Committee proposes ban on O-Week jacks

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by James Tolle

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Orientation Week jacks could be eliminated if a report by the O-Week Review Committee is approved by Vice President for Student Affairs Zenaido Camacho today.

The working copy of the O-Week Review Committee report written by co-chairs Hanszen College President Glenn Levy and Student Center Director Steve Sutton recommends that jacks should be abolished.

Section 6.1 of the committee's report said, "The consensus of the review meeting, after considering the many issues involved with jacks, is that there should be no jacks this coming year. While staff have tended to agree with eliminating jacks for years, this is one of the first years where most student coordinators have shared this view."

The report looks to the coming year as a trial year for a no-jack policy.

"There are those who feel that jacks are worth keeping, however, but they have yet to propose a working alternative which addresses the concerns of student fatigue, wasted resources and time, destruction of property, jack adjudication, the stress of dealing with jacks on a daily basis and difficulties of creating guidelines which will actually be adhered to," the report said.

In response to the working copy of the committee's report, Sid Richardson College O-Week Coordinator Stephe Gallagher and SRC advisor Dan Newman wrote a 13-page general response.

Newman and Gallagher asked the 1995 O-Week coordinators to sign a petition which stated that jacks should not be eliminated from O-Week 1996 at this time. Instead, the decision should be left to next year's coordinators.

The conclusion of Newman and Gallagher's response said, "The crux of what we are questioning in this part of our response is the 6.1 statement, `this is one of the first years where most student coordinators shared this view.' ... From our poll of coordinators outside of the review meeting, it seems that most student coordinators on Jan. 23 and 24 do not agree that the appropriate action to take is to decide at this time -- and on the advice of the 1995 student coordinators -- that jacks should be eliminated entirely from O-Week 1996."

Seventeen of the 23 coordinators signed the petition. It was given to Camacho yesterday.

Gallagher said that his and Newman's response was different from a standard rebuttal.

"Our response is not in opposition to the review report. In fact, it compliments large portions of the document, including proposals on jack adjudication. Dan and I do, however, feel strongly that jacks should not be eliminated from O-Week," Gallagher said.

The final O-Week Review Committee report was given to Camacho on Wednesday, according to Levy, but will be distributed on a larger scale next week.

While Levy insists that the final report is different from the working copy obtained by the Thresher, he did not specify the differences.

In general, Levy emphasized that the report is written to clarify certain aspects of O-Week that repeatedly cause problems for all involved.

"Without clarification, major problems can come up. One of the hopes of the review process is to address repeated long-term issues without taking power away from the colleges," Levy said.

According to Packy Saunders, one of the Jones College O-Week coordinators, many of the coordinators' opinions were not properly considered.

"Coordinators and staff [of O-Week] did not allow for many dissenting opinions. Those who did were railroaded by members of the O-Week Review Committee. So when reviewing the report of the O-Week Review Committee, I would like it on record that once O-Week began, many minority viewpoints were cast aside. To say that there is consensus or majority opinion expressed by much of the report is misleading," Saunders said.

Students' and advisors' opinions focus on the more abstract aspects of "jacking" during O-Week. Most people asked informally refer to it as being "fun," but more in-depth views were registered by some.

Baker freshman Scooter Tobin offered a mixed review.

"It was something to get involved in at the school at first, but it didn't have much of a lasting effect," Tobin said.

SRC Advisor Wes Yeackle and SRC freshman Amit Gulati looked upon jacks more as a chance to unify and share a common goal.

"Jacks are lots of fun. It's a way for people to come together," Yeackle said.

Gulati said, "This might sound cheesy, but it was sort of a bonding experience. I got to know a lot of people going on jacks. It was definitely a good way for people to come together and meet others."

According to SRC junior Paul O'Brien, jacks can also have a negative effect on the incoming class.

"During O-Week, you're told to be a total juvenile," O'Brien said.

This item appeared in the News section of the January 26, 1996 issue.

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