In the week leading up to the long awaited announcement of Dolphy Day, students refreshed their weather apps on the hour, waiting to see if the cloud that appeared over Thursday an hour ago had morphed into a sun. There were several nice days during the week of April 18 that looked promising.

In the past, upperclassmen know that the night prior to the first nice day of the week would probably be devoted to a scare: a night where seniors storm the quad with noisemakers and torches outside Freshman dorms in order to trick first year students into thinking it’s Dolphy Day.

However, this year, when sophomores and juniors awaited the annual senior hijinks, they were disappointed. Seniors who had mistakenly run out of their dorms four years ago would not have the chance to enact revenge on the fresh meat, which upset some who looked forward to the right of passage. Some even argued that the scares were a vital component of the Dolphy Day tradition.

“I mean, it definitely ruined the tradition of scaring the freshmen, which takes away from the whole Dolphy Day experience,” said senior accounting major Paige Harding, who had looked forward to participating this year.

In the week prior to Dolphy Day, Student Development sent their yearly email, which expressed concern over the practice of these scares, but little did students know this year it would be taken more seriously. “Dolphy Day ‘Scares’…are not endorsed by the College and deemed inappropriate behavior for Le Moyne students and/or guests,” the email read.

These scares, along with other Dolphy Day festivities would be organized by the Dolphy Day ‘Wizard’ [senior Sean McVeigh] and the Dolphy Day committee. McVeigh confirmed rumors that the school gave additional funds to the committee for Dolphy day activities in order to prevent the senior class from doing scares this year.

“There were no scares this year and that was a decision that I had to make,” said McVeigh. “The school agreed to help pay for the music which allowed us to use funds we had raised elsewhere and have more on the day of. I understand some people were not too thrilled with that decision, but it’s tough to please everyone. It was discussed with my committee and we decided it was for the best.”

When Vice President of Student Development Deborah Cady Melzer was asked about the money given to the committee she said that student development was grateful towards the student committee for helping to keep Dolphy Day safe for all students.

“The Dolphy day committee worked with John Haley, Mark Godleski and Mark Petterelli to make the day safe, healthy and fun for students. Through conversations, ground rules were shared along with resources to fund the entertainment for the day,” said Cady-Melzer. “The day was successful because of the hard work of the wizard’s team and we are grateful for their support to make the day safe for our community.”

Most  students seemed to forget their disappointments on the early morning of April 20, as they participated in a night and day of traditional Dolphy day activities, and a much needed break from classes. Despite the lack of scares, McVeigh hopes that students had an amazing day and says he owes much to his committee for making it one to remember.

“Being the Wizard on Dolphy day was an interesting experience. I tried to keep a low profile and be with my friends for most of the day,” said McVeigh. “It was my last Dolphy day too, so I was trying to make the most of it and thankfully everything ran pretty smoothly.”