Let there be light

Founders’ Rock is placed at the campus site in 1926. After
several relocations, the rock now rests near Murphy Hall.

Photos and Story by Courtney Stewart
Daily Bruin Staff

There is no doubt as to UCLA’s academic and athletic
greatness, but its rich history has often gone unnoticed.

This photo essay is the first in a series that will address this
issue and bring to light a more rounded perspective of what it
means to be a Bruin.

In 1923, University Regent Edward A. Dickson chose Westwood as
the site for the second University of California campus after
scouting other locations such as Palos Verdes and Pasadena. Dickson
stood in the middle of a field and resolved that one day a thriving
university would occupy that ground.

In September 1927, a brief ground-breaking ceremony was held to
initiate construction activities on the Westwood site. The shovel
used in this ceremony can be found today in its desolate location
beneath the staircase in Young Research Library.

Other remnants of UCLA’s past have been neglected. The
university’s formal dedication in 1926 featured the
presentation of a huge 75-ton boulder from Riverside County, which
was set in place as “Founders’ Rock.” It was to
be the site of the annual exercises of Founders’ Days to come
and a gathering place for college celebrations.

But instead of fulfilling its purpose as an important landmark
in the middle of campus, the rock has undergone a series of
relocations. Originally placed in an area that became the front of
the Administration Building, it was deemed a traffic hazard in 1942
and moved to a strip of land between Hilgard Avenue and University
Drive. In 1966, it was finally laid to rest in the shadows of the
northeast corner of Murphy Hall.

In 1910, Tiffany & Co. designed the seal of the University
of California, which at that time consisted solely of UC Berkeley.
When the Westwood campus was built, the seal was inlaid into the
Powell Library lobby. Though few students today take notice of the
seal , it is a symbol of the ideology of the university’s
founders.

Various components of the seal, including an open book
underneath a star, illustrate the principles that this university
is founded on: the accumulation of knowledge, discovery and the
beginning of wisdom. A ribbon flowing across the lower portion of
the book bears the university motto, “Let There Be
Light.”

For years, loyal UCLA students avoided stepping on the seal when
walking across the lobby floor. In 1961, the student council made
it official and cordoned off the area with ropes and a sign that
read, “Bruins, it’s a tradition, keep off the
seal.”

Renovation of Powell Library in 1966 ended the sanctity of the
seal when the area was no longer marked off and construction
material was placed over it. Today, hundreds of UCLA students walk
across the seal each day without pausing to consider its
significance.

The same indifference some hold toward the seal is equally
reflected toward the groundbreaking shovel and Founders’
Rock. At a university filled with tradition, these historical
relics are often not even given a second glance. These symbols of
the past deserve to have new light shed on them.

The university seal, which displays the school motto. The shovel
used now stands in the basement of Young Research Library. Director
Ernest Moore turns the first spade of earth at a brief ceremony in
1927.