Rolling of Toomer's Corner oaks to continue at Auburn

By Mike Morris

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Auburn University students and fans worried that the tradition of “rolling” the oak trees at Toomer’s Corner after Tiger football victories had ended can rest easy – for now.

The stately oaks were poisoned last fall, allegedly by a fan of rival University of Alabama, and the university announced Thursday morning that while it won’t be known until at least next spring whether the trees will survive, the tradition of covering the trees with toilet paper will continue this fall.

“After months of reviewing options and obtaining input from the campus, the community and the team of horticultural, agronomy and soils, and forestry experts working to save the trees, Auburn University and the city will allow the tradition of rolling Toomer’s Corner to continue, at least temporarily, this fall,” the university said in statement. “At the recommendation of our experts, the university will no longer use high pressure hoses to clean the trees; they will be cleaned by hand.”

The university had considered suspending the tradition or moving it elsewhere but said that “most of these options created new or additional concerns” related to crowd control, traffic, and safety issues.

Harvey Updyke, a rabid University of Alabama fan, was arrested in February after he allegedly called a sports radio talk show and bragged that on the weekend after the Tigers defeated Alabama in football last fall, he drove to the Auburn campus and poisoned the trees, which adorn the corner of the campus across from Toomer’s Drugs.