Dartmouth vs. Princeton vs. Columbia?

japanoko
Wed, 13 Apr 2011 17:42:25 +0000

Anyway, if you’re looking for the traditional college experience, it’s definitely Princeton or Dartmouth. I would lean more towards Dartmouth if you want pure tradition. Honestly, we have so many–Greek life, bonfire, Winter Carnival, Green Key, hockey game vs. Princeton, midnight snowball fight, “Worst Class Ever,” The Dartmouth 7, etc



DatmouthForever, huh?

it is pretty hard to beat Princeton for “pure” tradition, as you are claiming here. Princeton defines tradition.

the following are only a few:

TraditionsArch Sings – Late-night concerts that feature one or several of Princeton’s thirteen undergraduate a cappella groups. The free concerts take place in one of the larger arches on campus. Most are held in Blair Arch or Class of 1879 Arch.

Bonfire – Ceremonial bonfire that takes place in Cannon Green behind Nassau Hall. It is held only if Princeton beats both Harvard University and Yale University at football in the same season. The most recent bonfire was lit November 17, 2006, after a twelve-year drought.

Bicker – Selection process for new-members that is employed by selective eating clubs.
Prospective members, or bickerees, are required to perform a variety of activities at the request of current members.

Cane Spree – An athletic competition between freshmen and sophomores that is held in the fall. The event centers on cane wrestling, where a freshman and a sophomore will grapple for control of a cane. This commemorates a historic freshman uprising against a university tradition that only sophomores and upperclassmen were permitted to carry canes, in which freshman attempted to rob sophomores of their canes in defiance of the rule.

The Clapper or Clapper Theft – The act of climbing to the top of Nassau Hall to steal the bell clapper, which rings to signal the start of classes on the first day of the school year. For safety reasons, the clapper has now been removed permanently.

Class Jackets (Beer Jackets) – Each graduating class designs a Class Jacket that features its class year. The artwork is almost invariably dominated by the school colors and tiger motifs.

Communiversity – An annual street fair with performances, arts and crafts, and other activities that attempts to foster interaction between the university community and residents of the Princeton.

Dean’s Date – The Tuesday at the end of each semester when all written work is due. This day signals the end of reading period and the beginning of final examinations. Traditionally, undergraduates gather outside McCosh Hall before the 5:00 p.m. deadline to cheer on fellow students who have left their work to the very last minute.[73]

FitzRandolph Gates – At the end of Princeton’s graduation ceremony, the new graduates process out through the main gate of the university as a symbol of the fact that they are leaving college. According to tradition, anyone who exits campus through the FitzRandolph Gates before his or her own graduation date will not graduate.

Gilding the Lily – Promotion ceremony at the 25th reunion of a class. Alumnae of the University (aka “Tiger Lilies”) enjoy the courting of male classmates, amid song and much drink (see Newman’s Day). Traditional chants include: “In Princeton Town the Youth abound, and do young Tigers make. Women return as Gilded Lilies, the men as Frosted Flakes”.

Holder Howl – The midnight before Dean’s Date, students from Holder Hall and elsewhere gather in the Holder courtyard and take part in a minute-long, communal primal scream to vent frustration from studying with impromptu, late night noise making.[74]

Houseparties – Formal parties that are held simultaneously by all of the eating clubs at the end of the spring term.

Ivy stones -Class memorial stones placed on the exterior walls of academic buildings around the campus.

Lawnparties – Parties that feature live bands that are held simultaneously by all of the eating clubs at the start of classes and at the conclusion of the academic year.

Locomotive – Chant traditionally used by Princetonians to acknowledge a particular year or class. It goes: “Hip… hip… rah rah rah tiger tiger tiger sis sis sis boom boom boom chicka chicka rahh!” Following it are three chants of the class that is being acknowledged. It is commonly heard at Opening Exercises in the fall as alumni and current students welcome the freshman class, as well as the P-rade in the spring at Princeton Reunions.

Newman’s Day – Students attempt to drink 24 beers in the 24 hours of April 24. According to the New York Times, “the day got its name from an apocryphal quote attributed to Paul Newman: ‘24 beers in a case, 24 hours in a day. Coincidence? I think not.’”[75] Newman had spoken out against the tradition, however.[76]

Nude Olympics – Annual nude and partially nude frolic in Holder Courtyard that takes place during the first snow of the winter. Started in the early 1970s, the Nude Olympics went co-ed in 1979 and gained much notoriety with the American press. For safety reasons, the administration banned the Olympics in 2000 to the chagrin of students.

Prospect 10 – The act of drinking a beer at all ten eating clubs on The Street in a single night.

P-rade – Traditional parade of alumni and their families. They process through campus by class year during Reunions.

Reunions – Massive annual gathering of alumni held the weekend before graduation.

The Phantom of Fine Hall – A former tradition that, before 1993, was the legend of an obscure, shadowy figure that would infest Fine Hall, home to the Mathematics Department, and write complex equations on blackboards. Although mentioned in Rebecca Goldstein’s 1980s The Mind-Body Problem, a book about Princeton graduate student life (Penguin, reissued 1993), the legend self-deconstructed in the 1990s when the Phantom turned out to be John Forbes Nash, the inventor of the Nash equilibrium.