Rutgers University traditions and customs

Did You Know?

• At Commencement, undergraduates break clay pipes over the Class of 1877 Cannon monument, symbolizing the breaking of ties with college.
• Graduating seniors walk under the Class of 1902 Memorial Gateway during commencement; superstition warns that walking beneath it before graduation means one will not finish in four years.

School spirit

Rutgers University's sole official color is scarlet, a choice first proposed by the student publication Targum in May 1869 because scarlet ribbon was easily obtained and the color was striking. During the first intercollegiate football game against Princeton on November 6, 1869, Rutgers players wore scarlet turbans and handkerchiefs to distinguish themselves. The Board of Trustees formally made scarlet the school color in 1900. In 1925 the mascot became Chanticleer, a fighting rooster from the medieval fable Reynard the Fox, chosen partly because the student humor magazine was called Chanticleer and its arts editor Ozzie Nelson was the Rutgers quarterback. The Chanticleer mascot was often ridiculed for its association with being chicken. After a campus-wide election in 1955, the mascot changed to the Scarlet Knight, beating contenders such as 'Queensmen,' 'Scarlet,' 'Red Lions,' 'Redmen,' and 'Flying Dutchmen. Football coach Harvey Harman, who supported the change, is said to have bought the first Scarlet Knight costume for the 1955 season.

College pranks

On April 25, 1875, a dozen Rutgers students stole a cannon from Princeton University's campus, believing it had belonged to Rutgers during the American Revolution. They transported it by wagon to New Brunswick before dawn. Princeton students retaliated by raiding the Rutgers Armory and stealing several muskets. The ensuing debate between the two university presidents was reported sensationally in newspapers nationwide. A committee from both colleges eventually recommended returning the stolen items; Princeton officials then buried the cannon in cement with only a few feet exposed. In October 1946, Rutgers students attempted to steal the cannon again, attaching a chain from it to their Ford. Surprised by Princeton men and local police, they accelerated so hard that the car was torn in half; the students escaped without the car or cannon. To this day, Rutgers students travel to Princeton to paint the cannon scarlet red as a declaration of ownership. A cannon placed before Old Queens at Rutgers, by the class of 1877, memorializes the event and several alumni killed in action.

Around campus

A statue of William of Orange, nicknamed Willie the Silent, sits on Voorhees Mall. It was given anonymously by Fenton B. Turck, a New York doctor and biologist, with help from Leonor F. Loree, a railroad magnate and Rutgers trustee. Turck stored the statue in his Manhattan lab basement for eight years before it was revealed on June 9, 1928. The statue is a rough copy of one found in The Hague. Passion Puddle is a small, shaded pond on the Douglass campus. Legend says that walking around it three times with a romantic partner will lead to marriage within a year. Traditionally, a Douglass College woman and a Cook College man who circle it three times are destined for a happy life together.

Recent customs and annual events

Rutgers Day, held since 1906 and under that name since 2009, is an annual festival where university departments and schools present exhibits and displays for the public, attracting about 50,000 visitors. The first Rutgers Day as such took place Saturday, April 25, 2009, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on campuses in New Brunswick and Piscataway. It incorporates the New Jersey Folk Festival, an older event on Douglass Campus dating to the mid-1970s. For thirty years through 2011, Rutgersfest was an annual concert on Busch or Livingston campus with novelties and stands; it ended after students and others became rowdy in New Brunswick following the 2011 event. Since 2003, Tent State University, a camp-out protest on Voorhees Mall, has been held annually in response to proposed education budget cuts and tuition increases; the movement began at Rutgers. The Grease Trucks, which served sandwiches like Fat Cat, Fat Sam, and Fat Darrell, were long considered a Rutgers institution. They previously operated beside Alexander Library on College Avenue Campus but were permanently removed by Rutgers in 2017 when their license was not renewed; 'RU Hungry' now has a store at The Yard across from Scott Hall.