And yes, there\u2019s even a real boar\u2019s head.<\/p>\n
Using information that appeared in Rochester Review<\/em><\/a> (the University\u2019s magazine for alumni and supporters), the Campus Times<\/em> student newspaper, and an exhibition prepared by the University archivist, we take a look at one of URochester\u2019s most beloved traditions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The annual medieval-inspired feast has been a University tradition for undergraduates since 1934.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":672,"featured_media":681472,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[42,14],"class_list":["post-679872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","tag-alumni","tag-events"],"acf":{"external":"","hide_featured_image":false,"related":"show_related","style":[651922,618302,623772],"content_modules":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"mt-0 pt-15","title":"Thanks, Aristotle!<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_681362\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"2000\"]
![\"Four](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/fea-boars-head-dinner-1988.jpg\")
BOAR, WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?<\/strong> (University of Rochester photo \/ Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation)[\/caption]","content":"The dinner was inspired by a 16th-century British legend involving an Oxford University student who (allegedly) was walking through the woods when he was attacked by a wild boar. The student was saved by a well-read classmate who shoved a book featuring Aristotle\u2019s works down the boar\u2019s throat, resulting in the creature\u2019s demise by way of Greek philosophy.\r\n\r\nIn other versions, such as this recounting in The Oxford Sausage<\/em><\/a> from the 18th century, it is the endangered student who saves himself with his handy book.\r\n\r\nEither way, the vanquished beast was brought to the college, and a banquet was held in celebration.\r\n\r\nAccording to an exhibit<\/a> curated by the Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation<\/a>, the idea of the URochester version of the famed dinner originated with mechanical engineering major Theodore Fitch \u201935 and Adele Bostwick, the head dietician in Todd Union. In fact, Todd Union was the site of the first dinner held on December 17, 1934. And that month, Rochester Review<\/em> gave special credit to Todd Union director Carl Lauterbach, Class of 1925, \u201cwho was warmly congratulated for successfully inaugurating what should become a colorful tradition of the season.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe magazine\u2019s wish was granted, with the dinner becoming an annual student-run event thereafter.","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"mt-0 pt-15","title":"Setting the table\u2014and passing the boar\u2019s head baton<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_681402\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"2000\"]
![\"Group](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/fea-2009-12-03_Boars_Head_Dinner_0565.jpg\")
WALK THIS WAY:<\/strong> The 2009 event\u00a0was held in the Douglass Dining Center. (University of Rochester photo \/ Keith Bullis)[\/caption]","content":"The Boar\u2019s Head Dinner begins with a trumpet fanfare and the procession of members of the \u201cHighe Table,\u201d which includes University officials, faculty, and student leaders. \u201cThe spelling of the Highe Table is just a fun nod to old English, even though it\u2019s not super accurate,\u201d says Jill Wulfenstein, associate director for programming in Wilson Commons Student Activities<\/a>. \u201cIt just creates a little more fun for the evening.\u201d\r\n\r\nAll Highe Table guests are dressed in medieval robes and gowns, which the University has rented from a local costume shop since at least the turn of the century. Costumes for student performers are owned by the Student Activities Board and stored throughout the year.","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"mt-0 pt-0","title":"Head games<\/strong><\/h3>","content":"The dinner invocation is traditionally followed by the presentation of an actual boar\u2019s head on a platter. According to a 2004 Campus Times<\/em> article<\/a>, students used to fight over possession of the boar\u2019s head, leading then-University vice president Paul Burgett \u201968E, \u201976E (PhD) to ban the head at the dinner. Burgett eventually allowed a boar\u2019s head, but for many years, one was made from styrofoam.\r\n\r\nThe highlight of the festivities is the \u201cReading of the Boar,\u201d in which a faculty member offers a retelling of the medieval legend, often putting his or her own spin on it. In 2017, then-Dean of Students Matthew Burns introduced a character named Evil Matt Burns into the tale\u2014and claimed no relation. In 2023, Amy Arbogast, an assistant professor in the Writing, Speaking, and Argument program<\/a>, made Taylor Swift the focus as the Boar\u2019s Head scholar travels into the future. He attends Dandelion Day 1989 (1989<\/em>is Swift\u2019s fifth album). Then, he goes far into the future and sees students traveling across campus by hoverboard. He notices the University has changed its motto from \u201cEver Better\u201d to \u201cEvermore Better\u201d (Evermore<\/em> is Swift\u2019s ninth album).\r\n\r\n\u201cThe joke at the end was that he had traveled to his own Eras Tour, but he called it the Boar-as Tour,\u201d Arbogast says. \u201cI had fun with that one!\u201d","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"media_text_new","anchor":"","class":"","overline":"","title":"
Time travel IRL<\/h3>","content":"Travel back in time\u2014virtually\u2014to witness a Boar's Head Dinner from yesteryear (2013, to be exact). For nearly a century, the pig... erm, big... event has been a signature experience for URochester undergrads.","cta":"","bg":"#00205b","type":"embed","image":"","embed":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=InqbGmtNIUo","video":"","layout":"left","animation":"animation-false"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"mt-0 pt-0","title":"
And the winner is ...<\/strong><\/h3>","content":"A student organization is honored annually for having the greatest impact on student and community life at URochester. This tradition began in 1996, when the men\u2019s fraternity Delta Upsilon requested that they pass the boar\u2019s head to a student organization. They chose the Social Activities Board, the precursor to the Student Activities Board<\/a>. Since then, each honoree selects the next year\u2019s recipient. The Muslim Students\u2019 Association<\/a> was the 2024 recipient.\r\n\r\n\u201cI love the passing of the boar,\u201d says 2024\u201325 Students\u2019 Association<\/a> president Elijah Bader-Gregory \u201926, who has attended three Boar\u2019s Head dinners. \u201cIt\u2019s the honoring of a student group that\u2019s giving back to our community in a very noticeable way.\u201d","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"mt-0 pt-0","title":"
Dinner and a show<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_681342\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"2000\"]
![\"Undergraduates](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/fea-boars-head-dinner-2002.jpg\")
SING ALONG:<\/strong> Boar\u2019s Head Dinner in 2002. (University of Rochester photo \/ Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation)[\/caption]","content":"The medieval-themed menu traditionally consists of a five-course meal served family style, with guests seated at long tables. Each course is preceded by a song from the waitstaff, comprised of student a capella groups.\r\n\r\nIn the early years, black bean soup, pork roasts, and flaming plum puddings were standard fare. And before changes in the drinking age were made, beer was served. According to the Campus Times<\/em>, 210 gallons of beer were consumed at the 1976 dinner.\r\n\r\nMeliora Catering on the River Campus has prepared the food in recent years. Typical food has included roasted pork tenderloin, turkey breast, mushroom gravy, green beans, and caramelized onions. And, according to Wulfenstein, students may indicate dietary preferences, such as vegan and vegetarian, when ordering tickets.","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"mt-0 pt-0","title":"Hot ticket during a cold month<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_681452\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"2000\"]
![\"University](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/fea-2024-12-05_BoardHead_0009.jpg\")
TOSS UPS: <\/strong>\u201cWhat I love most is that our talented students provide the entertainment,\u201d says Anne-Marie Algier \u201916W (EdD). (University of Rochester photo \/ AJ Pow)[\/caption]","content":"Anne-Marie Algier \u201916W (EdD), the associate vice president for student life and dean of students, has helped plan and host the December dinner for more than a decade. She says it\u2019s one of her favorite URochester traditions.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt transports us all to medieval times to enjoy a night of music and merriment,\u201d says Algier. \u201cWhat I love most is that our talented students provide the entertainment\u2014the singing waitstaff, juggling jesters, blaring trumpeters, and more. The dinner builds a special feeling of camaraderie in the University community.\u201d\r\n\r\nBader-Gregory, a double major in economics and political science, walks away each time feeling a sense of community bonding. \u201cIt\u2019s held right before finals, and it\u2019s sort of the beginning sendoff to our graduating class, as most of the attendants are seniors,\u201d he says.\r\n\r\nAnd yes, there is a senior privilege. Tickets go on sale a few weeks before the dinner, and are purchased in person. Because there is a limited number of tickets\u2014around 600 maximum in recent years\u2014the line to buy tickets is exclusive to URochester seniors for the first 30 minutes.","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"mt-0 pt-0","title":"When war put dinner on the back burner<\/strong><\/h3>","content":"The dinner was less than a decade old when a global crisis shut it down.\r\n\r\nMelissa Mead, the John M. and Barbara Keil University archivist, says the dinner at Todd Union went on as planned in December 1941, just a week after the Japanese invaded Pearl Harbor and the US entered World War II. It also was held in 1942 before being suspended for two years due to the war.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe dinner made a victorious, if muted, return in 1945, when the\u00a0Campus<\/em>\u00a0newspaper noted it would \u2018have a Christmas theme with singing, and would approach the old idea as closely as possible,\u201d Mead says. \u201cPost-war food shortages in 1946 again suspended the feast, and 1947 would at last see the event return to \u2018full boar.\u2019\u201d\r\n\r\nThe annual event would continue uninterrupted until 2020, when it was canceled due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. And it would be a much smaller affair the following year. As a December 5, 2021, Campus Times<\/em> article recounts<\/a>, only 250 tickets were sold for the 2021 dinner (about half of the usual attendance) out of caution. Instead of the usual communal long tables headed by a faculty or staff host, there were round tables and no hosts.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_681492\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"2000\"]
![\"Black](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/fea-boars-head-dinner-1940s.jpg\")
MUSIC MAKERS:<\/strong> \u201cAdeste Fideles\u201d was a favorite in the 1940s. (University of Rochester photo \/ Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation)[\/caption]","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"mt-0 pt-0","title":"Out of the dark ages<\/strong><\/h3>","content":"The dinner was an all-male event until 1970, when women were admitted for the first time\u2014but only as beer maids serving thirsty singers and guests. One year later, in a letter to the Campus Times<\/em><\/a> titled \u201cWomen Point to Sexist Implications,\u201d the University\u2019s Women\u2019s Caucus petitioned to give women equal access to the event. It worked, and the Boar\u2019s Head Dinner has been coed ever since.","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"mt-0 pt-0","title":"
An ever-evolving tradition<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_681272\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"2000\"]
![\"John](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/fea-boars-head-dinner-tradition-2024-12-05_BoardHead_0020.jpg\")
RITE OF PASSAGE:<\/strong> John Blackshear attended the 2024 Boar\u2019s Head Dinner as the inaugural vice president of student life. (University of Rochester photo \/ AJ Pow)[\/caption]","content":"The event has evolved over the decades, from a men-only beer-guzzling (and cigar-smoking in years past) banquet to one that is more inclusive of the University community. The 2024 dinner featured URochester\u2019s first vice president of student life, John Blackshear, who enthusiastically led dinner guests through several songs, encouraging them to be extra loud during the singing of \u201cRudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.\u201d\r\n\r\nIn the early 1990s, the Student Activities Board began moving away from the singing of traditional Christian carols in favor of sectarian songs, a move criticized in a November 11, 1993 editorial<\/a>, which noted \u201cSAB wants to be PC (politically correct) and appeal to a wider audience by eliminating songs with references to the historical nature of Christmas.\u201d\r\n\r\nBader-Gregory says he remains astonished at the impact and uniqueness of this dinner decades after it began. \u201cIt\u2019s really an amazing event,\u201d he says. \u201cI mean, where else can you go to a medieval dinner on your college campus in the middle of December?\u201d","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"}]},"yoast_head":"\n