Halloween on a college campus is different than anything you’ll ever see. Students bobbing up and down city streets dressed as villains, princesses and miscellaneous personalities. It is the one time of year that it is perfectly acceptable to run down campus dressed as Walter White, Nicki Minaj, James Bond or whomever you aspire to be.
So where are the best Halloween traditions taking place? Clearly, it is in the eye of the beholder, but in an attempt to avoid the college bias, here are 5 of the best college traditions and campuses to celebrate Halloween:
Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland’s Case Western Reserve knows how to do Halloween. Their annual traditions include the physics department’s The Great Galileo. The staff drops pumpkins from the top of the physics building in honor of Galileo’s role during the Scientific Revolution while bystanders enjoy pumpkin pie and cider from down below. MIT celebrates in a similar pumpkin dropping fashion.
Fordham University
Three years ago, Fordham students began a tradition of making a trek to downtown Manhattan for the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade. The parade has been a New York tradition for almost 40 years and the not-for-profit festivity is committed to “the cultural and imaginative life of New York City,” according to their mission statement. While some students hit Manhattan, other Fordham traditions include celebrating through their on-campus Haunted House that is partnered with a Bronx soup kitchen (POTS—Part of the Solution organization).
University of California-Santa Barbara
UC-Santa Barbara is notorious for their Halloween bashes. The school is celebrating 12 days of Halloween this year, thanks to the holiday landing on a Wednesday. Parties and festivities run rampant for nearly two weeks and while security is heightened for the sake of the students, Halloween madness is prevalent and at an all-time high.
Bucknell University
Zombie walks are part of the norm at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. This consists of armies of zombies jaunting down Market Street as they are accompanied by police personnel. Last year, zombies assembled on campus, gooning their way through town to a screening of the class film, “Night of the Living Dead.”
University of Rochester
University of Rochester’s Scare Fair is a definite claim to fame: For over 80 years now, the Rush Rhees Library has played home to various campus ghost stories thanks to its dark, mountainous collection of literature hidden in the library’s passageways. Librarians transform the Rhees Library into a haunted house for the biggest of booklovers each year. The school also offers a brass concert performing various Halloween hits by the school’s band and choir.
