Since it was claimed by a lightening storm in 1923, there hasn't been much wind going through Old Willow. However, the Undergraduate Student Government plans to change that.

Sometime in the late 1800s, Penn State's first president, Evan Pugh, returned from England bearing a clipping of a willow tree supposedly from the home of poet Alexander Pope.

He planted it on the Willard Mall between his home and Old Main. It grew there until a storm killed it more than 75 years ago.

Since then there have been several unsuccessful attempts to plant saplings of Old Willow, but USG plans to try again.

"Old Willow is part of our Penn State tradition," USG Town Sen. Andrew Pope said. "People say that our generation has fallen out of old traditions, but this will show we still have pride in our school. It's a piece of history."

And Old Willow is more than a tree. It's two stories in one.

"There are two stories surrounding Old Willow," USG West Halls Sen. Justin Wade Blankenbicker said. "One is public and one is not-so public."

The public story is simply the story of Pugh bringing the tree over to Penn State, known as the Farmer's High School at the time and planting it as a "Tree of Knowledge."

The not-so-public story is surrounded by mystery. When the tree still grew in the Willard Mall, students could be seen bowing to it when they went past. The only way to find out why a student bowed was to ask him or her in private.

No third party could overhear the explanation, and so the story remained fairly unknown.

"Traditions provide a sense of community and belonging," Blankenbicker said. "They are a common ground which all Penn State grads can remember. In the '70s some of those traditions began to fade away, and newer students don't really have anything to grasp onto except riots and parties."

Blankenbicker does know the full not-so-public story, but won't reveal it except in one-on-one exchange.

Rumors are that saplings from the original tree still exist and are being kept alive by the horticulture club. There is also possibly a descendent of the tree growing in the backyard of a former Penn State trustee somewhere in Bellefonte, but no one is really sure.

"I've talked to a few people and no one I know has a sapling," head of the department of horticulture, Dennis Decoteau said. "We don't traditionally save germ cells for that long, but it certainly would be a nice thing if they could find and replant a descendent."

If no descendent can be found, USG would consider planting a non-related willow tree.

"It would be nice, for the significance of it, to plant a real descendent," Blankenbicker said. "Of course, if we can't find one, another willow tree will mean the same."

Prior difficulties with growing Old Willow descendents was chalked up to the elms on the Mall, but with the possible removal of the elms in the future, re-growing the willow will not be as difficult.

"It won't take a $300,000 endowment to plant this new tree," Blankenbicker said. "We just need to dig a hole, plant a little sapling and take care of it. But the meaning would be priceless."

The USG hopes, if the willow is planted, that it will be considered for a class gift.