The cause of Wednesday’s Sleep Out on the Quad event is still unknown, which brought nearly 50 students to the space across the street from Nott Hall. Theories of the purpose of the gathering, which lasted from 9 p.m. to 8 a.m. Thursday morning, range from finding a cure for AIDS to stopping the conflict in Syria.
Sophomore Myranda Herndon wasn’t sure why the students were on the Quad, but said it gave her a chance to finally use that “Twilight” sleeping bag she bought for the midnight showing of “Breaking Dawn Part I.”
“I was like, ‘Where are you going, Julie?’ and she was like, ‘There are like all these people on the Quad. Abby’s already out there with Russell,’” Herndon said.
“I think it was for Global Warming, I think,” suggested sophomore James Leitner. “Because it’s not like supposed to be this warm this time of year.”
Leitner admitted that it was a good opportunity to hang out with junior Alyssa Bose, who he kinda has a thing for, but he was happy to do his part to save the planet.
Senior Kathleen Kimbrough was worried that homework would keep her from attending, but she managed to pitch her tent near an outdoor power outlet so she could charge her laptop. “I think it’s really important for people to see what it’s really like for children in Africa,” Kimborough said.
The event also included a screening of a documentary film about a homeless veteran of the Iraq War. “We picked a movie that appealed to a lot of causes so we could hopefully get the right one,” said Stephen Killeth, one of the event’s coordinators. “It was about homelessness, but it also had war and stuff. Covered a lot of bases.”
At midnight, participants took off their shoes and walked the length of quad completely barefooted. Such a display of utterly extreme discomfort was intended to shock spectators into awareness of, according to Killeth, “shoelessness, I don’t know, somewhere in the world.”
Herndon endured two-thirds of the grueling barefoot walk, but was forced to put on her TOMS when the grass stains on her feet became unbearable. “I thought it was okay if I wore TOMS because they, like, help children and stuff,” she said.
Total attendance was about 45, an unexpected drop from the Facebook page’s 254 “attending” and 175 “maybe attending,” and only about a dozen actually stayed the entire night. Killeth blames the low numbers on unusually chilly weather.
“You can’t expect people to stay out when they need all these sweaters and stuff,” he said. “We might try again next semester. Maybe we’ll know what the hell the cause is then. I bet Garret knows. This was all that jerk’s idea.”
Leitner said that although he totally got that date with Bose in like an hour, he still stayed the whole night, cold weather and all. “I’m just really struck by all the problems people face,” he explained. “I’m happy knowing I’ve done my part to make a real impact in the world.”
