Then and Now: Traditions Gone By

Traditions help us align with something special, especially when we are new to a place. Traditions are ideas and beliefs passed down from one generation to the next. They're not rules, but rather guidelines. They create a thread that ties us to our roots and to each other.

Back in the day when we didn’t have such an expansive Student Life division that today provides activities and events, students created their own traditions and customs.

Many of those practicies have been replaced with others. Some because interest waned, others for legal or risk management precautions.

Take the green beanies donned by freshmen in the 1950s and ’60s. Newbies wore them on campus, and with the beanies came a set of rules to follow. If a freshman failed to follow a rule, they were sent to Kangaroo Court. This tradition was discontinued in 1968.

Knights and Spurs (later Setons), GU’s service organizations, sponsored a Charity Ball to raise money for a local worthy cause. Setons continue this tradition. Knights waited at Crosby Library every evening and offered to walk any student requesting an escort back to their residence; now Campus Security provides this service. The longstanding tradition of big brothers and sisters in these organizations dressing their new members in crazy get-ups to wear to classes, is another custom determined unbefitting the University’s values. But the skits performed by the new Knights in the COG during dinner were quite entertaining, I've been told.

Remember the annual ASGU student rodeo at the Spokane Fairgrounds? Student Life staffer Marilyn Nelson ensured that all safety measures were in place and observed. But in the 1990s, these types of activities became too big a risk (along with merry-go-rounds at community parks).

Aprilfest was a celebration of the budding trees and flowers, the freshness in the air and Madonnastock, a concert on the quad featuring campus and area bands and performers. A glorious celebration of spring. However, Spokane's music scene was growing rapidly, providing other concert venues for students to enjoy. Fortunately, that began happening just about the same time the University recognized an increased need to fund security for all that outdoor stage equipment, and there was a rise in neighborhood noise complaints to curb.

OTHER TRADITIONS GONE BY

Weekend movies in Hughes Hall Auditorium, a room and custom eliminated through renovation near the beginning of this century

• The big sheet hung from the second floor of Herak Center facing the Quad on which movies were shown during Aprilfest
• “Waiting on FM” was a raunchy improvisational student- led theater feature to let off steam just before finals week that poked fun at everyone from faculty and administrators to priests and student leaders ... think Tom Brady’s spring 2024 roast ... funny, but not for the faint of heart
• Granny’s sandwiches in CM at 10 p.m. before nearly every food vendor in town began delivery service
• SYR dances, where your roommate would choose your date for the evening
• The baseball team’s annual halftime skit at one basketball game every year . . . it was hilarious and well-received by Bulldog fans (but cut into the players’ practice time)
• The toilet seat clapper early Kennel Clubbers used to engage the crowd, i.e. up and everyone yelled, down and you could hear every word Coach Dan Fitzgerald uttered in the old Kennel
• Makeshift happy hour on Friday afternoons on the first floor of CM, before GU had a dry campus
• Intramural football homecoming parade prior to kickoff of the River City vs. The Whalers contest
• Buses to and from State Line on weekend nights when the Idaho drinking age was 19
• Bananas tossed from the hill behind the third-base dugout near Upper Campus Drive at Washington State baseball Coach Chuck “Bobo” Brayton in the coaching box . . . not very neighborly. But one day the venerable coach picked up a banana, peeled it, ate it and tossed a smiling glance (and the banana skin) back at the fans, much to the delight of the instigators, who cheered heartily for the rival coach after that. Perhaps a lesson learned.
• The Wall was once a place for commentary on issues of the day and the occasional marriage proposal or date request. The structure is known to today's students as The Bulldog Board and GSBA oversees the scheduling of promotions for campus activities. It also sports the first names of all new students who confirm their selection to attend GU each year.

OUT WITH THE OLD IN WITH THE NEW

Dean of Student Development Matt Lamsma is particularly proud of some of the new traditions his staff and students have started on campus, like Story Slam and a “signature event” by each recognized culture club, Tent City (now Kennel Campout) prior to selected basketball games in the winter, Diversity Monologues and a formal dance in the spring.

Staff and students collaborate with a downtown concert venue to offer a free spring concert, replacing what was Madonnastock. First-year seminars now connect students with hallmates, a way of helping them to better acquaint themselves with people living on their floors while learning more about Gonzaga. Our recently built residence halls even sport classrooms inside their walls where these classes are taught by GU faculty.

A few other traditions have arisen in this 21st century:

• Tree-lighting ceremony on the first day of Advent in the Rotunda at Hemmingson Center, complete with a serenade of holiday music from Big Bing Theory, a beautiful start to the holiday season
• Kennel Club’s “Zombie Nation” that starts about three minutes prior to the end of men’s basketball warmups in the Kennel and fires up the crowd of nearly 6,000 for every home game. (Good thing architects provided structural reinforcement for the student seating section in McCarthey Athletic Center to allow for the extra stress on the structure with 75 tons of inertia jumping up and down on the floorboard.)
• Gathering in the Hemmingson Center for any excuse to see friends, catch up and have a coffee or snack

Changes are inevitable, no question. Many of Gonzaga students’ traditions and customs needed a break.

But wouldn’t it still be a little fun if students could poke fun at President Thayne McCulloh’s Count Dracula academic regalia, as self-described by the president? Or maybe not . . .

Onward!