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17 January 2015
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Toga day/ Rofti
Joolpak
Clockwise from top left: Old Kollege building; Kollege’s arch and centenary exective committee; Kollege’s Roman bath, better known as the Orgbad; Sarge Rofti; residents on Toga Day; residents in their joolpakke; the centenary banners; Kollege do not do anything for anyone other than themselves, including Serrie, which are notorious for their wit and unorthodox nature.
Kollege celebrates their centenary DYLAN FLOWERDAY Brief history of Kollege Kollege is the oldest residence at Tuks and they are celebrating their centenary this year. The first building where Kollege students resided was in “Ou Kollege”, which can be seen next to the Aula grass. Kollege got its name from being referred to as “the hostel at the College”. Kollege moved to its current location on the LC de Villiers campus in 1960. In 1982 it officially became a Republic due to outsiders wanting to “reject [the] unique culture of Kollegetehuis”, says 2015 state president Greg Lavagna. Kollege has contributed to several elements of Tuks culture, including the university anthem, the university’s coat of arms, the Tuks rugby jersey, the term ienk (Inwondende Eerste-jaar Nie Kollegeman), the university mascot Oom Gert, the creation of Rag and serrie, and even Perdeby. Kollege and female residences Kollege has also contributed mascots to many of the ladies’ residences. Asterhof obtained Giraster, their giraffe mascot, after Kollege students used a statue of a giraffe to poke Jasmyn 50 year feesjaar Jasmyn is a female residence on the Hatfield campus. It was established in 1965 by “Die Fant”, which was the first ladies’ residence at Tuks. Jasmyn’s mascot is an elephant named Nymsaj. All the ladies in the residence are called Jasters. They take great pride in their “Red Monday”, where all the ladies wear their residence colours of red and navy. They have a formal and informal meeting once a semester where they name the “Boks” (the boy who did something silly involving a Jaster), “Knol” (the Jaster who did something silly), “Trouman” (the boy who did something sweet for a Jaster) and “Jaster” (the Jaster that did something that made the whole house proud of her) of the quarter.
inside their windows to scare and annoy the ladies. Klaradyn obtained their first two lions after Kollege “aquired” them and gave them to the ladies in 1969, after which Kollege gave them a lion every feesjaar. In that same year Erika was presented with their mascot of a unicorn by Kollege students when they kidnapped the primaria, which the Erika ladies were not too pleased with. Madelief’s mascot, which is based on the cartoon character Garfield, is named Charisma and has been set on fire by Kollege twice. Oom Gert Oom Gert was known as Oom Paul until 1932 and was stolen by Kollege and Sonop students. During his stay at UP he suffered several abductions, a fractured skull, and an amputation of the arm. Because of the raids becoming increasingly violent, the committee of 1945 decided the victor of Rag would have the rights to Oom Gert, which resulted in Sonop keeping him. Kollege and Sonop have now resurrected the tradition where Sonop encircle Oom Gert and Kollege surrounds them. Sonop then sings their house song and Kollege sings the Gheibalt, a traditional song of theirs. Thereafter the president of Kollege presents a letter addressed to Oom Gert’s
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mother. Stories of Kollege The Toga Day tradition started as a protest against one of the rules instituted by the university where everyone had to wear suits. In response, Kollege students took some of their own bed sheets and made togas out of them. Now every year on that day Kollege students and oumanne wear their togas and sing the house song on the Aula grass in front of Ou Kollege where they used to fly the residence flag. Kollege has always been seen as a mischievous residence. During a rugby game on Loftus Versveld, two Kollege students lubricated a pig named Oscar and let him loose on the field. The students were later expelled from the university after the story exploded in the media. Another pig-related story is of the time when discussions of closing the beer gardens (now clubhouses) were underway and Kollege students took the resident pig, Spiesang, along to the meeting. They then pulled on his tail, which resulted in so much noise that the meeting had to be concluded. The centenary year Everything Kollege does is done for the Republic first. This can be seen by how they
100 year residences Wilgenhof is a residence at the University of Stellenbosch which was established in 1903. It obtained its name from the many willow trees on the property. In 2003 more than a thousand people attended its celebrations. The oldest men’s residence in the country is the College House residence of the University of Cape Town (UCT), formerly the South African College, which was established in 1887.
approach their Serrie performances, where they have come last in the past two years but have done so in such a way as to never be forgotten. Kollege joolpakke are black and white. According to them, this is because the university started using Kollege’s original colours of blue, red and gold stripes. In typical fashion, Kollege did not want to use the same colours as the university and instead decided to go with no colour at all, black and white. They are painted by the residents in their second year to show their unique personalities and to unite the students by doing something distinctly Kollege. These joolpakke are not replaced, instead being worn each and every year. Lavagna says, “We all want them to be linked by something Kollege but in the same [way] we don’t want to make clones.” Kollege is looking on to their hundredth year with the same principle of always having the ability to change as the rules change. Due to the significance of the Aula grass, Kollege is planning to have their feesdinee there. They also have events involving the oumanne planned (such as a golf day) and the feesjaar logo, banners and t-shirts have been designed. Feesjaar duties have been included in two EC’s duties instead of the usual one.
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