University of Tennessee livestreams the Rock 24/7
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One corner of the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville has cameras pointed at it at all times, livestreaming anything that happens there 24/7. The UT Police Department patrols the area. A student group monitors the corner.
All eyes focus on one thing: a giant rock
But why is a rock the focus of such scrutiny on the UT campus?
Well, it’s not just any rock. It’s the Rock, a monument to free speech on campus.
Two cameras livestream the Rock, located on the corner of Pat Head Summitt Street and Volunteer Boulevard. Anyone can see what message is on the Rock or who’s painting a new one in real time.
Students equipped with spray paint, brushes, paint cans and ladders routinely paint on the popular monument as a community message board. Here’s how it came to be under such round-the-clock supervision.
How long has the Rock been at the University of Tennessee?
UT unearthed the Rock in 1966 after the university acquired the land used by Calvary Baptist Church, which is now the location of the UT Student Health Center building. Previously, only a small chunk of the now famous and towering rock protruded from the dirt.
The university considered several names for the campus favorite – Kissing Rock, the Fellowship Stone, the Volunteer Image – before settling on the simple, yet aptly descriptive name “the Rock.” In the 1980s, students began graffitiing the Rock, The Daily Beacon reported in 2009. UT attempted to keep the Rock clean, but ultimately decided to let students keep painting it.