traditions

Compensation Day

Compensation Day was an annual College holiday in early November. The holiday began to be observed annually on November 1 as “All Saints' Day,” “Founders Day,” and “Benefactors Day” in the 20th century. In the mid-20th century, Founders Day was moved occasionally to October 19 and later, May 16 to coincide with Charter Day.

In 1866, a member of the class of 1869 broke his leg during a customary football match between the freshman and sophomore classes. Because of the increasingly injurious nature of the games, Trinity administration forbade their continuation, and gave the students a holiday to “compensate” for the loss.

On Compensation Day in 1869, costumed members of the class of 1873 ceremoniously buried a football on the far edge of campus–akin to a funeral procession, complete with mourners, lively music, orations, and poems. After the ball was laid to rest, beer and crackers were provided by the freshman class as refreshments. The Trinity Tablet from 1870 included a challenge to the class of 1874 to take up their predecessors' follies in the continuation of this new Compensation Day tradition. While Compensation Day remained on the College calendar, the football burying tradition did not last long, and in its place arose a “bum,” a party for the entire College given by the Freshmen. During the early 1870s, students developed the tradition of “rushes,” which were decidedly more dangerous than their predecessor; these were scraps between the freshman and sophomore classes which were extremely physical and had varying iterations.

During the 20th century, Compensation Day “was marked by appropriate services in the chapel as well as by the omission of lectures and recitations,” and between about 1905 and 1912, “the day has been given the sub-title of “Founders' Day” and distinguished alumni have made addresses in the chapel appropriate to the occasion,” with plans to increase its importance with dignified church services and orations. ¹⁾

The College ceased celebrating Founders Day between 1929 and 1946, though it was still listed in the College Calendar as November 1, and served as the Matriculation date. ²⁾ In 1946, Mrs. Morgan Aldrich, Bishop Brownell's great-granddaughter, presented the College with a portrait of him, and the College celebrated Founders Day on October 19, Bishop Brownell's 167th birthday. The affair included performances by the Governor's Foot Guard Band, a football game, buffet dinner and ceremonies.

After 1946, Founders Day was inconsistently celebrated on October 19 or May 16. It disappeared after the early 1970s.