Group One: Meaning around the University of Utah Campus

The University of Utah in itself is like mini city. The students, faculty, and all other people on campus have created their own community. There are several key places on the campus that hold the heart and soul of the people who go here. Each of these places has their own special meaning to the community of the University of Utah.

When Salt Lake City won the bid to host the 2002 Olympic games, it fell to University of Utah to host all of the world-class athletes that would attend. This meant that housing on campus had to basically be completely revamped. Thus, us students are lucky enough to have dorms that are less than ten years old. The dorms hold meaning to Salt Lake City in general because they stand as a reminder of the Olympics, and a time when the whole world was looking here. The dorms hold meaning as something less grand, perhaps, but very important for the students who live on campus at the University; they’re home.

The Utah Museum of Fine Arts is a very prominent place of meaning. From the outside it may look like an unappealing dank box, but once inside it is full of color and life. People go to UMFA for multiple things. Starting with the lovely burnt orange café with its lingering sent of coffee. People go here for a calm place to study or drink a cup of joe. However, the actual museum itself is one of the calmest places on campus. The noise consists of light footsteps and brains in the process of analyzing. In the museum right now is a collection called Las Artes De Mexico, which not only has vibrant colors but rich history, another reason to come to UMFA. UMFA is great for a calm serine place, coffee, history, or to analyze art; also, it is popular for students and families to spend a day bonding through an educational journey through fine art.


You can ask any student on campus where the student union is and they will be able to tell you. Why? Because it is the center of college life at the University of Utah. The Union Building is named after A. Ray. Olpin who was the president of the university. In this building you will be able to find information regarding clubs, student services, lost and found, and every discount pass imaginable. Events are scheduled daily whether it’s in the ballroom area or in conference rooms. Nearly everything you need can be found here. The Union building holds a lot of meaning for the students on campus because the whole basement is devoted to the students. A large cafeteria feeds them daily, and the break room features billiard tables, televisions, and even a bowling alley! Furthermore there is a farmers market every Thursday. The Union is the center of all activity on campus and without it the students wouldn’t have a place to hang out between their 45 minute break from physics to calculus.


Rice Eccles Stadium is located at 451 South and 1400 East in Salt Lake. Residing on the South-East side of the University of Utah Campus, Rice Eccles serves as the home of the Ute football team. On game days or nights during football season you can see the stadium from far away, packed with over 40,000 screaming fans all dressed in red. Rice Eccles today is not the same stadium it was just over a decade ago, though. When Salt Lake City got its bid for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in 1995, the old stadium, originally built in 1927, then known as Rice Stadium, was not at all ready to host the massive events of the Olympics. It was old and cracking, and simply not up to par. So, a wealthy Utah alum named Spence Eccles decided to step up and donate $10 million to upgrade the stadium. The entire stadium was demolished with the exception of the recently built south end stands immediately following the 1997 season and was ready by the time the 1998 season began. Because Spence Eccles’ and the Eccles Foundation’s generous donation, the stadium became known as Rice Eccles Stadium. Rice Eccles houses thousands of fans dressed in red ready to cheer on their Utes several weekends out of the year making it a special place and a place holding many memories for many generations of Utah fans. Rice Eccles also played host to the world by holding opening and closing ceremonies of the 2002 Olympic Winter games within its walls thus making Rice Eccles Stadium a place meaning for the thousands of people who flocked to Salt Lake City to see and participate in the 2002 Olympic Games.

The Park Building is a building of great meaning on the University of Utah campus. This massive and almost intimidating building is where the President of the University, and the other head-honchos, have their offices. The Park Building is at the head of President’s Circle, arguably one of the centers of the University of Utah. The shuttle stop at the head of the circle is a main stop to get to lower campus, or to ride it in order to return to the dorms. This is the stop you’d likely use if you had physics, writing, chemistry, or math class. The circle also encompasses a large grassy field, where lots of students rendezvous, and, more notably, Kingsbury Hall. This is where a great deal of the ‘culture’ found on campus occurs: music performances, comedians, you name it. The Park Building and President’s Circle, are landmarks at which to convene with others and centers of the travel around campus.