Unauthorized jack injures student

By Jocelyn Wright     3/20/08 7:00pm

Willy Week jacks are typically harmless, humorous and a minor inconvenience. However, an unauthorized jack by Will Rice College --- in which members of the college strung up spiderwebs made of fishing wire across campus -- broke this tradition when two students got caught in them. At about 1 a.m. Thursday morning, Martel College sophomore Jen Pan was riding her bicycle and hit one of Will Rice's spiderwebs strung in the path from Lovett College to Lovett lot. She said the wire twisted around her neck and cut her.

"I was really out of it and got confused and thought I was dead," Pan said. "It was actually really traumatizing because I had this weird making-peace-with-my-life thing, and then I found out I was alive, and it was really strange. On the one hand, [thinking I was dead] was all a lie because I wasn't dead, but on the other hand I did all the things a dying person should do."

Pan said a person walking back to Baker College saw her, made sure she was okay and got scissors to start cutting down the wire while Pan recovered.

---

---

"I was really hysterical," Pan said. "I'm pretty awful at responding to trauma and totally unresourceful."

Pan said she warned another biker who was riding along the path about the wire. Pan said a group of people doing the Will Rice jack came by and started putting the fishing wire back up, even after [people] had explained that it was dangerous.

"I walked away because I was so angry because of how [stupid] people were being," Pan said. "The last thing you want to hear when you nearly die is 'Don't worry about it; it's going to be really funny.'"

Hanszen College sophomore Daniel Jong also said he was injured when he ran into a spiderweb by the Sallyport around 2 a.m. He said he was going at a leisurely speed when he felt the wire and his bike got stuck. Jong said he fell off his bike and got two scratches on each arm and three on his face although only one is still obvious. He said his bike was more damaged than he was and now it is difficult to ride.

Pan said she ran into another group of Will Rice students putting up the fishing wire on her way back to Martel. She said these students were putting the fishing wire at knee-level in hopes of preventing an accident like Pan's.

"For biking it would still be really bad because you would hit it and fly off your bike," Pan said. "I can't think of any way [to put up fishing wire in which] a biker could [hit it and] survive."

Jong said the jack could have been funny if Will Rice students had used something less dangerous than fishing wire.

"If it was cellophane, something that covered the whole place, even though it was invisible, it would be funny," Jong said. "I can see why they did it, but they didn't plan for people biking. It was a funny idea turned wrong."

The Will Rice jacks committee said they did not get the jack approved since they were not targeting a specific college and there was no single jack coordinator suitably qualified to approve the jack. In retrospect, they said they should have shared their plans with the jack coordinators of all the colleges. They said that once one of the groups found out Pan had cut her neck on one of the webs, they called the other groups and instructed them to remove any remaining webs that posed a possible hazard.

"The jack was never meant to be malicious or harmful," Will Rice Jacks Committee members said in a written statement. "We made every effort to keep the strings loose and visible, but we clearly overlooked some safety issues involving cyclists."

Pan said although the event was traumatizing she was unable to be too angry at Will Rice because some of her good friends live there. Pan said Will Rice could not be fined because the jack was not approved. She can press charges or sue the college instead, but she said will not be doing this.

"I really don't want to get any of my friends in trouble," Pan said. "That's the only reason I'm not [pressing charges or suing someone]. I wanted to get angry, but it's really hard to get angry when your friends are in on it."

Jong said he was angry about the incident and that he wanted to find the culprit so he could make someone pay for repairs to his bike.

"They were negligent and should be rightfully punished for being idiots, even though it was a decently funny idea," Jong said.

The committee said future jacks from Will Rice will reflect more attention to possible safety hazards.

Assistant Dean of Student Judicial Programs Don Ostdiek said this jack was one of at least three jacks on campus that had led to reports being filed with the Rice University Police Department. One report was filed for the doors at Brown College being bolted shut, and the other was for alarms being taken off the doors at Will Rice. He said he was in the early stages of investigating the incidents with RUPD to determine if students had violated the Code of Conduct.

Ostdiek said he had some basic guidelines in his mind for what would and would not be acceptable as jacks.

"Basically, you can't violate the law, you can't violate the code of conduct and you can't endanger people's lives or well-being," Ostdiek said. "You shouldn't do anything stupid. Then it's up to students to make decisions and make sure they don't endanger anyone."

Dean of Undergraduates Robin Forman said the laws that were in effect year-round did not change during Willy Week.

"The fact that it's Willy Week doesn't change the fact that there are laws we have to abide by," Forman said. "Students should not be doing anything that endangers safety or property."

Forman said he was unsure as to whether this would result in any changes to rules regarding jacks in the future.

"There are all kinds of ways and places we rely on the good judgment of students," Forman said. "We don't need new rules to say not to do things that are dangerous."

Forman said any changes to jack policies would be a collaborative effort between his office, Ostdiek and the residential colleges.

---