The Memorial Union Zodiac - To Walk Around or Step It Through

[Farnsworth]

Lately I saw one of those dumb accounts like "Iowa State Girls" Instagram and posted a "hilarious" video (someone linked to Facebook). It was a drunk of coeds hanging out in the Gold Star Hallway in the Memorial Union and being well, drunk, and stomping around on the zodiak and basically playing it like hopscotch.

I graduated in 2007 and the video actually made me pretty ******* pissed off. I started to wonder, what if students think about the zodiac throughout the years.

So, do you walk through or around go the zodiac in the Memorial Union?

The Zodiac​

Architect/designer William T. Proudfoot chose to incorporate the ancient symbols of the zodiac into the north entry floor -- classic Greek/Roman mythology for a classic-Greek/Roman-style building. In the 20's, the zodiac was not as well known as it is now. Proudfoot planned for intentional wearing away of the bronze forms by placing them above the surface of the floor - to be sculpted further by building users until, eventually, they would be the same level as the floor. We know that by 1929, students had decided that if you stepped on the zodiac, it was unlucky – that you'd flunk your next test. Rumor has it that the students created this "curse" because they liked the raised effect of the zodiac and they wanted to preserve the zodiac signs even though it went against what the architect originally intended. Now most students, hedging their bets, walk around. If you accidentally invoke the curse, you can throw a coin in the fountain to take it away!

Tradition, Myths and History - Memorial Union

www.mu.iastate.edu

https://www.foundation.iastate.edu/s/1463/giving/interior-1col.aspx?sid=1463&gid=1&pgid=252&cid=4352&ecid=4352&crid=0&calpgid=1284&calcid=4346

 

[JM4CY]

Walk around. I am a Cyclone. Not a ******* monster.

 

[buf87]

I was at Iowa State in the 80's and I still walk around it when on campus

 

[3TrueFans]

Superstitions aren't real, but you walk around the zodiac.

 

[RagingCloner]

Im a ****. went on a tour during HS, had no idea what i was doing. just strolled right over that hallowed ground

 

[Nor'MidWester]

You walk around it. Don't be that guy who thinks they're better than decades of tradition.

 

[Farnsworth]

There are some traditions for Iowa State that are fun and pretty 'meh', like kissing at midnight at the Campanile, or naked run from Beardshear to Curtis.

I think the zodiac tradition though is about respect.

 

[acoustimac]

Im a ****. went on a tour during HS, had no idea what i was doing. just strolled right over that hallowed ground

And you still graduated???

 

[jcyclonee]

I walk around it.

A few years ago, we visited for a college tour with my daughter. I hadn't been in the union for about 20 years. I still swerved to the right walking around it just out of habit and respect.

@CloneLawman is one of the monsters that doesn't respect our beloved institution.

 

[RagingCloner]

And you still graduated???

HS? Yes

 

[dahliaclone]

Walk around when I was in college because I didn't want to fail a test. Walk around now because tradition.

 

[jcyclonee]

Also, can you allow more than one choice on the poll? I walk around it because of tradition but, according to my occasional dream, I still might flunk my next test while being naked.

 

[snowcraig2.0]

Last time I was there I almost fell over it because it had been awhile since I walked though, I ended up doing some kind of old man spin move and managed to not touch it.

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

naked run from Beardshear to Curtis

This is a tradition?

 

[BCClone]

I started by walking around it. Then my last semester or two I just walked over it. When my kids started taking tours, I walked around again so people would know I was a cyclone.

 

[wxman1]

I needed all the help I could get so around I went. Would still do so if I walked through there.

 

[NorthCyd]

I always walked over it. Come at me.

 

[IASTATE07]

Aside from the tour, I always walked over it. I have enough real things to worry about.

 

[IAC1858]

Been out of school over a decade and still walk around it when I enter the MU.

 

[ISULibrarian]

Walk around, because who needs any extra bad juju?