School Spirit: Initiation
The 1910 school term at Victoria School
saw the first initiation ceremony take place at the University of Saskatchewan.
According to David Leslie Greene several chairs were broken in the melee
which ensued, and the night ended with a “mopping up” operation
at Emmanuel College of all the freshmen who had declined the invitation.
By mid-decade peanut races and the blackening of frosh faces had become
deeply entrenched traditions.
However, as the 1920s drew to a close
initiation practices began to fall out of favour with students and administration
alike. In the 1933 case of Powlett and Powlett v. University of Alberta
an Alberta trial court awarded damages in excess of $56,000 to two freshmen
who had been subjected to initiation practices strikingly similar to those
of the University of Saskatchewan. The Class of 1935 would officially
eliminate initiation practices at the University of Saskatchewan, replacing
them with Welcome Week.
"Portrait of a Freshman" |
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Agro Initiation |
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Freshmen Put to Work |
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Shining Shoes |
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Painting Fences |
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Seniors and Frosh |
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Previous - [Introduction, School Spirit]
| Next - [Initiation, Part Two]
© 2003, University of Saskatchewan
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