The "Grease Pole" is a holy totem of the
engineers of
Queen's University, in
Kingston,
Ontario. The original grease pole was a goal post that was righteously stolen from the
University of Toronto in a drunken rush-the-football-field frenzy. The pole has since been used in a
frosh week team building activity: It is coated with
lanolin, and a hat (a tam) is put on it. The new engineers must retrieve the hat, using teamwork. Sometimes this takes all day.
After frosh week, the pole is stored by the frosh in a safe and secret place. The pole has been stolen before, by upper classmen, and the ransom for its return was a very large number of cases of beer. It was returned.
In the fall of 2000, however, the ultimate humiliation was visited upon the frosh. Not only was the pole stolen, it was stolen by engineers from the
University of Toronto who detailed the exploits on a web page (www.nopicturesnoproof.com). Bad Frosh!