University of Georgia

were said never to graduate. The tradition began when Daniel Huntley Redfearn, Class of 1910, arrived as a freshman from Boston, Georgia and vowed not to pass beneath the Arch until he had graduated. One of Redfearn's professors heard the vow and repeated it to his class, and the tradition has stood ever since. Many freshmen, learning of the tradition during orientation or from other sources still choose to honor the century-old tradition. Years of following the tradition are visible on the concrete steps leading to the Arch. Steps to each side have been worn down over the years as undergraduates have kept their vows.
The Arch has been a site of historic political demonstrations. In 1961, when UGA officials desegregated the university with the admission of its first two African-American students, Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter-Gault. The Arch was a witness to students protesting both for and against segregation in the protesting the Persian Gulf War and a demonstration following the 1970 shootings at Kent …