Palm Reading 101

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/dispatches/features/2011/kazakhstan_rising/nazarbayev_u.html

When Nazarbayev University opened its doors in 2010, the university's atrium held a staggering display of palm trees and fountains, transporting students and faculty to an educational oasis. Undoubtedly, that was the intended effect, as palm trees have been used for many years to represent wealth and exoticism.

Roman Mars, in his podcast 99% Invisible, takes the listeners through a brief history of palm tree transplantation. Perhaps most interestingly are the recent decisions by many cities like Los Angeles, although they claim the palm tree as a symbol of their city, to not replant the trees that are dying of old age and fungus. Palm trees, which can cost up to $20,000 each, only live to 60-70 years, and don't provide very much shade or oxygen.

Unfortunately, the palm trees in the atrium don't look like they will live that long. A quick glance around the edges reveals dying palm trees and yellow fronds. Can you read our palms and see the fate of our atrium? Which is bigger, the cost of the trees or the benefit we get from them? What should our institution base its reputation on, the constructed symbolism of our trees or the quality of our graduates?

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