Sophomore Sibs Weekend cancelled
Laura Rompf
Assistant News Editor
Family has long been a part of the Notre Dame experience, but one campus tradition that celebrates family ended.
Sophomore Siblings Weekend recently was cancelled by the Office of Student Activities.
"[It] may no longer be a viable program," said Joe Cassidy, director of student activities. "It was my decision to cancel Sophomore Sibs Weekend. There were no specific incidences that caused this decision, rather it was due to increasing questions regarding the program."
Cassidy stated that there were a variety of reasons for the cancellation, especially noting low attendance.
"In comparison to Junior Parents' Weekend where there is around 1,000 couples of parents, Sophomore Sibs Weekend only draws in a few hundred children," he said. "Even though there's not a lot of children, dorms still cannot have other social activities and that caused some disgruntled students. Even though only 10 to 15 children were staying in the dorm,s it effect 150 to 350 students whose social life for an entire weekend was impacted."
Simple demographics are a factor in fewer visits, Cassidy said.
"Another reason attendance was going down is because of a national trend in the decreasing size of families," he said. "Most households only consist of two children now and even if there are more, these children are often very close in age. Thus, the likelihood that a sophomore student would have an eligible sibling in the right age [middle school] is very small."
Cassidy also noted that Notre Dame's national nature and noted that not all siblings had an equal opportunity to attend the weekend. Many schools with successful programs, he said, are state institutions where the majority of students live in the region. Notre Dame students come from all over the United States and even other countries, and travel to visit can be more expensive.
A final factor in the decision was liability and the possibility of underage drinking. Cassidy, however, stressed this reason was no more important than the others.
"We have had some problems in the past with older siblings consuming alcohol, however the reality is those students can come to campus any given time and we face the same problems," he said. "The decision was made because of problems all across the board. One was not the deciding factor. There was a wide range, and none of the problems could be easily solved."
All these reasons led to Cassidy to question whether to host the weekend. Last March he met with the newly elected sophomore class officers and informed them that Sophomore Siblings Weekend would most likely be canceled.
"Basically from the beginning of their term last year, the decision was made to cancel the event," Cassidy said. "I warned them that it would be an uphill battle, but they still wanted to submit a proposal."
Class officers hoped their request for a Siblings Weekend would be accepted despite the odds against them.
"We knew it was going to be an uphill battle and that the situation did not look positive. However, it was a risk we were willing to take," said Peter Rossmann, sophomore class president. "Rather than saying fine, the weekend can be canceled, we did what we felt our class wanted and decided to try for the weekend."
"Basically, Joe Cassidy told us that we had two options," said Brendan Harris, co-chair of Sophomore Life Committee. "Either we could appeal the decision or leave it right there. By fighting we knew we were taking on responsibility on ourselves. However, we felt the program was worthwhile and we were not willing to let go that easy."
After that meeting, the class officers began a process to try and keep the weekend.
"We were informed that in order to have the weekend we would have to get the rectors' and rectresses' support," Rossmann said.
Rectors' opinions varied, Rossmann said.
"One rector stopped me right there and said he thought it was a great program and that nothing should be changed," he said. "Some rectors did have valid reservations. But at the same time we felt these concerns could be alleviated in a new proposal."
During summer break, the class officers worked on their alternative.
"When we returned this fall, we had a meeting with Cassidy and were told to submit the proposal before fall break," Rossmann said.
Their proposal combined Cassidy's concerns and the recommendations of rectors and included a stricter registration process, more dorm-centered activities and new alternatives to keep siblings busy at night.
The proposal was given to Cassidy shortly before fall break, and on Dec. 1 the officers were informed that the weekend had been canceled.
"Cassidy congratulated us immediately on a great effort and we knew that the weekend was most likely canceled," said Kathleen O'Connor, sophomore class secretary.
Still, officers are puzzled by the move.
"The decision would be easier to accept if there was a major incident that caused the cancellation," Rossman said. "It makes it harder to understand and raises the question why did it have to be our class?"
All News Stories for Friday, January 21, 2000
