Bates College traditions
Bates along with Bowdoin and Colby College share multiple traditions and rivalries that comprise the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium (informally known as the CBB).
The college's most famous tradition is Newman Day, which received national attention when Paul Newman–the namesake of the tradition–publicly denounced it, asking the then-President Thomas Hedley Reynolds to institutionally bar the activity.
[7] The Bates Outing Club, on odd to even years since 1920, has held a Winter Carnival which comprises a themed four-day event that includes performances, dances, and games.
When alumnus Edmund Muskie, Class of 1936, was a Governor of Maine, he participated in a torch relay from Augusta to Lewiston in celebration of the 1960 Winter Olympics.
[9] Robert F. Kennedy, with his naval classmates, built a replica of their boat back in Massachusetts out of snow in front of Smith Hall, during their carnival.
[14][15] The tradition was debuted in the January 1976 Winter Carnival with one of the student exclaiming that Paul Newman once said "24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case.
[22] Cheney asked Sumner to create a collegiate motto for Bates and he suggested the Latin phrase amore ac studio which he translated as "with love for learning" or "with ardor and devotion.
[24][26] Bates has many other official and unofficial annual traditions including WRBC's Annual Trivia Night (since 1979),[27] Ronjstock (since 2000), Senior Pub crawl Parade to the Goose, Lick-It, Eighties Dance, Halloween Dance, Class Dinner, Harvest Dinner, Triad Dance (since 1981), Stanton Ride (1800s to 1960s, with a revival by VP Hiss in 2000s), Clambake at Popham Beach and Winter Carnival by the Outing Club (since 1920),[28] Alumni Reunion Parade (since 1914),[29] and the annual Oxford-Bates debate (since 1921)[30] From its inception, Bates College served as an alternative to a more traditional and historically conservative Bowdoin College.
[33][34] There is a long tradition of rivalry and competitiveness between the two colleges, revolving around socioeconomic class, academic quality, and collegiate athletics.
Bates and Bowdoin have competed against each other athletically since the 1870s, and subsequently share one of the ten oldest NCAA Division III football rivalries, in the United States.
Both schools follow a narrative when chanting at football games, Bowdoin focuses on disparaging Bates for perceived lower academic standards and low endowment contrasted with expensive tuition, traditionally chanting "Ivy-rejects", "dirty Lews [in reference to the low economic development of Lewiston]", and "all that money and no [shot, touchdown etc.].
"[10] Bates follows an anti-Bowdoin narrative that includes a perceived inferiority to Harvard University, historical ties to slavery, sexual assault, and drug use, often chanting, "Blowdoin", "Harvard-reject," "plantation boys", and "bow down Bowdoin [asserting moral superiority].
