The End of the Slackline Era
Outing Club Outraged
November 21 marks the date of the demise of a St. Lawrence landmark: the Outing Club slackline. On the corner of Lincoln and Park Streets, there grow two tall trees that dutifully support a faded red slackline, about 20 paces long. It has been there for as long as any current and past SLU student can remember. Many a walker has been entranced by this slackline when walking up and down Park Street, whether on a weekday or a Ticker night. Hands are held and laughs are shared as one by one they accept defeat in walking the line, tumbling onto the lawn. Parents with strollers stop along the route and help their children wobble across. From the OC porch, we cheer passersby along, promising them yummy treats if they can cross from tree to tree. Many a stranger has been invited onto the porch, friendships are made, and in turn, community is built.
Canton’s new Fire Marshall has laid down the law when it comes to fire regulations at SLU, particularly among theme houses, and even more particularly against the OC. The list of fire violation complaints she wrote up included our beloved slackline. The reason? A tripping violation for house members. “You can give every member of the outing club every drug under the sun and light the house on fire and not one of them would trip over that damn slackline,” said longtime house member Myles Barrett. “What’s it going to be next, cutting down our beloved side lawn tree because that’s a fire hazard too?”
House members are outraged at this request. The slackline seems to be a quintessential part of the lawn, an integral part of lawn culture one might even say. “I think the Fire Marshall taking it down is a gross overreach of power fueled by incorrect notions of what the Outing Club represents. That slackline provided joy to not only countless house members but also anyone passing by,” said Kyle Freundlich, voicing his concern on the matter.
“I can’t wait to do way more dangerous stuff now that the slackline is out of the way,” said fellow house member Hudson Durant. “I am completely and utterly distraught” said senior Ellie Nichols.
The slackline invites anybody and everybody to take part in the joy of slacklining. It welcomes anybody into the yard and connects people from across campus who they may not normally meet. The slackline built memories and grew connections. It is with heavy hearts that we say goodbye to the OC slackline, an icon of community on the St. Lawrence University campus.