University of California Berkeley - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Berkeley, CA)

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lue and of their drill-masters. On account of the fact that sophomores and juniors are all busy in the ranks, this courtesy devolves largely on the senior class, which, only recently liberated from the thralldom of the military department, finds its new-granted liberty so volatile that there must needs be some little celebration of the change. Under self-appointed officers, the seniors usually form a mock company and march in review past the timorous freshman ranks, their exhibition of tactics being scandalous after three years ' instruction. This march often takes the form of a close inspection of the freshman material and a very free comment on the striking points in the demeanor and general appearance of the more noticeable recruits. The first day ' s drill is always made so farcical that nobody in command expects results. The ignorance of the average freshman concerning campus customs was made the excuse for many tricks. New arrivals were sent to the exclusive fraternities to negotiate for board, yes, even for membership. One class a few years ago hit upon the clever device of printing free meal tickets for luncheon at the Dining Association and distributing them to the hungry freshmen. The campus restaurant received a tremendous influx of trade and its proprietors had a sad time collecting their money. The thorny days of intrants are now almost over. With the dissemination of knowledge over the earth and the presence of information committees at all possible places of need, the freshman, though a fool, need not err in the path. These Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A. committees after all stand for the broad college spirit which is taking the place of the old class spirit. In the change there is some loss, but there is also great gain. As the old Roman says : Then none were for a party ; Then all were for the State. Out of the custom of hazing have grown several unique organizations, established for the prime purpose of putting the freshman thr ugh his paces. Theta Nu Epsilon is such a society, its active membership being sophomores and its object, the subjugation of unruly freshmen. In order that no evil results may ensue, the sophomore names have ever been kept discreetly secret. The Axe Club, which flourished a few years ago, had a spectacular initiation and s ' everal freshmen were made conspicuous in the eyes of the college world. Just recently, so strong is the hazing spirit, the mysterious Chi Kappa Pi society came into existence and lived long enough to make a number of freshmen famous for the rest of their college career. Rushing the Measly Sophomore Interclass hostility, aside from the practice of hazing, had its manifestations in the hoary custom of rushing, a trial of strength between the two lower classes, in which the freshman was allowed a chance to prove his mettle instead of meekly submitting to a one-sided ordeal where he had no chance to defend himself. Although there were many skirmishes in the intermittent guerilla warfare between freshmen and sophomores, there have come to be in the past a number of set battles, whose times and nature were as fixed as Commencement and Christmas. The initial rush was often the fiercest. It brought out more men, for it meant much to the victor. The class that tied its rival vip on this occasion established a prestige which lasted, as a rule, throughout the whole of the year, and often longer. Hence the seniors and juniors saw to it that a full representation from the lower classes put in an appearance. Often this recruiting developed pitiful cases of bashfulness and quiescence. But on the whole a very determined array of hostile forces assembled. The battle was fought out on the campus plain at night, the whole area being devoted to the conflict. The freshmen got the place of honor and nervousness, waiting for the onset of the sophomores from the hill above. A long line of anxious youths stretched from goal post to goal post and had their spirits kept up by the exhortations of pugnacious juniors. Up on the hill in the gloom the sophomores were gathering, and the unexpectedness of their onslaught helped in no small degree to disquiet the nerve of the waiting freshmen. The clash, always delayed, came with both sides on the qui vive and meeting each other in full gallop. The onslaught once made, the rush became an individual affair, and man-for-man the two classes worked out the question of supremacy. Rope, preferably tarred, and liberally used, baling wire and even handcuffs, if the honor of the class, as well as its purse, demanded heroic measures. all these came into play ; and soon a pile of victims removed to the backstop began to indicate how the fortunes of the battle were turning. Often a sudden rally would turn the tide. Sometimes the deft hands of co-eds, with scissors and penknives, would release a 22: Class Pilgrimage

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The Purification of Freshmen Whether freshman hazing will ever totally die out is a question you or I had better not answer. Faculty legislation so fai seems to have been in vain. The sight of the verdant newcomer on the campus stirs the primal savage in the sophomoric breast and leads surely to some outrage of insignificant proportions, perchance, though just as likely to end in something more momentous. It has been the brutal gloating over a defenseless victim that has brought about the very general practice of giving the freshman a thorny entrance into the University. And yet the custom is not utterly reprehensible. To wit, the men who were hazed the hardest in their freshman days show the keenest ingenuity in devising similar trials for the novitiate of others succeeding. Originally a freshman was subject to mere physical torture in order to test his manliness. The custom persists in the tenderness which characterizes some forms of modern Greek letter society initiations. Later the test became less physical and more mental, an effort being made by the upper class men to discover any latent intelligence in the newcomer. Hazing had as many forms as freshman verdure permitted- Particularly of service was the marvelous intricacy of the matriculation scheme as laid down by Recorder ' s Office, military department and gymnasium. Each of these offered infinite fields for the fertile brain of the sophomore. Bogus examinations in all kinds of subjects were given in out-of-the-way rooms by grave student professors. Impossible questions. Blue end ' COMPLETE VICTORY OF THE FRESH. VEX O ' EK THE SOPHS fAT THEIR FIRST RUSH OX THE CAM PC . Blur and Gold, iggo the failure to answer which meant disgrace and rejection, were hurled at the trembling preps. Often more picturesque tests were made, and history is still fresh concerning the case of a certain aspirant for forensic honors, who had his vocal powers tried from North Hall steps to the library, the extemporaneous oration being hurried to its chJse by a deftly thrown bucket of water from the upper floor. Measurement for gymnasium work was a limitless field. Scared freshmen were ' ped in the gymnasium by bogus professors and given a blood-curdling medical examination with strength tests galore. Particularly gullible subjects were sent away king with the understanding that they were so deficient physically that it was a miracle that they could still stagger around alive. Others were given an entirely frent impression of themselves and were flattered to hear that their muscular development had broken all records. Measurement for military suits was always a sure trap, and the undergraduate tailors saw to it that the freshman candidate for regalia furnished enough amusement to pay for their trouble. The greenest freshmen were often given a preliminary drill as a try-out for the colonelcy. One squad a few years ago was so imbued with martial ardor that their drill-master brought his men to a halt about the flagpole and had a dedicatory service with prayer and song, concluding the ceremony with an adjournment to the co-operative store, where eternal allegiance to that institution was sworn. In connection with the military department one perverse tradition holds and is hard to eradicate. It is the very general reception accorded to the awkward -nman recruits on the day that they first line-up for heroic treatment at the hands 21 :

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whole horde of prisoners and the struggle would have to be repeated again. with the spirits of the tired captors greatly ruffled and co-educational sentiments getting badly jolted. Nothing was so thoroughly depressing as this co-ed strength, which could never be calculated upon and yet often proved so disastrous. The older and more experienced class, even when sadly outnumbered, would usually give the freshmen all they wanted to do, and the close of the battle often found half a dozen vainly trying to tie up a vigorously fighting survivor of the already whipped sophomores. The close of a rush was simple. The dead and wounded were counted roughly and the president of the vanquished class was allowed to surrender gracefully. Then the victors gave class yells, hoarse with dust and shouting, and then the pile of tousled, bruised and discomfited foes was assorted, untied and turned over to despairing relatives and sweethearts to be patched up for tomorrow ' s recitations. Blue end Charter Day Activities Charter Day, March twenty-third, has other associations now, but at one time it meant deep strategy, undergraduate cunning and a short, sharp conflict on the hills in the early morning. Custom required the freshmen to place their class number on the hills behind the grounds some time during the night. The use of lime and f O .T Syec-J. AVaX oUV V-tt X V.sV- i s v ! t ' JX ' V 3 Sf . e N 5 . - r$ $ ffet :,;.. ' - vM ' ii:.; i ' c. ' sf -,--- .--.----- ' - ' ' - - - i-iiBSiris T TO W:fe ' - KicuperaXicm ; ' t i i, ' g T a wf (,o rf, W newspapers was generally enough to make the figures conspicuous for miles, but one ambitious class once excelled its predecessors by using cement ! The transportation of rock and water and cement by hand required a large force of men for the greater part of the evening, but the stone numerals stood for a long time, a monument of undergraduate enterprise. After the figures had been made, custom required that the ffirecious emblems be protected throughout the night. Those long hours around a fire, perched above thfe sleeping to-n. telling stories and singing songs, waiting anxiously for the onslaught of a hidden foe. those were good times after alL Custom further dictated that no well regulated sophomores would allow those. numerals to stay in their place without a passage of arms. Hence a strong force would see to it that the hill was stormed generally before sunrise. Instead of marching in a battle line, as they did in the initial rush of the year, the sophomores preferred to surprise their opponents. This included disposing of the pickets and stealing all stragglers that were caught away from the main body. Then, the swift swoop down on the freshmen, and the old tie-game. There was always something homelike about 23 Clan Pilgrimage