Public Art of the Week
For more than a half century, students, faculty and staff have found the quiet pond hidden behind the Student Services Building at Michigan State University a place to go for solitude. When I worked …
Memorial pond
For more than a half century, students, faculty and staff have found the quiet pond hidden behind the Student Services Building at Michigan State University a place to go for solitude. When I worked for The State News in the 1960s, we could often find staff hanging out around it.
The pond and the surrounding area just south of the building are being converted to a $3.2 million memorial to the students killed and affected by the 2023 mass shooting event on campus.
The area’s remake will include white marble and black, reflecting granite. A pedestrian area will be set off with three circular stones representing the lives lost. At the perimeter will be a stone seating area.
After a nationwide search, MSU selected a design by two designers with no MSU connections. It always seemed to me that MSU grads should design a memorial to MSU students.
Memorials of loss often take on their own life of how visitors use and perceive them. Who would have known, for example, when the Vietnam Memorial Wall was constructed that visitors would leave personal mementoes and trace names on the wall with their fingers.
The new memorial’s design and location could end up being quite a dramatic reflection of the loss that students and alumni feel every time they walk on campus.
BILL CASTANIER
Public Art of the Week is a new feature that rotates with Eyesore of the Week. If you have an idea for either, please email eye@lansingcitypulse.com or call (517) 999-6704.
