ICONS OF GENESEO
Painted Tree The
BY KRIS DREESSEN
S
cott Eron ’10 first painted the big black walnut tree in Sturges Quad to tout his fraternity to everyone on campus. He and 12 of his brothers sprayed Alpha Chi Rho’s letters — AXP — in maroon and white paint. It took an hour to coat the trunk. “You want to make sure you’re proud of what you’re doing on there — make sure it looks real nice,” says Eron. Eron has since decorated the Greek Tree, as it’s affectionately called, dozens of times, even on zero-degree nights. “The paint froze before it hit the tree,” he says. “That was interesting.” The tree earned its moniker because it’s mostly painted by members of Greek organizations, but its canvas is open to any recognized group on campus, says Dean of Students Leonard Sancilio. The tree also is known as the Painted Tree. There are no sign-up sheets or rules, except common sense prohibiting students from risking dangerous moves to reach higher, like climbing the branches. Rush time is peak time, when the tree can get painted, and covered over, up to six times in a single night. Each frat or sorority wants its letters on the tree come daylight. “You have to decide who wins — sometimes it’s a standstill,” laughs Eron, who has battled over the bark many times. One year, they split the tree, half and half. Another time, they let their rivals take a picture for proof before bathing it in maroon. No one can pinpoint just when the first daring student took brush to bark, but faculty and staff know it goes back at least 42 years. That’s because education Adjunct Lecturer Gary “Griz” Caudle ’70 remembers doing it as a sophomore. Geneseo folk-
PHOTO BY BRIAN BENNETT
lore relies on alums to fill this history book, and so far, Caudle is one of the earliest. He tagged it with blue and white in honor of the swim team, and a green peace sign. If Caudle added his art in 1968, and it’s customized dozens of times a year (at minimum), that means the painted tree is sporting at least 1,000 layers of paint. So, how does it continue to live? Associate Professor George Briggs has taught biology for 23 years and asks his students to estimate age, height and weight of the tree. He believes the tree is now 35 feet tall, weighs as much as two SUVs and has survived more than a century. While the tree has been painted nearly half its life, he says, it constantly produces new layers from the inside. The outermost layers split, pushed from the inside. The outside of a tree consists of dead cells that have some features that are like paint — they are waterproof and retard the growth of microorganisms. The paint likely causes some damage, but it doesn’t encase the trunk or branches. And while it seems like there would be a layer of paint a few feet thick, “pieces of bark are falling off all of the time,” says Briggs. “If we look, we should see tiny little chips.” Eron once found a twoinch chunk of paint. “It was just this huge, cool thing,” he says. “All these years of tradition.” It went home with a graduating senior, a memento to remind him of the good times. Those who paint the tree say they don’t forget it — or Geneseo.
No one can pinpoint just when the first daring student took brush to bark, but faculty and staff know it goes back at least 42 years.
From the 1988 Yearbook
Summer 2010
19