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“Listen, Worm …”

The poster to the right arrived in the alumni relations office in May, accompanied by a short note explaining that the sender, not an alumnus, had found it first while a college student in California in the late 1970s and more recently “refound” it in his mother’s house. “Thought you all would appreciate it as it nears 100!”

Currently undergoing conservation, the poster is a vivid reminder of the days early in the 20th Century and stretching back to the mid-19th, when the freshmen and soph-omore classes engaged in an annual round of pitched battles, such as the Hall and Corner Rushes. In the first, the classes would hurl themselves at each other from opposite ends of the then-unobstructed hallway of College Hall; in the second, the freshman class would attempt to dislodge the sophomores from their favored spot. Other contests included the Bowl Fight, which through some strange alchemy morphed into the Spoon and Bowl senior honor awards, and the Pants Fight (see page 34).

Copyright 2002 The Pennsylvania Gazette Last modified 7/01/02