If you were in Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences and needed an excuse to stay awake, you inevitably had to read my column last week. You may remember that I suggested tearing down the fence demarcating the border between Powderhouse Boulevard and Tufts. Barry talk, Jumbo listen. No more fence.
This aperture of the campus helped me find a new pathway to class this morning: a lovely walk past Dewick and straight up through Dearborn Gate. Behind me, I heard two friends talking, and the conversation went something like this: "Wow, that's so cool! How'd they get those pumpkins up there?" My favorite Tufts tradition had returned. The Tufts Mountain Club had ascended to the very tops of some of the tallest buildings in Medford. Like a flag on a mountain peak, each climb was heralded by a bright orange pumpkin.
Halloween is a tradition-filled time. Kids knock on doors, candy is given and latent peanut allergies are discovered. In college, there's the tradition of girls with low self-esteem adding the adjective "slutty" to their costumes: Roll up the waist on your Maytag repairwoman costume, and you are now a slutty Maytag repairwoman.
Perhaps it's this outpouring of tradition that exacerbates the lack of tradition on the Hill. We've got the TCU Senate-sponsored Naked Quad Reception Courtesy of Krispy Kreme, and maybe one fraternity that has been in continuous operation without suspension since October. If the Sox do well, 44 percent of the campus congregates just long enough for some idiot to punch a cop.
Tufts has no "Tufts Club" in a far-flung metropolis. Jumbo caught fire. Jay's, the one restaurant that every alum can remember, is now closed. Other schools have secret societies where membership can guarantee you the presidency. The best benefit at Tufts is the discount at Ball Square Liquors. Anybody who went to Tufts in the past 30 years could tell you that Sol Gittleman's house was the white colonial with the green shutters on Professor's Row. Now it's the temporary home of the Music Building. I bet most students who haven't been on a campus tour lately don't even know why the Rez Quad is called such, and think it's just a mud volleyball court.
I think a lot of the reason why Tufts doesn't have any traditions is because it was founded by a group of people who broke from tradition: Unitarianism does not come to mind when I think of rigidly dogmatic religions. Tufts' founders wanted to create an alternative to the mainline Protestant schools that dotted the Northeast. In a way, this is good. It's a clean start, with none of that fuddy-duddy, old New England, let's-have-a-morning-prayer-service, I-remember-you-from-Andover, I'm-going-to-name-the-building-after-my-daddy crap.
At the same time, it means that there's very little of a shared experience for Tufts students. I have never had a conversation with a Tufts alum where we had any collective memory of our college years. Aside from large debts, I don't feel like I have anything Tufts-related in common with any Tufts graduates, and they usually just complain about how ugly all the new buildings are. Sometimes they ask me where the nearest soup kitchen is.
This is why I love the Tufts Mountain Club. Their precarious pumpkin placements might not make as much news as MIT's levitating Chevy Cavalier hi-jinks, but it's a tradition that brings everyone together. I've even seen neighborhood parents taking their children for a walk pointing out the different pumpkins to their kids. Also, watching Facilities driving around with a bucket truck trying to figure out how to get the pumpkins back to earth should be the subject of a Discovery Channel special.
The Mountain Club found a way to share a bit of their own personal tradition with the entire school. Until the squirrels get hungry, we've all come together as one pumpkin-gazing community. Sure, our mascot is in a Jif jar and nobody wears Tufts-themed ties unless they're at a Trustee's meeting. I'm proud of that independent streak, but if I ever come back to campus again after I graduate I'll make sure it's on Halloween.
Keith Barry is a senior majoring in psychology and community health. He can be reached via e-mail at keith.barry@tufts.edu
