For the past 23 years, the third floor of men’s residence Allen Hall has housed as many as 50 members of men’s social club Knights at once. According to Knights president senior Jake Wells, following a situation that “got out of hand,” the men of Knights who lived in Camelot, as it was called, were removed from the dorm by the administration and placed in the empty rooms of other men’s residence halls.
Wells said that due to the large number of pranks and “shenanigans” members of Knights have taken part in over the past seven years, the administration had previously threatened not to allow members of Knights to live on the third flood of Allen. According to Wells, this semester’s incident was the “last straw,” and they were split up.
Zach Neal, dean of students, did not comment on the specifics of the situation, but said he wants to be respectful to all involved.
“It is very important to me to respect the privacy of all students and organizations,” Neal said.
According to the social club handbook, when a rule of conduct has been broken, “the Office of the Assistant Vice President/Dean of Students shall conduct an investigation.” After that investigation any of five courses of action may be taken. In addition to being removed from the third floor of Allen Hall, Knights has been put on a five-year probation, according to Wells.
When asked about the official terms of probation, Neal restated his previous comment.
According to Rhonda Foster, residence life coordinator for Allen Hall, seven of the previous eight third floor residence assistants (were able to keep their jobs, as some rooms are still occupied. Foster said that the rooms will be open to all students in the next academic year.
Wells said that the deans’ decision as a “wake-up call” that got the club’s attention.
“We know that we have to change and we can’t continue acting the way we have been acting,” Wells said. “We do have the image of being troublemakers, and have since 2009 (the year the club was previously put on a five-year probation), so we really want to change that and be more in line with Harding’s standards. We don’t want to push the envelope on every single thing like we’ve been known to do. We really want to turn it around.”
According to Wells, Knights leadership will meet with the deans in April to discuss the details of the punishment and a course of action for the future.
“Knights has a lot of respect for the deans after this whole thing and how they handled it,” Wells said. “Dean Neal even came to the third floor at curfew and talked to all of us personally. That was a really cool thing that really didn’t need to be done. We’ve made his job more difficult for a long time, and he is putting in a lot of effort to keep us a club.”
Following the announcement of the punishment, a group of Knights members uploaded a video to YouTube depicting the club socializing in the dorm hallway and community bathroom, running down the stairs and leaving the building together. The video, titled “Exile,” ends with a shot of a Knights flag being dropped from a third-floor window. The video has since been set to private on YouTube.
“The video was really to commemorate a place that meant so much to us,” Wells said. “I want to make it known that we were not wanting to make it seem like we were rebels. The song was called ‘Troublemaker’ because it’s really catchy — and we have been troublemakers in the past. So it’s kind of like a farewell to being troublemakers, instead of celebrating the fact of being troublemakers.”
According to Wells, he thinks the change is in the club’s best interest.
“It’s possible that a little bit of what we perceive Knight’s identity to be will be lost in the change, but while that’s sad, it’s for the best,” Wells said. “Even if we have to lose some of what Knights is, it’s worth it to keep Knights a club.”
