The Adventures at Quigley…Part 1

By Casey Bucher

Since coming to Southern Illinois over a year ago, plenty of fun and interesting experiences have occurred in the architecture building.  Transferring here from Murray State, I was expecting much of the same as I had during undergrad and boy was I wrong.  From the building itself to the classes, nothing was the same. There were a few similar features but many differences as well.  Over the course of a year, plus some, I have created a list of many unique experiences I have had since coming here for graduate school.

-     Norm’s Icebox.  My very first class at SIU was part of my leveling classes and it just happened to be Norm’s technical concrete class.  I should have taken the fun little drawing on the door as a sign, it was an image of Norm with a parka on standing next to an igloo.  I learned very quickly that this dungeon never got above freezing temperatures, no matter what time of the year it was.  The entire semester I made sure that I had long sleeves, jackets, and blankets in order to make it through the four hour lecture.

-     Getting an A in Norm’s class.  With two weeks left of the semester, Norm had informed the entire class that whoever had an A in the class was not required to take the final. However, he would not mention who had the A’s in the class and who didn’t. I found out later it was because he wanted everyone to still show up for the final and he would just send the lucky few students home.  I was one of the lucky few, but yet me and two others weren’t allowed to walk in, sign the attendance sheet and leave. That would be entirely too easy. The three of us with A’s were required to clean every chalkboard, desk, and put away every little piece of material he had used throughout the semester.  By the time we were finished, everyone that was required to take the final was long gone.

-     Bathrooms.  You quickly learn in Quigley Hall that the bathrooms do not make much sense. Where a women’s bathroom is located on the first floor may be in a completely different place on the basement level, and may not even exist on the second floor.  It was great fun the first few weeks learning which floors had women’s bathrooms and where they were hiding.

-     Window Blinds. Basically the only thing you need to know about these are: DO NOT TOUCH.