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Signs of Spring
Every year, when those of us in Syracuse are wondering if spring
will ever come, the anniversary of the University’s founding
on March 24, 1870, arrives. This annual event gives us an opportunity
to reflect on our heritage and display some well-deserved Orange
pride. Originally
founded as Genesee College in Lima, New York, Syracuse University
began as the hopeful dream of Methodist Episcopal Church leaders.
A few years later it was relocated to Syracuse, which was considered
a more suitable home for an emerging institution of higher learning
with a national reputation. As part of the Syracuse University alumni family, I hope you show your SU pride every day. I also hope that each year when the third week of March approaches—hopefully with the first signs of spring in upstate New York—you will pause and think about your beloved alma mater and your time on the Hill. Think about those who came before you and helped make our University great. Consider the students who are here today, benefiting from the commitment and generosity of thousands of alumni. Stop and think about what you can do to be a loyal alumnus, such as joining your local alumni club, giving to the academic program of your choice, or buying a paver in the Orange Grove. How you choose to express your gratitude and commitment to SU is a personal decision. I only ask that you make a decision and act on it. Lil
Breul O’Rourke ’77
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Multicolored
Cheers
Trever
was a member of the Traditions Commission, a long-standing student-run
group that organized freshman orientation activities and initiated
and encouraged participation in countless campus traditions. The
group introduced placard cheering at SU in 1950, adopting the practice
from other schools. The commission also oversaw the “Goon Squad,”
a group of sophomores who organized placard cheering as part of
their overall duties to familiarize freshmen with college life. As
Trever recalls, before each football game in Archbold Stadium, Goons
ushered freshmen (or “frosh,” as they were called) into
the student section, presenting them with the tools for placard
cheering: a “laundry slip” that listed the cheers planned
for the game and indicated which color placard to hold up at a particular
time, and three two-sided placards of blue, orange, yellow, red,
white, or green. During the game, junior and senior Traditions Commission
members called out cheers from the field, choosing from a repertoire
that included a halftime salute to the band (placards depicted a
yellow trumpet and the word BAND against a green backdrop), a recreation
of the colorful NBC peacock for use during televised games, and
the “taming” of the Penn State Nittany Lion (LION followed
by PURR). Pulling
off these spirited feats required a tremendous amount of pregame
planning. Trever remembers a labor-intensive process that involved
tedious logistical coordination on the part of Traditions Commission
members. They first designed the cheers on graph paper to determine
which colors were needed to create the desired effect and where
and when the placards should be displayed. Next, they assigned colors
for each cheer to more than 1,000 seats in the stadium. “We
sat around a long table in the Women’s Building, passed the
laundry slips out, and marked them up individually with colored
pencils,” Trever says with a laugh. “This was in the days
before computers!” Despite
their best efforts the cheers rarely came off without a hitch. “Placard
cheering provided a nice splash of color,” Trever says. “But
there was always someone holding up the wrong card.” He says
the best view of placard cheering went to the alumni who sat across
the field. “I remember one cheer designed especially for them,”
he says. “Imagine the word ‘ALUMS’ flashed against
a sea of orange—the first four letters in white, and the final
letter a green dollar sign.” The tradition of placard cheering remained popular with SU students for two decades, until the Traditions Commission decided to end it in 1970. At that time, the group reorganized its activities in response to the changing mood on campus, a reflection of the increasing political, social, and cultural upheaval across the nation. Although placard cheering fell by the wayside, the commission continued to carry on such SU traditions as planning orientation activities for incoming freshmen. “You expected these kinds of traditions and looked forward to them,” says Trever. “It was an important part of the University experience.” —Lindsay Beller
A Grand Time
on the Great Lakes Alumni spent
the first day and night of the tour in Port Huron, Michigan, Thomas
Edison’s birthplace. “The whole city of Port Huron is
devoted to Edison,” says Gaughan, who spent a night at the
Thomas Edison Inn. “A movie recounting Edison’s life,
starring Mickey Rooney, is played regularly at the town’s theater,
and two museums feature Edison’s inventions.” The next day
the passengers were comfortably settled on board the MV Columbus,
a 6-deck, 472-foot cruise ship built in 1997 that boasts such amenities
as a library, an exercise room with a sauna, two restaurants, two
bars, a swimming pool, boutique, hair salon, and photo lab. The
ship began its journey heading north on Lake Huron into Georgian
Bay, then traveled to Lake Superior and Lake Michigan before returning
to Port Huron. The vessel sailed at night, arriving at its given
destination at dawn. Once docked, passengers could disembark and
see the sights at their own pace, or join such daily shoreline excursions
as visiting museums, shopping, and exploring the coastal cities.
“The cruise ship is absolutely beautiful,” Gaughan says.
“Some members of our group didn’t want to leave the boat.”
At the ship’s
first stop at Manitoulin Island, Ontario, alumni took a trail hike
around Little Current, the island’s largest city; viewed a
Native art exhibition; and watched an Indian dance and drum event.
From there, they traveled through the narrow North Channel—only
20 miles across at its widest point—and landed at Sault Ste.
Marie, where they enjoyed a train ride through dense forests and
imposing granite bluffs into Agawa Canyon. Next, the ship made a
loop into Lake Superior and headed south back to Michigan, making
its last stop at Mackinac Island, where members of the tour group
visited the world-renowned Grand Hotel. “We were amazed by
the beauty of the hotel and grounds,” Gaughan says. “We
were impressed with everything—the whole cruise was absolutely
delightful.” —Lisa Miles | |||||||||
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Staying in
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Syracuse University Magazine | Syracuse University | 820 Comstock
Ave | Room 308 | Syracuse NY 13244-5040
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