Last week a crazed Alabama fan poisoned the famed oak tree at Toomer’s Corner in Auburn. The tree is probably going to die and the man will probably spend many years in jail. Now, everyone has heard this story so I’m not going to go in depth about it. However, it did get me thinking:

What is UNA’s Toomer’s Corner? Auburn has the corner, Alabama has the statues, Ole Miss has The Grove– but what does UNA have? Some would say our prized possessions are Leo and Una, and some would say the victory flame. But none of these hold the stature of iconic in my opinion.

If another school wanted to, as the Greeks call it, “haze” UNA, what would they go for? They can’t get to the Lions, and if they did they would be killed. The flame is boring. Maybe Romeo and Juliet? Would they steal Romeo and put a Cam Newton jersey on Juliet? I don’t think so.

I don’t believe that UNA has anything or any place on our campus that would be considered iconic. But, we need to have one; we need our Toomer’s Corner. We need our statues that people from across the country get their picture taken with. We need our claim to fame in the world of universities across the country.

So how do we get one? Icons like these have been passed down from generation to generation. I say to that: they have to start somewhere; every tradition was started by someone at some point in time. But we have to band together–we need to create a tradition like no other in the South, or even the nation. We need every school in the country to, when they play UNA, say, “Hey that’s the school with the ____”

But what can it be? That part isn’t up to me. It’s up to you. The students, the alumni, the faculty and everyone who is involved with UNA needs to step up and create a tradition that will last a lifetime.