![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www6b.wittenberg.edu\/lib\/blog\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Wittenberger-cover-September-24-19021-211x300.jpg\" "\\"Wittenberger")
<\/a>The cover of The Wittenberger featuring this story.<\/p><\/div>From the mid-1800s to the 1910s it was a popular tradition in colleges across the nation for the Freshman and Sophomore classes to engage in a class rivalry competition referred to as \u201cclass rush\u201d or \u201ccolor rush.\u201d\u00a0 These violent games were seen as rites of passage for the freshman class and played into strong senses of class spirit in a time where each class had representative class colors, yells and flags.\u00a0 There seem to be many variations of this game, for instance the sewing of class colors into the insides of jackets (to be ripped out by the opposing classmates), or the raising of a class flag which the rival class would attempt to bring down by physical force.\u00a0 At Wittenberg, this ritual involved a dummy made to look like a Sophomore\u2014constructed by the freshmen\u2014which would be strung up on a tree for the Sophomores to attempt a forcible removal.\u00a0 Below is the account of the 1902 Wittenberg \u201cclass rush\u201d featured in the student magazine The Wittenberger.\u00a0 <\/em>Unsurprisingly, many colleges and universities eventually forbade the practice, or replaced it with less\u2026uh\u2026ferocious competitions.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Wittenberger<\/span><\/em> , Vol. XXIX Number 1, September 24th<\/sup> 1902<\/span><\/p>\n THE SCRAP<\/span><\/p>\n As usual at the opening of college at Wittenberg, one of the most frequent topics for conversation was the coming contest between the two lower classes.<\/p>\n From the first day until the day on which the rush passed into history, both the Freshmen and Sophs kept counting their braves and comparing their strength with that of their opponents.<\/p>\n The Sophs were confident of winning from the first, and though the Freshies had some hope, they were afraid to let anyone know it.\u00a0 Many of them were strangers to the situation and not until some of the Sophs had spent the best part of their strength did they realize what was really taking place.\u00a0 When they did, the Sophs thought for a few moments that another class had been turned loose on them.<\/p>\n The Sophs had been kept guessing two or three days.\u00a0 They were almost sure Tuesday night that war would begin the next morning.\u00a0 But when at midnight all the Freshies were snugly tucked in bed and fast asleep the Sophs shook their heads and were put in suspense for twenty-four hours longer.\u00a0 On Wednesday evening the Sophs were again on the alert and were on the look-out for any sign of the coming fray.\u00a0 The Freshmen, however, were very cautious and not until the Sophs had captured two Freshmen and found them well supplied with ropes, were they absolutely sure that the scrap was about to take place.\u00a0 These two men the Sophs confined in the cellar at Wm. Gotwald\u2019s home [probably 505 N. Fountain<\/em>], where the Sophs had congregated.\u00a0 Meanwhile the Freshmen had met in a house on West High street and were there discussing their plans.\u00a0 At four o\u2019clock in the morning they proceeded to campus and just west of Hamma Divinity Hall strung up a dummy gaily decked in the Sophomore class colors.\u00a0 The dummy was suspended from a wire stretched between two trees and the trees wrapped with barbed wire.<\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www6b.wittenberg.edu\/lib\/blog\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Class-rush-photograph-19071-1024x750.jpg\" "\\"Class")
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