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Bear Guards Residence Hall

November 17, 2011

By Abbey Le Roy

CIU Student Writer

The cost of living in the recently renovated Memorial Residence Hall is high.  The price to enter?  A kiss.

Before the semester began, student leaders spent several days on a retreat in Gatlinburg.  Director of Residence Life, Mike Thompson, facilitated a game of “Bigger and Better.”  Students were divided into teams, each of which was given a penny.  The penny was to be traded for a more valuable item, initiating a series of exchanges with the goal being to obtain the “biggest and best” object from strangers in the city before time expired.

The winning team ended up with a large wooden bear named “Red,” which was brought back to campus and now stands at the entrance to Memorial.  Rodyca Malancea, a member of the winning team and a senior at CIU, says, “The tradition is that a person must kiss the bear every time he enters Memorial.”

 

(Click image to view a larger version)
"Red" stands guard and waits for a kiss outside Memorial Residence Hall.
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