The Residence Hall Association passed a resolution Sunday night condemning the campus ban on versions of the game often called "Assassins."
The ban is the result of last month's gun scare related to "Live Free or Neihardt," a game sponsored by the Neihardt Residence Hall that has been popular for the past six years.
The Neihardt resident who caused the scare was not participating in the game, said Jennie Meister, a junior architecture student and president of Neihardt. He declared himself an "assassin" independently, which is a violation of the game's rules.
The resolution also states RHA wishes to work with residence halls and university officials to alter the game to make it acceptable, non-threatening and allowable on campus.
"The image is really everything," said Craig Lennon, UNL's assistant director of residence life and advisor for RHA. "The game itself is innocuous."
Matt Hecker, UNL's dean of students, visited the meeting and asked the senate to create non-projectile alternative "weapons" for the game.
"You're all college students, living in a post-Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University world," Hecker said, "I think all of us can understand the sensitivity of the time we live in."
The game is simple fun, Hecker said, but any hint of actual danger needs to be removed from it.
"The reality is, if someone were to park a car (outside the Nebraska Union) and come in here and start shooting, there is nothing we could do about it," Hecker said.
This and the times we live in keep people on edge about weapons, he said, even if they don't look real.
"We don't want to open the door to confusion to anyone," he said.
Though a NERF gun may not look like a real gun, if anyone is confused and scared, Hecker said, University Police have to respond as if the situation were real.
"They cannot afford to take it lightly," he said.
Last month, police told Neihardt residents that NERF guns should be kept in the trunks of cars or locked away in the on-campus safe used to house student hunters' guns, Meister said.
She said it has not been made clear if an official ban on toy guns has been put into place.
Steve Mott, a junior computer and electrical engineering major and senator for Courtyards, said he was disappointed with the university's communication with students about the incident and is strongly against the ban on the game, which he praised for bringing residents together.
"We are RHA. We represent students of residence halls," he said, "and if students of residence halls want to play this game, we don't want it to be banned."
In other action, RHA and the University Program Council have booked artist Sam Beam of Iron and Wine for a Mar. 27 concert at the Rococo Theatre.
Tickets for the event go on sale Mar. 6 and will cost $12 for students who live in residence halls, $22 for other students and $27 general admission.
Tickets will be sold through UPC and the RHA office in the Nebraska Union.
RHA contributed $12,500 of its budget to the event, for which artist fees alone cost $25,000.
"You've probably heard their music and just don't realize it," Lennon said.
rachelalbin@dailynebraskan.com
