Bryn Mawr students taken to task for 'Hell Week'

AT BRYN MAWR College, Hell Week is "a week of fun and bonding between freshwomen and upperclasswomen," according to the school's website.

So, when Michele Rasmussen, dean of the school's undergraduate college, discovered that students of the Radnor dorm were forced to participate in such acts as swearing alliance to a keg and being made to "listen to the Radnor goddess speech" during Hell Week, she was having none of it.

As punishment for the transgression, every upperclassman in the dorm was required to write a letter of apology to every freshman Radnor resident, according to an email from the dean, posted Thursday on the website Gawker.

The website for the school of 1,200 in Lower Merion says that there are only 74 residents of the Radnor dorm, but the tone of the email makes it sounds as if it was the sister sorority to Animal House's Delta Tau Chi.

The email includes allegations that upperclasswomen threw toilet paper and cardboard into an audience of freshman, shouted at their younger peers "with and without a bullhorn" and that they created the "potential for injury by playing wiffle beer," which is baseball with a wiffle-ball bat and beer cans.

The dorm is also allowed no more "wet parties" - parties with alcohol - for the rest of the year, and the three women who the school believes were most responsible for the alleged infractions will have to go before a dean's panel.

Matt Gray, spokesman for Bryn Mawr, said that typical Hell Week activities include asking students to dress up like a character from their favorite novel and go to class.

"While it's called Hell Week, it's anything but hellish," he said.

Gray said it was several freshman students who brought this year's activities to the attention of the dean. He said that the school was aware of the Gawker post and that the students and faculty members seem to be taking it in stride.

"I think if we're going to be the butt of jokes because we're taking care of students, I think we're OK with that," Gray said.