# Did college students of yesteryear regularly wear beanies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 10, 2013, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-students-of-yesteryear-regularly-wear-beanies/646719 "2013-01-10T04:08:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-students-of-yesteryear-regularly-wear-beanies/646719/21 "2013-01-10T19:07:09Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > …, they were only required to wear them until the football team won its first game. This was usually scheduled against a patsy team like RPI, so the beanies weren’t worn for more than a week or two. Curse you, Union! //violently shakes fist// GAAh, the ‘tute’ does suck. Heck we even lost both hockey games to Union this year:mad: Not sure what the overall football totals are for the 110 meetings but it can’t be good based on Dutchman’s Shoes Trophy results (Union up 47-19) since 1950. At least it’s been competitive the last decade at 5-5. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-students-of-yesteryear-regularly-wear-beanies/646719/22 "2013-01-10T19:26:17Z")
On the other hand, how many times has Union College won the NCAA hockey tournament? (Zero, compared to two for Rensselaer. Admittedly, these wins were three decades apart, in 1954 and 1985, but it’s two more than Union can claim.) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-students-of-yesteryear-regularly-wear-beanies/646719/23 "2013-01-10T21:05:03Z")
Union didn’t even play division 1 hockey until 1992, so in that time frame, they’re even. When I was a freshman, their football team was on a 11 game streak against RPI. But actually, RPI wasn’t scheduled for the first football game. Union always played WPI, who overall have been 32-8 against Union. ---
**Author:** ![UncleFred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@UncleFred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleFred)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-students-of-yesteryear-regularly-wear-beanies/646719/24 "2013-01-10T21:19:10Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > Speaking of weird, I still have mine somewhere. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) 1967. Little mini red cap with small brim and “RPI” on it. Wore them during “Hell Week”, pledging time. Also the time for election of student body president. Political “parties” would sponsor candidates at rallies in the fieldhouse. Complete with beer and (no kidding) strippers :eek: (NY drinking age was 18 at the time). Also police on duty in the fieldhouse enjoying the _varied_ entertainment. Things got toned down quite a bit after that. Quite the [del]eye poping[/del] memorable time for a young freshman. RPI freshman 1968 here - yep we had them too, but ditched them after about 3 days. ---
**Author:** ![Strainger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strainger/32/244_2.png) [@Strainger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strainger)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-students-of-yesteryear-regularly-wear-beanies/646719/25 "2013-01-10T21:35:51Z")
> [@hrhomer](#): > > As a freshman at Georgia Tech in 1991, the tradition of [“Rat Caps”](https://www.google.com/search?q=rat+cap&sugexp=chrome,mod%3D14&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=m-XuUJjXD8W9iwLJr4G4Dg&biw=1920&bih=955&sei=nOXuUMTtM6TBigKEyIGYBg) was kept alive in spirit, but in reality, I don’t think I ever saw one in the wild, except at the school store. Freshman band members still wear them during marching (aka football) season. I still have my RAT cap in my closet. Strainger BAE 1993 ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-students-of-yesteryear-regularly-wear-beanies/646719/26 "2013-01-10T22:08:44Z")
To my immature and juvenile (or maybe nasciently senile) mind, a “beanie” will always and only refer to that children’s headgear, a skullcap with a [little propeller sticking up on top](http://th06.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2010/073/2/0/Beany_and_Cecil_by_zombiegoon.jpg). And to be sure, I only posted this childish reply here as a pretext to link to that picture. ---
**Author:** ![Hottius\_Maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hottius\_Maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hottius_Maximus)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-students-of-yesteryear-regularly-wear-beanies/646719/27 "2013-01-11T02:03:50Z")
I am seeing several posters here talking about “requirements for freshmen” to wear the beanie as a mild form of hazing. Was this then strictly for pledges to fraternities? What if a freshman was not a pledge to any particular frat house? Would the college administration still want the incoming freshmen to wear the beanies and if so why? ---
**Author:** ![UncleFred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@UncleFred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleFred)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-students-of-yesteryear-regularly-wear-beanies/646719/28 "2013-01-11T02:39:50Z")
> [@Hottius\_Maximus](#): > > I am seeing several posters here talking about “requirements for freshmen” to wear the beanie as a mild form of hazing. Was this then strictly for pledges to fraternities? What if a freshman was not a pledge to any particular frat house? Would the college administration still want the incoming freshmen to wear the beanies and if so why? Again, at RPI 1968 all freshman were expected to wear their beanines at least through orientation week. The people running orientation told us it was a ‘team buillding’ thing, but it felt more like humiliation. I don’t recall fraternities requiring pledges to wear their beanies (I didn’t pledge) but it might have been. RPI had a 33% drop-out rate. At our first orientation meeting they told us “Look to you right. Now your left. One of you won’t make it.” Makes you feel right at home… ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-students-of-yesteryear-regularly-wear-beanies/646719/29 "2013-01-11T09:48:21Z")
> [@UncleFred](#): > > … > > RPI had a 33% drop-out rate. At our first orientation meeting they told us “Look to you right. Now your left. One of you won’t make it.”… The mathematics of this cannot be right. I can’t formalize it though. ---
**Author:** ![UncleFred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@UncleFred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleFred)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-students-of-yesteryear-regularly-wear-beanies/646719/30 "2013-01-11T13:22:25Z")
At that time one in three members of any entering class would not eventually graduate from RPI - they would either drop out, transfer out, or something else. Mathematically formal or not the speaker conveyed the correct impression. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-students-of-yesteryear-regularly-wear-beanies/646719/31 "2013-01-11T14:57:09Z")
> [@UncleFred](#): > > RPI had a 33% drop-out rate. At our first orientation meeting they told us “Look to you right. Now your left. One of you won’t make it.” > > Makes you feel right at home… > [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > The mathematics of this cannot be right. I can’t formalize it though. > [@UncleFred](#): > > At that time one in three members of any entering class would not eventually graduate from RPI - they would either drop out, transfer out, or something else. Mathematically formal or not the speaker conveyed the correct impression. Chances that this thread has now been derailed into a doper whack-a-thon approaching 100%… ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-students-of-yesteryear-regularly-wear-beanies/646719/32 "2013-01-11T15:00:49Z")
Beanies? pshaw. [Tams! as worn at Queen’s!](http://queenslife.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/queens-tams/) That’s the ticket! ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-students-of-yesteryear-regularly-wear-beanies/646719/33 "2013-01-11T15:42:42Z")
At the Catholic high school I attended, freshman hazing included making the frosh buy a plastic Easter Bunny mask, and wear it throughout Homecoming Week (including to the football game). We burned the masks in a bonfire after the game. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-students-of-yesteryear-regularly-wear-beanies/646719/34 "2013-01-11T20:57:56Z")
Flounder wore one as a freshman in _Animal House_, set in Fall 1962, and was clearly portrayed as a dweeb for doing so: [https://images.nonexiste.net/img/irc/2011/04/05/Flounder-Animal-House.jpg](https://images.nonexiste.net/img/irc/2011/04/05/Flounder-Animal-House.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![tonyfop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/85f322/32.png) [@tonyfop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tonyfop)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-students-of-yesteryear-regularly-wear-beanies/646719/35 "2013-01-12T03:09:43Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > There are (or were) photos of the strippers in the archives of the Poly (the student newspaper). And until about twenty years ago, there was a semi-official event at which pornographic films were shown on campus during GM Week, in the same auditorium used for UPAC Films and the freshman lectures. There was even a committee that had to select the movie to be shown. I was on the committee back in 1989. We had such a long list of rules of what people might find “too offensive” that I think it was the last year… ---
**Author:** ![tonyfop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/85f322/32.png) [@tonyfop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tonyfop)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-students-of-yesteryear-regularly-wear-beanies/646719/36 "2013-01-12T03:14:44Z")
Oh and also at my freshman orientation at RPI, they did the look to the right, look to the left thing, one of you won’t make it. I guess it was true, because I didn’t make it…:smack: ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-students-of-yesteryear-regularly-wear-beanies/646719/37 "2013-01-12T05:07:25Z")
Loyola U, Chicago, around 1970. We did get freshman caps. IIRC the only time you had to wear them was to get into freshman-only events. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-students-of-yesteryear-regularly-wear-beanies/646719/38 "2013-01-12T05:46:43Z")
point of order: what institute of higher education is “RPI”? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-students-of-yesteryear-regularly-wear-beanies/646719/39 "2013-01-12T05:56:11Z")
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, the oldest degree granting engineering school in America. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-students-of-yesteryear-regularly-wear-beanies/646719/40 "2013-01-12T07:11:43Z")
Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes fame) ordered a propeller beanie one time so he could fly, when it didn’t allow him to fly he ditched it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-students-of-yesteryear-regularly-wear-beanies/646719.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-college-students-of-yesteryear-regularly-wear-beanies/646719.md?page=3)