Muir College Buries Weed in 50th Anniversary Time Capsule

Muir College buried a time capsule containing weed and other items in the Muir Woods Coffee Shop for its 50th anniversary celebration on April 20.

“Someone suggested putting in cannabis,” said Muir College Archivist Patricia Vasquez. “So that’s what this is, this is cannabis going into our time capsule in honor of the legalization of marijuana this year.”

Muir College is celebrating its 50th anniversary this school year. In October, a time capsule that the inaugural class of Muir College buried was opened by Rachel York, a member of the class. It contained a list of the first class of students.

Students, faculty, and members of the public were allowed to send suggestions to the Muir College 50th Anniversary Committee. The committee decided to bury the original contents of the time capsule, along with cannabis, letters from the committee and former Provosts, a projector with an SD card that contains footage of Muir College, gifts from student organizations, and other items.

The time capsule burial ceremony started off with a processional by the Cameron Highlanders, the bagpipe group that played at the burial of the first time capsule 50 years ago. Muir College Interim Provost K. Wayne Yang gave an introductory speech about the first time capsule and announced former Muir College Provosts, who then gave speeches. Visual Arts Professor Li Huai also gave a lost painting of Muir College to the college as a gift.

Former Provost Susan Smith gave a speech about how the time capsule was found and the pressure she faced to open it during the Muir College 40th Anniversary celebration a decade ago.

“The first Muir class buried it in 1967. They buried it at night; nonetheless, Revelle found out about it,” former Provost Smith said in her speech. “A group of Revelle students were going to go dig it up and steal it so another group went out at night, unburied it, and buried it in a secret place. Everybody promptly forgot about it.”

The time capsule that was buried this Friday will be opened in another 50 years in 2067, when Muir College celebrates its 100th anniversary.

Ethan Coston is an Assistant News Editor for The Triton. You can follow him @Ethan4Books

Update: For a full list of items included in Muir’s 50th anniversary time capsule, see here.