Late Sunday night, nearly 40 couples gathered around the base of the University’s Memorial Tower, eagerly waiting for the clock to strike midnight.
The bells didn’t chime this year, but the students still sealed their love with a kiss, becoming official University “co-eds.”
“The tradition is, if a couple kisses beneath the bell tower at midnight on Valentine’s Day, they become an official co-ed,” said Emily Smith, LSU Liaison and marketing sophomore.
Smith said though she has never witnessed it, the campanile is said to deviate from the traditional “Westminster Quarters” chimes on Feb. 14 to play famous love songs. The Daily Reveille reported in 2008 the clock tower serenaded couples with “Love Me Tender” and “The Way You Look Tonight.”
Seth Guidry, history and traditions coordinator for the STRIPES program, said Valentine’s Day is the one time of year the bells chime past 10 p.m.
“Nowadays, the co-ed rule is not as strictly enforced, but it still remains a popular tradition for students,” Guidry said.
Smith agreed, saying she always mentions it while giving University tours to potential students.
“There are a lot of facts and history about the University, but I know students will remember the tradition and connect to it,” Smith said. “It sets LSU apart.”
But when and how the tradition officially began remains a mystery.
Randy Gurie, former director of University Special Events and executive director of Cadets of the Ole War Skule, told The Daily Reveille in 2007 the tradition likely began in the 1930s or ’40s.
“If there was a tradition like that when I was there, I didn’t know it,” said Patricia Bercier, 1947 University alumna. “And I would have never kissed a boy on the mouth in public.”
Bercier said the word “co-ed” was reserved for married couples, not young folks.
“At that time there were 9,000 boys and 3,000 girls [that attended LSU] — you dated everybody,” she said. “You were a wallflower if you just went with one boy … and nobody would ever ask you to dance.”
Bercier said the closest tradition to the midnight kiss was “pinning,” when a man presented his true love with his fraternity pin.
According to a 2001 article in The Daily Reveille, the historic tradition was turned into competition by the Greeks Advocating the Mature Management of Alcohol, or GAMMA, organization. GAMMA transformed the tradition into a public event in an attempt to beat the world record for the most couples kissing simultaneously at one location. The “kiss-off” fell short of the record, which was 1,544 lip-locked couples.
Though this is no longer a designated event, Student Government and other campus groups encourage students to participate.
SG Vice President Dani Borel said SG continues to promote the kiss, as it is the University’s most personal tradition.
“LSU has so many traditions that involve academics and athletics, but the kiss is on a more personal level,” Borel said. “You can look back years from now and tell your children stories about how you kissed your boyfriend under the tower at midnight.”
Borel said this is the first year she participated in the Valentine’s Day kiss.
“It’s my last year here, and I’m getting married this summer to my fiance,” she said. “There’s no better way to spend my last unmarried Valentine’s Day.”
Joan Broussard, pre-pharmacy junior, said the kiss is a fun and harmless University tradition.
“It’ll be something very special to share with the one I love,” Broussard said.
Broussard and her boyfriend, John Paul Timpa, English literature senior, will also be participating in the tradition for the first time this year. She said she is working for the official midnight tradition, but they plan to kiss at the tower before the end of Valentine’s Day.
“It’ll be something nice to share as a couple,” she said.
 
 
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Contact Sydni Dunn at [email protected]