By Jacob Ellenhorn, Co-Editor-In-Chief

After a one-year hiatus, the Wall of Shame has returned to Shalhevet this year, but not without controversy.  As in most years, on Dec. 15 when seniors started receiving college acceptance and rejection letters, a group of students posted their rejections on the wall next to Mr. Frankel’s office under the usual ironic sign saying, “Wall of Shame,” seeking to make light of the bad news and salve their wounded pride.

To the students’ surprise, the display was moved two days later by Ms. Natalie Weiss, Director of Admissions, who reposted them in the Student lounge.  She said she moved the it because it could adversely affect admissions.

“My main goal is to bring parents into the school,” said Ms. Weiss. “Their minds are always on colleges. We are always trying to talk to parents about college, it is on our website, and on our bulletin boards. So posting in a prominent place where parents are coming, where they’ll see all of the rejections, sort of goes against my main goal of bringing parents into the school and touting all of our accomplishments.”

While not directly involved with moving the letters, Rabbi Ari Segal also considered having it taken down, telling students that he thought it was “psychologically unhealthy.”

“I have spent two weeks e-mailing with psychologists and educational therapists to determine if this a healthy coping mechanism,” Rabbi Segal wrote by e-mail, in response to a defense of the Wall of Shame posted Jan. 2 on the Boiling Point’s website. “Not all of them agree.”

But seniors say that by sharing their bad news, they can put it into perspective and see it as funny.

“I liked it where it was,” said senior Natalie Kessler. “It makes light of a situation which is really stressful for us.”

College Admissions Counselor Dr. Steven Mercer believes that it’s not unhealthy, as long as students who don’t want to be part of it don’t have to be.

“Personally, I like it,” Dr. Mercer said. “I think it is a good idea. I think that it is cathartic. For students who want to participate, I think it has an element of being empowering.

“It is a small way of venting some disappointment through an element of fun, and camaraderie.”

Dr. Mercer said urges students to not feel pressured to participate if they do not want to.

Still, he agreed with Ms. Weiss that the Wall should be kept away from the more public spaces.

“It is not the appropriate thing to put out to people who are not intimately part of the Shalhevet family,” he said.

Natalie said students are not pressured to post their letters, and many don’t.

“No one was pressured to post their letters because it was in the main hallway.

Most seniors believe that it should be kept public.

“It should be in a public place where everyone can see it,” said senior Adam Wannon.  “I believe that it helps lowerclassman to not be so afraid of rejection when they enter the college admissions process.

“If they get rejected,” he added, “they can look back at all the past seniors who got rejected from schools but who still ended up in good places.”

The Wall was first started by then-senior Ari Giller in 2005.

“I notice that now is a stressful time,” Ari told The Boiling Point in April of that year. “So I decided that it would help other people feel better about their rejections.”

Successive seniors have restarted the Wall every year except 2012.