Campus Marks Dr. Seuss' Birthday

Ioana Patringenaru | March 7, 2011

The cake for Dr. Seuss' 107th birthday celebration at the Geisel Library.

One slice, two slice ... red slice, blue slice. Actually, staff members at the UC San Diego libraries handed out about 2,000 slices of cake to mark the 107th birthday of Theodor Geisel, also known as Dr. Seuss, Wednesday on Library Walk. Some of the slices were covered in blue fondant. Others sported red cream flourishes and red fondant dots.

Before digging into five different kinds of cakes, members of the UC San Diego community and visitors to the campus sang “Happy Birthday” for Dr. Seuss.

Debbie DeWalt, lives in Erie, Penn. and was in town to visit her son, who is in the Navy. She and Dr. Seuss share a birthday, she explained. “It’s a great excuse to be a kid again—and get in on my own party,” she said, when asked what brought her to the UCSD campus. She should have brought her “Cat in the Hat” hat and slippers and her “Green Eggs and Ham” T-shirt, she said. She collects Dr. Seuss items, she explained. “Green Eggs and Ham” is her favorite book.

It’s also Sireesha Mudunuri’s favorite. It’s the first book she read on her own, she said. The political science major from Warren College and colleague Rachel Bayuk, a human development major from Thurgood Marshall College, were enjoying chocolate and vanilla cake. It’s nice to see so many people out for the celebration, Bayuk said. The two were taking a break from giving campus tours. “It’s a nice treat,” Mudunuri said.

Giving a break to UCSD’s serious, hard-working students is one of the celebration’s goals, said university librarian Brian E. C. Schottlaender. The other is to celebrate Geisel’s legacy. Most of his original works are housed in UCSD’s central library, which also bears his name. Geisel was a big supporter of UCSD, as his wife, Audrey Geisel, still is.

The couple often used to visit the campus while the library was being built. Geisel once said that it looked exactly like a library he would have designed, Schottlaender said. Geisel also placed great importance on literacy and on teaching young children how to read, the librarian said. In fact, many of Dr. Seuss’ early books are aimed at beginning readers, Schottlaender added.

University Librarian Brian E. C. Schottlaender cuts the birthday cake.

Before giving an interview to San Diego 6, Schottlaender rolled up his sleeves and cut the birthday cake ordered for the occasion, which featured a 3-D Cat in the Hat head perched atop a sheet cake decorated with tons of blue fondant. At times, it took two knives and a spatula to tackle the confection, which featured blood orange and French buttercream.

Soon, students, staff members and faculty were lining up, requesting that cake over the other four kinds of sheet cakes available. Within a few minutes, the cake had turned into a mess of crumbs and fondant. “It’s not pretty but it’s good,” said Claire Hopkins, events manager for the Chancellor’s Office. Much like in “Green Eggs and Ham,” the point is that you have to give it a try, she added.