Rat Season - another word for freshman indoctrination

I’ve mentioned “ratting” or “rat season” already, but to understand the true nature of this long-gone Wofford tradition, I felt like I needed to share the ratting rules. So, below, please enjoy the rules of the so-called Freshman Control Board, the group that administered ratting.  Here's a picture of one version of the rat cap - they evolved over the years.  This cam appears to come from the 1960s.  The archives has versions from the 1920s and the early 1950s as well. 

Freshman Control Board, 1958-1959 

The purpose of the Freshman Control Board is to build school spirit and to help Freshmen meet Upperclassmen and classmates.

All Freshmen and Upperclassmen are expected to comply with the following rules and regulations of Wofford College. 

1. Freshmen will stand at the close of chapel and will remain in place until all Upperclassmen and faculty members have left. This will be compulsory throughout the year and will be enforced.

2. Every Freshman will wear a “rat cap” at all times. For a specified number of days to football games, Freshmen must wear “rat signs” stating some form of encouragement for the Terriers. The sign must bear the name of the wearer, the name of his home town, and the name of the opposing team for the week. It must have at least one illustration and a varied color scheme. The minimum width of the sign must be equal to the width of the wearer’s shoulders. The length must be equal to not less than one-half the width. Freshman football players are exempt from the wearing of “rat signs” but they must abide by all other Freshman Control Board rules.

3. Simple errands may be required of Freshmen by Upperclassmen 

4. Freshmen will attend all athletic contests, football games, campus, or any other announced places. They must learn all official yells and are required to sit in body at the function.

5. Freshmen are forbidden to trespass on the front steps of the Main Building.  

6. While on the campus, all Freshmen will be required to confine their movements to the paved sidewalks and parking areas. Exceptions to this rule are the areas in front of Carlisle Hall and the athletic fields.

7. It is compulsory that all Freshmen wear fore-in-hand ties tied in a Windsor knot to supper in the College Dining Hall each night. Dress shirts are not required.  

8. For the first three weeks of ratting Freshmen, before speaking to an Upperclassman, will automatically give their name adding “Rat” as a prefix and “Sir” as a suffix. Example “Rat John Doe, Sir.”

9. Freshmen are required to know the following, if questioned by any Upperclassman:

a. Founder of Wofford College
b. Date of founding
c. Presidents of Wofford College
d. Names of all buildings and dates of their construction
e. Wofford College motto and meaning
f. Student Council Members
g. Number of seats in the auditorium
h. Number of steps on front entrance to Main Building
i. Alma Mater
j. After first week of ratting, the names and at least one identifiable characteristic of at least twenty Upperclassmen and thirty classmates.

10. All Freshmen are expected to participate actively in the singing during Chapel. Any violator of this rule will be asked to sing a solo for the entire student body.

11. At any time the Freshman Control Board may recommend a Freshman to the Dean of Students for further action.

12. A tug-of-war between Freshmen and Sophomores will be held on the first Tuesday following ght efourth Freshman Control Board meeting. At this time, all requirements of Freshmen contained herein will be discontinued, except article 1, provided they win the tug-of-war. If the Freshmen lose, “ratting” will continue for two more weeks.

13. No Freshman shall be subjected to any type of physical or mental punishment. This regulation forbids, for example, paddling and belt-lines. 

14. Any violation of regulation 13 above by Upperclassmen will be subject to stringent disciplinary action by Wofford College.

15. Freshmen will carry their “W” books [the student handbook] with them at all times 

16. At the end of “ratting” all Freshmen will be required to undergo a test on the “W” book. The test will be given by the Freshman Control Board. Failure on the part of a freshman to achieve a passing mark on this test will result in further ratting duties and a retaking of another similar test.

Ratting existed before World War II, and again for a few years in the 1950s and 1960s. If any of the alumni who are readers of this blog care to share stories about their experiences with ratting, please feel free to offer a comment. I’d be happy to see a little interactivity with readers.

Comments

[Brad Steinecke]

That's fascinating. My grandfather attended Wofford when he returned home following World War II. Surely, then, he would have been subjected to all of this along with the other freshmen of 1946. I'll check his yearbook and ask my mom if she's ever heard anything about this.

[Phillip Stone]

The interesting thing about rat season during the years that the student body had a large number of GI's enrolled is that most of those older veterans weren't going to be "ratted" by younger sophomores, especially when those veterans had been shot at. It would be interesting to compare rat stories of the students in the late 1940s and the mid 1950s, because I think that ratting didn't really get re-established until after most of the veterans were gone.

[Rodger Stroup]

The entering freshman class of 1964 was the last class to go through a real "rat" season, including the run to Converse to mark the end of rat season. As I headed to breakfast on the first morning of rat season with my roomate we tried to cast as small a shadow as possible. As we approached the cafeteria (then on the 1st floor of Wightman) we were hailed from the top floor by a deep, commanding voice, "rats, come up here." When we reached the top floor we were "welcomed" by an imposing figure (senior guard on the football team) who informed us we were his rats for the next two weeks. We were to make his bed, clean his room and go get food for him in the evening. He told us if anybody else told us to do something for them and we did not want to do it, just to say that we were running an errand for him. His name did not mean anything to us, but everytime we invoked his name to get out of something we were told to go ahead with our errand. The chance encounter made rat season much easier for two "rats."