It sounds trite, but Commencement exercises make me feel really nostalgic. I think this nostalgia is partially due to the fact that Commencement is the last time an entire graduating class will be together, but I also find myself feeling a sense of nostalgia for the more distant past. One would think our current Commencement traditions link us Jumbos throughout the ages, right?
Well, yes and no.
The Commencement ceremonies a hundred years ago were not, in all honesty, that much different from today. For commencement on June 21, 1911, students and their families gathered in Goddard Chapel to begin with morning prayers. Student speakers then shared speeches ranging over a variety of topics, including titles such as "An Appreciation of the Classics" and "Etiology and the Prevention of Irregularities in Teeth." (I'm assuming the latter fellow was graduating from Tufts' Dental School.) Degrees were then distributed — all 217 of them — and the ceremony closed with a benediction.
This was not, however, the full extent of Commencement celebrations at Tufts a century ago. In addition to the official ceremonies, there was a tradition known as Class Day in which the entire university gathered to celebrate and honor the graduating seniors. Although thundershowers struck on Class Day in 1911, it would have taken more than a little rain to dampen the celebrations that lasted from 9 a.m. until midnight.
Class Day began as any other at Tufts, with morning prayers in Goddard Chapel. Family and friends later joined the seniors and listened to speeches given by the class orator, poet and president, as well as some wise words conferred by President Frederick W. Hamilton. I don't know about you, but I think I'd be a bit bored at this point with the barrage of speeches and endless yammering about graduation and life after Tufts. Thankfully, in response to this anticipated boredom, the next phase of Class Day moved the revelers outdoors for a few hours of organized chaos.
The "Tree Exercises" were the next activity on the program. Visitors and Tufts students would gather under a tree between Ballou Hall and Goddard Chapel to listen to a Tree Oration, sing class songs and distribute gifts to underclassmen. Seniors provided toy guns for the junior class as a symbol of bravery, old shoes for the sophomores to symbolize following in the seniors' footsteps and children's storybooks for the freshmen as a symbol of knowledge. (I guess it really is the thought that counts.)
And while I'm sure singing round after round of "Tuftonia's Day" and distributing presents to hundreds of underclassmen was certainly a rousing good time, it seems like all hell really broke loose in the next phase of the celebrations. Each class, still seated around the tree, would take turns creating cheers for P.T. Barnum, the trustees, the president and the sports teams. The cheering continued as the band played and seniors and sophomores marched across the quad, shouting and cheering for each building the crowd thundered past.
After the hullabaloo subsided, the different fraternities and clubs hosted dinners, and the Glee Club performed on the steps of Barnum Hall. The Tufts Weekly also tells us that when evening fell on Class Day in 1911, "The Hill never looked more beautiful with its perfect green slopes, the decorations and the thousands of vari-colored lanterns."
And so ended Class Day one hundred years ago.
Although it's sad that some traditions, like the Tree Exercises, are lost to the annals of Tufts history, there are others I think we are better off forgetting about (for example, until 1868, Commencement exercises were conducted almost entirely in Latin). But whether you choose to storm the quad in a cheering mob or hang a few lanterns from the trees, I hope your graduation is as memorable as your last four years at Tufts. Congratulations, and good luck!
