Lakeshore dorm residents emerged triumphant as they pummeled their S.E. dorm counterparts at a 700-plus battle atop Bascom Hill.
Madison’s gratuitous amount of snow will finally be put to use when the southeast residence halls and lakeshore residence halls battle one another in the third campuswide snowball fight this winter.
The snow battle, which will take place Saturday at 3 p.m. on Bascom Hill, invites students to pellet fellow participants with snowballs, however, hitting surrounding buildings and cars is against the rules.
University of Wisconsin freshman Mike Basak, one of the snowball fight organizers, said Bascom Hill was the ideal location for the snowball fight because it is in the center of campus, evoking school spirit.
“Bascom is middle ground between dorms and more school spirity,” Basak said.
However, when helping to organize the event, Basak’s main concern was safety. While planning the event, Basuk took into consideration fights that broke out from previous snowball battles. Students also resorted to chucking snowballs at cars, which attracted police attention.
To ensure safety, two student paramedic groups of about 40 certified emergency medical technicians volunteered their time to monitor the fight.
Katie Egan, UW sophomore and co-president of one of the volunteer EMT groups, said all members of the groups are CPR-certified. If a person is seriously injured, the EMT groups are responsible to call 911 and make sure the injured participant is safely transported to the hospital.
“In case something did happen, it is just good for everyone to know that there is someone there that can do something,” Egan said.
Before the fight, Basak says lakeshore dorm residents are to congregate on the side of the hill near the Education Building.
Southeast residence hall residents are to line up opposite their opponents on the side of the hill closest to the Law Building.
To increase school spirit, the lakeshore team is advised to wear red clothing while the southeast team is encourage to wear black and white attire. A blown whistle will begin the snowball battle.
Initially, Basak attempted to contact the Guinness Book of World Records to request setting a record for the largest snowball fight. However, along with requiring a hefty fee, Guinness takes six weeks to process a record request.
“My fear with the record thing is that if they even considered it, there wouldn’t be any snow on the ground by the time they organized it,” Basak said.
According to the Facebook group formed by the creators of the snowball fight, 4,047 members are formally attending the snow battle.
Basak was not an original organizer of the snowball fight. Previous organizers of the event backed out after speaking to Chancellor Biddy Martin. However, Basak is excited to be managing a large campus event.
“It’s kind of an honor to be considered one of the big dogs in what is such a big campus even,” Basak said.
–Signe Brewster contributed to this report.
