Head Grounds Supervisor Richard Newton reported “an extraordinary, and somewhat frightening moment Saturday afternoon as I was getting ready to leave after the start of the second Commencement ceremony.”
While he was driving down the Varsity Drive extension behind the tennis courts he noticed a large deer standing in the middle of the road, at 3 p.m., in the middle of campus.
Realizing this was odd, and seeing she was in distress, he stopped and looked around, and sure enough, there was a brand new fawn hiding behind a tree by lot 9. The mother headed back toward the baby and they both wandered into lot 9a, which was full of cars for Commencement. The doe coaxed the baby out into the lot, but it wouldn't go far due to the hot asphalt on its soft hooves, and it laid down.
Richard then noted, “Mom went over across Ring Road and just stood there by lot 26 waiting, but the fawn wasn't having anything to do with it. Knowing what chaos would be caused if the fawn was still in lot 9 when everyone came out to their cars, I scooped up the baby and carried it over to where the mother was just waiting for us. The fawn had no problem walking on the cool grass, and they scampered off together to the grove behind the [Campus and Community] Children's Center."
