“Harvard tradition cannot be greater than ordinary Harvard students. Alumni celebrate tradition, even endow it. But it is students who engage tradition…It is students who have the power to simply ignore what no longer seems relevant.”

Here’s another from Yale, “Philosopher George Pierson said that, ‘Yale is at once a tradition, a company of scholars, a society of friends.’ Now, after three hundred years of growth and change, traditions both silly and serious help create this inspiring community of scholars and friends.”

I know the bison song is one of Gallaudet’s most beautiful and time-honored traditions. One of the few that alumni and students both enjoy. Many universities have banned some long-standing traditions that inflicted harm on students’ well being. Texas A&M’s famous 90-year bonfire tradtion was banned when it resulted several deaths from the collapse due to poor structural issues. Perhaps certain traditions at Gallaudet could use a makeover or revive some old forgotten but not harmful traditions.

Perhaps the character assassinations of deaf people we are seeing on the blogs these days????

“According to the New York Times, “[t]he FBI has found that a history of cruelty to animals is one of the traits that regularly appears in its computer records of serial rapists and murderers, and the standard diagnostic and treatment manual for psychiatric and emotional disorders lists cruelty to animals a diagnostic criterion for conduct disorders. [1] “A survey of psychiatric patients who had repeatedly tortured dogs and cats found all of them had high levels of aggression toward people as well…”

Apparently it wasn’t a big deal on campus back then, which is kinda scary. I’m glad it stopped.

At the same time, it makes me wonder what traditions we’ll see as barbaric and inhumane 20 years from now.

The senior field trip mentioned in an earlier entry was known as “Sneak Day”.

I didn’t partake in the freshmen rituals including shaving heads. I think my class (99) is the last class to have a formal recognition before it was banned altogether.

I remember around then “sisterhood” and “brotherhood” to greek organizations popped up around then and I recall seeing one (i forget the name) group where the girls bapitised themselves in that blue dyed fountain pool by the hanson plaza cafeteria. ick.