Two schools. Ten miles apart. A deep-seated rivalry of nearly 100 years.
Preserving a long tradition of sports rivalry, approximately 5,000 students, faculty and alumni will gather in the Intramural Field tonight for UCLA’s annual Beat ‘SC Bonfire and Rally.
Hosted by the Student Alumni Association, the event is a culmination of a day-long series of events, which are scheduled to promote Bruin pride before the football game against USC on Saturday.
The event will feature performances by various student groups, as well as speeches from the football team and the chancellor, said Cassi Porter, executive director of Blue and Gold Week.
Even hours before the bonfire is lit, students will have plenty of opportunities to exhibit their school spirit, said Rachel Borowski, marketing director of Blue and Gold Week.
“From noon to 1 p.m. in Bruin Plaza, there’s the red T-shirt exchange. You can bring in almost any article of red clothing and exchange it for a UCLA T-shirt,” she said. “At the same time, there’s the red car smash, which is put on by Greek Life. They bring in a red car, and anyone who wants to can sign a waiver and take a sledgehammer and smash up the car.”
A UCLA tradition for decades, the Beat ‘SC Bonfire and Rally began as the finale to Blue and Gold Week, a week-long series of spirit activities, four years ago, Porter said.
“They used to have a week of events for homecoming, and then the bonfire and rally was just for USC, but we combined them,” she said.
However, the timing of this season’s football game has shortened Blue and Gold Week to a single day, a modification that may become a new tradition, Porter said.
“Because the game is on the week of Thanksgiving, we cut a lot of things that we usually would have done,” she said.
“Last year we had a similar problem because we played USC at the end of 10th week, and due to university regulations, we couldn’t have amplified sound, so we had to move it. The new plan is to start a tradition of a week-long event in the spring for Bruin pride, and that will incorporate a lot of the events that we are skipping,” she added.
Though the event will run shorter this year, the expected turnout will not be any less, Borowski said.
“We’re still expecting as large a turnout at the bonfire and rally just because it’s such a tradition and everyone knows about it somehow,” she said. “Our main concern has to do with the red T-shirt exchange, since it’s only one day long, so you can’t walk by on Monday and be like, “˜Oh, I need to bring my red T-shirt tomorrow.'”
She added that shirts will be distributed to the first attendants of the bonfire if there are leftovers from the shirt exchange in Bruin Plaza.
The event will increase school spirit and allow students to participate in an integral aspect of UCLA culture, said fourth-year psychobiology student Brian Hengesbaugh.
“It’s a good opportunity to get together with all people at UCLA, and it’s just a good time,” he said. “You get to see what the UCLA-USC rivalry is all about, and it’s a good way to understand what’s going on and to get involved in something you wouldn’t be able to get involved in anywhere else.”