Northwestern University Alumni

Three times a year, Northwestern students can be heard screaming across campus at 9 p.m. on the Sunday before finals week. Known as the Primal Scream, the origins of this quirky Northwestern tradition date back to the 1970s, with the earliest printed mention of it in the early 1980s. According to the Daily Northwestern, the Primal Scream began as a special event for the Communications Residential College in December 1981. CRC students gathered on Library Plaza to scream away their stress and anxiety going into final exams. By 1982, the residential college started running ads in the Daily Northwestern to encourage other students to join. Eventually, the student body adopted the tradition.