there may come a point in time that students, if they didn’t keep it clean and fun, administration could step in and stop things – and that would be disappointing.”
The statue has suffered an amputation of its left leg due to a previous year’s prank. Paul was duck-taped upside down to the CNR building, and when students were taking the statue down, it fell and broke off the leg, Conner said. However, the leg still remains in the possession of engineering students, Jones, studying computer engineering, said.
“Where is his leg?” Jones said. “In a confidential place that I cannot tell. It is hidden and it will never reappear.”
There have been several Paul Bunyan’s in the past, Conner said, and no one knows where the old Bunyan’s are located. There will be a State of the CNR address held Wednesday, Conner said, and will discuss whether or not to invest in a new Paul statue.
“Paul is in pretty bad shape,” Lowe said. “Students of the CNR are looking for ways to retire him. Such as using a funeral pyre and burning him or cutting him up into little pieces to make miniature Paul’s.”
There are mixed emotions about whether or not the statue should be replaced.
“I really wanted them to get a new Paul this year so that we could cut the old Paul up for firewood and put it in front of their building,” Jones said.
However, other students do not see the need for a new statue as a justified investment. Casper said she does not support purchasing a new Paul Bunyan statue, and would like to see the money spent elsewhere in the college.
-kcashton@cc.usu.edu