No one who has ever set foot on the Union campus-at least no one I have ever met during the course of my six years at the College-has had anything but positive things to say about the beauty of Union. They talk about the perfection of Joseph Jacques Ramee's plan; they comment (now) about how a facility like the Nott Memorial can be located at the center of a college campus; they admire the tranquillity of Jackson's Garden; and they rave about the number and
variety of trees.
The passing of Bill Huntley this spring brought the “campus trees” to center stage. As I commented in my remarks during the memorial service for Bill, he and Gil Harlow are largely responsible for the Union trees. During the 1940s, as many alumni will remember, the Union campus was populated largely by elm trees. Then elm disease struck, and by the middle 1950s most of the 600 elms were gone.
Messrs. Huntley and Harlow went to work. After much effort and some persuasion at the administrative and trustee level, the Union campus was “repopulated.” Now, Union is home to more than 1,300 major shade trees, 650 flowering trees, and 5,000 shrubs and smaller trees. As a result, too, of the policy now in place, a new tree is planted whenever an old one dies. What a legacy!
Not surprisingly, the policy comes with a cost. Yet, we have an obligation to maintain the beauty of the campus. Although Socrates may only have needed a spreading chestnut tree to conduct classes, an historic institution like Union has an obligation to maintain its plant and its beauty.
The obligation was also driven home when we turned our attention to the Nott Memorial. Although some might question (and a Wall Street Journal reporter did) how we could justify spending $11 million in this day and age on a single facility with such limited use, historic obligations and a sense of responsibility were grounds sufficient to bring the Nott Memorial back to its historic splendor. By the way, the Wall Street journal reporter, who came to Schenectady for the rededication of the Nott Memorial, agreed after having seen the building in its refurbished state.
The same sense of obligation and responsibility is underscored with Jackson's Garden. Which college today would choose to have a formal garden on its campus? None that I
know. However, Jackson's Garden is part of historic Union, and it must be maintained and enhanced. In that connection, I am pleased to say that, as a result of the reshuffling of various maintenance facilities, we now are in a position to extend the garden to Nott Street, as was the case in decades past. More work, of course, needs to be done on Jackson's Garden. Given our priorities, the garden will have to await the special interests of donors. In the meantime, though, obligation and responsibility require that nothing encroach on Jackson's Garden.
If Joseph Jacques Ramee were to revisit this campus 180 years after drawing his initial plan, I think that he would be pleased. While available space outside of the center of the campus has been developed, the integrity of the Ramee
plan the center of the campus-remains intact. So, does the Nott Memorial; so will Jack
son's Garden; and, thanks to Bill and Gil, so, too, does the arboretum-type atmosphere of Union.