Come Friday morning, the University of Oregon campus will be newly cleaned and planted with shrubs and flowers, thanks to the work of volunteers on Thursday’s University Day.
A tradition dating back to 1905, when it was a part of UO’s Junior Weekend to prepare campus for commencement, University Day is an annual spring event during which faculty, staff and student volunteers plant flowers, spread new bark dust and clean the UO grounds.@@http://uodos.uoregon.edu/CelebrationsandEvents/UniversityDay/tabid/66/Default.aspx@@
Last spring, 1,200 volunteers planted 4,000 flowers, distributed 5,000 wheelbarrows of mulch across campus and cleaned 3,000 cubic yards of trash from the campus.
This year, in addition to planting flowers, spreading bark and collecting trash, volunteers will plant rhododendrons and help install refurbished benches on the Straub Green between Straub Hall and the Student Recreation Center.
The refurbished benches by the rec center are the University Day Committee’s special project this year. According to Committee Chair Olivia Stark,@@https://www.facebook.com/ogstark?fref=ts@@ because one of the bus stops for commencement guests will be outside the rec center, the project to refurbish the benches reflects University Day’s original purpose of beautifying campus before commencement.
“It’s the perfect project to feature on University Day and on commencement day this year,” Stark said.
The long-standing tradition of University Day is one that community members look forward to, according to Stark, and the tradition highlights the UO’s community ties and values.
“It brings the community together and complements a lot of values the UO has, the main one being the environmental aspect and preserving nature on campus,” Stark said.
Planning for University Day this year has been especially fast-paced, according to Stark. Normally planning and fundraising for the event begins the November before but was delayed until March this year. However, with support from other departments on campus, particularly campus operations and the grounds crew, the plan for the event was successful, Stark said.
“It was a little hectic, but we wouldn’t have been able to pull it off without the help of the other departments on campus,” Stark said.
For UO spokesperson Phil Weiler,@@directory@@ the tradition is a sign of spring, and seeing faculty and students working together is one of the day’s highlights.
“It’s great that we beautify campus, but it’s particularly cool that everyone pitches in,” Weiler said. “It adds a sense of pride.”
With the many projects planned, Director of Centralized Scheduling Amy Quiring hopes the day will add a new splash of color to the campus.@@directory@@
“On Friday morning, folks will come to campus and it will be very colorful and energetic,” Quiring said.
Volunteers can sign up for University Day between 8 a.m and 3 p.m. on Thursday on the Collier Lawn.