Homecoming

The accompanying tradition of having law students throw canes over a goalpost at the homecoming football game may have been the result of an ongoing feud between students early in the century. Engineering students argued with law students over St. Patrick's profession. The law students claimed he was a lawyer. The engineering students claimed he was an engineer. Why the students cared about this was not recorded, but the fact remains that the law students have thrown their canes toward the engineering campus since 1912. If they catch the cane they win their first case.

Another homecoming tradition, now dead, was the building of a huge bonfire, into which freshmen tossed their green beanies, celebrating the end of their probationary period. In 1946, however, the mobs surrounding the celebratory fire became so unruly that firefighters had to extinguish the blaze, and police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. Angry participants overturned cars and broke windows leaving the scene.