For over 120 years, The Pioneer has reported on news from the Whitman campus and surrounding community. Pio Past pulls old articles from past decades from the Penrose Library archives to give modern readers a glimpse of campus history.

by Ben Gilbert

Originally published Feb. 19, 1998

It was the quietest game of wallball ever. Avid wallball players celebrated in front of Cordiner in near silence Tuesday during the midnight hour after security confrontations threatened their weekly ritual. Security told Wallballers on Monday, February 9 at midnight that their sport was banned due to noise complaints from community members and damage concerns from the physical plant.

Freshman wallballer Danica Noble contacted President Tom Cronin, Dean of Students Chuck Cleveland and Director of Finance Peter Williams to clear up the discrepancy. Administrators determined that marks on the face of Cordiner were not caused by wallball, and that as long as participants cleaned the windows, they would be allowed to continue.

The noise problems still inhibits wallballers. Common wallball chants such as “Be loud, play wallball, live,” echo off Cordiner and wake surrounding residents. After receiving a complaint Tuesday, Crime Prevention Officer Craig McKinnon told wallballers that the administration was “really adamant about not making the community upset.”