Grand Valley State University removed the pendulum ball that was located near Henry Hall on the Allendale Campus on the evening of Sept. 16.

Tim Thimmesch, associate vice president of Facilities Services at GVSU, said taking down the sculpture was a decision collectively made by Facilities Services, Facilities Planning and GVSU’s Risk Management Department.

Recent Vine videos were posted showing individuals riding the wrecking ball, and a Twitter account was created encouraging students to take photos swinging on the pendulum.

Before coming to the final decision of taking the pendulum down, there were other options discussed.
“We considered just raising the height of the ball, but in the end, determined it would be best to remove it at this time,” Thimmesch said.

There were already students taking over the area, asking for the ball back on Sept. 17. One girl had a guitar and sang her own rendition of Miley Cyrus’s “Wrecking ball,” replacing the original lyrics with “we just want to swing again.”

Thimmesch said the ball will eventually be returned to campus after some changes to the design.
“The pendulum ball will be stored at this time pending improvements to the existing site or a new, future location that it might be better accommodated,” he said.

The untitled sculpture was designed by Dale Eldred and given to GVSU in 1995.