The Chronicle of Higher Education has taken note of our low brow celebration here in Rolla. Here's how the online Chronicle story, "A Century of Being Irish" by Hurley Goodall, starts:
St. Patrick's Day at the Missouri University of Science and Technology is more than just shamrocks and green beer. That will be especially true next week, as the Rolla campus caps a century of crowning a student as "St. Pat," the patron saint of engineers, in a celebration that is always raucous and, at times, even debauched.The tradition started in 1908, when 218 students decided to skip school on St. Patrick's Day to hold a celebration. They crowned a fellow student, George Menefee, as the institution's first St. Pat.
Unfortunately, you need some sort of fancy password to access the full story online. But a version of the story (with photos!) will run in the Chronicle's latest print edition dated March 14.
