Georgia’s universities are full of odd rituals that alumni still swear by even decades later. Meet the campus traditions that have stuck around for generations.
College campuses throughout the Peach State are aflutter as curious freshmen and eager upperclassmen move back to their homes away from home for the school year.
Whether their small-town (or big city!) campus holds a student body of 3,000 or 30,000, there is a communal spirit that ties each individual together, making those classes of strangers feel like a collection of comrades. That force is maintained through friendship and leadership, as well as by legacy and tradition, or, in some cases, all of the above.
Traditions are as much of a part of the college experience as dorms and dining halls. Some traditions center around stadiums filled with fans, some of whom are painted head to toe in school colors. Some traditions focus on superstition, coyly warning students of fated outcomes should superstition not be heeded.
Below, we are dishing on 10 quirky traditions Georgia colleges carry.
1. Emory University
First-year students have marked the start of their college career at Emory by walking through the campus’s Haygood-Hopkins Gate, cheered on by upperclassmen, faculty and staff, before joining the university president for the Coke Toast on the Quad.
The tradition traces back to 1982, when three Emory students set out to break the Guinness World Record for the largest nonalcoholic toast, drawing more than 2,000 classmates with cups of Coca-Cola in hand.
The choice of drink was no accident. Coca-Cola and its longtime leader Robert W. Woodruff have been deeply tied to Emory’s history, which is why the school is sometimes nicknamed “Coca-Cola U.”
What started as a record-breaking stunt was formally adopted as tradition in 1989, and today it bookends the entire undergraduate experience. Students toast again at graduation, turning Atlanta’s signature soda into a lasting symbol of the Emory journey.
2. Mercer University
At Mercer University in Macon, Wednesdays come with a very specific aroma wafting across campus.
Every week, students, faculty and staff flock to the dining hall for Fried Chicken Wednesday, a beloved Mercer tradition featuring plates piled high with fried chicken, mac and cheese, black-eyed peas and cornbread.
It’s a small ritual, but one that’s become a defining piece of the Mercer experience, a weekly excuse for the whole campus community to sit down together over Southern comfort food.
3. University of North Georgia
At the University of North Georgia, one of the nation’s few senior military colleges, becoming a cadet starts in the barber’s chair. New cadets kick off Freshman Recruit Orientation Group Week, known as FROG Week, with haircuts at Woody’s, a Dahlonega barbershop.
From there, cadets move through a week of physical challenges and information sessions introducing them to the academic and military life ahead. By the end of the week, recruits have earned their place in the Boar’s Head Brigade, the school’s roughly 700-strong Corps of Cadets.
4. Berry College
Every October, Berry College throws a birthday party for its founder known as Mountain Day. The tradition began in 1914 when Martha Berry canceled classes to celebrate her birthday with a student picnic. By the following year, students had declared it an annual tradition.
In 1924, students began giving Martha a gift of pennies equal to their ages for the school’s endowment fund, which evolved into what’s now called the Grand March.
Today, students lining up for the more-than-century-old march still carry coins equal to their age to drop in a basket, with proceeds going toward the school’s scholarship funds.
5. Georgia Institute of Technology
Homecoming Friday at Georgia Tech isn’t complete without grown adults racing children’s tricycles around a parking deck. The Mini 500, a tricycle race, has been hosted by the Ramblin’ Reck Club since 1969.
Teams of seven—four racers plus three pit crew members—compete. Every tricycle must be painted before it can race, with one rule standing above the rest: red tricycles are banned from competing. Beyond that mandatory paint job, teams are encouraged to further modify their trikes.
Between the pit stops, the costumes and the inevitable scraped knees, the Mini 500 has become one of Georgia Tech’s most beloved pieces of Homecoming chaos.
6. Spelman College
Every December, two Atlanta institutions come together for one of their oldest shared traditions, the Spelman-Morehouse Christmas Carol Concert. First performed in 1927, the concert brought together the Glee Clubs from both schools.
Nearly a century later, the concert remains one of the clearest expressions of the “Morehouse-Spelman Brother/Sister” bond, a partnership rooted in more than a century of shared history between the two institutions.
7. Georgia State University
In the middle of downtown Atlanta, Georgia State students have a good-luck ritual that leaves its mark, literally, on campus.
Bronzie is a life-size bronze statue of Pounce, the university’s panther mascot, gifted to the school in 2004. Students touch its nose for good luck before exams, games or big life moments, a habit so widespread the bronze has worn to a noticeably polished shine over the years.
To keep the tradition alive, Georgia State is now installing a Bronzie statue at each of its Perimeter College campuses, giving students across the university system their own version of the ritual.
8. University of Georgia
There’s a decades-old superstition UGA students take seriously: avoiding the Arch until graduation day. The cast-iron Arch, modeled after the state seal and forged at an Athens foundry, was erected in 1858 as part of a fence meant to separate campus from the city.
The tradition of avoiding it began in 1909, when freshman Daniel Redfearn vowed not to walk under the Arch until he had his diploma in hand. Redfearn relayed his promise to a trusted faculty member, who then shared it with his class.
The rumor that grew from it holds that any undergraduate who walks beneath the Arch is stamped with bad luck, typically believed to mean they won’t graduate. Today, tour guides still pass the legend on to prospective students, and on graduation day, droves of students line the sidewalks to walk under the Arch for the first time.
9. Georgia Southern University
At Georgia Southern’s Statesboro campus, one patch of lawn comes with a promise of romance.
Sweetheart Circle, a stretch lined with live oaks and pecan trees, takes its name from what students used to call the “Sweetheart Campus,” and it’s played host to countless marriage proposals and wedding ceremonies over the years.
Campus legend holds that if you walk around the circle three times with your sweetheart, marriage is sure to follow. The spot has even been ranked among the most romantic college traditions in the country.
10. Georgia College and State University
Finals week kicks off at Georgia College & State University with a break from the books rather than a plunge straight into them. Twice a year, the night before the first day of finals, faculty and staff serve students a free breakfast, a tradition students have come to count on to help them push through exam season.
Students describe it as one of the go-to stress relievers of finals week, a chance to step away from studying, grab a bite, and reset before diving back into exams and presentations. It’s a small gesture, but one that turns one of the most stressful weeks of the semester into a moment of campus-wide camaraderie.
