As my fourth year comes to an end, I have started to think about the things that I will miss most about the University — the lovely Grounds (and how refined I feel by calling them Grounds), my friends, those pudding parfaits that you can buy with Plus Dollars, running naked down the Lawn with 20 other people in tow and other such frivolities. Thinking about these elements led me to wonder how such things became part of the University’s fiber in the first place — so I did some research.
According to Wikipedia, the word “streaking” was first used in its modern sense in 1973. Originally used to merely describe moving rapidly, a journalist coined the term to report a mass nude run at the University of Maryland. Streaking is differentiated from nudism in the fact that the perpetrators seek public places for their display. The first college streaking incident was in 1804 at Washington College, before it was renamed Washington and Lee University. Apparently, Virginians have a penchant for the sport. The poor chap was arrested.
According to University tradition, prior to graduating, students must run naked from the steps of the Rotunda and across the 740-foot Lawn to kiss the buttocks of the Homer statue, before running back up the Lawn to peer through the keyhole of the Rotunda and say ‘Goodnight Mr. Jefferson.’ After this comes the final step, one that I personally recommend, of putting one’s clothes back on. Remember, we aren’t just in streaking for the fun of it — it is an honor and a privilege. In 1995 there was a police crackdown on the naked frolicking, and University students responded with a mass-streak protest.
Another interesting element of the University is its reputation of housing kids who like to pop their collars. This fad has diminished greatly since my first year, but I still see some out there. Here is where the style supposedly comes from: tennis shirts. In the early 1900s, high collars were in fashion, but tennis players found them uncomfortable and restricting. A shirt with a collar that folded down was created, and the wearer could pop it up to help ward off sunburn or inclement weather.
The sadder, and unverifiable, rumor is that the style — which is on its way out today — originated in private schools where students had to wear shirts and ties. The poorer students could not afford real ties and would wear clip-ons. Therefore, the wealthy students would pop their collars up so that people could see that their ties went all the way around. I will say no more on this.
Bricks are another item that scream U.Va. Even our ‘60s atrocities (cough, cough... the Chemistry building) have stuck to this theme. I researched bricks, but there is nothing quite as boring as fired clay, and I chose to omit my findings. Feel free to contact me though, if you desire a history on the red rectangular prisms that shape our classrooms.
Wahoos are another University affair. I heard a rumor whispered that we received our nickname from a fish that can drink twice its weight in water. I won’t step on the dream — myths are important.
Finally, one of the things I will miss most about the University is the hyperactive squirrels. They certainly make your day, popping out of trash cans with pizza slices in their mouths or dropping from trees, barely missing your face. No one leaves the University without interacting with the squirrels. While I cannot confirm it, I doubt that any other college campus in America hosts squirrels as entertaining — and potentially hazardous to your health — as U.Va.’s.
So, I hope y’all learned a little more about the fiber of the University, and that you won’t leave it without streaking, mocking a popped collar, checking out the bricks, drinking (water) like a Wahoo or befriending a squirrel.
Maggie’s column runs biweekly Fridays. She can be reached at m.jones@cavalierdaily.com.