Southwestern College - Moundbuilder Yearbook (Winfield, KS)

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Another School Year Begins Preparation for a new year is virtually impossible. The only way to prepare is to get plenty of rest before moving day because it is guaranteed that there won't be much leisure time during the tirst hectic week. There are boxes and suitcases to unpack, and more boxes to unpack, and boxes, and boxes . . . There are old friends to greet and new friends to meet. Many activities are scheduled to help students and faculty relax and get acquainted. There are books to buy . . . big, long, often expensive, books to purchase. As class enrollments soar over predictions, the race to acquire books becomes fran- tic. The only comfort in buying the books is knowing i 'ss 1 A BIOLOT J , that the bookstore employees also had to do some unpacking- and shelving. Registration lines hurt as much as buying that S30 biology book. The computer facilities produced a new slogan, hurry up and wait . The lines in the gym were short to be sure, but the line to pay . . . let's go on! The secretaries lightened the waiting with their special T-shirts saying Don't Bug Me! I'm a Lady . Some students received a math lesson by helping the photographer identify his roll of film. For refreshment there' was the Alumni Booth, which revived the poor, tired souls with soft drinks or coffee.

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A Tradition Begins From a speech by Dean Allen, 1927. I propose the inauguration of a new college custom, absolutely unique among all the colleges of the world. This ceremony is to be known as The Building of the Mound. Nobody but mound- builders can build mounds. So no other college has now, or is ever likely to have such a custom. It is highly appropriate to Mound- builders, but would have little meaning to others. There is a de- cided advantage, I think, in having at least one custom that is abso- lutely distinctive of this institu- tion. So many of our customs are copied, not only by us, but by a thousand other colleges. Such customs, being mere imitations, come to have little significance. But I challenge anyone to point to a college that has anything like what is proposed in the building of the mound. For many years Southwesterners have been known as The Mound- builders. But this was a mere fig- ure of speech. Literally they built no mounds. But now it is pro- posed that they actually do so in a solemn ceremony that will at once symbolize the traditional constructive tendencies of the College, and at the same time pledge the loyalty of faculty and students to Alma Mater. My suggestion is that tonight, at the gloomy hour of nine, every loyal Southwestern student and faculty member come to the foot of the sacred 77. Let every stu- dent who is disgruntled and has in his heart no love for his Alma Mat- er not mar the occasion by his presence. Let every faculty mem- ber who has lost the spirit of youth and has in his make-up no spark of sentiment or sentimen- tality, if you prefer to call it so, stay at home and go to bed. But let all who love Southwestern and who would not only receive bene- fits from their Alma Mater, but also contribute something to her greatness-let all such not fail in this solemn hour and sacred cere- mony. Let each come armed in one hand with a candle, torch or other light and in the other hand with a peb- ble, stone, rock or boulder, on which he has inscribed his name with pencil, chalk, fountain pen, goose-quill, brush, or chisel. Let the college band in full regalia as- semble at the same place fifteen minutes before the hour and dis- course sweet music-or as sweet as may be considering the re- hearsals they have not yet had. Then at the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dul- cimer, saxaphone and all kinds of musick, let each student and Prof. come forth from his home, domicile, room, sleeping porch, attic, or hole and in sol- emn mein and orderly array line up behind the aforesaid band. Then as the bell in the steeple strikes nine, let the trumpets sound an advance, let the candles be lit, and let the column pro- ceed, the band playing, the flags waving, over the campus and up the sacra scala-the seventy-seven steps to heaven-and around the north end of Richardson, lights gleaming, eyes sparkling and noses shining. Onward leading, still proceeding, let the band guide the procession to the hallowed spot'where the mound is to be built. Let all gather close in breathless silence. Let an address be given by some silver tongued orator on loyalty to Southwestern or some similar theme, let the mound be dedi- cated, let prayer be offered, let the bugles sound from over the hills, let each student come for- ward, and instructor too, and, in token of his desire to build his heart and life and spirit into his Alma Mater, press the stone on which he has written his name into the soft cement that shall bind the whole together-not that his rock and name be seen-but that it shall be there, concealed and wrapped up as a token be- tween him and his Alma Mater that they understand one another and are united forever. Then let the tomtoms boom over hill and dale, let all join hands-permitted by special action of the deans for this one occasion only-and let all unite hearts and voices in the singing of Alma Mater . Then let all go home with peace and joy in their hearts that they are a part of our great college. Let none despise the sweet sim- plicity of these ceremonies. Who knows what solemn thoughts, what high resolves, may per- chance be born that night in the heart of some impressionable freshman or sad-eyed senior fac- ing his last year at Southwestern. Even a cocky sophomore, a world-weary junior or a hard- boiled Prof. might, by a miracle of grace, be regenerated in that hour. Let this ceremony be repeated every September as the students assemble at Southwestern, each student putting in one stone each year of his attendance and each instructor one for each year of his