Text:

“At the University of Georgia, there is an arch that people can only walk under it once while they’re a freshman, and they’re not supposed to walk under it again until they graduation. The first time means your entrance into UGA, saying I’m now a student. To walk out of it before you graduate is bad luck. I guess it sort of safeguards you time as a student, it defines your time… It looks like a gazebo.”

Background:

There is apparently a step that leads up to it, and a lot of students were advocating for the university to build a ramp for students for physical disabilities, but university wouldn’t do it. They said that they could just put in a temporary ramp. My informant thought that the custom was kind of cool. She likes the fact that it’ s a tradition and a shared experience.

Context:

She heard it from her best friend that goes there.

Personal Thoughts:

This is an interesting custom that marks the liminal periods of a student’s entrance and graduation from college. It’s probably a way that students at the University of Georgia create a shared experience that doubles as a celebration upon graduating from the university.