There is a story that the UCSC tour guides still occasionally tell about the founding UCSC Chancellor Dean McHenry: Allegedly, during initial construction in 1964, any tree on campus over 12 inches in diameter had to have the chancellor's personal approval before it could be cut. In the construction of the road to the small parking lot behind the main library, there was a spot where the road was squeezed between a second growth redwood and a steep bank. The construction crew and campus planners asked the chancellor for approval to cut the tree, and he allegedly refused and told them to find another way. Thus there is still a timed red traffic light on the road to the library behind the art center.

The main library was named after the first chancellor and became the McHenry Library. Dean McHenry died in 1998. He didn't live to see the massive expansion of the library named after him. Read More and View Photos

see also: Santa Cruz Tree-Sit, Call for Upstairs Guests