Early traditions at Pomona, such as Pole Rush and banner springs, often took the form of rivalries between different class years,[4][5] and frequently involved hazing.

[7][8] The tradition began in the summer of 1964, when two students, Laurie Mets and Bruce Elgin, conducted a research project seeking to find out whether the number occurs more often in nature than would be expected by chance.

[15][16] The bird is a large ground-dweller native to the western United States (although not Southern California), and is distinguished by its long, pointed tail and complex lek mating system.

The society originated in 1958 and was initially the work of class of 1960 graduates Martha Tams Barthold, Jean Wentworth Bush Guerin, Alice Taylor Holmes and Thomasine Wilson.

Pomona College takes advantage of its location near the San Gabriel Mountains and within driving distance of the Pacific Ocean to host an annual "Ski-Beach Day" each spring.

[42] The outings began to focus on winter activities in the 1920s, and switched to a beach trip during a period of low snowfall in the 1940s, before later combining the two.

On the north is "let only the eager, thoughtful and reverent enter here", and on the south is "They only are loyal to this college who departing bear their added riches in trust for mankind".

[55][56] In 1956, Pomona constructed a curved 200-foot-long (61 m), 5-foot-tall (1.5 m) cinder block wall along a portion of the northern edge of its campus as a flood barrier.

[68][69] In 2008, it was discovered that it may have been originally written to be sung as the ensemble finale to a student-produced blackface minstrel show performed on campus.

[71] Additionally, research from Rosemary Choate (class of 1963) concluded from primary materials that Loucks likely did not actually write the song for the show and was misremembering when he recalled having done so half a century later.

[79][76] In 2009, its lyrics were modified to remove culturally appropriative aspects, but lingering concerns led to its retirement from active repertoire in 2015,[76] and it is likewise unrecognized by most current students.

In this longstanding tradition, the first-year class would present, or "spring", its banner in a public forum in which it could be seen by the majority of the student body, and then try to whisk it away to the Ghosts, a mentor group organization, before the second-years could capture it.

[79] Notable banner springs occurred at the Fox Theater in Pomona (1932)[79] and in front of a train carrying fans returning from a football game (1949).

[82] During the era when Pomona's primary athletic rival was the Occidental Tigers, a bonfire and rally was held prior to the homecoming football game with the college,[83][40] traditionally assembled by first-year men.

[86] The annual Pole Rush, a competition between first-years and second-years, began shortly after Pomona was founded and was last held in 1926.

[78] Sometime after World War II, Pomona's football team began an annual practice of forcibly weighing and measuring the proportions of the incoming first-year women during orientation, and then compiling and distributing booklets with the information.