The Associated Student Body has canceled this year’s Valentine’s Day Matchomatics activity in response to “Title IX possibilities” identified by school administrators.
Matchomatics has been facilitated annually by ASB in recent years. In this activity, students are asked to fill out online questionnaires about their characteristics and hobbies to receive an analysis of their designated “matches” or “friends” across genders and grade levels.
School administrators in early January decided to remove Matchomatics from ASB’s slate of “Love Week” — a week filled with events leading up to Valentines Day— activities due to general concerns regarding unwanted attention, according to Assistant Principal Jerry Berkson.
“I know no one is forced to meet their ‘match,’ but there are too many possibilities [surrounding] gender that could cause issues or uncomfortability, or teasing, or bullying,” Berkson said.
Freshman Site Council Representative Celina Lee, a committee leader in charge of “Love Week,” said that despite the absence of Matchomatics, ASB’s Valentine’s Day festivities — such as selling and distributing “Valgrams” — will continue.
“I know no one is forced to meet their ‘match,’ but there are too many possibilities [surrounding] gender that could cause issues or uncomfortability, or teasing, or bullying.”
— Jerry Berkson, Assistant Principal
“It’s definitely sad and unfortunate that Matchomatics is not being able to happen this year since we were all preparing for it,” Lee said. “But we are going to do events every single day of ‘Love Week,’ which is Feb. 7 to Feb. 11, and we hope that that will compensate for Matchomatics.”
Students like junior Kyle Park are still excited about these “Love Week” events — such as Cookies on the Quad, Karaoke on the Quad stage, and a Valentine’s Day dress up.
“ASB did a good job planning and the ‘Love Week’ lineup looks really fun,” Park said. “It stands as sort of a break for people who are stressed out and it means that we have something to genuinely look forward to throughout the week.”