Stanford University - Quad Yearbook (Palo Alto, CA)

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An Eastern French teacher, visiting the Stan- ford campus, summed up thus her opinion of the buildings which house the University: ' Je n ' aime pas les batiments bruns. Stanford students, however — even those with an equal distaste for brown buildings in general — find the Quad, Memorial Church, Encina Hall and the rest of our venerable construc- tions a little bit more inspiring. It is not so much that the spirit of the architecture evokes the distant past of California; few Stanford- ians, gazing on the Quad or Encina, are likely to wax poetic about this state ' s heritage from Spain. It is more important that these build- ings represent the past of the University. The Quad has been where it is as long as there has been a Stanford. Perhaps this is not very long by the standards of some lesser institu- tions, which shall be nameless, but to us young Indians, the age of our Alma Mater seems a great age indeed. The buildings we pass every day embody all Stanford traditions. Tresidder Union ' s patios are mo- dern, yet they follow the tradi- tional Stanford pattern in con- struction. One of the few structures to survive the 1906 earthquake is the wall in front of Quad. ' 11

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Toyon Hall is one of .Stanford ' s older dormitories. 10

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From dollic to Stanford woman is not a difficult step. Each graduating class leaves its own mark on the Quad, in the form of a block of stone, marked with the last two numbers of the year of graduation. It is not known what will happen when, in the centuries to come, there is no space left on the h.dlowed Quadrangle. But, gi en the in- genuity of the powers that be, we surely have no cause for concern. It is our dutv to report the strange tradition of the Full Moon. Some say this tradition is e idence of a mystic streak in the makeup of the Stanford student. Some say othervsise. At an ' rate, according to legend, no female undergraduate is trulv a Stanford woman luitil she has been kissed by a Stanford man in front of Memorial Church, beneath a full moon. One ersion of the legend, which has gained some acceptance outside of W ili)iu- Ihdl, holds that only an upperclassman can perform this trans- formation. But hell hath no fnr - like a freshman scorned, and it is said that some couples, pcrfomiing the prescribed ritual under the conditions .set down by custom, have been hit bv water ballons. Stanford ' s leading students of tradition, howe cr, agree that such an interruption does not aliect the validity of the ceremony. But enough of mysticism. We at Stanford are really hard- headed practical people, as demonstrated by the hard- headed practical organizations to which we can belong. For example, there is sometliiiig called the Legislature of the Associated Students of Stanford University, fondlx known as LASSU, which rules the campus with a finn hand. L.ASSU has the Quad and a number of other organi- zations at its mercy — so if this sentence has been cen- sored, ou will know why. If ou can ' t get into L. SSU — and not e er one can — maybe you can join the Alpine Club and climb mountains. . 11 kinds of organizations function on campus — well, almost all kinds. Partisan politics has recently become almost respectable, and the Young Republicans, even the Young Democrats (what would Senator Stanford say?) may meet on Stanford ter- ritor ' . But groups de oted to sectarian religion or to con- suming alcoholic beverages had better read Uni ersit ' regulations cn- carcfiillv before they call a meeting. 12