Report of the

Committee on Undergraduate Life’s

Ongoing Neighborhood Programming Task Group

2005-2006 Academic Year

December 10, 2005 Draft

Members

Megan O’Malley ’06, Committee on Undergraduate Life (Chair)

Jessica Gulley, Assistant Director of Campus Life

Jason Law ’06, Minority Coalition

Peter Nurnberg ’09, Freshman Representative

Dave Paulsen ‘87, Assistant Professor of Physical Education

Aaron Schwartz ’09, College Council

Jean Thorndike, Director of Campus Safety

Marcela Villada-Peacock, Multicultural Center Program Coordinator

The Ongoing Neighborhood Programming Task Group was charged in September, 2005, with setting forth guidelines and ideas for programming within the new Williams House System. We have come up with a broad reaching, diverse program which we believe provides both flexibility to take advantage of students’ creativity and structure to guide their thinking. Our recommendations are as follows:

I. Fall Semester “Welcome to the Neighborhood” Events

On the Saturday after classes begin (that is, the first weekend of school), each neighborhood will have a block party to celebrate the beginning of the year together. All neighborhood members, including students as well as faculty and staff and their families, will be invited. To encourage participation by all invitees, the event might start at about five o’clock, late enough to have dinner but early enough that families with children can leave at a reasonable hour. We request that Dining Services set up a grill in each neighborhood like they do for picnics on Sawyer Lawn (the dining halls will be closed). Each neighborhood shall determine its own entertainment. Ideas include a live band, a popcorn machine, a mini-convocation with a speech by the Neighborhood President, and visits by a cappella groups.

Throughout the fall semester, each neighborhood should sponsor a variety of events designed to help students meet each other. Neighborhoods could perhaps sponsor trips to go apple or pumpkin picking, to go rafting, or to play paintball. In addition, each neighborhood should sponsor a community service day. For instance, students could help local elderly people clean up their yards. We encourage students to take advantage of opportunities available to them in the wider community.

II. Campus-Wide Traditions

Williams College currently has a few existing traditions which we would particularly like to note as meriting strong future support. They include Mountain Day, Harvest Dinner, Ephraim Williams Day, and Lyceum dinners. The Gulielmensian yearbook should also be provided with adequate support to document each year accurately and vividly. Some of these traditions are stronger than others, but all encourage Williams College to come together to celebrate our community.

Five weeks a year, the clusters shall coordinate their programming around a specified theme. We recommend a week in October, two weeks during Winter Study, Mardi Gras week (February), and the generally empty second week of April. During these weeks, five types of events will be organized: a lecture, community service, an inter-neighborhood competition, a party, and a non-lecture event where students and faculty can interact. The neighborhoods shall agree amongst themselves which weekend they will organize each type of event. That is, throughout the year, a single cluster will throw each of the five event types once, so that duties rotate among the neighborhoods. Note that this restriction applies only to the five themed weeks; clusters may, of course, hold as many events as they would like. Possible themes are Halloween or the World Series in October and the Superbowl and a Tropical Week during Winter Study. Potential event ideas include: a Suitcase Party during Tropical Week; pumpkin carving with neighborhood children for Halloween; and a lecture about New Orleans during Mardi Gras. In addition to conventional advertising like posters, we encourage clusters to creatively promote a sense of festivity; one possible way of publicizing would be to decorate the main house in the cluster.

Williams already has three established big weekends: Homecoming, Winter Carnival, and Spring Fling. At these times, All-Campus Entertainment shall continue to provide entertainment for Thursday night; recent examples include a concert, a pig roast and fireworks (in conjunction with the Outing Club). On Friday night, all-campus student groups, such as MinCo or athletic teams, can host events. On Saturday evening, the neighborhoods shall organize the events. In our discussions, we learned that many years ago, five groups of houses organized a series of large parties, which is highly appropriate to the new House System. Each neighborhood shall throw a semiformal event. It will be open only to the neighborhood (including first-year affiliates) at the beginning of the night, but it will open up to the whole campus at eleven o’clock. This way, students in each neighborhood can come together to mingle, but everyone can also go out with their friends from other neighborhoods. After these events end, each neighborhood shall throw a late-night champagne brunch, perhaps from two to five o’clock. This tradition was invariably well attended, and we believe that students will enjoy the opportunity to come together to wind down, have a snack before bed, and recap the night with each other. The neighborhood champagne brunch will be only for upperclass members; either the JAs or Frosh Council should consider hosting a non-alcoholic late-night brunch for first-years. Of course, coordinating and planning such a busy weekend is a huge task. Since a variety of student groups are involved, including ACE, the neighborhoods, and the Outing Club (Winter Carnival), we recommend that a committee be formed for each weekend. For example, the Winter Carnival committee consisting of the three aforementioned groups would allow all the leaders to communicate efficiently and to pool their strengths and efforts.

Each big weekend will also continue to have unique events. For Homecoming, each neighborhood shall make a float to parade down Spring Street and be displayed at the tailgate for all students and alumni to see. In addition, we encourage the revival of the pep rally. It could be held at the pig roast, with appearances by fall sports teams and the cheerleading squad, and a speech by the College President or the Director of Athletics. Alternatively, a bonfire could be substituted for the pig roast; under staff supervision for compliance with the fire code, students could collect the wood themselves two weeks ahead of time.

We envision Winter Carnival as a smaller-scale version of Homecoming, as it is now. Instead of floats, each neighborhood should participate in the snow sculpture contest. The ski team may continue to sponsor a ceremony at Goodrich Hall to celebrate the opening of the ski races. For students who do not attend the races on Saturday, we suggest snow football games or old-fashioned trike races (students build tricycles out of found objects such as garbage cans to race down Chapin Hall Drive). Both events encourage both participation and spectatorship, so all students can take part somehow. A tailgate shall be scheduled to coincide with Saturday afternoon athletic events. Dining Services could provide food at the field house. It would be a family friendly event. To increase public involvement, in the afternoon before the hockey game, the rink could be opened up for a skating party.

Spring Fling is uniquely situated in the academic year calendar. Since it is at the end of the year, there are few sporting events to attract spectators. Consequently, we recommend that the festivities instead be situated around inducting first years into their new houses. In addition, we encourage houses to hold open houses, so all students can see what their rooms will look like the next year and to meet other students. For the evening, we would like neighborhoods to invite a former president of one of their houses to come speak (i.e. the Berkshire Quad cluster could invite an ex-president of Currier House). This way, current students would learn the history of their homes, giving them a sense of their roots and, hopefully, enlightening them on a previously unknown aspect of their house’s character. They might discover that their house was famous for throwing the best cocktail hour or for winning the snow sculpture contest. As at the fall semester “Welcome to the Neighborhood” events, this talk could take place at a Friday night block-party dinner.

III. Events for First-Year Affiliates

We fully recognize and support the success of the Entry System. Consequently, we do not recommend total participation in the House System by first years. During the inaugural year of the system, the Kickoff Committee will plan events for freshmen. We advise review of these events for subsequent years, but at this time, we decline to specify any long-range programming solely for first years.

We make a distinction between formal and informal participation. Formal participation includes programming which specifically targets and invites first years. Informal participation includes programming which first years may attend but to which they are not specifically invited. We suggest that neighborhoods use discretion when deciding if events will entail formal or informal participation. To avoid interfering with entry and class bonding, the number of formal-participation events to which first years are invited should be limited. They may not occur before October, and should happen only once per semester (before Spring Fling during spring semester). Furthermore, neighborhoods should also make clear which events are simply informal-participation (first years may attend) and which events are open only to upperclass members. If first years are not invited, neighborhoods should be sure to inform ACE or Frosh Council that they have no events planned for that night to entertain first years. To keep freshman abreast of cluster programming, neighborhoods should include them in their email list servers (ex. doddneighborhood@williams.edu, etc.). In these emails, the event planners shall note if they are open to first years.

To welcome students to the cluster, at the spring block party, everyone (all years) will receive a house t-shirt. For first years, it will be a type of welcome gift—a house-warming gift, if you will. Next, ideas for formal-participation events include a bowling night and a screw dance. This type of programming would work especially well with a Big Sibling/Little Sibling theme. Upperclassmen could volunteer to be a Big Sibling for the evening and introduce their Little Sibling to other people at the event. Similarly, for all-cluster dinners, upperclass students could sign up to mix with first years to get different years to interact.

IV. Events with Faculty and Staff

Williams College has a good reputation for close student-faculty relations. In reality, however, this has slipped by the wayside. Many students complain that, outside of awkward office hours, they have few chances to get to know the faculty and staff, and some professors lament the decline of meaningful encounters as well. Consequently, we would like to see faculty and staff interact with students outside of the classroom on a more regular basis. Currently, these opportunities are limited to the few times a professor asks students to his home for dinner or students ask their professor to the Lyceum. Our hunch is that the rarity of these occasions is induced by the difficulty of planning and executing them. Thus, we advocate the encouragement of more informal events. We would like to see students asking faculty and staff to the dining halls more often. Perhaps making Monday nights the “official” night to bring faculty and staff to the dining halls would help students feel more comfortable issuing an invitation, because it would seem less random. Also, both this night and the fact that faculty eat free should be better publicized. Similarly, professors should also take on some of the responsibility for increasing the frequency of meaningful interactions. It will be the duty of the faculty on the cluster governance boards to remind their fellow professors to participate. We recommend small-scale affairs; an economics professor would, for instance, invite five senior economics majors to dinner at a restaurant or at their house (funds are already available to do so, but they are not often employed).

Furthermore, neighborhoods shall invite faculty to their neighborhood events; a stressbusters night or game night would be especially appropriate. Team events such as the trivia competition would also benefit from faculty involvement. Similarly, neighborhoods should plan programming that specifically targets this type of interaction. We suggest that the deans and CLCs push for the planning of informal teas (similar to Sunday Snacks) where students and faculty could mingle in a low-pressure situation.

Finally, as the new governance structure indicates, faculty and staff will also play an integral, active role in helping to shape these opportunities. Faculty should actually help plan appropriate events. That is, the kickoff party would be a suitable venue for involvement, as faculty and staff’s families are also invited. Yet we encourage them to help plan non-party events as well. For example, a six-week lecture series on a somewhat offbeat topic for the neighborhood would be good. A minimal amount of reading and a casual venue such as a house living room would both increase the intellectual benefits and create a relaxed atmosphere conducive to genuine, unselfconscious discussion.

V. Community Service

Although groups such as the Lehman Board and the Hurricane Relief Coalition work hard to provide opportunities to the campus, the service culture at Williams College is somewhat weak. The majority of students simply do not participate. It is not for a dearth of choices. Instead, we believe that the problem boils down to one dominant factor: students’ lack of time to investigate, initiate, and commit. We believe the solution to this problem lies in short-term, specific opportunities. Student leaders, especially including house presidents and captains of athletic teams, should plan a well-defined service action that has limits. That is, a neighborhood might want to help out Meals on Wheels; the president would ask everyone to sign up for a single two-hour time slot on a certain date. Or, one Tuesday night in December, a house would get together to wrap presents for the Angel Project. These events are not amorphous, and their group dynamics help make them cool.

In addition, although the information is out there, finding it out is time-intensive if students don’t know where to look. So, neighborhoods should each create a “dummy-proof” community service brochure. It will contain a short list of opportunities, highlighting one-shot deals. It should clearly define the expectations of each service action, including scheduling and travel requirements. We also recommend that neighborhoods each adopt a so-called pet cause. Perhaps the brochure might explain the cause in greater detail, and a service action could be planned for it once each semester.

On a related note, the service culture is, admittedly, broad ranging, but this strength has led to a weakness, fragmentation. There is little awareness of a central point. So that students can readily know where to turn and to aid them in coordinating their efforts with each other, we recommend the establishment of an official point-person to point them in the right direction. The Chaplain is already well situated to serve in this capacity, because that office has a long-standing reputation for service-involvement. For the sake of continuity, then, the Chaplain should act as a point-person for community service. His office should possess relevant information such as the neighborhood brochures, and he should help various groups keep abreast of related happenings.

Next, participation at Williams is often anonymous. You donate a couple dollars to the Earthquake Relief Fellowship, or you turn off your lights during the “Do It In the Dark” campaign. The only incentive is a fleeting moment of the feel-good factor. Service actions that require face-to-face interaction, however, provide tangible benefits to the community and longer-term satisfaction. Hence, we encourage neighborhoods to sponsor events in which students actually meet the people they are helping. For example a Big Brother/Big Sister program is run by the psychologist at the elementary school. College students who participate tend to re-commit themselves, because their new relationship with a child is a very real incentive to continue. Similarly, the five neighborhoods should also try to connect their service actions sometimes. If, say, all five clusters had a Big Sibling program, they could all get together for a big field day. Finally, recognition works in both directions—it’s important for townspeople to know what students are doing. Consequently, the appropriate staff should help houses publicize their efforts through means such as the College website and press releases.

Community service is something students should do for the fulfillment it provides. The reality is, however, that students at Williams College are by nature driven by the desire for recognition. Seeing your name in nights, so to speak, can be a major motivation to participate. So, we suggest that each house nominate a student who significantly contributes to the service culture. This winner, along with the Multicultural Center’s Community Builder award, should be printed in the program for Commencement or Class Day. In addition, the neighborhood winner should have their name engraved on a plaque to be placed in the neighborhood trophy case—a visual reminder of the importance of service and a way to strengthen the sense of tradition that a service culture requires. Along the same vein, the Campus Life Awards have struggled. To increase its chances of success, the Campus Life Office should solicit nominations throughout the year instead of just at the end. This way, students will be able to recognize their peers as they accomplish something remarkable, rather than struggling in May to remember who sponsored that awesome event in September.

VI. Alcohol and Party Management

In her announcement of the new alcohol regulations, Dean Roseman referred to us several issues. First, we were charged with reviewing ACE’s practice of collecting money via the purchase of wristbands. It is right now the only way they can legally fund the purchase of alcohol. We recommend removing the tradition of collecting subsidized money only through ACE and allowing organizations and groups such as houses to find their own creative and legal way of funding. This change will get the burden of alcohol off of one now-struggling organization and distribute it among several groups which are better equipped to deal with it. We would like to note that there was dissent within this committee about the best way to collect funds; consequently, we do not feel comfortable recommending a single method to apply universally to all organizations. Next on our list were firmer definitions of the gradations on party size. After reviewing these gradations, we suggest keeping them as they are. They are actually relatively specific while allowing for the unpredictability of party attendance. We believe that the gradations should be the same for both all-campus and neighborhood parties; they are based purely on the number of people expected to visit an event, and numbers do not change according to the proportion of neighborhood/non-neighborhood students in attendance.

Party management is, however, in need of an overhaul. Right now, the system does not work. Party registration is overly bureaucratic, coordinators have difficulty finding hosts, hosts often do not even know the details of the event, and houses are left in shambles. To ameliorate these problems, we first suggest streamlining the registration process. If, for instance, Dodd neighborhood wants to register a party, instead of heading straight to Security with a handful of forms, the party coordinator will simply visit the Activities Office. Programming is their responsibility as it is, so it only makes sense to send students there. We hope that the registration process will become more informal. The school does need to know what is happening on a given evening, but the process need not be overly complicated. Security’s role will be only to ensure the safety of partygoers. Officers will obviously do compliance checks, but this office need not be burdened by the planning of the event. In our view, the simpler it is for students to register a party, the more likely they are to be willing to come in to the Activities Office and Security and feel comfortable registering the event.

To fix the disconnect between the various workers involved in throwing a party, we suggest the formation of teams of workers. The various roles (coordinator, peer monitors, hosts, and servers) are still necessary. We suggest that the neighborhood Community Liaisons put together a pool of host-trained students willing to work in these capacities. He may wish to encourage more students to become host trained to build this pool. Then, he shall create teams of workers who work together on a regular basis. This way, they will get to know each other, improving trust and communication. Central to this improved communication is a clearer understanding of who is responsible for cleanup. During the planning process, the party coordinator shall delegate cleanup to specific workers, with clear expectations of when and how the venue shall be cleaned.

We also recommend that students consider (and CLCs promote) planning some events that start earlier than usual. Now, students have nothing to do after dinner on a weekend night, so they tend to simply sit in their rooms pregaming until the “real” party starts. We suggest small-scale events that start at seven or eight in the evening. For example, Tyler neighborhood could have a Wings Preparty in Tyler House living room with food from the Old Forge from eight to ten. Students in that neighborhood would have something social yet relaxed to do before they went out.

VII. Athletics

Currently, casual athletics (that is, non-intercollegiate athletics) is the sole domain of the intramural program. A staff member from the Athletics Department over sees the broad program, but specific sports are run by paid students (one general facilitator oversees sport-specific coordinators). Participation in the program is shrinking, in part because the pool of potential students is shrinking due to the growth of club sports. A few years ago, there was a push to augment the program with a wider variety of activities, such as video game tournaments. This effort was unsuccessful—the extra competitions were created and run solely by a staff member, and without student impetus and leadership, they drew few students.

Intramurals should continue, then, to be essentially student-run. It can, however, be strengthened. Leaders are most effective when they have had time to gain experience and grow into their positions. Thus, the same student should run the student facilitator position several years in a row, a change that would provide continuity and stability for the program. If students feel that additional staff involvement would be helpful, they may consider working with one of their staff associates (coaches will be affiliates, as will professors).

Right now, many teams are formed within houses, a tradition which we would like to continue. We stop short, though, of mandating that all intramural teams must come from houses. This program shall remain a way of bringing students across campus together to join in literally on the same team. We hope, however, that neighborhoods will of their own accord field their own teams as is often done now.

Yet, physical activity is a crucial component of the development of the whole person, a Williams tenet, and athletic competitions are one of the most effective ways of drawing people together under a common goal. Consequently, we support an inter-neighborhood tournament once each semester. For one weekend, the neighborhoods shall each form a team to compete for points towards the House Cup. We recommend tournaments in football, broomball, and softball.

VIII. The House Cup

The House Cup is an inter-neighborhood competition. It awards points for a broad array of events in order to support diversity in programming. Points are awarded either for winning a specific event or for participation rates. This way, students do not necessarily need skill to help out their neighborhood—they simply need a willingness to get out there with their peers. At this time, only ten events throughout the year are included in the House Cup, because this committee is wary of overburdening the government and overspecifying programming. In future years, however, we encourage students to augment or to modify the selection of events to best suit their interests. Please see the appendix for the specific points structure.

In order to keep up an aura of mystery and excitement, we suggest that students be updated only at the big weekends about the current standings. Throughout the semester, though, the points should be posted in each of the main houses. The winner shall be announced at Spring Fling. A prominent staff member shall present the trophy; we suggest that the Director of Campus Life be named the Dean of the Cup. After it is awarded, the House Cup itself shall be kept in the winning neighborhood’s trophy case during the following year.

This committee must confess that, at this time, we are not unanimous about the specific structure that we have set forth. Thus, we reiterate that during planning for kickoff and during the ongoing evaluation of the House System in coming years, campus leaders should keep track of ways to improve the House Cup.

We are, however, in agreement that it is important that some version of the House Cup be put in place. It will encourage students to create high quality and varied programming. And, of course, Williams students always love the buzz of friendly competition; it will be an incentive for individuals to participate in the wide-ranging selection of events which we are encouraging. We encourage students to get creative when brainstorming. For example, at Hope College, the freshman-sophomore tug-of-war is one of the most popular traditions at their school, and version of that might be fun here. Or, the neighborhoods could hold an arts contest; each cluster could have one person compete for theatre, music, and oration.

IX. Dining

Breaking bread together is universally important in the establishment and maintenance of relationships. At Williams College, students have a choice of four (soon to be five) dining halls. This variety is great for a change of pace and for busy students who need flexibility, but it will also be important that students have the chance to get to know their neighborhood peers over the table, a social cornerstone. Hence, although this committee does not recommend regularly restricting students only to their home dining hall, it does suggest that dining be considered a fundamental part of neighborhood programming.

Dining Services currently sponsors several special dinners throughout the year, such as Harvest Dinner and the Latino Heritage Month dinner. We suggest that during at least one open month per semester (that is, a month without an established special dinner) each neighborhood should hold its own dinner. All cluster dinners should take place on the same night, as conversations with Dining Services have revealed that it would facilitate menu planning and keep costs low. Planning shall be executed by an informal committee consisting of one student representative from each neighborhood and the executive chefs of the dining halls. These dinners should truly be considered special events, complete with tablecloths on the tables. On the night of the event, the hall will be open only to the students in that neighborhood. If student government sees fit, faculty and staff affiliates may also be invited.

We confess that our discussion of this topic was somewhat impeded by the impending future reopening of the new student center. It is hard to predict at this time how student attendance and staff allocation at each dining hall will change. Consequently, we request that a future committee reassess dining’s role in the House System.

X. Working With All-Campus Student Groups

Although the House System will, of course, be a new fount of programming, all-campus student groups shall remain another important source. Not only do they have experience in planning events, but they also bring students together in a way that the House System cannot. Yet they cannot do everything. For instance, All-Campus Entertainment has increasingly struggled with declining student participation rates both in the planning of and actual attendance at regular weekend parties. ACE does, however, successfully plan other types of events, such as the Regurgitator, Stressbusters, and First Fridays. On the other hand, the House System will be well placed to plan the house parties. Consequently, we suggest that ACE and the neighborhood governments share the responsibility, with most house parties being thrown by the neighborhoods and ACE concentrating on other aspects of programming.

Of course, we acknowledge that ACE is totally student-run, and so that decision will ultimately be theirs. We simply hope that the two bodies will work parallel to each other and take advantage of each other’s strengths. Similarly, this committee declines to dictate to any other current all-campus student group any specifics of programming. At the same time, it is important that all groups have a very clear understanding of their roles. Communication is essential to successful planning, especially in a decentralized system. Groups currently have few significant problems in this respect. Leaders with whom this committee spoke did, however, suggest that they might want neighborhood representatives to meet with them. We leave representational decisions up to those groups. Along a similar vein, big weekends involve a number of student groups. For ease and efficiency of coordination, we suggest that a committee be formed for each weekend consisting of representatives from all applicable groups (i.e. ACE, the neighborhoods, and the Outing Club for Winter Carnival).

Conversations with student leaders revealed that they had two primary problems with achieving high attendance rates at their events. First is the issue of time constraints; Williams students are invariably busy with academics and extracurriculars, and tend to just plain run out of time. Obviously, there is little we can do about that. We can, however, help with publicity, the other complaint. Admittedly, programming is currently advertised through numerous avenues: the Daily Advisor, the Daily Messages, list servers, and countless posters. Perhaps the problem is, then, in simple informational overload. If this is the case, we recommend that each neighborhood have its own bulletin board. This would not be a place for any student group to hang posters—we already have that. Instead, it could have a central calendar, regularly updated with events scheduled both within the neighborhood and by all-campus groups. This bulletin board could also be used to display the House Cup points standings and to highlight achievements by neighborhood students---essentially to get to know both what is going on in the neighborhood and who is living there. Its maintenance would be the responsibility of the Historian, whom groups could contact to have their event added.

XI. Use of the New Student Center

The new student center will include spaces for student group offices and meetings, dining, performance, and gatherings—essentially, most aspects of programming. Consequently, we envision the student center working in tandem with the House System. First of all, at the front of the building will be a screen with scrolling messages about various events going on around campus; this will aid in communication between programming planners and potential attendees. Neighborhood programming will have five loci of activity, and all-campus programming will logically revolve around the student center. Here, students from all neighborhoods will be able to come together at one central point. It will be open twenty-four hours a day, so student from all around campus will have a mutual meeting place at any time. This gathering space will also have the largest capacity of any hall, ballroom, or similar venue on campus, adding to its all-campus appeal. We recommend that all-campus student groups establish regularly occurring events based at the new student center. For instance, the great hall would be a good space for an event like First Fridays, and the pub could host Third Thursdays (like the weekly Dance Party at the Log). Furthermore, we encourage groups to hold non-alcoholic programming at the student center. Often groups argue that they need to have alcohol at their event to stimulate attendance. Since the pub is in the building, however, students who would like to drink would have the option of stepping right outside the party to satisfy that desire. The event itself could remain alcohol-free, which would also ease the planning process (no need for a host). Essentially, the new student center will be the perfect place to bridge gaps across all sectors of student life, from clusters to alcoholic preferences.

Respectfully submitted,

The Task Group on Ongoing Neighborhood Programming

Appendix: Structure for 2006/2007 House Cup:

Ten Events

1) Fall soccer tournament (In September) – 10% of available points

2) School Spirit Prize (awarded at homecoming for best tailgate or float) – 10%

3) Winter Study Broomball tournament – 10%

4) Snow Sculpture contest during Winter Carnival – 5%

5) Trike race during Winter Carnival – 5%

6) Spring softball tournament – 10%

7) Spring Fling apache relay or open house – 10%

8) Late spring trivia contest– 10%

9) Best Lecture (based on highest level of attendance) – 10%

10) Community service contest (based on number of per capita community service hours) – 20%

The House cup will be awarded on the last day of Spring Fling

-Possible presenters

1) President Schapiro

2) Professor Dudley

3) The chairman of the committee organized to supervise the yearlong competition

50% of the points will be determined or announced during the final weekend of competition

-No cluster can clinch the cup before the final weekend

The Trivia and Lecture competitions will include faculty participation

Point system:

-The point scale will be as follows:

1^st place: 10 points

2^nd place: 5 points

3^rd place: 3 points

4^th place: 2 points

5^th place: 1 point

-A 5% event will have the above point rewards

-A 10% event will have the above totals multiplied by 2

-A 20% event will have the above totals multiplied by 4

-Total points in 2006/2007 cup = (2)(21)+(7)(42)+(1)(84) = 420

The cup will be awarded to the cluster with the most points

-In the case of a tie, the cup will be awarded to the cluster with the highest GPA (This is just a suggestion; we suggest that governance brainstorms and decides on a tiebreaker by the beginning of the school year.)