College kids do the darndest things.

When I scheduled my very first classes at Pitt, an… College kids do the darndest things.

When I scheduled my very first classes at Pitt, an introduction to cultural anthropology class sounded fun and, well, cultured. The class definitely didn’t disappoint. One of the first days the professor climbed on top of a table at the front of our David Lawrence lecture hall and demonstrated how a different culture would open a bag of potato chips – with his bare feet.

It only got better from there. I almost opted not to go to class the day the syllabus noted that we would be viewing a film entitled “Salamanders.” How could a 50-minute class period about slimy little lizards possibly relate to sociology? Perhaps it was my piqued curiosity that forced me to go.

Sure enough, the film was about salamanders. But the unforgettable aspect of the documentary was the Penn State fraternity that had a tradition of eating them – alive.

That’s right. According to their chapter’s Web site, www.proudtobeaphi.com, Phi Delta Theta implemented the “Bowery Ball” in the 1960s. The Ball was a four-day party at the fraternity house, where a small pond was created in the basement and hundreds of salamanders were placed after being gathered from a dam near Penn State’s campus.

Any student could purchase a T-shirt advertising the Ball to gain entrance to the party and join in the “mander-munching” fun. After being threatened with expulsion of all members and a revoked charter, salamanders were banned from the fraternity house and the practice ended in the mid ’80s. But not before Penn State’s sociology department made a short documentary film about it.

I was intrigued, no doubt. But the images of trashed Penn State gals and guys swallowing live, squirming salamander after slimy salamander kind of slipped to the back of my mind.

That is, until I took a friend from home to a party at Pitt a few months later. I spotted a kiddie pool full of water in the corner of the basement. Upon closer inspection, we discovered that it was teaming with unsuspecting goldfish. My friend and I looked at each other and knew what we had to do.

Ten minutes later I was standing on a chair on one side of the pool and he was on the ground pointing out a prime fishy for a fellow drunken freshman to consume. I began a chant that went something like:

“Eat it! Eat it!”

And, sure enough, everyone started eating the goldfish. In fact, I witnessed one girl eat 21 in a row.

What possesses someone to devour a live amphibian or fish?

Perhaps it’s the same thing that possesses a group of crazed Steelers fans to hit the streets after The Game, body-surfing, banging pots, waving “Terrible Towels,” climbing on top of newspaper dispensers and randomly running past and licking my ice cream cone and declaring:

“I taste victory!”

Or maybe it’s the same reason that we tend to not sit right next to people we don’t know in large lecture halls. Ever notice how odd it feels when someone selects a seat right next to you when there are others available outside of the parameters of your personal space?

What the heck has happened to us as a society if we get offended when someone chooses the seat next to us? We should be flattered. Unless he or she smells.

Anyway, I digress. The moral of the story is that people do crazy things under the influence of other people. Some may think they’re being brilliant and spontaneous at the time of their actions, but the truth of the matter is that they’re just some more faces in the crowd.

It’s not always quite as harmless as amphibian consuming or Super Bowl rioting, either. Look at Hitler and the Nazi party. How frightening to think that influence can become so powerful and overwhelming.

Fight the system. When I traveled to West Virginia University with some friends at the beginning of this semester, I was prepared to stand my ground against the Pitt-bashers I would inevitably encounter.

You better believe that halfway through the party I broke out my Pitt tank top and started the P-I-T-T chant next to the television that was displaying the KDKA news. I probably should have been killed, but I think the can of Pringles I was carrying around saved me.

Remember – you’ve gotta fight for your right to be an individual.

Jessica Popovich will be taking calls from PETA at The Pitt News from 9 a.m/ to 5 p.m. everyday this week. E-mail her at [email protected].