Bear Guards Residence Hall

Bear Guards Residence Hall

"Red" stands guard and waits for a kiss outside Memorial Residence Hall.

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.”