Gilman Hall is one of the oldest buildings on campus, named after the University’s first President, Daniel Coit Gilman. He mandated that no other structures on campus be taller than his bell-tower; this decree holds to this day.
Legend has it that if any student currently enrolled in the University steps on the seal that is located just inside the front entrance to Gilman Hall, they will not graduate. Never mind that they were to graduate the day after, or they had just moved into their dorms at the beginning of freshman year; no-one wants to take that risk.
2. JHU Lax
Johns Hopkins University’s stellar Division I Men’s Lacrosse team, the Blue Jays, have clinched the NCAA Division I title 9 times in their history, the latest being in 2007. They were actually named after Hopkins’ oldest publication, the Black and Blue Jay.
The Blue Jays play on Homewood field, located at the north end of campus; lacrosse season is in spring, and home games are well-attended by students. School spirit at Hopkins is alive and well, and groups like the Student Pep Band and the JHU Student Boosters create a lively atmosphere, singing boisterous songs like “Johnny Hop” and chanting “We want more” after each Blue Jay goal, to intimidate any team that takes on the Blue Jays on their home turf.
3. Spring Fair
The Johns Hopkins University Spring Fair is a 3-day festival celebrated in the month of April on the Homewood Campus. Traditionally, rain is expected on at least one of those days, but this tradition was broken in 2008, with beautiful weather enjoyed by the 25,000 attendees all weekend.
This student-run event features local vendors and non-profit organizations, fantastic musical talent showcased in live performances, carnival-style rides, and the famous Beer Garden, located on the President’s front lawn.
4. The E-Level Challenge
In an institution renowned for its academic rigor, it should be expected that there are traditions that cherish and celebrate the accumulation of knowledge. There are numerous Greek organizations that require a GPA higher than 3.0 for entry, but there is one club that few have heard of, let alone been accepted into.
Most people find out very quickly that the library has many levels underground, from Q and M above ground to A through D below. But there is one more: an E-level, whose entrance is hidden, and can only be accessed by the upper echelon of the students. It is rumored that potential candidates require a GPA in excess of 3.98 through their fifth semester in order to be considered. Its existence is like that of the tunnels that criss-cross under campus: few people know they exist, and fewer people claim they know someone who accessed them, and fewer still have been down there themselves.
5. Dinner with the Prez
Regardless of your previous grades, any student who accomplishes a perfect A in every class, for a GPA of 4.0, is invited to a dinner with the President of the University at his house on campus. This is a prestigious occasion, and hails back to the time when the University was much smaller, and the President knew each student by name.
6. Lighting of the Quads
To celebrate the holiday season (Christmas, that is), lights are strung across the upper, lower, Levering and freshman quadrangles; these are then kept lit on nights from the end of November until the beginning of January. The lighting ceremony involves light entertainment and free refreshments for students.
7. Gathering of the Greens
Armed with supersized plastic bags to hold their stash and hooded jackets or big umbrellas to shield them from the rain, scores of employees, students and community members descended on Levering Plaza for a longtime annual tradition on the Homewood campus: the Gathering of the Greens. The always-anticipated event allows the campus's seasonally pruned boughs — ceremoniously lowered from two dump trucks — to be put to timely holiday use. To sweeten the festivities, Plant Operations, which organizes the event, supplies lots of doughnuts and hot cider.
8. Candlelight Tour of Homewood House
Homewood House is the oldest building on campus; it is the first thing you meet on the way from the library to the dorms. This is the house of Charles Carroll, one of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Homewood House Museum will come alive with holiday spirit during its Candlelight Tour on the campus of The Johns Hopkins University, Homewood House is a national historic landmark and one of the finest Federal period houses in the United States.
Candles will shimmer while music and good cheer fill the former home of Charles Carroll Jr. Built in 1801, this elegant Federal home will be decorated for the holidays by the Homeland Garden Club with garlands of greens and boxwood in the windows. Rooms will be set for entertaining and musicians will play period music on the harpsichord, Baroque guitar, and the English flute in the reception hall. Sample holiday refreshments in the wine cellar and visit the Homewood Museum Shop featuring a selection of unique gifts for everyone on your list.
9. The Hopkins Privy
One of Hopkins most mysterious buildings on campus is the privy located in the back of the campus. This privy is one of the oldest structures on campus and has been in use for over one hundred years. Since privies are so outdated most people do not know what the purpose of the building is.
Every year a few students will attempt to sneak into the privy to leave their mark on the wall. Inside the privy you can see graffiti which has been preserved over the past 100 years. Some of the most beautiful graffiti comes from the children of the boys school which was located on campus in the early 1900’s.
10. Halloween
There is no better time than Halloween to unwind during the Fall semester: midterms end just before then, and everyone needs an excuse to release some tension. Thousands of people turn up downtown at Fell’s Point in their ghoulish finest, and you get to see your friends at their most outlandish.
11. Orientation Week
This is the week of school after the incoming freshmen have moved into their dorms, but the older students have yet to arrive back on campus. Orientation week is marked by various activities aimed at creating a more close-knit atmosphere: from comedians to seminars that dole out advice on college; from hypnotists to volunteer activities. One event that everyone remembers is Convocation, the official welcome address by the President, where he and the Deans join the students in singing the Johns Hopkins “Ode”.
12. Rub a dub dub
At the Peabody Institute, nothing causes anxiety like the senior recital — the moment that sums up your work and makes your statement as a musician. So when you're peering in the doors at Griswold Hall, checking to see if the audience is friendly and trying to keep your mind off that one part of the piece that always seems to slip you up, you rub a little man's nose. No, not just any nose — the one in the middle of Griswold door. It's a half-size copy of Lorenzo Ghiberti's Porta del Paradiso, and it's been at Peabody since 1879.
In Remsen Hall, chemistry test scores are often determined — or so it is believed by students about to take such tests — by the lucky ashes of the building's namesake. A plaque on a staircase landing marks the spot where the ashes of Ira Remsen, university president from 1902 to 1913, are interred. Remsen, an internationally known chemist who founded the American Chemical Journal, was one of the school's initial eight faculty members. Though forced to step down as president due to illness, he was honored with a new chemistry building bearing his name in 1927, and he asked that his ashes be placed there. Over the years, the plaque has been rubbed shiny and smooth by students hoping for a little intervention from the afterlife.
At Johns Hopkins Hospital, a copy of sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen's Christus Consolator is believed to bring luck to patients, doctors, and staff members alike. The sculpture was just what Gilman had in mind in 1896, after being criticized for not even having a benediction at ceremonies marking the opening of the hospital. So local businessman Williams Spence came to the rescue, spending $5,360 to acquire a replica of a Danish sculpture of Christ. Today, the 10-foot-high marble statue stands under the hospital's dome and has become a talisman. Patients and their families pause to pray or talk to it or rub its toe as they wander by. Surgeons have been known to touch the hem on the statue's garment before an operation. Civil rights advocate and surgeon Levi Watkins, associate dean for postdoctoral affairs at the medical school, brought Rosa Parks to see it. One 6-year-old patient — who had successful surgery after various trips to the statue by himself, his family, and medical staff — left a simple note at its foot: "This is Grayson. If you could, just heal the other kids.
After all finals are completed in the Spring semester, the graduating seniors have a chance to kick back and enjoy some downtime after their four years of hard work. The week before the day of graduation is termed ‘Senior Week’, where the graduating class’ student representatives set up many events that take advantage of the social scene in Baltimore and elsewhere, including trips to Pimlico for the Preakness Stakes; an Atlantic City outing; harbor cruises and champagne socials and more.
Armed with supersized plastic bags to hold their stash and hooded jackets or big umbrellas to shield them from the rain, scores of employees, students and community members descended on Levering Plaza for a longtime annual tradition on the Homewood campus: the Gathering of the Greens. The always-anticipated event allows the campus's seasonally pruned boughs — ceremoniously lowered from two dump trucks — to be put to timely holiday use. To sweeten the festivities, Plant Operations, which organizes the event, supplies lots of doughnuts and hot cider.
