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A beloved campus tradition, Trivial and Quadrivial Pursuits is the campus-wide quiz show ” played on the Feast of St. 91Ώμ»ξΑΦ Aquinas ” famous for its extravagant costumes and over-the-top displays of creative gamesmanship.

Every year there are three teams, each comprised of one-third of the student body, and each named for a subject of the trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric). The teams each select their own theme. This year, the Rhetoriciains chose Duck Dynasty; the Logicians, Fiddler on the Roof; and the Grammarians, 1980s exercise videos.

The questions for Trivial and Quadrivial Pursuits are drawn for the College™s classical curriculum. This year™s questions included:

  • What are the 12 tribes of Israel?
  • What are the 10 categories of Aristotle™s Physics?
  • How many relations are in the Trinity, and what are they?

Some queries were more subjective or open-ended. For example, in reference to Flannery O™Connor, one judge asked, œWhy is a good man hard to find?(œBecause they™re in camouflage,retorted the captain of the Duck Dynasty Rhetoricians.)

Per tradition, a panel of tutors devised the questions and judged the veracity of the responses. To curry favor with the panelists, team members presented them with hors d™oeuvres and other enticements ” although the efforts seldom worked.

The tournament ultimately came down to a dramatic contest between the Rhetoricians™ hunters and the Logicians™ peasants. The Logicians claimed the victory and bragging rights, which they exercised liberally at the following party in the campus coffee shop.

Trivial-Quadrivial Pursuits 2014
  • Trivial-Quadrivial Pursuits 2014
  • Trivial-Quadrivial Pursuits 2014
  • Trivial-Quadrivial Pursuits 2014
  • Trivial-Quadrivial Pursuits 2014
  • Trivial-Quadrivial Pursuits 2014
  • Trivial-Quadrivial Pursuits 2014
  • Trivial-Quadrivial Pursuits 2014
  • Trivial-Quadrivial Pursuits 2014
  • Trivial-Quadrivial Pursuits 2014
  • Trivial-Quadrivial Pursuits 2014
  • Trivial-Quadrivial Pursuits 2014
  • Trivial-Quadrivial Pursuits 2014
  • Trivial-Quadrivial Pursuits 2014
  • Trivial-Quadrivial Pursuits 2014
  • Trivial-Quadrivial Pursuits 2014
  • Trivial-Quadrivial Pursuits 2014
  • Trivial-Quadrivial Pursuits 2014
  • Trivial-Quadrivial Pursuits 2014
  • Trivial-Quadrivial Pursuits 2014
  • Trivial-Quadrivial Pursuits 2014