University of Southern California - El Rodeo Yearbook (Los Angeles, CA)

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University Traditions As students in the University of Southern California, whether we are registered in the College of Liberal Arts, Law or Medicine, we all belong to the one great institution and for this reason we are interested in the affairs of the other colleges. Unfortunately four of the colleges are not situated on or near the campus and we have really little opportunity for mingling with their students and sharing in their activities. Therefore, in order that the students may know the customs and traditions that are prevalent in the various colleges of the University we will spend some of our spare time in making short visits to them and in learning from their students a few things about the inner circle. We will take the longest trip first. Boarding the electric car we are taken over the river and through the east side until we reach Garvanza. Here we alight and approach the mass of ruins that four months ago was the dwelling place of our College of Fine Arts. But undiscouraged by the loss of their building and materials, the faculty and students are hard at work. We stop in the shade of a tree near a young woman who is busily sketching a portion of the landscape and ask her if she can tell us about the school. We find that she is a senior and will be glad to answer our auestions. First she tells of Professor Judson’s drawing board, the one used by him while a student in the Julian Academy in Paris. The privilege of using this board is considered a great honor and is handed down from year to year to the student winning the Gold Medal. Then we hear of the various cere- monies at commencement time, the presentation of the senior’s gift, the giving of the candy-pan, the dippers and the soup kettle into the keeping of the Junior Class during their senior year and the ceremony in which the Juniors solemnly promise to faithfully care for and guard “granny who makes the buns.” The bun goes to the student doing the best work in the life class each week. Our friend also tells us of the new ceremony to take place this year which will establish precedence for the years to come. It seems that the bones and ashes of “Rastus” who was burned in the recent fire, have been placed in a black casket and the entire college will be summoned to pay tribute to his memory. Since the young lady has been so kind as to tell us what we wanted to know we will need to go no farther in this direction. Thanking her, we rush off to catch a car. 17

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modern appliances. The biological laboratories contain a large amount of histological material and a special emphasis is being laid upon research work, which has been greatly furthered by the recent establishment of the Marine Biological Station at Venice, California. The chemical laboratories of the Univer- sity, beside carrying on many investigations of scientific inter- est, have been responsible for some of the most important dis- coveries made in the industries of Southern California; among many others is the present method of manufacturing gas from heavy crude oil, and that of treating lubricating oils so as to remove all asplialtum and other gummy material. Another line of research has resulted in the discovery of the electrolyptic salt process of bleaching walnuts, the method used witli seventy-five per cent, of all the walnuts which are bleached in Southern California The honest place occupied by the University of Southern California of 1911 among the foremost universities of the West has recently been recognized by the State Board of Edu- cation, in the form of granting to the University the right to issue the High School Teachers7 Certificates on the same terms as those upon which they are issued by the Leland Stanford and the state universities. This means a marked stimulus to the work of the upper division as well as to the graduate department, and makes unnecessary the transfer of any student to the northern universities, either for greater advantages in under-graduate work or for the graduate course required for the teachers certificates. This significant honor finds the Uni- versity in the most prosperous season of its career; its develop- ment has kept pace with the steady growth and improvement of the city whose climate, harbor, water supply, and position in the citrus belt assure its continued prosperity; and it is the policy of the University of Southern California to continue to be a leading factor in the corresponding advancement of the educational life of the Southwest. 15

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On our way back to town we decide to visit the Law School. Here we are met by a crowd of busy-looking men, and when we stop a good-natured individual who seems to have more time than the others, he shakes his head and says he never heard of any traditions floating around there except work, hard work. That sounds well, but we guess he’s not the man we are looking for so we move on. After we have talked with six or eight students and have met only smiles or negative answers we decide that the first man must be right and we accept his answer. After all, work, hard work, is not a bad tradition for any school. When we arrive at the College of Dentistry and the College of Physicians and Surgeons, our results are similar to those acquired at the Law School. It matters little whom we tackle, we are met with the same puzzling gaze and a still more puzzling answer. A dental student (apparently) starts to cross the hall. In his hand is a pair of large, dangerous-appearing forceps, gripping fiercely an inch and a half molar. We almost lose our nerve, but fortunately our sense of duty overcome» our fear and we proceed to impede his progress. ”Beg pardon, sir, but could you tell us about the traditions in this college.7’ ‘ ‘Traditions—-er—ah— nawl iVe been here two years and haven’t seen any signs of any traditions yet ’ We try another tusk artist, as he files the edges off a set of falsie teeth. 1 ‘Too busy for traditions around here,” he says and continues his exercise. At the Medical College we find a group of ten or fifteen pros- pective members of the physicians’ trust vociferating with great dirigibility on some subject bearing no relation whatever to college traditions. We approach a man standing off to the side who appears to be a little more reticent that the others. Again our question is put. He meditates a minute, then shouts, 18