Cameron Crazies may be prepared to face any force of nature during tenting, but this weekend proved that snow won’t be one of those challenges.
Krzyzewskiville tenters have yet to start tenting duties following kick-off celebrations Jan. 30, when grace was called because of the 6 inches of snowfall Durham received Friday night, said Head Line Monitor Zach White, a senior. The grace period will be in effect until Monday morning and could be extended depending on weather conditions, White added.
“I’m certainly not looking for anyone to get sick,” he said.
The inclement weather also affected kick-off events—the watch party for the men’s basketball game against Georgetown University and the rXn Dance Party were canceled. To avoid unfavorable ground conditions, White said blue tenting set-up—which coincided with the end of black tenting—was moved from Saturday morning to 4 p.m. Friday.
The rXn Dance Party, co-sponsored by the Duke University Union, the Line Monitors and the men’s basketball team, will be rescheduled for sometime in February or the weekend of personal checks in March, said DUU Special Projects Director Christie Falco, a senior.
“We were worried about the safety of both students trying to get to the event, but also all of the professionals that would have to come to campus to make the event happen—people like the DJ, security and maintenance,” she said.
Despite the other cancellations, the activities to determine tent order went as planned Saturday. One of the three events, Dash to the Secret Spot, required students to go to a specific location on campus that was announced online. To ensure that students remain safe in the snow, White said he sent out an e-mail informing participating students that their cars would not be useful during the event. The location of the secret spot was Cameron Indoor Stadium.
White said he has “generally heard positive responses so far” about the new process to determine tent order. This is the first year that tenting order has been determined by a series of activities, instead of on a first-come first-serve basis to pitch tents in K-ville. The tenting policy underwent revision last Fall and included changes such as the introduction of official black tenting and a delayed start date for blue tenting, along with the kick-off activities.
Several tenters said they approved of the new method of deciding tent order. In one event, students had to answer questions pertaining to Duke basketball.
“It was kind of like studying for a test,” said junior Scott Basford of the Duke Basketball Trivia. “It wasn’t that bad, and I learned some things about Duke history anyway. It was definitely better than staying out there for an extra month.”
Seven groups completed black tenting, and 50 more groups joined the blue tenting line-up Saturday, White said.
Junior Lauren DeRuyter, who completed black tenting, said the experience was much better than she expected, and that the line monitors treated the groups well.
“I thought black tenting was a complete success,” White said. “I talked to a lot of the people who did black tenting and most of them were pretty pleased with it.”
Although the initial policy for black tenting did not allow for grace—allotted time off from tenting, White said that he called grace twice during the week of black tenting: once for a tornado watch and again on Friday for the impending snow storm.
DeRuyter’s tent group obtained the first spot in line after the kick-off celebrations and will be given first pick of seating in the student section in Cameron Indoor for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill game. The group’s tent number, however, is technically No. 2 because tent No. 1 is reserved for the basketball team.
“We just wanted to have a tent out there for the basketball team,” White said. “We figured what better spot to put them other than tent No. 1.”
The idea to create the tent for the basketball players has been discussed for a while among the Line Monitors, White added.
The possibility of more snow and inclement weather later this week could force tenters out of K-ville once again, but White said he wants to put the health of the students first and has no qualms about giving more grace after an already extended grace period this past weekend.
“The last thing in the world I want is for Cameron Indoor to be packed with a bunch of kids who are too sick to scream their hearts out,” White said. “So obviously we’re trying to keep everyone nice and healthy.”
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