Flunk Day
Flunk Day is tomorrow.
Flunk Day is an annual event where, by surprise, all classes are canceled. A day's worth of carnival-like activities are planned.
Contents
Secrecy
Date
There is always speculation about the date of Flunk Day. Some people say the date moves depending on the weather or whether students already know it's Flunk Day. The logic behind this notion goes that if too many people know it's Flunk Day before the date, they will get drunk the night before and be more likely to get alcohol poisoning during the day.
This notion may just be an effect of the scare-letdown dynamic that the speculation creates for students. Some say that the date for Flunk Day is fixed from the beginning.
Planning
Union Board plans Flunk Day, and only select members of the board know the date. This year, one of those members was Sean Fors.
Xavier Romano also knows when Flunk day is. But his wife Vicky does not. No, she doesn't.
Scares & Speculation
The Safety Email
At some point during every spring term, Xavier Romano sends out an email with a list of safety precautions regarding the coming flunk day.
In 2006, the email was sent out the day before Flunk Day (some say to preeempt scares) leading to rumors in 2007 that Flunk Day would happen before the safety email was sent out.
Flunk Day Scares
Most years there are one or more Flunk Day scares. Some scares are intentionally instigated and perpetuated by a student, or more commonly, a group of students. Some scares occur spontaneously, when a given date is widely rumored to be Flunk Day. Scares may be corroborated by a variety of evidence.
Lawn-mowing
This piece of evidence has been cited both ways. The grass being mowed the day before a candidate date has been cited as evidence as well as the grass not being mowed. Vicky Romano says they mow the grass every day, which would take care of at least half of this criterion. Lawn-mowing is also epidemiologically linked to contracting tularemia, a potentially fatal zoonotic disease caused by aerosolization of rodent remains infected with the bacterium francisella tularensis.
The Mailroom
The night before Flunk Day 2006, Union Board stuffed student mailboxes early enough that students were able to discover the items before the mailroom closed. Some say precautions will be taken in the future, but lights on a closed mailroom have been cited as evidence on at least one occasion.
Friars
In past years, evidence of friars being picked up (a van driving around campus, sudden absence of seniors) has been cited. However, for 2007, friars will be alerted the morning of Flunk Day, eliminating this criterion.
Confirming Flunk Day
The Hotline
If you don't have access to your email, you can also dial the flunk day hotline at 8008 to find out if it's Flunk day. This is not the most reliable source, however, as in both 2006 and 2007 the hotline had not changed its message by the time the campus was woken up.
Xavier's Flunk Day Email
On the actual morning of Flunk Day, Xavier Romano, the Dean of Flunk, sends out an all-campus email letting everyone know that it is, in fact, the real Flunk Day. This is really the only reliable means of determining whether it is Flunk Day, or just a Flunk Day scare.
In 2007 the email was down at 5:30am. Fearing that students would not believe it was really flunk day without the official email, Xavier Romano sent a text message to Ellen Vessels confirming that it was indeed flunk day.
Flunk Day Activities
(main article:Flunk Day Activities)
There are many traditional Flunk Day activities.
The day starts with the entire campus being waken by the Friars, a group of seniors selected to start Flunk Day. In the morning, students enjoy a Mud Pit and Foam Pit to the sounds of a DJ. During the afternoon (usually after a nap) the lawn south of Seymour Hall has inflatable carnival games and karaoke. In past years, some students have also enjoy a bike ride to Lake Storey, though this activity was missing from the Flunk Day 2007 schedule. At night, Union Board holds an outdoor event such as a movie on a projector screen, a live band, or a dance party.
All meals are served outdoors on Flunk Day.
Flunk Day Issue of The Knox Student
Each year TKS comes out with a spoof issue of the newspaper. In 2005 and 2006, the spoof issue of the paper had not been produced yet so it was not in mailboxes the morning of as usual. In 2007, the paper was produced and printed well before May 8 and was drunkenly collected by many students. Controversy arose, however, due to the nature of the front page headline which read "Jesus Fucking Christ to speak at 2008 commencement." President Taylor, Xavier Romano, and Larry Breitborde called a meeting of the TKS editorial staff to discuss the issue. At the meeting Roger delivered a speech in which his expressed his thoughts. On the following day, he issued an email to the campus that read,
- Yesterday, Thursday, May 10, 2007, the editorial board of the student newspaper met with Dean Breitborde, Dean Romano, and me at our invitation.
- Dean Breitborde, Dean Romano, and I tried to explain to the members of the editorial board, in the bluntest possible terms, that the gratuitous front page headline in the Flunk Day edition of the student newspaper had been offensive and hurtful to many members of the Knox Community. Dean Breitborde, Dean Romano, and I tried to explain that those who took offense were not limited to just Christians or other people of faith. Many took offense at the insensitivity of the headline. We also tried to explain that our views had nothing to do with free expression. We acknowledged that freedom of expression and sensitivity to others do not always have the same boundaries. Free expression would sanction the headline. Sensitivity to others would not.
- We tried to explain that the reaction to the headline that we referenced is not limited to the campus community. The network of Knox alumni and friends is extensive and readily accessible in this age of the Internet. As we explained, alumni from outside Galesburg have called the College to express feelings ranging from disappointment to outrage. A trustee telephoned me to say that he was "embarrassed" to be a Knox trustee and that he had not ruled out resigning from the board. The effect of the headline on College fundraising cannot be estimated precisely, but it most certainly will be adverse.
- After our meeting, I personally delivered a letter of apology to Don Cooper, Publisher of the Register-Mail, which printed the Flunk Day edition in question, apologizing on behalf of the College that he and the Register-Mail's employees were subjected to the headline. Mr. Cooper expressed his appreciation to me then and subsequently in an email. He told me that he thought that the incident was a good reminder of something that he tells his employees: "with paper and ink, comes responsibility."
- I apologize for the College to all members of the Knox Community for the offensive Flunk Day student paper.
- I understand that the Broadcast, Internet and Publications Board has received complaints and other communications about the headline. The Broadcast, Internet and Publications Board, or BIP, includes students, faculty, and advisers to established campus media. BIP is the appropriate entity under the College's governance system to consider, in the first instance, what, if any, action should be taken concerning this matter.
- As offensive as the headline was to so many, it is important to bear in mind that it resulted from a serious error in judgment by a few students. This was not the first time, nor will it be the last time that students err in making judgments. From errors in judgment, we all can learn.
- I suspect that for many of us, the memory of the headline will be overshadowed by recollections of this past Monday evening, when over 400 people jammed into Kresge Recital Hall to hear and question Ambassador Zhou from the People's Republic of China. The questions from Knox students were tough, informed, and even critical. Yet they were asked with respect and sensitivity to our guest. The questions reflected an understanding of a central tenet of our campus community, well expressed in the following excerpt from the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities in the Faculty Handbook, which is reprinted in the Student Handbook:
- "Perhaps the best general guiding principle for any residential academic is one which emphasizes tolerance for a diversity of ideas and the necessity of mutual sensitivity and respect in interpersonal relationships. Special care should be taken to avoid actions or words which suggest racial prejudice, sexism or prejudice of any other nature. ... Common courtesies and respect for the dignity of others go a long way toward making a community what it ought to be."
- Let us now move forward together toward what will be an exciting Commencement and celebration of the Knox College Class of 2007.
- Roger
Controversy
Flunk Day is the source of much controversy because many students get very drunk. Every year, somebody (or somebodies) gets hurt and goes to the hospital. Every year, people say that Flunk Day might get canceled. The rumor spreads easily because the injuries and alcohol use are a liability for the college.
However, Knox President Roger Taylor stated in an article in The Knox Student that only about 100 people drink excessively on Flunk Day.
He is almost definitely wrong. Or his understanding of what constitutes 'excessive' drinking goes well beyond even students' standards of inebriation.
