As September winds down and the leaves begin to turn, there comes a week where the stillness of campus is punctured by the celebratory clangs and chimes from the bell atop Main Building. Each fall, Vassar seniors make the treacherous ascent from the fifth floor of Main Building to the roof, where a purportedly ancient bell stoically surveys campus. A tradition so imbued in senior culture, few stop to wonder where this practice came from, and what it really means for us near-graduates.
Based on several aged editions of the Vassar Chronicle, I have reason to believe that the bell ringing tradition was originally linked with a Vassar event no longer in existence today: Salve Night. “Salve,” pronounced sal-way in Classical Latin, was used as an informal greeting in the age of the Roman Empire. For freaks such as me who took Latin in high school, it was how we greeted our teacher (“Salve, Magistra!”). At Vassar, this definition is fitting. In an article published in an April 1948 issue of the Vassar Chronicle, one student describes the tradition: “Salve night plays a unique role in our college life by bringing everyone in the college closer together by this common bond of jubilancy.” More than a mere “hello,” Salve Night strengthened relationships between the senior class, encouraging shared excitement and reflection of one’s role as the leaders of the school.
However, Salve Night spanned much more than noise-making atop Main. A May 1956 issue of the Vassar Chronicle described the often overshadowed significance of this night: “In the midst of the present-day beer-orgies and gay bell ringing of the new ‘Seniors’ on Salve Night the serious meaning of this tradition may be lost. The Gavel Ceremony, held in the Chapel, is the focal point of Salve Night. In this ceremony, the Juniors are formally hailed as ‘Seniors.’” The transfer of the gavel was central to the acknowledgment of the new senior class. Student diary entries spanning back to the writings of Constance Anthony, Class of 1917, reference the distinguished transfer of the gavel. Student officers of the year past would hand off a ceremonial gavel to the new government. Accompanied by speeches, this tradition displayed the cohesive nature of Vassar’s student government, welcoming a new year of officers.
At this point in my research, I was beginning to experience extreme confusion as to the origin and lineage of these strange, characteristically small liberal arts college ceremonies. Bell ringing itself is only tangentially mentioned in regards to the greater tradition of Salve Night and its gavel festivities. Further adding to my utter perplexity was the addition of the Salve Song to my already long list of oddities and rituals associated with this event. An April 1947 issue of the Vassar Chronicle adds yet another description of Salve Night to the fray: “Basically Salve Night is the occasion on which the Seniors hand down the Salve Song to their successors. The old tradition featured this transfer of the Salve Song and also the surrender of the Rocky steps where Seniors sat to be serenaded by their sister class, the Sophomores.” Yes, you read that right; this sounds a lot like an early version of Vassar’s famous Serenading tradition!
So far, we have a gavel transfer ceremony, the singing of the Salve Song and copious amounts of beer…where does the bell come in? In an article written for a May 1945 issue of the Vassar Chronicle, one student expresses confusion regarding the Main Building bell. “If some visiting fireman should ask you what it’s for, you could say with perfect calm that you have no idea why the bell is on top of Main, because neither does anyone else,” she noted. In fact, the bell is missing from all early photos of Vassar, and there is no record of one having ever been added to the building. From this uncertainty surrounding the bell’s origins came my own confusion about the birth of senior bell ringing. I can presume that the tradition did not begin until after 1945, based on the lack of mention in this student’s writing. Indeed, this student mentions several uses the bell shouldered over the years (come the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898, several Vassar girls broke into the tower to ring the bell), yet none include our beloved senior tradition.
Yet at some point, the bell did appear, and we began to send its chime across campus as seniors. While no one knows how long the original bell sat in its tower, we do know it was replaced by the Class of 2007 as their senior gift after a large chunk broke off from its side. Nevertheless, you may have noticed the old bell remains on display, sitting outside of the North entrance to Main for students to enjoy.
However the bell and its tradition came to be, students today readily await their moment to sound its toll across campus come senior fall. For three days in September, one by one we clamber up the treacherous stairs of the bell tower, signing our names on the hallowed wooden walls that bear the autographs of Vassar students past and inevitably bumping our heads as we climb through the narrow door. A few swings of the bell, some merry cheers and whoops, and our descent into seniordom begins.
So, why does Salve Night no longer exist in its entirety? When did seniors begin the practice of ringing the bell? Has the comprehensive meaning of this tradition been lost with the histories of Vassar students past? The answers to these questions eluded me, so I turned to my fellow students to gain clarity. Whether you rang the bell with the weight of age and responsibility resting upon your shoulders or just for some good fun among friends, the true meaning of the tradition does not appear lost among our seniors. Emma Tiedemann ’25 reflected on her time in the bell tower last week. “It was a rare feeling of unity in experience with other students and students past, a blatant reminder that despite how different our worlds within this community can look like, we are ultimately heading to the end together,” she said. “To do this with friends I love dearly and have grown up alongside in these years here is a feeling I will never forget.” And so, while the story of Salve Night and ringing bells may have faded into Vassar’s history, the essence of our tradition—one of community, connection and shared experience—remains very much alive in our hearts.
