In an effort to foster warmer relations between students on campus, Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) distributed name tags to every student on campus yesterday. Students were encouraged to wear the tags and greet fellow students by first name.
Event organizer BSG Vice President for Student Affairs Carolyn Chu '07 said she thought the day was a success.
"I was really excited to see a lot of people wearing name tags," she said.
The day culminated in an evening gathering in the union with music, free pizza, and Dance Dance Revolution, a virtual reality dance game.
Chu recounted how a sociology professor?in the spirit of Name Tag Day?made everyone in the class sit next to someone they did not know in order to get to know them.
"That's what Name Tag Day is all about," said Chu.
BSG Vice President for Facilities William Donahoe '08 said he and other BSG members spent many hours making sure that the printed name tags got to the students.
Not everything about the event went according to plan.
Chu acknowledged that printing malfunctions resulted in about 50 people not receiving name tags.
BSG Representative Catrina Cartagena '07 praised the event despite not receiving a name tag herself.
"I think that BSG did a great job getting the name tags out to everyone. Most people got them, but I didn't," said Cartagena.
She said this was not a problem since BSG made available many opportunities for students to make their own name tag if they did not get one.
"I think it went well considering it was the first time," she said.
The original plan to also supply faculty and staff with name tags never materialized.
Alex Paul '06 told the Orient he thought the day was positive overall. While he noted that it was well advertised, he did comment that the time the name tags were distributed to the student mailboxes was not ideal.
"They were distributed the same day that they were to be worn which is a problem because people don't usually check their mail first thing in the morning," he said.
While he acknowledged room for improvement, BSG President Deray Mckesson '07 remained upbeat about the day.
"Name Tag Day is life," he said.