UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES 
 
 University of California Berkeley 
 
TO THE 
 
 STUDENTS, FACULTY, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 OPPOSITION to the Strawberry Canyon site for the Stadium has been 
 represented by several newspapers as purely local and personal. It 
 is not reprehensible that the residents of the district, chiefly college pro- 
 fessors and professional men of limited means should feel deeply the loss 
 of the privacy, view and natural beauty for which they and their families 
 have had to work long and make many sacrifices. But it is unjust and 
 ungrateful to assume that such people who continually make sacrifices 
 in their devotion to their work for small compensation, could not be 
 unselfish enough, to accept cheir losses in silence for the sake of the 
 University's interest. But they, as well as we, who are not in any way 
 financially involved in the issue feel very positively that the loss to local 
 property owners is infinitesimal as compared to the loss to the Uni- 
 versity. In support of their position and ours, the following arguments 
 are submitted to you: 
 
 (You will note that the statements under each heading where expert opinion is 
 involved appear over the signatures of men of long experience and training in their 
 respective fields.) 
 
 First. Athletic Considerations: The location of the stadium in 
 Strawberry Canyon would prevent its being the central unit of a large 
 athletic establishment. Yale and Harvard have long since recognized 
 the need of such establishments to counteract the tendency to profes- 
 sionalism and to attain the English ideal of sport for all rather than great 
 athletic proficiency for the few. There is no comparatively level ground 
 near Strawberry Canyon, either on or off the campus, and the acquisition 
 of adjacent private property and the grading necessary to secure level 
 fields would entail enormous expense. We therefore urge that a large 
 field be chosen west-of-Shattuck Avenue, or on the campus itself near 
 Agricultural Hall, and that the Stadium be made the central feature of 
 this field. There could be no more fitting memorial to those who fell in 
 the Great War than to provide for democratic athletics. 
 
 Second. Considerations of Transportation and Accessibility: 
 Whatever provision may be made for transportation and the handling of 
 crowds at Strawberry Canyon, it is quite obvious that better provisions 
 could be made if indeed they do not already exist at any of the other 
 sites. These considerations obtain with particular force to the west-of- 
 Shattuck locations where there are several transportation lines that are 
 not charged with heavy normal traffic and where automobiles can be 
 parked and handled with much greater ease. In statements that have 
 been made regarding the accessibility of Strawberry Canyon, the hori- 
 zontal distances from the various car lines have been given, but no men- 
 tion has been made of the vertical distance. 
 
Third. Architectural Considerations: The masterly skill with 
 which the Stanford Stadium was constructed and its great impressive- 
 ness when filled with a crowd have led many persons to assume that the 
 same sort of structure could be built with equal ease and excellent results 
 in Strawberry Canyon. We, the undersigned do not agree with this view 
 and offer the following serious objections: 
 
 (a) The Canyon is too small to accommodate a structure of the size 
 required, approximately 80(3 feet long by 600 feet wide. To cram into and 
 across the mouth of this rather narrow canyon a huge earthwork mound 
 whose top would be about forty feet above the end of Prospect Street and 
 about ninety feet above Piedmont Avenue would be a repetition on a colossal 
 scale of the common error of crowding a large house on a small lot. It is 
 very difficult for laymen to visualize this, and a scale model of canyon and 
 stadium would clearly show the unfitness of the site. 
 
 (b) A very steep slope, almost amounting to a cliff, will apparently 
 have to be carved in the side of the Big C Hill in order to secure earth for 
 the structure. It would obviously be very difficult to mask such a slope 
 with planting. 
 
 (c) The axis of the Canyon is east and west. The axis of the Stadium 
 should of course, approximately coincide with this to make the Stadium 
 properly fit its natural surroundings, but this is impossible because of the 
 practical requirements of keeping the west sun out of the players' eyes. 
 
 (d) The development of the walks along Strawberry Canyon, walks 
 that would far exceed the beauty of Addison's famous one at Oxford, have 
 long been the hope of many teachers and students of the University. The 
 canyon's informal beauty with its infinite variety of deep ravines and open 
 glades of trees and plants and flowers, and its wealth of bird life would 
 always provide a perfect foil to the monumental dignity of our many stone 
 buildings. The construction of the Stadium in Strawberry Canyon would 
 in a large measure destroy the inspiration that nature has placed there for 
 men to profit by. 
 
 Every architectural problem is one of location, design and construc- 
 tion. We believe that in this instance a grave error is being made in the 
 first very important phase, and that no detail study of the later phases will 
 avail unless the Stadium is greatly reduced in size. 
 
 Signed, 
 
 W. G. CORLETT, U. C. '10, Architect, Oakland, Stadium Builder. 
 H. H. GUTTERSON, U. C. '05, Architect, San Francisco, Stadium Builder. 
 W. T. STEILBERG, U. C. '09, Architect, San Francisco, Stadium Builder. 
 W. H. RATCLIFF, U. C. '03, Architect, Berkeley, Stadium Builder. 
 BRUCE PORTER, Landscape Architect, San Francisco. 
 
 Fourth. Considerations Affecting the Greek Theatre: The unique 
 beauty of the Greek Theatre as a setting for University activities has 
 contributed no small amount to the distinguished reputation of this 
 University. The placing of the Stadium in Strawberry Canyon almost 
 adjacent to it will inevitably limit the possibilities of its use. Even now 
 with California Field more distant and with its noises not reinforced by 
 any such megaphonic action as the Canyon back of the Stadium would 
 provide, is a source of disturbance to speakers and musicians and to the 
 audience in the Greek Theatre. 
 
 Signed, 
 
 JULIAN R. WAYBUR 
 W. E. CHAMBERLAIN 
 
 Fifth. Scientific Considerations : The particular part of Strawberry 
 Canyon which would be destroyed by the building of the Stadium on the 
 proposed site serves as a natural Biological Laboratory which is open 
 at all times for the use of students of the University and the lower 
 schools. If this laboratory is destroyed it can never be replaced. A 
 
Chemical of Physical laboratory can be built and equipped at will. 
 Money will buy all that is needed. But a natural Biological laboratory 
 cannot be made. It exists now in Strawberry Canyon. It is the largest 
 and best equipped laboratory on the campus and the most valuable 
 because no amount of money can buy another. Zoology and botany are 
 of the first importance in the development of hygiene, medicine and 
 scientific agriculture. The University cannot do its work properly in 
 these important fields if deprived of one of its most precious means of 
 instruction and research. 
 
 Signed, 
 
 DR. BARTON W. EVERMANN, 
 
 Director of California Academy of Sciences 
 
 DR. HARVEY M. HALL, U. C., 
 
 Carnegie Institution at Washington. 
 
 The fact that the Regents, all men and women of distinguished 
 achievement, give many hours of their valuable time to our University 
 makes us hesitate to challenge their judgment. But we feel that in this 
 case there has been brought upon them an undue pressure of haste and 
 that the issue is of such vital importance that they must be asked to 
 carefully reconsider their decision. You as students, as members of the 
 faculty and as Stadium builders can appeal to them as parties who are 
 only interested in this issue in the welfare of your University. The 
 letting of contracts is imminent; immediate and forceful action is neces- 
 sary. Write to the Regents at once in protest. You who are Stadium 
 builders can most forcefully express your serious concern by calling 
 attention to the fact that you subscribed for a certain location and that 
 there was nothing in the "conditions" of the contract empowering 
 anyone to depart from the purpose for which money was collected, with- 
 out first securing your definite written consent. 
 
 CAMPUS PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION 
 
 (Room 617) 519 California St., San Francisco 
 
 NOTE. There are no dues for membership in this association. Expenses are 
 met by voluntary contributions. Surplus funds will be donated to the -University 
 for campus improvement purposes. If you subscribe to the above ideals and opinions, 
 send your name to the office of the Association. 
 
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