You stand on the Abele Quad and you enjoy the view, but what you may notice is what you don’t see: the enormous tree, just by the Chapel entrance on the northwest corner of the loop, that is gone. It was a willow oak, planted in the 1930s when Duke was completing West Campus. Willow oaks last 80 to 90 years under ideal conditions, and can anybody imagine better conditions than West Campus in front of the Chapel?
It showed evidence of some rot; it had failing limbs; its leaves were thinning at the top — all making it sound as much like an old professor as an old tree. In any case, nobody likes to cut down a tree, but if it drops a limb on somebody you have a much bigger problem. So Duke cut it down.
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That’s sad, of course, but also rather beautiful. Once a university enters its second century, it’s going to outlive some of its trees — along with its founders, its beloved professors, its alumni and, one by one, everybody. The goal of an institution is to outlive its members.
Duke hopes to use some of the wood from the willow oak as paneling in the Reuben-Cook building. And of course Duke has replaced it, planting a Jefferson elm in the same spot. You plant trees, the proverb says, for those who come after. And if they don’t get Dutch Elm disease, elms can live for hundreds of years. These are days of great uncertainty. Let’s hope there are lots of Duke students, faculty, and alumni to grieve for it when, centuries from now, the Jefferson Elm has to come down too.