Brad Roush, third year member of Nerf Nation and junior fine arts major, prepares for the next round of Team Deathmatch. Over the course of the year, Nerf Nation has made changes such as only having orange tips on the guns due to the concealed carry law and meeting monthly because of new Memorial Union policy.
Nerf Nation is changing the frequency of their meetings from bi-weekly to once a month, due to the new Memorial Union policy change that went into effect this semester.
“Because of the new union policy where any after hours RSO has to pay 25 dollars an hour we’re just doing one a month now,” said Theodore Wheeler, junior psychology major and president of Nerf Nation. “We worked out with the union that we could have one meet a month that was free after hours but then all the rest we’d have to pay.
They plan to continue the once a month meetings next year as well. The rest of the meet-up dates this semester will be on March 18, April 1 and April 29, according to Wheeler.
“We’re only having one meet in April apart from the free one, so that one’s getting paid for by us,” Wheeler said. “So, anything that we’ve had to pay for, our council has kind of paid for out of pocket, but we don’t usually have too many expenses.”
Any of the additional meeting fees will go to the union scheduling offices for the university.
Nerf nation meetings take place at 8 p.m. when Memorial Union after-hours start.
Wheeler also shared about the rule that all guns have to have an orange tip or they will be asked to put it away.
“If they continue to bring it and it’s a problem I’m just going to tell them that they can’t come back,” Wheeler said. “For the most part we usually have the same people every night, so they know if they want to keep coming they have to follow the rules and everything.”
In the case of someone not owning a nerf gun but wanting to participate there is a community “pile” or bag of guns available for use for anyone according to Les Parks, junior history major and member of Nerf Nation.
“Well I think the people are pretty cool, and it’s (Nerf Nation) kind of a unique thing,” said Maria Guilford, sophomore social sciences education major, and member of Nerf Nation. “I really liked Nerf guns growing up and to have this at college it’s really fun.”