For one day, a weekend, or a full week in September, the seniors took over campus, forcing the juniors to follow special dress and behavior codes. Called everything from Senior Day to Hell Week, initiations such as these have been performed at least as far back as the 1920s.¹ During the initiation period, juniors usually had to wear some kind of uniform, participate in embarrassing games, perform menial labor, and otherwise entertain the seniors. Such junior inductions fell out of favor after the ousting of the duck tradition in spring of 1965.

1926

The coming of the initiation was always a surprise to juniors. In 1926 it was revealed during Monday's chapel service:

The regular devotional service was held. Everything was the same as usual until—with a heavy bang things began to happen. The senior president, Evelyn Lyon called the seniors to the stage in a voice that sounded like Caesar's must have when he was about to pronounce a death sentence on a conquered people, informed the juniors who had marched like unsuspecting lambs to the slaughter, that Senior Day, that day of days, had arrived.²

With all 32 seniors onstage, one in cap and gown read a speech from a scroll.² The juniors, "trembling as with ague, were then called upon one by one and separately to prostrate themselves at the feet of their superiors repeating, 'I am the scum of the earth.'"² Seniors then fed the juniors "strange dishes" and ordered the underclassmen to perform for them.

For the rest of the day, each junior was leased out to a senior to do menial tasks like washing and ironing seniors' clothes, cleaning senior rooms, crawling up and down stairs till their knees blistered, or being "exploited as side show entertainments on the streets of Nevada..."² They returned to Main Hall for dinner, where the juniors again performed. Afterward they were led to Neale Hall to participate in such games as rolling peanuts with their noses. The retiring bell at 10:00 p.m. finally released the juniors from senior control.

1945

In the middle of the evening meal in the basement of Main Hall in 1945, the entire senior class quietly walked out of the dining hall.⁵ The junior class sat befuddled until Mrs. Bohner, the dining room hostess, informed them that Hell Week had begun.

The seniors had posted their orders on the Main Hall bulletin board for first-years to peruse. The dress code was stringent, as junior Jeanne Soice describes in a letter home:

The juniors were required to wear dark skirts, white blouses, brown or saddle oxfords (highly polished), dark red fingernail polish on both finger and toenails, signs around their necks bearing their numbers, and circular black and white striped hats with their hair shoved up in them—also no make-up.⁵

Juniors were also instructed in proper interactions with seniors:

When a junior saw a senior she immediately raised both hands above her head and remained that way until the "As You Were" was given by the senior. If the "Sound Off" order was given, the junior addressed the senior as Warden X, Y Prison. (The X represents the senior’s name, and the Y the suite in which the senior lives.)⁵

Juniors were subjected to all manner of ridiculous activities. When a senior shouted "Prison break!" first-years had to fall face down onto the floor. If the "Run for shelter" command was given, they were to run and take cover. They were roused at 6:15 Friday morning to "exercise" in the gym (although a small number were chosen to make seniors' beds instead). On Saturday the juniors were forced to polish shoes, clean rooms, wash clothes, write letters, and run errands for seniors. Afterward they were taken in groups to appear before the "Parole Board" in P.E.O.'s rec room, where they were "grilled under the light" and dismissed. Throughout these two days, Soice comments, "Much respect was given to the Senior Duck. It seems the suites were filled with Ducks and the juniors were required to kneel and allah to the Ducks."⁵

First-years also overcame a litany of obstacles during meals. On Friday they had to eat in silence during breakfast, eat only with a butter knife at lunch, and devour peas and potatoes while blindfolded at dinner. On Saturday morning the underclassmen noshed with their backs to the table. A lunch of vegetable soup, crackers, and peanut butter was eaten without utensils and with their wrists tied to the junior next to them. Juniors were also responsible for providing mealtime entertainment of "stunts, poems, songs, and anything else..."⁵

The last hoorah began quietly enough at 7:00 on Saturday evening, when the juniors were sent to bed. Seniors patrolled the dorms to ensure no one disobeyed. At 8:30 the stillness was broken as second-years roused the juniors and ordered them to report to P.E.O. Hall in five minutes. Once there,

The class was divided into groups and led blindfolded up and down the steps, lawn, and through buildings. The route was clever and confusing. Different things happened along the way, such as screaming, clashing of cymbals, flour paste make-up application, and shouting of commands. All finally ended up in the gym which was darkened and had a dais at the far end. The senior Duck was sitting upon this dais. The juniors made lines leading to the dais and seniors made lines within these lines closer to the Duck. The juniors duck-waddled to the dais and backed up duck-waddling to their places. If the junior approaching the dais was a subject of any particular amusement, she was called upon the witness stand for questioning.⁵

Following this grand inquisition, the juniors sang a song they had written especially for the seniors. "Nothing can compare to the love we share in the halls of Cottey C," they crooned.⁵ The seniors responded with a rendition of "Let's All Be Good Pals Together," after which everyone hugged and a celebration began. Seniors and juniors alike enjoyed refreshments, more singing, and games of "Prison Break" just for fun.

1965

The first-ever "freshmen," who entered Cottey in 1965, were perhaps the last class to go through an administration-sanctioned initiation. There was no real dress code by then, but the junior beanies remained.⁸ On a Saturday afternoon, seniors led the freshmen to BIL Lodge, where the latter were capped. Afterward, the first-years were paraded through downtown Nevada. Both classes serenaded the President's House on the way back to campus, and parties were held in all three rec rooms that evening. Sunday was dubbed "Snub Day," when all freshmen were ignored by the seniors. The induction ended that evening with a serenade from the senior class.