Perhaps the main reason you find yourself on campus is to attend class, but ASU is home to far more interesting things than lecture halls. Each year the Museums, Galleries and Collections Committee hosts a “We Love ASU Collections” day for the public. Community members are able to tour the largest meteorite collection in the world in the same day that they see the 148-bell symphonic carillon rescued from the Memorial Union fire and now housed in Old Main, not to mention the myriad of other interesting tidbits ASU offers. We might not take time out of our day to visit the “collections” of the University, but in the spirit of Valentine’s Day, here are the often-overlooked things we love about ASU:
- How hungry we get when we stand near the Memorial Union — not because of the dining options on the inside of the building, but because the shade structures out front look like Pringles.
- How we have all the makings of “Snakes on a Plane.” On the Tempe campus, there is an excess of snakes in the hallway of the Life Sciences building. And the Polytechnic campus is built on top of an airfield. OK, maybe it’s a stretch. But when you need a mental diversion to help you survive the walk through that forsaken slithery hallway, it’s not a bad thing to have Samuel L. Jackson’s voice narrating your daydreams.
- The 20,000 linear square foot system of tunnels that runs under the malls of the Tempe campus. There may not be any adolescent turtles practicing ninjitsu down there, but there is a whole lot of intrigue involved — and that’s good enough for us.
- How ASU is fostering a model for world peace. Ask most anyone on this campus about Blackboard and after a prolonged gripe fest, you’ll be fast friends. When Middle East peace talks start happening over Blackboard discussion boards, we’ll know it’s only a matter of time until a significant accord is reached.
- The fact that Bert Anthony, the man who designed ASU’s Sparky logo, was also a Disney animator. Somehow, that fact alone makes the University seem more magical. It also makes us lament the fact that our school’s moniker is not the Sun Lions and our mascot is not Mufasa. But we’re trying to focus on the positives here.
- How our campus’ architectural gem, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Grady Gammage Auditorium, looks like an oversized toilet seat when viewed from above. Seriously. Google Satellite Map it.
- The fact that the Tempe campus’ “Secret Garden” is neither secret nor a garden. It doesn’t detract from the fact that it’s a charming idea … until you go there and feel the supreme letdown.
- How many undomesticated cats call campus home. This flood of feral felines is especially evident during evening hours. It’s borderline creepy and borderline adorable, but wholly a part of the ASU experience for those without cat allergies. Speaking of which …
- How ASU is not UA.
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