Tag Archives: college rivalry

University of Toronto Prank Club – Legendary Group/Legendary Event

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Ajax, Ontario, Canada
Language: English

Text

Informant: You may have heard this from (OTHER PERSON), but in some colleges and universities, there are groups that will do, like, prank things. At MIT its called, like, “Hacking,” but they are sort of just random prank things. U of T engineering has something, like, this… allegedly, it is called the “Brute Force Committee,” BFC. One of the main things, or I guess evidence you see of them on campus is there logo on a sticker in some very absurd places so, you know, in one of the engineering buildings there is like a big open area in the middle of the building and, you know, on the far side from the walkway, up multiple stories, you’ll see one of their stickers. And so clearly, somebody did something dangerous or did something funky to get a sticker. So there are some of those things. But, um, the bigger things are, of course, the actual pranks that they do. And a lot of them are, you know, pretty low-key little pop-up things. At one point one of the buildings in one of the hangout areas they had one of those mini basketball arcade game things, just like fun stuff. I’ll say one more thing and then I’ll tell the story for them. But during Frosh week again, one of the evenings we are out and about, and this is how we are introduced to them. I wish I remembered more of the details but there’s like this whole ceremony where we get walked around and get told some stories about their background and like U of T history and they gave us all candles and we all had to blow them all out. And the thing I remember most distinctly about this was we all had our masks on and we couldn’t blow the candles out.

Me: They did not plan ahead (laughter)

Informant: No. It didn’t work. But it was, like, you know, a very community building, interesting thing. But anyway, they do a bunch of random pranks, but the legendary one that I believe has happened twice in the last like 10 years is with our rivalry with Queen’s University which is with engineering… university in Canada, specifically the engineering people. One of their Frosh traditions is that they have this mud pit and then like a metal pole and they cover it in grease and the freshmen try to climb it…It has like a base obviously so it’s self standing, it’s very messy. But, the story is that we have stolen it a couple of times and basically ransomed it for, what I think the story is, is like some different like tasks, more than, you know, it’s all for fun in the end. But stealing this… pole thing… that is meant to be, like, a freshman event from this rival university. And I believe there are things they’ve stolen from us in the past, just, like, the engineering society people… like we have these little cannons, beer cannons too? It’s, like, a thing, I don’t entirely remember why. And I believe those have been stolen from us before so there’s a little bit of back and forth that I think has gone on with these things.

Context

The informant is from Seattle, Washington and studies engineering at the University of Toronto (called “U of T” by people in Canada). They heard this in 2021 in the week before classes (called “Frosh week”) where freshman are meant to get to know each other and also learn about the school and it’s traditions. This group is limited to just the engineers of U of T, other students at the university don’t have connections to it. The informant said they believe that BFC stole the pole twice but they are less sure about the cannon stealing by Queen’s College. They added that might have these beliefs because they think U of T is better than Queen’s College and therefore more likely to have actually achieved these pranks. The informant does say that the ritual associated with telling the story acted as community building for them.

Analysis

This legendary group and story work to bond new engineering students to both each other and their school. By hearing this story during Frosh week in a very ritualized way, they connect to the rest of the new students as well as students before them in the engineering program. They also feel a deeper connection to their school, first by hearing stories about the history and second by engaging in a rivalry with another school.

The story helps to define the role of the person hearing it. As an engineering student at U of T, the informant is meant to see this prank as a success and a win against another group, their rival university engineering program. By creating this rivalry, it helps to solidify where a new student exists. They are part of the U of T group, not the Queen’s College group. Belief in the story also helps to define the role. As the informant showed, they believe in a the part of the story that showed the superiority of U of T over their rival college. This was at least partially because of their connection to their own university where they feel like they can believe the legends from their group but not the ones from another.

Engaging in humorous but still technically illegal prank like stealing a pole that belongs to another university is a way for young adults to stay playful and childlike while in a rigorous and academic environment. Adding fun to their college experience allows them to relax after studying. Toeing the line of legality allows them to push the boundaries of the law and institutional rules while still being safe given the humorous aspect of the prank.

Other pranks described, such as putting a sticker somewhere that would be impossible to reach normally, act as a way of proving oneself by doing something impressive to others. That sticker is now impossible to reach by anyone and therefore impossible to take down. This makes it a lasting legacy of this person (possibly making them a legend within the committee itself).

BFC and the pranks described are a very modern legend in that there is some evidence for their existence both on Google (articles or descriptions of them) and physical proof of stickers or other active pranks. Despite the evidence for their existence however, it is very likely that these stories are exaggerated through retellings. This is even more likely given that they are about rivalries between colleges meaning that each student has incentive to exaggerate how good their school is.

Rivalry Festival Tradition

text: “So I went to boarding school in Rhode Island, and we have one really big rival school. Before we play that rival in football and every fall sport, which is one big weekend in the fall, the night before we’ll have a big banquet to kick of the Middlesex weekend. In the tradition, our school makes a cake of a zebra, which is the mascot of the other school, and the headmaster will cut the head off the zebra cake at the banquet dinner. This is basically the start of the weekend and chopping off the head of the zebra shows that we will beat them in all of the competitive sports coming. Also, the school’s art department creates a giant paper mache zebra and burns it in the middle of campus. These are like a good-luck tradition and gives our school an annual spirit holiday/festival weekend.” -Informant

context: The boarding schools of the Northeast all have a very competitive rivalry between one another. Therefore when they play each other in sports they have different traditions and rituals in order to give them good luck. The informant stated that the school has done this ritual for decades and it continues through the present. This tradition only happens once a year, when they play the rivalry school in the fall.

analysis: This tradition reminds me of USC’s rivalry with UCLA. When we play them in any sport we say things like “Beat the Bruins” or “kill the bears.” We don’t burn down anything or cut the head off of a fake bear, but we do have someone dress up in a bear costume and we cake them with whipped cream. I think this is a huge tradition between any school and their rivals, and gives them a sense of pride for where they attend.

UCLA Rivalry Week Monument Protection

Text:

“UCLA is rivals with USC, and 1-2 weeks before playing USC in football all the important statues or any kind of monumental thing at UCLA got boarded up so that no one could come and mess with it. This included Bruin Bear and the 42 from Jackie Robinson which would be put in a box. People wrote on the box with chalk or markers and say things like ‘F*** SC’ or ‘Go Home’.” 

Context:

MM is a 24-year-old American Missionary from a town in the middle of California. She attended UCLA for college and I asked her if there were any specific UCLA traditions that she remembered during Rivalry Week (when USC would play UCLA in football).

Interpretation:

As someone who attends USC, I know a little bit about this tradition, except at USC we don’t put our monuments in boxes, instead we cover them with duct tape to protect them from UCLA students. Clearly there must’ve been a history of the schools vandalizing each other’s monuments that caused them to start protecting them during Rivalry Week. The writing of “Go Home” on the box tells me that they are expecting USC students to come to campus to attempt some sort of vandalism or prank. It tells us how important football is at both of these schools and how the rivalry itself has traditions behind it that don’t really match up with football or anything about the school – the traditions have evolved into something separate from the schools themselves and amplify the hatred between the two schools.  which amplifies the hatred between the two schools.

The Aggie Bonfire

Nationality: Iranian-American
Age: 62
Occupation: Pediatric Anesthesiologist
Residence: Palo Alto, CA
Performance Date: April 21st, 2021
Primary Language: English
Language: Farsi

Main description:

RA: “The biggest tradition I remember from going to A&M is the Aggie bonfire. I’m pretty sure I went every year. That was… such an event. A&M was always known for being a very spirited school, but the bonfire was the biggest sort of school spirit celebration we had, and it’s the only one I can really remember going to. We had the bonfire the night before a football game usually, not one our of rivals but one we knew that we would win against. It’s a really old tradition, by now they’ve probably done it for at least a hundred years. I think the bonfire started out small, and I don’t think anyone knows why, other than as a way to support the football team. But by the time I was at A&M it had grown a lot, and there were even multiple bonfires. There was one main one that students would plan, but there were also lots of smaller ones that people would have with their friends. There was also usually an alumni fire. At the bonfires we cheer and drink and burn effigies of the other team’s mascot. There also, um, more exciting things that happen, that I can’t talk with my son about. (I had my first hook-up there). But the fires got even bigger after I left, and I think it became an official school tradition. There was a board that organized it and you had apply to be an organizer on it. When I was there anyone could volunteer. Makes sense, because at that point the fires were so big you needed to think about architecture and physics of the whole thing to make sure it lights up and stays standing. Eventually in the ‘90s there was a tragedy and the bonfire collapsed. I don’t remember how many people died, but the school had to ban the bonfires for a long time. People would try to throw little, secret ones sometimes, but there weren’t any big bonfires for a long time. At some point an Alumnus group got together and started throwing the bonfires again, but they’re kept a lot smaller and I think they have actual engineers help to design the bonfires.”

Informant’s interpretation:

AB: “Why were the bonfires so important to you and to the school?”

RA: “I was never a very spirited person, but my friends and I always went to the bonfires. It was fun to be together with everyone yelling and dancing around a fire. Going to the bonfire was apart of being an Aggie.”

Personal interpretation:

School spirit traditions are important at many schools, not just as a way of building excitement and attention for sporting events, usually football, but they also serve as an important community building tool. The informant primarily attended for social reasons, and indeed it appears that the bonfire is an important part of school social life.

The Tenth Girl

Nationality: American
Age: 68
Occupation: Senior Vice President
Residence: San Diego
Performance Date: 4/23/15
Primary Language: English

Well Dan and Mary Smith told me that. He said “What’s the tenth girl?” And I said “I don’t know, what’s the tenth girl?” And he said “Nine out of ten girls are pretty, and the tenth one goes to Michigan.” I guess the girls in Michigan are pretty plain! But, Michigan was a hard school to get into, and you had to be very smart, so it was probably very smart girls but very plain. They told me that in ’76. When we were working at USC together. David’s wife went to Michigan!

 

ANALYSIS:

(The names above have been changed for confidentiality purposes). This joke has two dynamics to it – a gender differentiation, or a commentary on girls made by boys, as well as a school rivalry component. The informant and his friend who told the joke to him both worked at the University of Southern California, and had a lot of pride and spirit for the school. The friend’s wife went to Michigan – which adds yet another level of humor to the joke, because the joke was told presumably by her as well. At the very least she seems to have been present whenever Dan told the joke. While this is a jab at her appearance (although it could be untrue or unwarranted) it is clearly in a spirit of fun, and relies on stereotyping and blason populaire to make its point and be humorous. The two men clearly respect Mary, and her husband probably finds her attractive, so it seems this joke is told (at least by these specific two men) in a spirit of school rivalry more than anything else. Especially because USC has a reputation or stereotype of attracting a very attractive, but perhaps not as intelligent, female student population.