Editor’s note: In Retrospect features articles from significant points in the history of Iowa State. This article ran in the Iowa State Daily, April 20, 1951.

Engineers, Ags “Battle” Over Flag On Campus

Shamrock Flag On Curtiss Hall Sparks Scene For ISC ‘Civil War’

Several bloody noses and many bruises were exchanged on central campus yesterday as more than 100 engineering and agriculture students clashed in traditional rivalry at 3:45 p.m.

The fracas took place after the engineers “hooked” the forester’s Hoedown sign, and lofted the Shamrock, engineering symbol on the Curtiss Hall flag pole.

A near riot broke out as the agriculture students noted the green and white engineering flag flying in the April breeze.

Nearby ag students immediately confronted the engineers, who were carrying the Hoedown sign used to advertise the forester’s departmental dance Saturday night-walking towards Home Economics Hall.

The two groups began a “get-off-the-sidewalk” war first, and then when one group came out the better there, several students attempted to rescue the “stolen” Hoedown sign.

Then the fracas began.

As the “easterners” and “westerners” battled for possession of the sign, more than 300 students gathered to watch. They saw a combination of football, wrestling, and soccer.

The agriculture students rescued the Hoedown sign, but not the huge banner that had been located inside Curtiss Hall. This the engineers had taken and burned in front of Beardshear Hall.

After the “East-West War” had subsided, the foresters climbed to the top of Curtiss Hall to remove the Shamrock. The engineers had greased the flag pole. It took about ten ag students to haul the engineering flag down.

In the meantime, engineers standing on central campus hooted and jeered.

“It only took two engineers to put the flag up there and it had taken ten ags to get it down!”

As the foresters hauled the Shamrock from its stately mast, the engineers sang “St. Patrick was an engineer…”

The engineers had begun their trek across campus at 3 p.m., leaving from Marston Hall.

They wove across campus in their traditional “snake dance,” honoring the Squires and Knights of St. Patrick, engineering honorary.

Their “snake dance” led them through Engineering Annex Building, through Marston Hall, and Memorial Union, until they came to Curtiss Hall. All the while they chanted choruses of “St. Patrick was an engineer…”

Once in Curtiss Hall, the engineers climbed the stairs until they came to the top of the building. They opened a window, crawled out onto the roof facing the Campanile and lofted the Shamrock, which they had been waving as they marched.

The “invaders” then continued their march across campus, until challenged by nearby ags, mainly forestry-surveying students. The fracas followed.

The action followed a week of threats tossed back and forth by both groups concerning the strange “disappearance” of the Blarney Stone, honored symbol of the Knights of St. Patrick. The new initiates into the engineering honorary “kiss” the stone as a climax to their initiation activities.

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Daily staff writer Jamie Lange compiled this report.