Oh finals, most definitely a stressful time at any university. Especially for the poor souls studying Organic Chemistry at Columbia University, whose exams always happen to take place on the very first day of finals week.
Throughout the years however, the school’s marching band has shown that it really knows how to take the edge off. A long standing tradition called Orgo Night has been around at Columbia for almost 50 years. Every year on the day before the Organic Chemistry finals take place, the Columbia University Marching Band conquers the main reading room of Butler Library at exactly the stroke of midnight to cause a ruckus that will distract all the diligent students from the stress of finals.
Early arrivals begin to file into Room 209 and the adjacent areas of Butler Library about 20 to 25 prior to the performance, looking for prime locations from which to see and hear the show. The Band starts with some comedy to ease in and break the ice, and things really begin to kick off once the music starts. They play for approximately 30 minutes in the library, and then proceed to move out into the Van Am Quad to play for the residents of the campus dormitories.
The Band moves to various locations around campus including President Bollinger’s House and also Barnard College, where the all-women’s school shower the band by throwing paper and sometimes pornographic magazines out the windows. The night is finished off in front of Furnald Hall, which was previously an all-senior residence hall. Here the seniors gather on the steps to join in on the celebration and are presented with bottles of champagne. The underclassmen will then proceed to sing the school’s Alma Mater, Sans Souci, in tribute to the graduating seniors. Once finished, they will continue with a series of entertaining and often vulgar parodies of the Alma Mater, to poke some fun at the students of the university.
The exact details of the tradition’s origins are a mystery, but most believe that it began as a prank back in the 1960s. Every year since, the student body looks forward to Orgo Night as a celebration of school spirit and camaraderie. All but those with extreme diligence that attempt to continue studying throughout the night, despite all the commotion taking place around them.