Traditions allow students to get involved in IU legacy

Welcome to IU!

Traditions are an important aspect of any school’s pride and legacy. With that in mind, make sure to embrace every IU tradition as you begin your transformation into a true Hoosier. Here at IU, you will find yourself face to face with a wide array of situations and opportunities unique to students at Indiana University.

IU traditions help to bring together people of all races, cultures and personalities, as well as open doors for shy people to emerge from their shell and stand confidently alongside their fellow Hoosiers. Here are a few traditions we celebrate at IU.

Whether it’s a football game or a Straight No Chaser concert (a men’s a capella group started at IU), Hoosiers always like to celebrate school pride. Football games are a great way to cheer on the Hoosiers as well as a perfectly good excuse to paint your face and fist bump a stranger.

Homecoming is not just a time for football: It also brings a celebratory parade and the “Yell Like Hell” spirit competition. Not only is Homecoming a tremendous event, but it is also a legacy that Indiana University helped to popularize, as IU was one of the first universities in the nation to adopt the celebration. So come to the festivities, warm up those vocals and find your best red shirt.

One of the great traditions celebrated at IU sporting events is the singing of the fight song. First performed in 1912, “Indiana, Our Indiana,” is the fight song played at every IU football and basketball game. Basketball games are another opportunity for those sport enthusiasts out there (or IU enthusiasts) to really get excited about IU. Even those who are new to IU recognize the power of the school’s traditions. In fact, at least one of our basketball recruits for this upcoming year made his decision to come to IU, in part, for the great traditions.

“It’s a great school with a lot of tradition,” Louisville, Ky., guard Remy Abell said. “Coach Crean, he’s a future Hall of Fame coach. I’m trying to bring the tradition back. Putting on that jersey, those candy-striped pants, it’s more than playing. It’s
tradition.”

Athletics are not the only tradition here at IU. Make sure to get down and dance at IU’s Dance Marathon in the fall, an event that helps raise money for Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. Participants dance for 36 hours, throwing caution and sleep to the wind in order to support the cause. Of course, exhaustion afterward is expected, but the feeling of doing a good thing as well as participating in a memorable event makes it all worthwhile to students.

“It’s such a positive weekend,” IUDM President Eric Davis said in 2010. “So much hard work has been put in to this event, and it definitely paid off.”

Another must is the Little 500 race held annually. Little 500 weekend has been called “The World’s Greatest College Weekend.” It mixes competition and school spirit with celebration and excitement as some of our school’s best athletes compete in the bike races throughout the weekend. This is the recipe for one of the most thrilling weekends you’ll spend here.

IU traditions are a big part of school pride, and the events that bring Hoosiers together are very memorable for most. The proof is in the audience of any sporting event, concert, festival, performance or even musical you attend.

If you take a look around, make sure to note that along with your fellow students, there are plenty of proud alumni clapping and chanting along with you. That being said: Sing, chant, clap and dance for your school at every opportunity.

LEARN THE WORDS

IU FIGHT SONG
“Indiana, Our Indiana”
Indiana, our Indiana
Indiana, we’re all for you
We will fight for the cream and crimson
for the glory of old IU.
Never daunted, we cannot faulter
In the battle, we’re tried and true.
Indiana, our Indiana,
Indiana, we’re all for you!

Lyrics by Russel P. Harker
Music from “The Viking March” by Karl L. King

ALMA MATER
“Hail to Old IU”
Come and join in song together,
Shout with might and main;
Our beloved Alma Mater,
Sound her praise again.
Gloriana Frangipana,
E’er to her be true.
She’s the pride of Indiana,
Hail to Old IU!

Lyrics by J.T. Giles
Music from an old Scottish song