Traditions of Pomona College
Quirky traditions, including a campus-wide obsession with the number 47.
Pomona College, a highly selective liberal arts college in Claremont, California, has developed numerous traditions since its founding in 1887. These traditions vary in popularity, longevity, and institutional recognition, and together form a significant part of the school's culture and identity by promoting social cohesion. Early traditions often involved class rivalries and hazing, but after World War II they were gradually replaced by college-wide customs, including a notable reverence for the number 47.
Quick Facts
- Founded
- 1887
- Location
- Claremont, California
- Mufti secret society founded
- 1958
- Mufti founders
- Martha Tams Barthold
- Jean Wentworth Bush Guerin
- Alice Taylor Holmes
- Thomasine Wilson
- Alma mater written
- 1910 or 1911
Facts from the source article.
Extant traditions
The number 47 has been woven into many aspects of Pomona College life. The tradition began in the summer of 1964 when two students, Laurie Mets and Bruce Elgin, researched whether the number appears in nature more often than chance would predict. They documented numerous sightings, and professor Donald Bentley produced a false mathematical proof that 47 equals all other integers. The number became a meme among their class and spread across campus. Notable sightings include Pomona's location off exit 47 of Interstate 10, and the largest residential building, Mudd-Blaisdell, which was completed in 1947, has a title with 47 characters, and contains a staircase with 47 balusters. Alumni have inserted 47 into their work; Joe Menosky, class of 1979 and a Star Trek: The Next Generation writer, included it in nearly every episode he wrote, a practice other Star Trek writers adopted. Pomona hosts a community service celebration each April 7 (4/7), and in the early 2010s the college's clock tower was set to chime on the 47th minute of each hour. In Frary Dining Hall, the open refectory's vaulted ceiling and tiled floor create loud acoustics. When someone drops a plastic cup, tradition calls for everyone else to finish their drink and drop their own cup. Pomona's secret society, Mufti, meaning 'out of uniform', glues small paper sheets around campus with cryptic puns offering social commentary. Originating in 1958, it was started by four women from the class of 1960: Martha Tams Barthold, Jean Wentworth Bush Guerin, Alice Taylor Holmes, and Thomasine Wilson. The tradition passed to subsequent classes and has waxed and waned in activity. Its postings, called 'burgers', measure 3.5 by 8.5 inches, typically contain three lines with the center one most prominent, and are glued in a figure eight shape.
Defunct traditions
Several Pomona College songs, written by students and faculty, are no longer part of active campus life. The alma mater, "Hail, Pomona, Hail," was composed by student Richard Loucks around 1910 or 1911. In 2008, it came to light that the piece might have originally served as the finale for a student blackface minstrel show. A commission suggested replacing it, but many alumni pushed back, pointing out that the lyrics themselves were inoffensive. Further investigation by Rosemary Choate, a 1963 graduate, found that primary sources indicated Loucks likely did not write the song for that show and had misremembered the connection decades later. President David Oxtoby chose to keep the song but stopped performing it at convocation and commencement. Since then, it has mostly faded from current students' awareness. Another song, "Torchbearers," was created in 1896 by Francis Fulkerson, a 1896 graduate, and professor Arthur Bissell. It was inspired by a Cahuilla festival that professor Frank Brackett and David Barrows, a 1894 graduate, had attended. Initially called "Ghost Dance," its title and lyrics were revised by professor Ramsay Harris in 1930. In 1932, the Pomona men's glee club won the only National Glee Club Championship ever awarded, performing this song. The lyrics were altered again in 2009 to remove culturally appropriative elements, but ongoing concerns led to its retirement from active use in 2015. It is also now unfamiliar to most students. A few other, lesser-known Pomona songs are still performed by the college's choral program. A separate tradition involves each class designing its own banner. The first-year class would unveil, or "spring," its banner in a public space where most students could see it, then try to rush it to the Ghosts, a mentor organization, before the second-year class could grab it. The Ghosts would then decide if the spring was valid based on a complex set of rules. Notable banner springs took place at the Fox Theater in Pomona in 1932 and in front of a train carrying fans home from a football game in 1949. The 1949 event was preceded by an attempt from a helicopter, which was ruled invalid because a moving vehicle could not be used to present the banner.
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