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The Tufts University school mascot is Jumbo the elephant, in honor of a major donation from circus owner P.T. Barnum in 1882. While Barnum gave the skeleton of the animal to the American Museum of Natural History, the stuffed remains of Jumbo were put on display in the lobby of Barnum Hall until the building burned down in 1974. The alleged ashes of Jumbo currently reside in a peanut butter jar in the athletic director's office. A large plaster-statue elephant, Jumbo II, now sits on the academic quad. The Tufts mascot is the only school mascot listed in Webster's dictionary.
Contents
- Naked Quad Run
- Spring Fling
- Tuftonias Day
- Pumpkining
- Greek life
- Campus media and publications
- News and magazines
- Radio and television
- Academic journals
- References
The school colors of Tufts University are brown and blue. The shade of brown is generally a chocolate brown, and the blue is variously described as between light and middle blue, or dusty sky blue. Though this color combination was chosen by the student body in 1876, the colors were not made officially the colors of Tufts University until 1960, when the Trustees voted on the matter.
The Tufts Community Union funds a number of undergraduate student groups, and some 150 are recognized by the university. Prominent groups include the Beelzebubs, Tufts Financial Group, Tufts Dance Collective, the Amalgamates, Spirit of Color, Tufts Labor Coalition, United for Immigrant Justice, Students for Justice in Palestine, The Observer, Tufts Mormon Club. The Leonard Carmichael Society, an umbrella organization for community and public service projects, is the largest student group at Tufts, comprising a volunteer corps of over 1,000 and a staff of eighty-five.
In The Princeton Review's 2010–2011 "Best 363 Colleges," Tufts was ranked #14 for the happiest students and Tufts' study abroad program was ranked #3 in the country. The Princeton Review has since 2005 listed Tufts in its "Best Campus Food" category, ranking it as high as second. Additionally, The Advocate ranks Tufts as one of the top 20 gay-friendly campuses.
In 2009, the school banned sexual activity in dorm rooms when a roommate is present. The university may have been the first in the nation to be explicit about this type of conduct.
Naked Quad Run
The Naked Quad Run was originated by residents of West Hall and was originally known as the "West Hall Naked Quad Run". Though the exact date of its origin remains unknown. In the late '70s the run was revived by residents of Carmichael Hall but faded from the campus until it was again revived and popularized by West Hall residents in the early 1990s.
Dorm residents, such as "Quad Man", would warm up the gathering crowd below by stripping on the fire escape to loud music blasting from the upper floor windows. Once the dorm residents were themselves sufficiently 'warmed up' with alcohol, they would gather in the basement of the dorm, undress as a group, and then exit from the rear of the building, many with phone numbers painted on their back or butts.
The Naked Quad Run takes place just before fall finals, in December, and attracts hundreds of students to unwind by stripping and running a circuit around the Res Quad. Most students run naked, but some wear costumes such as capes or shrink wrap.
On March 14, 2011, President Larry Bacow announced that the Tufts Quad Run had been banned for the upcoming year due to concerns about alcohol consumption.
A re-emergence of the event had come to light in the spring of 2016 during finals week.
Spring Fling
Initially held in 1980, a concert known as Spring Fling takes place in the spring semester immediately before final exams on the President's Lawn. Spring Fling acts have included the following (in reverse order of appearance, i.e. the headliner is listed first):
1980: Pousette Dart Band, Willie Nineger Band, Beelzebubs 1981: Pousette Dart Band, James Montgomery Band, NRBQ 1982: Clarence Clemons and the Red Bank Rockers, Chubby Checker 1983: Evelyn "Champagne" King, NRBQ, The Kool Rays 1984: The Stompers, Junior Walker and the All-Stars 1985: The Busboys, 'Til Tuesday 1986: Ministry, Scruffy the Cat, Plate O' Shrimp (the concert was held at Nine Lansdowne in Kenmore Square due to rain) 1987: The Smithereens, The Bongos, Plate O' Shrimp 1988: Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, Treat Her Right 1989: The Robert Cray Band, Ivan Neville and the Rooms, Plan B 1990: The Band, Barrence Whitfield and the Savages 1991: Cheap Trick, Heretix 1992: Blues Traveler, Shinehead, Urban Blight (the concert was held in Cousens Gymnasium due to rain) 1993: Violent Femmes, The Lemonheads, Digable Planets 1994: Fishbone, They Might Be Giants, Queen Latifah, Thumper 1995: B.B. King, Denny Dent, Brand Nubian, Buffalo Tom 1996: George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars, Violent Femmes, moe. 1997: A Tribe Called Quest, Barenaked Ladies, G. Love & Special Sauce 1998: LL Cool J, Maceo Parker, Less Than Jake, Hall's Corner Band 1999: Ben Folds Five, Cherry Poppin' Daddies, The Sugarhill Gang 2000: The Roots, Better Than Ezra, Reel Big Fish 2001: Busta Rhymes*, Guster, Jurassic 5, Redshift 6 2002: moe., Toots and the Maytals, Mobb Deep 2003: Busta Rhymes*, Reel Big Fish (the entire event was canceled due to rain) 2004: The Roots, Less Than Jake, The Sugarhill Gang 2005: Busta Rhymes*, Goldfinger, The Walkmen, The Juice (Busta's performance was canceled again due to rain) 2006: Guster, Blackalicious, The Slip, Melodesiac 2007: T.I., Lupe Fiasco, Spoon, Oxford Collapse, Ezra Furman and the Harpoons 2008: Dropkick Murphys, Common, Tea Leaf Green, FunkSoulLove 2009: Ludacris, The Decemberists, Asher Roth, The Ride, Brennavin 2010: OK Go, Drake, Sammy Adams 2011: The Roots, RJD2 2012: Lupe Fiasco, Guster, White Panda, The Rare Occasions 2013: Nelly, Yeasayer, 5 & a Dime 2014: Childish Gambino, Flosstradamus, The New Pornographers 2015: Ke$ha, MisterWives, Lauren Lane 2016: Matt & Kim, Shaggy, BørnsTuftonia's Day
The night before Spring Fling, the Tuftonia's Day fireworks take place on the Rez Quad. In 2014 the band Not So Gentlemen, after winning second place at Battle of the Bands, played at Tuftonia's Day and gave away a few vintage t-shirts made by their moms.
Pumpkining
The Tufts Mountaineering Club "pumpkins" the campus each year before Halloween, placing pumpkins in prominent and increasingly absurd locations such as atop buildings and statues. The ritual is over 75 years old.
Greek life
The Greek-letter organizations continued to thrive, and are to be present on campus to this day. There are currently 10 fraternities, 6 sororities, and one co-ed group. About 24% of the student body is involved in the Greek system.
Campus media and publications
Most campus publications and media are funded through the Student Activities Fee distributed by the Tufts Community Union Senate. The most notable exception to this is the Tufts Daily which is entirely independent of the Senate and is published through advertising revenue. There is a wide cross section of groups producing media on campus, both popular, electronic, and academic. All groups under the Senate are represented by the Media Advocacy Board at Tufts University, which provides a media laboratory for production of print publications. Groups are arranged in order of establishment under their respective categories.