At 5:30 Thursday afternoon, a throng of would-be sorority girls swarms up to the Panasci Lounge in the Schine Student Center. One rush participant squawks in an agitated tone of voice while students try to study and sleep.

‘I’m so failing out of school this semester,’ the girl says without an ounce of contrition. ‘No, seriously. I didn’t go to a single fucking class today because of rush. I got a 4.0 last semester and this semester I’m going to get a .4’

Nevermind the spiraling GPAs of the students quietly studying in the lounge as the cackling crowd grows bigger, who roll their eyes and try to shrug off the plaid-scarved version of MTV-reality closing in on them. As the crowd swelled to about 50 at 5:45, at least five students absconded with their books for calmer territory, which at this point could have included Interstate 81. At rush hour.

Panasci has long been a refuge for students, a library-quiet lounge where they can study or sleep undisturbed. An unwritten code says that you don’t talk on your cell phone there. If you have to speak to a friend, you whisper. But at the end of this long day, students who didn’t flee don’t seem to mind the distraction.

Ryan McDonald, a junior political science major, is more entertained than annoyed at the lighthearted infiltration. As his previously uninhabited circle of leather chairs fills up with excited rushees, he sips coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts and reads ‘Absolute Power.’ Every couple of pages, he looks up at the girls, smirking. ‘It’s usually pretty quiet in here, but I don’t really have a problem with it,’ McDonald says. ‘They were in here the other day, and it’s kind of amusing to watch what happens.’

After picking up name tags and sufficiently distracting students, the collection of black-clad aspiring sorority members disbands. They are gone by 5:50, and leave a pristine silence in their wake. Unfortunately for junior Mark Martiniano, that means he has to go back to studying for his sports marketing class. ‘It was a nice break,’ Martiniano said. ‘Listening to that was a lot better than looking at my notes.’

In all, the 20-minute flash mob is a minor agitation on an otherwise boring day. But for those students who were distracted enough to leave, it was obviously more. Maybe next time, the women could tag themselves in the lobby.

Colin Dabkowski is a senior magazine and Spanish major. E-mail him at ccdabkow@syr.edu.

Published on February 5, 2004 at 12:00 pm