Given the broader discourse of the past two months, I have purposefully delayed making an installment for the past few weeks to keep my 15 October post at the top.
Traditions
Colleges and Universities are rife with traditions. Some are silly, but some can be quite meaningful.
Sometimes they accrete their own mythologies. When I was at another institution, there was an entertaining and harmless tradition of wearing costumes during senior week. I once made a wise crack about it, and was told by a student, “You don’t understand, this has been a tradition for nearly a century;” to which I replied, “No, you don’t understand, this was started five years ago by a student named ‘xxxx,’ and I was there. It’s fun, but not foundational.”
Some traditions truly are foundational. Each year at commencement I acknowledge Susquehanna’s traditions:
“Like sacraments, our university traditions are outward signs of inward truths. They are actions that signify values that are at the core of our institutional identity, and they bind us as members of a rare and meaning-filled community.”
At Susquehanna, favorite traditions include: Move-In/Convocation, SU Give, Homecoming, Family Weekend, Thanksgiving Dinner, Candlelight, Martin Luther King Teach In, and SU Serve.
Each of these traditions focuses on certain values or goals.
Move-In (some photos from last year are at the bottom of this page) is an opportunity for faculty, staff, returning students, and some of our neighbors to welcome new students and their families to campus. It affirms for them that we are the close-knit and supportive community they were anticipating.
SU Serve is a day focused on our yearlong commitment to community service. It is also a tradition celebrated by thousands of alumni across the nation and around the world who given tens of thousands of service hours to community organizations every year as an extension of their college experience.
Convocation and Commencement are our formal traditions. We do ceremony with significant pomp and minimal stuffiness. We strongly tie these events to each other. At opening convocation, I invite our new students and their families to their future graduation. I tell them what charge I will give them at commencement, and I encourage them to do all they can in their four years here to be best prepared to meet that charge.
The last few weeks of the Fall semester include some of our favorite traditions.
Be a Kid Again is a gathering on the night before finals. Students gather in the dining hall in their pajamas and sit crossed-legged on the floor enjoying cocoa and cookies. Harmonic Combustion, our student a cappella group, leads them in some carols and I sing a setting of “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” with patient help from Prof. Marcos Krieger and Phi Mu Alpha and Sigma Alpha Iota, our musical Greek organizations. It was surely started to provide a boost of encouragement for first-year students about to take their first collegiate finals, but many students participate all four years.
Thanksgiving Dinner is the most sentimental for me. We have three seatings over two days. The final seating is for seniors. Everything is family style, served by faculty, staff, and many of their family members. It is a 42-year-old event that could not be more heart-warming. The students are truly grateful and gracious. This year’s seniors were especially appreciative because their first year, we did Thanksgiving as a masked take-out. Even then there was a palpable sense of gratitude.
Our Christmas Candlelight is beloved by the religious and non-religious alike. About 1400 people attend our own version a Lessons and Carols Service. Founded in 1966, it is a terrific showcase for our choirs and instrumental ensembles, and it is one of our best town-gown integrations. This year’s program was focused on finding hope and peace in a weary world with an emphasis on the Beatitudes.
Each of these traditions helps to shape and reinforce culture and values, and they are strong reminders of how lucky we are to be in this wonderful place.