Title: Harassing the freshmen

Informant info: T.S. is a current member of the class of 2018. He is 19 years old and is from Weston, Connecticut. On campus, he is involved mostly with his fraternity. He is an Engineering major.

Type of lore: Customary, pranks

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States

Social / Cultural Context: T.S. was interviewed alone in the Baker Berry library. He has experienced the bonfire two times (once as an upperclassmen and once as a freshman).

Item: Every year during the homecoming bonfire, while the freshmen are running around the bonfire, the upperclassmen do their best to confuse and harass the freshmen. Upperclassmen will gather at the edge of the boundary and yell “touch the fire” or “you’re running the wrong way” or “worse class ever” at the freshmen. Some upperclassmen will run laps around the bonfire themselves while harassing the freshmen. In previous years, harassment was much worse and more physical.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Informant’s comments: Informant later added that he had been harassed as a freshmen, but felt that it was mostly in good fun. He went back sophomore year, but only stayed a few minutes because he was not having fun harassing the freshmen.

Collector’s comments: This tradition/prank is one that is not really passed down in a concrete way, but still manages to happen every year.

Tags/Keywords: bonfire, freshmen, upperclassmen, pranks