SEMO TRIVIA: HISTORY STICKS AROUND ON CAMPUS GUM TREE

Charla Myers breathed deeply as she reached the top of Southeast Missouri State University's Cardiac Hill in search of a tree trunk covered with chewing-gum.

A temporary sign put up at the top of the hill explained the reason for the gum tree.

Students, exhausted after walking up the steep sidewalk, started putting their chewing gum on the trunk of a tree. The practice stuck, becoming a campus tradition.

The original gum tree died and was replaced in 1989. The trunk of the new tree, a red bud, is now covered with gum.

"I knew it was here," Myers said of the gum tree. "I really didn't know why."

A university employee, Myers spent her lunch hour Wednesday walking around campus searching for answers to 20 trivia questions about the school.

In all, 80 staff members and students participated in the "Treasure Hunt Noon Walk," a program celebrating Southeast's 125th anniversary. Buttons proclaiming the walk and trivia maps were handed out to participants, who began their search at the foot of the Academic Hall steps.

Signs along the way displayed answers to the trivia questions.

Those who correctly answered all the questions were entered in a drawing on Academic Terraces. Southeast 125th anniversary T-shirts and water bottles were awarded winners.

Jane Stough, manager of training and development for the school's personnel services department, coordinated the treasure hunt.

"We tried to get a layout that would take them across campus," she said. The route extended one and one-half miles.

Stough said campus tours have been part of orientation for new employees at the school for the past three years. But many employees who have been at the school for more than three years haven't had the opportunity to learn about the history of the campus.

Stough said the campus has a rich history that lends itself to trivia hunts.

"The school's been here a long time. I am proud of it," said Stough, who has collected a wealth of campus trivia.

The walk highlighted trivia about everything from the 1904 World's Fair light fixtures in Academic Hall to the psychology department's rat lab.

Cardiac Hill became a part of campus life after the Towers residence halls were built in the 1960s. Students wanted a shorter path across campus so the university built the steep sidewalk up Cardiac Hill.

Richard Koenig, a carpenter for the university, picked up clues and jotted down the answers to the trivia questions as he walked across campus with another employee.

"We found all the clues on the signs," he said.

What was the most interesting bit of trivia? Koenig said it was a student protest on June 8, 1921, when the regents were burned in effigy on the steps of Academic Hall.

Stough said trivia puts history in an entertaining light. "What people want are the fun stuff."

SEMO TRIVIA QUIZ

1. What pieces on the first floor of Academic Hall were acquired from the 1904 World's Fair?

2. Why did university officials finish the back of the art building with red brick?

3. What is the affectionate term for the parking lot between the Student Recreation Center and the university's greenhouse?

4. What space shuttle astronaut is a 1974 graduate of Southeast?

5. The psychology department has what type of lab in Scully?

6. Why did the contractors excavate and lower the entry level of the Towers complex before they started building?

7. What is the steep hill next to Towers called?

8. What is the story behind Southeast's gum tree?

9. What used to be attached to the rear of Crisp Hall?

10. What happened on the steps of Academic Hall on June 8, 1921?

11. What was quarried from where Houck Stadium is today?

12. What unusual sight is located in the upper left hand corner of the Jake Wells Mural in Kent Library?

13. What is the Academic Hall Dome made of?

14. What stunt did the Southeast basketball Indians once do in the 1950s?

15. In 1932, President Joseph Serena lifted a ban on what activity?

ANSWERS TO SEMO TRIVIA QUIZ

1) The light fixtures

2) Red brick was used rather than limestone because university officials, thinking the campus wouldn't extend farther north, didn't expect people to see the back of the building.

3) Pig Lot. The parking lot was built on the former university farm, which had a large pig corral.

4) Linda Godwin

5) rat lab

6) University alumni were adamant that no building on campus should be taller than Academic Hall

7) Cardiac Hill. A former Southeast football coach used to make his players run up the hill after any home defeat.

8) Students, after journeying up Cardiac Hill, would put their chewing gum on a tree. The original gum tree died and was replaced with a new gum tree in 1989.

9) A gymnasium. Crisp Hall was formerly the University High School.

10) Students burned the regents in effigy over the dismissal of President Washington Strother Dearmont.

11) The limestone for Academic Hall

12) A ghost

13) Cast iron covered with a copper plating.

14) The team bounced basketballs all the way to the University of Evansville in Indiana.

15) dancing