Who’s down to learn about some gates?! After another brief hiatus, Ra Ra Brunonia is back and better than ever (yes, I have said this before!)! As a member of the Ivy League, Brown is forced to conform to a strict gate policy: in order to proceed onto a grass-covered quadrangle, a student must walk through/beneath a gate. This policy is strictly enforced, as evidenced by this…and this…and this.

Let me just establish this up front: Brown loves gates. We walk through the Van Wickle Gates during our first week on campus, we run through the John Nicholas Brown gate when late to our American Legal and Constitutional History lecture, we even have an eatery explicitly named The Gate. Gates are to Brown as Gail is to the Ratty; you absolutely cannot separate the two.

We begin with the most regal of gates at Brown—The Van Wickle Gates. Located at the top of College Street, the Van Wickle Gate has been a staple of the Brown campus since 1901. Named after Augustus Stout Van Wickle, who was incidentally killed in a skeet shooting accident (Ed.-seriously?), the Van Wickle Gates are only fully opened twice a year: towards campus during Convocation and towards downtown Providence during Commencement. It is traditional that seniors doff their caps as the pass beneath the Van Wickle Gates after graduation. As a side note, Augustus Stout Van Wickle also donated a fence and gate to Princeton University—the man truly loved gates.  [Read more →]

After a brief decently-long hiatus, Ra Ra Brunonia is back and poised to drop some serious info about a quaint little spot known as FAVNCE HOVSE. While I may not take Latin, for me, Faunce House is associated with coffee chats, confusion over implied silence in the Leung Gallery, and overall great times. In winter, Faunce additionally serves as an oasis nestled within the frozen tundra that is the Main Green. Honestly, thank you Blue Room, thank you—you have saved more than a few fingers from the perils of frostbite.

Though most students at Brown are familiar with the ins and outs of the current Stephen Roberts (wait for it…) ’62 Campus Center, few recognize the long-standing history of the building and its progression over the 20^th Century. Faunce House was originally erected in 1904 and named Rockefeller Hall after the $75,000 benefactor John D. Rockefeller, Sr. The building included a large reading area, a smoking room and trophy gallery on the first floor, and a 400-seat auditorium on the second floor. Additionally, there existed numerous administrative offices, a barbershop, and rooms filled with f’real products (one day, one day…). [Read more →]

Today at 4:30 p.m., Pac-12 Champion Stanford will take on Big-10 winner Wisconsin in the 2013 iteration of the Rose Bowl Game. Meanwhile, Brown’s football season ended before Thanksgiving. This unfortunate contrast, however, was not always the case. Our own Bruno, in fact, graced the 1916 Rose Bowl in Pasadena, the first since 1902. The game ended up starting off a run of annual New Year’s Day games that continues to this day, the “Grandaddy of them All.”

Led by All-American halfback Fritz Pollard, Brown was riding high after a 3-0 victory over Yale and a 38-0 spanking of URI (sound familiar?) back in 1916. Brown was, if you can believe it, actually favored over its opponent, the Washington State Cougars. On a muddy field, the Cougars were able to hold Pollard, the first African-American to play in the Rose Bowl, to a mere 47 yards on 13 carries. Punching in two rushing touchdowns in the second half was enough for Washington State to beat Brown 14-0. [Read more →]

They ring Wriston Quad and Patriot’s Court; they’re bumping on any given Saturday night; and they are literally nothing like what you imagined after watching Animal House for the first time. Behold the modern Greek houses of Brown University, important brotherhoods to some and party venues to others. In this series, we take a look at College Hill’s Greek life through the years: its impressively rich history, its present-day situation, and its future.

Because of the abundance of information on Brunonian fraternities and sororities, this series will be divided into several parts.

To set things off, Ra Ra Brunonia presents: Greek Life, Part 1: The rise of the frat.

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The ceremony celebrating the Inauguration of President Paxson will be taking place today at 2 p.m. on the Main Green (rain site: OMAC). The Inauguration Ceremony will begin with a procession of members of the Brown community and several representatives from other colleges and universities. Traditional symbols of the Brown presidency, Inauguration, and other ceremonial occasions will be presented. Governor Lincoln Chafee ’75, Mayor Angel Taveras, Senator Jack Reed, and Princeton President Shirley Tilghman will all make remarks during the ceremony, and President Paxson will deliver the Inaugural Address. All are welcome to attend the ceremony, which will be followed by a reception on the Main Green (or the OMAC, if it’s raining).

This is definitely something you shouldn’t miss. Be proud of your university and its rich tradition. Ra Ra Brunonia!

Image via.

One of the wonderful perks about attending a university as old as Brown is the sheer amount of tradition we’ve got here. Say what you will about the academics at a place like Stanford – apparently they’re not half bad – but a school founded fewer than two hundred years ago isn’t exactly going to be steeped in the historically rich customs we follow up here on the Hill. Brown’s got the Van Wickle Gates, Professor Carberry, Spring Weekend, the Pembroke Seal, and a hundred other little practices that many aspiring Brunonians have proudly observed in their time here (albeit with Bob Dylan on the Main Green instead of the Glitch Mob). And yet there’s one custom, common to many universities of Brown’s age and stature, that we lack almost entirely: secret societies.

Secret societies have become so common in the American zeitgeist’s portrayal of the Ivy League – typified in the mystique surrounding Yale’s Skull and Bones – that their presence might seem almost a prerequisite for entry. On the contrary, Brown’s unique status as the most open, inclusive school in the Ivy League – if not the nation – means that our conspicuous lack of traditionally elitist, “WASP-y” secret societies doesn’t necessarily seem out of place. We have no colleges, nor houses, nor finals clubs to separate our classes as they progress through Brown as undergraduates. Those societies we do have – fraternities, sororities, athletic houses, program houses – are, compared to similar societies at peer universities, notoriously friendly and accepting. By that logic, the absence of mystery-shrouded societies on College Hill is just par for the course, right?

Maybe today. But (spoiler alert!) that wasn’t always the case. [Read more →]

With hockey season midterms fast approaching, it is paramount to understand the historical significance of the concrete behemoths in which you will sit…for hours on end. Now, we all know the classic division and respective stereotypes that go along with where one studies, but why is this the case? Is the SciLi actually part of a CS15 project gone wrong? Do hipsters actually live in the basement of the Rock? Why can’t I ever get any work done in the Friedman Study Center? Is the Rock actually a nightclub? Why is the sky blue? All of these questions will be answered in this week’s edition of Ra Ra Brunonia: The Libraries.

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Let’s settle it up front — Brown is not the most spirited when it comes to athletics. While we do hold claim to the fourth largest intercollegiate athletics program in the county, our Tide most certainly does not Roll and our Jayhawk does not Rock Chalk. For many students, football under the lights may be the only interaction they have with Brown athletics.

Interestingly enough, this distant relationship with sports at Brown was not always the case. In the late 19^th century, students were so fixated on (and seemingly distracted by) intercollegiate sport at Brown that President Alexis Caswell responded by stating, “The College is…losing scholarship by the very interest…in boating and baseball.”  Boating and baseball, that’s what Rhode Island does. There was an undeniable sense of excitement surrounding athletics at Brown and a distinct feeling of competitiveness with its rivals.

Though many readers may not be familiar with the intricacies of college sport, we can all agree on one thing: Yale Princeton Penn Cornell Columbia Dartmouth Harvard sucks. We’ve come to appreciate it, it’s literally a fact of life. Yeah they might have the largest endowment in the world and educated seven U.S. presidents, but seriously, did Rutherford ‘Big Shot’ Hayes ever accomplish anything?! (He did.) [Read more →]

After a brief hiatus, Ra Ra Brunonia is back and better than ever. This week we examine the historical roots of Carrie Tower and its relatively subtle presence on campus. Located on the corner of Waterman and Prospect, the tower, in all its glory, peers down upon the slack-liners and studiers of the Quiet Green. Unlike its counterparts on the Main Green, Carrie Tower holds a more subtle, yet deep rooted reputation on campus.

Built in 1904 as a gift from Paul Bajnotti of Turin, Italy, Carrie Tower serves as a memorial for the daughter of Nicholas Brown II, the wife of the benefactor. The tower, built by the J.W. Bishop Company of Boston, is 95 ft. tall (it’s no SciLi) and is primarily constructed of brick (it’s also no ivory tower). The top of the tower is fashioned with four copper clock faces and often adorned with an assortment of invasive plant species. The foliage was not included in any of the original blueprints. Though no one has ever been held prisoner in its highest windows, in the mid-1900s, Carrie Tower and its now defunct bells were used to signal the beginning and end of classes and victories of the Brown football team. [Read more →]

Remember senior year of high school? Tearing through envelopes upon envelopes, closely reading  looking at pictures of different schools and their unique offerings. Beyond each distinct campus and student body, each college displayed one image that I am sure resonated with you throughout the process — the seal.

Though we have all become familiar with the Brown seal with the sun peaking its creepy face over four illegible books, the design of the seal has come a long way since the University’s establishment in Warren, RI in 1764. As Brown was founded prior to the American Revolution, the initial seal of the college, commissioned in 1765 at the second meeting of the Corporation, depicted the profiles of King George III and Queen Charlotte, an image often seen by students venturing into the Sharpe Refectory in 2012. Though ideas were developed and discussed, a new design was not formally instituted until 1833, almost thirty years after the change of name from Rhode Island College to Brown University. The present day Rhode Island College was not too creative in their choice of name #thatsso1803 (Get on our level). Brown: always the cool kid on the block. [Read more →]