Beware, Frosh! (And be thankful...)

It is the Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving break--many students are visibly excited about going home for a few days to see their families, to catch up with friends from high school and to have a few days off from papers, projects and studying. First year students (whose connection to home is stronger since they haven't even been at Ripon for an entire semester yet) may be the most thankful for Thanksgiving break. This excitement though, cannot match that of the class of 1928 when they and the rest of the country celebrated, "the three hundred and fourth commemoration of the manifestations of divine goodness experienced by the heroic
founders of our glorious nation." Thanksgiving to them meant the end of a series of rituals and rules enforced upon them by the school's "soph-o-mores." Current first year students should commemorate the divine goodness of the lack of these rituals in 2008.

The text of the poster reads:

Who is the big man in the picture? He is a soph-o-more. What
is a soph-o-more? A soph-o-more is one of the guardians of the
[?] entrusted with the caring for the morals and the upbringing
of freshmen. What is the soph-o-more in the picture doing? He is
administering punishment to a naughty frosh who has disobeyed
one of the commandments laid down below:

1. Commencing instantaneously and enduring up to and in-
cluding the three hundred and fourth commemoration of
the manifestations of divine goodness experienced by the heroic
founders of our glorious nation. All members of the freshmen
class shall embellish their persons as follows:

(a) Each and every female adherent of the class of '28 shall
accomplish the encompassment of the left humerus with the des-
ignated encirclement.

(b) Members of the sex masculine of the same class shall de-
posit upon their brain pans the ordained cerebellum confines.

2. Suitable deference and humility shall be manifested to
members of the faculty and upperclassmen through the
medium of an industrious and sedulous rapping upon the crimson
protuberance provided for in sections (a) and (b) of 1.

3. The herbaceous and verdant accretion embellishing the
campus shall be sacred from the encroachments of the
members of the frosh class.

4. Abstain from chasing on campus.

5. The confines of thy domicile shall undeviatingly limit thy
inhalation of the vapor of the wicked weed. The sole per-
missable container for the noxious vegetation shall be one man-
ufactured from the chaffy axis of the fruit of the maize.

6. Venerations and respect shall be manifested at the termi-
nation of each chapel excercise by the entire freshman
class remaining seated until all faculty members and upper class-
men shall have left the confines of the edifice.

7. Do not provoke your instructors unnecessarily by utiliz-
ing the arms of the lecture room chairs to cut your teeth
on.

The Consternation Administering Class
1927

Untied and the 1901 Ripon College Glee Club

The cover story of the College Days this week features a piece on Ripon College's newest vocal ensemble, Untied. The ensemble features Zac Mans, Timothy Fulton, Andy Peck and Paul Williams who are presenting a benefit concert on behalf of the Santa Squad, a non-profit organization that purchases toys for families in need during the holiday season. The concert is Friday, Nov. 21 at 7PM in the Great Hall of Harwood Memorial Union.

Untied is following an over-a-century old tradition of great choral music at Ripon. Pictured above are the members of Ripon College's 1901 Glee Club.

Redhawk Basketball Season Begins

The 1975-76 Ripon College Women's Basketball Team

1st Row: Linda Secor, Joanie Sugler, Louisia Gabeleine, Anne Millon, Melissa Schroeder,
Lois Vanleer 2nd Row: Jennifer Baker, Mary Kuntzer, Elizabeth, McKnight, Barb Horne,
Brenda Lancaster, Gina Brady

The women's basketball team opens their season this coming Saturday against Wheaton College at 2PM at Ripon's Storzer Center. Although the first women's team to play intercollegiately was the 1975-76 team, the college apparently fielded a women's team in 1915 as pictured above. Good luck Redhawks!

Ripon College Theatre

The Ripon College Theatre Department is currently putting on Jim Leonard's

Anatomy of Gray, directed by Ripon's Robert Amsden. The last peformance is Saturday evening (Nov. 8, 7:30PM, Benstead Theater at Rodman Center for the Arts), so don't miss it!

As many may know, Ripon has a storied history in it's Theatre department with Harrison Ford and Frances Lee McCain having graced its stages. The image above is of the cast members of Merchant of Venice, one of the earliest theatre productions (sometime before 1920.)

Studs Terkel, 1912-2008

Studs Terkel, renowned oral historian and radio host from Chicago passed away this past Friday (Oct. 31, 2008). According to his obituary in the New York Times, [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/01/books/01terkel.html?scp=2&sq=studs%20terkel&st=cse] (Accessed 5. Nov. 2008) some Terkel’s best know works include Division Street: America (1966), Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression (1970) and Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do (1974). He also won the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction writing in 1985.

Terkel also has a Ripon connection. In 1989, the theme for commencement focused on the “World of the Media” and it’s responsibility in society. Terkel along with Margaret Andreasen and Richard D. Threlkeld ’59 received the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters at the ceremony.

Before Seward and Elm Streets

Hi, I'm Andrew Prellwitz, Ripon College's new archivist. As I've been looking through the collection of photographs and documents in the archives, I've noticed quite a few great snapshots of the college's past that I would like to share with you all. Some of the images are pertinent to changes currently taking place at Ripon College--others are just interesting images that capture the college's rich and vibrant history here on the prairie and rolling hills of east central Wisconsin. If you have any comments or stories about the images on this blog, I invite you to share those.

The first image that I would like to share with you is of the areas around Elm and Seward Streets. If you have been back to campus recently, you may have seen the transformation of these streets into more pedestrian friendly sidewalks and green areas. (Well the green areas will appear in the spring when the grass grows again...) The first image above is taken approximately from where Bowen's Woods begin on your way to lower campus. Bartlett Cottage is visible behind the young men playing tennis.

The second image is taken presumably from the top of what is now the Evans Admissions Center (Hughes House) looking at Bartlett Cottage, upper campus and of what is to become Seward Street.