Painting the MSU Rock. A primal midnight scream during finals week. Formal social etiquette from a 1954 student handbook. And even Sparty himself.
These iconic Michigan State University traditions — and many more — are featured in the What If We Kissed in the Shadows of Beaumont Tower?: Connecting Generations Through MSU Student Traditions exhibition created by students in the Curatorial Practices (MUSM 488/888) course taught by Suzanne Fischer, Assistant Professor in the Arts, Cultural Management, and Museum Studies program at MSU.
On view through Aug. 1, 2026, in the MSU Museum’s newly opened Forest Akers Trust Student Exhibition Lab, the exhibition explores 170 years of student traditions and how they have evolved while highlighting the shared experiences that connect Spartans across generations. Through artifacts, photographs, archival materials, and interactive displays, visitors can discover how generations of students have built connections to one another through the customs, rituals, and memories that define life at MSU.
The exhibition was the culminating project for students in the Curatorial Practices course, where they researched, designed, fabricated, and installed the exhibition from concept to completion. Drawing on materials from the MSU Museum collections and archives, University Archives and Historical Collections, and other campus partners, students gained firsthand experience with every stage of the curatorial process.
“It’s an opportunity for students to learn what it means to be a curator by doing curatorial work themselves.”
Suzanne Fischer, Assistant Professor in the Arts, Cultural Management, and Museum Studies program
“We were actively painting and doing carpentry and putting up walls – all the things that you need to be doing for an exhibit,” said Nevaeh Ramon, who graduated from MSU in Spring 2026 with a master’s degree in Arts, Cultural Management, and Museum Studies and a graduate certificate in American Indian and Indigenous Studies at MSU. “It gave us a lot of hands-on experience.”
That hands-on learning is one of the course’s primary pedagogical goals.
“It’s an opportunity for students to learn what it means to be a curator by doing curatorial work themselves,” Fischer said. “We’ve been doing exhibits based on MSU history because there are research materials on campus in MSU Museum collections and archives.”
Unlike previous offerings of the course, which featured smaller classes and more narrowly focused topics, the Spring 2026 class enrolled 23 students – twice as many as the previous year. Students from a variety of academic backgrounds collaborated throughout the semester, bringing different perspectives and skills to the research, design, writing, fabrication, and installation of the exhibition. The students themselves selected both the exhibition theme and its playful title.
“It makes me laugh when I hear it,” Fischer said of the title. “It’s obviously one of the traditions we talked about, and it kind of combines a meme and a nod to youth culture.”
Ramon led the writing of the exhibition’s introductory display panels, working closely with the student teams to ensure the text was accessible to visitors of all reading levels while accurately capturing the stories behind each display.
“As college students, we love to use our jargon and our lingo, so getting some practice really vocalizing history to the public was a beautiful thing,” Ramon said.
While some traditions have endured for more than a century and others have emerged only in recent decades, together they illustrate how each generation of Spartans contributes to the university’s evolving story.
One section of the exhibition features a 1954 student handbook distributed to all Spartans, complete with detailed guidance on classroom attire, dinner invitations, and other social conventions of the time.
“As a woman in 2026 and a Spartan, it was a little jarring to see how things have changed over time,” Ramon said.
Also featured in the exhibition is the MSU Rock, which the students enjoyed learning more about. A small fragment of the Rock that had broken away is on display. The fragment reveals dozens of colorful layers of paint accumulated over decades, reflecting the ever-changing messages and artwork left by generations of Spartans. Along with displaying the small fragment, the class created a papier-mâché replica of the MSU Rock.
A gift from the Class of 1873, the Rock has become one of MSU’s most recognizable traditions with generations of Spartans taking turns painting new messages, artwork, and designs. But student painting wasn’t welcomed at first.
“Initially, [MSU officials] tried to fight it,” said Bethany Thies, a graduate student in the Arts, Cultural Management, and Museum Studies program. “They would scrub all the paint off, and then it got to the point where they decided to just let them have it. I think it is a wonderful outlet for people to make their statements in a safe way, and it’s a great tradition to have at MSU.”
Thies and her team focused on newer Spartan traditions for the exhibition, including the Izzone fan section at basketball games, the midnight scream during finals week, and Zeke, the Spartan Wonderdog.
“This was a little trickier because we didn’t have the objects in the archives or special collections yet,” Thies said.
Instead, the students worked with the MSU Athletics and other campus programs to gather photographs and artifacts that will now become part of the archival collections, helping preserve today’s traditions for future exhibitions and research.
Fisher said the students particularly enjoyed diving into the archives and special collections, exploring how shared experiences continue to shape what it means to be a Spartan and discovering traditions that have faded over time.
“The students were really taken by the rivalry posters and stories of the class rivalries in the early 20th century,” Fischer said. “That kind of gory class rivalry stuff is really not visible on any campus anymore, so it was really interesting to think about where it came from and where it went?”
“This exhibition is a testament to what becomes possible when students are given the space, resources, and mentorship to learn by doing.”
Devon Akom, Director of the MSU Museum
The exhibition also reflects the collaborative nature of museum work. Throughout the semester, students worked closely with the exhibitions and collections team and the promotions and marketing team at the MSU Museum.
“The MSU Museum exists as a collaboratory where disciplines collide and curiosity drives discovery,” said Devon Akmon, Director of the MSU Museum. “This exhibition is a testament to what becomes possible when students are given the space, resources, and mentorship to learn by doing. By working directly with our collections and bringing their own perspectives to bear, these students didn’t just study museum practice — they practiced it, producing something meaningful for our campus community and beyond.”
The exhibition marks the third collaboration between the Arts, Cultural Management, and Museum Studies program and the MSU Museum, and the inaugural project in the Forest Akers Trust Student Exhibition Lab, a purpose-built space dedicated to hands-on, student-driven learning.
Created as part of the MSU Museum’s recent 18-month renovation, the Forest Akers Trust Student Exhibition lab gives students the opportunity to combine classroom instruction with professional museum practice. The renovation was made possible through a transformative multimillion-dollar gift from the Forest Akers Trust.
For more information, see the previous article about the exhibition published by the College of Arts & Letters, titled Museum Studies Students Curate Exhibition on 170 Years of MSU Traditions.
By Colleen Gehoski Steinman and Kim Popiolek
