House System at the California Institute of Technology
Encyclopedia
The House System
is the basis of undergraduate student residence at the California Institute of Technology
(Caltech). Caltech's unique House system is modeled after the residential college
system of Oxford
and Cambridge
in England, although the houses are probably more similar in size and character to the Harvard University house system. Like a residential college, a House embodies two closely connected concepts; it serves as both a physical building where a majority of its members reside and as the center of social activity for its members.
The Houses resemble fraternities
at other American universities in the shared loyalties they engender. Unlike in fraternities, however, potentially dangerous "rushing" or "pledging" is replaced with the week of "rotation" at the beginning of a student's freshman year, and students generally remain affiliated with one House for the duration of their undergraduate studies.
Freshmen go through a process known as Rotation during the first week of classes, leading to their eventual House assignment by way of a matching process. This process has rules associated with it to try to give freshmen a chance to choose between the Houses in an unbiased way. These rules are located on the IHC (Interhouse Committee) website here.
Expanding student population was accommodated in 1960 with the North Houses: Lloyd House, Page House, and Ruddock House.
A new state-of-the-art residential facility named Avery House, was opened in 1996, touted as a facility that allowed undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty to not only mingle, but live together. As a result, Avery was not initially considered part of the House System, and freshmen were not allowed to live there. However, in the 2003–2004 school year, the Avery Council (the student government of Avery House) campaigned for Avery to participate in Rotation and take freshmen. This change was opposed by the Caltech undergraduate student body by a five-to-one margin, but the Faculty Board voted overwhelmingly to approve the change. Beginning in the 2005–2006 school year, freshmen began to rotate into Avery, changing its status from an undergraduate housing option to a fully represented House.
Also in 2005, work began on a major renovation project for the aging South Houses, whose residents were relocated to a temporary modular housing complex. The renovations were completed at the beginning of the 2007 calendar year. Students moved back into the South Houses on 15 December 2006, though construction continued through the beginning of 2007.
Like most of the buildings on campus, Avery House and the South Houses are in California Mission
style, and resemble cloister
ed monasteries
with enclosed courtyards; the North Houses are of Modern
design.
These meals and meetings are an opportunity both for the frosh to get to know the feel of the different houses and for the upperclassmen to meet and rate the frosh so both can see where they might belong. Many Houses also make rotation videos that are shown to incoming freshmen during rotation, which yield to incoming students additional information about the various personalities of the Houses. At the end of this week, the frosh rate (as of 2009) each of the Houses on a scale of 1 to 20. Based on this, and the opinions of the Houses' existing members, the frosh are placed into a House which will be their home physically and socially for the next few years. The Interhouse Committee attempts to ensure a certain level of secrecy regarding the exact process, so that the confidentiality of both the freshmen, and those involved with their final housing assignments, is maintained. Also, the selection process is constrained: there are only a limited number of openings in each House, and it is impossible to simultaneously meet the preferences of all of the Freshmen and Houses.
Despite the constraints, this two-way selection process of joining a House, and social interaction after joining, gives each House a distinctive personality that is often remarkably stable over decades. Alumni often retain fierce House loyalty and can often guess the House membership of other Caltech graduates from personality clues.
Blacker Hovse was built with the help of funds donated by Robert Roe Blacker, a trustee of Caltech. Members of Blacker House are referred to as Moles.
One of the traditions of Blacker House is the Hellride. In a defiant response to the prohibition against playing The Ride of the Valkyries
, and to the constant announcements of fake Ditch days by seniors, the freshmen living in a part of the House named Hell (so called for its unbearable heat in the summer and cramped quarters) would announce a Hellride. They then barricade the hallway and play The Ride at high volume, daring the upperclassmen to break in and drag everyone to be drenched in the showers.
Blacker house features halls painted as Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell. Blacker's courtyard formerly featured a habitable treehouse and a giant tire swing, but the tree that bore them was cut down during renovations of the house in the 2005–2006 academic year. Attached to another tree is now a wooden swing.
The war cry
of Blacker House is γδβγ (Greek letters
for gdbg, or God Damn Blacker Gang). The story is that in 1978 or 1979, it was popular for Blacker students to climb on top of elevator
s and ride them. One time, security went inside the elevator looking for the students, who were on top of the elevator. The security muttered, "God Damn Blacker Gang", and the name stuck. Blacker students began signing GDBG or γδβγ on all their pranks. Blacker has also been referred to as the House of Fucking Geniuses and the inscription HOFG can be found throughout the tunnels along with γδβγ. In the 1960s the house slogan was "Blacker Hovse for gracious living" which became "The Hovse of Gracious Living" by the 1990s.
Famous alumni include Michael Aschbacher
, Kip Thorne
, and William Shockley
.
Dabney Hovse is the smallest of Caltech's Houses. Residents of Dabney House are referred to as Darbs, a combination of the name of the House with a 1920's slang term darb, meaning something or someone very handsome, valuable, attractive, or otherwise excellent. Joseph B. Dabney, owner of the Dabney Oil Syndicate
, was a trustee of California Institute of Technology. Dabney Hall of the Humanities, a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Dabney, is one of the four corner buildings of Caltech's central courtyard. It was built in 1927.
In 1928, the Dabneys gave $200,000 to build Dabney House, one of four new residence halls.
Dabney House, as part of the single building that makes up the four "South Houses," was constructed in 1930 and 1931. It was known as the House of Gentlemen and the House of Captains, but underwent a dramatic change in personality during the 1960s. In 1973, the House was disowned by the Dabney family when students from Dabney House protested a presidential visit with a sign on the library bearing the simple phrase "Impeach Nixon
." This event has been a touchstone for Darbs ever since. During this era, the house was associated with the hippie lifestyle.
Traditionally standing for "Dabney Eats It," referring to a particularly unpalatable plate of noodles in the 1950s, the trigraph
DEI has come to be a badge of pride for Darbs. Besides naming the house's recreation room after it and spreading it all across campus, Dabney alumni have made DEI a hidden code in the outside world. The letters can be seen in movies (most notably Real Genius
) and video games (including GTA: Vice City
and several Intellivision
games). There are even stories of the trigraph
making its way into space on JPL probe
s including the Voyager space craft, and being written on the Moon by astronaut Darb Harrison Schmitt
. In the late 1960s, during on-campus shooting of an episode of the TV series "Mission Impossible", students stenciled the cryptic letters "DEI" high on a wall in a steam (utility) tunnel scheduled to be filmed the next day. The marking was subsequently visible on national television behind Peter Lupus as he paused in one shot, unaware of this Caltech contribution to spy drama.
More recently, Dabney started the Student Coffee House and provided the majority of the staff for a couple years. Since then, Coffee House has become a part of Caltech's Dining Services and is now managed by CDS. Dabney hosts the annual Millikan Pumpkin Drop Experiment (a parody of the Millikan oil-drop experiment
) where pumpkins frozen in liquid nitrogen are dropped from Millikan library. This tradition was featured on the TV show Numb3rs. Dabney also hosts Drop Day, a party held the Saturday after the second term drop day to celebrate the point of no return, and Dabney Metal Night, an opportunity for the amateur bands of Caltech to play for the crowd.
While the traditional motto of Dabney House (Fidelis et gratus "Faithfulness and thankfulness") still stands on the Dabney crest, Dabney House has instituted a new, changeable motto. In line with Caltech's tradition of wall murals and wall writings, any member may change the house motto by striking the previous motto on a designated motto wall and writing a new one. Past mottos include "The purpose of this convoy is to keep moving," "Oh my God, we're all fucking machines!," "We've got class coming out of our ass!," "Aloha, snack-bar!," and "We have sex with our eyes open."
Fleming Hovse was built with funds donated by a number of people, and the name Fleming was chosen to honor Arthur Fleming, then the chairman of Caltech's Board of Trustees.
Members of Fleming Hovse are called Flems. The house color is Red. The motto, from the crest as commonly seen on house beer steins, is "Let the Deed Shaw." The house battle cry is "Go Big Red!" Another important maxim is "Flems stick together!", as well as the slogan "Where men are men, giants walk the earth, and the thundering herd is real".
The physical layout of Fleming House includes rooms numbered 8.5 (formerly the RA apartment, now a triple) and π (pi
). The Interhouse Trophy, awarded to the winner of the Interhouse Athletic Competitions, has been awarded to Fleming for the past five years.
For the past few years, Fleming and Page House have pranked each other regularly and included each other in initiations.
but eventually found its way to the then-military themed Southwestern Academy
in San Marino, California
, where it remained on the front lawn between 1925 and 1972.
In 1972 Fleming class officers got permission from Southwestern Academy to take the cannon, but the underclassmen who mounted new wheels on it and dragged it to campus at night thought they were stealing it. It took months of paint stripping and other work to restore it to operational status. The Caltech administration ordered its return in 1975, but negotiations began for an official transfer of the cannon back to Caltech in 1980, and in 1981 it was returned on a permanent basis to the Caltech campus.
The cannon was stolen by Harvey Mudd
students in 1986 (as detailed in this article). At the demands of both college administrations, the Cannon was returned to Fleming House approximately 8 weeks after the prank.
It was rumored that Harvey Mudd would attempt to steal the cannon again in 2006 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their original theft; however, the cannon disappeared on April 6, a day before the anniversary, only to show up at MIT, just in time for Campus Preview Weekend, during which many rising freshmen visit MIT. A (seemingly fake) moving company by the name of Howe & Ser Moving Co. has taken credit. (The name is a double pun
: When substituting "and" for the ampersand
, it reads "how we answer", while substituting the Latin
et
for the ampersand gives "Howitzer
".) Displayed prominently in front of MIT's Green Building
, the Fleming Cannon sported a giant, gold-plated MIT class ring
around its barrel.
A day after the prank was disclosed, Fleming's members began planning a recovery operation on the night of April 7. They immediately sent twenty-three members to Boston to retrieve their cannon. The Flems were greeted at MIT by a group of students and police who watched as the cannon was loaded into a truck. Afterward, a friendly barbecue celebrated the event.
Ricketts Hovse was funded by and named for L. D. Ricketts
. Members of Ricketts House are called Skurves (or Scurves) due to a play on the similarity of the name Ricketts to the disease rickets
and the fact that scurvy
is another vitamin deficiency disease. Members of Ricketts Hovse were known as Rowdies until about 1960; alumni of that period still draw the distinction between Rowdies and Skurves. Ricketts House is traditionally one of the most diverse houses on the campus.
Ricketts traditions include fire related activities and the brakedrum. Prior to early 2003, the Ricketts courtyard housed a large concrete firepot, in which massive fires were often enjoyed during cool Pasadena evenings. However, due to tightening of Pasadena fire codes and the Caltech administration's recent focus on liability concerns, the firepot was removed. A portable fireplace temporarily replaced the firepot. The brakedrum is a contest between the freshman class and the sophomore class over ownership of the brakedrum.
Ricketts House was known for athletics and student government in the 1950s, but soon after that they became known less for these activities and more for activities that pushed the motto "Take me as I am" to the limit. Recently, Ricketts had an inverted pentagram
on the front wall of its dining room. Administration members called for its removal as it was a symbol that may have offended the general public who viewed the house during tours. The pentagram was originally painted in the dining hall for the Interhouse party of 1989 - prior to this time this symbol had no particular connection to Ricketts House. In later years the inverted pentagram was added to the Ricketts House crest (the original had had ship's wheels instead of pentagrams). During the recently-completed renovations, the mural was painted over, and a new mural policy was put in place. Conflicts regarding the new mural policy continue to this day.
In 2005, the administration pressured Ricketts to make their website private because many of the pictures and quotes on the website were potentially offensive.
Lloyd House is smallest of the three North Houses. The North Houses were constructed in 1960 with funds provided by the Lloyd Foundation and other donors. Lloyd House was named in memory of Mr. Ralph B. Lloyd and his wife, Mrs. Lulu Hull Lloyd. Mr. Lloyd was a member of the Board of Trustees of Caltech, 1939-1952.
Members of Lloyd House are called Lloydies. The house color is gold, and its motto is "I live and die for those I love."
Lloyd House is governed by a student-elected, student-run Executive Committee, or "Excomm," of 9-10 members: President, Secretary, Superintendent, Treasurer, Social Director(s), Athletic Manager, and 3 representatives at large. The Social Director(s) and Athletic Manager are aided by the Social Team and the Athletic Team. There are 8 Upperclass Counselors (UCCs) and various appointed positions, such as Librarian, Fridgemaster, and Pool Monkey. Traditional house events include a meet-the-frosh Ultimate Egg competition (in which Ultimate Frisbee is played using eggs), Airband, and Beach Trip (for which some members bike, roller blade, longboard, walk, or even run 42 miles from Caltech to Huntington Beach).
Lloyd House is located along the Olive Walk, and is an "L"-shaped, two-story building. At the intersection of the two branches of the house are "Lower Crotch" and "Upper Crotch," which serve as communal lounge areas.
Lloyd is divided into seven alleys: Purple, Kaos, VI (Virgin Islands
), Fingal's Cave
, Valhalla
, Inferno, and Tropic. Each alley is decorated with theme-appropriate mural
s. Some key murals include the expansive Purple mural in the theme of Japanese tsunami
waves, the Escher
mural in Kaos, the tropical mural in VI, the "Enjoy Crack
" mural in Inferno that mocks the famous Coca-Cola
slogan and contains a reference to Alan Moore
's graphic novel Watchmen
, and the Lloyd Dragon in Fingal's.
The "shed" used to be a stand-alone building in the courtyard that housed Lloyd's big screen TV. Now the "shed" exists indoors, in a room adjacent to Valhalla that used to be part of the MOSH's office.
In the 1980s, Lloyd had two off-campus alleys, one named "The Place" and one named "Corona" (in reference to the corona of the sun as a metaphor for the outer reaches of Lloyd). The Place used to exist on the corner of Michigan Ave and Lura St; it was removed around 1988 and is now a parking lot. Corona used to be on the east side of Holliston Ave; it was removed in 1992 and the location is now the new parking structure. Because of Pasadena preservation laws, both houses were moved to other places in Pasadena. The Corona house was donated to a minister (for free) who restored it at 1792 Newport Ave, Pasadena, CA. The house is no longer owned by the minister, but it still exists.
Around 1990, in exchange for the loss of Corona, Lloyd adopted "the Quads" alley at 232 and 234 Chester Ave.
that was published regularly in the California Tech, the student newspaper, was drawn and written by Lloydies.
In the past, some Lloydies have been known for pulling elaborate pranks. The classic prank of the 1961 Rose Bowl
was pulled off by the "Fiendish Fourteen," members of Lloyd House. Flashcards that were intended to cheer for the Washington Huskies football team were changed to read Caltech. The Hollywood sign was changed to read "Caltech" in 1987 by a group of Pageboys and Lloydies.
Every year since 1994, Lloydies have climbed onto the top of Millikan Library to construct the Lloyd Christmas Tree, a monumental structure of numerous Christmas lights strung together to resemble a 10-story Christmas tree topped with a 12-feet-tall "L." The latest off-campus pranks have been the pranking of MIT's Campus Preview Weekend, which included many Lloydies.
A common folklore that has been passed down throughout the years is that of the Purple LSD lab. It has been said that sometime in the 70's, a group of chemistry
majors living in Purple blocked off some of the alley for a special project. The product of their project, was dubbed "Lloyd-grade" LSD, to denote its extraordinary purity. The rumor goes that it was one of the largest sources of LSD at the time. Nearly the entire senior class was expelled when the FBI invaded the house (only three seniors are mentioned in the yearbook from 1970), though folklore also holds that the perpetrators escaped capture, leaving only a teasing banner for the invaders reading "Welcome, FBI!".
No such lab operated during the period 1972-1976.
Upon the arrival of the North Houses in the 1960s, members of Ricketts house splintered off to populate the newly constructed Page House. Members of the house are known as Pageboys (even the women), and the house crest includes the "mechanical horse" with a banner reading spe labor levis, a Latin idiom
meaning "May the work be light" (and is often followed by "And the drinks be heavy"). House construction was funded by J.R. Page, former vice president of the First National Bank in Los Angeles, and chairman of the Caltech board of trustees from 1943 to 1954. One of the largest houses, Page has been home to KCAL, the Interhouse Roller Coaster. It also used its access to the basement so that Pageboys could cover the concrete with dry ice, a prank copied in the movie Real Genius
.
In response to other houses quixotically claiming certain items to be off-limits in regard to pranks (rendering them "Non-RF-able"), the Page House president at the time named that the President be unprankable as well. In the past, there were two items in Page House that could not be the target of pranks: the pool table felt and a poster of President Nixon that is passed on to each House President shortly after s/he is elected.
All student rooms in Page are designed as doubles; however, when vacancies arise, upperclassmen may live in rooms as singles. According to house bylaws, the newly-elected Page House president may choose to reside in any room as a single. Popular rooms include the "corner doubles" upstairs and downstairs. The FU, across from the Library, is Page House's entertainment room, complete with dozens of bean bags. Its name originates from a prank in which Fleming painted a large "F" on its door. Rather than painting over it, Pageboys simply painted a "U" below it. The FU was formerly a triple, and before that was the RA apartment, which is now located downstairs. The Library itself is important to Page House culture, and although its collection is always being removed to be recycled elsewhere, its contents are meant to reflect the works and contributions of contemporary Pageboys. Due to its distinguished status, one must wear shoes while in the Library. Recently, as a result of pressure from the Deans, the Library underwent renovation, and was reopened after a few weeks.
Pageboy activities include grilling on The Bridge, champagne at Millikan ("Bubbly") to celebrate the end of quarter, and Intrahouse, in which all eight alleys in Page partake in the annual tradition of applying primer and painting edgy, humorous pictures. The painting in between alleys 6 and 7 covers "the fruit wall", a favorite target for PVC-borne projectiles, particularly fruit which tend to vaporize on contact. In addition to Intrahouse, there is the annual Stranding Of the Freshmen on Mt. Wilson, the Wait Staff Initiation, and the Greased Frosh Race, in which Pageboys make liberal use of Caltech's grounds and upkeep fund by selecting a designated freshman in each alley (referred to as that alley's Greased Frosh), who is then sent running on the Beckman lawn in the effort to evade upperclassmen who are trying to tackle an opposing alley's Greased Frosh before theirs is tackled. Pageboys then rinse themselves in Gene Pool, producing a visible Crisco and lard film on the surface. Until 2003, they first rinsed in Millikan Pond, but the location has changed due to administrative request, and now all the Pageboys rinse off completely in the Fleming showers.
Ruddock House was constructed in 1960 in honor of Albert Billings Ruddock, then the Chairman of the Caltech Board of Trustees. Approximately 175 Caltech undergraduates are members of the House and approximately 90 reside in the House. Members of Ruddock House are nicknamed "Rudds."
During the week, student waiters serve family-style dinners in the dining room; some notable dinner traditions include the throwing of bread rolls and "floating" members who break dinner rules by pouring water on them. The hallways, referred to as "alleys" by undergraduates, are adorned with various murals including reproductions of M. C. Escher works, a Monopoly Board, Simpsons characters, and a two-story mural of an astronaut. This mural, called "The Spaceman," is based on a photograph of Ed White's spacewalk during Gemini 4. The painting was made completely by Phil Cormier ('79) in a day's worth of work. A few years later Rusty Schweickart, Jr. (whose father
walked in space on Apollo 9
) was elected house president. Another Rudd connected to the space program is Phillip Engelauf ('78), who later became a flight director at JSC.
Other famous Rudds include Bill Gross of idealab!
fame and MIT's Peter Shor
.
Avery House is part of the housing system at the California Institute of Technology, housing undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and visiting guests. Avery's members are called "Averites" or “Slaves.” The terms "Averoids," and “Birds
” have been used by some undergraduates, but they have largely fallen into disuse.
Previously, Avery had only housed upperclass students, graduate students, and faculty, but by a 10-to-1 vote in May 2004, the Faculty Board approved the decision to make Avery open to incoming freshmen on a two-year experimental basis. Since the 2005–2006 school year, Avery has been part of the Rotation process and houses incoming freshman. As Avery has only recently become open to incoming freshman, it does not have as many established traditions as the North and South Houses.
Avery House, however, has demonstrated the establishment of some traditions such as Team Gotcha (Assassins using water guns), an Iron Chef competition, and a Faculty Dessert Night with an open talent show. Avery House also participates in Interhouse Sports, holds an annual Interhouse party, and organizes annual ski trips, beach trips, and BBQs. Avery embraces an accepting mindset whereby anyone who wants to become an Avery member only needs to attain ten signatures from Avery members. There are no social memberships, only full memberships. Any member is welcome and encouraged to participate in house events, but is not pressured to do so.
Avery enjoys an environment of graduate students, some of which are TAs for undergraduate classes, and faculty families. The Faculty in Residence (FiRs) are chosen by the students in a interview and discussion process and the faculty are provided budget to hold social events for the undergraduates of the house. Events held by faculty include Super Bowl parties and casual dinners.
Avery House has several facilities, including a dining hall with a large kitchen, a conference room, a piano room (Gary Lorden Recreation Room), a library, a garden, and a basement garage. The dining hall, library, and conference room are available to the Caltech community for official events after approval by the Avery ExComm. Avery also holds a number of “off-campus” spots, which are physically in the house but can be chosen by any undergraduate participating in the off-campus lottery. Finally, due to a policy said to have been put in place by R. Stanton Avery himself , Avery members are not allowed to place anything "nonremovable" on the walls, though the true origins of this policy are unclear.
House system
The house system is a traditional feature of British schools, and schools in the Commonwealth. Historically, it was associated with established public schools, where a 'house' refers to a boarding house or dormitory of a boarding school...
is the basis of undergraduate student residence at the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
(Caltech). Caltech's unique House system is modeled after the residential college
Residential college
A residential college is an organisational pattern for a division of a university that places academic activity in a community setting of students and faculty, usually at a residence and with shared meals, the college having a degree of autonomy and a federated relationship with the overall...
system of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
and Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
in England, although the houses are probably more similar in size and character to the Harvard University house system. Like a residential college, a House embodies two closely connected concepts; it serves as both a physical building where a majority of its members reside and as the center of social activity for its members.
The Houses resemble fraternities
Fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...
at other American universities in the shared loyalties they engender. Unlike in fraternities, however, potentially dangerous "rushing" or "pledging" is replaced with the week of "rotation" at the beginning of a student's freshman year, and students generally remain affiliated with one House for the duration of their undergraduate studies.
Freshmen go through a process known as Rotation during the first week of classes, leading to their eventual House assignment by way of a matching process. This process has rules associated with it to try to give freshmen a chance to choose between the Houses in an unbiased way. These rules are located on the IHC (Interhouse Committee) website here.
History
Caltech established the House System in 1931, disbanding the existing fraternities and recasting them as Blacker House, Dabney House, Fleming House and Ricketts House, now known as the South Houses. The fraternities were as follows:- Blacker: Phi Alpha Rho, also known as Pharo
- Dabney: Gamma Sigma
- Fleming: Sigma Alpha Pi and Pi Alpha Tau
- Ricketts: Kappa Gamma, also known as Gnome
Expanding student population was accommodated in 1960 with the North Houses: Lloyd House, Page House, and Ruddock House.
A new state-of-the-art residential facility named Avery House, was opened in 1996, touted as a facility that allowed undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty to not only mingle, but live together. As a result, Avery was not initially considered part of the House System, and freshmen were not allowed to live there. However, in the 2003–2004 school year, the Avery Council (the student government of Avery House) campaigned for Avery to participate in Rotation and take freshmen. This change was opposed by the Caltech undergraduate student body by a five-to-one margin, but the Faculty Board voted overwhelmingly to approve the change. Beginning in the 2005–2006 school year, freshmen began to rotate into Avery, changing its status from an undergraduate housing option to a fully represented House.
Also in 2005, work began on a major renovation project for the aging South Houses, whose residents were relocated to a temporary modular housing complex. The renovations were completed at the beginning of the 2007 calendar year. Students moved back into the South Houses on 15 December 2006, though construction continued through the beginning of 2007.
Like most of the buildings on campus, Avery House and the South Houses are in California Mission
Mission Revival Style architecture
The Mission Revival Style was an architectural movement that began in the late 19th century for a colonial style's revivalism and reinterpretation, which drew inspiration from the late 18th and early 19th century Spanish missions in California....
style, and resemble cloister
Cloister
A cloister is a rectangular open space surrounded by covered walks or open galleries, with open arcades on the inner side, running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth...
ed monasteries
Abbey
An abbey is a Catholic monastery or convent, under the authority of an Abbot or an Abbess, who serves as the spiritual father or mother of the community.The term can also refer to an establishment which has long ceased to function as an abbey,...
with enclosed courtyards; the North Houses are of Modern
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
design.
House Memberships
There are two ways to gain membership in a House: Rotate in at the beginning of one's frosh year and become a full member, or become a social or full member afterwards. Procedures for admitting new members vary depending upon House bylaws and type of membership.Rotation
Rotation is the process by which incoming freshmen choose (and are chosen by) the House they will be affiliated with. (In local parlance, freshmen are still referred to as "prefrosh" until the revelation of their house affiliation at the end of Rotation.) Upon first arriving at Caltech, the incoming freshmen are given a random room assignment in a random House that is different from their Prefrosh Weekend assignment, and then spend a week eating lunch and dinner in all of the Houses, getting an opportunity to meet people in all of the Houses.These meals and meetings are an opportunity both for the frosh to get to know the feel of the different houses and for the upperclassmen to meet and rate the frosh so both can see where they might belong. Many Houses also make rotation videos that are shown to incoming freshmen during rotation, which yield to incoming students additional information about the various personalities of the Houses. At the end of this week, the frosh rate (as of 2009) each of the Houses on a scale of 1 to 20. Based on this, and the opinions of the Houses' existing members, the frosh are placed into a House which will be their home physically and socially for the next few years. The Interhouse Committee attempts to ensure a certain level of secrecy regarding the exact process, so that the confidentiality of both the freshmen, and those involved with their final housing assignments, is maintained. Also, the selection process is constrained: there are only a limited number of openings in each House, and it is impossible to simultaneously meet the preferences of all of the Freshmen and Houses.
Despite the constraints, this two-way selection process of joining a House, and social interaction after joining, gives each House a distinctive personality that is often remarkably stable over decades. Alumni often retain fierce House loyalty and can often guess the House membership of other Caltech graduates from personality clues.
Other Memberships
There is a second way to obtain membership in a House: to apply at some point after Rotation. The process varies from House to House, but in general one makes an announcement at dinner to the effect of "I would like to be a member of Booty House," and the House conducts a vote (the nature of the vote, again, varying). ("Booty House" is commonly used to refer to any unspecified House, and appears as the house named in examples of Rotation Rules violations) Some Houses (Blacker, Lloyd, Page, and Ruddock) have two tiers of memberships: Full members and social members. While Fleming nominally has social memberships, they consider all undergraduates to be social members automatically (and they don't require social members to pay dues). So in effect, Fleming does not have social memberships. Anyone who rotates into a House is automatically a full member; individuals who would like to become members afterward can choose between full and social membership. The relative difficulties in attaining full and social memberships differ from House to House, as do the relative privileges that each membership type affords. The only universal truths are that full membership is harder to attain than social and that full members may live in House-associated property while social members may not.Overview of the Houses
| House | Members | Color | Slogan | Motto(s) | Website |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Houses (Hovses) | |||||
| Blacker Hovse | Moles | Black | γδβγ (God Damn Blacker Gang) | Sed nvlla nisi ardva virtvs "Nothing is worthwhile unless it is difficult" | http://blacker.caltech.edu/ |
| Dabney Hovse | Darbs | Green | DEI (Dabney Eats It) | Fidelis et gratus "Faithfulness and thankfulness" Imagine you're on a dropship piloted by dolphins, and all of a sudden, an elephant trumpets, and you know where to go. Holy unions of matrimony, Batman! |
https://dabney.caltech.edu/ |
| Fleming Hovse | Flems | Red | FEIF (Fleming Eats It Faster) | Let the deed shaw | http://fleming.caltech.edu/ |
| Ricketts Hovse | Skurves / Scurves | Maroon | FGD (Fuck God Dead) | Prend moi tel que je suis "Take me as I am" | http://ricketts.caltech.edu/public/ |
| North Houses | |||||
| Lloyd House | Lloydies | Gold | Lloyd sucks! | I live and die for those I love | http://lloyd.caltech.edu/ |
| Page House | Pageboys | Blue | PPOE (Page Pees on Everything) | Spe labor levis (et spe vinum gravis) "May the work be light (and the drinks be heavy)" | http://www.jrpage.net/ |
| Ruddock House | Rudds | Navy Blue | Ruddock Rhymes with Buttock | Virtutis mammilas exsugimus "We suck dry the teats of Virtue" | http://ruddock.caltech.edu/ |
| Other | |||||
| Avery House | Averites/Slaves | N/A | A very fine house | Creativity, integrity, tenacity | http://avery.caltech.edu/ |
The South Houses
The South Houses are often referred to as "Hovses" since that is the spelling used in the inscriptions on the actual buildings, in imitation of ancient Latin writing. The South House complex opened in 1931.Blacker House
Ride of the Valkyries
The Ride of the Valkyries is the popular term for the beginning of Act III of Die Walküre, the second of the four operas by Richard Wagner that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen. The main theme of the Ride, the leitmotif labelled Walkürenritt, was first written down by the composer on 23 July 1851...
, and to the constant announcements of fake Ditch days by seniors, the freshmen living in a part of the House named Hell (so called for its unbearable heat in the summer and cramped quarters) would announce a Hellride. They then barricade the hallway and play The Ride at high volume, daring the upperclassmen to break in and drag everyone to be drenched in the showers.
Blacker house features halls painted as Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell. Blacker's courtyard formerly featured a habitable treehouse and a giant tire swing, but the tree that bore them was cut down during renovations of the house in the 2005–2006 academic year. Attached to another tree is now a wooden swing.
The war cry
Battle cry
A battle cry is a yell or chant taken up in battle, usually by members of the same military unit.Battle cries are not necessarily articulate, although they often aim to invoke patriotic or religious sentiment....
of Blacker House is γδβγ (Greek letters
Greek alphabet
The Greek alphabet is the script that has been used to write the Greek language since at least 730 BC . The alphabet in its classical and modern form consists of 24 letters ordered in sequence from alpha to omega...
for gdbg, or God Damn Blacker Gang). The story is that in 1978 or 1979, it was popular for Blacker students to climb on top of elevator
Elevator
An elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...
s and ride them. One time, security went inside the elevator looking for the students, who were on top of the elevator. The security muttered, "God Damn Blacker Gang", and the name stuck. Blacker students began signing GDBG or γδβγ on all their pranks. Blacker has also been referred to as the House of Fucking Geniuses and the inscription HOFG can be found throughout the tunnels along with γδβγ. In the 1960s the house slogan was "Blacker Hovse for gracious living" which became "The Hovse of Gracious Living" by the 1990s.
Famous alumni include Michael Aschbacher
Michael Aschbacher
Michael George Aschbacher is an American mathematician best known for his work on finite groups. He was a leading figure in the completion of the classification of finite simple groups in the 1970s and 1980s. It later turned out that the classification was incomplete, because the case of quasithin...
, Kip Thorne
Kip Thorne
Kip Stephen Thorne is an American theoretical physicist, known for his prolific contributions in gravitation physics and astrophysics and for having trained a generation of scientists...
, and William Shockley
William Shockley
William Bradford Shockley Jr. was an American physicist and inventor. Along with John Bardeen and Walter Houser Brattain, Shockley co-invented the transistor, for which all three were awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics.Shockley's attempts to commercialize a new transistor design in the 1950s...
.
Dabney House
Dabney Oil Syndicate
The Dabney Oil Syndicate refers to a number of petroleum-drilling enterprises in California involving Joseph B. Dabney and his associates.Joseph Benjamin Dabney, born 1858 in Madison County, Iowa, was in California at the turn of the 20th century when interest was being awakened in the...
, was a trustee of California Institute of Technology. Dabney Hall of the Humanities, a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Dabney, is one of the four corner buildings of Caltech's central courtyard. It was built in 1927.
In 1928, the Dabneys gave $200,000 to build Dabney House, one of four new residence halls.
Dabney House, as part of the single building that makes up the four "South Houses," was constructed in 1930 and 1931. It was known as the House of Gentlemen and the House of Captains, but underwent a dramatic change in personality during the 1960s. In 1973, the House was disowned by the Dabney family when students from Dabney House protested a presidential visit with a sign on the library bearing the simple phrase "Impeach Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
." This event has been a touchstone for Darbs ever since. During this era, the house was associated with the hippie lifestyle.
Trigraph
A trigraph is a group of three symbols, most commonly letters.Trigraph can mean:-Computing:* Digraphs and trigraphs, groups of characters used to symbolise one character...
DEI has come to be a badge of pride for Darbs. Besides naming the house's recreation room after it and spreading it all across campus, Dabney alumni have made DEI a hidden code in the outside world. The letters can be seen in movies (most notably Real Genius
Real Genius
Real Genius is a 1985 satirical comedy film directed by Martha Coolidge. The film's screenplay was written by Neal Israel, Pat Proft and Peter Torokvei. It stars Val Kilmer and Gabriel Jarret....
) and video games (including GTA: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is a 2002 open world action computer and video game developed by British games developer Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the second 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise and sixth original title overall...
and several Intellivision
Intellivision
The Intellivision is a video game console released by Mattel in 1979. Development of the console began in 1978, less than a year after the introduction of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. The word intellivision is a portmanteau of "intelligent television"...
games). There are even stories of the trigraph
Trigraph
A trigraph is a group of three symbols, most commonly letters.Trigraph can mean:-Computing:* Digraphs and trigraphs, groups of characters used to symbolise one character...
making its way into space on JPL probe
Space probe
A robotic spacecraft is a spacecraft with no humans on board, that is usually under telerobotic control. A robotic spacecraft designed to make scientific research measurements is often called a space probe. Many space missions are more suited to telerobotic rather than crewed operation, due to...
s including the Voyager space craft, and being written on the Moon by astronaut Darb Harrison Schmitt
Harrison Schmitt
Harrison Hagan "Jack" Schmitt is an American geologist, a retired NASA astronaut, university professor, and a former U.S. senator from New Mexico....
. In the late 1960s, during on-campus shooting of an episode of the TV series "Mission Impossible", students stenciled the cryptic letters "DEI" high on a wall in a steam (utility) tunnel scheduled to be filmed the next day. The marking was subsequently visible on national television behind Peter Lupus as he paused in one shot, unaware of this Caltech contribution to spy drama.
More recently, Dabney started the Student Coffee House and provided the majority of the staff for a couple years. Since then, Coffee House has become a part of Caltech's Dining Services and is now managed by CDS. Dabney hosts the annual Millikan Pumpkin Drop Experiment (a parody of the Millikan oil-drop experiment
Oil-drop experiment
The oil drop experiment was an experiment performed by Robert Millikan and Harvey Fletcher in 1909 to measure the elementary electric charge ....
) where pumpkins frozen in liquid nitrogen are dropped from Millikan library. This tradition was featured on the TV show Numb3rs. Dabney also hosts Drop Day, a party held the Saturday after the second term drop day to celebrate the point of no return, and Dabney Metal Night, an opportunity for the amateur bands of Caltech to play for the crowd.
While the traditional motto of Dabney House (Fidelis et gratus "Faithfulness and thankfulness") still stands on the Dabney crest, Dabney House has instituted a new, changeable motto. In line with Caltech's tradition of wall murals and wall writings, any member may change the house motto by striking the previous motto on a designated motto wall and writing a new one. Past mottos include "The purpose of this convoy is to keep moving," "Oh my God, we're all fucking machines!," "We've got class coming out of our ass!," "Aloha, snack-bar!," and "We have sex with our eyes open."
Fleming House
Members of Fleming Hovse are called Flems. The house color is Red. The motto, from the crest as commonly seen on house beer steins, is "Let the Deed Shaw." The house battle cry is "Go Big Red!" Another important maxim is "Flems stick together!", as well as the slogan "Where men are men, giants walk the earth, and the thundering herd is real".
The physical layout of Fleming House includes rooms numbered 8.5 (formerly the RA apartment, now a triple) and π (pi
Pi
' is a mathematical constant that is the ratio of any circle's circumference to its diameter. is approximately equal to 3.14. Many formulae in mathematics, science, and engineering involve , which makes it one of the most important mathematical constants...
). The Interhouse Trophy, awarded to the winner of the Interhouse Athletic Competitions, has been awarded to Fleming for the past five years.
For the past few years, Fleming and Page House have pranked each other regularly and included each other in initiations.
Fleming Cannon
The Fleming Cannon, a Caltech landmark rests on its wheels on the Olive Walk in front of Fleming. As it makes a very loud noise when fired, it is fired to mark important events, such as the end of rotation, Ditch Day, the end of the term, and graduation. It was originally cast for use in the Franco-Prussian WarFranco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
but eventually found its way to the then-military themed Southwestern Academy
Southwestern Academy
Southwestern Academy is a nonprofit, coeducational college preparatory school for grades 6-12, with two campuses—one in San Marino, California, and the other in Rimrock, Arizona, USA. The school is accredited by WASC...
in San Marino, California
San Marino, California
San Marino is a small, affluent city in Los Angeles County, California. Incorporated in 1913, the City founders designed the community to be uniquely residential, with expansive properties surrounded by beautiful gardens, wide streets, and well maintained parkways...
, where it remained on the front lawn between 1925 and 1972.
In 1972 Fleming class officers got permission from Southwestern Academy to take the cannon, but the underclassmen who mounted new wheels on it and dragged it to campus at night thought they were stealing it. It took months of paint stripping and other work to restore it to operational status. The Caltech administration ordered its return in 1975, but negotiations began for an official transfer of the cannon back to Caltech in 1980, and in 1981 it was returned on a permanent basis to the Caltech campus.
The cannon was stolen by Harvey Mudd
Harvey Mudd College
Harvey Mudd College is a private residential liberal arts college of science, engineering, and mathematics, located in Claremont, California. It is one of the institutions of the contiguous Claremont Colleges, which share adjoining campus grounds....
students in 1986 (as detailed in this article). At the demands of both college administrations, the Cannon was returned to Fleming House approximately 8 weeks after the prank.
It was rumored that Harvey Mudd would attempt to steal the cannon again in 2006 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their original theft; however, the cannon disappeared on April 6, a day before the anniversary, only to show up at MIT, just in time for Campus Preview Weekend, during which many rising freshmen visit MIT. A (seemingly fake) moving company by the name of Howe & Ser Moving Co. has taken credit. (The name is a double pun
Pun
The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...
: When substituting "and" for the ampersand
Ampersand
An ampersand is a logogram representing the conjunction word "and". The symbol is a ligature of the letters in et, Latin for "and".-Etymology:...
, it reads "how we answer", while substituting the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
et
Grammatical conjunction
In grammar, a conjunction is a part of speech that connects two words, sentences, phrases or clauses together. A discourse connective is a conjunction joining sentences. This definition may overlap with that of other parts of speech, so what constitutes a "conjunction" must be defined for each...
for the ampersand gives "Howitzer
Howitzer
A howitzer is a type of artillery piece characterized by a relatively short barrel and the use of comparatively small propellant charges to propel projectiles at relatively high trajectories, with a steep angle of descent...
".) Displayed prominently in front of MIT's Green Building
Green Building (MIT)
The Cecil and Ida Green Building, also called the Green Building or Building 54, is an academic and research building at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. It was designed by noted architect I. M. Pei, who received his bachelor's degree from MIT in...
, the Fleming Cannon sported a giant, gold-plated MIT class ring
MIT class ring
Massachusetts Institute of Technology's class ring, often called the Brass Rat, is redesigned each year by a student committee. The class ring has three main sections: the bezel, containing MIT's mascot, the beaver; the MIT seal ; and the class year . The side surfaces show the Boston and...
around its barrel.
A day after the prank was disclosed, Fleming's members began planning a recovery operation on the night of April 7. They immediately sent twenty-three members to Boston to retrieve their cannon. The Flems were greeted at MIT by a group of students and police who watched as the cannon was loaded into a truck. Afterward, a friendly barbecue celebrated the event.
L. D. Ricketts
Louis Davidson Ricketts was an American economic geologist, mining engineer and banker who pioneered development of copper mines in the U.S. state of Arizona and the Mexican state of Sonora. Ricketts was educated at Princeton University, earning both a B.Sc and D.Sc. in economic geology...
. Members of Ricketts House are called Skurves (or Scurves) due to a play on the similarity of the name Ricketts to the disease rickets
Rickets
Rickets is a softening of bones in children due to deficiency or impaired metabolism of vitamin D, magnesium , phosphorus or calcium, potentially leading to fractures and deformity. Rickets is among the most frequent childhood diseases in many developing countries...
and the fact that scurvy
Scurvy
Scurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus, which also provides the adjective scorbutic...
is another vitamin deficiency disease. Members of Ricketts Hovse were known as Rowdies until about 1960; alumni of that period still draw the distinction between Rowdies and Skurves. Ricketts House is traditionally one of the most diverse houses on the campus.
Ricketts House was known for athletics and student government in the 1950s, but soon after that they became known less for these activities and more for activities that pushed the motto "Take me as I am" to the limit. Recently, Ricketts had an inverted pentagram
Pentagram
A pentagram is the shape of a five-pointed star drawn with five straight strokes...
on the front wall of its dining room. Administration members called for its removal as it was a symbol that may have offended the general public who viewed the house during tours. The pentagram was originally painted in the dining hall for the Interhouse party of 1989 - prior to this time this symbol had no particular connection to Ricketts House. In later years the inverted pentagram was added to the Ricketts House crest (the original had had ship's wheels instead of pentagrams). During the recently-completed renovations, the mural was painted over, and a new mural policy was put in place. Conflicts regarding the new mural policy continue to this day.
In 2005, the administration pressured Ricketts to make their website private because many of the pictures and quotes on the website were potentially offensive.
Lloyd House
Members of Lloyd House are called Lloydies. The house color is gold, and its motto is "I live and die for those I love."
Lloyd House is governed by a student-elected, student-run Executive Committee, or "Excomm," of 9-10 members: President, Secretary, Superintendent, Treasurer, Social Director(s), Athletic Manager, and 3 representatives at large. The Social Director(s) and Athletic Manager are aided by the Social Team and the Athletic Team. There are 8 Upperclass Counselors (UCCs) and various appointed positions, such as Librarian, Fridgemaster, and Pool Monkey. Traditional house events include a meet-the-frosh Ultimate Egg competition (in which Ultimate Frisbee is played using eggs), Airband, and Beach Trip (for which some members bike, roller blade, longboard, walk, or even run 42 miles from Caltech to Huntington Beach).
Lloyd House is located along the Olive Walk, and is an "L"-shaped, two-story building. At the intersection of the two branches of the house are "Lower Crotch" and "Upper Crotch," which serve as communal lounge areas.
Lloyd is divided into seven alleys: Purple, Kaos, VI (Virgin Islands
Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands are the western island group of the Leeward Islands, which are the northern part of the Lesser Antilles, which form the border between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean...
), Fingal's Cave
Fingal's Cave
Fingal's Cave is a sea cave on the uninhabited island of Staffa, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, part of a National Nature Reserve owned by the National Trust for Scotland. It is formed entirely from hexagonally jointed basalt columns, similar in structure to the Giant's Causeway in Northern...
, Valhalla
Valhalla
In Norse mythology, Valhalla is a majestic, enormous hall located in Asgard, ruled over by the god Odin. Chosen by Odin, half of those that die in combat travel to Valhalla upon death, led by valkyries, while the other half go to the goddess Freyja's field Fólkvangr...
, Inferno, and Tropic. Each alley is decorated with theme-appropriate mural
Mural
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...
s. Some key murals include the expansive Purple mural in the theme of Japanese tsunami
Tsunami
A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
waves, the Escher
M. C. Escher
Maurits Cornelis Escher , usually referred to as M. C. Escher , was a Dutch graphic artist. He is known for his often mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints...
mural in Kaos, the tropical mural in VI, the "Enjoy Crack
Crack cocaine
Crack cocaine is the freebase form of cocaine that can be smoked. It may also be termed rock, hard, iron, cavvy, base, or just crack; it is the most addictive form of cocaine. Crack rocks offer a short but intense high to smokers...
" mural in Inferno that mocks the famous Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
slogan and contains a reference to Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
's graphic novel Watchmen
Watchmen
Watchmen is a twelve-issue comic book limited series created by writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colourist John Higgins. The series was published by DC Comics during 1986 and 1987, and has been subsequently reprinted in collected form...
, and the Lloyd Dragon in Fingal's.
The "shed" used to be a stand-alone building in the courtyard that housed Lloyd's big screen TV. Now the "shed" exists indoors, in a room adjacent to Valhalla that used to be part of the MOSH's office.
In the 1980s, Lloyd had two off-campus alleys, one named "The Place" and one named "Corona" (in reference to the corona of the sun as a metaphor for the outer reaches of Lloyd). The Place used to exist on the corner of Michigan Ave and Lura St; it was removed around 1988 and is now a parking lot. Corona used to be on the east side of Holliston Ave; it was removed in 1992 and the location is now the new parking structure. Because of Pasadena preservation laws, both houses were moved to other places in Pasadena. The Corona house was donated to a minister (for free) who restored it at 1792 Newport Ave, Pasadena, CA. The house is no longer owned by the minister, but it still exists.
Around 1990, in exchange for the loss of Corona, Lloyd adopted "the Quads" alley at 232 and 234 Chester Ave.
Famous Lloydies
Crippling Depression, a satirical comic stripComic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
that was published regularly in the California Tech, the student newspaper, was drawn and written by Lloydies.
In the past, some Lloydies have been known for pulling elaborate pranks. The classic prank of the 1961 Rose Bowl
Great Rose Bowl Hoax
The Great Rose Bowl Hoax was a prank at the 1961 Rose Bowl, an annual American college football bowl game. That year, the Washington Huskies were pitted against the Minnesota Golden Gophers...
was pulled off by the "Fiendish Fourteen," members of Lloyd House. Flashcards that were intended to cheer for the Washington Huskies football team were changed to read Caltech. The Hollywood sign was changed to read "Caltech" in 1987 by a group of Pageboys and Lloydies.
Every year since 1994, Lloydies have climbed onto the top of Millikan Library to construct the Lloyd Christmas Tree, a monumental structure of numerous Christmas lights strung together to resemble a 10-story Christmas tree topped with a 12-feet-tall "L." The latest off-campus pranks have been the pranking of MIT's Campus Preview Weekend, which included many Lloydies.
A common folklore that has been passed down throughout the years is that of the Purple LSD lab. It has been said that sometime in the 70's, a group of chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
majors living in Purple blocked off some of the alley for a special project. The product of their project, was dubbed "Lloyd-grade" LSD, to denote its extraordinary purity. The rumor goes that it was one of the largest sources of LSD at the time. Nearly the entire senior class was expelled when the FBI invaded the house (only three seniors are mentioned in the yearbook from 1970), though folklore also holds that the perpetrators escaped capture, leaving only a teasing banner for the invaders reading "Welcome, FBI!".
No such lab operated during the period 1972-1976.
- David BrinDavid BrinGlen David Brin, Ph.D. is an American scientist and award-winning author of science fiction. He has received the Hugo, Locus, Campbell and Nebula Awards.-Biography:...
(1973) — astronomer and science-fiction author - Nate LewisNathan LewisNathan S. Lewis is the George L. Argyros Professor of Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology. He specializes in functionalization of silicon and other semiconductor surfaces, as well as chemical sensing using chemiresistive sensor arrays. He obtained his B.S. and M.S. degrees also at...
(1977) — George L. ArgyrosGeorge ArgyrosGeorge Leon Argyros is the former United States Ambassador to Spain. He is also a successful real estate investor, and was the owner of Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners from 1981 to 1989.-Early and personal life:...
Professor of Chemistry at CaltechCalifornia Institute of TechnologyThe California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering... - Adam Weissman (1990) — co-founder of Applied Semantics, which was bought by Google and became AdSenseAdSenseGoogle AdSense which is a program run by Google Inc. allows publishers in the Google Network of content sites to automatically serve text, image, video, and rich media adverts that are targeted to site content and audience. These adverts are administered, sorted, and maintained by Google, and they...
- Gil Elbaz (1991) — co-founder of Applied Semantics
- Adam D'AngeloAdam D'AngeloAdam D'Angelo is the chief executive and co-founder of Quora, an online knowledge market based in Palo Alto, California.He was chief technology officer of Facebook, and also served as its vice president of engineering.He left Facebook in 2008...
(2006) — founder of Quora and early Facebook CTO
Page House
Idiom
Idiom is an expression, word, or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is comprehended in regard to a common use of that expression that is separate from the literal meaning or definition of the words of which it is made...
meaning "May the work be light" (and is often followed by "And the drinks be heavy"). House construction was funded by J.R. Page, former vice president of the First National Bank in Los Angeles, and chairman of the Caltech board of trustees from 1943 to 1954. One of the largest houses, Page has been home to KCAL, the Interhouse Roller Coaster. It also used its access to the basement so that Pageboys could cover the concrete with dry ice, a prank copied in the movie Real Genius
Real Genius
Real Genius is a 1985 satirical comedy film directed by Martha Coolidge. The film's screenplay was written by Neal Israel, Pat Proft and Peter Torokvei. It stars Val Kilmer and Gabriel Jarret....
.
In response to other houses quixotically claiming certain items to be off-limits in regard to pranks (rendering them "Non-RF-able"), the Page House president at the time named that the President be unprankable as well. In the past, there were two items in Page House that could not be the target of pranks: the pool table felt and a poster of President Nixon that is passed on to each House President shortly after s/he is elected.
All student rooms in Page are designed as doubles; however, when vacancies arise, upperclassmen may live in rooms as singles. According to house bylaws, the newly-elected Page House president may choose to reside in any room as a single. Popular rooms include the "corner doubles" upstairs and downstairs. The FU, across from the Library, is Page House's entertainment room, complete with dozens of bean bags. Its name originates from a prank in which Fleming painted a large "F" on its door. Rather than painting over it, Pageboys simply painted a "U" below it. The FU was formerly a triple, and before that was the RA apartment, which is now located downstairs. The Library itself is important to Page House culture, and although its collection is always being removed to be recycled elsewhere, its contents are meant to reflect the works and contributions of contemporary Pageboys. Due to its distinguished status, one must wear shoes while in the Library. Recently, as a result of pressure from the Deans, the Library underwent renovation, and was reopened after a few weeks.
Pageboy activities include grilling on The Bridge, champagne at Millikan ("Bubbly") to celebrate the end of quarter, and Intrahouse, in which all eight alleys in Page partake in the annual tradition of applying primer and painting edgy, humorous pictures. The painting in between alleys 6 and 7 covers "the fruit wall", a favorite target for PVC-borne projectiles, particularly fruit which tend to vaporize on contact. In addition to Intrahouse, there is the annual Stranding Of the Freshmen on Mt. Wilson, the Wait Staff Initiation, and the Greased Frosh Race, in which Pageboys make liberal use of Caltech's grounds and upkeep fund by selecting a designated freshman in each alley (referred to as that alley's Greased Frosh), who is then sent running on the Beckman lawn in the effort to evade upperclassmen who are trying to tackle an opposing alley's Greased Frosh before theirs is tackled. Pageboys then rinse themselves in Gene Pool, producing a visible Crisco and lard film on the surface. Until 2003, they first rinsed in Millikan Pond, but the location has changed due to administrative request, and now all the Pageboys rinse off completely in the Fleming showers.
Ruddock House
During the week, student waiters serve family-style dinners in the dining room; some notable dinner traditions include the throwing of bread rolls and "floating" members who break dinner rules by pouring water on them. The hallways, referred to as "alleys" by undergraduates, are adorned with various murals including reproductions of M. C. Escher works, a Monopoly Board, Simpsons characters, and a two-story mural of an astronaut. This mural, called "The Spaceman," is based on a photograph of Ed White's spacewalk during Gemini 4. The painting was made completely by Phil Cormier ('79) in a day's worth of work. A few years later Rusty Schweickart, Jr. (whose father
Rusty Schweickart
Russell Louis "Rusty" Schweickart aka Schweikart is an American former astronaut, research scientist, US Air Force fighter pilot, business and government executive...
walked in space on Apollo 9
Apollo 9
Apollo 9, the third manned mission in the American Apollo space program, was the first flight of the Command/Service Module with the Lunar Module...
) was elected house president. Another Rudd connected to the space program is Phillip Engelauf ('78), who later became a flight director at JSC.
Other famous Rudds include Bill Gross of idealab!
Idealab
Idealab is a business incubator based in Pasadena, California.-History:Idealab was founded by Bill Gross in March 1996...
fame and MIT's Peter Shor
Peter Shor
Peter Williston Shor is an American professor of applied mathematics at MIT, most famous for his work on quantum computation, in particular for devising Shor's algorithm, a quantum algorithm for factoring exponentially faster than the best currently-known algorithm running on a classical...
.
OPI
After the end of a campus-wide undergraduate party tradition, Interhouse, Ruddock began the tradition of OPI. OPI, standing for either "Our Private Interhouse" or "(Our) Own Private Interhouse," traditionally occurs during the winter term of the academic year. One of the most notable aspects of the OPI is the amount of time and effort put into construction and artwork for the sets of the party. Recent years' preparations have included skylines of Tokyo, a giant Egyptian pyramid, a 16' tall windmill and 20' tall elephant statue from Moulin Rouge, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and a Gothic Cathedral with 32' tall facades.Avery House
Aviary
An aviary is a large enclosure for confining birds. Unlike cages, aviaries allow birds a larger living space where they can fly; hence, aviaries are also sometimes known as flight cages...
” have been used by some undergraduates, but they have largely fallen into disuse.
Previously, Avery had only housed upperclass students, graduate students, and faculty, but by a 10-to-1 vote in May 2004, the Faculty Board approved the decision to make Avery open to incoming freshmen on a two-year experimental basis. Since the 2005–2006 school year, Avery has been part of the Rotation process and houses incoming freshman. As Avery has only recently become open to incoming freshman, it does not have as many established traditions as the North and South Houses.
Avery House, however, has demonstrated the establishment of some traditions such as Team Gotcha (Assassins using water guns), an Iron Chef competition, and a Faculty Dessert Night with an open talent show. Avery House also participates in Interhouse Sports, holds an annual Interhouse party, and organizes annual ski trips, beach trips, and BBQs. Avery embraces an accepting mindset whereby anyone who wants to become an Avery member only needs to attain ten signatures from Avery members. There are no social memberships, only full memberships. Any member is welcome and encouraged to participate in house events, but is not pressured to do so.
Avery enjoys an environment of graduate students, some of which are TAs for undergraduate classes, and faculty families. The Faculty in Residence (FiRs) are chosen by the students in a interview and discussion process and the faculty are provided budget to hold social events for the undergraduates of the house. Events held by faculty include Super Bowl parties and casual dinners.
Avery House has several facilities, including a dining hall with a large kitchen, a conference room, a piano room (Gary Lorden Recreation Room), a library, a garden, and a basement garage. The dining hall, library, and conference room are available to the Caltech community for official events after approval by the Avery ExComm. Avery also holds a number of “off-campus” spots, which are physically in the house but can be chosen by any undergraduate participating in the off-campus lottery. Finally, due to a policy said to have been put in place by R. Stanton Avery himself , Avery members are not allowed to place anything "nonremovable" on the walls, though the true origins of this policy are unclear.
Off-campus Housing
Caltech-owned housing that is not part of any of the eight Houses is known as "off-campus" housing, even if it is actually physically located on the Caltech campus. (Non-Caltech owned housing is called "off-off-campus.") These housing units do not maintain memberships or have the community or traditions that the other Houses have. Off-campus housing currently consists of Marks House, Braun House, the Del Mar apartments, the Chester apartments, and a handful of single-family homes owned by Caltech. All of these are either within the Caltech campus, or within a few blocks of it. A small portion of Avery is also included in the off-campus lottery with the rest of these properties.External links
- the Interhouse Committee (IHC) - committee of the presidents of the Houses; plans and supervises Rotation, inter-House sports and activities, and works closely with Housing and some Faculty Board committees as the representative of the undergraduate body
- Caltech Undergraduate Housing - from the Institute's Housing Department
- A History of Undergraduate Self-Governance at Caltech; Part II, A History of the Undergraduate Houses (1930-2002)
- Task force on Undergraduate Residence Life Initiatives (TURLI) report
- Caltech Tech article on Eco-Rotation - Caltech is updating the Rotation process for the 2010 entering freshman class. Houses that fail to attract sufficient rankings from incoming students will shrink and eventually disband.