Vandals attempt to pry up the University of Michigan's block M seal from The Diag

By Juliana Keeping AnnArbor.com Health & Environment Reporter

Posted on Wed, Aug 26, 2009 : 2:32 p.m.

The brass block M seal on the University of Michigan Diag is gone after vandals attempted to pry it from the ground last week.

University of Michigan Police Sgt. Jason Forsberg said an officer was flagged down the morning of Aug. 21 by someone who noticed the M was partially pried up and was protruding from the concrete.

It was removed by the U-M welding shop for repairs. No one has been charged with vandalizing it, Forsberg said.

According to the Alumni Association of the University of Michigan, the landmark in front of the Hatcher Graduate Library has been in place since it was installed by the class of 1953. Prior to that, a brick-and-mortar seal had been in place since the 1920s. That seal was removed in 1952 to make way for a new walkway. The block M carries superstition that freshmen students who step on it before their first blue book exam will fail. In earlier times, it marked a spot of rivalry between freshmen and upper classmates. The frosh weren't allowed to set foot in the circle surrounding the seal or they'd suffer the consequences, so says the Alumni Association.