Uniquely Wabash: Culture and Traditions The Wabash experience is a distinctive immersion into a community whose present customs and atmosphere share a real and powerful connection to culture and traditions passed down through the generations. Some traditions have vanished completely, but others have reemerged in recent years, and new traditions emerge and evolve with each new generation. All traditions play a role in fostering a unique, tangible identity that binds generations of men together. Organized in 1921 as an inter-fraternity organization, the Sphinx Club is a group of Wabash men who pass a rigorous pledgeship process to earn the responsibility of being guardians of the College’s traditions. They wear red and white-striped overalls and white beanies, or pots, with a black button on top. They organize weekly Chapel Talks, where the community comes together for speeches by students, faculty, staff, or alumni. They hold cookouts, lead cheers at sporting events, volunteer for nonprofit causes, and build community in the process.
1918
Lambda Chi fraternity comes to campus.
The Gentleman’s Rule
One of the paramount campus traditions is Chapel Sing. Each year on the Thursday before Homecoming, all freshmen fraternity pledges and independent men who choose to participate, assemble on the Mall to sing the school song, “Old Wabash,” over and over for close to an hour. While intentionally trying to distract the singers, Sphinx Club members listen for accuracy. If students make mistakes, they receive a red “W” spray-painted on the white T-shirts they are asked to wear.
No conversation about Wabash culture can begin without mentioning the Gentleman’s Rule. The biggest statement is summed up in the College’s supreme — yet simple — code of conduct: the Gentleman’s Rule, which states, “The student is expected to conduct himself at all times, both on and off the campus, as a gentleman and a responsible citizen.” This directive pervades the Wabash psyche and is the standard that administration officials, staff, and faculty expect from students and students expect of themselves and each other.
This event is a great example of a tradition that has evolved over time. Originally, freshmen sang the song and received “W” haircuts if they didn’t know the words. Years later, fraternity men painted faces, locked arms, and loudly grunted — the words to the song largely unrecognizable. Today’s version is closer to the original tradition, but without the haircuts!
1926
1918
Armory and Gymnasium building is dedicated.
1927
Louis Hopkins becomes the seventh president (1926-1940).
Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity comes to campus.
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