When given the option to reveal the location of the Biola egg or be disqualified from the Spirit Point competition, Horton’s floor, Zion, choose the latter.

CHOSE TO BE DISQUALIFIED

The Biola egg went missing not long after Hart Hall hid it in October and its whereabouts became unknown to Student Programing and Activities, the group that oversees Spirit Points between all campus dorms. Zion contacted sophomore business major and SPA spirit events coordinator Adam Washington in the beginning of February to say they had found the egg.

“February 3rd, Horton contacted me and said that they had found the egg and I had asked them when they had found it and they said it was a short time after Hart had hidden it. Hart had hidden the egg about October and so it’s been over 90 days,” Washington said.

The rules, established and instituted in fall 2015, express that when a community finds the egg, it has a 48 hour grace period to contact the events coordinator. Each day the egg goes unreported, the dorm loses 100 points. By the time Zion contacted Washington, they would have incurred approximately 9,000 negative points. Though they have currently returned the egg into play with 50 percent of it showing, Horton will remain disqualified for the remainder of the year.

“Horton is still disqualified until the end of the year but that was sort of their choice. We gave them a chance, gave them time and said, ‘If you don’t let us know by a certain time, within a certain time frame, we’re going to disqualify you,’ and they said, “We choose to be disqualified,’ so that was their choice,” said Laura Igram-Edwards, director of SPA and Student Government Association advisor.

REEVALUATING THE CURRENT RULES

This incident has caused SPA to reevaluate the current rules to ensure students’ opinions are taken into account.

“Since then we’ve talked it over, we’ve talked to Hart and Horton ― we have a general consensus that people want the rules to go back to the traditional way of it being looser, more free, less guided by SPA in a sense. And so we’re looking more towards doing that in the future,” Washington said.

One way to ensure the rules about the Biola egg remain beneficial for the dorms and communities involves discussing with members of those groups what they think is appropriate for this long withstanding tradition. Igram-Edwards explained a group of egg-enthusiasts from dorms on campus including Hart, Sigma and Horton will gather to discuss how the rules should change in fall.

Though the SPA Twitter said on Nov. 6 Sigma found the egg and received 500 points, these points will not count towards updated standings. Since this occurred during the time Zion claims they had the egg, Washington explained in an email he believes the members from Sigma falsely reported they had the egg. SPA will contact Sigma regarding their previous claims.

FEELING JUSTIFIED

Junior business major and resident advisor of Zion Luke Adent said three members of his floor found the egg in early November 2015. Adent knew they would receive complaints from across campus and feels they were justified just for how long they held onto the egg.

“The only defense I have is that I don’t really know what else we could have done,” Adent said. “We definitely could have hidden it, but looking back I was really happy with what we had done in terms of taking pictures and all that kind of stuff and since the two guys that were spearheading this were getting my help, I didn’t want to dictate what they should do. And so that’s the one thing I will concede when someone says why [we] held onto it for so long.”

Horton resident assistant and senior sociology major Abbey Brower said she understood why students care about the egg, but the disqualification of her dorm does not bother her.

“I think it was cool that we found it because it’s tradition to see the egg, but whether or not we tell SPA or whether or not there’s a rule that you have to tell them or that 50 percent has to be showing, I don’t really care that much,” Bower said.

Current standings are as follows: Hart with 1,050 points, Stewart with 750, Off Campus Community with 400, Blackstone with 350, Hope with 300, Alpha with 100 and Sigma with 50.