Dealing with Disaster: Darwin Day 2010 at GMU

by Shelley Mountjoy

Friday, February 12th, 2010 was the 201st Anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. Commonly called "Darwin Day," it is a great chance for our community to gather to celebrate humanity and science.

At George Mason University, the Office of Student Activities will approve funding for food at only one event per year. What would be more appropriate for a non-religious group than a Flying Spaghetti Monster Pasta Dinner? So, I filled out the necessary paperwork so that our group, the Secular Student Alliance (GMU), could host a pasta dinner. Another leader in our group made arrangements for a speaker, and our group planned to celebrate Darwin Day with what would have been a fabulous pasta dinner and awesome guest lecture.

The weather had different plans, though. Snowmageddon '10 hit and our pasta extravaganza became 15 pizzas. The dinner was scheduled for Friday and inclement weather had closed the school Monday through Thursday.

In the end, everything worked out. Our speaker was still able to make it and the people who did come enjoyed the event. Nevertheless, as president of the Secular Student Alliance (GMU), I was left thinking about two questions:

1. Are we becoming too "religious" in our rituals to honor his noodly appendage?

As a result of a week of closures there was no time for campus catering to prepare the dinner we had planned. Nevertheless, Student Activities went out of their way to help provide some food that evening-specifically Papa John's Pizza.

I notified those signed up on Facebook and Meetup that we would have food-just not the pasta planned-so that they wouldn't be disappointed when they arrived. Ironically, pizza is actually more popular than pasta, and, had we marketed this event as a pizza dinner, the student turnout likely would have been higher.

The pasta dinner would have been fully catered. With the changes came increased paperwork and the need for me to buy soda and paper products, and set up. While I was busy running last minute errands a debate emerged.The pasta dinner would have been fully catered. With the changes came increased paperwork and the need for me to buy soda and paper products, and set up. While I was busy running last minute errands a debate emerged.

I was happy with the accommodations, but to some, the lack of pasta was extremely disappointing. One of our student leaders wanted to push for pasta and in the end purchased pasta with personal funds. Most of it remained uneaten.

I understand the connection between the Flying Spaghetti Monster and pasta dinner. It would have been nice to have pasta, but it's more logical, in my mind, to do what is practical. So, is this an issue? Do we need to celebrate the FSM with pasta? Should we have fought for pasta like other students fight for accommodations for their religious beliefs? If so, it sounds like dogma to me. The FSM is not a real religion and therefore we should be able to adjust our rituals as necessary.

2. Should an event be canceled, or rescheduled, in consideration of inclement weather cancellations earlier in the week?

We still had the guest speaker-Tim Farley from whatstheharm.net-although we were significantly delayed in getting him to campus with heavy traffic on recently plowed streets. The turnout was less than half of what we expected.

Student and community members who were off campus had no intention of coming on campus for a free meal when they had been home all week and were coming up on the weekend. Students who were on campus didn't get exposure to the advertising we would have normally done. We had intended to have a kiosk in a major building on campus. However, that building, and in many others we had hung flyers in, were closed all week.

If we rescheduled, we would have had to find a new speaker since the 2/12 date corresponded with Tim's travel plans. Regardless, I feel we should have postponed the dinner.

A major part of holding an event is to build recognition of the student group. Even people who cannot attend see that there is a party with free food, a great speaker, and-most importantly-there is a Secular Student Alliance group on campus! This didn't happen. A few of our existing members did bring along friends, but new faces were largely absent from the event.

Also, at the end of the day I was left holding the ball. There was no one to toss the ball to because no one was anticipating drastic last minute changes. Should one student leader struggle with paperwork, a bulk pizza order, a trip to the grocery store, and room set up by herself on the day of the event? For a student leader in a wheelchair, such as myself, this was next to impossible. I'm amazed that it all came together. Although even for an able-bodied student leader I still would have recommended rescheduling the event. This is too much work for one student to carry-especially in one day.

What is the best course of action for a student group whose event is affected by inclement weather? In our situation, just because campus had finally reopened after a week of closures it didn't mean that we needed to go through with the event as planned. I wrote this article because many of us feel the need to continue with plans despite the changes and to focus on the positive rather than contemplate the negative. Sometimes our expectation to follow through despite bumps in the road becomes an obligation to charge on regardless of obstacles. This doesn't have to be the only option.

Shelley Mountjoy is a graduate student at the George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. She is the founder and president of the Secular Student Alliance (GMU), the vice president of the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GAPSA) and a board member of the Secular Student Alliance.