Life - Oglethorpe University (2024)

Your New Home

It’s easy to find your place at Oglethorpe

Oglethorpe students are a diverse, unconventional, and fascinating bunch, and their interests and activities are just as varied. Fortunately, our location in Atlanta and our vibrant campus culture make it easy to explore the world from every angle.

Carillon Ceremony

Since 2005 graduating seniors get the opportunity to enter a “secret door” in Lupton Hall and climb up to the Lupton Bell Tower. They sign a historical carillon registry book and ring one of the bells by hand. The OU 42-bell carillon was the first cast bronze bell carillon in Georgia. More about the Carillon Ceremony.

Liberal Arts & Sciences Symposium

This annual event brings together students and faculty members in a daylong celebration of exemplary analytic and creative work by Oglethorpe students. On the day of the event, classes are canceled so that all students can attend the symposium. More about the symposium.

Crypt of Civilization Time Capsule

Situated behind a stainless steel door in Hearst Hall, the Crypt was identified by the Guinness Book of World Records as “the first successful attempt to bury a record of this culture for any future inhabitants….” Sealed in 1940, the Crypt is not to be opened until 8113 AD and contains a “museum” of representative culture from the times of the Egyptians through the mid-twentieth century.

Boar’s Head

Every December, the Oglethorpe community comes together for an event inspired by the armorial crest of General James Edward Oglethorpe and the holiday tradition of the same name held at Oxford University, Oglethorpe’s alma mater. It features a theatrical reading of the Boar’s Head story, a holiday concert and the lighting of the holiday tree.

Oglethorpe Day

The second Wednesday in February is a festive occasion honoring our university’s namesake, General Oglethorpe. The day kicks off with the Petrels of Fire Race; then a bagpipe player leads the audience from the quad to the Conant Performing Arts Center to hear from guest speakers. More about Oglethorpe Day.

Petrels of Fire

Based on the Cambridge University tradition portrayed in the movie Chariots of Fire, the Petrels of Fire footrace takes place annually on Oglethorpe Day. Runners compete to circumnavigate the quad in the time between the bell-tower’s first and final strokes of twelve. More about the Petrels of Fire.

QuadFest & Stomp the Lawn

Held respectively in September and April, these events celebrate the beginning and ending of the school year. Both feature a live band, games, carnival rides, food and fun! Sponsored by the SGA Programming Board.

Battle of Bloody Marsh

Every fall, a team of students and a team of faculty and staff members meet to do battle… via tug-of-war. The name comes from the famous 1742 battle in which General Oglethorpe’s forces defeated the Spanish troops in South Georgia. Watch an historical video about the original battle.

Buried Elephant

In November 1941, the Ringling Brothers Circus were performing in Atlanta, when eighteen circus elephants were poisoned by arsenic. An enterprising professor in the medical school had one of the elephants brought to campus for use in his comparative anatomy class. When the animal began to decay it was buried, and the exact whereabouts of its remains are unknown.