Student-based Assassin’s Guild raises IU safety concerns

These days, words such as “assassin,” “attack” and “kill” are generally not taken lightly. \nAs a result, many had mixed reactions about an Indiana Daily Student article about a campus group called the “Assassin’s Guild,” which ran Feb. 26. Web commenters and police expressed concern about links to campus violence around the country, while guild members and one campus official defended the group as being a fun social activity. \n“Today, people are very attuned to anything that resembles violence,” said IU Police Department Capt. Jerry Minger. \nRecent campus shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University have especially raised this awareness of campus violence, as Web commenters pointed out. \n“I wonder if the shooting happened here at IU if this story would have been published at all,” said one anonymous commentator on the IDS Web site. \nThe rules of the game only allow light sabers, Nerf guns and spoons in play, all considered non-threatening by students involved in the guild. Despite this, the premise still raises some questions. \n“What is a harmless weapon?” Minger said. “Any kind of activity that involves even a simulated weapon I would hope they would give it careful evaluation.” \nThe group has dealt with Nerf guns in particular in terms of bringing its activities too close to reality. Junior and co-guild master J. Alex Boyd said several members earlier this year had spray painted their Nerf guns black, and because of concerns of them looking too realistic, they were asked by organizers of the group to add bright orange tips to make it obvious they weren’t real. \n“We’re not a danger to anyone,” Boyd said. “We’re a bunch of kids trying to have fun.” \nBoyd went on to say that comments made comparing members of the guild to those who committed school shootings at other college campuses aren’t justified. He said those who committed those shootings were typically very anti-social, whereas the guild is focused on building community and forming friendship. \nChancellor Ken Gros Louis said he also believes the group is simply a group of students wanting to have fun. \n“I have no negative reaction to the group and think it is a lot less dangerous, frankly, than other games might be,” Gros Louis said in an e-mail. “If the people playing it are enjoying it and it takes away a little of the humdrum of their days, I’m all for it.” \nStill, some remain skeptical of the group’s activities. \nMinger explained that if he or another member of the IUPD were to see someone being pursued on campus, Nerf gun in hand or not, that person would have the attention of the officer. \n“It’s not a quantum leap to see violence involved there,” Minger said.