ABELE QUADZOBOOMAFOO JUNGLE—Celebrations echoed through the Allen Building this morning after the finalization of a multi-million dollar donation from the Lemur Center to the Duke Endowment. Reportedly, administrators were worried that Duke would need to raise tuition in order to allocate more funding. However, with the help of the Lemur Center’s funding, Duke can raise tuition just because they want to—not out of necessary.
As a gesture of gratitude towards the Lemur Center, Vice President Ennis announced that West Campus’ Abele Quad will be renamed “Zoboomafoo Jungle,” an homage to the PBS children’s show that was produced at the Lemur Center. So why the change?
Ennis pledged his respects to the original namesake of the quad, Julian Abele, the architect who designed West Campus. Abele was a prominent African-American scholar and a pioneer of his time.
“Julian Abele may have captured Gothic Revival academic architecture through his planning of West Campus, but Zoboomafoo captured the hearts of millions of children on his hit television series that ran from 1999-2001.”
When asked to respond to the critics of the new name change, Ennis replied, “Nobody really calls it Abele Quad. It’s time to move on. And move up, down, all around, just like a lemur swinging through the trees, as seen on the Emmy Award winning television series ‘Zoboomafoo, which ran for exactly 65 episodes.”
We attempted to reach President Price for comment, but he was distracted, muttering and giggling about lemurs having “pretty colors and tails.” We Madagas-can’t wait for the ribbon cutting ceremony this Thursday, which coincides at 5:00 with the farewell demolition of the Abele Quad dedication plaque.
Comments