Joanna Orban
Staff Writer
“Stuart, I’d like to buy a vowel.” Those simple words uttered by ISU alumni Steve Rice to Associate Vice President Stuart Summers jump-started a whirlwind project to restore the Red Hill I to its rightful place.
Taken down in 2014 due to safety concerns, most students on campus have never seen the I. Now thanks to a generous donation by the Dr. Lawrence H. Rice Family Endowment, future students will now see it for generations.
The Rice family has deep ties to the university. Steve’s father, Lawrence, served the ISU community for nearly thirty-five years both as an English professor and as the academic vice president for the entire institution
The Rice family’s love for the university is what prompted them to undertake the project. Steve Rice, his wife, as well as his two sisters all graduated from ISU.
“(The I) spoke to me. It was the focal point of the university, it was the one spot where all of the university came together,” Steve said.
Despite the cold weather, faculty, staff, students, alumni and members of the Rice family gathered on the quad to commemorate the I’s return to campus. The symbol of the ISU campus has great meaning for so many, both on campus and in the surrounding community.
“Red Hill has been a hallmark of this campus since 1916,” ISU President Kevin Satterlee said.
Like this campus, the I has had a long history. Originally it was a T, back when Idaho State was still known as the Idaho Technical Institute.
It became a 4 in 1926, showcasing the student’s desire to gain four-year degrees on this campus. A year later, the 4 became an I, where it would stand until 2014.
For 98 years there was a symbol on the hill, and when it was removed, a central piece of ISU history was gone. Something was missing.
“The I on Red Hill was both a manifestation and a symbol of the hard work and fight that each student had at the university to help it grow and develop into what it is today,” ASISU President Camdon Kay said
Alumni have a special relationship with the I. Rice’s Family was no different. A family of Bengals, they had tremendous interest in making sure the I was back on Red Hill.
“No single entity has impacted the Rice Family like Idaho State University has,” Steve remarked during the closing remarks of the ceremony.
New ISU students didn’t know what campus was missing, and when President Satterlee became the new president, he made a commitment to get the I back on the hill. President Satterlee said, “That I has returned to Red Hill so that we may remember where we started and what we had to do to get here today.”
The project generously funded by the Rice Family, and helped along by so many on-campus departments ensures that generations of new Bengals will be greeted by the I for years to come.
