Traditions alive during Beat ‘SC Week

Beat ‘SC Week, the celebration of UCLA’s rivalry
with USC that leads up to the football game on Saturday, will
include both traditional activities and a new addition to the
week.

Put on by a committee under the Student Alumni Association, the
week will incorporate various philanthropic events with traditions
such as the car smash and bonfire.

The week kicks off with the car smash. This year’s car
does not have quite the significance of last year’s, which
was a former piece of artwork on the Trojan campus, said Ita Nagy,
director of the Beat ‘SC Week committee.

But it’s still Trojan red, and every UCLA student has the
chance to take a swing at it.

The focus will shift away from USC starting on Tuesday with the
“Get Out the Red” blood drive, and Wednesday will focus
on World AIDS day.

Because World AIDS day coincides with Beat ‘SC Week this
year, the committee decided to join the rest of the campus in the
day’s activities.

Wednesday’s event was put together in collaboration with
Dance Marathon and various other groups on campus.

“Its more about our own campus,” Nagy said about
both Wednesday and the week as a whole.

A solidarity march will start from three locations and end in
Bruin Plaza, said Lindsay Mullins, chair woman of Community
Outreach for Dance Marathon. “It’s a day to promote
awareness worldwide as well as on our campus.”

Thursday will bring a return to tradition with a bonfire and
rally at Wilson Plaza. There will also be a performance from UCLA
alumni band “Raining Jane.” The band sings about
familiar places such as Westwood Brewing Company.

Older alumni may find certain traditions missing, such as the
burning of Trojan effigies. The change was due to a
gentleman’s agreement in the 1990s between the two schools to
move away from the violent aspect of the rivalry, Nagy said.

Friday night will offer discounts at various Westwood businesses
to all UCLA students.

The weeklong preparation for the game stems from a rivalry that
originated in the 1940s. Though the first UCLA-USC football game
took place in 1929, the rivalry did not intensify until 1941, when
USC stole a victory bell after a Bruin win over Washington,
according to the UCLA Alumni Association Web site.

Vandalism between the schools continued throughout that year
until kidnapping threats to the USC student body president spurred
the Trojans to return the victory bell under the condition that the
bell would go to the winner of the UCLA-USC game each year.

USC has won each of the past four years, and this year UCLA
faces a Trojan team ranked No. 1 by the Bowl Championship
Series.

But Nagy believes that any negative predictions will not affect
the week. “It doesn’t matter if we don’t beat
them if they see our spirit and how much we love our school,”
she said, “The fun of it is coming together for a cause and
feeling something in common with people at this huge
school.”

“The fun of it is really believing that we can (beat
‘SC),” Nagy added.

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