Whenever I despair over O Week I try to remind myself that things used to be much worse. Pictures from an old Baker scrapbook:
The Slime Parade was goofy but the Polar Bear Races were straight up hazing. It took a long time to get rid of this kind of stuff as bits of it, such as dousing freshmen with water, survived into very recent times. I believe it’s gone now but I can’t really be sure.
Bonus: Story of my life.
The Class of 1960 was the last to endure all of the old style, Aggie-like hazing in 1956 that included swats from a broom by the sophomores, the polar bear races, the disgusting smoke-out, the slime parade, and more. Most of that ended because of the deaths of two sophs that year inside the Campanile tower, and because the college system began in 1957. As sophs in 1957 we held the slime parade, but little else, as I recall.
There was still a limited amount of ‘Freshman Guidance’ @ Hanszen in 1971. They still had the polar bear races and a few other activities. I think this year or 1972 was the last year for it