Brown University - Liber Brunensis Yearbook (Providence, RI)

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NIRRT Y 20 l Before coming to Brown, we all knew that any university in existence since 1764 had to be tangled in tradition. You had only to look at the gnarled ivy grip- ping red brick to sense the continuity which outlasts every season, every fresh- man class. Though we might not have recognized the novelty of walking through the Van Wickle gates on our first day of classes, by the time we walked through those rarely opened gates on our last day as undergraduates, we knew that tradi- tion at Brown is much more than given rites and sites tradition at Brown also encompasses a process of learning and growth that has been challenged in the past few years. To reach the depths of Brunonian tradi- tion, you must first acknowledge its sur- face: those quirky attitudes and beha- viors which mark two centuries of folks with noses in books and spirits sometimes pointed toward the stars. Imagine: two hundered years of jokes about Provi- dence as the armpit of America; two hun- dred years of rain, thousands of buckets of rain; two hundred years of lost sleep gathered for a variety of academic and social reasons. Brown, yes, Brown, that odd place that makes its scholars toil over Christmas vacation and immerses them in study while they are still reckon- ing with New Year's hangovers. Brown, the place that gives you a unique spring vacation, unique as it often appears that Brown is the only school on break at that 'unique' time. Brown, where seniors are prepared for real world responsibilities by having to wake up at 8 a.m. on a Mon- day morning to graduate. Naturally, Brown has its local customs, customs which must be engaged in at least once: depending upon your person- ality, you do these things as a wide-eyed freshman or a wild-eyed senior. There is John Hay's nose to rub. There is the wood in the Admissions office to, er, um, visit. There are candles in University Hall to admire on Rhode lIsland Independence day. There is the bar mitzvah quartet that serenades Ratty-goers on Spring Week- end to enjoy. Everyone goes to their first and some- times their last college football game as a freshman. Hockey games against Cor- nell and anything against Harvard always promise fireworks. All college sutdents must frequent at least one tacky diner and dive bar before they graduate. You know where they are in Providence if not, shame on you. Regarding the reason that we are all here in theory, academics witnesses its own routines, many of which developed recently. With the new curriculum, there is the traditional lastminutebeforethemid- semester deadlinechange ofgradeoption afterhavingreceived disastrousmidterm examresults behavior. One cannot forget UOSIIAA Wilson

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the howcanl pre-registerfornext semesterwhenl'm failingthisone dilema as well. Primal screams, group hugs, and library socials mark the modern era of Brown traditions. One cannot forget the tradi- tional trip to Health Services during at least one of your un- dergraduate exam periods for more details, refer to a Psych 1 textbook under stress-related ill- ness and hypochondria. There are still those elements that loom beyond time: be it only the constant marking of time as University Hall rings in the ten minute mark before classes and the Unitarian Church tolls each hour also. Something lasting moves you to applaud the last lecture of all your courses, whether transcen- dent or tedious. Beyond the Josiah Carberry days and screeches and bells, there is a process of real growth hopefully taking place for all those connected with this liberal arts institution. This growth is tradition that lends all the oth- ers validity. Unfortunately, given recent financial pressures pre- professional trends, and the spectre of University as corpora- tion, it is more difficult than ever before for most of us to absorb Brown's real 'tradition': to ap- preciate stretching your person- al limits as a goal in itself; to ab- sorb yourself in things that really interest and stimulate you as opposed to those things that might move you into a good grad school. Visions of the future make it hard to appreciate the present that Brown is and can be. If Brown is to continue as a leader in liberal education it must stress the value of learning for learning's sake - value which we must share with our past just as we share the dazzling views from our perches on College Hill of sunsets over Providence. Without recognizing the lasting tradition of spreading knowledge and encouraging growth, all the other Brunonian traditions fade faster than that dazzling sunset. Without Kecognizing The Lasting Tradition Of Spreading Knowledge And Encouraging growth, All The Other Brunonian Traditions Jade Faster Than That Dazzling Sunset. Epstein