Indiana University
In 1913, the Indiana University Tradition Committee ruled that all freshmen men must wear IU’s official green cap at designated and approved times when on campus until the end of their freshmen year. The freshmen pod was a small bill-less cap with a red button on top. The Skull and Crescent Club, a sophomore honorary organization composed of men from each fraternity house and men’s dorm on campus, initiated that every freshman would wear the emerald pod or else face punishment, which was threatened by being paddled or to have one’s hair cut off. Freshmen who wore the cap were called “Rhinies” and were easily spotted for hazing by sophomores.
Thirty years later, the tradition of wearing the green rhiny pod was slowly dying out on campus. To keep it alive, the Skull and Crescent Club held a “cap-wearing drive” in 1937 to reinforce that freshmen men must wear their green pod, indoors and outdoors, until 5 p.m. each day.
Most groups on campus had their own version of the beanie or pod, sporting colors that signified their organization. The Sphinx Club wore a white hat with a black band and a black button. The Pleiades, a social society of young ladies who organized annual dances and monthly dinners, wore their bronze, blue and black bonnets to banquets, pep sessions, and to football and basketball games. Other organizations on campus that wore caps included the Flame Club, which represented students of the Law School, and the Tophets, a women’s honor society.
In May, when the freshmen neared the end of their first year in college, a ceremony was held to burn their green pods. All freshmen men were told to meet at the bridge, above the north power house, on Jordon River. Sophomores made the freshmen wade through the water and after the freshmen had survived the plunge, the “Burning of the Pods,” also called “Cap Night,” took place in Dunn Meadow. Standing around the fire, the freshmen would throw their pods onto the flames at the same time, signifying the end of their freshmen days.
-Lindsay Kenderes
