Honoring students who have passed away each academic year, Purdue’s Golden Taps ceremony was first observed in 1994. The Cary Quadrangle leadership honorary, Pendragon, spearheaded the development of the tradition with the hope of building unity among the student body. At the first service, family, friends, and the campus community gathered in Cary’s Spitzer Court, band members played “Echo Taps” and the “Purdue Hymn,” and a bell was rung once for each deceased student.

The commemoration now occurs annually in April and is overseen by the Office of the Dean of Students, University Residence Halls, and the Purdue Student Union Board (PSUB). Attendees meet in the Purdue Memorial Union and take part in a procession to the site of the Unfinished Block P in Academy Park. The Gimlet Leadership Honorary bell is rung for each student, PSUB members light candles, and campus buglers and choral groups perform taps and other musical selections. Following the remembrance, each mourning family is presented with a certificate and a replica of the bronze Block P sculpture.

The Unfinished Block P, unveiled in 2008, is a memorial to students whose time at Purdue was cut short; it also symbolizes the never-ending process of learning and self-improvement. Supported by the donations of alumni and friends, a group of students proposed the development of a monument that would serve as the backdrop for the Golden Taps tribute; with the help of Iron Key and university administrators, the memorial became a reality.

An inscription on the sculpture encourages “Purdue students, alumni, and friends to treasure all that Purdue has blessed us with and to keep the Purdue experience close at heart, not only for ourselves but for all that we loved here and for all those students who, for various reasons, did not get the opportunity to complete the Purdue experience.… Once a part of the experience, we are all together eternally Purdue.”