Spring Break
The Daily OrangeOut of the woodwork: At ESF, a fictional student and land in Costa Rica only the scratch the surface of lesser known customs
By Ashley Collman
Posted: 4/9/09, 2:28 AM EST Section: News
There are animals in Illick Hall.
Lining the walls on the ground floor of the building, several stuffed wildlife specimens, including birds, small mammals and even a bear, pose inside glass cases.
These creatures, along with rooftop greenhouses, maple syrup and a made-up student, are just some of the little-known aspects of the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Here are some of the others:
It's much bigger than it seems:
Though the main ESF campus at Syracuse is only 12 acres, the university itself owns more than 25,000 total acres, said Betsy Elkins, head librarian at ESF's Moon Library. This is roughly the size of Manhattan. This acreage consists of five campuses and three field research stations within Central New York and the Adirondacks, according to the school's Web site. They also have land in Costa Rica.
It's a refuge for tropical and contraband plants:
In the greenhouses on the roof of ESF's Illick Hall, the school grows different types of tropical plants. The greenhouses are open every day from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and anyone is allowed to view the exotic plants growing there. Some plants are even for sale, said Terry Ettinger, greenhouse manager. The greenhouses are home to banana, grapefruit, orange and mango trees, as well as orchids and different types of cacti. The Illick Hall greenhouses are one of 26 rescue centers in the nation that take cactus plants that are confiscated at the U.S. border, Ettinger said.
"They send the cacti and succulents here because if they somehow set seed and the seed spreads, the chance of that seed germinating and surviving in upstate New York is very low," Ettinger said.
They have a made-up student:
Eustace B. Nifkin is a mythical ESF student who first "appeared" on campus during the 1940s, students said. Over the years "Nifkin" has enrolled in classes at ESF and is sort of an unofficial mascot for the university. The student lounge in Marshall Hall, though officially called the Alumni Lounge, is known as the Nifkin Lounge to students, said Elkins, the librarian. He received a SUNY diploma in 1972, according to ESF's Web site, but returned to ESF to work on a second degree. Though no picture of Nifkin has ever been found, the back of his head has appeared in a few yearbook editions. Oh, and he has a girlfriend: Elsa S. Freeborn, whose name appears on official documents, but has also never been seen or pictured anywhere.
Don't walk across the Quad. Seriously:
You can sit on the Quad. You can read on the Quad. You can even sleep on the Quad. But you can't walk on the Quad. A plaque on one corner of the ESF Quad asks pedestrians politely to not walk across the Quad. But the students at ESF are much more passionate about this issue, Elkins said. Some students have even made a group on Facebook.com called "DON'T WALK ACROSS THE QUAD!!!!!" The groups includes a warning on their Web site: "Caution: you WILL get tackled." Students avoid walking on the Quad to preserve the quality of its grass and prevent worn paths.
aucollma@syr.edu
Lining the walls on the ground floor of the building, several stuffed wildlife specimens, including birds, small mammals and even a bear, pose inside glass cases.
These creatures, along with rooftop greenhouses, maple syrup and a made-up student, are just some of the little-known aspects of the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Here are some of the others:
It's much bigger than it seems:
Though the main ESF campus at Syracuse is only 12 acres, the university itself owns more than 25,000 total acres, said Betsy Elkins, head librarian at ESF's Moon Library. This is roughly the size of Manhattan. This acreage consists of five campuses and three field research stations within Central New York and the Adirondacks, according to the school's Web site. They also have land in Costa Rica.
It's a refuge for tropical and contraband plants:
In the greenhouses on the roof of ESF's Illick Hall, the school grows different types of tropical plants. The greenhouses are open every day from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and anyone is allowed to view the exotic plants growing there. Some plants are even for sale, said Terry Ettinger, greenhouse manager. The greenhouses are home to banana, grapefruit, orange and mango trees, as well as orchids and different types of cacti. The Illick Hall greenhouses are one of 26 rescue centers in the nation that take cactus plants that are confiscated at the U.S. border, Ettinger said.
"They send the cacti and succulents here because if they somehow set seed and the seed spreads, the chance of that seed germinating and surviving in upstate New York is very low," Ettinger said.
They have a made-up student:
Eustace B. Nifkin is a mythical ESF student who first "appeared" on campus during the 1940s, students said. Over the years "Nifkin" has enrolled in classes at ESF and is sort of an unofficial mascot for the university. The student lounge in Marshall Hall, though officially called the Alumni Lounge, is known as the Nifkin Lounge to students, said Elkins, the librarian. He received a SUNY diploma in 1972, according to ESF's Web site, but returned to ESF to work on a second degree. Though no picture of Nifkin has ever been found, the back of his head has appeared in a few yearbook editions. Oh, and he has a girlfriend: Elsa S. Freeborn, whose name appears on official documents, but has also never been seen or pictured anywhere.
Don't walk across the Quad. Seriously:
You can sit on the Quad. You can read on the Quad. You can even sleep on the Quad. But you can't walk on the Quad. A plaque on one corner of the ESF Quad asks pedestrians politely to not walk across the Quad. But the students at ESF are much more passionate about this issue, Elkins said. Some students have even made a group on Facebook.com called "DON'T WALK ACROSS THE QUAD!!!!!" The groups includes a warning on their Web site: "Caution: you WILL get tackled." Students avoid walking on the Quad to preserve the quality of its grass and prevent worn paths.
aucollma@syr.edu
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