Tulane students come from all over the country and all over the world, with 75% of our students traveling from over 500 miles to attend. Our students bring unique interests, backgrounds, and cultures to our community, but are united through Tulane’s traditions.
Traditions begin as soon as students arrive on campus in the fall for New Student Orientation, which we call Hullabaloo Hello. Hullabaloo Hello is an immersive orientation experience and celebratory welcome to Tulane for all new undergraduate students, beginning with move-in and lasting until the President’s Convocation for New Students!
During Convocation, you will join President Fitts, deans, and senior administrators for this ceremonial welcome and presidential address. Following Convocation, you will follow a traditional New Orleans brass band as you second line to a block party. It’s the perfect end to a memorable first week at Tulane!
Fittingly, many Tulane traditions center around food, as New Orleans is one of the food capitals of the world. Tulane is probably the only school where the dining hall includes the typical New Orleanian menu, red beans and rice on Mondays, gumbo and fried catfish on Fridays. Boiled crawfish is another beloved staple among Tulane students. Spring, also known as crawfish season, is when we celebrate Crawfest. This is Tulane's two-stage, ten-band outdoor music festival for students and the community, which provides 18,000 pounds of free crawfish for the taking. Even our alumni host Crawfish boils across the nation in spring to welcome future Tulanians and reconnect during their favorite season.
In both Fall and Spring, Tulane traditions revolve around cheering for our athletic teams. Tulanians are loud and proud! At any sporting event, both students and alumni can be heard cheering and singing along to Tulane's fight song. Below are the current lyrics to Tulane's favorite cheer, The Hullabaloo:
A One, A Two, A Helluva Hullabaloo
A Hullabaloo Ray Ray
A Hullabaloo Ray Ray
Hooray Hooray Vars Vars Tee Ay
Tee Ay Tee Ay Vars Vars Tee Ay
Tulane!
To close out the year, we celebrate some of the most anticipated, but also bittersweet, traditions, the Commencement Ceremonies and Events. The celebration begins midweek, with ceremonies, awards, and receptions on Wednesday and Thursday. School-specific ceremonies begin on Friday, leading up to the Unified Commencement on Saturday evening. At this celebration, all graduating students come together to celebrate and hear from the Tulane President and other guest speakers. This event has a long history of noteworthy keynote speakers, including Ruby Bridges, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Helen Mirren, and most recently Sterling K. Brown. After the speakers, our students sing together, throw their caps, and second-line to their families.
