Apparently these are called 'desire paths' or 'desire lines' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desire_path http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desire_path). I've heard th

Apparently these are called 'desire paths' or 'desire lines' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desire_path http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desire_path). I've heard this story as well. From this conversation (http://ask.metafilter.com/62599/Where-the-sidewalk-ends http://ask.metafilter.com/62599/Where-the-sidewalk-ends) it appears that people have heard that this technique was used on quite a few college campuses. (I wonder how many are actually true.)