in the ground before Old Queens at Rutgers, by the class of 1877, memorializing both this event and several alumni in the armed services who were killed in action. Around campus Statue of William the Silent Fenton B. Turck, a New York physician and biologist, with the assistance of railroad magnate, and longtime Rutgers trustee Leonor F. Loree (RC 1877), anonymously donated a statue of William of Orange (William I, Prince of Orange, 1533–1584) commonly known as William the Silent, who was the leader of the Dutch rebellion against the Spanish that set off the Eighty Years' War and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1648. Turck, of Dutch extraction, intended to give the statue known familiarly as " Willie the Silent" to the university to signify the institution's Dutch roots. He kept the statue in the basement of his laboratory in Manhattan for eight years before it was unveiled on the Voorhees Mall on June 9, 1928. According to student tradition, the statue is said to whistle when a virgin in her senior year passes by. So far, Prince William has remained silent. This statue is a rough replica of a similar monument that stands in The Hague. Passion Puddle Passion Puddle is a small, tree-shaded pond on Douglass campus. According to legend, if one circles the pond three times with their romantic interest, they will be married within a year. Traditionally, if a Douglass College girl and a Cook College boy circle it three times, they are meant to live happily ever after. Commencement At Commencement exercises in the spring, tradition leads undergraduates to break clay pipes over the Class of 1877 Cannon monument in front of Old Queens, symbolizing the breaking of ties with the college, and leaving behind the good times of one's undergraduate years. This symbolic gesture dates back to when pipe-smoking was fashionable among undergraduates, and many college memories were of evenings of pipe smoking and revelry with friends. During commencement exercises, graduating seniors walk in academic procession under the Class of 1902 Memorial Gateway (erected in 1904) on Hamilton Street leading to the Voorhees Mall where the ceremonies were held for Rutgers College. Traditionally, students are warned to avoid walking beneath the gate before commencement over a superstition that one who does will not graduate in four years. Recent customs and annual events For thirty years, through 2011, there