Washington State University - Chinook Yearbook (Pullman, WA)

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Whenever you ' re listening to a lecture in Bryan Hall, working out in Bohler or Smith Gym, or just walking across campus, you may not consider that countless other students have trod the same steps you have since 1890. Perhaps those past students became successful businessmen or famous political figures; perhaps they took lesser roles in society—but whatever careers they chose for themselves, they affected this university with the traditions they formed and the lives they led here. They left for future students a reputation to live up to — they left stories of hard times, accomplishments, gaiety. . . they left memories that if recorded would fill pages and pages with their history. A large part of WSU ' s history involves tradition. Traditions make a college what it is. Possibly the most humorous and also the most abhorred was the practice of making freshmen wear green caps on their heads as a distinction of their ignorance. The caps were worn from fall to Thanksgiving and from Saint Patrick ' s Day to Campus Day, when they were finally burned in a huge bonfire and their wearers released from the imposing indignities caused thereby. It is doubtful that anyone kept their green cap as a remembrance of college days. Opposite page, top: Pullman as viewed from the campus in 1895. Bottom: The first graduating class, 1897. This page, top left: The girls of Stevens Hall, 1896. Top right: The original Ferry Hall (foreground) and Science Hall, c., 1896. Left: The burning of Ferry Hall, Thanksgiving Eve, 1897, and the remains shortly thereafter. Reflections 5

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4 Reflections

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Another tradition was that of greeting everyone on the sidewalk from the Administration Building to the Library with a big “Hello”, so logically the area was dubbed the Hello Walk. Contests of strength between the classes played a large part in the traditions that developed through the years. The annual Frosh-Soph tug of war across “Lake de Puddle” on Rogers Field was one way of proving class superiority, especially since the losers who were pulled across the line ended up “in the drink”. Each year, cherished traditions were carried out—the painting of the Frosh class numerals on the smokestack, the “reserving” of the stone bench next to Bryan Hall for Seniors only, the midnight serenades, and, of course, “sneak day” when all the Seniors took an unannounced day off from classes while the underclassmen entertained themselves by wearing the departed seniors ' clothes and mimicking wel 1-known upperclassmen in comic speeches during chapel hour. As with traditions, the personalities of many talented people also helped shape WSU into its present day form. Whether they were prominent for their brains, for their unique abilities, or simply because everyone liked them, they all added their own part to the history of the university. Among the many names which come to mind are Arthur Buckner “Buck” Bailey and Enoch A. Bryan. 6 Reflections