Management of the long storied “Cal Poly P” on the hillside overlooking Campus has been fully transitioned to an Associated Student Union program to keep the initial up to spec.
The letter had been decommissioned since May 2015 over safety concerns on the steep trail leading up. In July 2015 the California Conservation Corps participated in the effort to stabilize the ascent. Cal Poly spokesman Jay Thompson said the CCC rerouted, “some 900 feet of trail and installed corrective measures at the base of the P, as well as erosion control and protection, and steps to improve access and movement around the 50- by-35-foot concrete structure.”
In addition, a water retention pond was dug out above the P to divert runoff during the rainy season, a helpful addition to the plan with El Nino rains.
On Jan. 25 a group of faculty, administrators, and students unveiled the new ‘P’ resplendent in yellow and green stripes, which have since been repainted white.
On Feb. 8 a new program took over the administration of the P.
Whereas before, redecoration the P was an almost clandestine activity involving schlepping equipment and material sometimes in the dark, “students and others in the Cal Poly community will be able to reserve the P for six days — Sunday through Friday. They will then need to repaint it white.”
The school symbol last had a major renovation in 1997.
According to Thompson’s research, the letter predates the Oct. 22, 1919, issue of The Polygram, the first edition of the school year for the student newspaper.
At the time, rivalry between Cal Poly – then a four-year polytechnic co-educational high school – and San Luis Obispo High was intense. One day in 1919 things escalated rather quickly as Cal Poly student awoke to see their rivals had been busy erecting large stone ‘H’s on the City’s hillsides.
They counter attacked by changing each ‘H’ to a ‘P’ and eventually focused their efforts on maintain the single “Poly P” in its current hillside. – Camas Frank
