After a Florida Atlantic University football game, Christopher Thomas and his group of friends headed toward the dining hall. Not paying much attention to where he stepped, one of Thomas’s friends stepped right on the campus seal.
Not telling anybody, Thomas’s friend was officially cursed with a later graduation date. Located in front of FAU’s Student Union is the university’s official school seal. Campus legend says stepping on the school’s logo delays your graduation.
Although its origins are unclear, is the superstition true? Does the campus legend hold any weight? A few FAU alumni reflect on their stories about the validity of the rumor about the seal’s superstition.
Believers
Thomas, who graduated in 2023, explains what the superstition surrounding the seal means to him.“If you step on the seal … and you don’t break the curse, then you are on course to not graduate on your expected graduation date … if you planned on getting out of here in four years, maybe it takes you an extra semester, maybe it takes you an extra course or two, or you even transfer out and go somewhere else, ” said Thomas.
Thomas graduated from FAU in 2023 and now works as the Leadership and Service Programs coordinator. Thomas recalls the first time he heard about the superstition was during his freshman student orientation, when his orientation leader was highlighting FAU’s traditions.
“As we were leaving the student union in the past, they would let it be known. They would make it clear, this is the Florida Atlantic seal. This is our tradition. Try your best to never step on the seal, because it is a, you know, they used the term curse,” said Thomas. However, the very first FAU seal was created in 1964 by Henry Schubert and has undergone numerous changes over the years.
According to an email sent by FAU’s Special Collections Librarian, Patricia Fiorillo, the seal we see today was developed around 2002, under the administration of President Anthony James Catanese, which she suspects is when the “superstition” made its way onto campus.
“There have been people who are on bikes, and they will not drive over the seal, and they will hit the corner … hit the swerve with the bikes, on the scooters,” said Thomas. “So you could be head down in your phone, but you know you just have a gut feeling, all right, I don’t need to step on the seal.”
However, not many students are aware that there’s a way to break the curse. While learning about the campus legend, Tomas also learned how to reverse the curse if it came down to it.
“The tradition to break the curse is to hold up your owl fingers in your right hand and recite the fight song while walking backwards around the seal,” said Thomas. During the breaking of the curse, Thomas cited the importance of avoiding stepping on the seal, even by accident.
As an underclassman, Thomas took the superstition seriously, never allowing himself or his friends to purposely step on the seal. By not placing a foot on the seal, Thomas perceived the gesture as a sign of respect for FAU.
“Not stepping on the seal is being polite to the university… It’s saying, ‘Thank you. I recognize you, and I’m going to… be the best owl that I can be,” said Thomas.
Fast-forward to now, as a FAU employee and soon-to-be graduate student, Thomas continues to carry the same honor for the seal, seeing it as an extension of Florida Atlantic and its official traditions: something he holds in high regard.
“When you see somebody step on the seal, you know that they’ve earned the degree that they’re pursuing… Once you cross the stage, then you’re able to step on the seal,” said Thomas. “You’ve fully completed your Florida Atlantic experience.”
With his career located in the Student Union building, right in front of the seal, Thomas makes it a habit to walk around it still, continuing to display his value to the university.
Another alum who currently works on campus, 2015 graduate Ryan Moran, was introduced to the superstition in a different way. Unlike Thomas, Moran was never officially told about the campus legend; instead, he learned about it from the upperclassmen around him.
“I just remember walking to the cafeteria for the first time and noticing folks kind of walked around it… and then it’s like, kind of like a word of mouth, you just kind of knew not to do it,” said Moran.
Similar to Thomas, Moran also connects the superstition about the seal to FAU’s campus traditions. Moran was closely connected to the university’s traditions, as he had been a tour guide. As a guide, Moran would perform a little bit around the seal to playfully scare the incoming students.
“I used to walk around it and then stand on this side,” Moran said as he motioned to the top of the seal. “ Then have the tour group stand on top of it … tell them the lore. And then, they would all just jump off, because they’re all still in high school … that was a fun little bit that we did.”
Although he himself stresses the importance of upholding traditions on campus, Moran acknowledges that there’s nothing tangible behind the campus legend. While he’s never stepped on the seal as a student and doesn’t know anyone else who has, Moran instead celebrates the fact that the rumor about the seal has continued to stay alive across the years.
“It starts with one person and then a couple people to believe in it… once it’s like, culturally kind of starting to get some momentum, then it’s like a deluge, then it’s an avalanche. And that’s like how tradition starts,” said Moran. “Every era of alumni has different traditions… There have been a few that have lasted. This is one that’s lasted pretty solidly… anyone from 2005 and on knows about this.”
Not every alum shares the same belief about the seal that Thomas and Moran do; some continue to be skeptical about the validity of the curse that the seal is said to hold.
Skeptics
Fiorillo graduated from FAU both in 2012 with a bachelor’s and in 2015 with a master’s in Anthropology. Fiorillo also learned about the superstition during her freshman orientation. In an email, Fiorillo wrote that she saw the superstition as “funny, very unserious. I thought it was a relatively new myth since my sister had previously attended Florida Atlantic, and she never told me anything about it.”
Unlike Thomas, Fiorillo didn’t believe in superstition, as she once stepped on the seal by accident, never reversed the curse, and nothing happened to her. Fiorillo finished her education in four years at FAU with a bachelor’s in Anthropology. Fiorillo didn’t keep up with the superstition, as she’s never seen the curse affect anyone around her.
“I was a commuter student, so I spent very little time near or around the Student Union,” wrote Fiorillo. When asked about why the school keeps the superstition, “but also, I imagine students are anxious about staying longer than they planned to stay.”
The curse still floats around the campus grounds to this day, with current students continuing to avoid stepping on the seal.
Senior communications major, Alyssa Jeune, learned about the superstition in January of this year. As the Director of FAU’s Program Board, Jeune learned about the curse from her coworkers, Vanessa Saint Fleur and Anastasia Calnick.
“Being a part of SG [Student Government], I feel like I’ve walked past it. And then I was told, ‘Don’t step on it … you won’t graduate,” said Jeune.
Although Jeune doesn’t believe in the campus legend, she follows it because she’s superstitious. She believes even if she steps on the seal, does the reversal dance, it won’t matter because the curse won’t affect her. At the end of the semester, Jeune knows she’ll graduate on time.
“ When I see people walk past, I cringe, I just assume that they don’t care …” said Jeune. “I’m fine, and I feel like it’s more just like a superstition, and I’m super superstitious. I never break a mirror or whatever, so if I hear it, I’m gonna just follow it … I know if I do step on it, I probably would do the dance, but I know it won’t affect me,”
Kaii Thompson is the Culture Reporter for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected].
