Backstory: They doff their beanies to tradition

Through the school bookstore, Dillard made an initial order of 150 pots, then sold the idea to the fraternities. Through his efforts, all freshman fraternity pledges are wearing pots, and some independents, too. The bookstore was cleaned out of the $10 pots in the first two weeks of school this fall and had to restock what is now the bestselling clothing item in the store.

"I want to see this succeed by custom, not whip," says Dillard. "I'd like this to be a social construct where everyone wears a pot when they're freshmen because that's just what you do."

"I have mixed feelings," admitted Mike Bachner, bookstore manager and a 1970 Wabash graduate. "I have a hard time separating the pot as a symbol of humiliation from the fun of it. In some respects it's a great old tradition, but I was there at the demise of the pot."

There is an uneasy tension over hazing – in any form. But if there's anything positive to be said for it, it would probably be the beanie tradition, suggests Hank Nuwer, a professor at Indiana's Franklin College, who wrote "Wrongs of Passage: Fraternities, Sororities, Hazing, and Binge Drinking."

"No one ever died from a beanie," he says, drawing a distinction between criminal hazing and the beanie custom that began in grand universities of Europe during the Middle Ages and continued at the dawn of the American collegiate system.

At Wabash, Professor Nuwer says, "There's got to be a lot of pride in being the last of a breed. We like the last of anything. I think at Wabash there's a determination that it not die out – and that's pretty good for creating solidarity."

Beanie-wearing continues at several small colleges around the US during orientation, though Wabash freshmen wear theirs for a semester. But, cautions Nuwer, the dynamic at Wabash might make freshmen prone to hazing and this should be watched carefully.

David Blix, an associate professor of religion at Wabash, used the occasion of a recent chapel talk – a speech given by invitation of the student body – to spotlight the positive aspects of the pot. The 1970 graduate of the college also taught the freshmen how to tip.

A proper tip is like a solemn bow, and requires eye contact and humility in equal measure. The one-on-one tip is simple: The tipper addresses the tipee with the proper salutation (such as "good morning"), direct address, and arm outstretched, hat in hand.

"This is a way that freshmen are ... showing, in my mind, respect and courtesy to the community they've entered," says Mr. Blix. "This is a tradition I've always liked and was glad to see it circulate more widely."

And while Professor Blix is unsure the practice is back for good, he seems confident moderation will win out in the current climate because of the school's "Gentleman's Rule," which asks the Wabash man to conduct himself "as a gentleman and a responsible citizen." The strength of the Jeffersonian rule is its ambiguity: There are the adult confinements of personal responsibility and consequence, but enough wiggle room for the pursuit of boys-will-be-boys fun.

School administrators haven't taken an official position on the matter – though they haven't prevented booming bookstore beanie sales.

"Do I think it's hazing? No, I don't," says Mr. Bambree, the dean of students.

Besides, there are more demeaning things in the life of a freshman at a men's college. You could be elected homecoming queen.

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