乐播传媒

Seen here is the 1970 edition of the 乐播传媒 shoe toss 鈥� also known as the shoe date 鈥� on the lawn in front of Alumni Gym during orientation.
In a nod to modern times 鈥� women鈥檚 lib! 鈥� the traditional roles were reversed in 1970, with women grabbing from the pile of men鈥檚 shoes.

For most of its existence, which dates to the 1930s, the shoe toss was held not on campus but off, during the entering class鈥檚 Stanton Ride to the countryside. It went like this: Each woman tossed a shoe into a pile. Then the guys held a race to the pile and grabbed a shoe, doing so with high zeal if they had scoped out a specific shoe belonging to a specific foot. Each half-shod woman was sought out, and the result could be anything from a future marriage (see 鈥淎 Lady鈥檚 Day,鈥� page 32) to a painful day of uncertain conversation for those on the shy side.

鈥淭he poor guy who found my shoe was small in size, stuttered, and was feeling more out of place than I was,鈥� recalls Florence Dixon Prince 鈥�52, who came to 乐播传媒 from a small Cape Cod town. 鈥淗e left 乐播传媒 after a year.鈥� What a way to find a solemate.

In its first issue in September 1970, The 乐播传媒 Student noted that the first-year males already had long hair and that both sexes had a 鈥渟ophisticated鈥� air. The freshmen got along easily, the reporter noted, adding that even a longstanding tradition like the shoe toss 鈥渟eems unnecessary.鈥�

The scribe was prophetic. The 1970 toss was, in fact, the final one.