From watering hole to swimming hole, the fountain in Palmieri Plaza has beckoned for a generation.
Students cool off in it on sultry summer days. (So has at least one president.) More than a few mischief makers have added liquid soap to the water, turning it sudsy.
Even UMW President Troy D. Paino has taken a dip in the fountain on Palmieri Plaza. “Can take one item off my bucket list!” he wrote on Twitter in the summer of 2016.
Now the fountain is the bubbling source of a scandalous rumor. Too pricey to maintain, the gossip goes, it is going away. Not so, says Vice President of Administration and Finance Lynne Richardson.
“The rumor is just that – a rumor,” she said. “Now you know!”
Named for beloved geography professor Richard Palmieri, Palmieri Plaza is one of the most-trafficked places on campus. The fountain, built in 1987, is its centerpiece, an iconic beacon here to stay.
Now you know.