Jumping through Hoops for Rings
It’s
not all champagne and jewelry for juniors at Ring Night
BY. JESSICA DIFFER
If the campus is getting loud and there are blindfolded
people on the lawn there can only be one explanation: Ring Night!
It starts on Thursday. Juniors at Hollins University descend
upon the cafeteria dressed strangely, collect their dinners and sit on the
floor of the Moody Dining Hall. Each student is dressed as a state and upon
request must stand and present an interesting fact about their chosen location.
Junior Sophia Koinis has rebelled. She is dressed as
Puerto Rico and she proudly stands to proclaim "Puerto Rico, we're not a
state and we want it to stay that way!"
“Ring Night is an ever-evolving tradition in which seniors
secretly adopt junior ring sisters. The juniors participate in skits and other
silly antics in hopes of earning their class rings from Hollins University and
discovering who their ‘sisters’ are.”
This is what the Hollins University website has to say about
Ring Night. It sounds innocent and sweet, exactly how you would want it to
sound for the parents of prospective students. In reality, it doesn’t even
begin to give a picture of what happens during the festivities of Ring Night.
“Ring night is about loving humiliation,” said senior
Courtney Hamilton. “It’s not hazing because none of it is dangerous. It’s a fun
way to make the juniors feel as if they’ve been initiated into something for
all of their hard work.”
Hamilton was one of several seniors who “adopted” a junior.
The seniors decide what their ring sisters will have to do to earn their rings.
On Thursday night the juniors are blindfolded and guided by the seniors and by
sophomore volunteers. While blindfolded they participate in games on Front Quad
including the hokey pokey and a tug of war. This year juniors even engaged in a
blindfolded Soul Train line.
“You shouldn’t laugh because they’re blindfolded and
helpless,” said senior Amanda Shideler. “But it just looks funny.”
After the games, the juniors are presented with decorated
posters with a list of demands that the juniors must complete in order to get
their rings. Usually there is a demand that requires the juniors to do
something nice for members of the Hollins Community. Posters made by students
from the Fall Ring Night praising the Hollins dining staff still hang in the
dining hall.
“Demands are supposed to be fun and a little bit
challenging,” said senior Lisa Bower. “But you should do something useful. And
you should get something out of it of course.”
In past years students participating in Ring Night have
complained that excessive demands at a busy time of year when they are also
facing dealines from professors keep them from
getting any sleep at night. Another factor that has brought scrutiny on the
event is the presence of alcohol when some students are not over the legal age
for consumption. The University has taken a stance that Ring night is an
acceptable tradition as long as the particpants are
careful. Most seniors would argue that their underclass counterparts are far
from danger.
“You do this for your friends and you would never do anything
to endanger a friend." said Hamilton. "I wouldn't make excessive
demands of my sister.I requested cupcakes and muffins
because she’s an awesome baker and I think it’s a demand that we can both
enjoy.”
Besides the demands there are also events that take place
over Friday and Saturday including skit presentations and a scavenger hunt.
People who aren’t participating in the activities can watch the skit
presentations, but they must first sign a contract stating that they will
respect the occasion and will not haze the participants.
“This isn’t cruel and unusual,” said Junior Kathleen Freeman.
“Well, maybe not cruel.”
Freeman has been looking forward to Ring Night since she was
a sophomore helper last year. She didn’t anticipate what her ring sisters had
in store for her. On Friday she entered the Moody Center dressed as MTV
character Daria Morgendorfer
in a fatigue jacket and oversized sunglasses. Upon request she had to stand and
recite a poem written for her friend and fellow junior Ashleigh Anderson. She
participated in the skits on Saturday night and received her basket full of
goodies.
“The basket’s are a bonus,” said
Sofia Koinis. “You pay for the ring so you know that
you’re going to get it. The baskets are a bonus prize for completing all of
your demands and taking the humiliation with a smile.”
Koinis dressed up and did an impersonation of Britney Spears giving
birth for the skits on Saturday night and was surprised to discover that she
didn’t hate the experience. As a dancer Koinis has
been preoccupied with the upcoming dance show and she believes it actually gave
her an outlet during a stressful period.
Koinis was especially touched that her ring sisters included her
favorite wasabi peanuts and Star Wars memorabilia in
her basket. In addition to their goody baskets, many of the juniors also
receive a bottle of champagne to be opened when they take the ceremonial ‘First
step” onto front quad in the autumn.
“There’s a sense of transition or initiation that comes with
ring night,” said Freeman. “You feel like you are that much closer to
graduation and you get to share the experience with your friends.”
There is some concern that low participation numbers might
threaten the tradition. While participation was high in the during the Fall
semester, particpation was waning this Spring to such
a degree that senior class president Shannon Curley sent an appeal to senior
via e-mail asking them to please adopt a junior ring sister, because there were
not enough seniors to help with all of the junior participants.
Senior April Seymore belives that this is because of all of the pressures facing
seniors in the spring term before they graduate.
"Between classes, work, preparing resumes and looking
for jobs and apartments, a lot of seniors have a full plate," said Seymore. "It's not that we don't care, but people have
to understand that this is a stressful time for us and we have to be looking
towards the future."
Again, good job, however it would be cool
if you could have gotten more of a profile of one participant in this as well.
I think it would be cool to see one view of the entire 3 days. Great job
though! -Ashleigh