University Culture-Traditions

The Nations’ First Spring Fling: A Tradition at my Alma Mater
(COPYRIGHT © 2011 MIKAEL POWELL. All Rights Reserved)

I attended Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas which is a rural agricultural and research university founded as the first land grant college in America. At the time of my attendance there were about 14,000 students. One of our most enduring and endearing traditions is Spring Fling, a week-long series of events for dorm students, which includes an outdoor cross-campus bed race. This residence hall celebration originated at K-State in the mid 1960’s and now occurs in name and concept at many universities throughout the world (K-State Alumni Association, 2011).
This festival, which started as a way to increase camaraderie between students in the residence halls and to compete with activities of the Greek organizations, continues today in much the same fashion as it was conceived. Mabel Strong, director of the Putnam Hall dormitory since 1962, was a member of the KSU Association of Residence Halls and the Midwest Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls which sponsored the first Spring Fling in 1966 under her direction (Putnam Hall RESPECT Agreement Guide, 2008-2009). Spring Fling is now sponsored by the K-State Association of Residence Halls
On April 15, 1966 the college newspaper, The Collegian, reported:
Wildcat and Kitten to Reign Halls, Initiate Spring Fling
Though spring officially began March 20, K-State's own Spring Fling will begin Monday. That date will mark the beginning of Spring Fling Week, being sponsored by the K-State Association of Residence Halls for independent students. Spring Fling Week, a first here, will give 3,000 dorm residents and other independents a chance to "fling"… Candidates for "Wildcat" and "Wildkitten" will be presented during the hootenanny Monday afternoon…The elected Wildcat and Wildkitten will be announced at a leadership banquet in Kramer Food Center Tuesday. …assistant dean of women will speak on ... Thursday. Friday night, all women's dorms will provide music for dancing and refreshments. Saturday's activities include games, balloon fights, tug of war, a hootenanny and a bed race [that] … will cover more than two miles. The six beds entered will match teams of four boys pushing decorated beds containing four girls each. Awards will be given to the first bed across the finish line and also to the most unique bed. "Spring Fling Week" will end with a dance at Derby Food Center…

The 1972 yearbook, Royal Purple, describes the purpose of the event by saying “Spring Fling events brighten second semester. Water balloons thrown at helpless riders to drench them and the bed they're on as they were raced around the course…It’s a week for students to forget all their problems and just have a good time. It's a time when students can get involved with other students and do things they normally wouldn’t do. And nobody cares what anybody thinks about anybody else because they're all doing the same wild and crazy things. It's a totally relaxed time for meeting new people and “just being yourself.”
It is likely, however, that Spring Fling influences other persons than residence hall students because some of the events invite observers from beyond the dormitory student population. The main artifact of the event and the longest tradition is the bed race which travels through campus, onto the city streets of Manhattan, Kansas through the Aggieville district (an adjacent commercial area of bookstores, night clubs and bars) and concludes by Danforth Chapel. Townspersons line the street to watch as contestant go by. Indeed, in my hometown of Topeka, Kansas (50 miles away) the bed race is annually featured on the local news and in the city newspaper. Kuh & Whitt (1988) would probably describe the bed race and the bed as artifacts, in that the vehicle (a bed with 6” wheels) is fabricated just for this event and the event is emblematic of Spring Fling. Kuh & Whitt (1988) go on to say that after identifying an artifact, it is harder to determine how “the nested patterns of assumptions and beliefs represented by the artifact influence the behavior of individuals and groups over time” (p. 23). If one sees K-State as a repository of farm kids experiencing freedom (and sexual liberation) in an urban environment for the first time, then the experience of coeds abed unabashedly street racing and the associated artifacts are influenced by the zeitgeist of the era- the pendulum of changing sensibilities. Indeed, although Spring Fling has largely been well- received, interest did lag in the 1990’s, then gradually regain its stature as a significant tradition. Regardless, Spring Fling still remains relevant to today’s students.