Since students’ return to campus after a refreshing winter break, there have been no damages made to Schaaf Hall by any of its residents, leading to a 100% decrease in damages from last semester.
Those who live in other residence halls are wondering why such a drastic change has been made.
“I really want to know what’s going on,” said Richard Small, a first-year exercise science major.
“Schaaf getting absolutely obliterated every semester has been some of my favorite college memories so far,” said Braxton Snyder, a senior business major who lives off campus. “It probably sucks for the people that live in Schaaf, though.”
On Jan. 16, it was confirmed by several sources that the decrease in Schaaf damages was due to a new campus movement, “Jeyer is Watching January”.
The movement, started by Schaaf resident April Dixon, a first-year music education major, was inspired by Dry January, a cultural trend where people abstain from alcohol for the entire month of January.
“I was very tired of all the [damage] that was being done to Schaaf, and I’d only been here for a semester,” Dixon said. “I thought, ‘There needs to be a change made that’s not threatening students to pay $1,000.’”
The threat of monetary consequences has been the university’s go-to response in the past for the damaging of Schaaf Hall.
“I knew there had to be something bigger — something that students could easily latch onto and feel inspired by, so I started Jeyer is Watching January.”
Gon Jeyer was the university’s director of Residential and Commuter Life for nine years before assuming his current role as “associate dean of That One Office That Charges You For Ice Being In Your Freezer at The End of the Year and Some Other Confusing Titles”; however, Dixon wasn’t aware of the change in positions before coining the movement’s name.
“The movement aims to abstain from causing any damage to Schaaf for the entire month of January.”
Although the movement was officially confirmed on Jan. 16, Dixon and a small group of her conservatory friends, who all live in Schaaf, agreed to begin the movement on Jan. 6, which is when all residence halls reopened for the 2026 Spring semester.
“April told [our friend group] about her idea, and we all thought it was brilliant,” said Evelyn Chambers, a first-year music performance major. “We all became a part of it, and since everyone in the [conservatory] knows each other, it was pretty easy to spread the word. Pretty soon, what started with a small group of us spread throughout all of Schaaf.”
“I’d never heard of April before, but I became aware of the movement by some of my percussion friends,” said Jackson Hartzler, a first-year jazz studies major. “I thought it was a great idea. I never knew why everyone damaged Schaaf. I’m surprised the conservatory isn’t the building getting damaged with how many hours we all have to spend in there.”
While the abstinence of damaging Schaaf has been easy for most, some students have had a difficult time controlling themselves.
“It’s been pretty hard for me to not damage anything,” said first-year Chip Dippens, who came to the university “to play football and declare for the NFL Draft.”
“The only thing that brought me joy here, really, was playing football and tearing down the exit signs in Schaaf.”
Dippens has even started coming down with some withdrawal symptoms. “I’ve been shivering a lot ever since I became a part of the movement,” he said. “My body temperature is constantly changing, too. I’ll feel really cold and my nose will be runny, and then whenever I’m inside, I feel really hot.”
Another campus resident is feeling the same struggle as Dippens. “I don’t even live in Schaaf; I live in a suite in Trinity,” said junior accounting major Dallas Austin. “I became a part of the movement mainly as an excuse not to do Dry January, but [Jeyer is Watching January] is a lot harder in my opinion. I never caused any damage in Schaaf, even when I lived there, but just knowing that I’m not allowed now has given me the sudden urge to want to storm over there and break stuff.”
Despite the mixed responses to her movement, Dixon feels proud of what she has accomplished; however, after January, she has no plans to start anymore movements.
“I don’t really have any other ideas, and leading this movement’s been a little tiring. I’ve also received a few death threats.”
