Observation of Showalter Fountain
Collector spent 45 minutes at Showalter Fountain on Wednesday, March 24, from a period of 2-3 pm. Collector was joined by AJ and Taryn, informants from the first two interviews. The Wellness Day was chosen as observation day because of the nice weather and the expected heavier footfall.
Observations
While footfall was definitely heavier than it has been during class passing periods throughout the pandemic, there were nowhere near as many people as have been previously observed when classes were entirely in-person. Small groups of people, including non-student families taking pictures, gathered near the fountain, mostly to sit and relax before walking elsewhere. While near the fountain, the majority of people were unmasked and socially distanced from those outside of their small groups.
The observation was conducted casually with discussion of different things seen among the three present. None of the groups appeared to interact with each other and remained distant when possible.
It appears that Showalter Fountain still serves as a gathering place for groups during the pandemic, likely because it is a wide-open space with multiple areas for sitting and is in a central campus location. The fountain was empty of water, but given the heat of the day, it likely would have drawn more people to the area if the water had been present.
Despite events of the day (Stop AAPI Hate protest and Climate Change event) possibly drawing people away from the fountain, the community still flocked to the area even with the water being absent. Parents took pictures of their children and let them crawl inside the dry fountain while students gathered to eat lunch amongst friends in an open space.
Throughout all of the interviews, the double or multifunctionality of the fountains on various campuses stood out to me. Across all three campuses, the fountains served as campus landmarks that helped to guide the community surrounding them by providing a grounding point for further directions. At IU and Purdue, the fountains also served as the setting for rites of passage, inducting incoming freshman into the ranks of the student body at their future school. At Ball State, the Frog Baby statue in the center of the campus fountain serves as a reflection of the community’s mood, being dressed up in order to help celebrate community events like holidays and sports games. On all three campuses, the fountains also served as a community gathering grounds where, even in the middle of a pandemic, members of the community could safely gather with each other.
Most fascinating was how each site was adapted to fit a new role during the pandemic. At IU particularly, the main tradition of the fountain cannot be safely practiced. Additionally, freshman arriving this year were told that they were not allowed to see their friends by campus authorities. The tradition of climbing into the fountain was converted to meeting at the fountain. It goes against campus authority like climbing into the fountain, but it is also an issue that IU authorities are aware of and doing little to actually curb. The importance of gathering for the community outweighs the risk presented by gathering groups.
Bibliographic Note:
Blumenkrantz DG, Goldstein MB. Seeing College as a Rite of Passage: What Might Be Possible. New Directions for Higher Education. 2014;2014(166):85-94. doi:10.1002/he.20098
Blumenkrantz et al.’s analysis of the lack of rites of passage between childhood and adulthood and how college can fill that gap helps explain why many of the fountain rites of passage occur either before freshman year officially begins or right at its beginning. It offers students a physical event to serve as a milestone. As going to college becomes more of an expectation, I can’t help but wonder if it too will lose its effectiveness as a rite of passage.
Law L, Azzali S, Conejos S. Planning for the temporary: temporary urbanism and public space in a time of COVID-19. TPR: Town Planning Review. 2021;92(1):65-73. doi:10.3828/tpr.2020.48
Law’s article references the fear of not being able to effectively socially distance helps to explain why campus fountains may find their purposes altered during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. They are located in open spaces where people can safely gather without being close to each other. They often have nearby areas designated for resting at the fountains that encourage small groups to gather to meet with each other and their central locations make gathering convenient.