If you have walked by the quad and seen dozens of men in costumes beating each other with weapons, you may have scoffed and thought “Wow, what stupid children.” 

You could not be more wrong.

Dorm culture is a thriving community on campus, and one respected, time-honored tradition is the “land battle.” 

In a land battle, dozens of men from the five mens’ dorms on campus come together to prove their greatness in a contest of pure strength and testosterone. 

Some see the quad as a grassy turf to throw a frisbee, but for these dorms, it is the perfect arena to demonstrate the brotherhood of dorm culture. 

Many students disapprove of such an event in the name of maturity. Their criticism clearly comes from a place of ignorance about the benefits of a land battle.

 “Maturity in self government does not mean leaving behind the lessons and virtues we learn as children for the sake of a new, adultish way of doing things,” senior Ethan Buehrer said. “Rather, our liberal education ought to build and develop our childhood as we leave it and enter into adulthood.” 

Buehrer makes clear that land battles are an outgrowth of self government, because they create opportunities for the men’s dorms to come together as a unified body. 

He continues, “They are a form of play which attempts to satisfy the male thumotic energy. Land battles allow friendships to grow and deepen in this way: by bonding men together through a participation in the same spirited activity,” Buehrer said.

Upon entering the battlefield, one may feel fear and snowy wind whip across his face. Their weapon may be shaking in their hand. They may be contemplating if they look stupid to the common by passer.

These thoughts will be quickly ripped away. It is in battle that brotherhood, bravery, and virtue are cultivated; where real men are made. On this battlefield, scores are settled. Bonds are made. 

War stories written in the snow of that field are passed down through the years, forever preserving the tales of bravery and brotherhood. 

So to the person who says we should do away with land battles, I simply say this: So long as land battles continue, virtuous men of bravery and dorms of brotherhood will continue to exist on this campus.