Flowers, sand dunes, snow plows and those guys that scrape fliers off the sidewalks: all are essential to Northwestern’s grounds crew.
The crew, part of Facilities Management, aims to make the campus as enjoyable as possible for the university community.
The 55-person force is responsible for planting more than 30,000 flowers and mowing more than 250 acres of grass each year. The crew also tends to the restoration of shrubs, trees and paths.
But campus grounds maintenance was not always the priority it is now, said Tim Spahn, Facilities Management’s ground services foreman.
Thirty years ago, crews were “just keeping up with the forces of nature,” Spahn said. Large construction projects dominated the campus landscape, the most notable of which was the 1962 Lakefill addition that expanded the campus eastward by 74 acres. Crews imported barges of sand from Indiana to extend the shoreline from just east of Kresge Hall to its current location.
Former NU President Arnold Weber strove to dramatically improve campus grounds maintenance, Spahn said. Upon Weber’s appointment in 1985, he hired several degreed horticulturalists and a dedicated landscape architect, Ann Ziegelmaier, who still works for the university.
A decline in construction has allowed the university “to concentrate less on adding and more on maintaining,” Spahn said. Few major projects have disrupted the landscape in the past 15 years.
Facilities management declined to give the specific dollar amount it spends on groundskeeping but said it comprises about 2 percent of its budget.
“We don’t publish those numbers because there’s a professor who calls every year to complain that money is going to water the grass and not to his research,” said Tim Keller of financial management at Facilities Management.
The size of the grounds crew ranges from 20 employees in the winter to 50 during peak planting season in the spring.
Fourteen groundskeepers, five utility workers and between six and 30 temporary employees fill out the staff. The temporary workers assist groundskeepers and pick up litter.
Temporary workers also scrape all the fliers off campus sidewalks twice a week.
“We spend an unbelievable amount of time on those fliers,” Spahn said. “But we have to do it.”
Other obstacles to grounds maintenance are on-campus events, 5K races, football games and commencement ceremonies, Spahn said. Also, the area surrounding The Rock is hard to keep in good condition, Spahn said.
The NU grounds crew manages to meet the basic horticultural needs of the university, and it puts extra work into several high-profile areas on campus: the arts circle near Regenstein Hall of Music, the sign at Clark and Chicago and the flower bed on the library plaza.
The university likes to show off the campus and its beauty, and well-kept areas and the surrounding grounds help attract prospective students, said University Relations Vice President Al Cubbage.
“A nice-looking campus is critical to recruitment,” he said.
Students also appreciate the often-unheralded efforts invested into the campus grounds.
“It’s one of the prettiest campuses around,” said Kimberly Allan, a Weinberg sophomore.
Speech freshman Jenny Meyer agreed.
“Most universities just put a building in,” Meyer said. “A lot is done to make it better here.”
Of all the areas on campus, the Lakefill seems to be the favorite among students, who often are found jogging on the paths, studying on the rocks and gazing across the lake.
“(The grounds) are an important part of the college experience,” said Todd Lukens, a Weinberg freshman. “This is, after all, where we live, not just learn.”
