Over the years, the statue of Abraham Lincoln at the top of Bascom Hill has been painted red for a student protest of McCarthyism, surrounded with plastic pink flamingos and sat on by countless graduates asking for good luck.
Likely one of the most recognizable features of the UW-Madison campus, the bronzed statue of Lincoln peers east toward the state Capitol. When unveiled at commencement on June 22, 1909, according to a Wisconsin Historical Society write-up, the president of the Board of Regents called the statue “a sign to all future generations of the high ideals of American citizenship.” President Charles Van Hise apparently imagined thousands of future students silently absorbing the great manâ??s virtues as they walked past.