Is Sewanee as traditional as people say?
Sewanee is a dynamic community — made better by the involvements of people with fresh new ideas such as yours and your son’s or daughter’s. It is also a place with a rich history and with traditions which often prove to be strong and long lasting.
What are some Sewanee traditions?
Faculty members as well as certain students with very good records have worn academic gowns to class since the 1870s. For nearly a century, the Order of Gownsmen performed the functions of student government. Since 1970 it has shared this responsibility with the Student Assembly.
A dress code for students was adopted in 1869. It survives as a dress tradition — men in coats and ties, women in skirts or dresses — for class, chapel, and cultural events.
Sewanee students, faculty members, and residents tend to greet one another on the street, or at least nod in passing. This is to some extent simply a feature of small-town life, but a precedent for it was set by General Josiah Gorgas (C.S.A.), the second Vice Chancellor, who apparently saluted every student he met and lifted his hat in greeting the ladies.
Dormitories at Sewanee have head matrons, or, as they are now called, head residents, since the first student residence halls were built. This feature of campus life, which was distinctive when Sewanee was an all-men’s college and now has few counterparts elsewhere, may have grown out of the earlier system of housing where students lived in the homes of faculty members or residents.
The Honor Code, which is regularly reviewed and revised, has existed since at least 1876, when examinations included the still familiar pledge that one has neither given nor received unauthorized aid. Simple in its basic principle — that a Sewanee student does not lie, cheat, or steal — the honor system has always been maintained and administered by students, with appropriate counsel from faculty members or administrators.
The Chapel has always been central to the life of the University and is appropriately situated at the heart of the campus to express the importance of the values it represents. Though attendance at services is no longer required, it is expected at convocations held on important occasions during the academic year. Student attendance at the main Sunday service each week is very considerable. Degrees have been awarded in the chapel since the University’s first Commencement except for 1958 when the present building was under construction. Chapel services have always been open to persons of all faiths.
Student visiting in faculty members’ homes on Sunday nights during term was a regular feature of campus life until the 1960s. The custom still survives in invitations from the Vice Chancellor and faculty members or occasional class meetings in the homes of faculty members. Student-faculty contacts outside class are also encouraged in a variety of other ways.
The origins of some traditions such as the cheer “Yea! Sewanee’s Right” seem to be lost in the mists of time. Some customs are relatively recent, such as the practice of tapping the roof of the car when leaving the Domain to take a guardian angel on one’s travels, which dates from the early ’60s. Others date from before the University opened, such as the nomenclature, borrowed from Oxford and Cambridge, by which the Chancellor of the University has chiefly symbolic functions while the Vice Chancellor is the executive head, performing the duties of the President.
