For many first time students and/or prospective students of Purdue University, the one thing they must do to become a true “boilermaker,” is to clap at the very center of the Clappy Circle, or more formally known as Academy Park. The magic behind these squeaky circles is not the wonderfully delicious smelling trees around them in the spring, but the sound that manifests itself when one puts their hands together in the center of one of the circles. Besides for the designers, most engineers, random people that know random things, and an insistent know it all, no one knows what makes the squeak in the center of the circle. At least, not until now.
As a prominent journalist for the prestigious Whillikers Magazine, I was granted access into Academy Park and I tried this clapping business out for myself. Looking like an intelligent and very normal student, I stood in the center of the Clappy Circles and started to clap away. Squeak after squeak after shrilling and piercing squeak, I looked around me to see who was making this noise. Some engineers would tell you that the squeak comes from the landscape around you or even the way the mosaic tiles you stand on help create the squeak, but I do not believe any of this. For several hours I researched the Clappy Circles and on the 4th hour, I found what I was looking for. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a spotted ground squirrel, chirping every time I put my hands together! I started a rhythm and he followed. When we gained momentum in our noise making, I stopped abruptly to see if he would stop as well. But no! He made a squeak on accident and I saw him put his tiny little paws over his mouth to hide a gasp. I quickly grabbed my telescope and looked at him closely. He was in fact a spotted ground squirrel and to my disbelief, he was wearing a Purdue Grounds Keeping Work Shirt and had his name written on the patch. His name was Salieri!
I went after him with my net to catch him just so I could ask him a few questions but he ran, making a dash for the Union. I was in hot pursuit until I tripped and fell over my own nap sack. Two days later I found myself sitting behind a tree, with my net, waiting for Salieri. For hours, I waited for someone to clap in the circle and sure enough, when someone did, Salieri emerged from his hiding spot and made his squeak. I jumped up and darted towards Salieri.
Unfortunately for him, he was very dedicated to his job and stayed still to squeak for the person who was still clapping. I swooped him up in my net and ran into the Union where we talked in “Pap Smears” (as Salieri calls it). Salieri told me that he was hired years ago to replace the old ground squirrel who would produce the squeaky noises in Academy Park. “It’s a tough job, I have to be out there all year long and it gets pretty cold in the winter. I’m only one of a handful who don’t hibernate in the winter!” Salieri told me, “But I do get compensated nicely for my efforts and I’m also in a union. Next year we are asking for a 40% increase in wages!”
Salieri told me that there are several ground squirrels who are employed by the University to do certain jobs around campus. “For example, do you ever wonder why the Engineering Fountain barely ever works? Well Antonio, another ground squirrel, goes in there and bites off wires and other things so the fountain malfunctions. Then the fountain people can have some work to do instead of driving around in their little carts. That one was Cordova’s idea,” Salieri told me.
So if you are ever walking in Academy Park and feel like giving your hands the good ‘ol clap, just know that you are making Salieri, the spotted ground squirrel, one step closer to bronchitis.
