OT - UM Fact/Fiction Lore

Submitted by doughboy on
Since we seemed to have had a good time with MGO Name (thanks, GoBlueScott) I thought I'd take a crack at a possible topic of interest and help fill the void until Signing Day. What are some interesting traditions/stories/lore that you've come across that relate to the University of Michigan and are they fact or fiction? This could be from a student, resident, fan, athlete perspective. But I'm curious, "what's out there"? For instance, when I was going through Freshman orientation (back in the 80's) our guide told us a lot of interesting tidbits. But the three that always have stayed with me are: 1. During lunch, if you know the song that the Bell Tower is playing and are the first to run to the top of the Tower and tell the carillon(sp?) player, you will receive a FREE Quarter Pounder from McDonald's. This, I learned was, unfortunately, FICTION. 2. When Horace Rackham donated the funds for the Rackham Library, he had a stipulation that he be able to stand on the stairs in front of his library and see the steps of the Graduate Library directly to the South. This meant that the donated marble water fountain in front of the League had to be lowered ten-ish feet - which it was. FACT (I believe). 3. If you step on the Block M in front of the Graduate Library, you will fail your next test. To this day, I have still never stepped on it - so I don't know if it's FACT or FICTION. My apologizes upfront, if this isn't of interest. It's been something that I've wondered about and didn't want to read a book on. Besides, I always find the most entertaining and valuable part of MGOBLOG being the first-hand accounts from the users.
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Talpostal

January 29th, 2010 at 9:16 PM ^

A common one that I've heard is that the Administration Building was built to be riot-proof. Everybody reports that like it's fact but I read something when I took a Folklore class at Michigan that it's actually false and just happens to be weird architecture. Michigamua was Michigan's "secret" society for a long time (their meeting place was the tower of the Union). They were very Native American-themed, which people found offensive, and I believe the Daily and other student groups rallied against them. In one case, I believe, a group of protesters even broke into the Michigamua office. In 2006-2007 they renamed themselves the Order of Angell to be more PC and they now publish their new members every year in the Daily, I think sometime in the spring.

Joined: 09/07/2009

MGoPoints: 442

PSALM 23 Rod N…

January 29th, 2010 at 11:36 PM ^

During a 400 level Russian History class, I had a twenty page research paper with strict rules, "Each typo one grade lower." I pulled an all nighter, went to play frisbee in the Diag. A friend suggested I have A-1 typing type my handwritten paper. Throughout the 20 page paper, A-1 typing had inadvertently typed "PHEASANT" rather than PEASANT revolution. I turned it in without proof reading.......My TA thought I was crazy. I explained the whole thing when I received an "E, I argued it was only one typo 133 times, my grade was changed to a "b+"

Joined: 07/05/2009

MGoPoints: 77