Chaval Brasil
Groundhog Day: all eyes are glued to a fat, furry little critter that is supposed to predict whether or not we endure winter or welcome in the Spring. Punxsutawney Phil got us thinking. We’ve all heard about college athletic superstitions but what about those found at the colleges and universities themselves?
You may have thought you only had to worry about finding your classes…turns out you also have to worry about how you get there! Legend says that undergraduates should avoid entering the arches at the University of Georgia, the FitzRandolph Gates at Princeton University and the Van Wickle Gates at Brown University or they won’t graduate from college! If there is an inlaid seal like at the University of Chicago or Roanoke College, don’t step on it!
Wise students would do well to avoid the Campanile (bell tower) found at the University of Kansas (it’s supposedly bad luck) though at Iowa State University, you aren’t “officially” considered an ISU student until you receive a peck underneath the Campanile at midnight.
KT Shiue
Need a little good luck? Who doesn’t! According to legend, you could kiss the Stanford Tree at Stanford University during the Full Moon on the Quad Celebration, touch the foot of John Harvard (according to Harvard University campus tour guides) or Theodore Dwight Woolsey’s toe at Yale University for a boost in the luck factor. Want to do great on that exam? Rub the 4.0 Ball found in front of the Campanile at the University of California Berkeley – it’s not called 4.0 for nothing!
If that’s still not enough, you could hope that the albino squirrel crosses your path during finals week at the University of North Texas, hope for the “disco tray” — a glittery 60’s relic at the Hendrix College cafeteria, or bribe the powers that be with a small gift (like pennies or chocolate) for the Athena statue at Bryn Mawr College.
Want to tie the knot? Smooch in the gazebo at the University of Richmond, steal a kiss on pretty Crim Dell Bridge at the College of William and Mary, or under the Upham Arch (when the lantern light is on) at Miami University and you’ll hear wedding bells ring-a-ding-ding.
Sit at the Class of 1912 Memorial with your sweetie at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign or stroll from the East side of the Oval, the center of Ohio State University, all the way west to the Main Library, and you and your significant other will be together forever, as long as you remain holding hands, that is!
Did we miss a good urban legend or superstition? Please share it in the comments section below – we love a good story!
