‘Laf-Le’ week: Lafayette’s rivalry traditions

While Lehigh students are celebrating Lehigh-Laf spirit week, Lafayette students are celebrating Laf-Lehigh week, which is also is known around the Easton campus as rivalry week.

“A lot of times on Facebook, people say ‘It’s not Le-Laf, it’s Laf-Le,’” Lafayette student Brianna Baswell, ’16, said.

Both schools celebrate the most-played college football rivalry with various events and activities on each campus during the week. Lafayette’s rivalry week events leading up to the 151st rivalry game were planned by the programming board and vary from year to year.

Lafayette kicked off its rivalry week on Wednesday with the Stuff-a-Plush event. Students stuffed plush leopards and other cloth animals and then dressed them in shirts with the ‘Lafayette-Lehigh Rivalry 151’ logo on them, according to the president of the Lafayette Activities Forum, Gina Marini, ’17. Students lined up two hours in advance to ensure they would be able to stuff an animal.

The traditional powderpuff football game was held on Thursday, and the Lafayette football players served as coaches and cheerleaders for the teams. Comedian Tig Notaro also performed at Lafayette on Thursday night, and the events for the week concluded with a midnight breakfast on Friday. According to Director of Student Involvement Kristin Cothran, the breakfast, which is served from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. by Lafayette faculty and staff members, is “a sort of kickoff to the game.”

“After whatever they were doing that night, hanging out with their friends, at the end of the night having breakfast and just doing something fun like that is a really great way to get everyone excited for the game the next day,” Marini said.

The food that is served at both the midnight breakfast and throughout the week in the dining hall is the highlight of the week, according to Emma Fortier, ’18, and Shelby Tejade, ’18. The dining hall serves meals with a different theme each night of the week.

Lafayette students spend rivalry week enjoying the food, catching up on work and attending the scheduled rivalry week events, according to Marini.

“Everyone’s trying to get their work done as of right now as far as going out, but toward the end of the week is when everyone starts getting really excited,” Marini said.

A large banner hangs outside of the student center with the words “Beat Lehigh” written on it, and students are excited to attend the game, Baswell said. Students have been wearing their school colors all week and posting on social media using #rollpards and other hashtags to display their excitement for the game.

“There’s that ‘beat Lehigh’ spirit everywhere,” Marini said. “Everyone’s super excited and has a lot of plans for the weekend, especially before the game to go and celebrate and get ready for it.”