Jack policy ` works,' coordinators say

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by Peggy Lai

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"I think for the most part it was a giant step forward," Vice President for Student Affairs Zenaido Cam-acho said. He cited good communication between the O-Week coordinators as the reason for the improvement.

Every year, the coordinators for the upcoming O-Week have the power to recreate or alter the jack policy.

"All of the coordinators agreed that changes in the jack policy were necessary, and so we essentially redefined jacks and created a new policy, of which all of the O-Week coordinators approved," Jones College Jack Coordinator Cynthia Chi said.

Hanszen College Jack Coordinator Jenn Healy said, "The jack policy was created on a basis of trust between the coordinators. The coordinators decided that the policy should not set rigid limits which would most likely encourage circumvention and testing of such hard and fast rules.

"Instead, the policy encouraged jacks that focused on the spirit of jacks: freshman participation, creativity, responsibility, etc.," she said.

In the new jack policy, colleges had the option before O-Week to choose not to participate in jacks. If so, they would neither jack other colleges nor be jacked. No college chose this option. Also during O-Week, the jack coordinators met every morning to discuss the jacks that had occurred. Any unresolved conflicts would have been brought before the chief justices. They never had to meet.

"The jack policy this year was intentionally imprecise and was very dependent upon the trust built among the coordinators this summer," Wiess College Jack Coordinator Bruce Knuteson said. "A comparison of O-Week this year and last year suggests that this type of `spirit policy' is perhaps more effective than some alternatives."

The destructive aspect of jacks was a major issue last year. The 1996 Jack Policy states that a jack should "not damage anyone either physically, mentally or emotionally."

"In addition," the policy stated, "jacks will not be cleaned up by Food and Housing."

"We cleaned up anything that wasn't simple to clean up ... anything that couldn't be washed away with water," Baker College Jack Coordinator David Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez also said that if there was any further dissatisfaction, it was expressed in the daily jack coordinator meetings, and Baker advisors and freshmen would return to do further tidying up.

"As a result of jacks, there was a lot of work," Food and Housing staff members Antonio Alejos and Moises Romero said. "But at least at Wiess it was a little better this year."

Sid Richardson Jack Coordinator Jeremy Martin said, "The most important reason that we did not have problems this year is that we had the common goal of not ruining O-Week for the new students. We did not want to be the cause for any new student not enjoying O-Week to its fullest potential."

Chi, Martin and Knuteson said that they believed jacks were downplayed a little more this year, and that this contributed to freshman enthusiasm for O-Week.

Knuteson suggested moving the jack starting time from midnight on Monday to Tuesday night at midnight as a way to divert the emphasis from jacks.

"If the idea [of jacks] is to encourage class unity, it's a good idea, but sometimes people can go overboard," Wiess freshman David Zuckerman said.

This item appeared in the News section of the September 13, 1996 issue.

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