A common
rite of passage for some of the particularly naughty
freshmen at
Carnegie Mellon University (just down the road from
Pitt and the
Cathedral of Learning) is to climb to the top of the Cathedral and
urinate off the ledge. This
traditional act of
disrespect is consistent with the longstanding
tension between
CMU students and Pitt students: Pitt people generally hold CMU people to be
arrogant assholes, and CMUers see Pitt students as quite
stupid and
silly.
Also,
Carnegie Mellon students often refer to the Cathedral of Learning as the "
Tower of
Ignorance" or the "Height of Stupidity" in jest.
generic-man says: at
CMU, I've heard it called the "
Phallus of
Ignorance" by
some.
The Cathedral of Learning is one of the only non-CMU
buildings in
Pittsburgh which is
visible from the main part of the CMU
campus.