In Defense of Orgo Night #2
On Thursday, December 15, 2016, at midnight, the
Columbia University Marching Band (“the cleverest band in the world™”)
performed a show of music and satirical comedy in sub-freezing temperatures on
the steps outside Butler Library on the Columbia campus. Since 1975 the
Band has performed a similar show, dubbed “Orgo Night,” in which the Band
skewers university administration, other Ivy schools, rival student groups, and
the world in general in a witty and often raunchy program. The location
of the show on December 15, however, was unusual. Traditionally the band
marches into the main College Reading Room inside Butler Library, known as Room
209, to the strains of the school fight song before launching into its
program. This scheduled study break for the assembled students who choose
to study for finals in that room typically lasts between 30 and 45
minutes. This fall, however, Vice-Provost and recently hired Head
Librarian Ann D. Thornton, with the support of President Bollinger and Columbia
College Dean James Valentini, banned the Band from the library. The ban,
which was not discussed with the Band or with university students in advance, was
announced only days before the scheduled event. Ms. Thornton stated that
the reason for the sudden change in tradition was a desire to maintain quiet
study space inside the library, and President Bollinger publicly maintained
that it was based on “complaints” from students about the Orgo Night
show. University officials claimed that the ban was not related to the
content of the shows and that they were not trying to censor the Band’s
speech. The university offered to permit the Band to stage the show in a
different location at midnight, but the Band chose to stage its show outside
the library as a protest, which was attended by several hundred students.
Since the sudden and unexpected eviction of the Band
from the library, all four undergraduate student councils have called for
reversal of the decision, the editors of the Spectator and BWOG have issued
statements of support for the Band, and many alumni have sent letters of
protest. University officials have remained resolute in their decision,
however. This series of essays, drafted by concerned alumni, addresses
the university’s claimed reasoning for its decision, the process by which it
was implemented, and the reasons why the decision should be reconsidered.
Links to earlier essays are included in the right margin à.
The
Value of the Orgo Night Tradition
Google
“quirky college traditions” and the first search result is an article from the
web site “collegeraptor” titled “13 of the weirdest college traditions.” The article begins: “There are strange things happening at college campuses across
the country. Students are nailing their shoes to trees, howling at the moon,
and kissing statue’s bums with no one giving these weird pastimes a second
thought. From the outside looking in, there is no way to explain these odd
acts, but campus traditions are a huge
part of what takes a bunch of students, and makes them a community that lasts a
lifetime.” (https://www.collegeraptor.com/blog/on-campus/13-of-the-weirdest-college-traditions) The #1
entry on this list is: “Orgo Night: Columbia
University.” The article notes the
essence of the event: “Each year, on the eve of the orgo final, the Columbia
marching band heads to the library to entertain all of the orgo students (and
anyone else lucky enough to be studying at that time) with the fight song,
jokes, and music. The tradition is a great harmless way for students to blow
off steam during finals.” The web site
then links to other information about Columbia for the benefit of users who are
researching different schools. You would
think that Columbia administrators would be proud that their school ranks #1 (on
this list) in yet another aspect of American universities – or at least it used
to.
In fact, the Orgo Night tradition is
listed in all six of the top search results on Google, where articles from BuzzFeed,
USA Today, and hercampus.com list the
most interesting and memorable events on campuses across the country. In all cases, Orgo Night is lauded as a fun
stress reliever for students during finals week.
Other colleges also have idiosyncratic
traditions that set them apart and provide their students with a bit of fun and
a sense of unique identity. In most
cases, the school officials themselves embrace these culturally iconic
events. At Emory University, a skeleton
named James W. Dooley is escorted into a classroom on a random day and
announces that all classes are cancelled, and the entire school has a “Spirit” Day
party. The Emory skeleton is said to
have more power than the university’s President. Similarly, at Rollins College, the President
declares a “fox day” without notice, and all students are dismissed from class
for a campus-wide celebration.
Many
colleges have developed traditions that are intended to be stress reducers
during finals week, when students are otherwise focused on intense cramming. At Carlton College in Minnesota,
during finals prep week, the students put on headphones, press the “play”
button simultaneously on their music players, and stage a giant, silent dance
party in the library. At Regis
University in Denver, after four nights of enforced quiet study in the week
leading up to finals, the signal is given for the “all hall scream,” and
students spend ten minutes screaming, laughing, and running through the
halls. At UCLA, there is a “midnight
yell” on the steps leading into the campus.
Other
college traditions are just silly or sophomoric, but often they serve as a
break from the seriousness of college studies and are a bonding experience for
those who participate. At Georgetown
University, on Halloween, after screening the film “The Exorcist,” students
gather in the university cemetery and howl at the moon. At Occidental College, where Barack Obama
spent his first two years before transferring to Columbia, tradition says that
on your birthday you will be thrown into the campus fountain (by your friends). During the “Pterodactyl Hunt” at Swarthmore
College, students don garbage bags and roam campus beating each other with foam
weapons. At the University of Virginia,
students run naked across the campus lawn and kiss the statue of Homer in the
days leading up to graduation. At Muir
College, students drop giant pumpkins off the tallest building and watch them
splatter on the ground below. At the
University of Pennsylvania, students throw pieces of toast onto the football
field after the end of the third quarter of home games. (Rather than try to ban the practice, the
university designed a special Zamboni-like machine to vacuum up the stray
bread.) During the winter carnival at
Dartmouth, a hole is drilled into the ice of a local pond, and students jump
into the freezing water (with a safety rope).
At Ohio State, thousands of students hurl themselves into the campus
lake on the day before the annual football game against Michigan, despite often
frigid temperatures and risk of hypothermia.
At MIT, student groups try to outdo each other by placing creative
objects on the sides or top of the campus dome.
The attraction of these
oddball traditions was summed up in another article on the subject: “These
crazy college traditions toe the line of insanity, while at the same time
ensuring fun for all who participate.” http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2011/01/the-25-craziest-college-traditions. (In the onlineuniversities.com article, Orgo
Night at Columbia was #8 of the 25 listed events.)
In some cases, college traditions
have been modified over the years when there was good reason for university
administration to step in. At Vassar
College, after freshmen serenade the seniors with satirical songs, the seniors
used to spray the freshmen with mustard, ketchup, and other messy items from
the cafeteria. School officials decided
to do away with the condiments and now limit students to water only, which
transformed the event into mostly a water balloon fight, while still preserving
the free-spirited format. At Princeton,
there were objections to the “nude Olympics”—where students ran naked around
the quad on the night of the winter’s first snowfall—because of its propensity
to foster sexual harassment, and it was therefore officially discontinued,
although rebellious students continue the tradition clandestinely. A similar tradition continues at Tufts
University, where students run naked in the first winter snow. At the U.S. Military Academy in West Point,
N.Y., freshmen were regularly beaten with pillows stuffed with objects that
gave them some extra weight. After serious
injuries occurred, when pipes and wrenches found their way into the weaponry,
the practice was banned. In those cases,
there were legitimate concerns for safety or incidents of bad behavior that
prompted the changes. Other schools have
continued to permit activities that place students at risk – such as diving
into frozen lakes – based on college tradition.
For high school students
searching for information about student life issues at Columbia, one of the
most prominent campus events exemplifying the Columbia spirit is Orgo
Night. In the Wikipedia entry for
Columbia University, there are three entries under “Traditions.” They are (1) Orgo Night, (2) the tree lighting
and Yule log ceremony, and (3) the Varsity Show.
As Columbia itself
advertised in a feature article in Columbia
magazine, the marching band (“the cleverest band in the world™”) is one of
Columbia’s jewels, and Orgo Night is one of the Band’s signature events,
described as “one of the best Columbia arts traditions.”
On Columbia’s own
official web site, there is a prominent entry on Orgo Night among the stories
that alumni were invited to write about their memories of the Columbia
experience as part of the C250 (250th anniversary) celebration. University editors chose this as one of the
best stories:
Orgo
Night Y2K
Tamar Simon
Alum
Columbia College 2003
Tamar Simon
Alum
Columbia College 2003
One of my most memorable experiences at Columbia was Orgo Night in the undergraduate reading room in Butler Library. I attended Orgo Night in all eight semesters I was at Columbia. Each was an experience of its own.
The most memorable
would have to be in the year 2000, at the end of my second semester of freshman
year. The crowds started piling into the reading room very early in the evening
and, by the time midnight rolled around, there were hundreds of students
clogging the entrances and pushing their way into the main room. Students were
everywhere: on top of every shelf, every windowsill, every table, and every
copy machine. The reserves desk was inundated with students jumping over the
desk and clobbering each other to reach the door to the reading room. I was one
of many who struggled to get into the reading room. After pushing through the
masses, I finally made my way in. The crowds gathered as the marching band
magically made its way through the madness.
Despite the rumors of
more than $10,000 of damages done to the library that night, the show of school
spirit was unmatched in the years following at all other Orgo Nights I
attended. In addition, that night's craziness forced the administration to
heighten security and limit the number of people allowed to enter the reading
room for Orgo Night to 200.
Cheers to Columbia and
its passionate students who continue to fight for our school's age-old
traditions.
Meanwhile, in a recruitment
brochure for high school seniors, Columbia lists fifteen items as “Fun on
campus” events that new students can look forward to.
It is debatable whether student government budget
meetings, University Professor lectures, or Engineering Weeks belong in the
“fun” column, but it is significant that Orgo Night is on the university’s
official list. In another recruiting
brochure titled “Columbia Blue,” the university’s office of undergraduate
admissions lauds various traditional campus activities, including Bacchanal,
the Varsity Show, the President’s annual Fun Run, and Orgo Night:
“Orgo Night Merriment.
The night before the Organic Chemistry Final — Orgo Night. On this night in
December and again in May, the main study room in Butler Library starts getting
packed around 11:30 pm. You see practically everyone you know and despite being
finals week, everyone is excited and happy. At midnight sharp, you hear the
sound of instruments and all of a sudden, the marching band storms into the
room playing songs and reading jokes while the rest of us are standing on the
tables and chairs dancing and laughing. debbie goodman, Lido Beach, NY; CC”
All
this would suggest that the university administration should value Orgo Night
as something that is unique to Columbia, demonstrating how a peculiar tradition
can provide some needed stress relief during an otherwise tense finals
period. One would think that Columbia
officialdom would view the Orgo Night show as an heirloom that generations of
Columbia alumni share as a common memory.
A tradition like this, which places no students in harm’s way, should be
perpetuated and certainly should not be discontinued on a whim, without serious
and considered discussion. If there were
a substantial reason for Columbia to decide that the Orgo Night show was a
danger to students or otherwise presented some serious problem or risk, then
ending it could be on the table for consideration. But, in the absence of a significant problem,
ending the Orgo Night tradition (and, yes, evicting the Band from the Library
is effectively ending it) should not be an option, even if President Bollinger,
Dean Valentini, and the new Head Librarian don’t like it.
-
Hamiltonius
H
Yet another reason never to donate money to this place, my law school alma mater. I give only to my undergraduate school.
ReplyDelete