The Oval (also known as the Stanford Oval)
is an oval-shaped sunken lawn on the
Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
campus in
Stanford, California
Stanford is a census-designated place (CDP) in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is the home of Stanford University, after which it was named. The CDP's population was 21,150 at the United States Census, ...
, United States. It has had flower plantings in the shape of the letter "S", for Stanford.
Though the oval space has existed since the start of the university, its current look dates from 1980 when an anonymous couple donated $150,000 for it to be renovated. A central flower garden was added and paths repaved.
The lawn once had a statue called ''Faith''. The
Olmsted Brothers
The Olmsted Brothers company was a Landscape architecture, landscape architectural firm in the United States, established in 1898 by brothers John Charles Olmsted (1852–1920) and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (1870–1957), sons of the landscape ar ...
recommended removing the statue in 1914. In 2020, students created a memorial in the Oval following the
murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...
of
George Floyd
George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 – May 25, 2020) was an African-American man who was murdered by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest made after a store clerk suspected Floyd had used a counterfeit tw ...
.
The lawn has served as a meeting place for other protests. It has also been recreated in "Stanford in Minecraft" in 2021.
References
External links
The Oval Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
Use of the Oval Policy Stanford University
Stanford University campus
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