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Other Tall Tales
Brown Hall and Dod Hall were occupied by
a high proportion of freshmen, and as a result heated rivalries
evolved, including water balloon and snowball fights, pranks, and other
challenges. By the spring of 1967, one of these exchanges was so
notorious that the exasperated Dean of Students simply placed all of
the residents of Brown on social probation for the remainder of the
year. Undaunted, they all acquired tee shirts which they proudly wore
into Commons one night, bearing the words, "Brown Hall Probation."
Elsewhere Princeton was different as well: football dominated the Ivy League with its complex single wing offense (prompting Sports Illustrated to
write that "When the Tiger ran a sweep around the end, it looked as if
the the entire freshmen class was leading the blocking."). Until the
opening of Jadwin Gym in 1968, basketball, wrestling, fencing, squash,
and swimming all took place in Dillon Gym (swimming did not move until
1990), so it was not unusual for a student spectator to quit the
Library early and take in more than one competition in an afternoon or
evening as word of an upset spread through the stacks.
Almost all freshmen and sophomores took
their meals in five contiguous halls, in order Upper and Lower
Cloister, Sub Eagle, Hamilton, and Madison. Woe to the attractive woman
who ventured therein, especially during the week, as the diners showed
their enthusiastic approval by pounding the tables with their spoons
(spooning) as she and her escort exited from the hall.
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