Despite changes and the influx of new faces each year at colleges nationwide, some traditions never fade.
Many Madisonians are familiar with two traditions native to the University of Wisconsin: the upcoming State Street Halloween celebration and the Mifflin Street block party.
Madison’s Halloween party began when several hundred costumed students made a bonfire on State Street in 1977, according to MadisonHalloween.com, a website dedicated to the event.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said the event lost its long-term sponsorship from the Wisconsin Student Association during the mid ’80s. Verveer added he is glad the traditions have continued, even without any true sponsors.
“The events just happen. They’re ingrained in the campus culture and both are annual rituals that are well known,” he said, “[Halloween] has become the Mardi Gras of the Midwest.”
The Mifflin Street Block party started as a riot in protest of the Vietnam War in 1969, according to Verveer. For over 20 years, the Mifflin Street Community Co-Op sponsored the block party, but stopped its sponsorship in the early ’90s, citing a lack of profitability.
Capt. Brian Bridges of the UW Campus Police Department said they don’t plan on stopping the long-standing celebration.
“We’re assisting the city in policing to make it as safe as possible for people attending and people in the community,” Bridges said, adding their goal is not to end the events, but to keep partygoers and nearby business establishments safe.
UW is not the only campus to keep such customs rolling.
Every year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, students bring a steer into a courtyard and place it on a spit. It is then lit by a burning roll of toilet paper dropped down from the roof, according to the New York Times.
Alumni and current students attend the three-day party, now a 41-year-old tradition featuring mud-wrestling, live music, a large tire swing and alcohol. Steer Roast carries on in spite of the school administration’s concerns about safety and school image.
At Yale University, nudity is the staple of many traditions, according to the New York Times.
During the annual football game against Harvard University, a large group of Yale University students shouts “Shoes!” with two minutes remaining in the third quarter, according to the Yale Daily News. Students raise several hundred pairs of shoes before yelling, “Two courtyards, stone and grass! Two courtyards, kick your ass!”
After further cheering the crowds yell, “Bif bop bam bip! We are Saybrook, watch us strip!”
The students, who are all residents of Saybrook College at Yale, then remove their pants and shirts and begin dancing in the stands. A dozen or so seniors in the front row take it a step further by dancing completely naked.
The Saybrook Strip, as it is now known, began in the early ’70s when a drunken student wanted to moon the entire Harvard football team.
While Steer Roast and The Saybrook Strip have never caused any serious injuries, other campus traditions have had more tragic results.
At Texas A & M University, students traditionally worked together for more than week to build a large bonfire to light before the football game against the University of Texas. The 90-year-old event was struck by tragedy when the four-story-high log pile collapsed, killing 12 and injuring more than 27 others. The bonfire was cancelled that year, but has been moved off campus in the years following the 1999 tragedy.
The tradition continues in the honor of those who died while making an effort to unify the student body.
Some students say events like Mifflin offer relief and a chance to experiment.
“It’s what people do to relieve stress, because it’s right before exams,” UW junior Emma Goessling said.
