Calculus Cremation

Introduction

Dating back as early as 1865, the sophomore and junior classes of RPI took calculus as an entire grade rather than students taking multiple levels at once. From this, many students dreaded the course and thus began the tradition of the Calculus Cremation.

History

In celebration of the dreaded calculus course being over, students took to burning their notes and textbooks as an act of freedom. After a few years of burning, it became a ritual called the Calculus Cremation. In some years, they described the cremation as a funeral, and others as an execution. The ritual itself took place all over Troy, changing year to year. Students would make a procession line beginning in the 87 gym. As time went on, the ritual itself became more intense, with students dressing up in all black cloaks and carrying torches to the site of the cremation. In the early 1920's calculus stopped being taken as a cohort and the ritual died out.

Students dressed in cloaks for procession

Cremation Invitations

With each year of the Calculus Cremation, students would get more and more creative with their invitations to the event. The invitations themselves were sent to the students in the course, announcing when the ritual was occuring and why it was.

References

[4] https://www.rpi.edu/dept/library/html/Archives/traditions/calculus/calculus.html