Howard W. Hewitt – Moo — or Morris, if you will, solves the mystery of the bench! Five residents of Morris Hall painted the bench in the farm animal motif.
Alex Ingram ’10, Korey Pazour ’10, and Brandon Pierce ’11 were the primary artists according to an email from Alex. He noted John Edwards ’09, and Luke Moton ’11 assisted.
Morris residents apparently went with the cow theme early last year, according to Ingram, but it was covered up by a fraternity’s effort before sunrise.
Already one comment posted to this blog, anonymously therefore not published, goes on and on about it being a desecration.
“We wanted to represent our community as well,” Ingram said. What many people fail to recognize (or acknowledge), is simply that independents have campus communities and families in the same respect every fraternity does. We live, eat, and share our years here at Wabash in the same general fashion. We say it’s more about the family than the geography.”
Ingram said he and his dorm mates did it for their own pride. Still, he knows there could be those who’ll not be happy.
“Many people have said that we have broken rules,” he wrote. “We’ve heard that because some of us weren’t freshmen we had no business touching the bench, and of course we’ve heard chatter coming from fraternity members about what the independents should be “allowed” to do. To put it simply, we feel as though we’ve done nothing wrong.”
The Senior Bench is, of course, quite a campus tradition. Fraternities, various clubs and organizations paint the bench in their colors. It’s also a source of school pride.
Monday night the group painted the bench to look like cows – complete with M-O-O across the seating area.
The limestone Thomson Memorial Bench was created by the same sculptor who created the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Indianapolis. It has been a part of the College since 1905.
5 comments on “Morris Residents Painted the Cow Art”
Simply, the bench is a medium for “the family crest” of some club, organization or fraternity; the art work on the bench means something to those people and joy stirs inside those people at the sight of the bench in their colors. However, the Morris Hall crew made a mockery of the bench. The “moo bench” is really the symbol for the family in Morris Hall? Take pride in yourself and what you do.
I think it’s a great idea to get the independents involved in the bench painting fun! The M-O-O idea was (if you want to be traditional in the strictest sense of the word) offensive. I feel it was a unique twist on a tradition without changing the tradition itself. Sure, it was humor involved in the painting of cows on the bench and M-O-O, but I think humor can often make us remember things better. The uniqueness only ADDS to the tradition.
I find myself walking by a fraternity painted bench wondering who is in control today. What I find is that the M-O-O fraternity has taken control. So instead of “Oh, the FIJI house has the bench” or “Hmm…the delts have conquered the bench.” I said “WHA-T?! Who the heck? THAT’S AWESOME!!!” and laugh about it. I can assure you, that experience has been more memorable. And don’t worry, fraternity guys. You have nice designs too. All I mean is that it was something DIFFERENT. Something FRESH. That’s what we need! That creates a stronger memory!
Disclaimer: Fraternity names were chosen at random. I have nothing against FIJI or the delts. I like all the fraternities. The people in all fraternities have been nothing but nice to me. So please, no angry e-mail! Just wanted to make a point.
My last point in this behemoth of a comment is that there is absolutely no defendable reason (as far as I’m aware) to not include independent houses in the bench painting tradition. No where in the rules (as far as I’m aware) is this forbidden. If it is, I apologize for my ignorance to this fact. But I end with a question: Why should fraternities and clubs have all the fun?
I applaud these Independents for participating in the Wabash Tradition of “Painting The Bench.” During my freshman year as an Independent I also painted the bench at night with a group of students, only to have it desecrated within the hour of sunrise on the following day. It appears that almost a decade since I began college at this exceptional educational institution, the culture at Wabash has not improved for Independents. Keep yours heads up GDI’s, and Test the Traditions. WABASH ALWAYS FIGHTS!
Desecration? Lighten up. Exclusive right of fraternities? Bah, humbug. Mockery? You’ve got to be kidding.
Over the years since 1978, I have observed with some bemusement the enshrinement of certain “long-standing Wabash Traditions.” How many recent graduates realize that at least in the mid-70s, Chapel Sing never involved fraternity pledges bunching together with locked arms and Sphinx Club members wading in with assorted goo to break up the glut? Chapel Sing was a fun way to prove you’d learned the words to “Old Wabash,” not an excuse for some sort of violent spectacle or WWF knock-off.
So, too, with the bench. During my years on campus, the bench wore not only red (when the Phi Delt pledges managed to paint it last before the first football game), white (when the FIJI pledges managed to keep it or paint it white before the the game, as well as most of the rest of the year when the maintenance staff had restored the status quo), red-white-and-pink (when the outcome was more a less a draw), but also the visage and surname of James Buchanan Elmore, Bard of Alamo (shortly after sunrise on the morning of one then-“traditional” Elmore Day, thanks to a tip from President Seymour’s Assistant, Connie Riggs), a loving caricature of Dean Norman C. Moore as Wally Wabash, and the ubiquitous spots of a loaf of Wonder Bread.
As a FIJI who helped to make sure the bench was white as a pledge, who enjoyed egging on three succeeding years of pledges to do the same (with mixed results), who watched in some degree of alarm as one bench tussle approached outright violence and who voiced those concerns to our officers and pledge trainer, who painted Elmore and Dean Moore, and who laughed heartily at the Wonder Bread, I offer my congratulations to the Morris residents and their bovine theme. Yes, Wabash is a special place, endowed with rich memories and traditions. I hope that still among those traditions are a sense of humor, the ability to laugh at ourselves, a sense of historical perspective, and a hearty appreciation that the four years of college are all too short and should be savored.
John Porter, ’78
I will echo Mr. Porter’s comments regarding a sense of humor. A group of guys from Martindale wrapped the bench in bed sheets to commemorate the appearance at Wabash of the artist Christo’s appearance at Wabash when I was a student.
What is serious about this is the use of the words “desecration” and “mockery”. This only adds to the feeling most GDIs have that they are viewed as less than full Wabash men by the Greeks. *That* is what needs to stop.
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