I was looking back through some of my files and found this compostion, dated February 13, 1992, that I had prepared for a class in Ozark Folklore at the University of Missouri-Rolla (now known as Missouri University of Science & Technology).
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The initiation of freshmen in one form or another is a matter with which every college student is familiar, whether having experienced it or merely having heard about it. The campus of the University of Missouri-Rolla is no exception and has had its share of initiation activities. Today's UMR students may observe initiation activities associated with particular groups such as fraternities and residence halls, but all of these activities had to have had a beginning somewhere in the school's history. Looking back to the first years that the ROLLAMO [MSM-UMR yearbook] was published, one can find accounts in class histories of the development of freshmen initiation traditions.
The exact origin of initiation activities is debatable, but one might attribute its beginning to Missouri School of Mines's class of 1909, who claims to have introduced college spirit into the school. They decided that no freshmen would be allowed to wear corduroy pants. From then on, the sophomores and juniors would capture the freshmen and bind them with rope. A struggle would ensue, of course, but the upperclassmen would soon prevail and the entire student body would join in a procession to a secluded location. There they sat on the hillside in the shade where some gave speeches and all joined together in song. All emerged from the gathering with a sense of good fellowship. It served as a unifying social event that enabled the upperclassmen to incorporate the freshmen into the student body.
The following year, the previous year's freshmen, now sophomores, felt obliged to continue the tradition. They added some creativity by inviting the freshmen to the cemetery. All freshmen were compelled to attend because the invitation came in the form of strong-armed sophomores wielding paddles in the middle of the night. Freshmen were pulled from their beds and carted off to the cemetery where they were required to sing songs, bark at the moon, and get tossed into the air with a blanket. They came away from the experience having had a good time and being better prepared to minister to the needs of the next year's freshmen.
By this time, the initiation of freshmen had become a tradition at M.S.M. The next September the new sophomores, donning their corduroy pants, set about the task. One day, however, was not quite enough, so they devoted the entire first week of school to the endeavor. Every night for a week freshmen were hauled from their beds and made to eat grass, sing songs, bark at the moon, and give old high school yells. They were given a good paddling and sent home only to have the same encounter again the next night. At the end of the week, the freshmen and sophomores were to engage in battle in the "Green Cap Scrap." The night before this confrontation, the freshmen were run out of town. The freshmen would meet to develop a battle plan and spend the night away from the harassing sophomores. In early years the freshmen retreated to the Grant House. After that, Panther Bluff was chosen. The enduring choice, however, was the Fairgrounds. Not much sleep was to be had due to the constant presence of sophomore spies sent out to keep the freshmen uneasy.
The following day, the freshmen arrived on campus and were met in battle. The scuffle could last anywhere from twenty to forty minutes depending upon the evenness of the matchup. Eventually, the freshmen would be defeated and bound with rope, often neck to neck in single file with tin cans trailing. Their appearance was then enhanced with the addition of nightgowns, signs, and red or green paint. They were then marched around town. When the upperclassmen were satisfied, the freshmen were required to purchase green caps and allowed to go free. Afterwards, they were invited to a smoker which was an opportunity for the upperclassmen to welcome the freshmen into the student body.
The whole business of freshmen initiation may seem foolish, but it is a means by which the upperclassmen can convert the freshmen from arrogant high school graduates into college students. It provides a means by which the two groups can become acquainted and it serves as a diversion from the tedium of schoolwork. It is a means of keeping "something going on." It's tradition, the stuff that will endure.
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Original composition by Steven E. Weible
