A small university doesn't have the resources of a research giant or the marketing budget of a state flagship. What it has is something rarer: a memory long enough that the same songs are sung at the same hour, the same prayer is offered on the same morning, and the same path is walked by every generation of seniors. These are the stories AB tells itself — and the stories that, in time, become its students.
Many traditions are old. The bell of Whitescarver Hall has rung at 8 AM and 11 AM since 1911. Tuesday morning chapel has been a fixture of AB life since the 1940s. The Senior Walk has happened every May since 1934. Founders' Day has been observed every September 11 since 1932 — a date that took on new weight after 2001 but that AB had already kept for sixty-nine years before that. Other traditions are quite young. The Spring Sing began in 1989 when a Phi Mu sister bet an Alpha Phi Omega brother she could sing better. The Hilltop Lighting began in 2003 to mark the lighting of the new Pickett Library Christmas tree.
Old or new, these are the rhythms that turn calendar weeks into sacred time.
On the Sunday afternoon of commencement weekend, every member of the graduating class lines up at the top of the brick pathway behind Burbick Hall in their cap and gown. The full faculty stands in two rows along the path — every professor, dean, librarian, and chaplain, dressed in academic regalia, applauding. The University bell rings once for every graduate.
The seniors walk in pairs the quarter-mile down the slope of College Hill, past the Whitescarver columns, past the chapel, past the Pickett Library, until they reach the bottom of the hill, where the President is waiting to shake every hand. The ceremony takes about three minutes per graduate; a class of 220 takes roughly two hours, and not a single Battler has ever wanted it to be shorter.
The tradition began in 1934 when President Roy McCuskey insisted that no one should leave AB without being walked off campus by their teachers. It has happened every May since, even during the World War II years and through the 2020 pandemic, when graduates walked alone with their professors masked and silent. It is the tradition Battlers most often write home about decades later.
From August move-in to May commencement, the AB year is shaped by a dozen distinct rituals.
The campus turns out to help unload cars — faculty, staff, RAs, athletes home early from preseason. Each new student is given a welcome card by a current student, and the whole class walks together from Priestley Hall to Whitescarver Chapel for the Inaugural Convocation.
The University's 11 AM ceremony marking the founding of Broaddus Institute (1871) and Alderson Academy (1901). Faculty in academic robes, the AB Concert Choir, the Founders' Day Address. A solemn 9/11 remembrance was added in 2002.
Three days of alumni reunions, the Homecoming football game, the Hall of Fame induction, the President's Reception, and the famous Friday-night Battler Bonfire on the quad — kept burning until midnight.
An eight-foot stack of pallets piled on the lower quad, lit at 9:30 PM Homecoming Friday. The marching band plays. Cheerleaders lead a Battler chant. The football coach speaks for two minutes — never more.
The first Friday of December. Every electric light on campus is dimmed, then the Pickett Library Christmas tree, the Whitescarver wreaths, and the entire colonnade are illuminated at once at 6 PM. The Concert Choir sings carols. Free hot chocolate.
11 AM. Whitescarver Chapel. Open to all, voluntary, ecumenical. Music, scripture, silence, sometimes a sermon, often a question. The bedrock weekly rhythm of College Hill.
Greek societies, residence halls, club groups, and a cappella ensembles compete in song-and-dance numbers in Funkhouser Auditorium. The AB Players audience-judging method has been the same for 30+ years: laminated paddles raised after each act.
Classes are suspended for one Friday so the entire University can attend the campus-wide research showcase. 180+ student presenters across 12 disciplines. Closes with a faculty-student dinner.
The most sacred tradition. Every graduating senior walks down the brick path from Burbick Hall to the bottom of the Hill, applauded by the full faculty in regalia.
153 consecutive years of AB commencements. The University Mace, carried by the senior faculty member, dates to 1958. The recessional always concludes with the AB Alma Mater, sung by every Battler in the room.
Every freshman class walks together from campus down to the historic Philippi Covered Bridge — the oldest two-lane covered bridge in the nation still carrying federal highway traffic. Each student touches the same beam, marked annually with the year.
A community partnership with the Town of Philippi reenacting the first land battle of the Civil War (June 3, 1861). AB History majors serve as docents; AB Theatre students play soldiers; Skirmish makes a guest appearance.
High on the hill where the Tygart wends,
Where the Allegheny rises and the bright sun bends,
We sing thy praises, our hearts ablaze —
Alderson Broaddus, through all our days.
Faithful through battles, watchful in peace,
Brave hearts and true that shall never cease,
Hail to thee, mother of teachers and friends —
Hail Alderson Broaddus, where Battler hearts blend.
Words by Eleanor M. Burbick (1948) · Music by Charles Funkhouser (1949)
Every place has its private vocabulary. Here are a few terms you'll pick up by Thanksgiving.
The campus, always. As in: "Are you on the Hill this weekend?"
The Crim Dining Commons. Pronounced exactly as you'd expect.
The unofficial motto. Used to describe perseverance, quiet excellence, and the kind of toughness that doesn't need to be loud.
The mascot. Also, occasionally, the name of any campus dog students adopt.
The Whitescarver Hall clocktower. "Meet me at the Bell at 7" means the steps below it.
15 minutes after every advertised event. Don't worry about it.
Funkhouser Auditorium. As in: "See you at Funkie for Spring Sing."
The Philippi Covered Bridge. Touchstone of every freshman year.
The unofficial neighborhood that surrounds the central quad: Burbick, Whitescarver, Pickett, and Withers.
