The Associated Student Body is bringing back the rejection wall in an effort to help all seniors get through college rejections, according to ASB President Chirag Krishna. The wall was canceled for the graduating class of 2010.

“Through the rejection wall, the seniors on ASB want to send a strong message to the Paly community,” Krishna said. “[The message] that all seniors, regardless of where they applied, how many schools they applied to, where they got in, and where they got rejected, are in the college process together and will stick by one another as college decisions begin to roll back in mid-March and early April.”

The first rejection wall appeared about eight or 10 years ago, according to Assistant Principal Kathie Laurence.

“It was the first year there was a wave of a lot of rejections at Paly,” Laurence said. “Some really high performing students started sticking their letters up. It was a very organic start. It really was all about the students.”

Last year, there were several meetings after Student Activities Director Kindel Launer decided to ban the wall, according to Arjun Singh, a former editor-in-chief of The Campanile and a graduate of the class of 2010.

“Ms. Launer said her theory was that it was putting more pressure on students, whereas I and many others felt that it took pressure off,” Singh said. “We had a bunch of meetings and eventually nothing came of it. I was an editor-in-chief of The Campanile, so at Campanile we decided to put up our own rejection wall, but this was ill-lived and eventually no rejection wall was ever put up.”

Former Paly Principal Jacqueline McEvoy “was not a fan of the idea” either, according to Assistant Principal Jerry Berkson.

ASB established a rejection wall committee that is working with the administration to sort out all the details, according to Maddie Kuppe, who is the junior class vice president.

ASB is addressing issues surrounding the wall with new rules and stipulations to make the wall a more positive experience, according to sophomore class vice president Charlie Dulik.

“There’s a lot of controversy around the whole idea, so it’s unclear how we will go about it this year,” Kuppe said.

“The main point I’d like to make is that the rejection wall is meant to be an inclusive and friendly way of dealing with college rejections,” Krishna added. “Anybody will be allowed to post on the rejection wall regardless of the school, and students will have to cross out their names to ensure anonymity.”