Explanation to seniors unable to get into game

In response to the seniors who were unable to attend the men's basketball game on Sunday, we would like to discuss several of the issues and concerns raised in Monday's letter to the editor (.

Our plan for Saturday night was to distribute the 300 general student wristbands first and then begin the distribution of the 900 senior wristbands by swiping seniors' DukeCards to verify their class. This orderly method for sequential wristband distribution has, without exception, functioned flawlessly in the past, and we had no reason to expect that distribution for this senior game would go otherwise.

What actually panned out was an unforeseen situation. Seniors who were not part of the first 300 students should have joined the back of the existing line and remained there. Instead, many seniors, most of whom were arriving from a senior party where free alcoholic beverages were available, made their way to the front of the line, crowded around us as we attempted to distribute these first 300 wristbands and refused to listen to the line monitors who repeatedly instructed them to join the back of the line.

The crowd became so disruptive that we could not effectively distribute the first 300 wristbands, and the option of calling the police was considered. In an attempt to remove the disorderly seniors from the front of the line, we decided to form a separate line. Hundreds of seniors, many of whom were intoxicated, were still not satisfied and quickly began mobbing the line monitors and forcefully taking wristbands without proof of class or line position. The process ended up taking at least 45 minutes to pass out the first 300 wristbands. In the meantime, seniors had effectively pinned line monitors on the stairs of Schwarz-Butters.

Had this gone as planned, the line monitors would have swiped seniors' cards to verify their class, given them a wristband and calmly told them to return Sunday by 3:30 p.m. To those seniors with wristbands who did not gain admission to the game, we regret that you could not enter. We did not purposely reject seniors. In fact, any senior who joined the senior line as late as 4:45 p.m. (more than one hour late) was allowed to enter before the walk-up line. After that point, our priority was the walk-up line.

The Class of 2006 e-mail-not from line monitors-implied that students inside the party would be considered as being in line and would be guaranteed wristbands. We wish we had been contacted to fact check, and we would have gladly requested that they mention the correct distribution procedure and the 3:30 p.m. line-up in this email. After receiving this email, we attempted to have another letter sent to the senior class to correct the misinformation and provide more details. Finally, we submitted our policy for the senior wristband line on Wednesday in the form of a letter to the editor of The Chronicle, and it did not appear in Friday's paper or on the website.

Lauren Troyer

Head Line Monitor

Pratt '06

Devin Odom

Pratt '06

Chris Schumann

Pratt '06

Seth Weinberg

Pratt '06

Line Monitors