Tours de Lehigh
By: Benjamin Mumma
Four unique trips to take through campus, without the admission office spin.
Fountain Tour
The Lehigh fountain tour is great way to end a Friday night after finishing your homework. Touring the fountains themselves are self-explanatory, so we will cover some of the fascinating details about the buildings associated with Lehigh’s five fountains.
1. Alumni Memorial – Alumni Memorial is probably the most beautiful building on Lehigh’s campus. The upper levels are reserved for administrators, and the ground level is used to woo prospective students. Current students can enjoy the Alumni Memorial by making regular trips to the basement to visit to the registrar and the bursar, two of my favorite pastimes.
2. Packard Laboratories – In typical Lehigh fashion, Packard has ground-level entrances on the first, second, and third floors. Staircases in Packard seem to end arbitrarily, so if you are trying to climb to the roof or the sixth floor, it may take some time.
3. Chandler Ulman – Architecture students will live in this building, which is ironic given the building’s design. Add-ons to the original design have made this building a veritable maze structurally, and room numbers don’t help matters.
4. Wilbur Powerhouse – The home of IBE, IPD, and Design Arts workshops is an interesting building, filled with Macs and plenty of open space. Amongst other attractions is a secret doorway into the Design Arts area.
5. Campus Square – Yes, juniors and seniors have: single bedrooms, air-conditioning, good dining establishments nearby, AND a fountain. End your fountain tour by taking a hike up the hill to your cramped, sweltering room with your passed out roommate.
Evacuated Building Tour
Lehigh doesn’t actually have any evacuated buildings, but for most students it wouldn’t make a difference if they were. Odds are very good that you, as a student, won’t go into any of these buildings during your time here, unless you make a conscious effort to do so.
1. Mountaintop – Choose a building at Mountaintop, it doesn’t matter which one. For all of the mysteries on the lower campus, there are ten more to discover by exploring mountaintop. We are serious when we say go explore – just avoid the super-mysterious “Building J,” which has had several disappearances attributed to it.
2. Price Hall – Having been at Lehigh for four years, I honestly had to look up what department Price Hall houses, because I have never been in there, and honestly assumed it was empty. Apparently, it houses the Sociology and Anthropology departments. For what it’s worth, I have never even seen anyone go in or out of the forlorn building. Enter at your own risk.
3. The President’s House – This used to serve as the home of Lehigh Presidents. However, after living there for a while, President Gast decided it didn’t fit her needs. Although she has moved the family to greener pastures, fortunately the house doesn’t go to waste. Just send the registrar an e-mail at inrgs@lehigh.edu to book the space for any club or study group gathering.
4. Philosophy House – Another building that makes travelers wonder. Compared to the surrounding, Packard Lab and Packer Chapel, the Philosophy house is a shanty. Nevertheless, its prime location does represent the emphasis that Lehigh places on Philosophy, much more so than the hovel itself. There are rumors that there is a battle to wrestle away President Gast’s vacation home (see #3) to be the new headquarters for their department.
5. Sinclair Labs – The last of our secret buildings is hiding in plain sight. Even with the central location, most people won’t enter Sinclair during their time at Lehigh. Amongst other things, it houses Lehigh’s Center for Optical Technologies which is doing some pretty cool things (www.lehigh.edu/optics), but unfortunately not much of that gets out to the general student population.
Follow the Bills Tour
As with most college students, you may end up wondering where all of your (or your parents) money has gone. We can’t give you all of the answers in five stops, but you’ll solve some mysteries on this tour.
1. The Bookstore – There’s no better way to see money disappear than by visiting the Lehigh Bookstore. Sure, you can find your textbooks for 30-50% less online, but you’d miss out on one of the quintessential Lehigh experiences. Don’t forget to grab a $5.00 latte in the cafe.
2. Steps – If you haven’t been inside of this masterpiece yet, well, you aren’t the only one. As Lehigh’s newest building, Steps is a mystery to us all. The Steps building and associated programs has come with a steep price tag ($85 million), which you’ll be helping to cover throughout your four years here. Thus, our advice to you is to enjoy Steps. Take a stroll through the halls, see if you can make it onto the roof, or search for structural flaws (for the civil engineers in the crowd).
3. Financial Aid – Once you’re finished marveling at what $85 million can do, make your way up to the Financial Aid office to make sure that you can cover the $25,000 book price of tuition. Stop by, and you will likely be greeted with adequate service and forms, many forms. Keep filling them out until you get bored.
4. A Segway Cop – As you move on through campus, you will likely come across one of the friendliest sights that Lehigh has to offer – a Segway Cop. While they likely won’t let you take their Segway for a spin. As you wonder why the Segway is needed, realize that you are asking the wrong question. Rather, ask yourself, “If I were fighting crime, would I want to do it on foot or a bike, or on a Segway?” Once rephrased, the need for Segways is apparent.
5. Rauch Business Center – At this point, your thought process should be along the lines of “I’m going to be blowing through a lot of money in the next four years, I better make a lot of it!” Such logic will lead many of you to Rauch, with the hope of becoming the world’s next Warren Buffet. You won’t make it that far, but you will get to spend the next four years doing menial work using basic math.
Recreational Tour
Your free time at Lehigh can lead you to a great number of places. Certainly, we recommend that you expand from the offerings covered here. At the same time, odds are pretty good you will find yourself following this path from time to time.
1. East Fifth – With “the Hill” closed off to freshmen for the first two weeks or so, your recreational activities will have to begin somewhere. East 5th is filled with students, and most robberies actually occur on the side streets, as opposed to East Fifth itself. It is the perfect place to start your Lehigh career.
2. Birkel – On any given night, Birkel hosts a plethora of parties. Finding one is normally as simple as going door to door. Most houses will welcome freshmen in with open arms in order to preserve many Lehigh traditions.
3. The Hill – Once it opens to freshmen, literally all of them make the trek up to Lehigh’s venerable fraternities. Unlike off-campus houses, these places are made for parties, and they will likely serve as the backdrop for many of the crazy stories you hear around campus on Monday.
4. Johnson Hall – As unfortunate as it may be, most freshmen will end up visiting Johnson Hall at some point during the year, and there’s a good chance it will be due to your weekend escapades. Johnson Hall houses Lehigh’s Police department, as well as the Health Center and Counseling Center. Any freshmen who has visited all three is said to have hit the “trifecta.” Despite the positive connotation of “trifecta,” avoid this at all costs.
5. Taylor Gym – It will take a little while, but most freshmen will come to realize that this lifestyle, along with your dining habits, will prove unsustainable. When you do decide to work off the beer weight you’ve put on, Taylor Gym will be there for you. You may have to brave long lines for the cardio equipment, as it seems every sorority sister at Lehigh has their time on an elliptical or a treadmill.
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