 "Photo: Tommy Theis")
A new policy prohibiting violent or intimidating games that are played on campus has been enacted by the Campus Activities Board. The board is part of the Student Governing Association and includes three SGA members, said Annie Oliver, speaker pro tempore of the Student Senate.
The policy, Chapter 8590 of the K-State Policies and Procedures Manual, prohibits games and activities that include: "The act or simulated act of shooting objects at another person, the act or simulated act of stalking or ambushing others and other acts or simulated acts that can be seen by a reasonable observer as violent or intimidating."
Possible sanctions for playing these games include "removal from campus, being banned from campus, suspension or expulsion."
The policy was instated for the safety of people on campus who are not participating in games, such as visitors and faculty. Oliver said the policy originated when the university administration became concerned with some of the games that were played on campus.
Some of these games include "Humans versus Zombies (HvZ)" and "Fugitive." The games are usually organized by students. Jesse Riggs, senior in mass communication and organizer for HvZ, said he had no knowledge of the policy when it was enacted.
In HvZ, over 100 players participate in a week-long, 24/7 competition. Riggs calls the game a "moderated game of tag" and said the status of all the contestants is tracked via a Web site.
Members of the group wear armbands if they are human and zombies don headbands to distinguish the opposing sides from one another. Humans use Nerf blasters to fend off zombies as the zombies try to tag the humans.
He said that before they began playing the game during the fall semester of 2007, they approached the campus administration to ensure the game was within acceptable campus policies. Riggs said that last fall he again spoke about the game with Pat Bosco, vice president of student life, who subsequently forwarded the game rules to Gayle Spencer, assistant dean of student life and coordinator for OSAS.
Riggs never heard back from Spencer, he said, until after the policy was created and he contacted Spencer himself.
"This policy was enacted without the knowledge of the affected parties," Riggs said. "We can't address concerns unless we know about them."
Every effort is made to play the game away from nonparticipants, he said, and dart blasters are never used within campus buildings.
Spencer said that she had "competent staff handling it" and apologized to Riggs if she had not talked to him regarding the issue.
Michael Proctor, senior in finance, leads the Fugitive game on campus. The game is on its third year at K-State.
"I can understand why they would put a policy like this in place," Proctor said. "We notified campus security officials before we played and they're at the point where they don't really care."
The game involves a group of "cops" staking out positions throughout campus. They attempt to stop the "fugitives" as they try and make it from one end of campus to the other.
He said a faculty advisor was
willing to join to make the group an official campus club, but said that with the new policy, that is not likely to happen.
Like in HvZ, the participants in Fugitive are also marked by special clothing artifacts and they contain the game to the campus grounds so they do not trespass on private property, Proctor said.
"When games like these are being played at night, we are concerned that students playing the game or just walking on campus may be in danger," Oliver said. "This policy does not aim to terminate these games by any means, it simply asks participants to play elsewhere."
Riggs asked the Senate to consider legislation to repeal the policy or pass legislation that would allow organized gaming to continue on campus.
Senator Mark Savoy, senior in sociology and political science, said he feels like the policy is needed to protect the university from lawsuits. However, he also feels that HvZ and Fugitive are not violent games if they are considered as tag.
"I don't feel like they should take these away from students," Savoy said. "I think it would be worthwhile if SGA rethought the policy and potentially allowed some games on campus."
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22 comments
If admins are concerned about hypothetical stupid people doing stupid things, then why don't they ban stupid people doing stupid things on campus? Why are they banning the smart people from doing smart things on campus?
I feel that there is a laziness when it comes to administration being proactively involved with these student groups to reach a reasonable compromise. Who pays their salaries? Oh, yeah, students!
Keep playing HvZ
Article XII Student Rights
1201. The following rights are guaranteed to students:
D. The right to free and timely access to statements of policy which affect students; the university
therefore, should publish policies affecting students.When was this policy put into action? No notice is is not timely notice or access!
Why weren't students involved in this policy's creation since violation of it could result in a conduct violation?
Where is student government in all of this?
Article XII Student Rights
1201. The following rights are guaranteed to students:
D. The right to free and timely access to statements of policy which affect students; the university
therefore, should publish policies affecting students.When was this policy put into action? No notice is is not timely notice or access!
Why weren't students involved in this policy's creation since violation of it could result in a conduct violation?
Where is student government in all of this?
Article XII Student Rights
1201. The following rights are guaranteed to students:
D. The right to free and timely access to statements of policy which affect students; the university
therefore, should publish policies affecting students.When was this policy put into action? No notice is is not timely notice or access!
Why weren't students involved in this policy's creation since violation of it could result in a conduct violation?
Where is student government in all of this?