Both the calendar and the sunshine indicate that the seasons are finally changing outside, but inside on CBS, it’s still basketball season. My masterfully crafted senior Spring schedule does not include any classes on Thursdays or Fridays—perfect for watching way too much of the NCAA tournament.
The Blue Devils made it through the first two rounds in Jacksonville and are moving on to the Sweet Sixteen in Houston this weekend. Meanwhile, here in Durham, the last bench has been burned and the tents have been packed away until next winter.
Despite a slow, late start and more grace than anyone can remember, K-ville was generally well received this year, and the line monitors should get a lot of credit for that. The white tenting Web site crash of a year ago was avoided and some simple changes made a world of difference. For example, designating zones of the parking lot where tenters could find their appointed line monitor during personal checks made the process run more smoothly.
But logistical concerns aside, I want you to think about the roughly 1200 students who make K-ville their home away from home until the big game and ask an important question: what kind of government reigns in K-ville?
In Plato’s “Republic,” Socrates sets out to establish an ideal society and considers several possible forms of government. Socrates coins the term timocracy for the first form of government that arises: rule by the most honorable.
K-ville likely began as such a timocracy with the most devoted fans, the craziest of crazies who get in line first, put in charge of trying to organize the chaos while keeping the spirit alive.
But today, the line monitors are not chosen on this basis. If they were, there would be no need for a standardized selection process—we could just ask the members of Tent 1 what size jacket they wear and sign them up. Instead, the current line monitors pick the new line monitors through an application and interview process. As Socrates warns, timocracy gives way to a simple oligarchy—rule by the wealthy few. The line monitors’ “wealth” is their guaranteed seats in the first two rows to every basketball game without having to wait in line or sleep outside.
But to earn that jacket, line monitors must fulfill two roles. The first is to manage attendance in a fashion that keeps the Cameron Crazies different than any other group of fans in the world. The second is to serve as the voice of the Cameron Crazies in the behind-closed-doors meetings with administrators and athletic department officials.
This year’s line monitors took it upon themselves to also play social planner for K-ville residents. Thanks for the effort, guys, but for the most part we’d really prefer if you just monitored the line like your name says.
If any other group of mostly-upperclassmen told a group of mostly-underclassmen that they had 15 minutes to show off a talent or else they had to sleep outside, it would probably be called hazing. Tenters are not out there for your amusement; they are there to wait in line for a basketball game.
Then there was the K-ville volleyball tournament. And the K-ville capture the flag game. And I’m really sorry that nobody wanted to stay at Shooters on a Thursday night and party with you, but that’s no reason to call three tent checks the following night. That’s just being mean.
Instead of all the games and contests, line monitor efforts should be focused on promoting attendance. The gimmicks only reinforce the myth that games are too difficult to attend.
Most of the line monitors are doing a fine job, but every year there are a few who abuse their power. Unfortunately, tenters like myself have no way of holding you guys accountable for good or bad behavior. Put another way, K-ville’s 1200 residents—by the way, that’s more students than any West Campus quad, or all of Central Campus put together—have no democratically-elected representative body.
Socrates predicts that when an oligarchy proves unsustainable, a democracy will rise to replace it. Line monitors, your ruling power is not God-given or guaranteed. Try to remember what it was like to be a tenter. We’re all Cameron Crazies rooting for the same team, crammed into the same student section and chanting the same cheers.
So keep K-ville fair and focused on basketball, plain and simple. That’s all we ask.
Bradford Colbert is a Trinity senior. His column runs every other Tuesday.
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