 Wayne
and Barb Bradford '58 of La Conner make their statement of school
spirit in their crimson "Cougar Cooper." Photo by Hannelore Sudermann
There's a special connection people feel for this university, a
connection that doesn't have anything to do with whether the
football team is winning or losing, or even playing. It's a
connection that makes them declare their love for WSU in ways both
odd and public. They drive hundreds of miles to get a flag on TV.
They paint a new car in Cougar colors. They plant several hundred
pounds of cougar-shaped concrete in their yard. They cover an
airplane in crimson and grey to proclaim WSU from the sky.
"I'm almost embarrassed," says veterinarian and pilot Kim
Nicholas, laughing. "It's not like I'm a crackpot."
Nicholas recently completed his kit RV-9, a two-seater airplane,
which he painted white with crimson striping. The interior is
Cougar gray with crimson highlighting. "And I'm looking for
stickers with the cougar footprint," to put on his wheel pants.
Nicholas came to WSU in 1975, earned his first bachelor's degree
in 1979, then another, followed by a master's degree and finally a
doctorate in veterinary medicine in 1984.
Now a veterinarian with a busy practice in Renton, a family, and
plenty of other interests, he can't seem to break free of his
Cougar ties.
"I spent nine years there," he says. "I think my connection with
the school has to do a little bit with brainwashing. It's like
Stockholm syndrome-you know, where you fall in love with your
captor."
Linda Arthur, a sociologist and professor in the Department of
Apparel, Merchandising, Design, and Textiles (AMDT), says this
Cougar attachment starts early, sometimes before students hit WSU
as undergraduates. Trained to look at how people present and
identify themselves with material goods, Arthur is fascinated with
the way students are identifying with the school.
Arthur, who studies the social, cultural, and psychological
aspects of dress and has done research at two other universities
before coming to WSU, says the situation here is unique. "I've
never been in such a place where the connection to the school is so
manifest," she says. Businesses around town identify themselves
with Cougar logos, Pullman residents don't go out without their WSU
gear on, and people build special WSU-themed rooms in their
houses.
But these displays aren't limited to Pullman, says Arthur. "What
is it about this institution that keeps people connected throughout
their lives?" she wonders.
With the help of her AMDT students, she set out to capture the
components of student culture and the connections in their early
stages. "We're looking at how Cougs show their Cougness," she says.
"We're calling it 'WAZZU style.'"
First, they broke the students down into the four typical
sub-cultures-collegiate, non-conformist, academic, and
vocational/professional students. Then Arthur and colleague Mark
Konty started to look at the ideocultures, or sub-subcultures.
Through surveys of 1,200 undergraduates and alumni, they found that
65 percent of the student body fits the collegiate subculture,
which includes members of the Greek system and athletes. It also
includes a large percentage of students who follow WAZZU style,
which Arthur describes as a no-fuss, easy-going approach to clothes
and attitude.
WAZZU style has no designer labels, but always some identifying
WSU element, whether it's the color or the logo, and there's
usually a flavor of defiance in the outfit and in the way the
students carry themselves. "I'm thinking about the sweatshirts that
say, "Damn right I'm a Coug," says Arthur.
The sociologist has several theories as to how and why this
strong attachment to the school is formed. One is Pullman's
isolation, nearly 100 miles from the nearest freeway and more than
an hour from a major urban center.
Another is that WSU has historically been seen as a safe haven
in a world of colleges and universities that reject more students
than they accept. Arthur points to Washington's other big
university, which is sometimes seen as aloof and elitist. Yet there
has always been a place for students at WSU, she says.
Finally, of the students exhibiting WAZZU style, some had a
family connection to the University, be it a parent, grandparent,
sibling, or aunt or uncle who attended. For them, being a Cougar is
more than just a college decision, says Arthur.
For some, the Cougar family is as important as their own. For
others it is one and the same.
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