{"id":30959,"date":"2024-03-28T15:05:35","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T19:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=30959"},"modified":"2024-04-07T11:42:29","modified_gmt":"2024-04-07T15:42:29","slug":"furman-to-open-taco-bell-tower-in-iconic-landmark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/furman-to-open-taco-bell-tower-in-iconic-landmark\/","title":{"rendered":"Furman to open Taco Bell Tower in iconic landmark"},"content":{"rendered":"

Furman University announced today, April 1, that it will soon open a taco stand on the ground floor of the campus\u2019s iconic Bell Tower. The stand will be called Taco Bell Tower.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t know why we didn\u2019t think of this sooner,\u201d Furman President Elizabeth Davis said. \u201cWho doesn\u2019t love tacos? We\u2019re gonna put smiles on a lotta faces, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davis, wearing a hard hat and steel-toed boots, spoke from the Bell Tower where workers were busy installing a walk-up window and making electrical and plumbing upgrades for a commercial kitchen. Saws and jackhammers roared and buzzed in the background, updating the Italianate architecture dedicated in 1965; it is a replica of the 1854 tower that stood on the former Furman campus in downtown Greenville, before tacos were introduced to the area.<\/p>\n

\"Fake

Taco Bell Tower, established April Fool’s Day, 2024.<\/p><\/div>\n

Davis said the idea for a taco stand came to her on a recent visit to Waco, Texas, where she once worked as a professor and provost. \u201cTaco stands are everywhere in Texas. It\u2019s part of the culture there, and it\u2019s spreading across the nation, thank goodness,” Davis said.<\/p>\n

Davis and husband Charles Davis were at their favorite taco stand tucking into a basket of barbacoa and al pastor when Joanna and Chip Gaines, the TV personalities known for renovating houses around the area, walked up. The couples got to talking about food and remodeling when, Davis said, \u201ca bell went off,\u201d and Taco Bell Tower was born.<\/p>\n

The Board of Trustees approved the plan, faculty cast a unanimous vote of endorsement and representatives from Furman\u2019s four institutes met to hash out details. Vegetables for Taco Bell Tower will come from the Shi Institute for Sustainable Communities\u2019 organic garden. The Institute for the Advancement of Community Health is busy creating healthy taco recipes, \u201cas long as they taste good,\u201d Davis said. The Riley Institute is working on a bipartisan discussion of the merits of tacos. And The Hill Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship said they will hold a special taco pitch competition where they will \u201cinnovate the heck outta some tacos.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students will have a chance to learn the fast-casual restaurant business first-hand, adding value to their already valuable Furman degree.<\/p>\n

Taco Bell Tower will be a boon for new academic offerings, said Beth Pontari, interim vice president for academic affairs and provost. \u201cTaco Bell Tower is what The Furman Advantage is all about. It’s engaged learning at its best, a hot bed of sociology, anthropology, business, economics research and internships, and we’re working on a study away,\u201d she said while designing BOGO coupons on her laptop. \u201cWe\u2019ll have a new data analytics class in the fall called \u2018Tallying Tacos.\u2019 This venture is going to set Furman apart in higher education.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The

Taco Bell Tower will be open late during finals week.<\/p><\/div>\n

The stand will be open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., with extended hours during finals and commencement. Customers can expect regular promotions, including free tacos to whomever brings in Blitz, the Wofford University mascot.<\/p>\n

The music department has been busy working on a theme song for Taco Bell Tower, riffing on the alma mater. \u00a0A sneak peek showed that \u201cA mountain river laves her feet\u201d will become \u201cSalsa on tacos can\u2019t be beat.\u201d They\u2019ve also created a distinguished \u201cdong\u201d sound that will peal from the tower and at the end of the fight song. Admissions is including TBT on their prospective student tours.<\/p>\n

Not everyone was happy about the Taco Bell Tower concept. SCDOT will start next month creating a new exit off Poinsett Highway to funnel business to the venture. Neighbors have been vocal about the change in traffic patterns.<\/p>\n

\u201cWait \u2019til they have one of our tacos,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n

This story first ran on April Fools’ Day<\/strong>, 2024. Several tacos were consumed during the making of this content.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Taco Bell Tower will integrate traditional taco tastes into The Furman Advantage, creating academic and occupational opportunities for students while keeping it fresh. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":389,"featured_media":30975,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[2681,2398,2682,2683,2644,224],"class_list":["post-30959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-administrative","tag-april-fools","tag-comedy","tag-humor","tag-tacos","tag-tfa","tag-the-furman-advantage"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/389"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}