Columbia University sundial

The sundial was originally topped with a 16-short-ton (15 t)^[1] dark-green granite sphere, dubbed the "Sunball", which served as its gnomon. The stone was sourced from Mount Ascutney in Vermont,^[2] from a quarry that was reportedly "well-loved by a group from the class of 1885".^[3] The sphere was the third of its kind made, after the first two were rejected for having cracks.^[4]

Originally planned by McKim, Mead & White to be purely ornamental, astronomy professor Harold Jacoby suggested that it be presented on behalf of the class of 1885 as a sundial, as a gift that would both be aesthetically pleasing as well as "possess a distinct educational value".^[5] It was intended to be placed in the center of 116th Street, which at that point had not yet been sectioned off by the university, to serve as a "haven of rest" for students walking across campus;^[6] after objections from the New York City government against placing a 7 ft (2.1 m) tall sphere in the middle of a busy street, it was moved to the side of the road in front of Butler Plaza, which was then the college's football field.^[7]

A plaster model of the sundial was presented to the university by the class of 1885 in June 1910 to mark its 25th anniversary, and construction on the actual monument began shortly thereafter.^[2] It was completed and presented a second time on May 26, 1914.^[8] In total, the installation cost around $10,000.^[9] A contemporary university publication claimed that the Sunball was the largest stone sphere on Earth.^[7]

A crack in the Sunball was discovered in 1944, which continued to grow until 1946, when the university found it too unsafe to remain. The university attempted to hold the sphere together, first by inserting a bronze rod into it and then with an "unsightly iron band",^[4] before erecting a chicken-wire fence around the sundial and removing it altogether in December 1946.^[3][10][11] At the time, it was reported to have been broken into pieces and sent to a stone yard in the Bronx.^[11]

However, the Sunball was rediscovered intact in a field near Ann Arbor, Michigan in 2001; the owner of the field had inherited it from an unknown Columbia affiliate.^[3][5] Efforts have been made by students to recover the Sunball, though concerns around costs as well as the wish to preserve the bare pedestal's role as a "free speech corner" on campus have prevented its return.^[3][5]

The sundial has been noted as a meeting area for students, as well as a site of frequent protests.^[10][11][13] Since the removal of the Sunball, its pedestal has become a popular location for protesting students to make speeches—so popular that, during the turbulent 1960s, the university banned for a period the use of microphones and amplifiers to address students at sundial rallies.^[5][14] Notably, the Columbia University protests of 1968 began at the sundial, where Mark Rudd addressed several hundred students at a rally on April 23, 1968, before they marched up to Low Memorial Library and occupied Hamilton Hall.^[15] In the early 1970s, the sundial was the site of frequent political effigy-burnings; victims included university presidents Andrew W. Cordier (1970)^[16] and William J. McGill (1973),^[17]Richard Nixon (1972, 1974),^[18][19] and South Vietnamese President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu (1975).^[20]

In addition to more recent protests, the sundial has also been used for candlelight vigils,^[21]Shakespeare plays,^[22] and several mock sacrifices of virgins.^[23][24]