Western senior Leah Bergquist said she always looked forward to spending most of her Saturday nights in Bond Hall. She was not studying; instead she was engaging in Nerf gun battles. Now, she can no longer do so.

Bergquist, the president of N.E.R.F. Club at Western, said the club could possibly cease to exist. Allegedly, the club destroyed school property approximately three weeks ago during a battle, which has forced them to disband for the time being. At the time of that battle, they did not have Bond Hall properly reserved.

The club met in Bond Hall on Saturdays at 10:30 p.m. to play different kinds of war games using Nerf guns. Each game could last 15 minutes, but the club would play multiple games a night and at times would stay in Bond Hall until 2 a.m.

Three weeks ago University Police sent an e-mail to a different club, Humans Vs. Zombies, that said if Nerfers were caught in Bond Hall again they would be reported to the Student Disciplinary Committee. Members of Humans Vs. Zombies, some of which are Nerf Club members as well, forwarded the e-mail to Bergquist and club Vice President Robert Daniels.

“At that point, I contacted all students in the club and told them we are not meeting until we figure this out,” Bergquist said. “It has sort of been pushed off until early next quarter.”

Western junior Casey Faulkner, the club’s budget authority, said the club has been asked to leave campus in the past, but they were never told they were not allowed back.

Sgt. David Garcia of the University Police said he had been getting complaints about damage in Bond Hall.
“We were getting reports that somebody over the weekends was staying after hours and leaving the building a mess and leaving slight damage on the walls,” Garcia said. “Through some investigating we learned that there was a N.E.R.F club that used the building.”

Bergquist said she walked through Bond Hall to check for the destruction and did not see anything.

Daniels said it is still possible that other club members could have caused damage without his knowledge, depending on what exactly happened. He said there was no proof of anything just yet.

“I would be very frustrated if something had happened and club members had not told me because I would have reported it to proper authorities,” Bergquist said.

Bergquist said she had heard about the alleged damages through other students and University Police had not directly contacted the group at the time of the interview to notify them of any problems.

All three N.E.R.F. Club officers said if the club is to continue, they want the group to be smaller and less heavily advertised. Although the club did not do any official advertisements in the past, Bergquist said knowledge of the club spread fast through word-of-mouth.

“We did not necessarily know who would show up because the club was open to everyone and there would be a lot of new people involved,” Bergquist said. “[Random attendance] led to the chances of school property being damaged increased greatly.”

Daniels and Faulkner said they hope to sort everything out after finals.

“We do not want to cause problems [at Western],” Bergquist said. “But it is a really fun way to spend a Saturday night that does not involve drugs and alcohol.”

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