For several years it had been Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer's idea to build an ice rink for members of the Brandeis community to use during the winter. Over winter break, a rink was finally constructed on the lawn between the Shapiro Campus Center and the Feldberg Communications Center.Mark Collins, the head of University services, oversaw the construction of the rink, and Union Vice President Erica Lemansky '05 submitted the official proposal to begin the project.

For Sawyer, the rink is reminiscent of one of his favorite activities: curling, the ice-borne sport in which a competitor uses a brush to push a large stone across a sheet of ice.

However, Sawyer likely won't be seen on the Brandeis rink, an iced-over wooden frame measuring only a few dozen feet long, as curling requires a surface at least 140 feet long. Instead, he envisions the new rink as "standing-around" ice.

"I had suggested it for a few years," he said. "Some students in the [Student Union] executive board got intrigued."

Sawyer was first exposed to curling while working at Bemidji State College in northern Minnesota. On Friday nights in Bemidji, a small town of approximately 11,000, the social epicenter was the local curling club, which Sawyer said was the place for 50-cent beer and live music.

In the 1980s, Sawyer took his interest in the sport to a competitive level. He played on three nationally-ranked teams. He competed in an Olympic-qualifying event in 1987, when curling was made a demonstration sport for the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary. It has been a medal sport since the 1992 Games in Albertville, France. Sawyer said interest in his sport took off during the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, when curling matches, or bonspiels, aired during prime time.

"A lot of people were watching," Sawyer said.

Today, Sawyer belongs to the Broomstones Curling Club in nearby Whalen, where he curls once a week. In the past, he said, there was a curling club at Brandeis, and he offered a curling class during the last incarnation of the Communiversity program.

The Department of Student Life will oversee the rink, but Sawyer said that even with the safety risks commonly associated with ice sports, there are no special liability issues. He does not expect students to attempt hockey games on such a small playing surface.

"People fall when they skate just like they fall on roller skates, bikes, or the hill in East Quad," Sawyer said.

And Sawyer is looking forward to 2006, when the World Curling Championships will be held at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell.