Students in the crowd yell and smile with their hands in the air. A woman in front takes a selfie.

Slope Day 2025 in Photos

Stories You May Like

Libe Slope, Friends, and East Hill Sunsets: Your Fondest Memories

Slope Day 2024 in Photos

Let’s Hit the Slope! Celebrating Classes’ End Is a Cornellian Tradition

The annual celebration of the end of classes brought music, revelry—and at one point, lots of bubbles—to the Hill

By Beth Saulnier

With overcast skies above their heads and muddy grass under their feet, this year's Slope Day revelers nonetheless had a blast at the traditional festivities marking the end of spring classes. As in recent years, students could choose from a variety of activities—including Slope Fest on Ho Plaza, which featured free snacks and soft drinks, along with carnival games and performances by student groups.

For those craving something completely different (and who had pre-registered), there was the chance to try out the Hoffman Challenge Course, Cornell Outdoor Education's ropes course located near campus. And for early risers, the day started out with a Slope Day BreakFEST, held outside the Schwartz Center in Collegetown.

But for many, of course, the big draw was the party on the Slope and the performers on the main stage. They included headliner Gunna, a singer and rapper from Atlanta; the electronic music duo Louis the Child; and a trio of student acts that had earned their spots through on-campus competitions: DJs Two (Asian) Friends and FREQ, and "battle of the bands" winner Lucky Strike.

Scroll down for a photographic tour of Slope Day 2025!

Two men perform on stage in front of a large crowd

The view from the stage as DJ team Louis the Child performs.


Students dancing and walking around. One student wears a cutoff tank top that says "Cornell University Class of 2025" across the front of it.

Dancing on the Slope.


Two students stand next to each other playing cornhole. One tosses a red bag through the air.

Carnival games at Slope Fest on Ho Plaza.


Students dance and hold their hands in the air while facing the stage. A screen that says "Slope Day" faces the crowd."

The crowd goes wild for the student DJ act Two (Asian) Friends.


Two students in red cowboy hats smile for a photo. The student on the right is wearing glasses shaped like French horns.

Sporting stylish shades.


Students in the crowd yell and smile with their hands in the air.

Raise your hands in the air!


A person breakdances while a crowd of people watch in the background.

Student dancers at Slope Fest.


Touchdown in a tropical shirt on stage with a large crowd of students in the background.

Touchdown rocks a casual vibe.


The legs of attendees showing sneakers and boots covered in mud.

Stories You May Like

Libe Slope, Friends, and East Hill Sunsets: Your Fondest Memories

Slope Day 2024 in Photos

Wet weather made for some muddy footwear.


Dozens of popcorn cups on a table with a hand reaching in to grab one.

Slope Fest snacks in Big Red colors.


The crowd at Slope Day with a few people above the crowd being held up by others.

A reveler rises above the crowd.


Slope Day rapper Gunna on stage holding a microphone to his mouth.

Rapper Gunna was the day's headliner.


Four students smiling, yelling, and dancing together.

A hair-raising scene!


A female singer smiles while holding a microphone on stage standing next to an electric guitar player while bubbles float around them.

Lucky Strike won a "battle of the bands" to play the main stage.


A girl and boy embrace each other and smile for a photo.

Capturing the moment.


An aerial view of the campus on Slope Day showing the stage and crowd from above.

The view from (far) above.


People with water squirters send streams of water flying into the crowd.

Make it rain!


Students in the crowd yell with their hands in the air while wearing white t-shirts with "SLOPE DAY" on the front of them.

Slope Day: It's right there in black and white.

(All images by Cornell University photographers Devin Flores, Noël Heaney, Sreang Hok, Jason Koski, and Ryan Young.)

Published May 9. 2025


Comments

  1. Robert Rosenberg, Class of 1962

    We never had this. What a GREAT way to celebrate the end of the year!!

  2. Jerry Cooney, Class of 1994

    Ah, Slope Day. Awesome.

    I was there once, in 1994.
    It wasn’t as organized as it is today, but still fun (it was muddy the day I was there too).

    I so enjoyed seeing these pics – lots of happy faces, letting loose, enjoying life.

    I extend my sincerest best wishes to the soon-to-be new grads – and to those who still have some time to go – ‘Life comes down to 3 things – something to do, someone to love, and something to hope for’.

    Savor this time in your life – follow your passions – And if you don’t have any passions, don’t wait to find at least one! 🙂
    -Jer

  3. David Steward, Class of 1979

    Looks like so much fun (well, minus the mud).

  4. Mary Pat Hartmann, Class of 1986

    Brings back memories of our Libe Slope Party ’86! What a great day. Glad the tradition remains.

  5. james, Class of 1968

    no slope day back in 1968, but i remember looking down at the slope from the q and d tower, with the intersecting paths, remembering how much was packed into those four years. never to be forgotten.

  6. Dave Warren, Class of 1982

    Class of ’82 here… I vividly remember 1981 – the weather was touch and go all day. Ultimately, the concert was scrubbed (the Pretenders!!!), and the afternoon turned into my only-ever mud sliding experience. Boy, you could slide far and fast on a muddy Libe Slope! It was the stuff of memories, for absolute sure!

    Like others, I really enjoyed looking through these pics – best of luck to all you beautiful, young, Cornellians!

  7. Dave Warren, Class of 1982

    Oops! I now see the Pretenders got scrubbed in 1980, not 1981, in the very unlikely event any of you might possibly have noticed!

    What a blast, though –

    Cheers –

  8. Mario Villanueva, Class of 1998

    It just isn’t Slope Day to me if you’re not dodging flying empty beer bottles…

  9. harry Petchesky, Class of 1959

    What ever happened to Spring Weekend? With the ratio of 7 men to 2 women, Spring weekend “dates” arrived from North, South, East and West to join the coeds with Cornell men friends for festivities which began on Friday afternoon and ended on Sunday afternoon. Events included a float parade, boat battles on Beebe Lake, and endless parties with great bands in fraternities and other campus organizations. this included a Friday night block party hosted by the four fraternities on Ridgewood Road.

    For my first two years, there were no curfews. Following a death in 1957 when somewhen fell off a second floor terrace, a 4AM curfew was imposed without any negative effect.

  10. DAVID GEORGE MARSH, Class of 1965

    Looking at these great, happy pictures makes me think I wasted 4 years studying in my pre-med (chemistry major) courses. On the other hand it did aid me in becoming the cardiologist I am today. PS I still feel I mmissed a lot, though!

  11. Laura W.

    Slope Day ‘82 with Huey Lewis and The News

Leave a Comment

Once your comment is approved, your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Other stories You may like