Who is Dooley

They take appearance of a skeleton that flashes the campus on certain occasions and as for their characteristics, there are many ranging from observant, scrupulous and caring to frolicsome, teasing, almighty and unpredictable. Amongst Dooley’s typical activities involves doing frolics, disrupting the order, cancelling lectures and commenting on students and staff performance. You might think that surely there must be a book in library describing Dooley in detail, but that is not the case! I was fascinated by this local phenomenon and decided to make Dooley a topic for my culture essay. Let me give you a taster of it! Before immersing ourselves into Dooley’s world, digging deep into the mystery surrounding ‘His Pale Highness’ and enlightening the skeleton’s post mortal evolution, I should make it clear that Dooley is no mascot. Dooley is a self-proclaimed spirit of Emory and the official role of university mascot is being hold by Mr. Swoop, a yellow-blue eagle supporting Emory’s sports teams. Let’s shed some light on Dooley’s origin first. It is nearly impossible to ask ‘Lord of Misrule’ questions directly due to his elusive nature, so Emory archive is the place to go. It was actually my very first time I set my foot into an archive. I felt in love with the absolutely peaceful environment and countless boxes breathing out memories of old times. After hours of contemplating ‘His Bony Beneficence’s’ material, putting the fragments of their past scattered across 128 years together, this is in short, their true story: The very first letter ‘Observations from Skeleton’ arrived to the then Emory newspaper in October 1898, and was signed by C. A. W. The creator of Dooley remains officially undiscovered, but the initials fit one of the at that time Emory students. The content of the letter reveal that the skeleton is situated in the Biology department and doesn’t like the students’ banal questions about his anatomy. A second letter in which the skeleton uncovers their coming into existence, signed already as Dooley, arrived 10 years later: Dooley lived in 18th century, participated in the war and retired in Atlanta. However, he sank into drinking which was the cause of his death after which a house surgeon saved his skeleton and donated to Emory. This is the moment of Dooley’s birth. Ever since 1909, Dooley started to make physical appearances at the campus doing their frolics, welcoming new students and assisting various ceremonies and events. They take the name of present university president, so currently Claire E. Dooley is the skeleton’s full name. Who is dressed up in Dooley costume is the most guarded secret at Emory. The common knowledge is that every year a different student is honoured by this task. Dooley’s logo, photos and name are widely used for advertising purposes all across the campus, on leaflets, in the dining halls, ecology labels, emails with Dooley Report, cinema program, Dooley after Dark events… After all my research into ‘Lord of Mischief ‘, the spirit of Emory, I still cannot come to any conclusion. Sometimes I feel like being thrown back into baroque times, when the dead get up from their graves, skeletons are dancing with the living and bones are rattling, an omnipresent ‘memento mori’. Dooley appears as a guardian of Emory ideals and spirit, pristine spontaneous creation that serves their morals, but Dooley might also be seen as an effective tool for university branding and freshmen cohesion. Either way, there is no way to stay blind towards ‘His Skeletal Supremacy’s ’ legacy. I am going to finish this essay as Dooley would:
Presidents may come, and presidents may go,
Professors may come, and Professors may go,
Students may come, and students may go,
But Dooley lives on forever!
Vale!