TBT in the Archives 8/31/17: Welcome Freshman!

Welcome back to the fall semester at Shippensburg University! Returning students are grateful to resume their studies, and new students are excited to begin their college career and make new friends.

Since 1872, Shippensburg has welcomed new students each year with rituals, special events, and orientation programs. This year, new and transfer students arrived on campus days before classes started for registration and placement testing, met with faculty, completed volunteer projects, and attended convocation. In the past, similar traditions prepared new students, but others served to remind them of their "fresh" status.

In 1913, "Ye Freshies Attention!" was issued to members of the incoming class. The booklet outlined "Ten Commandments" for freshman, including bans against walking on the grass, growing a mustache, or smoking tobacco.

"Ten Commandments" for freshman, issued in 1913.

An entire freshman handbook was issued by the campus YMCA in 1930. Inside was useful information on campus facilities and regulations, as well as study hours and curfews. Also included was a list of actual "Freshman Regulations." Among the rules were required attendance at athletic games, and the wearing of name cards and special hats called "dinks."

Freshman regulations and tips published in 1931 by the YMCA.

In 1948, freshman received a handbook with a handmade orange construction paper cover. The tone of the booklet was much kinder than the 1913 edition. Rather than frightening freshman with judicious use of a thesaurus, the book welcomed the Class of 1952 to campus and offered helpful tips on campus living: where to get room keys, what was in each building, why students must pay fees, and important landmarks and traditions.

A page outlining traditions from the 1948 freshman handbook.

A similar handbook distributed in 1956 offered similar information, including several pages of regulations for Horton Hall - then the women's dormitory. The cover featured a drawing of a dink.

The cover of the 1956 freshman handbook, featuring a drawing of a dink.

Required headwear for freshman from at least 1930 until about 1971, dinks were beanies with small brims. Throughout most of those years they came in the school colors: blue and red. They were meant to set freshman apart from the other classes and enable them to identify each other while enjoying school spirit. Failure to wear a dink until a set date in the fall (different from year to year) risked punishment for students.

An upperclassman, left, signs the name card of a dink-bedecked freshman.

In addition to dinks, freshman also had to wear large signs with their names written in block letters, and were required to have upperclassmen sign the back.

A freshman with dink and sign studies in the library in the late 1960s.

Linda Hartman was a member of the class of 1970 and wore this sign in 1966.

Though freshman no longer have to wear crazy hats or stay off the grass, its still important for new students to feel welcome at Shippensburg. What do you remember about your freshman orientation? Did you participate in any traditional activities?

Sources:

Class Files, 1970, Shippensburg University Archives & Special Collections, Shippensburg, PA.
“Freshman hand book, compliments of YMCA, 1930-1931,” Class Files 1931, Shippensburg University Archives & Special Collections, Shippensburg, PA.
Photographs, Record Group 30, Shippensburg University Archives & Special Collections, Shippensburg, PA.
State Teachers College Handbook, 1968-1969, Record Group 29, Shippensburg University Archives & Special Collections, Shippensburg, PA.
“Welcome Freshman,” Class Files 1948, Shippensburg University Archives & Special Collections, Shippensburg, PA.
“Welcome to S.S.T.C.,” Class Files 1956, Shippensburg University Archives & Special Collections, Shippensburg, PA.
“Ye Freshies Attention!,” Class Files 1913 (2), Shippensburg University Archives & Special Collections, Shippensburg, PA.