LETTER: O-Week not about jacks, pranks

---

by Ryan Bates and Shay McGarr

---

Another Orientation Week has drawn to a close, and, we hope, another freshman class has been successfully introduced to Rice, its ways and traditions, its academics and its individual colleges.

And while coordinators and advisors attempted to reorganize their own class schedules, some of us involved in the organization and preparation of O-Week have had time in between the post-O-Week binges to reflect on the week and its effectiveness in orienting the freshmen.

A main point of contention between coordinators, advisors and even some freshmen and returning upperclassmen has been the issue of jacks.

An attitude pervaded some colleges during O-Week, an attitude that jacks were the most important activities of O-Week, that they were more important than orienting the freshmen, even more important than the freshmen themselves.

Even the Thresher subscribed to this view, asking "How exactly do you create a week of jacks, pranks and chants while expecting the students to sit down, shut up and be serious?"

O-Week is not about "jacks, pranks and chants." O-Week is about the freshmen and teaching them how to survive at Rice, socially and academically.

Although jacks can be used to instill college spirit and pride in the freshmen, two aspects about them ought to be noted.

The first is that no reason exists why jacks cannot accomplish this purpose and still respect some guidelines.

Jacks need not be destructive, nor do they need to happen on the first days of O-Week, to create the desired spirit.

The second aspect of note is that jacks are not indispensable within the framework of O-Week; there is no unity or spirit created by jacks which could not be duplicated through other activities.

Despite these points, which seem almost intuitive, jacks continued to be performed by both coordinators and advisors in a manner of disregard for both freshmen and policies decided upon by the O-Week coordinators.

Advisors defacing O-Week shirts at another college before freshmen arrived did not contribute to a positive experience for any of the freshmen and certainly did not build college spirit among them.

Nor did misinforming another college's freshmen about where to arrive or making personal attacks during matriculation via signs.

In each of these cases, the jacks were instigated by upperclassmen. The impact each of these had was wholly negative, both at the college level at which the jack was directed and at a campus-wide level.

These are not the only examples, however.

In many cases, it seemed that the upperclassmen involved in O-Week took it upon themselves to lead or plan jacks whose intent was destructive or dangerous, and irresponsible at the very least.

If the upperclassmen coordinators and advisors cannot be responsible enough to prevent incidents such as these from happening, how can we expect the university to continue to allow students to plan and run O-Week?

One other point should be addressed as well.

The role Glenn Levy played as Student Director of O-Week was invaluable.

Without his assistance and experience for this year's coordinators to refer to, no college's O-Week would have proceeded as smoothly and as successfully as they generally did.

It should be noted that no college was guiltless of pulling jacks during O-Week.

Some did manage to think up jacks which were creative, non-destructive, and still served the purpose of instilling college spirit admirably in both jacking and jacked colleges.

Perhaps it's time to reconsider the utility and purpose of O-Week jacks within the "changing landscape that is Rice tradition."

Ryan Bates

Wiess '96

Wiess O-Week Coordinator

Shay McGarr

Lovett '96

Lovett O-Week Coordinator

and 4 other O-Week coordinators

This item appeared in the Opinion section of the September 1, 1995 issue.

Copyright © 1996 The Rice Thresher. All Rights Reserved.
This document may be distributed electronically, provided that it is distributed in its entirety and includes this notice. However, it cannot be reprinted without the express written permission of:
The Rice Thresher, Rice University, 6100 Main, Houston, TX 77005-1892, USA.