On Monday morning, Washington University students sleepily wandered onto main campus to discover something which may have caused some to question whether they had actually slept off their hangovers. Was that a beaver? Made of duct tape? Confronting the Bunny himself?
Indeed it was, because this week is EnWeek, the annual holiday when engineers emerge from their hole on the northeast side of campus and if they see their shadows, then there will be six more weeks of winter (or something like that). The engineers have held activities for the entire past week to mark this worldwide holiday – but the most notable activity by far has been the epic conflict brewing outside Mallinckrodt.
The giant silver beaver, with a tattoo begging people to sign him, has not only served as a pleasant diversion on campus all week, but also a demonstration of the lighter side of engineering (who knew?). As silly as it may sound, the beaver is something rare on campus: an original idea, executed well with a lack of controversy (editor Dan Milstein’s remarks about beavers in Wednesday’s Forum notwithstanding). The engineers deserve credit for doing something different and clever without being destructive or obnoxious – a surprisingly fine line for many people (especially college students) to walk. The original idea of encasing the Bunny itself inside the duct tape beaver was also clever, but the ongoing face-off that’s taken place all week has made for compelling campus viewing, fraught with more drama than “24” and more sexual tension than spring break in Cancun. Over the weekend, the Bunny will doubtless emerge victorious (as he always does), but the Beav can take solace in the quality of the fight he’s put up over the course of the week. If you haven’t seen it yet, make sure to stop by the lair of everyone’s favorite pensive mammal to note the ongoing psychosexual drama; it’s well worth the walk.
All this drama has gotten us thinking – perhaps the University should consider consulting the engineering school the next time they’re considering adding a new sculpture to campus. Even though a duct tape beaver may not be much, it’s certainly an improvement over any of the new sculptures the University has purchased or borrowed in the past five years. As great as our anorexic bunny, our bronze statue of the University’s namesake too small for its base and our random cement shapes are, a duct-tape beaver is definitely more entertaining. So congratulations to those in charge of EnWeek for amusing the rest of campus and reminding us all that no matter what our U.S. News and World Report ranking is, we’re still No. 1 in the nation in the category that matters: ridiculous public sculptures.