Hoosier Traditions

At midnight following graduation day, seniors storm Showalter Fountain outside the IU Auditorium to go for a late-night dip. Why? It’s tradition.

You’d never know how or why, but it gets passed down from class to class and usually ends in security guards kindly looking the other way and asking that students remain quiet.

And unless students are told, they probably wouldn’t ever know that the Jordan Avenue bridge is painted nearly every week by student organizations wishing to promote an event. It is an unspoken happening that could be considered defacing of University property, but it stays on the bridge because that’s the tradition.

Though it’s not always clear where they came from, it’s apparent that they continue year to year, passed from class to class. IU professor of history and philosophy of science Jim Capshew has made IU traditions not just a part of his life, but a part of his career. He is one half of the teaching duo responsible for creating X112: Traditions and Cultures of IU, a two-credit-hour, eight-week course offered online to help teach students about the IU community.

Started in the fall of 2000, X112 has now reached more than 1,400 students. To Capshew, teaching the course is telling a story, exposing students to the history of IU that makes it such a special place, he said.

“This campus in some ways really is a work of art,” he said.

Perhaps the most well-known of IU’s traditions is Little 500, a bike race started in 1951. Teams of three and four enter after months of training for a shot of glory on the track.

In mid-April, visitors pour into Bloomington in droves to cheer the racers on, but Capshew reveals there are more traditions than just Little 500.

“Many people don’t know that the Benton Murals in the auditorium were commissioned for just $20,000,” he said. “Now, nearly 70 years later, they are worth millions.”

For Capshew, IU’s artistic tradition is the richest one of all. He likes to talk about the great limestone buildings built with rock pulled right from the area and the respected opera program still performing to packed houses. He also likes to talk about how the green spaces on campus, such as Dunn Meadow and the Arboretum, were incorporated to be outdoor meeting places for staff and students.

“The more you know about the University, the more you appreciate the tremendous resources you have around you,” he said. “It’s a very different place than it was a hundred years ago, but its core beliefs remain intact.”

One of IU’s most romantic traditions is the 100-year-old Rose Well House, located on campus between Maxwell and Wylie Halls. According to a manuscripts in the IU Archives called “Traditions of IU” by Marvin Shamon, a custom at the Rose Well House is that a woman is not a true college “coed” until she is kissed at midnight under the dome of the House. The tradition has since evolved – students propose or even get married at the Rose Well House.