When you think about the grind of a full‑time job, the chaos of college can feel like a whole other universe. That’s why generations of students have invented wild ways to blow off steam, bond with classmates, and keep sanity intact. In this roundup of 10 strange university customs, we dive into the most out‑there traditions that still thrive on campuses across the globe.
10 Hacks And Rats: MIT
The brainy, gadget‑loving scholars at MIT have earned a reputation for staging elaborate practical jokes, affectionately called “hacks.” Some legendary examples include hijacking the institute’s homepage with a notice that Disney had bought the school in 1998, rerouting long‑distance calls to a nearby radar site back in the 1960s, and even releasing a massive black weather balloon in the middle of a Harvard‑Yale football showdown in 1982.
Students especially love the challenge of balancing oddball objects atop the iconic Great Dome. Over the years they’ve perched a replica of the Wright brothers’ aircraft, a life‑size fiberglass cow, and even the Triforce from The Legend of Zelda on the dome’s crown.
Another quirky MIT custom is the nickname for the “Standard Technology Ring.” In 1929, a sophomore committee designed the class ring, opting for a beaver engraving to symbolize the industrious spirit of MIT grads. Supposedly the design looked more rodent‑like, giving rise to the affectionate moniker “Brass Rat” that alumni still cherish today.
9 Penny Throwing: Lincoln College, Oxford
To mark Ascension Day—the Christian celebration of Jesus rising to heaven—students from Lincoln College climb to the top of their college tower and hurl pennies at a gathering of children waiting below in the quad.
This charitable throw dates back to the 15th century and originally had a far darker twist. Historically, the pennies were heated before being tossed, with the belief that any child scorched by the hot metal would learn a hard lesson about greed.
During the same festivities, Lincoln scholars also perform “beating the bounds,” marching through Oxford while striking boundary markers with two‑meter wooden staves to reaffirm the historic parish lines between St. Mary the Virgin University Church and St. Michael at the North Gate. As a quirky side note, Brasenose College members are traditionally invited to Lincoln College for a modest ale‑sipping lunch on Ascension Day, featuring a brew spiked with bitter ground ivy to keep Brasenose students from over‑indulging.
8 Pipe Smoking And Handsome Dan: Yale
At Yale’s commencement, graduates receive a clay pipe and a modest pouch of tobacco. After a brief puff, they are expected to smash the pipe—a symbolic gesture denoting the end of their carefree collegiate days. Complementing this rite, a tradition dating to 1851 sees students burying a sprig of ivy on campus, representing a lasting bond with the university.
Beyond graduation, Yale’s football spirit is bolstered by its iconic bulldog mascot, Handsome Dan. First appointed in 1889, the canine has become a beloved figure, with the most recent incarnation, Handsome Dan XVIII, joining the roster in 2016.
Other famous collegiate mascots include MIT’s Tim the Beaver, Princeton’s Tiger, and Stanford’s Tree—technically the mascot of the Stanford Band, yet widely embraced as the university’s unofficial emblem.
7 The Time Ceremony: Merton College, Oxford
Born in 1971, this modern tradition commemorates the conclusion of a three‑year experiment where the United Kingdom stayed on British Summer Time year‑round, staying an hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. Participants don their sub‑fusc academic dress, clutch a glass of port, and parade counter‑clockwise around the Fellows’ Quad precisely at 2:00 AM.
While the ceremony may appear frivolous, its originator notes that ever since its inception, Britain’s clocks have reliably shifted back to GMT when summer ends, as if the ritual itself guarantees the change.
6 Underground Exploration: Stanford
Since the tunnels and steam pipes were installed in 1881, Stanford students have taken to exploring the labyrinth beneath the campus—dubbed “the Farm.” Over generations, daring scholars have braved insects, roaming rats, and even legal gray areas to sip from hidden fountains, stage capture‑the‑flag games, or hunt for the fabled secret entrance to the Hoover Library.
These subterranean passages are notorious for being dirt‑laden, claustrophobic, and lined with scorching hot pipes. Because of the hazards, university staff strongly discourage any unauthorized spelunking, though the legend persists among adventurous undergrads.
5 Toast Throw: University of Pennsylvania
At every home football game, Penn students belt out their school anthem, “Drink a Highball.” When the lyric “Here’s a toast to dear old Penn” arrives, the crowd doesn’t raise glasses—they hurl actual slices of toast onto the field.
Some trace the origin to the audience participation seen at live screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, while others argue the ritual emerged during Prohibition, when fans could no longer carry real liquor into the stadium.
4 Dooley: Emory University
Dooley is a biology‑lab skeleton that has become Emory University’s unofficial mascot. The persona sprang to life when, in 1899, students began signing letters to the campus newspaper under Dooley’s name.
Today, a student dons the skeleton costume—complete with a black cape, top hat, and white gloves—to embody Dooley. Each spring, Emory hosts a week of playful pranks and jokes in his honor, and the bony figure makes surprise cameo appearances at various campus events throughout the year.
3 Hunting The Mallard: All Souls College, Oxford
All Souls College, Oxford’s most elite institution, admits only fellows after a famously rigorous selection process. Yet its members still partake in one of the most eccentric traditions on record.
Every century, a procession of fellows, torch‑lit, follows a leader bearing a staff topped with a wooden duck. The spectacle honors a 1437 legend in which a massive duck allegedly burst from the college’s foundations. The next ceremony is slated for 2101.
2 The Primal Scream: Harvard
The “Primal Scream” erupts at Harvard once exam season ends. Students congregate at the north end of the Old Yard and unleash a collective howl just before midnight. Over the years, the scream has been accompanied by occasional streaking, though that particular element seems to have taken off in the 1990s rather than the 1700s as some myths claim.
Streaking itself boasts a storied past. In 1804, George William Crump became the first American college student arrested for streaking at what is now Washington and Lee University. Despite the scandal, Crump later served as a U.S. Congressman and ambassador to Chile.
1 Night Climbing: Oxford and Cambridge Universities
Night climbing is the clandestine sport of scaling college and public buildings under cover of darkness. Originating in Cambridge in the late 1800s, the practice was immortalized in Noel Howard Symington’s 1937 book The Night Climbers of Cambridge, written under the pseudonym “Whipplesnaith.”
While evidence suggests Oxford students dabbed in similar antics during the 1920s, Cambridge prides itself on being the true birthplace of urban mountaineering—a tradition that never truly caught on at “the other place.” After a lull, the 1960s and ’70s sparked a revival, spawning numerous guidebooks on modern routes.
King’s College Chapel in Cambridge remains a favored target, standing 29 meters (94 ft) tall. Recent climbs have seen traffic cones, toilet seats, and even Santa hats removed from the structure at considerable expense to the college.
Why These 10 Strange University Traditions Matter
Each of these customs—whether a midnight pipe‑smash at Yale or a penny‑throwing ceremony at Lincoln—reveals the creative spirit that thrives when students are given the freedom to be weird, wonderful, and wildly inventive. They remind us that beyond lectures and labs, college life is a theater of tradition, where the bizarre becomes beloved.