Tuesday, May 11, 2004

'Sorority Girls Do Not Have Sex'

One particularly horrific pledge activity, dismissed as urban legend by some, is called "Circle the Fat." If a sorority desires that its would-be sisters correct their "problem areas," it requires them to lie naked and blindfolded on the floor, and allows fraternity brothers to come in and mark any offending bulges or unfortunate patches of cellulite with permanent marker. "It's just going to make you a better person," snaps one sister to a sobbing pledge in one case described. They're only trying to help, really.

Green Key History: Those Were the Days

Before the Prom, a final tradition would take place—the Gauntlet. The upperclassmen would line up diagonally across the Green. The freshmen would run between them while being beaten and flogged with sticks and the sting of belt leather. (Serious injuries would often result from seniors turning their belts around and whipping with the buckles.) Still, the freshmen took the Gauntlet in good spirits. For Orr's class, "nothing very serious happened"—just "gashed and bleeding faces" and "two arms out of joint and a broken collar-bone, nothing more." Finally, the festivities ended with the ceremonial burning of the freshman caps.

'Our Cohogs, They Play One..."

Many co-eds attending Hums walked out that year, but the song delighted others—namely, the Dean of the College, Carroll Brewster. Dean Brewster was the head judge and he immediately proclaimed "Our Cohogs" the finest song in the competition. He bounded to the stage, and, throwing his arms around the performers, took the lead in a rousing encore presentation of the racy verses.

Hippies for Jesus

Ezekiel explained that the denizens of the bus, dubbed the "Peacemaker," were not alone, but instead belonged to a community of thirty or so free-thinkers who live on a farm in Bells Falls, VT. Indeed, their community exists alongside the eleven other "tribes" in places like Australia, Germany, France, Brazil and Spain.

Indian Sports

Indians Basketball Seeks Head Coach, Baseball Defeats Harvard, Hosts Princeton in ILCS, Bucs Take Cramer '04 in NFL Draft

The Last Word

Nothing is wrong with Southern California that a rise in the ocean level wouldn't cure.

—Ross McDonald