Spring quarter is my favorite quarter at DU. The grass greens, trees bud, days lengthen and the end is near.

This time of year is also a firm acclamation that we made it through the often-depressing winter months. With seven weeks to go, we not only made it, but are on the home stretch.

The spring weather allows us to get out and experience the campus in ways not possible during the winter quarter. The beauty of nature reviving is wonderful to observe. True, one might have found pleasure enjoying the many winter vistas available from “overlooks” in univeristy buildings. But that pleasure is fleeting–the chairs are all bolted to the floor facing the least appealing direction.

For those who, like myself, must frequently escape their apartment (or office) for a stress-relieving walk, the weather is welcoming and can yield unintended discoveries.

For example, the seemingly simple Buchtel Tower holds an unknown window into the past.

In 1983 the Buchtel Chapel burnt nearly to the ground, allegedly with the documentation of the university’s debt.

The tower is one of four bell towers that remain after the fire, and as you are aware, its purpose is mostly asthetic, both night and day.

But if you take time to look in the windows you see the charred remains of a wooden floor, scarred brickwork and dangling electrical fixtures.

Although the exterior is restored, the interior is a sealed memorial to the day the fire took the building.

Other adventures might take you around the new construction sites (fun to watch, not to listen), around historic University Park, through the Humanities Garden or into someone’s office with a view (although not advisable).

In spring the many voices that scream across campus return to full volume as students pick up games of campus golf, campus Frizbee and campus “look at me with no shirt!”

Do you people even have class?

Enjoy spring at DU, watch for flying Frizbees, but the campus is yours to explore.