UCSC Myth Breaker

Pulp Fiction

2010-11-18T01:52:00.000-08:00

Anyone happen to know why Quentin Tarantino chose to feature the UCSC Banana Slug shirt (as worn by John Travolta) in his movie?

Cat's Cradle

2010-04-29T18:45:00.001-07:00

There's a grave to a cat located in the middle of Upper Campus. What's the story behind it?

The Swing

2009-12-05T14:32:00.000-08:00

There is or was supposedly a swing overlooking one of the meadows on campus hanging from some trees. Does anyone know of the history of the swing?

Sinkholes

2009-09-17T15:16:00.000-07:00

I know there are a number of sinkholes on and around campus, and I once heard of one near The Village which people can't tell how deep is. Also, I once heard of a long cave near campus whose caverns stretch all the way to the ocean. Are these just freshmen wild goose chases?

Hearst Castle Benches

2009-08-03T15:55:00.000-07:00

Are the white stone benches at Crown College near the academic building originally from Hearst Castle? Help us out!

First Rain/Porter Run

2009-05-21T14:21:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of every school year, students at UCSC run the first time it rains on campus - naked. There are supposedly many "rules" for the event - that it has to begin at Porter, be a consistent rain, after 8pm, etc. So what is the history behind this event? When did it originally start and why?

Malcolm X College?

2009-05-21T14:09:00.000-07:00

There is a rumor that students at UCSC wanted to name what was then, College 7, in 1972, Malcom X College. They wanted to honor the black leader, but instead the university decided to name the college after philanthropists Roscoe and Margaret Oakes. Is it true that students wanted to name the college after Malcolm X and what, if anything, did they do to campaign for it?

Caves at UCSC

2009-04-06T15:26:00.001-07:00

As far as I know there are only two caves at UCSC: Porter Cave (also known as Empire Cave) and "Hell Hole." What do you know about these caves? Does anyone know of any other caves on campus?

Update on the Cows

2009-02-06T03:37:00.001-08:00

Here's an update on the cows courtesy of our very own City on a Hill Press: http://cityonahillpress.com/article.php?id=1560

The Meadow

2009-01-21T19:18:00.001-08:00

When you go to UCSC, you typically notice that the majority of campus that is developed is surrounded by redwood trees. The meadow, on the other hand, has little or no development. Why is this? Why not add new colleges to the meadow? Also, what exactly is the "Great Meadow?"

Woodsies

2009-01-09T10:30:00.000-08:00

There are reportedly up to 50 people living in the woods in upper campus. What are these people like? What kind of structures do they build? And lastly, does anyone know of the fine that can be incurred for living in upper campus?

More revealed on the Labyrinth

2009-01-01T16:19:00.001-08:00

One of the builders of the Labyrinth that used to exist at UCSC sent me this:

"It was not a maze, that is, a puzzle, but a single path to the center, where one climbed a tower which connected to a catwalk elevated above the Labyrith which led to a slide which dropped you from the outside wall to the ground. The labyrinth was basically rough redwood fencing, no plywood. It was about 100 feet across and octagonal in shape. The walls got higher as you progressed inward, starting at I think 8 feet and building to 10 or 12 feet at the center. The tower was made from four big poles like telephone poles with an open spiral ladder built into the interior somewhat like a double helix.
The class designed and built it, though it took longer than one quarter to complete.
An older student named Rick did the majority of the work, at least towards the end. The Labyrinth was meant to be a celibration, a dance of life, a positive thing. But, judging by the comments that various people carved and penned on the tower platform right from the beginning, many people saw it darkly: there were tirades about treating students like rats in a maze and stuff like that. Thus, when I heard it was torn down because it had become a favorite suicide location, I was not suprised, though I do not actually know if there is any truth to this. The library has a file on "the labyrinth project", according to google."

Names of the Colleges

2008-12-04T15:45:00.001-08:00

Where do the names of the colleges come from? Who and what are they named after, and what is their significance?

Welcome!

2008-12-01T08:34:00.000-08:00

Welcome to UCSC Myth Breaker, the blog where we seek to discover the truths behind many of the myths about the UC Santa Cruz campus.

Feel free to reply to any post with your Google/Blogger ID, OpenID, or Name/URL. If you have none of those, also feel free to respond anonymously as it's possible for anyone to respond to the posts.

If you would like to write your own posts, just contact me at nathanellstrand@gmail.com and I will make you a contributor to the site.

Thanks and let's break the myths!
-Nathan

Pogonip Koi Pond

2008-11-15T09:01:00.000-08:00

For any of you who have walked through Pogonip Natural Reserve right next to campus, you might notice that there is a koi/gold fish pond in the middle of the woods. How did this come to be? What did it use to be?

A Source for UCSC Info

2008-11-11T20:42:00.000-08:00

A UCSC librarian passed this on to the site and it really is helpful. Local campus history and some of these questions can be answered via this website:
http://library.ucsc.edu/ref/instruction/refguides/campushistory.html

Tree 9

2008-11-10T08:41:00.000-08:00

So must UCSC students know about Tree 9 in Upper Campus near Colleges 9/10. It's a very tall climbing tree that looks over the campus. However, most do not know how it received its name. Was it named after a legend associated with the Cowells or after Elf Land or after College 9? Help us find out the answer!

The Baskin Engineering Sinkhole

2008-11-06T21:07:00.000-08:00

Okay, here is another myth or legend for you.

In my geology class in 1977 our instructor told is that the Baskin Engineering building (then Applied Sciences) was built over a network of limestone caverns as is much of the campus. According to him, when they were digging the foundation for that building, they left a large bulldozer on top of a small hillock to the front right of where the building would be. When they came back in the morning, there was a large sinkhole where the hillock had been, presumably with the bulldozer down at the bottom of it.

It was then that they discovered the caverns underneath the building site which required them to pump about a million gallons of concrete into the foundations as they were pouring it because it just kept seeping down into the ground.

I doubt the story about the bulldozer and I am skeptical about the actual amount of concrete but I believe the story of having to pour extra concrete there because of the limestone is true.

Does anyone know the real story?

Was Porter College almost Hitchcock College?

2008-10-17T16:32:00.000-07:00

Was College V (now Porter) almost named after Alfred Hitchcock?

Have you found the Kerr Hall hot tub yet?

2008-10-17T16:29:00.000-07:00

Okay, a few post here that I know the answers to but want to see if others do before I post them.

When I was a student, several people asked me if I had found the way to get to the secret hot tub on the roof of Kerr Hall (this was when Kerr housed college 8 as a commuter college). Have any of you found it yet? What about the Kresge hot tub?

The Maze

2008-10-14T17:27:00.000-07:00

A few years before I came to campus a student created a large walk-through maze out of plywood as a project for a psych class. The story I heard then was that it had been torn down after some late night trippers had come across someone who had committed suicide in the middle of it. I think the existence of the maze is fairly well established but am skeptical of the suicide story. I believe it was somewhere around where college 9 is now.

The Cowell Ghost

2008-10-14T10:03:00.000-07:00

When I was first here as a student in 1977, I heard on a campus tour that there was a ghost that had been seen at times on the road between Stevenson and the Pogonip. Speculation was that it was a daughter from the Cowell family who died in a carriage accident there around the turn of the century. Have you personally seen this ghost? Does anyone know for sure whether that accident ever really happened?

The Cows

2008-10-13T23:24:00.000-07:00

Rumor has it that the cows on the UCSC meadow are actually on loan from UC Davis and are only there during certain parts of the year. This true?

Science Hill Squirrels

2008-10-05T22:57:00.000-07:00

This myth was sent to me by fellow student Kerrie K:
There are two albino squirrels on science hill (but not fully albino...they don't have red eyes). It's a rumor that they're escaped lab animals...
What's the truth? Please provide any answers or ideas if you have them.

UCSC Campus Design

2008-10-04T21:21:00.000-07:00

There is a rumor at UC Santa Cruz that the campus was designed to prevent protests from happening by creating multiple colleges. Students say in part that this was done following protests in Berkeley. On the other hand, administrators and staff often say that the campus is just based on universities like Oxford or Cambridge. What is the truth?

Welcome!

2008-10-04T21:18:00.001-07:00

Welcome to UCSC Myth Breaker, the blog that brings up the various myths that one hears on the UCSC campus and shows whether or not they a true or false. Were the Porter dorms designed by a prison architect? Are the cows on the meadow from Davis? Was the campus designed to prevent protests? The questions will be posed, and with your help, we will discover the truth. If you want to be a fellow blogger in this site, just let me know, nathanellstrand@gmail.com.