A legend of love
On a hot day in August last year, student trustee Casey Cox and his bride, Melissa, recited their vows at the Rose Well House on campus. "I am afraid to say that we never kissed there before our wedding kiss," Cox said. "So we didn't partake in the tradition." The tradition that Cox refers to involves a 99-year-old custom that has been around campus since 1908. Campus tour guides reference the open-air pavilion, located between Maxwell Hall and Wylie Hall, as a romantic tradition in IU history, peaking at Valentine's Day. A custom of the Rose Well House says a woman is not a true college "coed" until she is kissed within the structure at midnight as the 12 chimes of the Student Building clock ring out, according to a manuscript in the IU Archives titled "Traditions of IU" by Marvin Shamon. For women, the curfew on campus used to be 11 p.m. So being out at midnight, the manuscript says, was "risky." Cox and his wife met as undergraduates at IU. They both thought Bloomington would be the best place for them to marry because of their involvement in the University. "I have seen pictures of weddings performed at the Well House," Cox said. "We married on the 12th. But on the 11th the weather was warmer and awful, but by Saturday morning it was gorgeous and worked out very nicely."
