Tag Archives: college

Tradition – Stanford University

Nationality: Vietnamese
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Carson, CA
Performance Date: April 02, 2008
Primary Language: English

Stanford – Full Moon on the Quad

When incoming freshmen enter Stanford University, they are greeted with open arms.  Everything is arrayed in order to make their transition as easy as possible.  However, after a couple months, they are presented with an occasion which they may not be so comfortable with.  Usually taking place around October, the “Full Moon on the Quad” event draws hundreds of participants.  Freshman must wear name tags and line up in the quad.  Upperclassmen who choose to participate then get to kiss them.  Other activities may then ensue, though they are not condoned by the school, which for the most part chooses to look the other way with regards to this event.

My girlfriend Amie told me this interesting tradition at Stanford University.  She is from Southern California, Carson, in particular, and as such had no prior knowledge of this tradition before she enrolled in Stanford.  Coming from the same high school and living in the same general area, I was completely ignorant of the tradition as well.  I have talked to others my age who had lived within ten miles of the university all my life and they had heard nothing of it.  So, it seems to be a mostly Stanford-exclusive tradition, with the exception of a few unwelcome older individuals from the neighboring cities.  Amie noted that when she went there were numerous “creepers” which made her uneasy.  These were mostly older men, who by their behavior and appearance it was apparent that they were not Stanford students.  These outsiders were not supposed to be in attendance; however they had heard that a couple hundred eighteen and nineteen year olds were lining up ready to be kissed.  Whether it was sexual excitement or just mere curiosity, Amie reported that there were enough of them to make both her and her friends uneasy.

Amie explained that the event is rooted in the idea of the initiation or even hazing of newcomers.  The freshmen, not knowing anything in particular about the university, are introduced to their first “exclusive” Stanford event when they all attend this.  Here, they are more or less placed at the mercy of the older students, or as Amie noted, placed at the mercy of anybody pretending to be and older student.  Though it is not strictly enforced, the freshmen are supposed to let any of the older individuals kiss them.  This can understandably lead to uncomfortable situations for the freshmen.  She remembers somebody saying that this event was initially an underground sort of gathering which was eventually discovered by the university and adopted as a legitimate event.  While the university acknowledges it, it turns a blind eye to most of the event’s happenings.

Though they are in effect being hazed, the freshmen for the most part were eager and receptive.  Amie said that everybody she knew was open to the idea and nearly all of them were excited.  Perhaps this is because, although they are essentially being placed at the mercy of strangers for a night, they feel that this is the first step into becoming a true member of the Stanford community.  This excitement often leads to excessive drinking prior to the event.  Gullible drunken freshman coupled with strangers looking to kiss attractive youngsters inevitably leads to trouble.  It will suffice to say that many freshmen woke up the following morning full of remorse over their actions the previous night.

Superstition – Fullerton, California

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Nationality: Korean
Age: 26
Occupation: Business Student
Residence: Long Beach, California
Performance Date: February 16, 2009
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

There is a statue on the campus of California State University Fullerton. There was a gigantic earthquake some years ago and the damage was extensive. Among the things damaged in the earthquake was the statue. It was broken during an earthquake and they decided to leave it broken instead of repairing it. The belief is that there is good luck in the butt cheek of the statue. The good luck only resides in the left butt cheek. The right butt cheek contains no luck whatsoever. The left butt-cheek must be rubbed. It has to be the left butt-cheek or it will not work.  If a person were to rub the magical left butt cheek of the broken statue that person will perform well on their tests. This ritual must be performed prior to the test or I will not work.

My informant forgets the name of the statue at the moment. Not only does he not remember the name of the statue but he does not even know what the statue is supposed to be of. He tells me that he heard about this belief from a friend of his who currently attends school at Cal State Fullerton. He also says that the butt-cheek itself is considerably worn down from constant good luck rubbing. I was not able to see the statue in person but was considerably interested in seeing just how worn down the butt cheek was.

The statue was most likely left unrepaired because the students began to idolize the butt cheek of the broken statue more and more. I asked Andrew why he felt that the statue was so important to the students and what he believed it meant. He says that he believes that the earthquake was so powerful and traumatic to the students that the statue became a sort of symbol of the positive that came from the earthquake. He added that prior to the earthquake no one rubbed the statue’s left butt cheek at all, much less expecting good luck on test as a result.

I think the connection to the earthquake was an important one. Without the earthquake damage the statue was completely normal and had no special properties. After the earthquake its importance grew and it gained symbolic value. Whether or not anyone actually performed better on tests as a result of rubbing the left butt cheek remains a mystery.

Superstition – Long Beach, California

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Nationality: Korean
Age: 26
Occupation: Business Student
Residence: Long Beach, California
Performance Date: February 15, 2009
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

In the city of Long Beach there is a hill covered with a bunch of trees. The trees are very close to each other and cover the entire hill. The superstition is that if a person can roll down the hill without hitting a single tree on the way down that person will get a 4.0 GPA for that semester.  It is called the 4.0 Hill.

Andrew told me that he first heard of the hill from one of his classmates during his first semester at California State University Long Beach. He said “everybody” knows about the hill. I asked him if he could show me the hill sometime and he obliged. When I first saw the hill I immediately realized why it was such a big deal for anyone to roll down the hill and not actually hit a tree. The hill was so densely populated with trees that it seemed to me that it would require a perfectly choreographed route which seemed to be impossibility to me.

I asked Andrew if he has ever rolled down the hill. He said that he has in fact rolled down the hill numerous times. I then asked him if he had ever successfully rolled down the hill, to which he promptly responded, “No.” To the best of his knowledge no one has ever actually completed a trip down the hill without colliding with a tree. I decided that I should attempt to roll down the hill and see if I could make it all the way down without colliding with a tree. My first attempt ended with an immediate collision into a giant tree. I made several attempts but could not avoid crashing into trees.

I think that if someone were to roll very slowly down the hill they may be able to avoid collision. Andrew told me that going slowly was cheating and would not result in a 4.0 GPA for the semester. I asked him if there were any negative repercussions from failing to make it successfully down the hill. He told me that he was no aware of any and also expressed his fear of how badly he would have to pay for hitting so any trees if it turned out that there were in fact negative repercussions or colliding with trees.

I asked Andrew what he thought the meaning behind the 4.0 Hill was. He said that he thinks it is a way for students to have hope in the event that their grades are not good. He feels that if someone is doing poorly in school they should visit the hill. He thinks that even if they collide with the trees or somehow make it all the way down it will give them more confidence. The result of this confidence can be a sort of mental trick that causes them to actually perform better in school just from having rolled down the hill.

I agree with him in that I also believe that a trip down the hill might boost ones confidence and contribute positively to one’s performance in school. After rolling down the hill myself I felt as if my GPA might have risen a few points. I think it serves as a sort of ritual that helps return a sense of control to a student’s life, especially when that student feels that his or her grades may be in danger.

Ghost Story – Miami University

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Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 26
Occupation: Administrative Assistant
Residence: Long Beach, California
Performance Date: February 24, 2009
Primary Language: English

(This story takes place in the early 1900s) There is a girl and a guy who are both students at The University of Miami.  The two are dating each other. The girl is much younger than the guy her family does not approve of their relationship. Because they do not like the guy they force the girl to drop out of school to keep her away from him. The family is local so she does not move away or anything, she just does not go to the school anymore. She is living at home, and the only way they can see each other is if he sneaks out at night and picks her up on his motorcycle.  They continue seeing each other late at night behind her parents’ noses. They eventually decide to run away together. The plan is: he is going to pick her up on his motorcycle and they are going to leave together and get married and have a life together.  It is late at night.  The way she always knows he is down there for her is he would go down with his motorcycle light off and he would flash his light once and she would know he was down there and she would open up her window (and you see the light behind her) so he knew she was there.  She waited and waited and he never showed up.  He actually died in a motorcycle accident and she never found out.  *When I asked her to repeat the story she remembered the portion about what the girl thought was the reason he never showed up* She thought he had cold feet and didn’t want to be with her.  The legend is that she is still waiting for him to this day and she never left the house even long after her parents died.  If you go down there at night and you flash your lights she is supposed to open up the window which is backlit and say, “I am here for you.”

Elizabeth told me that she heard this story when she was an undergraduate at Miami University. She told me that she and her friends would always conspire to go up to the house and flash their lights. They said the closest they would ever get as hopping in the car and then getting terrified eventually and calling off the entire operation. I found it hilarious how potent the belief was in her town. She says that she would not go to the house today even though she does not even think that the story is true. What adds to the believability of the ghost story is the fact that, according to her, other students at Miami University claim that they have flashed their lights at the house and seen the light from the window being opened (which is supposed to indicate that the girl is still in the house).

I asked her what she thought the story meant and she told me that it had something to do with how women never get over having their hearts broken. She said she can relate to feeling like even though she had not heard from someone she was dating she still felt that in time they would be together again. I think the story I a cautionary tale about what can possibly happen when children disobey their parents. The guy in the story died in a motorcycle accident and the girl has her heart broken and spends the rest of her life waiting for this dead guy. If they had listened to their parents and stopped seeing each other none of that would have happened. The girl’s parents were able to recognize the dangers in their relationship because they had the wisdom of age.  That being the case their advice should always be heeded.

I think another important fact was the difference in age. It could be seen as a warning to young college girls who may be interested in dating older men now once they are free from their parent’s watchful eye. It is as if the story is saying, “Date older men and this will happen to you.”

Folk Speech – American

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Nationality: African-American
Age: 22
Occupation: Criminal Justice Student
Residence: Cincinnati, Ohio
Performance Date: March 7, 2009
Primary Language: English

At the University of Findlay in the city of Findlay, Ohio there is a constant usage of the term “deader.” My informant tells me that the term can be used as a noun to refer to an individual. An example of such usage would be, “Wow, man you’re a deader.” This can be said after someone does something that offends or displeases someone else. Referring to someone as a “deader” can be either positive or negative. In referring to an attractive female, for example, my informant tells me one would say something like, “She is a deader.” To “dead” is the verb form of the term and can be used to describe the action of “deading” someone. An example my informant gave me was that if someone tried to hit on a girl and was rejected one could say to the individual, “You just got deaded.” In this case the term “dead” is synonymous with getting rejected. The positive verb form can be seen in the example given to me by my informant in which a person sees an attractive woman and then says something like, “I would dead her;” The reference in that example being sexual.

My informant tells me that it is a kind of universal word that can literally be applied to any sentence or situation. It is a way for Findlay students to express themselves and partake in cultural exchanges. Outsiders overhearing conversations of students are often completely baffled by what they hear. The universal word has changed before. My informant tells me that before “dead” the universal word was “blood.” It was much more difficult to utilize that universal word and its existence was short-lived.

On the matter of context, not only was the word used in every context, it was purposely injected into phrases that would normally contain other words. It was their way of playing with the language and in a way making it their own. I think that it is fairly common for college students to try to invent new trends. Some of the trends grow legs and turn into national fads. Others stay local, as is the case in the University of Findlay’s usage of “dead.”

I found it interesting that the term could be used for anything positive when dead usually refers to death which is often a time of mourning and generally a sad time, except in some cultures like the Irish who celebrate death and play games and other things to make it much more positive than it is in Western societies. My informant tells me that that is the point exactly. The term has nothing to do with positive things and that is why he and his friends find it so amusing to use the term. It is an inversion of social norms. I think it functions to not only help build social bonds but also challenges the established order of things and refuses conformity.