A lot of colleges around the country have dealt with issues of hazing in recent years.
But give some credit to our great-grandparents for getting away with the practice!
On Nov. 22, 1922, The Chronicle ran a bizarre story on the induction of eight women into the Women’s College Delta Phi Rho Alpha athletic fraternity. It took place on East Campus’ Hanes Field, host to the school’s first baseball and football fields which were located where Baldwin Auditorium currently is.
“The initiates were hopping, blindfolded, from the bleachers to the box, from the box to the shed, from the shed to the fence and back again like sparrows in a tree,” it read. "They even climbed the goal posts and one girl had the audacity to skin a cat on the cross bar of the field goal on the side of the field.”
Of course.
It’s understandable why the subhead of the article’s title read, “Jarvis Men Kept From Their Rest by Unearthly Noises After Hard Week in Class Room.”
According to the article, the women also crossed burning sand, and they scared one male freshman into running away before he “was finally caught and convinced that there was no immediate danger from the women.”
Athletic records from the Rubenstein Library show the fraternity continuing through the 1950s, though it is not clear if these traditions continued. The Chronicle even published the names of the inductees. It appeared very much that the University turned a blind eye.
So take that, national press complaining about how far our generation has fallen off!
You’re very much encouraged to read the full article, which can be viewed here.
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