I contacted Mariae Rice-Evans with University Advancement who was able to speak to the planning of the project. “Since 1947 there has never been a place on campus for people to pray silently or hold a ceremony to honor the memory of those connected to UNCW who have passed during their time here,” Rice-Evans said. “There has always been a desire by both students and staff to have some sort of site to memorialize these people,” she added.

“Mariae and Rosemary [DePaolo] approached me about the creation of a memorial” said frequent UNCW benefactor Herbert Fisher, “They wanted to put it in a room in the Fisher Student Center, but I told them no one would know where it was. You need to put it on the ground where people will see it passing by, exposed as people go to and from classes and everything.”

While the memorial is officially dedicated to Mr. Herbert Fishers sister, Emily Fisher Hunter, eventually it will be engraved with the names of students, faculty, and staff who are lost while working at or attending UNCW. “The brickwork is not set in concrete yet. Someone can go in with a proper tool and lift a brick out, then take the brick to be engraved. The name and lifespan of the deceased will be cut into the brick and placed back into the memorial for everyone to remember them,” said Fisher.

There are also plans to decorate the 6,000 pound granite monument, which currently stands alone. Lighting has been added for the community to enjoy the memorial at night, and now that the weather is improving, vegetation is on the way. “We have just presented the Vice Chancellor of Facilities with a plan for flowers and plants,” said Robert Warren of the UNCW Physical Plant. The plan will remain consistent with the current theme of the commons area, keeping the vegetation native to UNCW with North Carolina palms, perennials for seasonal color, and service berries. “There are also plans to create a cascade of evergreen grass that will go from the back of the monument to the water that will give it a cascading look from the amphitheater,” said Warren.

So there you have it, we’re not remembering everyone at UNCW, just those who have passed, and soon, with the engraving of the memorial bricks, that will become more clear.

  The UNCW Athletic Department currently asks patrons to return all stray balls to athletic personnel after each game, destroying nostalgic visions of father-son pairs jumping into the air to get to the fly ball first.

“It’s purely budgetary,” said Senior Associate Athletic Director Joe Browning. The baseballs played cost five dollars apiece, and approximately three dozen balls will be prepared for each home game, around $180.00 per game for the department. “Most people don’t know this, but the umpires have to prepare the balls before they can be played,” Browning said, “they are rubbed with a mud-like substance so that they can be broken in, and aren’t too stiff or slippery for the pitchers.” Between homeruns and unreturned foul balls, approximately two dozen of those prepared balls will be lost every game.

Thanks to the baseball-friendly climate of Wilmington, UNCW hosts around 30 home baseball games a season. Home teams are responsible for proving balls for the game, which means 720 lost UNCW balls a season, or roughly $3,600.00 — ouch. “The balls are a lot more expensive than people think. At first five dollars a ball may not sound like a lot, but it really does add up,” said Browning.

So how do they enforce the return policy? They don’t. Polite reminders blare over the loud speaker every other inning or so, but no, there isn’t a foul ball officer policing the stands, ripping foul balls from the hands of crying children.“We don’t tackle people if they’re walking off with a ball, we just encourage people to return them and we certainly appreciate it when they do. Every little bit helps,” said Browning.

Next time you’re at a UNCW baseball game, sit in the foul ball territory and try to catch a few! One a game at five dollars for thirty home games and you’ve made yourself 150 bucks!

After a quick bit of research around the UNCW website I found my answer. The first of the two houses, the Kenan house, is the residence provided for the UNCW Chancellor.  House is hardly what I would call the historic Wilmington Mansion situated just below the 17^th street intersection. The bottom floor of the home is used primarily for meet-and-greets and parties for the board of trustees and important school benefactors, while the upper floor remains private for Chancellor DePaolo and her family.

According to a school press release about some tours recently given of the home it is a “neoclassical Revival dwelling constructed in 1911,that was initially built and occupied by Atlantic Coast Line Railroad executives.” The 7,500 square-foot Kenan house was donated to UNCW back when it was still Wilmington College by James Graham Kenan, nephew of the homes first family owner, Sarah Kenan. It is filled with pieces from the UNCW permanent art collection, as well as several on-loan pieces from various U.S. art museums.

The other UNCW house on Market Street is known as the Wise Alumni House. The 7,484-square-foot mansion was originally built by Delgado Cotton Mills President Edwin C. Holt and his wife, but was later purchased by Jessie Hargrave Kenan Wise, sister of Sarah Kenan, so that she could live just down the street from her sister. The home was donated to UNCW by the Wise grandchildren in 1968 when Mrs. Wise passed away with the original intention of furthering the schools educational and charitable programs. However, due to scarce funding the university was unable to realize the true potential of the space until 1993, when the UNCW Alumni Association took on the responsibility of restoring the home for their own purposes.

Next time you’re headed downtown with your friends taking the historic homes for granted, don’t forget to notice the two sponsored by UNCW. As an alumni or benefactor you might just find yourself being hosted there in the next ten years!

I got to wondering…Where is the sound coming from if the imposter bells weren’t actually doing any work? I spoke with Curtis Bohnsack, the Campus Life Facilities Specialist, and programmer of the clock tower, yes, programmer. “All I do is push the buttons,” he said, “and sometimes turn a key.”  The explanation for the buttons and keys? The entire clock tower is electronic.

That’s right, all of the tones played at half past, on the hour, and at noon and midnight are controlled electronically from a computer system in a Morton hall control room. All the towers operator must do is plug in a chip coded for a particular song, and a computer does the rest of the work.

This also explains how the university is able to play festive songs throughout the year. “We play the Adams family at Halloween, Christmas and other holiday music around fall exams, and of course both the fight song and alma mater that you hear every day.” The electronic system also allows a certain amount of flexibility, should an occasion ever arise needing a specific song. “After the Virginia Tech crisis we were able to play their fight song from the clock tower following the memorial service.”

“A fully fledged bell system would take a clock tower four times the size to house, and would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars more,” he further explained. The clock tower, which was donated by the graduating classes of 1999 and 2000, cost over 10,000 just for the hardware and program needed to run it. The physical tower was a great deal more on top of that.

Beyond budget and size constraints, the reason UNCW is unable to sustain a full bell tower? “We couldn’t afford a hunchback to ring the bells,” joked Bohnsack. In all seriousness though, the man power and money needed to maintain a real bell system would be unrealistically expensive.

I contacted Brad Reid, Director of Housing and Residence Life, to find out where on earth they took my brand new Yankee candle, or my roommates terribly threatening lava lamp. He informed me that they are held for a “reasonable amount of time” in the Housing and Residence Life Office. What is considered a reasonable amount of time? Apparently, in the few days following inspections, residents are given the opportunity to reclaim their items, as long as they “agree not to return them to the residence halls,” said Reid.

Beyond this grace period everything is taken to what is known as the “Housing Operations Warehouse”.  As I talked with Reid I couldn’t help but hope that the inside of this warehouse somewhat resembled the image I had in my head, with shelves and shelves of the random objects of yesterday. The warehouse, which is located adjacent to the University Physical Plant, holds items for approximately 60 days before they are properly disposed of, allowing students ample time to claim what is rightfully theirs.

Reid also informed me it is honestly very that seldom confiscated items make it all the way to the warehouse. “Most of the objects housed there aren’t things that have been confiscated, but have been left behind after room check outs,” he said, adding, “We probably couldn’t fill two boxes with the number of items we’re currently holding.” I immediately became completely disillusioned with the idea of the warehouse.

As far as confiscated drugs, alcohol, and weapons go, it is another story entirely. The University Police are called any time items of this nature are discovered in the residence halls. For the most part these confiscations don’t occur during health and safety inspections, but more often during Resident Assistants routine checks while on duty. The contraband items are taken to the University Police Department, tagged, and locked in an evidence locker to be reviewed if necessary during the students conduct hearing.  Suddenly the idea of lockers and lockers full of half empty liquor bottles and cases of beer sounded much more interesting than two boxes of candles and lamps.

Next time health and safety inspections roll around, and you’re wondering what plans they have for that George Foreman grill of yours they took, head over to housing to beg for it back! But go prepared with a good story about where you plan to take it that it won’t be considered a “safety risk”.

I contacted Robert Warren, Landscape Services Superintendent for the UNCW Physical Plant, who directed me to Tyrone Rowell, Assistant to the Chancellor for Special Projects. Rowell informed me that the cannon was recovered by the UNCW Marine Archaeology department from the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Fort Fisher in 1974.

During the project UNCW students and faculty helped remove two identical cannons from the U.S.S. Peterhoff. The Peterhoff was a naval blockade ship that was on duty approximately 1 mile off the coast of Fort Fisher, when it sunk in 1863. The cannons were both restored at Fort Fisher, where one remains. The other is on loan to the University, displayed proudly on Hoggard Lawn.

Because the cannon is still property of the U.S. Navy, UNCW must reapply each year to keep its prized lawn ornament. So far so good though, as it has sat on Hoggard Lawn proudly since it was removed from the ocean and restored some 35 years ago.

So there you have it, the story behind the big, black cannon at the front of campus. No advanced symbolism or thrilling war-story, just an interesting piece of UNCW trivia involving the efforts of a few students and staff.