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The BGSU SICSIC Spirit Crew: Masked Performances of Campus Identity and Cultural Anxiety

Roseland, Margaret J
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1563376450526318

Abstract Details

2019, Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, American Culture Studies.
On the night of October 5, 1946, six young male Bowling Green State University students were recruited to a secret meeting by President Frank Prout in order to found an anonymous booster club, which would soon become known as SICSIC. This masked spirit crew initiated a school spirit revival that has since become an integral part of BGSU’s campus culture. Despite its importance, however, SICSIC’s origins, practices, and values mostly exist as legend and lore. In this critical historical analysis, I analyze SICSIC as a carnivalesque secret society and consider its meanings within the context of changing campus and national norms as a result of World War II. This project puts BGSU’s spirit crew in conversation with other collegiate secret societies and their influence on the greater American society. I argue that SICSIC was founded to assuage anxieties over the changing landscape of higher education, specifically the influx of GIs and others who were not traditional college-age students. While the customs and rituals of the group have changed over the years, remnants of the group’s past still exist in the contemporary SICSIC’s masked performances. Applying performance and critical race theory to the evolving traditions of SICSIC, I show the continuities and disruptions to the University’s campus culture over a period of seventy years. I also consider the racial implications of the group’s performances of the past, present, and possible future. Using ethnographic research methods, as well as historical research, observations, and interviews with SICSIC alumni, this is the most complete and comprehensive history of the group.
Jolie Sheffer, Ph.D (Advisor)
Montana Miller, Ph.D (Committee Member)
242 p.
American Studies
Whiteness; Americanness; Secret societies; Secret society; BGSU; SICSIC; Campus culture; Cultural anxieties; student identity; SICSIC; Bowling Green State University

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Roseland, M. J. (2019). The BGSU SICSIC Spirit Crew: Masked Performances of Campus Identity and Cultural Anxiety [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1563376450526318

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Roseland, Margaret. The BGSU SICSIC Spirit Crew: Masked Performances of Campus Identity and Cultural Anxiety. 2019. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1563376450526318.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Roseland, Margaret. "The BGSU SICSIC Spirit Crew: Masked Performances of Campus Identity and Cultural Anxiety." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1563376450526318

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1563376450526318
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© 2019, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License The BGSU SICSIC Spirit Crew: Masked Performances of Campus Identity and Cultural Anxiety by Margaret J Roseland is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.