Traditions

Bar Monkey

Engineering for student purposes is a tradition at Mudd. If you visit the Bar Monkey at Harvey Mudd College's West Hall, you can choose from its selection of 188 mixed drinks, and the Bar Monkey will gladly serve you eight ounces of it in less than ten seconds. Designed and built by HMC sophomores Steve Avery, Brad Greer, and Dustin Cooper, the Linux-based Bar Monkey is an automated bartender. It contains 16 ingredients, allowing it to dispense the 188 mixed drinks that are stored in its database.

Happy Wednesdays!

It's happy hour! It's Wednesday! Case dorm is host to this venerable tradition of, well, drinking your liver out every Wednesday night. There are lots of people and lots of alcohol and lots of procrastination. In fact, it's one of the best things about the middle of the week. Aside from dorm meetings, Happy Wednesdays are a great way to meet people, while avoiding homework that desperately needs doing. So good luck with that test you have to study for, and have a happy Happy Wednesday!

Hundred Taco Night

Del Taco sometimes has specials where you can get three tacos for a dollar. Hundred taco night involves a bunch of people watching “Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure” and eating as many tacos as they can. First one to 100 wins!

A Living Calendar

Case is also the dorm that celebrates the seasons. The Casemas party is always thrown as close to Winter Break as possible and features a snowbank in front of the dorm. For Slippery When Wet, a party heralding summer, the Case dorm courtyard is flooded. Autumn and spring are left out because Southern California doesn't “do” the seasonal thing.

Puddle Jump

Every year, a group of people gather together to run through the 5C, jumping in all of the fountains and pools of each college. There are wild chants, all of which are entirely too offensive to be set in print. The secret chants are passed down from year to year, in an entirely oral tradition frowned upon by many a dean at the 5C.

Roster Signing

When freshmen first arrive at Mudd, they are required to sign the roster of students and agree to abide by the Honor Code. The Associated Students of Harvey Mudd College President presides over this solemn event, which is interrupted every year by a group of freshmen who volunteer to “assassinate” the President in whatever way they see fit. Be warned, those who attempt this task are always intercepted by the President's two armed (with water pistols) bodyguards.

Parties

There are annual parties at Mudd that have been around for as long as any of us can remember. Here's a small sampling of traditional parties:

Foam Party – Engineers fill a dorm with foam that waterfalls from the second story.

Halloweiner – To start Halloween festivities, hundreds of pounds of meat are barbequed.

Long Tall Glasses – The formal, chocolate-covered strawberries gathering that landed us in Playboy's “Best College Party” list.

Red Room – A live jazz band that attracts the swing dancers from all five colleges.

Thurfi – In Case Dorm, students have started a weekly celebration beginning Thursday nights at midnight. Thurfri, as it is called, is centered on ordering Thai food and is a wonderful way for students to come together and celebrate the imminent ending of the week.

TQ Night – Mudders steal hundreds of lemons to smash in a batting cage for this tequila-themed bash.

Trick or Drink – A costumed Halloween party where each room in the West Hall hands out Dixie cups of elaborate assorted drink. Each room has a different drink!