Alumnus’ Gift Shines Light on Marshall-Wythe

Alumni, faculty and friends gathered late in the day on January 10 for the dedication of a new lighting system donated by David Short ’64. Thanks to his generosity, the statues now are illuminated from dusk to dawn as is the plaza behind them which leads into the Law School’s entrance hall. The system consists of lights set into the bluestone oval encircling the statues’ foundation and lights hung in the branches, and at the base, of each of the eight crepe myrtle trees that border the plaza’s north and south sides.

Mr. Short’s gift adds the finishing touch to a project, begun in the late 1990s, to create an entrance to the nation’s oldest law school that would be welcoming and would communicate the school’s storied history.

Key to this effort was the donation in 2000 of bronze statues of the Law School’s namesakes by Robert ’50, BCL ’52, and Sara Boyd ’55. In addition, the school expanded the original plaza’s width by ten feet and had it resurfaced with poured pebble concrete, accented by interweaving brick borders and squares of bluestone. A rustic rail fence that ran the length of the plaza was dismantled and comfortable benches were placed along the plaza’s edges. Gardeners added their magic by painstakingly planting some six thousand plugs of periwinkle beneath the crepe myrtle and creating flower beds that feature a rotating array of colorful plants and flowers.

Thanks to Mr. Short, the Law School’s signature statues and beautiful plaza now can be enjoyed both day and night.