The debate over the Cardinal, Tree or Indian is history. Anyone who's been to campus lately knows the University's real mascot is the construction crane.
Stanford is in the middle of an unprecedented five-year building and renovation binge. From 1996 to 2000, the University expects to spend more than $700 million on construction and related projects. "As measured by expenditures, even adjusted for inflation, we are in the most intense period of construction in the history of Stanford University, including its founding," President Gerhard Casper said recently. He acknowledged that the figures seem "staggering," but stressed that "Stanford is not engaged in unbridled expansion and thoughtless spending." He noted that more than two-thirds of the funds are devoted to renovating or replacing existing structures; less than one-third is earmarked for adding new space.
Among the 19 projects under way this winter: development of the huge Science and Engineering Quad; construction of two new graduate student housing complexes; an overhaul of the Museum of Art; and continued seismic renovations of the Main Quad and old Green Library.
In the meantime, campus is littered with trucks, scaffolding and detour signs. But Mark M. Jones, director of Facilities Project Management, boasts of a "zero complaint rate" because all contractors must agree to a "low-impact" program that includes reducing noisy work during Dead Week and Final Exams. Says Jones: "This is a teaching and research institution, not a construction business."
