Alice was a major part in the St. Patrick's Day celebration of the University of Missouri-Rolla (UMR). Specifically Alice was used during the knighting ceremony of the Student Knights. During the ceremony the Student Knights are dunked (maybe thrown is a better word) into a large vat of mysterious gunk. This vat and the gunk it contained was nicknamed Alice.
There are various rumors surrounding Alice. It is rumored that it was nicknamed after a girl named Alice who was the ex-girlfriend of a student who was portraying St. Pat during the various ceremonies one year. For you see it is also rumored that Alice for many years was made of some of the most vile things you could think of, garbage, puke, rancid food, roadkill, etc. Basically the most disgusting things the St. Patrick's Board could find and get away with using. In the last few years of its existence Alice was made by a faculty member who was a chemical engineer and while it still looked disgusting was said to be harmless.
Why is Alice no more? Well you can imagine with the crap that was in this tank not many student knights wanted to be submerged in it. It was the duty of the St. Patrick's Board to grab them and toss them in. This occasionally broke out into fights, but this was tolerated because of the long tradition of the ceremony. A few years ago a student knight broke a leg and some other people got beat pretty good. So the University finally decided to put an end to it.
Just one of the many crazy wacky events that surround the celebration of St. Patrick's Day in Rolla, Missouri.