RIT Tiger comes home

The RIT Tiger returned to the Quarter Mile on Aug. 11, following a three-year sabbatical on the edge of Fountain Park along the path to Global Village. A temporary perch near Hugh L. Carey Hall kept the tiger safe and accessible during the construction of the Student Hall for Exploration and Development (SHED).

A forklift operated by Boulter Industrial Contractors Inc. carried the 8-foot-long bronze statue to its home alongside the SHED. A small crowd of onlookers watching from the Eastman Kodak Quad staircase cheered when the boom operator set the tiger on its new granite platform.

The hollow bronze tiger weighs approximately 1,000 pounds. To prevent damage to the Quarter Mile and the tunnels beneath it, the forklift carried the statue behind the library and up through the winding path between the SHED and Monroe Hall.

The tiger’s reinstallation on the Quarter Mile anticipates the first day of classes in the SHED complex.

“The Tiger Statue is a beloved symbol of RIT that many students take away with them after graduation,” said Mark Williams, principal project manager for RIT Facilities Management Services. “The tiger was worked into the SHED design from the beginning, and we made provisions for its safekeeping. Now, it’s time to bring it back.”

The SHED is the largest project since the Henrietta campus opened in 1968. Construction began during the COVID-19 pandemic in summer 2020. The complex will open this fall with makerspaces, performing arts studios, and high-tech classrooms and includes renovated spaces in Wallace Library and Monroe Hall.

The RIT Tiger is a destination for many students and a favorite spot for graduation pictures. The tiger turns 34 this year.

RIT’s Student Government commissioned the bronze statue in 1989 to represent “Spirit,” the Bengal tiger cub RIT adopted as its first mascot in 1963. RIT students commissioned sculptor Duff Wehle to create the life-sized tiger to embody “’tradition, pride, and spirit at RIT,’” according to an article in the Sept. 21, 1989, issue of RIT’s News & Events.