Upon entering college, students not only become privy to academic knowledge, they also learn the traditions of their schools. Here is a list of CollegeOTR’s Top 10 Craziest College Traditions.
1) Vassar College: Each year freshmen and seniors partake in an event called Serenading. Seniors walk dorm to dorm where freshman sing songs insulting the senior class and students throw condiments, ranging from chocolate syrup to water balloons filled with ketchup.
2) Texas A & M: At sporting events, Texas A&M fans scream “Hump it Aggies!” from a position called a 'hump,’ which involves bending over with hands on the knees and pushing out their diaphragms.
3) University of Pennsylvania: After the third quarter of football games, UPenn fans sing “Drink a Highball,” which refers to the unofficial UPenn cocktail. During the last line of the song, “Here’s a toast to dear old Penn,” fans toss toast into the air.
4) Wells College: During the morning of the last day of classes, seniors decorate a statue of Minerva on campus and after singing a song take turns kissing the statue’s toe.
5) UC San Diego (Muir College): Each year student at the Muir College at UC San Diego drop a 200-300 pound pumpkin stuffed with candy from the 11th floor of the Tioga Residence Hall before their annual Halloween carnival.
6) Miami University: On the Thursday preceding spring break every March, local bars open at 5:30am to serve green beers, cocktails, and shots, as well as green eggs and ham or green bagels, for Green Beer Day. Students wear all green and then stick out their tongues once green to take photographs.
7) Dartmouth College: The Ledyard Challenge is a tradition in which students swim from the Ledyard Canoe Club on the New Hampshire banks of the Connecticut River across to the Vermont bank, then return by running naked to a particular spot on the Ledyard Bridge.
8) Rutgers University: Each spring, senior commencement exercises include smashing clay pipes over the Class of 1877 Cannon monument to symbolize severing the old college umbilical cord.
9) Stanford University: During the 1970’s, the school teams sought a politically correct team named and chose The Cardinal, meaning the color, not the animal. In order to have a live politically correct mascot, they chose a tree. At sporting events, the tree is known to fall to the ground.
10) Oxford University: At beginning of each new century, the Fellows of All Souls at Oxford hunt for their mallard, which legend says was lost about 600 years ago. One chosen students, called the Lord Mallard, leads a parade through college while wielding a duck on a stick.
