Today is the last day of exams for Winter Term. The campus is already almost completely empty and the handful of students left look vacant, hounded, and slightly tortured. Suddenly the ventilation system in the library becomes an oppressive roar as it loses all competition for the title of noisiest thing around.
Not so last Sunday night, though. I was on the desk until 10pm, and all I can say is “Wow, these kids take their pre-finals rituals seriously.” The campus improv group came and did a segment in the lobby, followed by an appearance of the Knightingales (the girls vocal jazz group on a campus who’s mascot is a knight). Then the Knights of Carleton (the guy’s vocal group) did a short set which I think was the worse for lack of sleep, but was still pretty decent and drew quite a crowd. The only thing missing (at least while I was around) was an appearance of Schiller. I haven’t seen him since my first August here. Has he stopped circulating, I wonder? Don’t people care about him any more?
Is Schiller kind of like the second mascot of Carleton?
Kind of. In general, if you see Schiller you’re supposed to mob the people who are holding him. This practice was suspended a could of graduations ago when then-President Clinton was speaking and people were afraid that any mob-type running and tackling might be a little bit mis-interpreted by the secret service guys.
The way I understand it, one group on campus has Schiller, and everybody else on campus is supposed to want Schiller. But I’ve heard reports that the Schiller coolness and desirability factors have wained in recent years. Seniors shake their heads and tutt-tutt at the lackluster freshment, but I blame it on a group that guarded him too jealously. Out of sight, out of mind, I say.