The Big "C"

The Big "C" is a giant concrete block "C" built into the Berkeley Hills overlooking the University of California, Berkeley. The very well-known symbol is celebrated in a number of Cal songs and is famous in the San Francisco Bay Area and especially on campus. It celebrates over one hundred years of athletic and academic excellence at the university. On March 23, 1905, the classes of 1907 and 1908 constructed the Big "C" on the hill and it remains there to this day [http://calbears.cstv.com/trads/big-c.html] .

History

Class Rush and Construction

Soon after the University of California's founding in 1868, a tradition known as "class rush" was founded. During the event, freshmen would run up the hills above the campus and mark their class numerals in the hillside for all to see, but the sophomore class would attempt to protect the hill by rolling the freshmen back down the hill. The University, however, recognized the tradition as dangerous and banned it. [http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/calhistory/traditions.html] As a result, the men of the freshmen and sophomore classes jointly constructed the Big "C" upon the hills above the "Greek Theatre" and California Memorial Stadium. Once the concrete dried, the freshmen class (still trying to preserve the ideals of class rush) painted the Big "C" gold(one of the University's colors). [Sibley, Robert and Carol. "University of California Pilgr
]

Post-Construction History

After construction, the job of keeping the Big "C" painted yellow became the responsibility of the sophomore class as other classes, fraternities, and organizations would paint over the Big "C" in a display of their class or organization pride. The process continued as the Big "C" accumulated inches of paint layers over its original concrete base. In 1961, a group of Stanford University engineering students used jackhammers to assault the Big "C" and rearrange the concrete to a block "S," but the problem was quickly corrected. Soon, the Rally Committee was made guardian of the Big "C" and is currently responsible for its upkeep and protection. [Sibley, Robert and Carol. "University of California Pilgr
]

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