April 27, 2015

Page 1

MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

YEARS OF

HEY DAY

KNOW YOUR

HEY DAY TERMS

The Spoon - The oldest of the men’s awards presented during Hey Day, dating back to the mid-1800s. The Spoon is presented to the most popular member of the senior class, known as the “Spoon Man.”

A look at 100 years of Hey Day traditions DIA SOTIROPOULOU Staff Reporter

In 1940, Hey Day nearly died. Student apathy was threatening to abort the tradition, inaugurated in 1916 as a “Moving-Up Day” to honor the advancement of Penn juniors to their next year. The occasion was later baptized “Hey Day” to give it a unique Penn signature. In a fashion similarly characteristic of Penn, 1940s seniors filled out that year’s Hey Day improvement questionnaire with joking answers. The Office on Student Affairs voted to abolish the celebration, and it was only narrowly saved in May 1940 by a student petition. Leap ahead to 2014, and the tradition is hardly feeble — photos from that spring show an ocean of exuberant juniors trooping messily down Locust Walk, dressed in flaming red Tshirts and fake straw hats. Indeed, Hey Day has evolved and reconstituted itself in tandem with Penn, reflecting each of its generations. Since its founding, the custom has witnessed a world war and the University’s 1976 co-ed integration. It has been jeopardized twice, first by the reluctant seniors of 1940 and then by a perhaps overenthusiastic group of students in 1990 — they poured beer on then-President Sheldon Hackney and carried him out of College Hall on their shoulders, dropping him on the steps. It has absorbed a number of different Penn traditions while merging others. On this year, the 100th time Hey Day will be celebrated, it’s worth taking a look back at the tradition’s colorful journey to its present incarnation. ORIGINS AND GROWING PAINS The cheerful parade-and-picnic arrangement currently constituting Hey Day has unexpected beginnings. According to Penn archivist Mark Lloyd, the celebration was born from a Penn tradition called the Bowl Fight. A yearly ritual since the Civil War, the Bowl Fight was a rambunctious mass wrestling match between Penn’s freshman and sophomore classes. The sophomores would provide a bowl inscribed with their graduation year, and the freshmen nominated a so-called “bowl man.” The freshman class’ objective was to break the bowl; the sophomore class’ was to put the bowl man into the bowl. In 1916, freshman William Lifson was killed in the fight, leading to the abandonment of the controversial custom. “Hey Day,” Lloyd explained, “was to take the place of the Bowl Fight.” In 1916, therefore, the inaugural Hey Day was held, a somewhat tamer occasion involving an enormous congregation of all the undergraduates and the distribution of four senior honors awards known as the Spoon, Bowl, Cane and Spade awards. Then-President Edgar Fahs Smith

The Bowl - The second-oldest of the men’s awards presented at Hey Day, instituted in 1882. Originally a component of the Bowl Fight, in which the freshman and sophomore classes would wrestle with a large bowl. The tradition ended in 1916 with the death of freshman William Lifson, but the Bowl was retained as an honors award.

The Cane - Originally the signature accessory of the Junior Cane March from the Quad to Houston Hall, during which each junior man toted a cane of solid mahogany with a customizable silver band. In the '80s, canes were issued in a cheaper, more flexible bamboo version.

The Hat - The straw skimmer, the grandfather of Hey Day’s round-brimmed Styrofoam hat, was part of the Junior Cane March uniform.

The Red T-shirt - Introduced in the 1980’s as a nod to contemporary student fashions. The Styrofoam version of the skimmer hat was introduced at the same time.

Althea K. Hottel Award - A woman's honor award presented at Hey Day named after a pioneer in women’s education who earned three Penn degrees. Althea Hottel served as the Dean of Women from 1943 to 1959.

R. Jean Brownlee Award - A woman's honor award first presented at 1977's Hey Day. Brownlee was Dean of the College for Women from 1958 to 1975, and earned three degrees at Penn. She received an honorary Doctor of Laws in 1986, and was known for championing women’s causes long before they entered the mainstream.

theDP.com/heyday100

SOURCE: UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES

HEY DAY THROUGH THE YEARS

1916

1932

1935

1940

1941

1949

1950

1967

SEE HEY DAY PAGE 8

SEE PAGE 8 FOR CONTINUED TIMELINE GRAPHICS BY KHRISTIAN MONTERROSO, NIKITA SOOD & KATE JEON

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April 27, 2015 by The Daily Pennsylvanian - Issuu