Share Your Mason Traditions

About four years ago, Karen Rosenblum, vice president of university life, created a Traditions Committee. The group was asked to identify those traditions the university already had and find ways to foster them. As a result of its work, the group has established a web site at traditions.gmu.edu, which includes information about the university, its alma mater, its mascot, and several traditions identified thus far.

Now, the committee would like to hear about your Mason traditions and memories. Here are a few examples of the type of stories they are looking for:

• Things that happened to you and your friends at Mason, the crazy or stupid things you did as freshmen, or any event you will remember for a long time
• Sorority and fraternity traditions
• The use of the George Mason statue (as a meeting place, for example)
• Practices students do to bring themselves good luck before exams, presentations, and athletic events
• Cap and gown decorating for graduation
• Classroom practices (How long do you wait if your professor is late?)
• Unofficial names for campus buildings and stories about those buildings
• Ghostly presences on campus

Explain what you did or heard and what was happening when you took part in your tradition (for example, who was there, when did it occur). If you can collect this material with some recording device, that’s even better!

For information on submitting material, go to traditions.gmu.edu and click on Mason Folk Lore and then Mason Stories & More. Questions may be directed to Margaret Yocom, English professor and director of the Northern Virginia Folklife Archive, at (703) 993-1172 or visit her home page at mason.gmu.edu/~myocom.