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Kate Galbreath

Where 18 year's worth of brightly painted greek letters once greeted Wall Street passerby, a bare dirt field now awaits an apartment building.

The five Pride Rocks, shaped like pyramids with the tops cut off, were demolished over the weekend, leaving a long-standing campus tradition without an arena.

Campus organizations, greeks and others, and even an occasional local business, like Pinch Penny Pub, often painted the rocks.

The rocks once served as the base of Carbondale's oldest water tower, which was given to the University in 1973 with the surrounding land. The rocks were the visible part of a thick concrete foundation that supported the tower.

The rocks had to be removed because construction on the Wall and Grand apartment complex will soon begin on the land where the rocks once stood.

Phil Gatton, director of the physical plant, said breaking up the estimated 15 to 20 feet of underground concrete wasn't necessary, but during the demolition process the crew was pleasantly surprised to see the concrete was only 8-feet deep.

He said in many places, paint on the rocks was 3/4 of an inch thick.

After unsuccessful attempts to find a contractor to repair the water tower, which had been unused for a decade, the University demolished the tower but left the base in 1981.

Starting in 1987, greek organizations were allowed to paint the rocks to advertise and show pride for their sorority or fraternity as a substitute for the previous ritual, which was painting a valuable historical cannon that was once under the flagpole at Altgeld Hall.

Katie Sermersheim, director of Student Development, said a student advisory committee discussed building or finding a new structure to replace the rocks.

"It kind of was committee-d out to USG," she said.

After no progress from the Undergraduate Student Government, InterGreek Council decided to take control of finding a new location - and also made no progress, she said.

Now, USG president Nate Brown said he has been in discussions with Sermersheim about possible new locations and he said he is going to pursue the issue in the fall semester.

Brown said he came up with the idea of duplicating the Saluki dog statues in the Student Center and placing them around campus for organizations to paint.

"That's an idea I think students would enjoy," he said. "It would have a good aesthetic value on campus. I think that is a tradition on campus that we shouldn't give up, even as the campus builds."

Sermersheim gave another possibility of adding a cement pyramid across from the Student Recreation Center in the grassy area between the parking lot and softball field.

However, at this point, nothing is definite, she said.

"Hopefully, somebody would come to me and offer to work on it," Brown said. "I know many people in the greek community and that's what they've used for publicity for their own group."

Reporter Kate Galbreath can be reached at kate_galbreath@dailyegyptian.com