Freshmen gather for weekly nocturnal escapades

“Nate [Mathabane ’13] had mentioned in passing that it would be cool if we could sneak in and sleep in all the common rooms, and then, one night, we were in [Campbell Hall] watching ‘The Daily Show,’ and we were so comfortable that we decided to sleep there,” said Luke Massa ’13, one of the group’s founding members and the unofficial “Sleepmaster General.”

“I went back to my room, and I like to make Facebook groups for fun, so I made the SACK group,” he explained, adding that he created the logo displayed on the webpage by substituting a pair of small beds for the Bible that traditionally sits atop the University’s logo.

SACK participants are largely from the same Campbell RCA group, where word about the club quickly spread.

While Massa said that part of the group’s success might be that he has “a really weird zee group,” he added that he thinks SACK is really just an extension of the slumber-party atmosphere most students feel when they first move to dormitories.

Arul Suresh ’13 noted that the original group consisted of “pretty much everyone who was watching ‘The Daily Show’ that night.” He added that membership had increased from five freshman to 10 by the Wednesday-night campout, with a handful of students expected to show up later and several more due to join before the following week’s meeting.

The club has also begun to establish a regular pattern for the evening. Lights-out “depends on how much gossip we have to get through,” Jordyn Seni ’13 explained.

Massa caps off each evening by reciting the “benediction” of SACK: “May your sleep be restful and your dreams adventurous.”

Despite its relatively recent founding, Massa and his group of sleepers have already begun to make plans for SACK’s future. Massa said the club hopes “to go from mundane to spectacular” in its choice of locations.

“We decided that we wanted to start small and branch out, and we thought that the logical progression [from last week] would be another Rocky building,” Massa explained. “We didn’t want to peak too early.”

Seni noted that members are always on the lookout for new locations when they’re “going to classes and visiting friends.”

“At some point, we have to sleep outside,” Suresh added.

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Massa also explained that he plans to post the club’s most recent location on its Facebook page the morning after. “Like, ‘This is the room we conquered,’ ” he said. “And think about the bragging rights.”

The idea of a mixed-gender slumber party might seem strange to uninitiated students, SACK members noted. “I think that might be a reason some people wouldn’t want to do this,” Gabby Kustner ’13 said.

“We’re all really good friends. I don’t think about [those issues],” Seni explained. “The group comes first.”

Besides, Elizabeth Katen-Narvell ’13 added, “College is a time for experimenting.”

The club has also provided its freshman members with a unique sense of community during their first weeks on campus, they said.

“I’m using her as a pillow. And we don’t feel weird right now. I mean, I don’t,” Emily Trost '13 explained, gesturing to Seni.

Katen-Narvell added that the club was a nice break from doing work for classes. “I was just upstairs writing a paper. And now I’m downstairs laughing,” she said.

Most members agreed that the club provides a welcome chance to break away from their newfound maturity and rediscover the art of relaxing and having fun.

“When kids come to college, it’s kind of the period when they think they’re becoming adults and are too mature for kid stuff and playing around,” Mathabane said. “And that stuff’s really fun. And I think when people put sexual labels on it, or look at us weirdly or something, they’re missing out.”

Correction

An earlier version of this article incorrectly attributed a quote by Katen-Narvell to Trost.